A/N: Written in loving memory and in honor of my sister, Heather. 2/17/87 - 10/27/2014.
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Daryl Dixon is desperate to get away from his abusive father. A lifetime of abuse and neglect have pushed the teenager to running away for a successful second attempt. While staying with his brother's friend, Martinez, Daryl learns of a demon who makes deals with humans in return for their souls. His desperation is enough to push him to ask the petite blonde demon, Beth Greene, for help. But there's something different about this girl and it's not just that she is a demon. There's a pull between them, an attraction that may cost them everything. Warnings for discussions about abuse and neglect, smut, and supernatural entities.
Here is the first chapter. Let me know what you think!
Chapter One -
Daryl winced as he pressed a small ice pack to his right eye, desperately trying to lower the swelling that was already happening. His father had been drunk off his ass by the time the seventeen year old had gotten home from school and hunting. Daryl had hoped that his father would have been passed out by the time he got home so that he could quickly cook up the rabbit he had tracked and killed and disappear to his room.
The plan had been for him to meet up with a friend of Merle's when it got dark and the two would run off and wait for the older Dixon brother to get out of prison. The two would then join up with Merle and do whatever it was that Merle did. That plan went out the window, however, when Will Dixon caught his youngest trying to sneak in to the house.
"Where you been, boy?" Will Dixon growled. Daryl flinched on instinct at the sound of the old man's voice. The teen was glad that he had hid the rabbit in his backpack before walking into the piece of shit trailer his father called home. Otherwise, his father would have taken it and eaten it himself and left Daryl to starve.
"I asked you a question," his father's voice had dropped an octave as he stood, his gaze stone cold. If Daryl hadn't been so used to the threats, the beatings and whippings, and the glares from his father, this one would have chilled his blood in his veins.
Something had happened and had pissed Will Dixon off.
"I's studyin'" Daryl replied in a mumble, "got exams tomorrow." It wasn't a lie, the youngest Dixon boy really did have exams tomorrow but he had no intention of stepping foot in that school again.
After that was a blur of his father's fists.
Daryl gave a groan as he adjusted his position on his bed, various areas of his body protesting at the movements after the beating he had just gotten.
Screw it, he thought, I'm getting out of here tonight regardless. The teen moved slowly, quietly, through his room. He packed a few of his clothes into a duffle bag before turning to the window in his room. The trailer he had the last ten years of his youth in was falling apart around them and Daryl knew from experience that the window could pop out easily due to this. The teenager popped the window out of its frame and dropped his duffle bag and backpack to the ground before climbing out. He moved quickly, running to his motorcycle and climbing on. Daryl looked back at the hellhole his father called home. Years of beatings, whippings, and isolation at the hands of his father flashed through his mind and the teen scowled, started his bike, and sped away.
Daryl hoped his father was drunk enough to not realize he had left, that maybe he had passed out and wouldn't notice his youngest son was missing again. The teen had tried to run away before a few years back but his father hadn't been as drunk during that attempt and had stopped him and gave him a whipping like no other in his life. It had nearly killed him.
Yet, his old man never noticed when he got lost in the woods behind the trailer and went missing for nine days.
If Will Dixon had heard and noticed his youngest son leaving this time and chose to care about it, chances were high that Daryl wouldn't survive the next beating his father gave him.
So he drove. He pushed the speed limits and left the town he had spent his entire life in, traveling south to where Merle's friend, Martinez, lived and was waiting for him. He could stay with Martinez until Merle was out of prison, which Daryl hoped wouldn't be too much longer. Not that he really cared for his brother. When he was younger, Merle Dixon protected Daryl and made sure he was fed and could defend himself. Then he got into drugs and thieving and started spending more time in juvie than he did with his brother.
It had been a few years since Daryl had last seen his brother in person but he hoped Merle would let him stay with him. Merle was all Daryl had left now.
The teen pulled the bike up to a small cabin and turned the engine. Daryl gathered his two bags as the front door opened and Martinez came out.
"Will sure did a number on you, Dixon." Martinez greeted, his hand grabbing one of Daryl's bags and heaving it over his shoulder. "Come on, we can talk inside." Daryl nodded and followed the older man into the house.
"Got a rabbit in my bag, never got to eat it," he muttered once they were inside.
"Go ahead and skin it, use the kitchen." Daryl nodded and dropped his bag in the living room, pulled the rabbit out of his backpack and walked to the open kitchen. "Got more than them bruises on your face, don't ya?"
