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WARNING ! All of my piece of writing is intended for grownup over the age of 18 ONLY. Stories may carry strong or even extreme sexual depicted object. All multitude and events depicted are fictional and any resemblance to someone living or dead is purely coincidental. activity, situations, and response are fictional ONLY and should not be attempted in real life.

If you are under the age or 18 or do not understand the departure between fantasy and reality or if you reside in any country, responsibility, nation, or tribal territory that prohibits the reading material of acts depicted in these write up, please stop reading immediately and move to somewhere that exists in the 21st century.

Archiving and reposting of this story is permitted, but only if cite of copyright and statement of limitation of use is included with the article. This story is copyright ( c ) 2012 by The Technician ( Technician666 @ Gmail.Com. )

Individual proofreader may archive and/or print bingle copies of this story for personal, non-commercial use. Production of multiple written matter of this fib on report, disk, or early situate format is expressly forbidden.

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Normally Estevan loved Halloween. It was his darling holiday. He had watched it change through the hundred from a yearly cultic refining of hearth and fervour as practiced by the Celts ; to a harvest fete as practiced by the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans when they took the festival back to the Mediterranean expanse ; to a children 's night of frolic intended to break up our canonical fear of evil sorcerous wight ; to its stream, modern-day excuse for raunchy costumes and alcohol-fueled parties.

As he thought about it, he could not help but compare the modern riot with the roman print fertility celebration. The roman type combined the Celtic language `` dark night '' rituals with their own `` Feralia '' exercise, both of whom involved the spirits of the numb. By putting it on November first, however, the Romans removed the '' public fast '' required by Feralia. The new date replaced the world fasting of those final, greyness days of February with the `` populace celebration '' of harvest time at the end of October. The result was basically a drunken bacchanalia, and the Romans really sleep together how to throw away an orgy - especially if you mixed in religious overtones that made alcoholic drink and sex an acceptable part of the cultic natality ritual.

'' Just like old times, '' he said aloud as he remembered the wild parties he had attended last Halloween with Alicia. But then he glanced down at her picture in his hands and said softly and sadly, `` Just like old times. ``

This year was to be a `` Kalend of Kalends. '' Literally that meant a month of month, but it was used by the roman type to relate to a decade. Somewhere in the ancient past it may have originally meant thirty month or perhaps thirty geezerhood, but that was before Estevan 's time.

Not a whole lot was before Estevan 's time. Once at a dinner party, when someone had asked him how old he really was, he replied, `` I was n't around to sell the Lucy Stone to Cheops for his pyramid, but my ship's company poured the concrete for Flavius when he built the Coliseum. '' Everyone laughed - those who heard it because of how his outlandish answer avoided giving his true age, Estevan, because he was telling the absolute truth.

No, Estevan was not deity. He was an ordinary, mortal man, who one Feralia - before they even called it that - just happened to feature struck a deal with the steward of the dead. Today nearly hoi polloi call him The daemon, or Satan, but he truly has no name, just as he has no face, or for that matter just as he has no dead body. He can don various forms, from horseshit to goat to human being to god or goddess or foreign combining in between, but all such forms are just illusions.

'' His promises are also illusions, '' thought Estevan. `` Eternal sprightliness .... but at what price ? ``

Then he spoke aloud to himself `` Is it truly living when you know that once every ten year you must denounce individual who loves you dearly to buy another ten years of life sentence ? ``

How many had he betrayed over the centuries ? How many had gone down into the realm of the custodian of the all in so that he could stay to take the air the terra firma ? Would this be the year that, on the festival of the dead, he would refuse, and would himself be embraced by the formless arms of the keeper of the stagnant ?

Alicia was different. With his youthful spell and physically pleasing trunk, it had always been easy to get fair sex to fall in love with him. He enjoyed their charms while it lasted, and they benefitted greatly from his uttermost wealth and ability. He had always justified things to himself by saying that if they had known what they were doing they would deliver gladly traded their liveliness for the ten years of absolute bliss which he bestowed upon them. Women - and men - gave up their living for often less.

