The early morning call of the city roused a very sleepy Jessica from her slumber.  And a sleepy Jessica was going to be a moody Jessica, even on the best of days.

She sat up, stretched her arms above her body and looked around the room.  She noticed the brown paper bag from the restaurant and sighed.  Part of her hoped that last night would have been some kind of horrific dream, but it looked like it wasn't to be.

She glowered at the remnants of her meal and turned her attention to the balcony.  Perhaps fresh air would improve her mood.  Or at least the freshest air the car-strewn streets of Los Angeles could offer.  She climbed out of her bed and walked to the balcony, looking down to the people passing below.

The building was only a dozen storeys or so high, so it wasn't impossible for her to make out people as they passed. There was one person she could see clearly: Taeyeon.  She growled at the sight of her companion and looked at the car she was leaning on.

As she focused her attention, she could see it was a familiar car, one that looked identical from a distance to her own.  She shook her head, and returned inside to shower.  As she stripped herself of her nightwear and the faucet, she thought back to the previous day and recalled every bad decision she had made.  She stood under the falling water for what must have been twenty minutes before she heard a knock on the door.  It was loud and slightly impatient, but not entirely unfriendly.  She turned off the shower, wrapped a large towel around her body and a smaller towel around her hair, and headed to the door.

Sure enough, standing and waiting for her was last night’s antagonist.

"You don't want to come and see your car?" Taeyeon asked.  "You were pretty mad at it blowing up last night."

Jessica let out an audible groan.  "Ok, I have a car now, that's great.  Thank you."

"I told you you'd get it back," she beamed with pride.

"Yes, you did, but can you leave now?"

"Why?"

"I need to finish my shower."

"Oh please," Taeyeon scoffed and pushed the door open.  The open area of the living space afforded a great luxury to Jessica as she was pushed out of her visitor's path.  "It's not like I've never seen it before."  Out of deference to her reluctant hostess, Taeyeon shut the door and locked it, turning towards her and smiling.  "Go shower, I'll wait here."

Jessica stared at the unwelcome guest as she sashayed to the kitchen.  She glowered, feeling her nostrils flare with anger and frustration.  There was just no listening with this girl.  She followed her into the kitchen.  “Tae, please.”

“What?” Taeyeon walked around the kitchen unit to the refrigerator, opened the door and removed a bottle of Coke.

“I have to shower.”

“So, go and shower.”  She closed the door and looked at her incredulously.  “I’ll just wait here.”

Jessica folded her arms, holding her towel around her waist.

Taeyeon gave her the most seductive smirk she could.  “You don’t want me to get in with you, do you?”

She lowered her eyelids and glared.

“Just go, ok?  I’ll wait here.  And I promise: I won’t touch anything.”  No sooner had she said that than she opened the cupboards in search for something.

After a few deep breaths, she turned around and headed to her bedroom to dry her body and get dressed.  As she did, she thought about how rude Taeyeon had been to invite herself into her apartment.  Especially after last night.  And then to be so crude to ask to join her in the shower?  She shook her head and got dressed in whatever she could find to put on.  A pair of tight jeans and a white t-shirt would be enough.  She tied her hair in a loose ponytail and left her room to turn away her uninvited guest.

"You clean up nicely," Taeyeon complimented her frustrated audience.  She sat at the breakfast bar, her legs crossed together, apparently helping herself to a few freshly fried rashers of bacon on a bagel.

Jessica sighed.  "Talk,” she ordered, walking around to make her first mug of coffee for the day, barely offering Taeyeon any of her attention.  “You've got five minutes."

"Five minutes?  But what about breakfast?" she asked, holding up her bagel.

"Then eat quickly."

She huffed.  "That's not a nice thing to say after I brought your car back."

"What do you want, Taeyeon?"

"I want to help you," Taeyeon rolled her eyes. "I thought I made that clear."  She picked up her glass, half an inch of brown-amber liquid covering the bottom.

"What is that?"

"What?"

"That thing you're drinking."

Taeyeon looked at her drink, confused.  "Scotch."

"Scotch?"

"Yes?  What do you expect me to drink at this time of day?”

Jessica rolled her eyes.

"So, you thought any more about what I said?" Taeyeon raised her glass to her lips and swallowed the liquid in one mouthful.

Jessica turned slightly to face her.  "Are you still going on about this?"

