The Devil in Paris

Garrett could not stop a smile creeping across his face. Mlle Margot would have no idea just how long that experience really was. Yes, Mlle Luciern, it goes back a long way. Whether Madame could read his mind, which was standard fare amongst devils, or she caught a glimpse of his sly smile, she turned around suddenly and gave Garrett a jaundiced look. His face went neutral and he closed his eyes in compliance. He would not interrupt her behavior. Besides, it was an entertaining for a morning's visit.

"Now, Mlle.Margot. Virtue is all very fine and good, but to get a husband, or any admirer, a woman must use what attributes she has and more. A fine voice, the ability to cut to the heart of a man's desire just with the cast of your eyes, the flutter of your fan, ah! There is so much to learn, but we will persist. Now, M.Garrett, please attend to Mlle. and lead her around the room, s'il vous plait.

Garrett stood and offered his arm to Mlle. Margot. They walked around the large salon, Mlle. Margot only standing as high as his chest. He was a tall and well- built man, with broad shoulders, and Mlle. petite next to him. He observed her blush as she placed her hand on his and looked up into his face.

Entertaining as Madame was, he was beginning to have his doubts about her plans. He believed this young woman to be innocent. He rarely, now that he thought of it, came across a woman so -- uncorrupted, and certainly not in Paris. The thought crossed his mind: Quelle dommage, as Madame liked to say. Perhaps he would have his own plan for Mlle. Luciern. What was a little competition between devils? They had shared tender morsels before in their long history.

"Eh bien! Ecoutez moi! John, give me the advantage of your eyes. Tell me what you think are the best points of Mlle.'s figure. Does that style of dress, the color suit her the best, mon ami? Speak out loud what her beau would say, and let us see how Mlle. reacts to such praise!"

Ah, it was clear what Madame's plan was now! Madame was a terrible devil this morning, and she would have her fun at the expense of the painful blushes of Mlle. He decided to turn the game to his own advantage, and perhaps spare Mlle some pain. She, or course, could not 'see' his thoughts.

John Garrett cocked his head to one side, as if to appraise the young woman before him, but his mind raced with such pleasant thoughts. Scenes of Mlle with her skirts flipped up over her waist, her legs spread open and his purple cock posed at the door of her altar. Her tears spurting from her eyes like translucent pearls, as he contemplated the spurt from his cock, and the rush of Heaven he would soon savor as his cold member plunged into the warmth of her cunt.

Ah, her tears and screams of terror as he ripped through her maidenhood would only make his delight in this rape complete! It was a while since he had himself such a tasty morsel and he would enjoy it fully. His own cock started to twitch with his thoughts and he had to suppress a broad smile.

At that very moment, the old devil servant of Madame Gormosy slipped into the room and approaching quickly, whispered into the ear of his mistress. Madame cocked her head towards his mouth, and though she did not take her eyes from John Garrett and Mlle. Luciern, Garrett saw they grew dark with concern. Muttering some curses low under her breath, she rose and went with her servant from the room, forgetting her two guests.

Garrett took the time of Madame's absence to lead Mlle. Luciern to a chair and to sit down across from her. He observed Mlle. sink gratefully into her seat, and with a motion beneath her skirts, kick off one shoe.

"Ah, Mlle, does your foot hurt?"

"M.Garrett, I can not get used to these narrow shoes Madame makes me wear. I am not used to this fashion. And if you would know further, I am not used to these headaches. They are from my hair pulled from my head and pinned so tightly. And I can breathe only a little. Madame demands my corset be laced tight." Mlle. blushed, but Garrett could hear in the distress in her voice.

"Ah! I sympathize. Perhaps you think what Madame does here is far off the mark?"

"I don't understand what you mean, Monsieur." Another sharp kick under her skirts and off came the other shoe.

"Mlle Luciern. Forgive my blunt words, but Madame is an "old fogey" as we say in England. She means well, but she is generations behind in her thinking."

How many generations Mlle could never guess.

Tears formed in Mlle. Luciern's eyes, and she shook her head. Garrett could only sympathize.

"Here, Mlle. Let me do something for your comfort. I will take all the blame, but tant pis! I am an old friend of Madame's and used to her ways."

He stood and moved behind Mlle's chair. With practiced movements, he removed the pins from her hair and spread them from their high peaks and down her back. With gentle hands he massaged her temples and she groaned in relief.

"Ah! Bon Dieu, Monsieur. That feels so good. My poor head was about to explode. Madame means well, but she does not seem to suffer pain like the rest of us. I saw her put on a hat the other day and plunge a pin into her head. Mon Dieu! She said she did not hit her skin but her hair, but to me, ah goodness! To my eyes, it seemed to go through her head!"

