Its been a long day. Today of all days you agreed to work a double. David had suddenly quit and you saw him on the news a few days ago. He won the lottery, the lucky fuck. Oh well, maybe you will pick a ticket up after tonight's shift. You look at the clock as you haven't seen anyone in about an hour. Its almost 3:30. "Bah, I will lock the door and do some organizing in the back." You go up to the door and lock it with a nice tactile "CLICK!". Toss in an earbud and start sorting some stuff. a few minutes pass and you hear a "DING". Huh, sounded like the bell on the counter. Then another, "DING! DING!". The hell?

You take out the earbud and walk to the front. Sitting at the counter is a very well dressed and groomed, wait does he have red skin? Horns!? "Hello dear." He says with a smile. "You must be new, I am Charles Xorn. I am what you know of as a demon. I am a servant to the Dark Lord and more than that his personal assistant. I have come to fetch his morning coffee." In all the time you have worked at this shop you have never seen something such as this. As the words fall out they hardly seem real. You notice his horns are a deep red and white, pushing back behind his head, almost like hair, gray hair even. he has on a very well kept dark black suit adorned with gold buttons, cuffs and even a simple pentagram lapel on each side of the collar. Gold rimmed glasses, and a single gold ring on his hand. His eyes are very cat like and match his golden adornment aside from a hint of green in his right eye. As these thoughts rush past you and your own attraction to them it seems he interrupts. "Ma'am, I apologize. Can I order please? I will be paying so there is no reason to worry. Just a normal coffee order for such a normal day." His words spark you and you go into a bit of autopilot. "Oh sorry, I am just uh.. you understand I am sure. What's the order?"

He tells you the specific order. Simple coffee, a bit of milk, a single scoop of peppermint and just a single pump of caramel. "This is what the devil orders? Hmm, I would expect that Chris Cringle orders this one.." You think to yourself silently. You hand him the coffee and he lays a single one hundred dollar bill on the counter. He smiles and simply says, "Keep the change, its the largest single denomination that I can give you unfortunately so it will have to do. Thank you for you and I will see you tomorrow at this same time dear." He give a gentle nod and bow and walks directly into the door. Except instead of hitting the glass he simply walks right through and goes down the sidewalk. You wanted to see where he went though! You hustle up to the door and unlock it only to look that direction and he is gone. "Drats, what the hell was that." Then you smell the typical smell of alcohol as the sound of a drunk man wanting coffee brings you back to reality.

You remember he said at this same time tomorrow. You look at your watch, 3:34. "Hmm, what's so special about this time." you think to yourself as the night goes on making coffee like normal. The night goes and you end your shift like normal. The money he paid was real and you use it to buy your own meal before you go home and get some rest. You wake midday from a call from your manager. You answer with a meek "hello?!". "Jessica! I think I need you to work the night shifts for a while until we can get someone who can replace David. I will gladly give you an extra few dollars an hour during this time if you can work it." Your thoughts go back to the demon and your curiosity. Well you do have questions and certainly you would like to get some extra cash. "Sure, count me in. So just the normal 9PM to 5AM right? Starting today/tonight?" You tell him with a bit of excitement. "Yeah, take the day to get used to the schedule. Ill compensate you starting from last night." He says as you feel the weight lift off of his shoulders. He would have had to work the night shift if you didn't agree so its does make sense.

Hanging up the phone you get a bit of excitement, even decide to get a decent lunch for once. Over your lunch you mull over your questions, at least the ones you can pick out of the thousands. Is the order always the same? Why my shop? What if the person didn't make the coffee? That last one makes you shudder a bit. Best not think about that one. Wait, are angels real too? This subject is just way too deep. You finish up and get a bit more rest before 9PM. Going in you are really busy for the times you expect. Keeping the place in shape and playing on your phone to pass time. Watching the clock tick by. "It's 3:30AM, a few more minutes." You say lightly. "What if I made the order early?" You start getting the cup out and grabbing things. A few minutes pass as your trying to get the stuff out. "DING!" you hear from behind you. "Oh, I was just getting things ready." You turn to see the same smiling demon. This time his suit is a bright white. All of the same accents but instead of gold they are a green, but his smile is just as deep and warm as last time. "Ah hello again dear. Glad to see you again this evening. Just the morning trip for the Dark Lord's coffee. Same as yesterday. Thankfully he has been in a good mood as of late. I like to think the coffee helps." He smiles a bit deeper and gives a mild chuckle. You smile and get him the same. Simple coffee, splash of milk, a single crushed peppermint and a pump of caramel. "Here you are Charles! I made sure everything was made fresh as can be. Hope he stays in a good mood!" you tell him as you hand him the coffee. He gives a bit of a haughty laugh and lays down the same payment as yesterday. "HA! You and me both darling! His bad moods are not to be trifled with. Maybe I can dodge them for a few more lifetimes!" He gets up from the bar where he has been waiting and steps to the door just like last time off to carry this prize to his master.

This same routine continues for many weeks and months with minor conversation each time. You have learned that demons retain their complete selves from their past life and that every demon fades with time until they are nothing. There are some exceptions and servitude to the master is one of them, the others you haven't broached as a subject yet. After some months that same ritual comes to pass. Only this time as you are making your way to the front something is different. Charles starts getting a bit more agitated and rings the bell three times, now four, five. Something is off. Charles looks as clean and well dressed as ever but his face tells the tale of tales. He has a very off putting mildly angry look with a bit of fear mixed in. Before you can greet him he snaps the order. "Just a latte, coffee and milk only. Quickly, time isn't a thing to be trifled with. Over the course of the last few months you have actually found that the exact time Charles shows up is 3:33AM. You also have figured out that when this happens time seems to stop or go very slowly while Charles is in the shop. So you know he is lying at this point. But you do not argue, you simply make what was requested. Charles leaves a handful of money on the counter and leaves. Not even a single shred of banter. He is a demon after all he isn't supposed to be nice. But this was different. You decide to go about your morning and finish up the shift like normal. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Nine o' clock comes slowly. Barely sleeping and worried what the dreadful time has in store for you after yesterday. The time creeps by on the shift even feeling like 100 orders are taken in less than a second. Finally 3:33 pops up on the clock. Charles once again has a very sour look and says "The same, just a simple latte and milk. Quickly...please..." The 'please' in his voice would be easy to miss if it hadn't basically been a whisper, and maybe a slight plea for help. You make the latte as instructed and try to talk to Charles. "What had the Dark Lord done to sour your wonderful personality Charles?" but there comes no answer. He gives the ever so slightest smile and puts the money down as he leaves. This time at least the one hundred dollar bill. After about 20 minutes of day dreaming the door swings open again and in your mind you hope its Charles returning. Unfortunately its not, and worse the two that just walked in are holding guns. One of them immediately runs to the counter rushing you so you can't respond. The other locks the door. The 'CLICK' almost feeling like the trigger was already pulled.