'' What was it that made Alicia different ? '' He thought to himself. It was n't just that she was full-bodied - nowhere near as rich as Estevan, but wealthy enough to be rich even among the rich. And it was n't just that she was beautiful. He remembered how her naked dead body had shone in the moonlight on the beach. And, when she paused and looked at Estevan, it was as if a statue from the Temple of Aphrodite had come to life.

It was not just her physical appearance that made her special. Her voice was almost musical ; she knew her account and the intricacies of the arts and skill ; and she was fluent in as many languages as he was. At least, she could speak and read all those speech communication which he currently used. He had never tried to speak with her in ancient Phoenician.

There had been others as beautiful. Carla had breasts that were the perfective sizing and shape, and her sex was perfectly formed, both for beauty and to caress and grapple his hammer as they thrust together. She had the perfect natural intermixture of grip and lubrication so that it was like sliding through dear into that loaded shaft.

There had been others as productive. Suzanne had been almost richer than he, coming as she did from royal blood in a metre when royal house reigned supreme in Europe. She was born to extreme wealth, and had taught him shade of using your wealth to exert power over others that he would never have dreamed of on his own.

There had been others as intelligent. veronica was the most thinking of them all. She actually had surmised his surreptitious, but her love for him kept her from fleeing. When her Kalendra came, she peacefully looked him in the eyes - without care - and said `` I wondered when this day would come. I knew it would. The defrayal for lifespan is always life. Despite what you must do, I thank you for the nine twelvemonth of your sexual love that you have given me. ``

Estevan grimaced remembering those word. He had not loved her. She only thought he loved her because he had acted like he loved her. But it was, after all, an act. bang requires that you truly, faithfully and sincerely put the one you love above everything else in your life. As the old joke goes, `` Once you can fake that, you have it made. '' Estevan could fake love very, very well.

That is why Alicia was different. This clip it was n't bullshit. After hundred upon the world and after countless women chosen, used, and discarded, Estevan had finally, truly and completely fallen in love.

The heap with The demon was that once every ten years on the fete of the bushed, he had to betray someone who truly loved him and flex them over to the steward of the dead. Could he do it this year ?

Betraying someone who loved you is well-fixed - as long as your love for them is a sham. But could he betray someone whom he truly loved ? Could he send Alicia into the arms of the keeper of the utterly ?

The answer would hail at midnight on the night of the dead. The exact day for that had varied through the C, but in today 's human beings ..., in this land ..., in this culture ..., that would be at midnight on Halloween.

Alicia was rather tranquillize all day on Halloween. This year, the party would be at their acres. Perhaps she was preoccupied with the details of concluding planning for the festivities. They had decided on a Grecian composition for the ribbon. Alicia designed and had supervised the construction of a relatively accurate replica of the synagogue of Hestia, the Greek goddess of hearth and home.

The Epistle to the Romans borrowed many of the cultic praxis of the Hellene, including the hallowed flame of Hestia, which on the night of the dead was brought to full fire so that the great unwashed could take glowing ember home to relight their open fireplace with `` purified fire '' - of path for a fee. There always had to be an oblation of silver to the goddess in proceeds for the sanctified fire. Alicia 's pseudo-temple was the perfect circumstance for a large bonfire for the party.

'' Have all cultures always combined ardour ... and pureness ... and death ? '' thought Estevan when he saw the synagogue sitting in the garden. It was n't exactly as he remembered it when he had walked between its pillars in Athens, but the deviation were minor. Alicia 's plan looked almost more primitive ... more ancient that the temple he remembered. `` This will be double-dyed. '' he told Alicia. He then added silently to himself, `` Now I do n't have to come up with some way to create a balefire. ``

The secret that Estevan had discovered so many Kalendra ago was that for everything sacred there was also the un-sacred. Perhaps both were sacred, but not on the same end of reality. There was `` good '' sacred and `` bad '' sacred. There was the `` holy '' fire and the `` un-holy '' fervidness. The gods came forth from the sanctum fervor. The keeper of the dead came forth from the un-holy fire.

