Deal With The Devil

[Gildarts]

A human. She needed to find a human. ‘Cause she had to ring Daddy, King of Hell. There was no one who wanted to make a deal here, no one at all. So what the Hell was she doing here anyway? Killing parasites like that vampire over there gave her no pleasure. Not even taking souls gave her pleasure. But she always found it in herself to snicker when she was able to win. Win by persuading them to sell their souls for their desires, win by being their desires, and of course, win by killing what they want most.

Of course she enjoyed the devastation, it always tasted so sweet, compared to what she had endured in Hell. The fire. The agony. Oh how it forged her into what she now stood to be. As for her before life, it was a lost fragment to a meaningless puzzle. All that mattered now, was the pain. Her ruby red lips curled into a frown as she glanced down at her attire, and then at the dead carcass of mutilated flesh. “You didn’t have a soul left to sell, maybe you ran into some bad luck, worse than me, or maybe, you thought becoming a vampire would save you from your inevitable fate. I wouldn’t even give you ten years, I’d give you twenty good years, just so you can have all that time to know that when you die, I’m coming to make your life a living Hell. That’d be a promise.”

The demon snickered sadistically, and stepped over his carcass, which twitched at her movement. She could’ve spat, but thought that he wasn’t worth the effort. Disgusting how the vampire wanted to drink her up, now that would make an interesting crossbreed. She’d seen people get addicted to demon blood before, it granted them temporary abilities, if they were blessed, but really, she was stronger than all of those fakes. And she liked the sound of being called, eventually, Queen.

The night air was thick and cold, she drank it in while her predatory eyes flickered from side to side. Through the parting of the trees, she saw a path in the shadows, and heard the whisperings of two young voices on the wind. Her keen eyes sharpened on their direction, and in a whirl of immense movement, she was there, standing behind one little boy, while his father begged for his life. Mercifully, the demon covered his ears, “You have ten second before I snap his neck.”

“Please no,” he cried desperately, “I’ll do anything. Anything.”

“You should know not to go out after dark, there’s worse things than me in this forest. I just stumbled over a vampire. Hah, he tripped in the end though.” Horror grew on the man’s face, terror lining the wrinkles that were accented by the fire at his feet. She liked the game, the demon drank every moment of it up, a smirk grew on her face. “Seven...”

Immediately something clicked in the father, determination sparked like flint in his eyes, and a gun was drawn. “Now daddy, you wouldn’t want to hurt dear Marco here with that thing?”

The boy at this point, was tearing up, her hands had slipped just in time to hear about the vampire. “Dad, help me!”

“Don’t do it, Martin, I’ll snap his neck before you can even pull the trigger. It’ll be like snapping a twig. You saw how fast I had him in my hands. I’m not your average human, and you sure as Hell don’t want to play hero when your precious son’s life is on the line.” The demon thrived off of the tension in the air, the suspense, the adrenaline filled her veins, the moment was pure bliss, for it could turn out even worse than the fate she had chosen for them, if ‘daddy’ got on the wrong side of her. She liked this human’s body, and wanted to keep it for a while. It was always an inconvenience finding the perfect spare.

“Dad! Please!” Marco begged. The demon smiled sinisterly. It was in this moment that Martin saw the evil in her eyes, a woman, of all things, but that was only the mask she bore, below her skin, she was a monster, that needed to be taken off the face of this earth. Martin looked over at his son, sniveling and not understanding that he was a hostage, only that he wanted to be in his father’s arms once more. But no, he was in her or rather, its arms. He had no choice. Sometimes lambs should be sacrificed for the greatest cause, eliminating evil in all its forms.

There was only one drawback. The female was right. He didn’t know if a bullet would kill her, even if his were blessed with the greatest magic in the land, there were still dauntingly powerful demons that could overcome anything but the might of God himself. Martin looked at his son again. A pity. But it had to be done.