She shrugged, placing her empty glass on the counter.  "You have something I want."

"You mean, my 'soul'?"

"Yep, and you said you'd give it to me."

"I can't just give you my soul."

Taeyeon thought for a second.  "That's true, actually.  Guess I'd just have to take it."

Jessica groaned loudly and returned to preparing her morning libation.  How could one woman be so deluded to believe she was the Devil incarnate?  This woman, sitting at her breakfast bar, believed she was the spawn of Satan.  An actual Devil child with blonde hair, wearing a leather jacket, ripped jeans, sneakers and an old, tatty, Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt.  And she believed that she was strong enough to overpower her?  Taeyeon was 50 kilograms, at her heaviest.  Most people could pick her up and throw her around like a Frisbee.  "You’ll ‘just have to take it’?"  She shook her head.

"Yep.  It only takes a second too.  Just like that," she explained, clicking her fingers, "and your soul is mine."

"Sure.  Whatever you say."

There was no response as Jessica poured the hot water over her coffee.

"So, what do I do then?  Make three wishes and then get killed in some kind of ceremony as a ritual sacrifice?"

"Ritual sacrifice?  Oh please, I haven't done that kind of thing since the Middle Ages."

"You’ll have to excuse me, I haven't kept up to date with my classes on Satanic Worship."

"And it's four wishes, not three."

She held her hand to her chest and faked a gasp.  "Oh, I am so sorry," she mocked.  "I wasn’t aware you were so ..." she turned to face her and immediately stopped, rendered speechless at the sight before her.

Taeyeon hadn't moved from her seat at all, and yet had somehow completely changed.  Gone were her blonde locks, replaced with the darkest black curls, darker than in her debut years, and yet shining and glistening with light.  Gone too was her modern punk-esque outfit, replaced with the tightest, most revealing red dress.  In her hand, she held the same glass of scotch she had been drinking from, which seemed to have been filled again.  Her fingers were adorned with long fingernails, painted with the shiniest, deepest shade of red polish she had ever seen.  Her lips sported an almost identical shade of lipstick, vibrant and seductive.  And whilst Jessica couldn’t see, her tatty sneakers were replaced with the sleekest high-heeled shoes with the most delicate and dangerous of pointed heels, red to complete her theme.

She was sitting there, a vision of uality, of seduction, a temptress to be lusted over by men and women worldwide.  And she was smiling.  The same innocent, naive smile she held since she arrived.

"That I was so ... what?"

"Where did ... how did you ..." Jessica pointed to her, dumbfounded.

"How did I what?"

"With your ... and your ...", she could feel her chest begin to tighten as her breathing quickened.  The immediate change in attire shocked Jessica.  She knew how dresses like that worked, and it required a team of half a dozen people and copious amounts of talcum powder or lotion to get even her slender frame into a dress that form-fitting.  But somehow Taeyeon had changed in less than a second whilst her back was turned, without any assistance whatsoever.

She looked at where Jessica’s finger was pointing, looked herself up and down and smiled flirtatiously.  “Like it?  Just a … little something.”  She gave her chest a little shake, bringing her attention to her bosom which clearly lacked the added support of a brassiere.

“How did you do that?” Jessica could feel herself backing away, held at a distance by the work surface behind her.

“Now that’s a secret between me and my plastic surgeon, Jessica Jung, and you know that,” she scolded playfully.

“No, I … wait, what?”

“Babe,” she advised, laughing at Jessica’s embarrassment and discomfort, “just buy into the whole ‘My Dad’s the Devil’ thing and we’ll save ourselves a whole lot of these embarrassing moments, ok?”  She smiled, gesturing to a nearby stool.  “Come.  Sit.  Let’s talk.”

Jessica looked hesitantly at the empty stool next to the apparent child of Satan.  She had heard the fables and the legends of what would happen when “in league” with the Devil.  She had heard tell of the consequences and the endless tortures one would endure by even speaking with Lucifer.  This felt, however, like just any other day to spend with an old friend.

A friend who just happened to be wearing nothing but red and was drinking scotch at an hour so early she was sure the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous was turning in their grave.

But she’s still a friend, she reminded herself.  Someone she knew and who knew her too.  And besides, if Taeyeon was dead set on making her suffer, she would have done so already.

She slowly walked to the stool being offered to her.

“It’s ok,” Taeyeon coaxed.  “I don’t bite.”  That flirtatious look spawned on her face again.  “Not unless you want me to.”