It was an chance event when it happened .... well, not exactly an accident. Estevan was supposed to kindle the hallowed fire for his household, but being a typically rebellious teenaged boy of any culture or century, he intentionally reversed the wording of the rite. He was alone by the household sacred open fireplace when he began the task of building a new firing so he was detached to mutilate the ritual Son. Had his don or mother been there, such disrespect would stimulate brought a knockout beating, but he was alone, and so he showed his contempt for what he considered the useless and hollow out words of a totally pudden-head ritual. He reversed all of the words as he labored to create the proper spark to ignite the desiccated dope and kindling that would start the flame for the sacred fire.

But it was n't a stupid ritual ..., and they were not useless, empty language. With his countermand ritual, he created an un-sacred fire and when the class gathered, the keeper of the dead came forth from the fire and consumed his Church Father and his mother and all who were gathered around the fervour ... except Estevan. Then the keeper of the idle offered him everlasting living. He could be forever, but that eternal sprightliness required a steady requital of life.

What would Estevan say when The Devil came forth from the fire this yr. Would he say the proper words, `` I give you life for life, love for beloved, that which is not mine for that which is not yours. '' Or would he say simply, `` I withhold animation for sprightliness and hand you my life as your own. ``

There had never been any doubt about the choice of words in all the hundreds of years of his universe. Why now ? Why this meter ? Why with Alicia ?

The guests began arriving shortly after sundown. It was a coloured Nox, and the extensive garden was dimly lit with the flickering fire of torches which surrounded the area and lined each of the paths. The torches had been intentionally placed so that there were large, grassy areas of total darkness where people could find privacy in the midst of the gathering. If the party had been inside, several of the sleeping accommodation would get been usable, but the colored areas would be almost as private.

The invitations had specifically said `` Hellenic melodic theme, '' but had also indicated that `` traditional Halloween costumes are also satisfactory. '' So, as the evening began, there were toga and tunic clad men and women standing around drinking with witches, hob, Star Wars quality, and of course, a plethora of gamey nurses, teacher, pig, robbers, and whatever.

By nine o'clock respective of the togas and adventitia had already been discarded and naked striver walked among the revelers. Estevan smiled as he watched Dr. Harrison and a naked nurse Buchanan slip into the darkness. It reminded him of actual naked slaves being led into the darkness at a party in a setting very similar to this a hanker, long time ago.

He was n't drinking tonight. He was n't indisputable if it was because he knew he could n't get himself drunk enough to do what he had to do, or because he was afraid that if he was drunk enough he would be able to say the words and give Alicia over to the steward of the dead. Alicia also was not drinking tonight, probably because, as hostess, she needed to keep her judgment clear to supervise the party.

Midnight was fast approaching. Estevan and Alicia were the only two multitude there who were not seriously booze and disheveled. They were also among the few who were still totally clothed. Shortly before midnight, Estevan began maneuvering Alicia to the `` dark side of meat '' of the fire. At his trace, there were no torches on this side of the fire so that just a few feet from the flaming, you were in relative darkness. It was the perfective setting to meet the keeper of the dead for the once-a-decade treason ritual.

And then it was time. Estevan and Alicia were standing in the perfect place. Others could not see them over the flames of ardor, and from the English they were just at the edge of being able to be seen in the ardour 's glow. At exactly midnight, Estevan faced the fire and watched as a well- dressed man stepped out of the flames and into the flaccid light of the fire lit the area. He had expected Alicia to be startled, but she stood serenely next to him.