The female had used her small form to hide behind his son. She could see the cold calculation in his eyes, the eulogy he was already writing for his deceased son, it was pathetic. But also, not what she had expected. She cocked her head, savoring the unexpected surprise as though it were gift wrap on Christmas morning. But the game wasn’t over yet. And the game was always the prize.

It looked like Martin too, liked to play the game, but he was gravely mistaken if he assumed he was the alpha predator in this situation. There wasn’t anything special about that gun, if there were, her eyes would’ve told her through the refined lens she always saw through.

“Okay, okay, you can have whatever you want, just give me my son back,” but the gun lowered slowly, insincerely. She was supposed to loosen, but real predators never take the bait.

“I changed my mind. I’m going to snap his neck, and then, I’m going to snap yours. Or maybe I should just watch you kill your son before I savor killing you. It takes a low man to slay his own blood. Do you think you’re righteous, old man? How many sons have you sacrificed before this. Marco,” she tilted her head, but not enough to give him a shot, at the sound of his name, the boy’s bones turned frigid, “Has daddy ever had a hunting accident with any of your other brothers?”

Marco gulped. The warm tears poured in streams, glistening bright from the orange rays of light from the fire, she nudged him again, asking for an answer. “Y-Yes... Bradley and Dad were hunting a bear, and Bradley never came back.”

“A... Bear? Is that what he told you?! In these woulds? Good ol’ jaws over there wouldn’t let even a mouse scamper past without sucking the life out of it. Poor Marco, daddy told you a lie. Now, he has to be punished. See, he’s still got the gun in his hand, he doesn’t love you. You’re just like poor old, forgotten Bradley. What do you have to say to daddy now?” her ruby lips firmed into a smile the color of blood.

Martin’s face flushed, she could feel the man’s shame steeping all the way over here. Polluting the air. Her air. It was fun, but she didn’t like the taste of shame. Maybe it was time to wrap this up. Humans were so predictable. The way the demon saw it, there were a few outcomes, given the human’s distinctive character traits.

Daddy: He’s got the personality of an old cowboy, too rich for her taste. He’s about fifty and his blood stinks of alcohol daily. He wears a whiskey tin in the pocket of his corduroy pants, held together around his waist by a worn belt of faded brown leather, it looks older than he is. His father used to beat him with that belt, she could taste the inflicted pain and emotion as she looked at it. And perhaps, his father before that. Daddy was a self-righteous little shit. Too full of drink and not enough common sense. He wore the shiny silver revolver on his belt to remind him that he is not only a man and a wife-beater, but also powerful. If he has his gun on him, he’s always right. Well, she’d take that idea away from him, respect is a privilege, just like smiling is. She didn’t like that Martin pretended to be a good man, a loving father, a wonderful and providing husband, and a well-adored townsman, ready to come to the aid of whatever form of government calling they might ask. Martin liked killing, whether it was his own son, or his father. Martin was a killer, and she saw through all his sins. She wanted to see Martin in pain, because those who inflict pain, deserve to get more than their dose back. Martin pretended he wasn’t a murderer, something she couldn’t stomach, perhaps because she did it too, but the main reason, was because she didn’t like to pity the competition.

