A Good Idea Initially Brad wasn't going to bother coming to Scott's party - it was just going to be full of drunken freshmen and seniors trying to get them into bed. He drained the beer from his plastic cup and turned to look for his friend. He would just say his goodbyes and head home. Then, he saw her from the opposite side of the room. Flame red hair and a lithe, athletic body that swayed in time with the music in a way that was almost hypnotic. She, enthralled by her grace and almost ethereal beauty, captivated him. Her eyes locked with his, her finger beckoned him towards her. He felt himself moving towards her like some force was pulling him outside of his control. Brad found himself dancing with her, their bodies constantly touching against each other. She looked at him and smiled. They continued to dance in tune with the music - the beat pounding in his ears at the same time as his heartbeat did. That's when Brad became aware of the interloper. As they danced he saw him lurking in the doorway of the house. His eyes seemed to be burning into her as he glared at her. He looked like one of those irritating Goth kids who hung around on campus - dark hair, pallid skin and a ridiculous trench coat. "Hey, your boyfriend is getting pretty pissed." Brad said, struggling to make his voice heard above the music. She turned her head. "Oh, don't mind him, he's always cranky like this at this time of year." She said as she blew the stranger at the doorway a kiss. She turned back to look at Brad. He felt himself melt into her presence as she leaned into his frame. "You wanna go somewhere quiet?" the whisper was almost electric. "Sure." The word fell out of Brad's mouth. "Hey, look, what's your name?" "It's Lucy." They were walking down by the river, her hands all over his body as they slipped to the floor at the riverbank. She pawed at his clothes - almost tearing them from his body. Her lips sought his as she climbed on top of him. "Man, you're hot," Brad said between kisses. "You have no idea," Lucy replied as she pulled him close to her again. "Hey, why don't we make out in the river?" "What?" Brad asked. "Come on, it'll be fun." Lucy got up and skipped to the edge of the water. She began to splash about in it. She shot Brad a smouldering look which gave him all the encouragement he needed. He joined her in the water up to his knees before she dragged him down so he was sitting in the water with her on top of him again. Her kisses were more insistent now, there seemed more urgency to them. "Give yourself to me," she whispered into his ear. "Oh yeah..." Brad replied as he began to fumble with the buttons of her blouse. "Say it," Lucy whispered again. "I want you baby..." Brad answered. He felt her fingernails dig into his back. "Say it for me," her voice sounded hoarse. "Say those words." "Oh yeah, I'm gonna give myself to you baby, all of me, I'm all..." Lucy pushed him into the water, cutting off Brad's answer. The fluid covered his face as he found himself unable to lift up; the strength in her arms was unbelievable. Water began to fill his lungs as she held him down. His legs thrashed wildly. "That's it," Lucy growled. "I like it when they struggle." Even through the water Brad could see that she had a twisted evil smile on her face. Then he heard the voice. "Enough." It seemed to resonate through the air and Brad could hear it clearly under the water. A shadowy figure was standing at the riverbank and seemed to have Lucy's complete attention. "Let him go." "You," Lucy spat back. "I should have dealt with you at the party." She got up, dragging Brad out of the river. His lungs filled with air as Lucy hurled him through the air. He collided with a tree ten feet from the shore - his mind reeled from the act as well as the pain that racked his body. Brad managed to focus on Lucy. "Don't go anywhere, we're not finished." She stepped up out of the water and strode purposefully towards the figure that had intervened. Brad looked at him - and recognised him as the stalker from the party. "How many years is this now?" He asked her as Lucy stepped forward. "And college kids? I mean, isn't this just abit...predictable?" "Almost as predictable as your pathetic attempts to stop me." She spat as she suddenly flew at the stranger, spinning in the air and planting a kick squarely into his chest. The force of the blow threw him across the damp ground, churning up the soil in a groove. "Funny you should call it pathetic," he said as he got up, seemingly no worse for wear from her acrobatic manoeuvre. "Ten years running now and you still haven't managed to bag one." As he stepped out of the impromptu crater he pulled a branch from a tree. "Who'd think that one little soul is so hard to find on the one night of the year when you can go out there and persuade one to give themselves freely to you?" "There's a first time for everything." Lucy said as she stretched her hands out. Brad found himself stupefied as he watched her fingers grow into evil looking claws. His mind began to shut down as he struggled to his feet. He watched Lucy raise her hands - and flames engulfed the stranger. "Oh please," Brad could hear the voice as he saw the man step through the flames untouched. "Fire and brimstone?" He held the branch in his hands and it grew to nearly three times its length before the end expanded into a vicious curved blade. Lucy jumped at him, slashing the air with her claws. One of her strikes caught the stranger, tearing his clothes and flesh, only to have the blunt end of the scythe crack the side of her skull in retaliation. They traded blows, neither of them managing to get the upper hand from Brad's perspective. "Why? Why do you do this?" Lucy screeched as she tried to claw his face. "Because there's not enough real estate up there for four billion souls," he retaliated as he swung the scythe around, cutting the air above her head as she ducked a fraction of a second before it connected. "And I really enjoy frustrating you." Lucy screamed as she kicked him in the face, knocking him backwards. "They don't care about them, They gave up on them long ago," Lucy wailed as she rained a series of punches into his stomach. He tried to parry her blows and only succeeded in deflecting them to other parts of his body. "Peter, Michael, Gabriel, all of them! Why should you care about them?" The stranger responded by head butting Lucy, stunning her long enough for him to answer. "Someone has to, I figure it might as well be me." As Lucy recovered, the stranger stepped backwards and pulled a watch from his pocket. "Hey, look at the time!" Lucy glared at the stranger as he threw the pocket watch to her. She caught it between her monstrously extended fingers. She howled as the watch clicked around to midnight. Brad shook his head as Lucy was engulfed by flames and vanished. He looked at the stranger as he coughed up the last remnants of water from his lungs. "You okay there?" The stranger asked. Brad nodded, leaning against the tree to support himself. "What the fuck was that?" "That," the stranger said as he walked over to him. "Was Lucifer." "And...you..." "Me? Who do you think I am?" the stranger asked. Brad gulped. "Death?" "Bingo - you're a smart kid." The stranger replied. "Well, for the minute anyway." "Why...?" "Why you?" Death shrugged his shoulders. "No idea - but you're in the clear now. She gets one night a year at capturing a single soul - if they give themselves to her freely then it opens the floodgates and we have Hell on Earth, hence the reason I stopped her." Brad watched as Death pulled a cigar from his jacket pocket - although later Brad couldn't recall him lighting it. "No return visits as far as I understand so you don't need to worry about bumping into her again...unless you turn into a psychopath. You don't have any plans to work in the Post Office do you?" Brad shook his head. "Great," Brad said. "Hey, what happens...?" "To you?" Death continued. "Well, I shouldn't tell you, but you've been through enough for one night. There's a list up here," he said as he tapped his head. "You die a grandfather surrounded by your family." Death turned and began to walk away. "So, I'll see you around Bradley Gelbaugh." Brad watched him start to disappear from sight. "Oh, here's a tip for you though, stay away from red heads."