A Demon's Bargain

Faceless women grasped at me in the dark, screaming accusations that hurt all the more because I knew them to be true. Over and over again, I watched Beatrice McGovern die, heard that mechanical tone that signaled the stilling of her heart forever. I was unable to turn away; I knew she had died alone and suffering because of me.

With a pitiable cry, I awoke from my fevered dreams, covered with a chilling sweat and ensnared by my bed sheets. It was as I caught my breath that I recalled what was yet to come, and was inundated with a fresh wave of anguish and regret. Lola, an immortal, an angel who had fallen because of our contract. Cast away, wings severed violently and left to rot. I had both dreaded and longed for the day when Adonai would send me to her, and I knew that day had come at last.

I forced myself to shower, attend to my grooming, and dress with leaden limbs. I faltered at the entrance to my map room before permitting myself some time for reflection beforehand. I would never be truly ready, but I could spare a few moments more to try.

Was it better to admit to Lola that I had loved her, that I still did? Or was it kinder to say as little as possible, to leave that truth unspoken? How should I explain my unanticipated arrival?

I sat on my divan in the living room and stared at the fireplace over my mantel, as I had so many times before. For centuries, I had kept keepsakes there to remind me of Lola, something I had never done with another. Now I knew it was because I loved her. The thought of seeing her again, but only to say goodbye, squeezed my heart so tightly I was in agony. It was hard to breathe through all the emotions I had tried to suppress for so very long.

Dust regularly collected on my makeshift altar. I would brush it away every few years. It had been a while. I forced myself to rise and stand to face the mementos I had collected so reverentially there. I carefully blew away the fine coating of dust, cleared a small cobweb.

The two roses still hung from black ribbons, tied to nails I had placed. Lola and I had hung them together. I had given them to her as part of my well-calculated, painstaking seduction. That very day, she had signed herself away and given me her virtue in my bed.

One pale peach, the other a vivid orange; intended to represent the two of us, happy in our own little world. Indeed, for a short time, we had been. But my pride had warped my ability to see what I had with Lola for what it was. Without putting up a fight, in my immaturity and vanity, I had thrown it away. I had regretted it bitterly ever since, and now I knew why. Love was so terrifyingly beautiful, a force unmatched for both its destructive and healing power.

I had vowed to Lola to keep her roses safe for her while they dried. But, for whatever reason, she had not taken them with her when she had left, after discovering I had ended our contract. Like a coward, I had left when she hadn’t even been home.

I had spent countless days gazing at the roses, dejected and knowing I had done something wrong, though alternatives had escaped me at the time. I had protected them from time with an enchantment, and they were still beautifully preserved.

Above the roses was the ring Jinxx had made me, containing a barb of one of Lola’s angelic feathers. Another tool I had used to manipulate, it vibrated whenever Lola was intending to visit me or was close by.

But the most painful reminders were Lola’s goodbye letter and the broken bones that were all that remained of Lola’s once-magnificent wings. The raw stumps had gradually decayed as her body had rejected them, Yahweh’s punishment for her transgression.

Scowling, I made up my mind. The time had come, at last, to keep my promise. I would return her roses and bring her the remains of her wings. They weren’t mine to keep. Sentimentally, I slid the ring on my finger for the last time.

Carefully untying the ribbons from the nails that held them, I held the roses in one hand as I gathered the two shattered, ancient bone fragments in the other. Carrying my keepsakes, I made my way to the map room. With a head full of heartache, I gingerly set down Lola’s bones and clicked the button to engage my map.

The single shaft of light speared upwards from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Notes

Let me know how I'm doing: rate, comment, subscribe! :D