Marco: Poor little Marco, born into a family that doesn’t love him. She could feel his heartbeat a mile away, pulsing with fear for his father before she even made her appearance. He’d just made a startling joke to the boy about killing one of their fellow townsman who had wronged him. But it was just between them. Marco had stared up in disbelief, denying it, and then asking if it was true. “I’ll tell you if you take a swig of this, son, but be careful, it’s strong. You’re coming of age soon, you’re almost twelve. You’ll need to man up if you’re going to survive in this world.” Marco shook his head, the little boy wanted to be a doctor, and he had seen how the mysterious potion called ‘whiskey’ had made his father beat his mother on the nights when they thought he was sound asleep. The horrors didn’t stop there. His memory goes further back than most his age, he was two, when his father broke the cat’s neck in front of him. Five, when blood splattered all over the boy’s clothes neither of theirs, but that of Sydney, his sister. He had been looking away, but it was labeled an ‘accident’ by the whole family. Marco had chosen to believe that, for the sake of his sanity, but deep down, he knew that his father had just had enough of her crying. Now it was Bradley, “But dad, why can’t I come?” Marco pleaded, “You said I was your favorite?” Daddy lied. Daddy lied. Daddy lied. No, of course he didn’t lie. He said he loved me. He also said that to Sydney. He said that about the cat. About mommy. I don’t like this family, they lie. Mommy said she was fine, even though I saw the bruises. I asked her to run away with me. “He lied,” I tell her. “Sometimes that’s what men do for the sake of their families,” she responds, another lie. Marco is sick of it. Marco thinks about taking daddy’s pistol tonight after he goes to sleep and ending him right there. To die asleep. That was never what he granted any of his other victims. No, Marco knew that his daddy liked to kill and make animals suffer. Marco knew that there would be no end to the killing, justified by the fact that enemies wore different faces, and the faces of those he once loved became useless to him. Daddy wouldn’t stop killing, just like he killed the monsters for the town. Daddy wouldn’t stop killing unless Marco took action.

The demon liked the cleanliness of the boy’s soul. The youth always had that in them, but when she tasted a killers soul, and ripped it from his body with the hounds, well, she could feel how good it felt to them through their memories. She was a little conflicted about this, since she liked to be the one causing pain, but hey, what can you do? You can’t be everywhere at once, and there are billions of people on this planet. Marco’s soul on the other hand tasted very sweet. The hounds liked the young ones better, but some demons don’t like to tempt the kiddies into making deals. Others, like her, didn’t mind at all. Every soul had value to the King, you just had to watch out for angel’s catching on. They would do worse things than burn your eyes out if they caught you in the act of corrupting a child, telling them mommy would be okay, and then granting their wish with a gentle kiss.

Marco was useful, she didn’t want to see him die just yet. No, she decided, finally, that she wanted to see him kill his father. But the boy was riddled with fear now. Fear of her. If she gave him the gun, she’d be shot for sure. And she liked this body. Maybe if she took all the bullets, save one, the boy would kill himself, no, he wasn’t pessimistic enough for that. Still, she could outrun a bullet if she had to. Maybe she’d steal his body instead, he was a nice-looking boy, but she didn’t think she could deal with his sad, ever-pounding backstory bothering her when she’d made a kill. No, she didn’t want to take Marco’s body. The demon waited a moment.

No matter what happened, she wanted to see Martin collapse, dead, eyes stilled and glossy before rolling up. The moment would taste best if it was gift wrapped from the son, to the father, she decided, and finally concluded she’d give that outcome a go. It wasn’t every day she met a boy who wanted to kill his father with daddy’s own gun. See, as a crossroads demon, Alexandria would sign the deal, sealed with a kiss, and then, she would go out and do the dirty work. After ten years, the hounds would usually collect the soul and bring it straight down. She didn’t always see this part, but since it was her contract, she felt it move through her with a strange sensation. She called this, “cashing in.”

It was more fun and less profitable to see the humans, pure in their stupidity, kill themselves. Why else do you think war exists? Demons need a show sometimes, and well, the popcorn, salted with death, is always savored on her tongue. Yes, yes, she decided, I’ll let Marco kill his father. It’ll be less boring that way.

“Three...” she said, remembering her place. “Daddy, are you going to toss the gun into the fire to save precious Marco’s life? Or are you going to shoot through him, hoping that you graze me before I speed closer to you? I guess I can’t do both things at once. Charge at you, and snap his neck. That’s what you’re figuring, isn’t it?”

“You can never trust a demon, Marco,” persuaded, and then knew, that the demon would kill his son anyway. It didn’t occur to him, the chance to save his son’s life. He was a lost cause. He, standing there, crying and begging for his father’s protection, in the arms of a demon. He knew his son was already dead.

