by Cece Rose
“We have everything ready for the curse,” the same woman speaks again, apparently unruffled.
“And do you have something worth offering me in exchange for my teaching you the spell?” Solas demands, sounding as if he highly doubts that she does.
“We do,” she answers hastily, before turning to the man at her right and giving him a small ushering gesture with her hand. “Go get it, and be quick.”
The man complies without a word, heading across the large basement room towards a freezer, tucked away in the far corner beneath the stairs. Looking between the two of them, I can’t help noticing their matching red hair, blue eyes and fair skin. Siblings, maybe?
He opens the freezer and pulls out—
“What in the fucking cliché is happening here?” I blurt, staring at the people in the basement in disbelief. They’re going full on demon cult down here. The guy just pulled a woman from the freezer, which I’m guessing isn’t plugged in considering she doesn’t look all that chilly. She does, however, appear to be drugged, as he leads her stumbling across the room, letting her fall to her knees between the circle and the summoners. I can’t get close enough to really be sure, but other than looking out of it and having spent some time shut in a freezer, it doesn’t look like they’ve done anything to hurt her. At least I hope they haven’t.
“We couldn’t get any of the items you wanted, but you said you take souls as payment too, right?” the woman confirms with Solas, completely ignoring my objection to this insanity.
“You are correct. Souls are a demon’s speciality after all,” he answers in a more pleasant tone than he’d used before with her, laced with a poisonous charm.
“What spell could be so important that you’d trade some poor girl’s soul for it?” I cut in before they can continue, earning myself a glare from both of them.
“Just one moment, I need to speak to my lovely little witch here alone. I’m sure you understand,” Solas informs them, before waving a hand out towards the closest part of the circle. I feel the silencing spell roll through the air, and know that the people outside of the circle can no longer hear us. “You should be acting much more afraid of me, your attitude is confusing for the simpletons.”
“You know, I might be a little more afraid of you if you hadn’t just propositioned me like five minutes ago,” I inform Solas snappily, wishing he’d at least cut this shit out in front of the cult. They may not be able to hear us right now, but from the looks they’re giving me, it’s more than clear what they think. Great. Now I’m worrying what a freaking cult thinks of me sharing a bed with a demon—not that I am. Do demons have beds? I don’t even know whether they sleep or not…
“I think you’re lying. I think that my flirtation terrifies you far more than my threats,” Solas responds, cutting off my train of thought.
“I mean your attempts at ‘flirtation’ are pretty shocking, but they’re hardly scary,” I retort.
“You misunderstand me; It’s your reaction that terrifies you, not the act itself. Now, are we done with your little scolding, can I continue with my business? You might be content to stay in this little pocket of space with me for eternity, but I have other appointments to keep.”
“Just how many people summon you for this stuff?” I ask, truly more than a little concerned at how busy a demon’s schedule supposedly is. Especially if they’re all as human sacrifice happy as this bunch seem to be.
“Too many. Now, are you going to behave yourself so that I can get on with this?”
I swallow the snappy response that I want to give him, knowing that even if I kicked off enough of a fuss for us to leave right now, he’d still just come back here and make the deal anyway. At least if I’m here, maybe there’s something I can do to help her. Choosing to play along for now, I shrug. “Whatever. Just make it quick so I can go home and try to forget that you exist. And that you’re currently waltzing around with some of my stolen magic, doing goddess only knows what.”
“I didn’t steal anything, you gave it to me, and from what I recall you quite enjoyed yourself doing so.”
“Shut up,” I respond through my teeth, glaring at him as he smirks, as if he’d somehow proven a point. Which he definitely hasn’t…
“That’s exactly what I need you to do. Now, hush while I finish up my business here, I’ll return you to your home as soon as this is done. I’m sure your friend is quite concerned by now.”
“Like you care,” I mutter, as he waves his hand again, allowing the silencing spell to break.
“—don’t you listen to me, Marta,” the sound of the red haired man’s frustrated voice drifts over to us halfway through his sentence.
“I am more than capable of handling this myself,” Marta hisses back at him, eyes widening as she realises we’re now listening in. The others surrounding them look more unsure than either of the siblings do, sharing a few looks of concern with each other. They all look so absurdly normal, that them all being down here offering up a human sacrifice seems far-fetched. All of them are dressed casually, not exactly pandering to the all in black robes cult stereotype.
Maybe I can convince them not to do this?
“You don’t have to—” my words cut off, suddenly coming out utterly silent. I touch my throat in surprise, and try to speak again, letting off a silent scream of annoyance as I realise I’ve been spelled. Now it’s not the circle that’s been silenced, but me. Just freaking great. Even I can’t hear myself.
“Ignore her,” Solas commands, before smiling at the woman. “To be clear, you are offering me one human soul in exchange for teaching the curse to your group? You’ll need to drop the circle for that.”
“You can’t harm anyone else here while you're teaching us the curse?” she sounds unsure for the first time since we arrived. She should be, letting a demon out of a circle is just about the worst thing you can do when summoning them.
“If it’s specified in your terms, how could I?” he drawls in answer, as if it really is that simple.
