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monition ! All of my writing is intended for adults over the age of 18 ONLY. report may hold in strong or even extremum intimate cognitive content. All people and events depicted are fancied and any resemblance to mortal living or stagnant is purely coincidental. natural process, place, and responses are fabricated ONLY and should not be attempted in real life.

If you are under the age or 18 or do not realize the difference of opinion between phantasy and reality or if you reside in any province, province, nation, or tribal territory that prohibits the reading material of routine depicted in these stories, please stop reading immediately and move to somewhere that exists in the twenty-first century.

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

Individual lector may archive and/or print single copies of this story for personal, non-commercial use. production of multiple copies of this story on paper, phonograph recording, or former fixed format is expressly forbidden.

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Normally Estevan loved Halloween. It was his favorite holiday. He had watched it change through the 100 from a yearly cultic refining of open fireplace and fire as practiced by the Celts ; to a harvest fete as practiced by the Epistle to the Romans when they took the festival back to the Mediterranean area ; to a kid 's nighttime of romp intended to chase away our basic reverence of wickedness magic tool ; to its current, modern-day apology for raunchy costumes and alcohol-fueled parties.

As he thought about it, he could not help but compare the innovative debauchery with the Roman fertility celebrations. The Epistle to the Romans combined the Celtic `` dark Night '' ritual with their own `` Feralia '' practices, both of whom involved the spirits of the dead. By putting it on November first, however, the Romans removed the '' public fasting '' required by Feralia. The new date replaced the world fasting of those net, gray days of February with the `` world celebration '' of harvest time at the end of Oct. The result was basically a drunken orgy, and the Romans really knew how to make an orgy - especially if you mixed in religious overtones that made alcohol and sex an satisfactory part of the cultic fertility ritual.

'' Just like old time, '' he said aloud as he remembered the tempestuous company he had attended finally Halloween with Alicia. But then he glanced down at her exposure in his hands and said softly and sadly, `` Just like old times. ``

This twelvemonth was to be a `` Kalend of Kalends. '' Literally that meant a calendar month of month, but it was used by the Romans to refer to a decennary. Somewhere in the ancient past it may throw originally meant thirty months or perhaps thirty days, but that was before Estevan 's time.

Not a whole lot was before Estevan 's time. Once at a dinner company, when person had asked him how old he really was, he replied, `` I was n't around to trade the Harlan Stone to Cheops for his Great Pyramid, but my company poured the concrete for Flavius when he built the coliseum. '' Everyone laughed - those who heard it because of how his outlandish resolution avoided giving his true age, Estevan, because he was telling the absolute truth.

No, Estevan was not immortal. He was an ordinary, mortal man, who one Feralia - before they even called it that - just happened to make struck a deal with the keeper of the dead. Today most citizenry call him The hellion, or Beelzebub, but he truly has no public figure, just as he has no fount, or for that matter just as he has no body. He can take for granted various class, from Taurus the Bull to goat to homo to god or goddess or unknown combinations in between, but all such mannikin are just illusions.

'' His promises are also legerdemain, '' thought Estevan. `` Eternal life .... but at what cost ? ``

Then he spoke loudly to himself `` Is it truly living when you know that once every ten days you must snitch someone who loves you dearly to buy another ten years of life history ? ``

How many had he betrayed over the C ? How many had gone down into the realm of the custodian of the dead so that he could continue to take the air the earth ? Would this be the year that, on the festival of the dead, he would turn down, and would himself be embraced by the formless arms of the keeper of the drained ?

Alicia was unlike. With his young spell and physically pleasing trunk, it had always been easy to get women to fall in love with him. He enjoyed their magical spell while it lasted, and they benefitted greatly from his extreme wealth and power. He had always justified things to himself by saying that if they had known what they were doing they would bear gladly traded their life sentence for the ten years of absolute bliss which he bestowed upon them. cleaning woman - and men - gave up their lives for much less.

'' What was it that made Alicia different ? '' He thought to himself. It was n't just that she was ample - nowhere near as deep as Estevan, but flush enough to be plentiful even among the deep. And it was n't just that she was beautiful. He remembered how her raw physical structure had shone in the Moon 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 comedy ; she knew her story and the intricacies of the arts and sciences ; and she was smooth-spoken in as many languages as he was. At least, she could speak and understand all those languages which he currently used. He had never tried to speak with her in ancient Phoenician.

There had been others as beautiful. Carla had knocker that were the perfect size of it and shape, and her sex was perfectly formed, both for knockout and to caress and spellbind his cock as they thrust together. She had the double-dyed lifelike variety of traction and lubrication so that it was like sliding through beloved into that tight shaft.

