Gorge

The man sits before me at the table, slumped in his chair, watching me warily as he eats. We sit quietly for a while, until the stranger has downed about two thirds of the pizza, and is still going.

"You'll make yourself sick," I mumble, my head propped up by my hand "You really shouldn't eat that much at once."

"I'm hungry," he hisses, licking sauce from his stretched, thin lips.

"What's your name?" I ask with a sigh, glancing at the microwave's clock, which reads about two in the morning.

"None of your business," he grumbles, mouth stuffed with cheesy pizza, which he tries to talk around, not bothering to close his mouth as he chews.

"It is very much my business!" I snap "I invite you into my home, and feed you, so the least you could do is give me your name!"

"Jordan," he sighs, taking a moment to brush greasy black hair from his golden eyes.

"Liar."

"Wesley?"

"Nope."

"You're good," the stranger admits, lazily pulling the cheese off the last slice of pizza "But I can't tell you."

"Why not? Are you running from the law?" I snicker "Come on, man. If you're going to stay with me, I have to know your name."

"Name's Donny," he finally spits, with a scowl "And that's the truth."

 "Fine, I believe you," I shrug, my gaze shifting from the empty pizza box to the man "Jesus, you eat fast."

"And a lot," Donny nods, leaning back in his chair, shirt riding up his bloated stomach "You gotta newspaper?"

"Sure I do. Why do you need it?" my seat scoots back with a screech as I stand up, and plod into the small living room to scoop up one of the pages on the coffee table.

"Looking for a job," he shrugs "Need the money."

"I work at a hairdresser. You interested in sweeping up clumps of hair?" I chuckle, slapping the help wanted page down in front of him "That or there's a fast food joint near here."

"I'd take the restaurant any day. Less work, more discounts," Donny insists, his nose piercing twinkling in the dim light.

"And fry stuff all day? I don't even think you can get a discount at a McMeaty's. It's all dollar menu stuff," I mock gag "God, you're a serious glutton."

Donny shrugs, ignoring my comment on his extreme appetite "Doesn't bother me. I like food. Besides, I might meet a hot chick at the front counter."

 "I bet you're a thief," I remark, to which he looks almost offended "Oh, don't act so stuck up, it isn't like you're the only one. Besides, as far as I can tell, you've been on the move for a while, without a job. You don't have a car, and you would've had to have gotten the bus money somewhere-"

"Who said I don't have a car? I mean, she's all banged up and a little bit on the side of filthy, but what'cha gonna do?" Donny interjects, kicking back and putting his scuffed boots up on the table.

"So why'd you stop?" I frown "Why here in rain-and-pain Missouri?"

"Cause I ran out of gas, and you seem like a reasonable chick. I can tell you've tussled with demons before," he snorts "Literally."

 "Whoa! No! How do you know about Vince?!" I splutter, face turning red.

"Hm. Most people I've encountered, upon finding out my heritage, would rather run than defend their dating integrity. I like you. What'd you say your name was?" Donny chuckles.

"Vivian," I mutter, burying my head in my hands to hide my blushing.

 God, Vince was a stud, and a demon, but this low life before me isn't nearly as tall, dark, and mysterious.

"Brilliant. I'll remember it this time," he insists in his sleazy voice.

“So what gives?" I manage to choke after a few seconds "Why aren't you all horns and muscle?"

“Well pardon me for not being a beefcake," Donny sneers "I ain't all demon, ya'know. Daddy dearest, well, he was one sorry excuse of a human."

"So your mother was the one with hellblood?" I look up, to see Donny smirking directly at me "Normally it's the males who breed with the humans, right?"

"Well yeah, but mom was crazy or something, and tended towards the sins of lust, so you could see where that would lead. Never tangle with a she-demon," he says with a sick enthusiasm "I mean, I've never managed to get in bed with one in the first place, but-"

"That's great, Donny. You can shut up now."

 "So where will I be sleeping?" he finally asks “The couch, I’m guessing?”

“Bingo,” I nod “I’ll get you some blankets first.”

“Excellent, thanks,” he grins, standing up and following me as I head to the closet in the hall, to retrieve a few ratty yet warm blankets.

As I dig through the things tucked away in the cupboard, I finally come across a thick red cover, perfect for the bitter winter night. I toss it back at Donny, who catches the lumpy blanket with mostly his face, hands flying up just a bit too late.