Garrett smiled from behind Mlle's chair. In fact, he had seen Madame do this before and other such things and had warned her if observed her game would be over. Madame had laughed, she had been doing such tricks for centuries. Besides, the winds of Paris were strong and her hat would blow off if she didn't get a good layer of skin beneath her long pin.

"Madame has a thick skull, Mlle. Luciern", Garrett said with a droll tone. " She is used to all sorts of torture for fashion."

Garrett looked down Mlle. Luciern's bosom and watch the gentle curves rise and fall with her breathing. Too bad his plans for Mlle. did not include a seduction. He would like to savor those two young mounds in his mouth. But it would be a passing fancy and his plans for Mlle. Luciern's future did not include this fleeting pleasure. He had a more lasting pleasure to savor.

And his good friend Louis would be the poorer for it.

CHAPTER FOUR

John Garrett was standing behind Mlle. kneading her temples when Madame Gormosy entered the room.

"Ah!-- Oh no! What have you done to Mlle's hair, John? All the work and effort of my hairdresser! Ah well, it can't be helped now. Would you like me to leave?"

Madame's voice cut into the silence and Mlle. Luciern jumped from her chair. She had almost fallen asleep, Garrett's hands soothing her nerves. But she was young and obeyed orders, her face showing her distress.

"Oh Madame! Forgive me! My head was pounding and I thought I would be sick with the headache. Monsieur Garrett has saved me from my pain. Please, I beg you, I am very sorry about the hair."

Madame cocked her head at Garrett and raised her eyebrows. He just smiled and closed his eyes like an owl. He did this many times with Madame. It was his way of signaling he would not answer her questions. He could be as stubborn as Madame was persistent.

"Well, Mlle.," she said with a sniff, "if you are recovered, perhaps we can salvage this morning with a lesson." She would put aside her annoyance and continued with Mlle's instruction, but gave Garrett a withering glance first.

"Perhaps we can start with "The Art of Seduction". Do not laugh M. Garrett! Do not dare laugh. These are important lessons I impart to Mlle. Her future happiness rests upon honing what she has been given naturally. We must polish the apple some more until she can attract the fruitful nibbles."

Garrett almost groaned aloud. Louis was stuck in this apple cart.

Madame sat down across from Mlle. who had hurriedly twisted her hair into a chignon.

"Attendez-moi! Seduction by a man is his act of attaining the affections of a woman, of becoming deeply enamoured, and applauding her for her generosity and attention."

Garrett moved to the window where he could look out at the street below and listen to Madame. When he heard her definition of seduction, he almost guffawed. Ah, Madame, he thought. You meant to say that the great art of seduction is that of gaining a woman's affections under pretence of being enamoured, when you really despise the woman for her vanity and weakness in playing your game. But of course, your pigeon will know no better.

Again, whether there was an unseen current between thoughts, or Garrett actually did laugh at Madame's words, she whipped her head around to look at him, her mouth tight against her teeth.

"Ah, Mlle.", Madame continued. "Seduction is a little game between a man and a woman which leads to great results. Do not be discouraged by what the moralists think or say. Seduction is the engine that drives amours. Amour leads to marriage and to happiness in the future."

Mlle. Luciern nodded her head, seeming to attend carefully to what Madame was saying. She appeared to be a diligent student.

"Now, consider the fan. A woman can make a great conversation of love with just the flick of a fan. Regardez-moi."

Garrett watched Madame picked up a white silk fan from a little table by her chair and opened it, holding it just beneath her eyes. Isolated by the fan's whiteness, her eyes glittered like diamonds. Mlle. Luciern's own eyes widened at the effect.

"When you put the fan's handle to your lips, you are saying "Kiss me." When you twirl the fan in the left hand, you signal: "We are being watched." Fan held over the left ear means: "I wish to get rid of you. Allez!" Fanning yourself slowly, ever so slowly means, "I am married." Fanning quickly, "I am engaged." Hiding the eyes behind a fully opened fan, like so, means "I love you." Now, Mlle., you show me what you have learned from my efforts."

Mlle. Luciern took the fan from Madame's hand and did as she was told. She hesitated on a number of turns, but Garrett thought that was to be expected.

"Eh bien! Now, we will extend the lesson. With the flick of the fan like so—" Madame started another lesson of the fan, when she noticed large tears collecting in the eyes of Mlle. Luciern. Suddenly Mlle. burst out crying and threw herself dramatically onto the floor, clutching the skirts of Madame Gormosy.

"What in Hell's name—". Madame forgot her manners and looked with surprise at the young woman now sobbing into the fabric of Madame's dress.

"Oh, Madame Gormosy, I can no longer deceive you! I am already engaged, though my maman does not know of this. She suspects something but she would die a thousand deaths if she knew all!"

