The Convergence of the Twain
Shadows reached out from every corner of the cavernous cell. Grime glistened upon the stone walls, reflecting light from a lone candle which stood in the centre of the floor.
Blood spattered the stone tiles around two huddled masses, one of which lay lifeless. The other kneeled amongst the puddle of crimson, covered. His cloaked figure trembled besides himself. The air reeked of rotting meat, the offensive odour was enough to make one struggle to suppress the urge to dry heave.
The kneeling shape of a man tensed as the air began to cool, a breeze originating from seemingly nowhere extinguished the candle flame and suspended the room in darkness. The body of the deceased figure twitched, before reanimating, back arching and face contorting in agony. Her eyes and mouth snapped open in a silent scream as a deadly cloud of thick black smoke forced its way from inside of her. The shadows came alive as they began to creep towards the convulsing woman, morphing into a deadly figure which stood in the centre of a bloodstained symbol of worship.
Crimson eyes gazed down upon the quivering man, who stared up at the brazen black shadow with a tear-stained face.
"Tell me, little man. Why have you summoned me here?" The disfigurement's resounding voice was tumultuous and sent vibrations through the concrete, rattled the man's skull and surely gave him raging tinnitus. The entity's vocalisation sounded to be an amalgamation of many voices, heavy on the ears and brittle in nature.
The anonymous cloaked figure peered up at the nondescript apparition and pleaded. "I beg of you- help me please-!" He choked, his eyes shifting around the room. Glancing anywhere but at the body clinging to life beneath him. His voice trembled but he remained resolute. "I've made a contract with another of your kind. I need your help to get rid of it," He let his hood drop to reveal his eyes. One of which was emanating a severe glow, the clear shape of a pentagram obscuring his pupil and rendering the eye completely blind. The mark of his, soon to be, prior contract. A marking which symbolised a promise between man and demon. A promise he was now breaking.
The monstrosity let out a breathy chuckle which weighed on his ears. "Once a contract is established it cannot be lifted. Only passed onto someone else through blood. Your next of kin must inherit the contract. Is that truly what you desire?"
The human male nodded vigorously. "Please! Do it!" His heart raced and desperation clung to his every quivering syllable as he endeavoured to save his own soul.
The demonic mass was smirking to itself. It knew how this would play out. Humans. it thought. All the same. All inherently greedy, snivelling, disgusting creatures.
"Very well then." A clawed, dysmorphic image of a hand reached toward him and passed right into his chest. He cried out as the demon took hold of his frantically beating heart, giving a squeeze in malice. Had he been able to see the demon's face, the look of sheer malevolence it was directing at him would have been painfully apparent. Enough to make his skin crawl.
The passing of a contract was a betrayal, the height of treachery. They both knew it. The Demon let out a hearty laugh at the human's suffering. "Yes, cry out, human."
Tendrils of smoke descended towards him, surrounding his body and entering him any way possible, extracting his soul excruciatingly until he collapsed in the drivel of his partner's blood. His eyes were glazed over, his face a mask of agony with the contract mark now gone, leaving behind a pale white orb in its place.
The reaper form extracted itself from its prey, jagged fangs protruding as it gave a gleeful grin. It bent down as its claws reached towards the now rotting corpse. "And you people say demons are the corrupt ones."
A manic cackle thundered from the beast. It gripped the corpse's neck and twisted, smirking in satisfaction at the crunch that followed. "How weak and feeble. Your bones, they snap like a promise."
Gentle light seeped into a quiet bedroom through a veil of white lace curtains. The still image of a young girl lay amidst a huddle of blankets and pillows. Perfect serenity.
A black silhouette stood at the foot of her bed, staring curiously. It made its way around the bed frame so that it was stood right over her. As it approached, her face became more and more distorted in discomfort. Her brow creased as a cold sweat graced her forehead.
A gloved hand found its way to cup her pale cheek. "My, what a young mistress you are."
Louise sat up abruptly, eyes wide and drunk with sleep. She stared aghast at the figure which stood over her. His striking appearance immediately caused her breath to catch in her throat. His raven hair framed a long, ghostly pale and narrow face, his lips curled up into a plastic smile. His tall and lanky frame was dressed all in black, towering over her, looking into her very being with maroon eyes. He was beautiful, though that wasn't the cause for her perturbance. He was too beautiful. Something about him was off. There was something of the beast about him and it made her want to run and hide. The way he stared at her, head tilted to the side as he watched her cower. It was predatory. Hunter and prey, but this wasn't the natural order.
The adolescent female scampered back, tumbling off of the mattress and onto the floor unceremoniously. The dark stranger chuckled, eyes dancing in mirth at the hysterically pathetic display. "Skittish are we?" His smooth voice held an arrogance to it that made the girl grit her teeth in frustration from her spot on the carpet.