"If you get cold just grab another," I offer, retreating to my bedroom "And if I catch you creeping around you're dead meat, you understand?"

Donny grimaces, shrugs, and turns towards the living room. He doesn't seem like a trustworthy guy, and I can't tell if he's above lurking around the house at four AM, but I'm too tired to care. Besides, I'm pretty sure demons owe you for big favors or something, and this seems pretty giving, especially for me. I think I read that somewhere.

I read a lot about demons when I was dating Vince. To me he was a mystery I wanted to unravel, and to him I was a prize machine. You put in coins until something good drops out, and in this case he fed me lies for favors. Mostly sex, sometimes petty thievery.

He was unnervingly handsome, strong jawed, and tall with broad shoulders. His eyes were gold, like any demon's, and they hid wicked flames. He could grow a fine beard, a trait I found most endearing, and his strong arms certainly held their own case.

I dream that night of ice and brimstone, and Vince's fiery eyes. By the time I wake up to my alarm clock, I'm shaky. I rub my hands together, breathing in the cold air to still my beating heart and jumpy nerves. A low, rapping knock cuts the nervous silence.

"Hello?" a strange voice calls "You awake?"

I nearly shriek, jolting forward in my bed. Right. Donny. I watch him apprehensively as he slinks into the room, all slippery sleaze and oily skin.

"What's up?" I grumble, bitterly tired from waking up in the middle of the night to take care of him.

"Not much, buttercup. I'm gonna leave for my job hunt, and I suggest you skedaddle as well unless you want to be late for your work."

I yawn, stretching my arms over my head, and sluggishly getting up. Lurching into the bathroom to brush my teeth, Donny follows, lingering in the hallway.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" he purses his lips, confused.

“No?” I mutter, wetting my toothbrush.

“Very well, then I shall help myself,” the halfling declares shamelessly, before shuffling into the kitchen to raid my fridge.

He's got to follow the path of the sin gluttony, what with carrying demon blood and all. Vince was wrath, naturally, and that really plagued our relationship near its end. All demons have at least one of the seven deadly sins, and it really seems to shape their personalities, or at least it did with the few demons I encountered thanks to Vince. After I finish getting ready for work, changing behind the locked door of my bedroom, I venture out into the kitchen just to make sure Donny isn't trying anything stupid, which I wouldn't put it past him. Of course he's eating, two banana peels abandoned on my counter, another banana being worked on.

“Clean up after yourself. I'm not letting you stay here if you don't keep your messes to yourself,” I instruct him dryly, but he just rolls his eyes.

“Sure, mom,” and with that he quite dramatically picks up the discarded waste, and walks it over to the little rubbish bin in the corner, tossing the peels in limply “Happy?”

“For now,” I give him a sarcastic half smile, to which he sneers back with an equal sense of sardonic humor.

Donny walks out of the kitchen with his careless stride, back into the living room, where he picks up his leather jacket off the floor, where he had dumped it after coming in. After he came in, after I let him in. I remember doing so, albeit through the haze of sleeplessness, though I don’t remember exactly why.

“Hey, Vivie, don’t you have to be at work too?” Donny asks, halfway out the door.

“Yes, in a bit, give me a moment,” I pause, briefly mulling over his words “You called me Vivie.”

“I did. Vivian doesn’t fit into the flow of the sentence. Anyways, I’m going out, down to whatever fast food monstrosity ‘McMeaty’s’ is,” and with that, Donny is out the door, closing it behind him, and with him goes whatever connection I had previously made with it.

There was something important that happened there in the doorstep, and I don’t think it was when the pizza man from the all-night delivery showed up. I turn my focus to getting ready for work. I myself could use a touch up haircut, to maintain my visage of professionalism in the business of hair styling. It’s getting longer than I would like, ending up a little too far below my jaw, the ends having grown a little uneven. I’ll see about that later, perhaps to as well to dye it from my natural brown to purple, as I did last year.

---

Notes:

• Including his freakishly fast metabolism, Donny also possesses the power of persuasion. It’s not especially strong, but sometimes he can control others with suggestion.
• Donny tends towards the sin of greed, not gluttony, though the lines sometimes blur.
• “He looks like a very narrow toad,” - Vivian, probably, remarking upon Donny on a day she does not very much like him.