Madame Gormosy stood up suddenly and moved from the clutches of the young woman as she would at a grabbing beggar. She looked down at her, a cold sneer on her face.

"Ah. So, my time and efforts are to be wasted on you? Well, who is he, this great beau of yours? Is he a groom? Your maman's steward? Who, girl, out with it. Do not defy me!"

Mlle. Luciern stayed on her knees, her face streaming with her tears, her hands clasped in supplication before her.

"Madame, my maman did not deceive you. It was I who deceived you. My dear maman thought it was over for I steeled my heart and hid my emotions behind my books. I was determined to give him up, my Etain, but it is too late. I am expecting a child!"

Madame's breath sounded like a rasp in her throat and her face appeared blackened with rage.

"You little devil! You little whore! You come here, instill yourself into my tender affections and you have deceived me! Where is your honor? Where is your breeding? You are no better than a gutterslut! You mother will know what you are, why am I wasting words upon you? Out of my house, you whore, you little—"

Madame raised her hand and was about to descend with it across the face of the stricken, pale Mlle. Luciern, when Garrett crossed the room at the first words of Madame. He had seen her temper before and knew what she was. He grabbed Madame's hand and held it firmly so she could not strike the young woman. Madame whirled around, her face distorted with her anger and she hissed like a snake. At that very moment, she did appear like a viper, with her cold, glittery eyes. Suddenly her tongue flipped out of her mouth, a forked tongue like a snake! He had seen many tricks of Madame before, but this was a new one. Later, when he had time to reflect, he realized that it was not a trick, but very much a part of the nature of Madame. After all, he thought, the serpent figured in the story of Lust, and Madame Gormosy was, after all, the Demon of Lust.

Whether because of her passion or her tight corset, Mlle. Luciern's eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted away. It was a mercy. Mlle. would not witness what happened next.

John Garrett kept a hard grip upon Madame's arm, raised up in the air, and Madame continued to hiss at him. He knew devils could use more or less magic against each other, and Garrett played a waiting game with her. But he knew enough to put distance between them, and dropping her arm, stepped behind a sofa with utmost haste.

"You have lost, Louise, she is of no benefit to you now. Let the girl go with your blessing. Play the generous Madame and let her return to her mother and her fate."

"You!" Madame's voice came back to her. She no longer hissed like a snake. But Garrett observed there was no cessation in her rage.

"You would stay my arm? You, not even a proper Devil? The Archduke Abigor only knows what you are, yet you counter my behavior to this little slut? Do you know what I can do to you? I could turn you to cinders right now along with your friend!"

"But you won't dare, Louise, because of what Abigor will do to you. Do you want to try his humor? Do you want to find out what Abigor will do to you and all you know? Is this little woman before you, now senseless, worth the risk you take? And, knowing Abigor's affection for me, you know what fate you will have. There will be no fire of Hell hot enough to punish you. Abigor will cook up his own punishment. Don't chance it, Louise. Think about your beloved camel."

Garrett knew Louise Gormosy on a better day might have thought of her camel, but today she was in an inconsolable rage. She couldn't stand that Fate had frustrated all her fun.

It just wasn't fair.

But Madame Gormosy could not contain her anger, for it was consuming her before Garrett's eyes. Her face began to darken, and she began to stamp her foot hard on the floor. Within seconds she was jumping up and down, and suddenly she was on fire! Before Garrett could move, she was nothing more than a cinder herself, and black ash floated down to the floor, to collect in a puddle of soot.

Tant pis, thought Garrett. She will be back. She always came back.

A fortnight later.....

Garrett heard gossip Mlle. Luciern was sent home to her mother with a considerable fortune. He heard from impeccable sources this was to appease the mother but also to allow Mlle and her beloved to start life together.

The money went a long way to sooth Madame Luciern's passions over circumstances, but what could she do? Etain d'Aubringe did not have a fortune, but he did have an old name, and with the money given by the generous Madame Gormosy, Madame Luciern had her satisfaction. Her daughter was married, supplied with a fortune and Madame had the prospects of a grandson.

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That spring, a strange sight was seen in the fashionable boulevards of Paris. A woman, heavily veiled, with a golden girdle surrounding her waist and a crescent moon headdress, was seen leaving Paris on a large camel. Behind her walked her household, a collection of dark-skinned little men and women, who left sooty hoof prints behind them on the cobblestones. Paris had never seen such a parade, and this one passed in utter silence.

Except for the camel. She complained loudly with groans and spat upon all she could reach. But those who saw her-- the camel, not the veiled rider-- would long remember the intelligence that gleamed from those eyes.

The End.

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2008