“It is, specified, I mean,” the man responds before his sister, earning a smack to his shoulder.
“I said I’m dealing with this!” she reminds him, before turning her focus back to the demon beside me. “You teach us the curse to extend our lives, and in return you get a human soul. You don’t cause any harm to anyone else in here while doing any of this, and you leave when you’re done.”
“And you can’t take any of us with you to kill somewhere else,” the brother cuts in again, apparently not afraid to trigger the wrath of his sibling.
“I was getting to that,” she mutters, a slight flush tinging her pale cheeks.
A curse to extend their lives? There are much easier ways for a black witch to go about something like this. What are they doing?
I watch on, feeling utterly helpless to stop what’s happening. My magic is weak, I have no voice, and I’m completely out of my depth. I try to make eye contact with the girl on the floor, but her eyes are glazed, staring aimlessly around the room. Completely lost.
“Do you have any more terms to specify?” the demon asks in a genial tone.
“No. Just, the spell for extending life for the soul, no killing or kidnapping of anyone else here, and you leave right after,” she confirms, before swiftly adding, “Do you agree to our terms?”
“We have a deal.” Solas agrees, gesturing for them to drop the circle. Curiously, whoever is holding the circle doesn’t just release the magic that’s binding it, letting it fall on its own. Marta actually steps forward and physically breaks the drawn circle with her foot, the blood staining her light-coloured tennis shoes.
Pulling out a small glass vial from seemingly nowhere, Solas steps over the line of the broken circle and towards the woman.
“What’s that for?” she asks, sounding curious despite her obvious impatience and apprehension. She grips the shoulders of their human sacrifice, her nails digging into her skin.
“It’s for trapping a human soul.”
/>
Before anyone can think or react, Solas has his hand at Marta’s throat. Black, vein-like lines begin to appear along his arm as he tightens his grip, bringing the vial to her lips with his other hand. Her eyes widen in shock as a light, luminous energy escapes through her slightly parted lips. The glowing energy is marred by darkness swirling with the light, and I watch fixated as it quickly transfers into the vial.
Apparently done, he releases his grip, allowing the woman to stumble away from him. She’s silent for a moment, as if he’s cast a silencing spell on her too, but the moment is too quickly broken by an ear-piercing scream.
“Looks like I missed a little,” Solas comments casually, before stepping forward and grabbing her again. He doesn’t so much as blink as he draws the last wisp of her soul from her body, letting it flow into the vial before closing it. He closes his hand over it, and then opens it again, the vial now sent back to wherever it is he keeps such things.
A soulless Marta stands still, with a completely vacant expression on her face. Her muscles don’t so much as twitch, and I wonder if she’s even remembering to breathe.
“Mar?” a brunette woman calls softly, a weak attempt to call her leader’s attention. There’s no response, and still no breaths.
With an abrupt click of the demon’s fingers, there’s a shudder-inducing crack. The cult leader’s lifeless body thuds onto the floor, landing at an odd angle like a broken ragdoll.
I draw in a sharp breath. I can’t believe he just snapped her neck with a damn click of his fingers. So quickly and without any frills, she went from alive to dead. How the hell am I still kicking after all this time around him?
As if suddenly awoken from a daze, the rest of the people in the room spring to life, three of them running off for the stairs, whilst the brother and another man charge towards Solas.
The demon bats off their attack without so much as glancing in their direction, throwing up a magical barrier between us and them. Seemly unperturbed by their reaction to his murder of the leader, he holds his hand out in their direction, an old looking piece of paper appearing as he pushes his hand through the invisible barrier.
I can’t hear anything through the barrier, which Solas has clearly sound-proofed, but I can tell the man is shouting at the top of his lungs in complete rage. His face is almost as red as his hair, and he’s completely ignoring the paper being offered to him. I step closer to the barrier to take a better look, noticing the paper looks roughly torn from an old book.
Out of patience, Solas drops the paper, letting it fall to the floor beside the raging man. He moves as if to grab me and leave, but I step back, gesturing to the girl on the floor.
I mouth at him that I’m not leaving her here, continuing to frantically gesture between her and the two of us, hopefully making my point clear.
“Fine. I’ll bring her with us, and have your voice back; Your attempts at charades is even more frustrating than your constant complaining.”
There’s a slight tingle in my throat, and I whisper quietly to myself to test it out, wanting to be sure everything is normal. When my voice comes out how it usually does, I glance back at Solas, “Did you really have to kill her?”
“Trust me, once I took her soul her body was better off dead. I only leave them living after if they’ve really pissed me off,” he answers plainly, before leaning down and picking up the human girl as if she weighs no more than a feather. I step closer, nervous to leave him handling her for too long.
“We should probably get out of here,” I suggest, tilting my head in the direction of the enraged man pounding his now bloody fists against the magical barrier.
“Yes, suddenly the locals don’t seem so friendly,” Solas jokes, as if he didn’t just murder someone.
“Let’s just go,” I mutter, begrudgingly holding onto the demon so that he can take us back to my home. Hell, what am I going to do with the girl when we get there?
