[Good Act] I am

I sigh and rub my temples a bit. Enslaving Sandy had been one thing. That could sort of be undone. I could probably command her not to remember any of it and then release her. Even if she did remember, at least she'd have the rest of her life ahead of her. But if I murdered Blake, that would be it. I'd be a murderer. Forever. Besides, I'm apparently the only wizard now. I'm the Sorcerer Supreme. The Rezzo, whatever that meant. It was time to act like it.

"Demon!" I commanded "You will inhabit my body. You will stay there and wait while we construct a new vessel to contain you!"

She just looked at me like the cat who got the canary. In that moment, I was sure I had made the wrong choice. "As you wish..." she said, a little too sweetly, and melted into smoke. She flowed around me for a moment, and I felt like I was suffocating... but it only lasted for a few seconds, and then she was gone. There I stood, and the demon was gone. Blake looked like 10 miles of bad road, and Lulabel looked like she wanted to find a hole to hide in, "Rezzo Cal? Is... still you?"

I cracked my neck. "Yeah, it's me. I think. I can sort of... feel it? Her?" I shook my head to clear it, but it didn't accomplish much, "So how does this work? If I have sex like this, will it feed the demon?"

Lulabel shook her head emphatically, "No, Rezzo Cal will not strengthen demon that way. Demon will try to take over Rezzo Cal. Erode sense of self. Whisper bad things into mind."

No, I won't. After all, this is our body now isn't it? I just want to live, stay on earth, maybe have a little fun.

That was weird. Clearly Lulabel hadn't heard it, since she didn't miss a beat in her explanation. "Rezzo Cal needs to stay Rezzo Cal. Do what he wants, not what demon say. Rezzo Cal will feel lust, needs to indulge regularly or will wear away at willpower. Stay in control. Not let demon make Rezzo Cal harm himself, or let willpower falter."

"So wait, I need to have sex when I feel the urge or it'll build up and wear away at my sanity?" I asked.

Lulabel nodded emphatically, "Lulabel help, Rezzo Cal's sandy can help, probably need more though. In current state, difficult to keep up with Rezzo Cal."

See? It's not all bad. We can have a lot of fun together you and I. I can help you master magic, I'll make you stronger, I'll make you invincible. There will be nobody who can stand in your way. All I ask in return is that you don't put me back in that urn or send me back to hell. I want to stay on earth. Is that so wrong?

I realized that, yeah, it probably was. No way would this demon be satisfied with riding shotgun. It'd been less than a minute and it was already giving me the come-to-the-dark-side speech. I closed my eyes, and thought very clearly as if trying to shout inside my head, Can you hear me this way?

Yes. You're talking to me? That's a good start.

It doesn't mean I trust you. What do I call you?

Anything you like. As far as my true name, you don't have enough tongues to pronounce it properly. Lilith will do, if you insist on a name.

How original. Here's the deal, Lilith. I'm going to make a new urn. How well you behave yourself in the time it takes me to figure this out will determine whether you go into it or not. If you want to stay out here, I suggest you make yourself useful. Do we have an accord?

You want me to help you build a prison for myself? And I thought I was the demon in the relationship. But fair enough, I think you'll find me very useful. Just be aware I can't help the effect I'll have on your libido, so try not to take it personally. You'll find it's still a net gain in terms of time to get things done, since you don't need to sleep anymore.

Her voice was like honey. My instincts were screaming at me not to trust her. I realized that might simply be because of everything I thought I knew about demons, most or all of which could be wrong. Then I realized that thought might not be mine, she could have planted it in my head... then I realized that if I doubted whether that thought was genuine, she must not be controlling my thoughts or it never would have occurred to me... and THEN I realized that thought might not be genuine either. About that time I started to get confused and decided to stop thinking about it. This was making our head hurt. Wait... our head? Fuck.

I called an ambulance for Blake, hoping that all he'd need to recover was a glucose IV and a good night's rest. Then I left. I called Sandy as we pulled out, simply telling her to pack an overnight bag and meet me at Rezzo's. We had work to do.

When we arrived at Rezzo's, it looked completely different. The boards on the windows and door were gone. The IRS eviction notice had been replaced with a sign that said "closed for remodeling, check back soon". Somehow, I knew that this was automatic. The wards had changed when I took ownership, re-configuring the shop to match the situation. Why did I know that?

It's called Sanctum Intellectus. You don't just own Rezzo's Magic Shop in the mundane way mortals do, you _are _the shop. If you stop doubting yourself and open up your mind, you'll find that you know a lot more. You know how much cash is in the register. You know where every item is on the shelves, what's in the back room, how dusty everything is... which is disgusting by the way, you need to get that undine of yours to work. This is your domain now. When you decide it's open, it'll be open... not that there's much of a magical community to shop here at the moment.

Sure enough, I could feel scrolls and staves on row after row of shelves. I could feel the subtle ripple of the place's magic pushing against reality. It hadn't been my imagination, Rezzo's was bigger on the inside. I couldn't read the books this way, I'd have to research the old fashioned way, but I could feel where they all were and what they were all about.

So we got to work. Lulabel re-shelved everything, and I got started on research. Sanctum Intellectus or not, this was going to be tricky. The Evil Containment Seal was serious magic, well beyond my capabilities at the moment. Lilith wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Lulabel has finished putting everything away, Rezzo Cal", Lulabel said timidly. I looked up abruptly, jerked out of my own head, Lulabel jumped, clearly still afraid of me because of the demon. At least, I hoped that was why, "And Rezzo Cal's servant, the Sandy, has arrived. She waits for you by the counter." I wasn't ready for the lust. By the time something roused me from my study, I already felt about ready to hump the chrome off a doorknob.

"Thank you, Lulabel," I said, as I got to my feet, "I think it's time for a break. Come with me." I led her back toward the register.

Oooohh this is going to be so much fun