She took her seat, keeping as much distance as she could with her guest.

“See?  Wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“What do you want, Taeyeon?”

She looked at her mark, with a sense that she had been deeply offended and hurt.  “I want to help you, Jessie.  You have such enormous potential.  I don’t want it to go to waste.”  She reached out and patted her arm.

Jessica shirked back and folded her arms.

“So, you really are the Devil?”

Taeyeon nodded.  “I’m his daughter, but basically yes.”

“You don’t look like a Devil.”

She nodded again, conceding the point.  “I could have gone with this,” she argued, waving her arm in front of her with a slight flourish.  Immediately her face and skin turned blood red, horns protruded from her skull and her attire changed to a black pressed suit and cape.  “But this is just too cheap and tacky.”  A click of her fingers and a puff of smoke, and she reverted instantly to her previous, red-dressed form.

The change startled Jessica and almost caused her to fall from her seat.

“Oh, and before you ask, yes.”

“Yes?”

She nodded.  “The Devil is real, and so is God.  Although why everyone asks about Her is beyond me.”

“Her?”

She nodded.  “Everyone thinks God is a man, but wow are they wrong.”  She chuckled to herself.

“So … what’s … She like?”

Taeyeon stared at her.  “You’re sitting in a room with the literal spawn of Satan and all you want to know is what She’s like?”  She stood up, spun on her heel, glass in hand and walked towards the living area, her heels clicking on the floor with each step.  “You’re just like everyone else.  You all just want to know about Her.  Like She’s so fascinating.”

She waited a few moments and followed.  “Ok, so God exists.  And She’s a woman …”

“Yes,” she groaned, falling into the armchair and draping her legs over the arm.  “Now, can we change the subject?”

She stood in the doorway, arms folded tightly to her abdomen.  “I’m not sure I want to go through with this,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“Well … this whole ‘wishes for my soul’ thing.  Don’t I kind of … you know … need my soul?”

Taeyeon shook her head.  “Nope.  Souls are really overrated.  You don’t use it at all.”

“Well, if they’re so overrated and I don’t need it … what do you want with it?”

“Oooooh,” she smirked, “aren’t we the clever one this morning?”  She threw her legs over onto the floor and leant back into the chair.  “Let me lay it down for you.  You’re about to make one simple decision that could change your life forever.  You’re going to have the absolute power to get anything and everything you’ve ever wanted.  Your every wish can come true just by asking for it.”  She stood up and walked slowly towards Jessica.  “I’m talking a complete reinvention, Jessica.  Absolute control over your own destiny.  Rewriting your future.” She reached her mark and smiled, reaching her hand up and delicately her cheek.  “You want to be liked?  You want to be loved?  How about respected?  How about feared?  I can give you that,” she whispered.  “Pure, unfiltered control, every wish you’ve ever dared to dream of, all yours.”  She locked eyes with Jessica, a soft persuasion battling against a fearful barrier.  “All of this … for one tiny, insignificant little soul.”  She gave a slight pout, adding to the allure.  “I’d say you’re getting the better end of the deal, sweetheart, wouldn’t you?”

Jessica took a step back and thought.  It sounded far too good to be true.  But then the idea that she would be in the same building as the child of the Devil was equally preposterous and yet, here she was.  She thought about all that had befallen her over the past few months.  The chance to correct that would be nice.  And she would have control over whatever she wished for.  Full control …

“You promise I’ll get everything I want, just as I want it?”

Taeyeon shrugged, twirled and returned to the armchair.  “That all depends on you, babe.  You’re the one with the wishes, not me.  But I promise that I will do everything in my power to make it happen.  All you’ve got to do is sign.”

“Sign?”

She smiled and clapped twice as a thick manuscript appeared from above and slammed onto the coffee table, cover facing upwards.  “Just your standard boilerplate contract.  Sets out everything I can and cannot do, stops me from influencing you, changing the terms, that sort of thing.”

Jessica approached the thick document cautiously.  It must have been a good six hundred pages in length, bound together at the top with leather straps.

“‘I, Jessica Jung,’” she read, “‘hereinafter known as ‘The Damned’ …’ The DAMNED?”

Taeyeon nodded and smiled.  “It’s just a contract term, don’t worry about it.”

