April 30, 2019, LA
Everything started a Saturday night when I walked into a club.
At least it is early enough that I can reach the bar without bumping into anyone.
Moving toward my destination I started thinking of how this strange evening came to be.
My name is Alex, and I am a historian that came to LA to participate in a conference on the renaissance's cuisine.
I know that most will find this boring, never understanding how the dining and cooking had shaped politics in a period were famine was the greatest threat, but for me, this topic was needed to understand the mind and society of our ancestors, a society where you never know when you will starve and obtaining food was the priority of the masses.
Someone will probably ask why a renaissance expert was walking into a club full of partying people, alone, after a 6-hours long conference?
To answer this question I should first introduce my problem, I'm someone affected by social anxiety and chronic shyness.
Taking a stool, I ordered the first of a long list of drinks I will end up swallowing this night.
I decided to come here and submit myself to the torture of people because of a rumor I heard at the conference, someone was saying that the owner of this place can grant favors that can change your life, and while I didn't believe them I decided that I can at least try.
A night out will cost less than a shrink session, and at most I will end going home drunk and alone, again.
Taking the first drink I started thinking about myself, I was an Italian historian moping on a bar counter, inside one of the most famous clubs in LA, the Lux, drinking to find the courage to ask some girl out in a desperate attempt to go against my chronic shyness, while hoping in a miracle to resolve my problems instead of trying to resolve them in the normal, therapeutic way.
My shrink always says to try new think and live the moment, at least one of us will be proud of this choice.
Drink after drink, I kept thinking, unfazed by the passing of time and the changing music while people near myself ordered and left one after the other.
"Give me another one," I said to the bartender after finishing the sixth drink of the evening, realizing that even after six whiskeys I was not able to go to the floor and start dancing with someone.
Finally admitting to myself that I wasn't doing anything other than drinking in a corner I started sipping the refilled glass while observing the dance floor, where women and men were dancing around a closed piano with lust-filled faces, illuminated by stroboscopic lights in this room filled by alcohol and drugs.
"Is this seat taken?" A handsome man in an expensive suit asked with a British accent, taking the stool near me before I could answer.
"Yes...I mean no...You can seat wherever you want," my stuttering transmitted my lack of self-confidence in a way that made even the nearly drunk me cringe.
"Well, why are you moping inside my club?" A brief look of pity was his only response to my answer.
"You are the owner of the Lux?"I tried to collect myself while changing the topic
"Well yes, Lucifer Morningstar at your service," said the man with a little bow
"Alex Montanari...Wait, Lucifer Morningstar, like the devil? You changed it to impress someone ?" I ask while trying to dissimulate the amused smile that crept on my face after his presentation.
"Yes, and no, that's the name my father gave me" a smug smile appearing on his face
"Your father? You mean God?" I ask him failing to maintain a serious expression.
Seriously? I cannot understand if he really believes it or if he is only joking to maintain his pact with the Devil vibes.
"Indeed, and it seems someone has read the Bible," Lucifer said while gloating
"Let's stop with this charade please, I'm not here to play an RPG"
I'm here only to ask for a miracle to resolve my problems
"Pity, I love role-playing games, well sexual ones mostly... I remember a time with 3 girls dressed as a nurse, a doctor, and a lawyer, I was a poor man unable to pay for his medical fees, forced to pay with his body..." Annoyance mixed with envy and respect is clearly shown on my face while I'm forced to listen to his sex RP adventures until I can't take them anymore and I stop him.
"I heard that you could give whatever people desire in exchange for a favor, it's true?" A trace of hope appearing in my eyes while I ask the question that convinced me to come to this club.
"It depends, I'm no God, I lost my rebellion and got thrown to hell..." he started speaking with a serious tone "... But I'm the Devil so I can still change some mortal lives" until he starts again speaking of being the devil with a playful tone.
If he keeps saying that he is the devil I'll punch him in the face, I'm trying to change my life here, I don't want to listen to some rich and handsome dude with megalomaniac complexes speaking about his sex adventures. My face probably shows some of my thoughts because he finally stops joking to ask me a serious question.
"What can I do for you?"
"How...how can I know?! If I had the answer to my problems I wouldn't have been here right now!" I start stuttering again, enraged by his stupid smile in my state of drunken stupor.
"Calm down dude, and tell me...What do you truly desire?"
The voice of the self-proclaimed devil changed with his words, a hint of something on his eyes that made me lose focus, unable to respond with anything else than the deepest truths, the ones that even I wasn't fully aware of.
"I...I want freedom... And power... The power to be free, free from the control of others... free from fear... I do not want to be a sheep in a world of wolves, I want to be the lion that no wolf will attack... I want to feel the pleasure of the hunt and not the prey's fear." For the first time in our conversation, I can see something different in his eyes, a mixture of pity, sadness, and... understanding maybe.
"Well, that's unusual, most desire for sex, money, happiness, and power... Freedom is something that many take as a given...The hunter's joy when they catch their prey...” While he is speaking to me I can see the gears in his mind turning till an idea pops in his head”...I may have a solution to your problem but it will be...Peculiar" a grin spreading on his face as he says the last word.
"I don't care, if you can resolve my problems, I'll give you all the favors that you want in return!" I snarl at him, enraged by how simple he considers the solving of the problem that plagued my entire life, not noticing the way he has taken control of the discussion, still shocked by the revealing of my desires to a stranger and affected by the drinks.
"I pride myself to be an honest devil, and I will only take as much as I give...." In my drunken stupor, I'm unable to see the spark of victory in Lucifer's eyes.
"Where I have to sign?" A mixture of hope, rage, and his charm, enthrall me to agree with his words.
" Why not sealing the deal with a drink?" A glass full of whiskey appearing in his hand,
"Sure" taking the offered glass I gobbled it down in a single sip, wishing to disprove this charlatan, already knowing that no simple answer will resolve my problem.
"And...now?" I was not even able to finish the sentence that darkness enveloped me, and I fell unconscious on the bar counter.
If I were conscious at that time I will have probably remembered my mother's words "Nothing good ever happens when you make a deal with the devil after 2 a.m."
