I stared at him in the doorway of my apartment carrying nothing but a single cardboard box and a briefcase, his suit jacket was draped over his shoulder.

So I had decided to give old Louie a shot. Although I had morally done nothing wrong besides giving a stranger a bed to sleep in, something deep in my gut twisted with a sense of natural guilt. I tried to keep my composure before I threw him out on a whim altogether. His references insisted that he was no trouble, but there was an aura of something... perhaps I had left something in the refrigerator too long? I quickly slid in front of the humming machine and checked inside. Of course it was empty. I didn't have the money to be living on luxuries such as anything other than instant ramen noodles.

"Is that all you've got?" I asked him warily, my eyes moving towards his only box.

"I'm into minimalism these days. It helps when you're travelling," he replied as he carried the box into the spare room which he would now call his own, "nice lamp by the way." he said without much enthusiasm.

"Right. Yeah, you can get rid of that if you want. It was my old roommate's. She didn't have good taste, I'll tell you that much." I said quietly as I looked at the lamp in question and felt nothing but bitter.

"Clearly, or otherwise she would have stayed." Louie remarked as he set down his box and briefcase on his new bed. I felt a little warm, probably because he had complimented me whether he had meant to or not.

"Right then, if you're ready to pay up I'll take the money over to Bill before he gets stress-induced alopecia." I persisted, stood casually with my hand on my hip.

"Isn't he already..."

"Bald? Yeah. It's just he's been ringing me constantly for rent. My last accomplice was a week late and ran off with some musician before she could pay me. It's probably one up from being with a starving artist." I laughed despite how awful I felt about the situation.

"Right," he said as he reached for his wallet and counted out more than a month's worth of rent in advance, "if I do a runner at least you'll have a head start."

I could only smile. I couldn't refuse the money and he knew truly that I was in no position too. He had already seen me at my worst, pole dancing on the subway after hours. I was nothing more than a charity case. All I needed was a sad violin and some British actor to voice over my tragic life story which lead me to stripping on the subway. Perhaps they would do a 'three-for-two' offer and raise funds for Jane's quaking mass and Bill's devastating deforestation issue. It seemed like a good bet.

"Thank you, Louie." I said as I held the wad of bills in my hand.

"Don't mention it."

———

I felt somewhat relieved as I made my way down the the bottom floor, down to where Bill resided in his own little apartment. It smelled strongly of smoke and take-away grease. The last time I was down there, I had noticed something brown smeared on the edges of his peeling wallpaper. I dared not to ask what it was. It was better that way.

"Bill," I knocked on his door," I have the rent money."

The door swung open and an offensive aroma invaded my nostrils. I wanted to gag, but instead I kept it short and handed him the wad of cash.

"Finally." he looked sideways at me, counting through the money in front of me with his sausage-like fingers.

Oh Lordie, if he didn't close the door soon...

"That's more than enough." he looked at me as I tried to keep my grip on this world, determined not to depart just yet. My knuckles turned white as I balled my fists.

"Advance payment for the next few weeks." I breathed, trying not to suck in anymore of the 'natural gasses'.

"Right." was all he said before I ended the conversation, making a dive for the hallway and skidding on my heels before turning towards the main entrance. Bill was used to my erratic behaviour now, so the sight of me galloping around the halls and hooting probably wasn't alien to him.

I welcomed the fresh air, gasping and gagging all at once whilst probably looking like I had escaped some mental health ward in my pink pyjamas and fuzzy slippers. I was mildly surprised that someone hadn't come over and asked me which planet I hailed from. I wasn't quite sure myself.

I decided that I would celebrate my small victory with a little walk. Usually I banned any form of exercise from my daily regime unless I was travelling, however today was an exception as my lungs were in dire need of fresh air.

