by Cece Rose
“Saturday night?” I question, ignoring his.
“Yes, we will be attending a gathering of sorts.”
“A gathering? A gathering of what?” I ask, hands on my hips as my brow furrows in confusion.
“Demons, love. What else? And, it’ll be in the held in the demon realm, looks like you’re coming home after all, little one.”
Demon realm? Nope. Is he freaking nuts? Not a chance, that does not count as a reasonable favour. No way, no how. I open my mouth to tell him just that, but he cuts me off with an eccentric flourish of his hand.
“Now, now. I know where you’re going to go with this. Oh Adam, you hunk of a man you, we only agreed to a reasonable favour, this can’t possibly be reasonable,” his tone is mocking, a higher pitch than his normal voice. If he’s going to imitate me he could at least do it right. “But, love, you need to be more careful when making a deal. You didn’t even define what is reasonable, or who decides what is. It leaves the whole favour business wide open to interpretation,” he finishes. A self-satisfied grin takes over his face as he sees his words sinking in.
“Fuck,” I mutter darkly. I have such a way with words sometimes. I rub at my temples with my fingers. “Surely, you don’t get to define reasonable, as you didn’t specify it either?” I question.
“Ambiguity in a contract, love, it favours the one who didn’t write it.”
“I didn’t write anything!” I snap.
“And, whose fault was that, kitten? You were the one to vocalise the terms, ‘A reasonable favour. You can't ask me to do anything that goes against my morals, and no eternal servitude or anything stupid like that,’ I believe is what you said.” He makes air quotation marks with his fingers. “As the one to dictate the terms, you are in essence the drafter of our little agreement. Contra proferentem.”
I jump back at the sound of the Latin. “Don’t try and use magic on me!” I screech. Adam gives me a ‘what?’ look and then some kind of understanding seems to dawn on him as he laughs.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask. I cross my arms and frown at him. My anger deflating at not seeing any reaction from the magic he’s used.
“Just because I’m speaking Latin, doesn’t make it a spell,” he answers, the smile spreading wider across his face. “You don’t understand a word of Latin, do you?” he questions.
“It’s a dead language, why would I?” I ask, deadpan.
“You might like to know what the words, of spells you learn, mean, you’d hate to use a mislabelled spell I assume? Accidentally blowing up a building when you meant to purify water, although fun, would be quite the incident to explain.” I frown. Not wanting to admit the red-eyed demon has a point. It can’t be a good thing when a demon is giving you sound advice.
“What did you just say then?”
“Contra proferentem?” he asks. I nod, and he continues. “It means ‘against offeror’. Perhaps you should look it up, kitten. It would be beneficial for you to start learning some more things. It’s always much easier to learn at a young age, once you reach a thousand or so, it just doesn’t seem to go in the same to most of those old dogs’ minds.”
“Well, going to the demon realm goes against my morals, and I’m fairly sure, my going there would end in my eternal servitude, which also is one of my terms,” I counter, using the words of the agreement back against him. I can so learn to play this game too.
Instead of appearing upset, he smiles even more. “You’re learning. That’s good, you may just survive this mess yet, little one.” I huff at him and cross the room to my desk, perching there instead, seeing as Adam doesn’t seem to be moving from my bed. There is no way on this earth I’m sitting on my bed with a demon all cosy like. Never. Going. To. Happen.
“Your concerns are eternal servitude and breeching your morals?”
“Yes, that’s what I said didn’t I?” I snap.
“So, if I could guarantee your safe return here after the gathering, and that I will not make you take part in any morally questionable situations, you’ll have no reason to refuse?”
I splutter. He can’t be serious.
“Your moral compass is broken, so what you think isn’t morally questionable could be in fact, you know, tripping an elderly person up on their way home from bingo with their own walking stick, or even locking a blind person in a circular room and calling out, ‘dinners in the corner’!”
I huff, feeling pissed.
“Well, now that does sound like fun.” He arches a brow, giving me a cheeky smile. “However, because I’m an altruistic gentleman–” I snort. “In this instance, I am willing to acquiesce to your demands. The morality we will stick to will be your own, so do not fret, love, you will not have to do anything ‘outside of your moral compass’ as you so eloquently said.”
“Okay, so what the fuck are you saying?”
“I’m saying, my little, fiery firefly, you don’t have much of a choice, but I’m willing to bend my ways just for your delicate, little sensibilities.”
I snort again. “No choice?”
“Yes, the fine print that’s in all demon contracts.”
“Fine print? How can there be fucking fine print? It was a verbal agreement, you red-eyed mongrel!”
“Now, now, there’s no need for name calling, however, if you’d like to get technical, you’re the mongrel here. Now, it’s just a tiny, insignificant detail that is standard in all demon contracts. It’s just simply the fact, that if you cannot repay your debt, you just, well it’s no biggie . . . you pay with your soul.”
“MY SOUL? No biggie? Are you FUCKING kidding me?” I scream at him. He gets up from the bed and walks over, standing in front of me.
“If you don’t like it, then don’t play with demons, but as it is, you have no choice. I’ll be picking you up next Saturday. Oh, and don’t wear anything in that so-called wardrobe of yours, the clothing is hideous. I’d be a laughing stock walking in with you dressed like a homeless person.” Homeless person? Who the hell is he calling a homeless person? Wait, I am kind of homeless, but that’s beside the point! My clothes are awesome.
I poke him in the chest on each word to emphasise my point, “Get. The. Fuck. Out. Now!”
He narrows his eyes on me, grabbing my finger and squeezing hard. I try not to wince.
“I’m going, you crazy woman, but don’t forget next Saturday. Oh, and don’t ever poke a demon in the chest again unless you want your finger ripped off, or have a death wish. I’m a handsome demon that’s for sure, and somewhat more forgiving than others, but even I have a limit.” He releases my finger. “Until then.” He gives me a mocking bow. The air starts to thicken and pressure starts to build up in my head. Ugh, I hate this. And with a loud pop, he’s gone. A feather comes from nowhere floating softly down before landing on top of my head. I take it off and throw it angrily, only for it to land on my foot. Stupid, fucking thing, like its stupid, fucking owner. I start kicking it about, only to trip and fall over my own feet, landing on my hands and knees. I lift my head up to see the feather right in front of me. I glare at it. Even his damn feather mocks me.
About the Author
Cece Rose is the proud owner of one dog, four turtles, and one annoying boyfriend.
She hails from Devon in the South-West of England, but dreams of sunny skies and sand between her toes. Although, whenever abroad, she will moan about the heat and the sand that gets everywhere.
She has largely convinced all who know her that she is a vampire, mainly due to her nocturnal habits. In reality, it’s because her creativity only ever strikes when the sky is dark and the stars are shining. (Plus, it’s actually quiet enough to concentrate on writing.)
You can find Cece on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to join her Demon Den!
Other Titles by the Author
THE DESDEMONA CHRONICLES:
A Demon’s Blade – Released: May 2017
A Demon’s Debt – Coming: December 2017
FATED SERIAL:
>
Fractured Fate – Released: July 2017
Twisted Fate – Released: August 2017
Rejecting Fate – Released: September 2017
Accepting Fate – Coming: October 2017
Choosing Fate – Coming: November 2017
THE MARKED SERIES:
Marked by Power – coming November 2017
VENGEANCE – COMING DECEMBER 2017
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading. I’m hoping you enjoyed reading the third part of the serial! If you enjoyed it, the best way to let me know is to leave a quick review on Amazon! It doesn’t have to be super long! Just a star rating and a few words would mean the world! (And totally motivate me to write part four quicker ;) haha!)