I’m not able to ponder that for long, as he wastes no time in portalling us back. We arrive more smoothly this time, at least, it felt smoother to me. The human appears to have been completely knocked out by the experience. Whether it’s because she’s human, or because she’s been drugged, I’m not sure. Do I need to get her a doctor?
I glance around for a sign of my best friend hoping that she can help, but it looks like she’s already left. I stifle a disappointed sigh, and focus back on the demon, who’s still holding the human somewhat ungracefully in his arms.
“Just put her on the sofa or something,” I instruct him, relieved when he complies without argument. I slump down into the chair across from her, and attempt to calmly breathe. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
“You seem surprised that I killed her, you shouldn’t be. I am a demon, and you would do well to remember that.”
“I’m not surprised that you killed someone,” I correct him. “It’s just I’m surprised it was her, and not the girl who was offered. Do you always trick your summoners like that?”
“Why, do you feel sorry for her being deceived?”
I think about it for a few seconds and then shake my head. Maybe I’d feel more sympathetic if she hadn’t just offered up the poor girl currently lying unconscious on my sofa. Seems a little too much like karma for me to shed a tear for her.
“The only soul one can offer in a deal is one’s own, whether willingly or not. Some forfeit their souls in pieces, thinking as long as they’ve got some of it, that they’ve somehow found a loophole. But I always get the whole thing in the end,” he explains, being more forthcoming than I expect from him once again.
“Is that what you eventually do to all the moronic people that summon you?” Myself included?
Damn my Grandma for not pulling the summoning ritual out from the grimoire. Something I really need to get around doing myself. No more witches in my family will be making this particular mistake. They can make fun new ones of their own, they’re bound to with our family curse anyway.
“I don’t take everyone’s souls. It would be bad for business if no one’s left alive to pass on my name.” He pauses as if thoughtful for a moment, before asking, “Out of all the people who have offered me a soul in a deal, how many do you think offered their own soul knowingly, willingly, and completely to me in exchange for their desire?”
“I have no idea,” I answer honestly, curious at where he’s going with this.
“Take a guess,” he prompts me, sitting on the arm of the other chair.
“I don’t know, it could be a few or a few hundred, I don’t know how many souls you’ve taken period, let alone the ones that knowingly agreed to it.”
“Just three offered their souls in that way, and there have been many thousands, too many to count or remember,” he answers, completely undisturbed by the horror of what he’s just disclosed. He continues on, unaffected by my stunned silence. “The first two to do so had souls as pure as light, coming to me only when there had been no alternative to fix their problems, and having nothing else to offer but themselves. So, imagine my surprise when a witch with the blackest soul I have ever seen summons me and immediately offers her soul.”
“What did she and the others want?” I ask, my burning curiosity helping me find my voice again.
“The man who came to me first wanted only to save his dying wife and the child she carried. The second, a young woman who herself was dying, wished only for her family to be protected and spared from the disease ravaging her village. She did not wish for them to suffer her agony. She could barely choke out the words of the incantation to summon me, and did not even attempt to cast a holding circle to trap me.”
“And the third?” I prompt, when he doesn’t continue.
“She wanted to die, to finally rest after an abnormally long life,” he answers more quietly.
“Did you give them all what they wanted?” Did he take their souls?
“The wife of the man and her child lived long happy lives, long for the time anyway, and the
woman’s family, and her descendants to this day, have remarkable health. The witch with the black soul, however, I could not help. Despite my attempts, there was no way to help her die.”
“So she’s still alive?” What kind of witch can’t die?
“I wasn’t able to kill her, but I did help her find rest in a sense. She’s been sleeping for a few hundred years now.”
“That’s one hell of a nap.”
“She’d been awake before then for even longer… now, are we quite done with our little question and answer session?” he asks dryly, as if he wasn’t the one who prompted the whole thing.
“Just one more,” I begin, deciding to push my luck. “How were you able to take her—Marta’s—soul? The terms they gave you specified a human soul… I just don’t understand how you were able to take hers instead. If you really keep to your deals.”
The corners of his lips turn up into a smile before he simply answers, “She was human. All of them were.”
Without a parting word, he’s suddenly gone, leaving me alone with the unconscious human, no clue what to do with her, and my messy thoughts.
I close my eyes for a few moments, leaning back in the chair. Despite witnessing someone being murdered by Solas, I’m not afraid anymore that he’s going to kill me. I saw it in the look in his eyes as he stared at my blood after the altar cracked. Whatever that test was he performed, I must have passed. And I’m uncomfortably certain that I’m going to pay a price much higher than my soul or death for it.
The demon may be gone for now, but he’s definitely coming back.
Nineteen
Love & Promises
By the time I get to Darren's place, I'm so beyond acceptably late it's not even funny. Having spent the rest of my day arranging for the traumatised human girl, Anna, to be returned home safely, I'm emotionally exhausted. All I want to do is sleep for twelve hours, but now I have to tell my boyfriend that I have to marry his best friend, or risk being murdered by an asshole fae king...