There had been others as rich. Suzanne had been almost richer than he, coming as she did from royal stag blood in a metre when royalty reigned supreme in EC. She was born to extreme wealth, and had taught him subtleties of using your wealth to wield exponent over others that he would never feature dreamed of on his own.

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

Estevan grimaced remembering those words. 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. Love requires that you truly, faithfully and sincerely put the one you love above everything else in your life history. As the old jape goes, `` Once you can fake that, you have it made. '' Estevan could counterfeit screw very, very well.

That is why Alicia was dissimilar. This meter it was n't pseudo. After one C upon the Earth and after countless charwoman chosen, used, and discarded, Estevan had finally, truly and completely fallen in love.

The deal with The Devil was that once every ten age on the festival of the dead, he had to betray someone who truly loved him and sour them over to the steward of the idle. Could he do it this year ?

Betraying someone who loved you is prosperous - as long as your honey for them is a sham. But could he shit individual whom he truly loved ? Could he send Alicia into the weaponry of the custodian of the beat ?

The result would come up at midnight on the night of the idle. The exact day for that had varied through the C, but in today 's world ..., in this nation ..., in this culture ..., that would be at midnight on Halloween.

Alicia was rather subdued all day on Halloween. This year, the party would be at their estate. Perhaps she was preoccupied with the point of final planning for the festivities. They had decided on a Greek subject for the laurel wreath. Alicia designed and had supervised the construction of a relatively exact replica of the temple of Hestia, the Greek goddess of hearth and home.

The Romans borrowed many of the cultic practice of the Greeks, including the sanctified flame of Hestia, which on the night of the dead was brought to broad fire so that people could take glowing embers abode to relight their hearth with `` purified ardor '' - of course of action for a fee. There always had to be an offer of ash gray to the goddess in payoff for the sacred flaming. Alicia 's pseudo-temple was the perfect circumstance for a tumid bonfire for the party.

'' Have all cultures always combined attack ... and honour ... and death ? '' thought Estevan when he saw the temple sitting in the garden. It was n't exactly as he remembered it when he had walked between its pillar in Athens, but the differences were minor. Alicia 's blueprint looked almost more primitive ... more ancient that the tabernacle he remembered. `` This will be perfect tense. '' he told Alicia. He then added silently to himself, `` Now I do n't have to occur 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 `` respectable '' sacred and `` bad '' sacred. There was the `` holy '' fire and the `` un-holy '' fire. The Supreme Being came forth from the holy attack. The keeper of the perfectly came forth from the un-holy fire.

It was an accident when it happened .... well, not exactly an stroke. Estevan was supposed to kindle the sacred fervency for his household, but being a typically rebellious teenaged boy of any acculturation or century, he intentionally reversed the phraseology of the ritual. He was alone by the family sacred hearth when he began the task of building a new fire so he was rid to mutilate the ritual lyric. Had his beginner or mother been there, such disrespect would have brought a terrible beating, but he was alone, and so he showed his despite for what he considered the useless and hollow Word of God of a totally stupid ritual. He reversed all of the watchword as he labored to create the proper sparkle to ignite the dry skunk and kindling that would set out the fire for the sacred fire.

But it was n't a stunned ritual ..., and they were not useless, hollow words. With his invert ritual, he created an un-sacred ardor and when the family gathered, the keeper of the absolutely came forth from the ardor and consumed his Padre and his female parent and all who were gathered around the flaming ... except Estevan. Then the keeper of the dead offered him unceasing life. He could endure forever, but that aeonian life required a regular payment of life.

What would Estevan say when The Devil came forth from the fervour this class. Would he say the proper words, `` I give you life for living, love for love, that which is not mine for that which is not yours. '' Or would he say simply, `` I withhold biography for life and chip in you my life as your own. ``

There had never been any question about the choice of words in all the century of year of his existence. Why now ? Why this sentence ? Why with Alicia ?

The client began arriving shortly after sundown. It was a dark night, and the all-inclusive garden was dimly lit with the flickering flame of flashlight which surrounded the arena and lined each of the way. The common mullein had been intentionally placed so that there were large, grassy areas of total darkness where people could detect seclusion in the thick of the gathering. If the party had been inside, various of the bedrooms would have been uncommitted, but the dark areas would be almost as private.

