The Devil and Brian Kinney

The Pre-trial Conference

Setting: : A Conference Room in Melanie Marcus's law firm. It is early the next morning, 18 hours after Brian's meeting with Melanie.

Brian Kinney, dressed impeccably as usual, is seated to the right of his attorney, Melanie Marcus, who also is dressed in a beautifully tailored dark suit. This is not the Ms. Marcus he is accustomed to seeing, although it is the one her firm and the courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania know and respect. She is the consummate professional, as much the master of her domain as he is in his, and for the first time, he feels more than a flicker of hope. Legend has it the Devil has lost before, and if anyone can pull it off in this millennium, more than his money was riding on the muncher beside him

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The receptionist ushered in a dark, handsome man; his looks and downright sex appeal rivaled those of the man seated next to Melanie. She saw him gaze at Brian with clear lust in his eyes, a look she had seen directed his way often enough to recognize. Shit, this could make matters even more difficult. Obviously, there was a reason, beyond the usual, that is, why the Devil was so eager to get Kinney to hell. It would be funny, really, if it weren't so serious.

"Mr. De'Ville," the receptionist announced, practically swooning as the visitor flashed the woman a seductive smile and nodded his thanks for the escort to the conference room. Great, Mel thought, the Devil is a horny, bisexual man; it figures. More proof, as far as she was concerned, that God is a woman.

"Thank you, Rose, that will be all. Please see that we are not interrupted."

"May I bring in any coffee, tea…?" the girl practically purred.

"Jerry has already taken care of it, thank you, that will be all," Melanie said, more firmly, taking the girl by the arm, leading her out and shutting the door behind her. Brian and she had stood as their adversary had entered.

"Thank you for meeting with us, is it Mr. De'Ville, you are using, as in Glenn Close and 101 Dalmations?" Melanie paused, offering her hand, and raising her eyebrows in inquiry. "While I appreciate your discretion, perhaps you would prefer one of your more historic names, less Disney? Say, Satan? Perhaps Lucifer? Beelzebub? "Old Scratch" is the traditional one for this scenario, I believe, if Benet is to be believed, although what it is you were scratching, I never did understand before today. Now, seeing where your gaze is lingering, I have my ideas," Melanie smirked, looking over at her client, who remained impassive throughout this opening salvo.

"Amusing, Ms. Marcus, and may I call you Melanie, or do you prefer bulldyke? Shark? How about ambulance chasing, bottom feeding, muffdiver? That way, I can be offensive to both your vocation and your avocation. Or may I suggest we skip this entertaining exchange of pleasantries and get down to business? I assume you are here to tender payment of the consideration, namely, Mr. Kinney's soul? There was no need for legal representation for same, let me assure you, seldom have I dealt with a more able layperson in my long and, if I may say it, prosperous career." The Devil smiled genially at Brian, his white, perfect teeth gleaming. Melanie squinted a bit to see if indeed they were filed to a point as rumored, but they were so blindingly white the light reflecting off of them made it hard to tell.

"Well no, actually, I have prepared papers that we are prepared to file this afternoon, before your deadline, which I note does not expire for six more hours, seeking a stay, and an Order to Show Cause why you should not be required to file a writ of execution in the Commonwealth like any other litigant seeking to collect on a breach of contract action."

"What! That is ridiculous! The Courts in this Commonwealth take years to resolve anything…"

"Well, no actually, the stay will be granted fairly quickly, and the Order granted, what will take forever is your counter action." Melanie sat back down as De'Ville looked over the papers. The tenting in his pants had long since gone down. She glanced over at Brian, who had written her a note on the legal pad she had given him to keep his hands busy, if he needed it. "Damn it, woman, his boner is gone but I swear you are making me hard." She stifled a giggle. This was far from over, but it was nice that Brian was relaxing a little. If he had been any tenser, she feared he would crack from the strain. They had been up all night going over the facts of the situation and planning a strategy. She had underestimated him. When he chose to be serious, he had an excellent mind.

"What if I do not recognize your court's jurisdiction, Ms. Marcus? I could take your client right now." De'Ville spoke softly, but the threat was clear.

"No, you can't." Melanie spoke with more confidence than she felt, but again, she gave thanks for her heavy grounding in Jewish law. Her people had been dealing with this particular opponent a hell of a lot longer than the Christians. The gentiles were junior associates when it came to this guy's tricks. Ask Job. God's random conversation with his buddy, the Devil, about how you were his favorite Jew led to a bet that gets your shit kicked to the curb and your whole family wiped out. Mel really hated the book of Job. Sure, God paid compensation in the end, new family and riches, the works; but did that really make it up to him? She pulled her thoughts back to the handsome Devil in front of her, throwing her shoulders back.