“I’ll toss the gun, just give me my son back, he’s my last boy, my wife is getting too old to have children now, and I love Marco.” he said persuasively, hoping to stir up pity, or feign that his son was worth something to him. The revolver in his hand stayed still at his side. Still, in his hand.

“The gun, then, if you please.” She was bored now, tired of his games, the reason Marco was his last son was because accidents happened and he used the rest as bait for his game. This game. To kill monsters. Why else would you go camping in these woods at night? The people in the nearest town pitied and praised his father all in one motion, saying things like “Oh Martin, he’s so brave, even after losing Bradley to that vampire, he still goes out there, fearless, and serves the town to keep us safe at night.”

No, Martin’s more sadistic than you think, lady, Alexandria felt like saying, but it was a wisp of a memory, gone now, from his eyes. She liked the chase the best. She enjoyed learning about their useless memories and manipulating their emotions with them. Martin’s eyes held a hatred for her, and his own son. Marco was never the son Martin wanted him to be, but the difference between Marco and his other children was that he always obeyed. So he was useful, even if he was a pansy and a cowering little shit. That was it, none of the ‘love’ daddy claimed to have. How very sad. Alex could’ve yawned.

“One.” Alex announced finally, her eyes now turned black, and Martin pulled up his gun, instead of tossing it into the fire. The silver bullet spiraled toward the boy, with immense velocity. She didn’t think she could outrun it with the boy still in her arms, but her form was smoke before she dodged the beam of light. Then the forest was silent, Martin blinked and the light of the fire had gone out from the wave of wind that had hit him before the bullet could even hit the bark of the tree behind the demon and the boy.

“M-Marco? Where are you?” the self-righteous man played back the memory in his head. He hadn’t heard a ‘snap’ but he had also fired his gun, the waves of sound were still a shockwave among the many trees of the forest. His pistol was shivering in his hand, but he enjoyed the fear as he swept in a fluid motion across the shadowy trees. The fire below was ashes now, cackling at his ignorance, much like he assumed the woman to be. They were still nowhere in sight.

Next comes the twist. “Marco.” her voice murmured, they were a long ways off from daddy, “That was a scary situation, Martin almost shot you. You would have died.”

“You almost killed me too,” he sniffled, but he seemed less afraid being in her presence, than down the nose of his father’s gun. He liked women. He liked her, despite the fact that she’d nearly killed him for fun. She sat upon a log, him directly across from her. She smiled, motherly, he was too young to seduce, but she slanted her chest low enough for him to see down her shirt. He took a glimpse, she looked innocently at his eyes. Curious boy. Easy.

“Yes, but I was just going to see if he really was going to shoot you. See, I’ve been suspicious of your father for some time, and after the death of Bradley, I wanted to see if your father would strike again. And so,” she played the role now, of authority, maybe she was hired by the town, or his own mother. What would make the best twist? Oh, oh, Bradley himself. Behind the sympathetic eyes, she could’ve burst with the amusement, this was enjoyable. “Bradley had hired me, remembering the tale of how Sydney died while he was out of the house. He had no way to prove it, but he knew something had happened that was a choice, not an accident. And then he went out in the woods one day and never came back. I couldn’t save him, I couldn’t save your brother. But you know, I could give you the means to kill your father. To end this once and for all, he would’ve killed you, and now that you’ve disappeared, he’ll hit your mother again. She won’t ever run, because she thinks she’s still in love with him. She thinks she deserves it for being a bad wife. She thinks she has to stay in order to feed your sister, Brianna, who’s just two years old.”

Persuasive. True. Demons liked to use the truth to their advantage. Mixing in just a little bit of lies to sweeten the pot, icing on the cake. “Demons lie, my dad taught me that at a young age. You didn’t kill me because you think you can get me to kill my dad. Well, I’m going to tell you I won’t kill him.”