She sighed.  “‘I, Jessica Jung, shall accept the aforementioned and offered wishes which are to be bestowed upon me by The Devil or a representative thereof, with offices in Hell, Purgatory and Washington D.C., and will present payment, hereinafter set forth as one Soul, to be presented when these wishes are fully used.  These wishes are non-exchangeable, non-refundable, non-transferrable, shall not exceed a total of four, and shall be used within a total limit of seven days.’”  She looked up.  “I have a week to use all four wishes?”

She shrugged.  “Some people think they can get one over on us by using three wishes and then never using the fourth wish.”  She nodded, gesturing towards the contract.  “Read on.”

She looked at the document.  “‘Failure on the part of the Damned to adhere to any area of this contract shall result in immediate forfeiture of the aforementioned payment, with additional penalties as set forth in Section 4.’”

“Just your standard stuff, though.  Fire, brimstone, torture, endless repeats of ‘Jersey Shore’, that kind of thing.”

“Do you ever take anything seriously?”

Taeyeon looked at her confused.  “You have seen ‘Jersey Shore’, haven’t you?”

Jessica narrowed her eyes.

“Haven’t you?”

The silence hung in the air. “No,” she answered, slowly and precisely.

“Trust me,” she scrunched her face.  “You don’t want to watch it.  It makes Sunny’s cute act almost endearing.”

Jessica frowned, then turned the page and continued reading.  “‘Wishes are not granted by existential force, but by virtue of signing this contract.  The contract is symbolic of an exchange of goods.  A total of four wishes shall be granted to the Damned, after which the Devil shall make claim to the soul of the Damned in accordance with this contract and all of its terms herein.  Additional goods are outside the remit of this contract and subject to additional terms and conditions.”

“Translation: ‘No wishing for more wishes, .’”

“People really make those wishes?”

“Wouldn’t you?” she laughed.  “You have someone capable of making your every dream come true.  Stands to reason that you make sure every dream you have ever had and ever will have comes true too, even if you don’t know what those dreams will be.”

“‘Section Two,’” she continued, “‘Exceptions.  Not all wishes are permitted.  Certain wishes will be deemed in breach of contract.  These wishes will not be granted and will be subject to the penalties in section 4.  These wishes include, but are not limited to: undoing past wishes, an end to the allotted wishes, the removal of the Devil, or any other wish that will negate the purpose of the contract.’”

“You get four wishes.  Use them.  No backsies.  Once you make them, that’s when I get your soul.”  She patronised, although it seemed to be more patronising to the language of the contract than to Jessica.

She continued.  ”‘Wishes are granted ‘as-is’ …’” she paused and looked up.  “‘With no guarantee of satisfaction’?  I thought you said I get what I ask for.”

Taeyeon nodded.  “You do.”

“So, what does this mean?”

“Read on.”

She furrowed her brow and continued.  “’Whilst the Devil is obliged to ensure that the wish is granted as requested, no assurances can be made that the wish will be satisfactory.  It is the duty of the Damned …’” She looked up.  “You know, I really don’t like being called that.”

Taeyeon chuckled.  “Just keep reading.”

Another sigh.  “‘… the duty of the Damned to ensure that the wish is as desired prior to claiming.’”

“Basically, you need to make the right wishes.”  She looked at Jessica and smiled.  “You get the same guarantees in life, babe.  You,” she explained, pointing to her mark, “are responsible for making sure that you get what you wish for.  Not me.”

“Why?  You’re the one granting the wishes.”

“Do you order something that has cucumbers in it and then blame the restaurant for not knowing you don’t like cucumbers?”

“What?”

“It’s the same thing.  I provide the service I am asked to provide.  I grant the wishes, I make them exactly as you ask for.  If you wish for ten million dollars so you can buy that new house on the coast, you’re getting ten million dollars.  If you find that the price is actually eleven million, that’s your fault for not checking the market before you wished for the money.”  She raised her hands defensively.  “I just do as I am asked.”

She closed the contract.  “I don’t know.”

“Jessica, sweetie, listen to me.  You make a wish, you get it, just as you ask for it.  I’m giving you everything you ask for, with almost no exceptions.  If you want to bring people back from the dead, make someone fall in love with you, hell, if you want to rule the Universe, it’s yours.  All you have to do is ask for it.”

“Then what’s the contract for?”

“Protection.”

“From what?”

“From you.”

“Me?”

