Adam Milligan had a nice life. Sure, it was hard sometimes, what with his mom being a single parent working her ass off to provide for them, but he was happy. She spent all of her time making sure he had what he needed, working, helping with homework, school projects, the works. While his dad visited every once in a while, his mom was the only constant for him. That's why, when he came home from college over the break to find her dead on the floor in the living room, he could only stare silently in horror. Until the man standing over her body holding a bloody knife cleared his throat in an attention seeking manner. Adam looked up numbly, not even afraid that he was next.
"Adam, I'm glad you could finally make it." He said, smiling pleasantly. There were no tears, and he vaguely thought that he was probably in shock.
"Why?" Was the one syllable he was able to choke out.
"Well, I need you desperate, desperate enough to sell me your soul right now." He said as if they were talking about the weather. Sell his soul? He would do anything for his mother. A litany of W hy me? Why her? Why us? She didn't deserve this, I don't understand was running through his scattered brain.
"Why would I do that?" was what came out.
"To bring her back, of course! I'll even let you stick around long enough to see for yourself that she is alive and well." He said like this was some sort of negotiation. He guessed it was. It all still felt like a nightmare he would wake up from at any moment.
"Wonderful, so it's a deal? Your life for hers?"
"Yes." The man hummed and stepped over his mother. He quickly kissed the young man. He quickly let go and grinned, his eyes flashing red as Adams mother sat up with a gasp. She clutched her throat desperately, trying to get air into her newly healed body. "Mom!" Adam yelled, but before he could reach out to her he was gone, and so was the demon. Kate Milligan was left sitting in a pool of her own blood, staring at the empty space where her son should be.
…
"Somebody help me!" Adam screamed from a hidden rack in Hell, unbeknownst to the King, who thought that the apocalypse had been prevented by saving the original Righteous Man.