He had taken his stand. So naive. She could see his desire as sin in his heart, though it was mostly pure. It was growing, simmering there, ever since he was a little boy. The trick was always getting the humans to admit that the monsters were inside them. There were numerous tactics. Some work better than others, mostly, you just have to make the sin sound noble, “Well, if you don’t, who will? You see, he will go home in the morning, and you’ll be forced to go home too. Whether you run away from home or not, he will have failed in killing me, and you know who takes the blame for it? You know who gets bruises as consequences, where screaming is the only thing she can do to release the pain. But she can’t because she’ll wake the baby. Brianna might cry, and then, your father will get annoyed, pestered, because he doesn’t want to hear it. And your mother will jump in front of the baby, but she’ll be cast aside. His sights are on your sister now, and they’ll never leave. He lets your mom live because she makes his meals, does his dishes, cleans the house. Your sister does not of that, in fact, she takes away more of your mothers time to get the chores finished. You know Brianna is next on his list, and he’ll always continue torturing your family. And when it isn’t your family, its someone else in the town he doesn’t like and they get partnered up on a transport trip and the man is killed by the monster that they were sent out there to destroy. The killing will never stop. Not unless you stop it.”

It was in his hands, the ball in his court, so-to-speak. She could see it in his eyes. She had confirmed everything, every fear, that lay dormant in the backspaces of his mind. Confirmed the truth, the reason he has lived in fear all these years.

I’m good, aren’t I? I can’t even read minds and this boy is eating what I say right up. Years of practice, knowing the intricacies of what it takes in a person to kill someone. To envy. To fear. To want to wipe them off the face of the earth, or whip them into submission. You get all sorts of ‘wishes’ when you’re a genie, but your favorite to grant, are the kind that cause the most hurt.

Alex looked at him as he suggested exactly what she knew what was coming, “Why can’t you kill him? You’re a monster too. And Bradley hired you? I don’t believe it, still, you’re right about my family, I need to take my sister and run far away from here...”

“Or, you could save your mom the heartbreak, since all your other siblings have died, and grant her freedom too. She loves you very much, despite your father’s abuse. And Bradley did hire me, he summoned me to grant his wish, I’m a crossroads demon, I do that. I grant wishes. I can take the pain away. It was unfortunate what happened to Bradley, I couldn’t save him.” Mix a little sugar in there with the truth and eat it up, little boy.

“How’d he do that?” Marco asked, getting away from the point, but that was okay, she was a patient predator, closing in.

“You can summon demons like me when you collect a few herbs and sacred items, and then put a portrait of yourself in the box, bury it in the crossroads. I get summoned then and there, and have to listen to what you say.” She said matter-of-factly.

“Like... a genie? Then why did you want to kill me?” She sighed at his question.

“Bradley’s wish was very... Complex. He wanted me to prove his father was a killer. Not me, his father. So I had to do his bidding. The day he died, the camera I used was smashed and before I could conjure another one, he was dead, by the fangs of a Vampire, not the bullet of his father. I have to complete his wish in order to be set free.” Oh lying, humans are so easy, sometimes I believe half the stuff that comes out of my mouth.

“So you... Were never going to kill me?” Marco put together.
“If I wanted to, you’d already be dead. Couldn’t you feel how fast I can move?” And that was it, the ‘proof’ and evidence. Non-negotiable, and it clicked in his head.

It only made sense. Monsters only want to kill people, she didn’t look like a vampire, but Marco has seen some pretty convincing disguises before. He didn’t know what kind of monster she was, but like she had just explained, she was actually a genie. It only made sense she wasn’t going to kill him. It only made... “Oh my god.. Bradley knew he was going to die all along! Wow.. Are, are you a Prime, miss?”

“A... Prime?” she asked.

“A Prime, like, you uh, can summon people back to life and uh, conjure things out of thin air. Omni chose you personally, y’know? Have you ever met him before? Gosh, I hear the tales! And! Someone as powerful as you, must have met Omni. Or maybe you haven’t since you still have to serve people, and grant wishes. Primes are immortal, you didn’t look like you wanted to get shot...” He was a smart kid.