She nodded.  “You have no idea the number of people who claim I’ve ‘gypped’ them out of something they wished for.  Like, one guy wished for this huge mansion, full of stuff.  Hugely expensive stuff.  He wished for a yacht too.  He goes out on the yacht, takes it for a spin.  Comes back and the mansion is broken into, everything stolen, and nobody even knew about it.  He blamed me for it.”

“Was it your fault?”

Taeyeon sat up and held her hand to her chest, offended.  “Jessica, what kind of person do you think I am?”

“The daughter of the Devil?”

She paused for a moment.  “Ok, I’ll give you that, but no.  This gang broke in.  If he’d paid attention to the news, he’d have known that they’d been lurking around the area for a while.  And if he’d have thought about it, he’d have had a security system installed.  He didn’t do either, and his house was broken into.”

Jessica set the agreement on the table.  “Looks like an awful lot of paper just to cover yourself from a little ing.”

“Not just me, though,” she corrected.  “It covers you.”

“How so?”

“It stops me from tricking you into making a wish.  I can’t influence you in any way.  If you feel like you’ve been cheated out of a wish, you get to have your case listened to by the Devil himself.”

“So, Daddy has to decide if his little girl cheated some random person out of her soul?”

She nodded and pointed to the contract.  “That document is binding, to both me and you.  That document validates everything you wish for, everything you want.  It protects you from me and from my ‘evil influences’,” she waved her fingers, mocking those who would pass such comments.

Jessica looked at the thick document.  Something so detailed would surely cover every possible scenario where she could be cheated out of her wishes.  There would be little to no room for her to get out of it.  But it also meant Taeyeon couldn’t get out of it either.

“Don’t see why we need it, though,” Taeyeon added.  “I mean, She makes a hell of a lot of promises too but does She give anything to prove they’re binding?”

“Huh?” she looked up.

She pointed upwards, towards the Heavens.  “You get the promise of eternal fulfilment, perpetual happiness, in exchange for your lifelong servitude, based on blind faith and trust alone.”

Jessica mused on this, and then looked at Taeyeon, confused.  “So, which God is She then?”

“Come again?”

“Which God is She?  Is She the Christian God?  The Jewish God?  The Muslim God?”

She shrugged.  “All of them.”

“Say what?”

She laughed.  “You didn’t know that they’re all the same God?  That Christians, Jews and Muslims are fighting wars based on which God is the best, and they all believe in the exact same God?”

“Well … what about the Hindus?”

“Technically, the same God, just not the ‘God of Abraham’.”

“No, it can’t be.  They have multiple Gods.”

Taeyeon shook her head.  “No.  They have multiple images of the same God.”

She looked down, even more confused.  “So, which religion is right?”

“None of them,” Taeyeon jumped up and sat on the opposite side of the sofa.  “Religion is just something people made up to keep everyone else in line and justify a bunch of bad stuff, like killing gays or making slaves out of people.”

“So, She’s ok with gay people?”

She nodded.  “Doesn’t have a problem with them.  Plus, she kind of knew the world would be heavily populated after a while, and since they don’t have babies, the Earth has fewer people to house.”

“Huh,” she nodded, conceding to the logic.

“Not only that but, with them around, the world looks FABULOUS!” she laughed, mocking the stereotypical flamboyance often attributed to gay people.

“Tae, come on.”

“Ok, spoilsport.”  She calmed down and finished her drink.  Jessica hadn’t noticed how many of these she had been drinking, although she didn’t seem to be showing any ill effects.  “That contract is binding, though,” she declared, pointing towards the document.  “Once you sign it, I can’t get out of it.  If you don’t sign it, those wishes are gone.  You won’t get this offer again, Jessica; this is a one-time thing.  You say ‘no’ and you can kiss goodbye to getting an Emmy or a Grammy or a VMA or a MAMA.  No career.  No business.  Nothing.”

Nothing.  No future.  No hope.  Everything she had planned, all gone to waste.

She opened the contract and read the first page again.  She flipped back to where she needed to sign and stared at the solid line, weighing up her options.  It didn’t seem like she had many.

She looked to the side as a thick, solid black pen slowly rolled and bounced slightly from the side of the contract.  She lifted her eyes to look at the figure sitting next to her, arm draped over the back of the chair, cool and collected.

She took a deep breath and held it before picking up the pen and placing her signature in the fated spot.