However, when I was on my little walk in my pyjamas, I wasn't expecting to see something stranger than myself. I was an artist. I was naturally strange, however I had been out-stranged even with the help of my fluffiest attire. There was Louie, but he was conversing with a group of men all suited up similar to himself, only his sleeves with rolled up and his knuckles were thick with black liquid oozing out of a shadow-like figure which he had pinned against the wall of an alleyway. I couldn't remember if I had seen him leave the apartment at all, let alone before me. I had walked out first, hadn't I? And I hadn't been gone long enough to not notice him leaving.

"Louie?" I half-mouthed and half-whispered. And as if by magic, it seemed as though he had heard my soft little call and turned his head towards me. His eyes were wild. Suddenly it all made sense.

I froze in place as all the other men turned to look at me, and Louie mouthed something towards them before he loosened his grip on the figure and started stalking back towards me. I was furious, but for some reason Louie seemed more angry than me. It didn't help that he looked even more attractive when his brows were low and his teeth were grinding against each other, making his jawline more noticeable than usual. I rolled my eyes and to my disbelief, he grabbed my wrist and pulled it.

Louie was pulling me along behind him.

"Hey!" I yelled, slightly miffed by the fact that this was the modern world and I was an independent woman who would be dragged along by no man yet I was letting him drag me along anyway.

"I'll explain when we get home." he said coldly, miles away from the Louie I had gotten to know in a short amount of time.

Anyone on the street could have easily mistaken us as a couple, so I could forgive them for not trying to intervene, however it did seem impossible that a man like Louie would stoop so low as to court me with all my twig-like appendages. I resisted, pulling my arm away but he was a lot stronger than me and my feeble attempts at freedom.

"Please." was all he said, and there was a glimmer of eagerness in his dark eyes that made me feel like he needed me to co-operate more than he wanted me to.

"I can walk there myself. You don't have to drag me." I said and he immediately let go of my wrist with a soft apology.

I nodded before continuing, passing the threshold of our apartment building. As we climbed the steps in unison I could think of only two things. One: we needed a lift in this building, and two: Louie was probably someone I didn't want to be associated with.

I stepped inside the appartement and turned around with my arms folded, watching as Louie passed through and closed the door gently behind him.
I had so many theories in my head racing around without relent that I thought I might pass out then and there. Louie kept quiet, just staring at me until I felt like he could compromise my position in the argument we were definitely going to have.

"What was that, Louie?" I asked him as I walked over to the kitchenette and poured myself a glass of tap water to calm down.

"You saw it. You tell me." he said bluntly and I swore my eyes could burn holes right through his perfect profile. He was infuriating.

"I have a theory," I said as I took a sip out of my cup and threw the rest down the sink because I was too angry to drink, "and it involves you getting the hell out my apartment. This corporation you own... are you part of some mafia? Is that what you do? Is that were you get your dirty money from?"

And for some reason, he laughed.

"Mafia?" he grinned as if the title was below him and I felt a little self-conscious at his response.

"I bet Louie isn't even you're real name." I said bitterly.

"It isn't. It's a nickname."

"Then what is your real name and what is your actual job and why the fuck are you so bloody secretive?" I half yelled. I was tired of liars.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." he said lowly as he stepped a little closer and I admired his confidence to say the least. He knew how to play everything to his advantage and it left me wondering how the hell he had learned to do that.

"Try me," I persisted, "I dare you."

"Just remember, you're in... my... debt," he put emphasis on the last words as he continued moving in, much like a black panther going in for it's kill,"My name isn't Louie."

"I know." I said in a whisper.

He licked his lips before he spoke back in a low whisper against my ear and I wasn't sure if it was to amuse me or if he was genuinely concerned that someone would hear him.

"It's Lucifer, Lucifer Morningstar."

I could feel his breath against the shell of my ear, but I was hardly concerned. Instead, I felt something more concerning bubble up inside of me. A loud and obnoxious laugh erupted from deep with in, nearly making me collapse at his feet right then and there.

"L-like the devil?" I roared with laughter.

Then he grabbed my arm in a bid to calm me down before he spoke again, and I was about to swat him away because his little habit of grabbing things was starting to piss me off but his words caused a shiver, and some part of me, knew that he believed in what he was saying.

"No, I am the devil."