The Devil was dressed like a riverboat gambler from the American Cicily Isabel Fairfield. He even had on one of those black, flat-top western hats preferred by such ne'er-do-well. He was continually flipping and catching what appeared to be an old-fashioned silver dollar. `` I have come for my Kalendra tribute, '' he said with a smooth, rich voice.

Estevan stepped slightly forward. As he spoke the silver grey dollar spun past The Devil 's hand and slowly - very, very slowly - dropped toward the ground.

Estevan stepped closer to him and said clearly, `` I withhold life for aliveness and render you my spirit as your own. '' He was actually surprised to take heed himself say those Good Book. He was even more surprise to get word Alicia verbalise the very same words as she stood alongside him.

He quickly turned to look at her. Her eye were wide with shock, as probably were his own. The keeper of the utterly began to jape. When Estevan turned back to look at him, the silver coin was sitting on the soil at his metrical unit ... upright.

The Lucifer continued to laugh. `` If you flip a coin often enough, for long enough, eventually it will put down on edge. ``

Alicia and Estevan continued to stare at him, and at the coin. He continued. `` I never renege on my deals - ever ! ! But I do n't always give out all the inside information of every mess. Only I know ALL the details of the deal. For this particular deal - which was the Lapplander for both of you - each prison term I come, you have a choice, heads or tails ... move over me your life or the life-time of someone who loves you. ``

'' Those whom you have given over to my keeping are dead, but they are only suddenly. I take them to the place of the idle, like all others whom I escort from this kingdom. But on the day that you give me yourself, you come with me to the depths of what you like to address 'Hell .'''

He smiled a very fell and evil grin. `` You return to my base with me, because by willingly giving yourself to me, you have become my perpetual hard worker and toy. ``

'' I make my deals very carefully knowing that eventually, you will fall in love. Eventually, you will find someone whom you can not betray. And when that happens, you will give your life for theirs and you are mine. It 's just a thing of meter and the odds as I keep flipping the coin of choice. Sooner or later it comes up posterior. ``

He laughed once again. This sentence it was the sound of true laugh. `` But there is always that infinitesimal possibility that the coin will not be heads or arse. inconceivable as it seems, a coin can shoot down on border ... and abide there. The chances of that are very, very, very small, but the impossible will take place occasionally when you flip coins through all eternity. Tonight the coin has landed on edge. You have each given your lifespan for the one whom you love. ``

Looking at both of them, he smiled and continued, `` Estevan, because you have given your life story for Alicia, I can not take her. Alicia, because you have given your life history for Estevan, I can not take him. That means that you are now both free from your agreement. The softwood is off. ``

He shook his brain and smiled a wry smiling. His interpreter took on an unusually easy tone. `` You will now age like normal people, and the day will eventually arrive when I will once again come to garner you to the state of the utterly, but that is where you will go. You will not accompany me back to hell ... because the coin of choice has laded on edge. ``

He picked up the silver dollar from the ground and tossed it to Estevan. `` keep on this as a memorial that one Halloween, one duo very much in honey with each other beat the heller at his own game. ``

He laughed again and said, `` That does n't bechance very often ... about as often as a coin landing on bound and staying there. '' Turning back toward the fervour he concluded. `` Now I must leave. Even I can suspend clock time for only a light while and I have many early appointments for tonight. I have peck to make, lives to collect, and maybe even a soul or two to accept back with me to the inscrutable astuteness. ``

As he disappeared into the fervour Alicia turned to Estevan, kissed him and said, `` It looks like we have a lot to catch up on about each other 's biography. '' She blushed slightly and added, `` I hope you do n't mind that I am a little bit erstwhile than you. ``

When Estevan looked puzzled, she added, `` I did n't betray Edward Durell Stone to Cheops either, but I did occasionally watch from beneath a silk canopy as the slaves sweated to advertize them into place. ``

Estevan took her bridge player and led her slowly into the swarthiness away from the temple. Within their clasped hands, still warm to the touch from coming through the fire, they held the coin of selection which this night had determined their fate.

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END OF STORY
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