“I am immortal, I’m a demon, wish granting, it’s actually kind of hilarious,” she played along too, changing her disguise like a chameleon, to meet his expectations. “But no, I’ve never met this... Omni, will you tell me more, Marco?”

“Well for all Primes, you meet him when you’re summoned to the Omniverse. That’s where we are now. He’s bald and said to have no eyes. He’s very pale. He’s the ruler of this universe.” Marco explained. She gasped, exasperated, she couldn’t hold it back, if only the King were hearing this! He kept going, “If you’re a Prime, you can do all sorts of things, but if you’re summoned hear as a secondary, or born here, you’re not immortal, you can die, and your powers are usually limited. If you are a Prime, you come back to life even if you die. Y’see?”

“I sure do, wow, so even if someone wishes me away, I can come back?” she played dumb now, her voice was lighter and now girlish. She played him well.

“Sure, that’s what they say at least. I’m a secondary, I can die, and I think so are you, even if you’re strong, everything has a weakness. We shoot the beastly wolves here with silver bullets, that takes them down, for the most part. But if you want to be immortal, I heard a story about this one lady who lives in our town. Her name is Christa, she was serving on the guard for a while, but she’s not in this verse, she’s in the Vastly Deeps, so I hear, looking for her sister. Anyway,- oh! Verses are like, separate places, divided by portals that transport you so you can get to where you need to go- so, though, she was a secondary, her sister got shot, and she didn’t like that. She went up to the Oververse, where Omni is said to live, and uh, she came back immortal. See, I wouldn’t have believed it either, but you know, there’s this viral video of her coming back to life in front of the fountain. See, she died in this other verse, it was broadcast on TV too. Anyway, here’s the video.”

My, this boy is proving quite useful! I’m glad I spared him, for now. HA! In his hands he fumbled for a cell phone, its screen was bright in the night. On it, he searched something under the ‘Dataverse’ and it popped up, a second later. The girl wasn’t there, Alex thought maybe the human was trying to trick her, but his intentions stayed passive and she based too much on instinct to doubt it now. Still, the reality she was not on Earth sunk in for a moment, the reality that she was in some unknown place also sunk in. It seems however, that secondaries only get secondary information, like this boy, from his phone, she knew she must ask a Prime for more important knowledge. That would make everything clear.

His screen still showed a white room with a fountain, but suddenly, this blonde female blipped into existence, screaming. She saw death. She saw it clutching her throat, but now, she looked around, her skin spotless, she caused a bit of a fuss, and the camera shuffled before going blank. “She just appeared there! But that wasn’t even the best part! See, look at this!”

And she saw.

Intrigued, Alex asked, “How does one get to Omni? I want to meet him.”

“Hah, you sound like you want him to grant your wish.” he chuckled. But those terms reminded her of the final chapter in sealing the deal with this boy.

“I do indeed, I long to be free of this curse, granting people’s wishes, killing people they’re angry at, I wish people would just leave me alone, or Omni can take away my gift. You.. You could take it away, I can’t kill your father, since I am bound by a promise from Bradley that I would prove him a killer, but you can. You can end his killings, and that’ll prove everything!” she simplified it, and sounded excited. She now played the damsel, lost genie, servile genie. Done with granting people’s wishes and being caught in the deaths of everyone.

“How do you expect me to do that?” Marco asked. See, that’s how the demon knows she’s got him. It’s no longer a conflict to kill his dad, but now, he’s certain he’s doing the right thing. Asking her how to kill him, not claiming he won’t. It is at this point, she know’s he’s won.

“I think, in order to do that, I’ll need to grant one more wish...” she said with an innocent smile that she let leak into her big brown eyes. They shared a moment in the dark. She told him what he would need to do, young, gullible, brave little boy, that it was the only way to save them all, his mother, his sister, himself, and now even her.

And then, she sealed his soul away.

All with a kiss...