“You don’t really seem that shocked?”, said the demon, with a fairly huffy tone.
“Well, no”, said the girl. “I have been meeting Satan on a pretty regular basis for the last few weeks.”
“Ah”, said the demon.
“And with the greatest respect, um….?”
“Athereal”, said Athereal, responding to the question.
“With the greatest respect, Athereal, you are a little less shocking that the very personification of evil.”
“I’m not sure that’s with the greatest respect.”
“Pardon?”, said the girl.
“Well, I think you could squeeze in a little more respect if I’m honest”, replied Athereal. “So not the greatest respect. Imprecise language. Precision! That’s the key to learning Latin. You can’t play fast and loose like you can with the more modern bastardisations of the original human tongues.”
The girl smiled and held up her hands in mock surrender. “Fair. Lazy as charged.” She indicated the kitchen table. “Shall we sit?”
Athereal nodded, and the girl pulled back one of the cheap pine chairs and took a seat.
The demon materialised on the chair opposite with a wisp of smoke and faint smell of sulphur.
“Athereal, you show off”, said the girl, holding her hands to her cheeks dramatically. “I am very shocked, don’t you worry.”
The demon harrumphed. “You have me at a disadvantage, young lady.”
“Amy Enright”, said Amy, holding out her hand. “A pleasure, I’m sure.”
Athereal took the proffered hand. “A pleasure”, he said, unconvincingly.
“Do you want a drink?”, asked Amy. “Tea, water, or tequila is all I can offer, I’m afraid. I’m not much of a grocery shopper.”
Athereal shook his head. “No, I’d rather get down to business, and then I can head home. It’s bloody freezing up here. I am here to teach you Latin, so that Lucifer can get a minutes peace without you summoning him up here for one mispronunciation or other.”
Amy laughed, a high note like a tapped crystal glass. “He did seem to be getting a bit annoyed with me. I think he thought the big fire and brimstone act would put me off on his last visit. This is a creative solution, I must say.”
“Yes, well”, said Athereal. “Now I suppose it’s out of the question for you to sell me your soul and I can just skip all the lessons and give you the ability, is it?”
“I feel like I need my soul, don’t I?”
“Just a bit? I can do more of a timeshare type deal?”
Amy folded her hands together, put her elbows on the table, and with her head resting on the prop that created, gazed steadily at Athereal. He looked glum, which was an interesting look on a demon.
“Thought not. If this were easy, the Boss would have already dealt with this.” He sighed. “Right I suppose we should start with some basic grammar.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a couple of hours of lessons, Athereal was starting to get a little annoyed with his student's lack of attention. “Look”, he said. “Are you even trying? You want to learn latin enough that you are willing to keep going, even with the Devil himself appearing in your room, but not enough to listen to me?”
Amy shrugged.
“Tu discipulus malus”, said the demon. Then added by way of translation: “you are a terrible student.”
“Tu terribilis es discipulus, you mean”, said Amy.
The demon gaped at her.
“You said, I’m ‘bad’. Precision, Athereal. Someone once told me that was the key to learning latin.”
The Demon pushed back his chair and stood up. “You’ve been wasting my time! You can speak Latin perfectly well.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Of course, you idiot. Did you really think I’d accidentally, repeatedly summoned the Devil? God, you’re even dumber than he is.”
The demon backed away, as Amy’s eyes began to glow in a way that he found unsettlingly familiar.
“Your eyes…. Who are you?”
“Amy Enright, I told you that.”
The demon looked blank. “Who?”
“Damien. Right? People always say I have my father’s eyes.
“Oh. Fuck”, said Athereal. “Did I say my name was Athereal? I meant it was Baelthebub.”
Damien cast off the appearance of the young Latin student and materialised next to Athereal. He put his arm around the quivering tutor. “Now, Athereal. You are going to help me make those eyes of my father finally pay me a bit more attention, OK?”
Athereal swallowed hard and nodded.
“Correct answer. I’ve got a plan, and I think you can help”, said the Prince of Hell, with eyes aglow.