The invitations had specifically said `` classic radical, '' but had also indicated that `` traditional Halloween costumes are also acceptable. '' So, as the evening began, there were toga and tunic clad men and charwoman standing around drinking with enchantress, goblins, star war eccentric, and of path, a plethora of naughty nurses, instructor, copper, robbers, and whatever.

By nine o'clock several of the togas and adventitia had already been discarded and naked slaves walked among the merrymaker. Estevan smiled as he watched Dr. Sir Rex Harrison and a nude Nurse Buchanan elusion into the darkness. It reminded him of actual naked slaves being led into the duskiness at a party in a setting very exchangeable to this a tenacious, long time ago.

He was n't drinking tonight. He was n't for sure 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 hand Alicia over to the keeper of the beat. Alicia also was not drinking tonight, probably because, as hostess, she needed to celebrate her nous clear to supervise the party.

Midnight was fast approaching. Estevan and Alicia were the only two people there who were not seriously drink in and disheveled. They were also among the few who were still totally clothed. Shortly before midnight, Estevan began maneuvering Alicia to the `` dark English '' of the blast. At his suggestion, there were no torches on this side of meat of the fire so that just a few pes from the flaming, you were in congener darkness. It was the perfect setting to fit the custodian 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 fire of fervency, and from the sides they were just at the boundary of being able to be seen in the fire 's glow. At exactly midnight, Estevan faced the fire and watched as a well- dressed man stepped out of the flaming and into the indulgent Inner Light of the fire lit the area. He had expected Alicia to be startled, but she stood serenely future to him.

The Devil was dressed like a riverboat risk taker from the American Occident. He even had on one of those black, flat-topped western hats preferred by such good-for-naught. He was continually flipping and catching what appeared to be an old-fashioned silver dollar bill. `` I have come for my Kalendra tribute, '' he said with a smooth out, mysterious voice.

Estevan stepped slightly forward. As he spoke the silver dollar mark spun past The dickens 's hired man and slowly - very, very slowly - dropped toward the soil.

Estevan stepped closer to him and said clearly, `` I withhold aliveness for life story and give you my animation as your own. '' He was actually surprised to get wind himself say those words. He was even more surprised to hear Alicia mouth the very Same words as she stood alongside him.

He quickly turned to depend at her. Her eyes were wide with shock, as probably were his own. The keeper of the utter began to gag. When Estevan turned back to look at him, the silver coin was sitting on the soil at his substructure ... upright.

The the Tempter continued to express mirth. `` If you flip a coin often enough, for long enough, eventually it will bring 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 collapse out all the inside information of every passel. Only I know ALL the detail of the deal. For this picky deal - which was the same for both of you - each meter I come, you have a choice, chief or tails ... ease up me your aliveness or the life of somebody who loves you. ``

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

He smiled a very cruel and evil smile. `` You return to my base with me, because by willingly giving yourself to me, you have become my everlasting hard worker and plaything. ``

'' I make my pot very carefully knowing that eventually, you will settle 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 matter of time and the odds as I keep flipping the coin of pick. Sooner or later it comes up tails. ``

He laughed once again. This sentence it was the sound of true laughter. `` But there is always that infinitesimal possibility that the coin will not be heads or tails. Impossible as it seems, a coin can land on edge ... and delay there. The chances of that are very, very, very small, but the insufferable will happen occasionally when you flip coins through all infinity. Tonight the coin has landed on sharpness. You have each given your life-time for the one whom you love. ``

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

He shook his head teacher and smiled a wry smile. His part took on an unusually piano tone. `` You will now age like pattern people, and the day will eventually arrive when I will once again come to pull together you to the land of the absolutely, but that is where you will go. You will not follow me back to Hell ... because the coin of choice has laded on border. ``

He picked up the ash grey dollar from the primer coat and tossed it to Estevan. `` Keep this as a memorial that one Halloween, one distich very much in love with each other beat the Lucifer at his own game. ``

He laughed again and said, `` That does n't happen very often ... about as often as a coin landing on border and staying there. '' Turning back toward the fire he concluded. `` Now I must impart. Even I can suspend clip for only a short patch and I have many other designation for tonight. I have mass to make, lives to garner, and maybe even a soul or two to submit back with me to the deep deepness. ``

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

When Estevan looked puzzled, she added, `` I did n't sell I. F. Stone to Cheops either, but I did occasionally watch from beneath a silk canopy as the striver sweated to push them into lieu. ``

Estevan took her hand and led her slowly into the iniquity away from the tabernacle. Within their clasp paw, still warm to the spot from coming through the fire, they held the coin of choice which this night had determined their fate.

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END OF STORY
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