"God and you have certain parameters worked out and have had for thousands of years. Obviously, I'm not privy to all of them, but the traditions are fairly well established. When you enter into a contract, you must honor the legal requirements of the jurisdiction in which it is entered." Mel held her breath.

He nodded grudgingly. One hurdle down. Brian bumped his knee against hers encouragingly. He knew that had been one of their main worries and that small contact was the closest thing to a high five he could give her. He knew better than anyone the importance of image. He would have made a good trial lawyer, she realized, surprised.

"Two, there are weaknesses in your consideration, and you know it. Should we take this matter to court, you probably won't win."

"That is ridiculous, Melanie! We are agreed, aren't we, that it would be silly to be formal? Brian asked for three, shall we say, favors? Each of those favors was granted, were they not?" De'Ville smiled again, confident of his ground here.

"Why yes, Scratch, but will you be able to prove, in a court of law, that they were granted by you?" Gotcha, asshole, she thought, as she saw the gleaming smile stretch thin.

"His ass, I mean, his soul will be mine, Marcus! Obviously you do not expect me to simply give up my claim to it based solely on your paperwork here. I thrive on litigation, I flourish in courtrooms."

The dark face was not so handsome any more, as the gleaming teeth were bared in a definite snarl. Yep, those teeth were pointy. Their guest ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in two points. He treated them to a display of thunder and lightening outside the conference room's large, wall size windows. Brian actually gave that half smile of his as he gazed out the window at the streaks of lightening slashing through the previously sunny Pittsburgh skyline. She stifled a laugh. Even with one ball removed, he had bigger ones than any man Melanie knew. Moreover, she found his trust in her pretty fucking empowering. She turned back to their adversary.

"Here's the deal. We want a trial by jury, twelve of his peers; each side gets to call witnesses, and cross examine, verdict must be unanimous or it is a mistrial and the standard is in favor of the defendant, so you must prevail beyond a reasonable doubt." She spoke crisply, no way was Brian's soul going to hell, just when she was finding out he even had one.

"Fine, but I get to pick the judge from the living or the dead, same for the jury of the peers…" Mel started to object, to ask for normal jury selection but he held up his hand, saying warningly, "don't push your luck, Ms. Marcus. Furthermore, for any living person used in this case, it is in both of our interests, I am sure you agree, that they will retain no recollection of their participation in this little 'experiment,'" he raised a brow inquiringly.

"Agreed." She gritted her teeth. A jury selected by the Devil could be a problem. She had reviewed the jury Daniel Webster had been stuck with in his defense of Jabez Stone's soul and she knew this was not a good thing. She could just imagine what kind of jury the peers of Brian Kinney, as picked by the Devil, would constitute.

Lastly, I assume the sole issue to be determined, no pun intended," Satan grinned evilly, deliberately eying Brian's crotch as the latter moved over to watch the clouds that were breaking up in the sky, " is whether fair consideration was tendered for the payment demanded?"

"And any other issues as are warranted by the evidence." Mel coolly replied.

"Look Mel," Brian broke in before the Devil could respond; it was the first time he had spoken aloud all morning, "the 'sunshine' has returned." At that, an incredible smile lit his face and he looked over at his Nemesis. "You have no problem with what she said, do you?" Brian allowed his smile to remain, as he looked the Devil in the eye. He also just happened to have both hands in his pants pockets, his suit jacket swept back, which casual pose caused his package to be even more attractively displayed to his admiring on-looker. The Devil was practically salivating and Mel was sure he could no longer remember what it was she had said before Brian had interrupted.

"Fine, trial in three days." And with that, he was gone.

Brian and Melanie looked at each other, then he opened his arms and she fell into them for a bone-crushing hug. "Thanks for the distraction, it helped. We needed that concession."

"I remembered, from what you told me last night. So, we now have the proverbial snowball's chance in my future fuck palace." Brian collapsed into one of the leather chairs, and grinned up at her. "Why do I feel that if "whateverthefuckhisnameis" has his way, I will become his new bottom boy, and without benefit of lube?"

"Maybe because I suspect the jury of your peers is going to be made up of the twelve tricks you most pissed off who would just love to see that be your destiny, Mr. Brian Fucking Kinney."

" I am so fucked."

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