Louise rushed to stand, taking several steps backwards. Her dishevelled blonde locks fell to her shoulders and stuck out at odd angles as she gripped a pillow to her chest, which had fallen off of the bed with her. Her trembling knuckles turned white. "Who the fuck are you?" She demanded to know. A hard scowl distorted her visage and combined with the agitation already gracing her features, morphing her expression into a sour concoction. The male in question placed a hand over his heart, a smile tugging his lips across paper white skin. "I am but your humble servant, given the current circumstances. It would appear as though your father's contract has been transferred onto yourself." His voice was pleasant but had an underlying darkness about it.
"My dad didn't have any servants contracted." She defied. They were by no means a wealthy family, the idea was almost comical. Who did this posh guy think he was fooling?
"Oh I assure you, he did. See here." His unnaturally perfect teeth pulled off a satin white glove from his hand. He took several steps around the bed towards the palpitating girl, who jumped back. "Stay away!" She commanded. He obeyed, standing rooted in place but presenting the back of his palm to her. Louise frowned, staring in wide-eyed confusion at the symbol on his ghostly hand, raising an eyebrow at his black nails. The contract symbol began to glow, to which Louise responded with a yelp of pain, collapsing to the ground and clutching her eye.
Her breaths came out staggered as she knelt whimpering like a child. The demon before her scoffed to himself. No human has acted in this manner before. How pitiful. He knelt down to her level and placed a hand on the girl's petite shoulder, noting how he could easily crush it in his palm.
She jerked away from his touch. "Don't touch me!" She glared up at him with newly mismatched eyes, frowning as she felt a wetness on her face. Reaching up, she quickly gasped at the sight of crimson coating her fingers. She bolted out of the door and into the bathroom, inspecting her reflection critically. The dark-haired stranger followed, appearing behind her in the mirror.
"My eye..." She whimpered at the pentagram symbol which had appeared upon one of her pupils, effectively rendering it useless. "I can't see out of it." She admitted lamely. Tears fell from her eye free of hideous markings and contrasted with the drops of red as they trailed down her opposite cheek.
She turned to the shadow form behind her. His eyes were glowing a furious crimson as he peered at the contract mark upon his prey, relishing in her torment. The scent of her blood brought out a pang of hunger in him that was becoming more difficult to ignore as time went on. The painful ache of hunger reminded him of the betrayal that this human's sire had suffered him. How he had burned, a raging flame. Oh, he truly despised humans.
Her wild eyes were saucers, madness coated her expression. Her voice was accusing- though disbelieving as she spoke the words, "you're a demon." Her statement burned on her tongue. Total astoundment radiated from her very being, she had never believed in such fanciful things.
His smug grin stretched across his angular face. "That, I am."
The adolescent swallowed the lump in her throat. "But what would my dad want with a demon...?" She phrased the question to herself, her words were almost inaudible. However, the demon answered anyway. "Power, young Mistress. Your father wished for fame and fortune. He signed his soul to me on the terms-"
"No!" She cut him off, glaring up at him as she leant heavily on the bathroom sink behind her. She clung to it as if it were a lifeline, as if it would cease the trembling in her limbs. "He wouldn't do that! And stop calling me that!"
The beast smirked. "Believe what you will." Louise shook her head adamantly. It couldn't have been true. She lived with both of her parents. Surely, she would have noticed if either of them had been involved with a demon.
"Where are they? My mum and dad?" She asked, attempting to hide the tremor in her voice. It almost made the demon laugh. "In the basement, little lady."
She stormed passed him. "And stop with the creepy nicknames!" She spat.
Louise marched her way through the oddly silent house. Her heavy footfalls thudded against the wooden floor, which echoed and disrupted the otherwise quiet Sunday morning. She had grabbed her mobile phone on the way down and was now stood at the top of the basement, brandishing it towards the darkened staircase. Turning the inbuilt flashlight function on, she began to descend. She noted the demon behind her, how he followed her like a shadow. A silent companion.
Once they had reached near the bottom of the staircase, Louise suddenly froze. The staircase creaked in distress as she hovered on the wooden step.
It stank. It was positively putrid. She covered her nose and mouth with her free hand, her eyes watering at the horrific stench of the room. The torchlight made the entire scene somehow more horrifying. Ominous shadows draped over the entire basement, however one thing couldn't possibly be missed.
The young woman dropped to her knees and let out a strangled scream. Her phone clattered to the ground, suspending the pair in darkness as she broke down into ear-piercing sobs that wracked her entire form. Her heart raced, she trembled all over and her face twisted in anguish. Bile made its way up her throat. All she could ask is "why?!"
In the centre of the room lay the cold, mangled corpses of her parents.