by Indra Frost
“S-stop,” the word was forced out with my panting breaths, and I was shaking in earnest now.
He slowed for a moment before his eyes flicked behind me, but he didn’t stop.
My senses flared out of my control and I could feel Jesse coming up behind me. The hope that he would kill me or knock me unconscious was strong. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold myself in check. Already the blue fire was trying to spread, flickering forwards and back as I fought to regain control of my flames.
Jesse was closing in on me from behind. I fought it, but instinct had me dissolving the tip of my whip from Blayze’s forearm to turn to the new threat. I sent my weapon flying, but my arm was stopped when Jesse gripped it, my swing going wild and my whip flying from my hand.
The pain and order overwhelmed me with his touch and I wasn't able to fight it anymore. A dagger materializes as I step into Jesse's grip, trying to kill him as I aimed for this throat. I was horrified as I watched, almost like I wasn't in my own body.
Jesse skillfully dodged my weapon, but I was just gauging his ability like I was taught. This wasn't a fight, yet.
My fear and sorrow are overwhelming me, and I was suddenly sucked into a vacuum. Time failed to have meaning before I was shoved back into my pain riddled body. I forced myself to slow down, not able to stop completely like before. I could see Blayze moving closer to the others who were yelling at Greg.
I looked back at Jesse, forcing myself to voice my thoughts while the demon was distracted.
“R-r-un. K-kill Greg, and r-run.”
His attention flew over my shoulder and I swung my dagger, watching as it slowly arched toward his throat. I shook, knowing Jesse wasn't paying attention to me, bit to whatever was happening behind me.
The sudden, overwhelming knowledge that I was going to kill him entered my mind. I knew that Jesse was going to die, could see it happening, and I was going to be the one to do it.
I screamed, forcing all my power, all the will I could muster and channeled it into one single moment. I dissolved my blade just in time, my hand brushing his throat, and bringing his attention back to me. All I could do was meet his stare as my arm fell limp to my side. I was nothing, a pile of ash. Burned to a crisp from the inside out. I had defied a direct order that I was literally bound to complete.
I was numb, no pain, no feeling. Only numbness as I felt something inside me shatter. Jesse looked at me with wide eyes, stepping forward. His hand hovered over my own burned appendage, not wanting to touch it and cause me pain.
But I was already dead. The contract was slowly killing me, and there wasn't anything they could do for me now.
"Alyth?" he whispered, horrified.
I just stared at him, something disconnected and broken in my head that wouldn’t allow me to respond. Warmth dripped down my face and neck. My legs weren’t able to hold my weight and I collapsed to my knees.
Jesse went to his own as he grabbed my waist, still not touching my damaged arm.
“Alyth!” Reed was suddenly in front of me.
My vision and sense of time was hopping, the ringing in my ears so loud I would have expected them to have heard it as well.
A lightness I had never felt before took over, bringing me back to myself for a moment. Gasping, I felt like I was taking the first full breath since I had left Hell, the chains holding me snapped. All the pain of the bond disappearing and saving what was left of my life. The physical pain was still there, but I didn't care.
I was free.
My eyes rose up to meet Jesse’s, a smile taking over my face. My burned arm was inconsequential compared to the breaking of the bond.
As soon as the euphoria faded, realization set in. If the bond was broken, then Greg was dead. And if they killed him, I would be dying soon as well.
My eyes flipped between Jesse and Reed who were both watching me, waiting for something. I wasn’t sure, but when Reed reached toward my arms, his magic made his hands glow blue with a hint of yellow.
“Don’t bother,” my voice was scratchy, and I almost started to cough.
I didn’t want him to waste his energy when I was bound to die.
Though, the longer I was here, the more I wondered if that was true. Maybe I wasn't bound to die, maybe I would get to live. To be free. Just when my excitement started to come back, I felt a pressure in my chest.
A new pain built, and with it, a new heaviness seemed to weigh on me. The chains that I had just been released from wrapped around me once again. Seeming to pull me in all directions.
My head swung back with a silent scream as my arms and legs snapped together and I fell onto my side. Jesse tried to keep hold of me, but he wasn't able to.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Walker ran over to kneel next to me.
“I’m not sure, she burned herself, then collapsed,” Jesse’s voice was full of emotion.
I hadn't ever heard that tone from him, but I couldn’t think through the pain to respond.
The pressure was becoming unbearable, the feeling familiar. This crushing, searing, binding pain that was happening.
The agreement that had gone down between my father and Selasi wasn’t one that involved my soul. It was a promise, not an actual agreement, which is why my father was able to break it so easily. The contract between my father and Greg went deeper. It was a contract that bound me to the demon in life and death.
This felt similar, but that shouldn't have been possible. I was supposed to be dead, not bound again. Unless Greg wasn’t dead.
Tears were escaping from my eyes, now squeezed tightly closed to fight the blooming pain. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I didn’t know what to do. It felt like it was never going to end.
“I accept.”
The voice echoed through my head. The chains locking around me and settling into place. The pain faded until all that was left was the dull pounding of the injuries I had sustained over the past couple of days. The burning from defying Greg was gone.
My shoulder blade itched as the brand there reshaped, taking on the form of my new demon master.
This time the tears in my eyes were for a completely different reason.
I wasn’t free. I wasn’t free at all. And now a hellhound was my master. A demon that answered to someone else now held my contract, and it wasn’t just my soul that my new master owned.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my Step-Mother - Brandy, my Aunt - Melanie, and my Mother - Amy. Your support means the world to me and I wouldn’t have been able to make it as far as I have without you guys. Thank you!!!
About the Author
Indra Frost is a fiction author who was born and raised in Utah where she currently resides. She has another day job, but hopes to become a full-time author. When she’s not writing she loves reading, food, and hanging out with family and friends.
She is also the author of A Gypsy’s Magic - At World’s End Anthology, and Candy’s Confections - Cupid’s Playthings Anthology, which are no longer in print. She plans to extend and re-publish both works on her own at a later date.
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Also by Indra Frost
Ringleader’s Revenge