Dating the Dark Prince WIP Erica

[In previous chapters, Satan has decided that he needs a queen. His closest demons, Balam and Corson, have been tasked with keeping an eye out on Earth for a suitable potential female partner. Satan has received a summon from a girl on Earth who wants to be the dark bride. He sends Balam to meet her.]

         Erica lit twenty-one candles in her dorm room, one to symbolize each year of her life. She used seventeen red and pink candles to symbolize her eternal love for the dark lord of the Underworld and to bind him in a love incantation. She used three black candles to summon Satan to the Earth’s surface, so that they could seal the love pact. And she used a Citronella candle because there had been a recent ant infestation in the dorms. The mismatched, waxy scents of red velvet cake, cinnamon, sweet pea blossom and about ten other flowers and baked goods converged in the air with the bug repellant and seeped into the hallway.
         Erica picked up a black candle, turned off the lights and walked to a clear spot on the floor in the center of her little fire hazard. She sat down pretzel style on the wood floor and closed her eyes. The full moon poured light through the open window. Her complexion, already made ultra pale with nearly-white foundation, had the pallor of someone at the peak of a bout of food poisoning in the faint glow of the moonlight. Her black hair was slicked straight down and hung below her shoulders. She wore a long sleeved tight black shirt, low cut in the front, because she wanted to show some cleavage in case Satan did show up. She also wore her cutest black skirt and some necklaces and rings with several inverted pentagrams.
         She held a small piece of paper between her thumb and index finger with the name Satan written on it. Rolling the paper up into a scroll, she began her incantation, “Lucifer, who is master and ruler of Hades, who is the prince of the black night, the tormentor of–”
         Erica's dorm room blew open and Balam toppled into the room backward wearing torn jeans, tennis shoes and a t-shirt that said, “You’re not so think as you drunk I am.”
         There was laughter and cheering from the hall, and chants of “Shots! Shots! Shots!”
         Balam used the computer desk chair to stand up, held his palm up to Erica, nodded at her with his eyes shut, walked across the room like a baby deer on ice and closed the door.
         He put his forehead on the door. “Oh my God! Jäger Bombs are the best things ever! Woo!” He turned to face Erica but decided to keep his back against the door until her room stopped spinning.
         “Hey, you wanna get the hell out of my room?” Asked Erica.
         “Yes.” Said Balam. He reconsidered. The room kept spinning. About two hundred candles and three carbon copies of Erica came into focus and then became blurry again around him. “Wait, no.”
         “Get out! I’m busy here!” She demanded.
         “Are you a Delta Gamma?”
         “Do I look like I’m in a sorority?”
         Balam squinted at her.
         “Get out before I call the R.A.!”
         “Yeah, I think he just left to get another keg.”
         “Crap.” She knew he was probably telling the truth about that one. “Ok, just, just go, ok? I’m right in the middle of something. It took me forever to set this up. I just want to be alone. Go...go have another Jäger Bomb before they run out.”
         “They won’t run out of Jäger. Not while I’m here.”
         “Huh?”
         “What? Oh. Nothing.” Balam, with very little grace, took a seat on the wood floor. “He knows that you went through a lot of trouble to set this up.”
         Erica was thoroughly confused. “Huh? Who knows? The R.A.? Oh, shit. We aren't supposed to be lighting candles in the dorms. I don't want another write up.”
         “No, no! Chill. Not the--wait, that guy actually writes people up?"
         "Yeah. The asshole came in here and almost cut himself on my Greek Athame knife. I told him that it was just a ceremonial dagger."
         Balam gave an understanding nod.
         "He shouldn't have been picking it up anyway."
         "What a douche." Balam said, still nodding.
         "Yeah! He also--wait! It's not him?"
         "Nope."
         "Then who? Who knows I set this up? And who are you?" Erica's voice had risen with annoyance and concern, but the noise in the hallway ensured no one outside the dorm room would hear.
         "Oh, yeah, Lucifer. He knows you want to talk to him. He knows why–” Balam moved his pointed index finger in swirly circular motions indicating the whole room, “–why you did all this. Why you waited til your roommate went back home to visit her boyfriend, and all the candles.” Balam covered his mouth to cover an anticipated hiccup. He held up an index finger at Erica with his other hand. The hiccup never came.
         “What are you...how–” Erica considered playing dumb and denying it, but she figured he was so hammered it wouldn’t matter what she told him. “What do you mean, ‘He knows?”
         “He sent me here to meet you.”
         “Satan?”
         “Yeah.”
         “Satan sent you here?”
         “Correct.”
         “Satan sent you here to meet me?”
         “Look, if this is gonna take a while, then I’m gonna go grab another shot.” Balam prepared to lift himself off the floor.
         “Wait, don’t go!” Erica grabbed his shirt. He steadied himself on the floor and had to regain focus in his vision.
         “Ok. The hallway's kinda far away anyway.”
         “Uh huh,” Erica agreed. “So are you talking about Satan? Like Lucifer, the devil, Satan?"
         "Yeah. That's who you were trying to call, right?"
         Her eyes narrowed. "It is." She spoke slowly. "And you are?"
         Balam sighed. "I'm Balam. Nice to make your acquaintance." He extended his right hand toward Erica's desk chair for a friendly hand shake.
         Erica was losing patience with the drunken idiot. "Seriously, um, Balam, what are you doing in my room? You have about thirty seconds before I yell rape."
         "That scroll in your hand, it says Satan."
         "How did you know tha--"
         "And you are trying to summon Lucifer here so that you can pledge your love for him and secure your throne in Hell next to his."
         That shut Erica up. For a moment. She examined Balam's face. He looked like any other frat boy. He looked like any of them that she would have wanted to talk to, wanted to date, but been way to shy to approach in the hallway. "Why did he send you, exactly?”
         “Well, cause you called him.”
         “That’s it? You call him and he just sends someone? Just like that?”
         “Well, no. It was also good timing. He's actually looking for--" Balam stopped.
         Erica turned her head and followed his gaze to the door. There was nothing in particular that he seemed to be focusing on. She looked back at Balam. "For...what?"


[stopped here for now because I was tired]


What's left in the scene:
Balam tells Erica he wants to introduce her to Satan because Satan is looking to meet a girl. Erica is very excited. He explains that she can sell or devote her soul to Satan to ensure she gets into Hell, or she can be a sinner and not repent. If she sins/does not redeem her soul, however, she will have to suffer accordingly when she gets to Hell. Erica does not need to make the decision right this second though. And it’s not for certain Satan will pick her to rule. They have to meet first, see if they like each other, etc. But Balam will arrange that.
Balam turns water into Jager for the students in the hallway. It’s a party trick Jesus taught all the angels before the war in Heaven.
Balam is hopeful that he may have found a girl for Satan. He’s got a good feeling about this one.