*Warning*: Occasional conversation use of the "n-word." If you don't like it, don't read it. This is how people talk.

Fais Do Do

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"It's been a joy of highs/oh the pain of lows/I met a devil at the crossroads/I share a soul with a hunting hound"

The wind wouldn't stop. Eight days and it never stopped. The sun shined all day, but the wind blew little pieces of the red soil into Orry's eyes and made his skin burn on the walk to the crossroads. He could hear Hammer's resonant voice is he strained to see the road in front of him, "You gon go up t' tha fo' way road. Keep goin fo' nine days goin' on twelve in da night. You gon meet 'em dere on the nint day...."

He could feel the sandy earth rattling inside the body of his guitar. The brick-colored dirt built up everywhere, in his shoes, in his pockets, it even made his cigarettes taste strangely like the acid-flavored tomatoes of his grandmother's garden. If he wanted anything more than to get out of town, it was to find a place where there was no dried red mud for the wind to blow. Stumbling over a dry clod in his path, he looked up to see the road open up in front of him. An expanse in front of him revealed the stop and resume of the rarely used thru road, six or seven strides across. He sat on a log near the intersection, cradling the wind beaten instrument in his lap, glancing up and down each way, waiting for something to happen.

Staring at his feet in the lantern light, he sat quietly, feeling the storming dust stop its path. A figure wordlessly approached him from the North road. He struggled to stop himself from shaking as it grew closer.

The figure stopped in front of him, almost toe to toe, though all he could see was the hem of a full, old fashioned dress, although worn. He looked up, but all he could see was a faint yellow burning on either side of the being's face, "Is you Orry Parkah?"

He nodded fearfully, as a meek word slipped past his lips "Yassum..."

The woman lifted the guitar from his hands, wordlessly tuning each string. He could hear the eerie warping of the steel as she pulled the right sound from each one. She played a simple tune, humming along softly in her raspy voice. "You boy, do you swear to me ya eternal soul if ah teach yah dis here guitah?"

He swallowed as best he could deep in his dry throat, "Yassum... is you..."

"Am ah what boy?" She cut him off, the glowing outlined in a shade of red, "Deh devil which ya seek? Who do you tink ah was?"

"Mais ah was thinkin the devil was a..." he blinked, the clay still filtering from his eyes.

She shook her head, "Tell me now, did you really tink a man could teach dem niggas down in town 'bout deh hoodoo? Here yah go boy. Go home and play. On va. Ah'll be back one deh, maybeh sooner dan you tink."

She left him there sauntering back the direction that she came from, pleased at her new prize.

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"Once you've met the devil/There ain't way he'll let you be/when I'm not chasin demons/theres demons chasin me"

Not too long after, Orry Parker met his end while stumbling across a streetcar lane, reeking of whiskey and cheap perfume. His fame and talent had brought him out of dusty nowhere into the big city. Fate would have it that it left him there and went on without him. Of course, he didn't know that yet.

The crowd stood packed so tighly around the body that the police could barely slip through to see for themselves, and no one would move for a black man that they couldn't see. In truth, no one noticed the feeling of coldness pressing against them as Orry tried to pull him self up, or shove the gatherers out of his way for a better view. He couldn't figure for himself why no one moved, "Donchoo know who ah am, dammit! Move!"

A short figure with wide hips and glowing eyes stood in the alleyway, spying the young man as he jumped and strained and hollered. She shook her head and smiled at the excitement as she strode towards him. The feeling of a hand on his shoulder chilled him to the bone as he turned around and looked down to see a toothy grin and two glowing eyes. Shaking his head he started to pull away but her upstretched arm held firm. "Doncha know what ahm here for boy? We had a deal!"

He stuttered, his heart fluttered and his knees wobbled as he finally forced the words from his mouth, "Buh..buh.. but ahm not dead yet!"

The creature almost laughed, "Yes ya are boy, so for yaself!" She pointed a ragged finger towards the body the police were lifting into the bed of a truck. Orry saw his own body, his open eyes sightless, blood dripping from his gaping mouth, skin a dusty white, his physical form now separate from himself. He blinked in shock as the stout creature began to drag him away.

"Mais non! Ah can't let 'em jus take mah body!" Orry tried to pull away, but the creature tightened her grip on his arm, his body growing cold as her eyes took on that eerie glow.

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Lyrics by Devildriver & Kenny Chesnee, respectively.

Two-fer chapter. Yay!

For clarification purposes, at this point at least, Orry is a human. You'll just have to hang around to see what exactly the "she-devil" is.

Hope you all enjoyed it. Any creative criticism is appreciated.