"Ribs hurt a bit," Daryl replied as he skinned and gutted the rabbit.
"Good thing you're getting away from your old man then. Not sure how Merle will feel about having you tag along. Been a bit since I talked to him but he should be out of prison soon. As long as he had good behavior, that is, and your brother ain't one for good behavior when he's locked up."
"Gettin' away from him ain't gonna fix anything though. I'd feel better if he died." Daryl muttered that last line, his bitterness at the years of abuse and neglect getting to him.
"Only a demon could kill Will Dixon," Martinez responded. "Probably need one of them Crossroads Demons to do it, too. Your old man won't go down easily, that's for certain." Daryl froze and looked up at Martinez.
"What the hell is a Crossroads Demon?" he asked. Martinez's smile dropped and he shook his head.
"Nothin' good, man. You make a deal with them at a crossroads for something you want and they ask for something in return. It's always gonna be your soul though." Daryl's face must have shown something because Martinez pointed at him sharply, "don't go gettin' ideas, kid. I promise you, it ain't worth it, if any of that hocus pocus is true. Your soul would spend eternity in Hell. Your dad ain't worth that shit."
"Dixons belong in Hell, though."
"Nah, only the bad ones. Like your old man." Martinez took a drink from a beer he had beside his place on the couch and shrugged. "It's all just superstition and fake shit anyways, Dixon. Don't go thinkin' it might work. It's seriously just shit you see on TV."
"Is that how you heard about these demons? On TV?" Martinez's face darkened for a moment and he shook his head.
"Had a friend who thought it was a joke to try and scare us with it."
"And?" curiosity nibbled at Daryl's gut and he found himself needing to know more about these demons that make deals with humans. Maybe, just maybe, his old man could be taken care of in a way that would take away the fear of being found and beaten or killed.
Was he, Daryl, really at a point that he would wish his father dead? His father had wished the same on him a few times. Daryl knew because his father had told him several times. Was it really so awful for Daryl to wish the same on his old man? Martinez's sigh pulled Daryl from his thoughts and he focused his attention back on the man in the next room.
"My friend…he put some dirt from the graveyard, a bone of his childhood black cat's that he dug up, and a picture of himself in the box. Said that that was the way to bring the demon out. He took us to the center of a crossroads and buried it." A brief look of pain crossed his face before Martinez shook his head.
"Nothin' happened, man. It's all fake. Hurry up and eat. We can talk more tomorrow. I'm goin to bed." Daryl could tell that Martinez had lied. Something had happened to his friend.
The demon makes deals with humans. That means that if he didn't want to accept the deal, he could walk away, right?
But Daryl didn't have dirt from a graveyard, a bone from a cat, or a picture of himself…he had no way of summoning one. Maybe he could summon one by just going to a crossroads? He had actually driven through one on his way here. The teen finished cooking his rabbit and ate it quickly, thinking through all the reasons why he should or should not go through with the summoning.
Only when his fork clanked against the plate in his hands did he leave his thoughts and realize he cleared his plate of his meal.
What the hell, he thought. The crossroads wasn't too far from Martinez's cabin. He could walk there easily, clear his thoughts and maybe back out of this idea before he followed through with it, and see if he could summon a Crossroads Demon.
Daryl quietly placed his plate in the sink and made his way to the door, pausing slightly before opening and walking out, closing it with a soft click.
This is crazy. Demons aren't real, he thought as he walked. Heavy woods surrounded the cabin and the sounds of insects and animals surrounding him calmed his racing heart. The woods always kept him relaxed. In the woods, there was no screaming drunkard, laughing kids, concerned teachers or DHS workers.
If I make this deal, my soul will be doomed to hell. The thought of being stuck in hell made Daryl's stomach clench.
I'm already doomed to hell according to my dad. Making this deal would just stamp a "RUSHED DELIVERY" to my forehead and send me down there sooner.
"You're thinkin' awful hard," a soft, feminine voice said from ahead of Daryl. The voice scared Daryl, surprised him really, and he jumped, his eyes swiveling ahead of him. He was near the crossroads and hadn't realized it with how deep in his thoughts he had become. The moonlight was bright enough to illuminate a petite blonde girl standing in the center of the crossroads, a small smile on her face.
She was astoundingly beautiful with wide doe eyes that were a gorgeous blue that not even the darkness of the night could hide. She was wearing skinny jeans that were tucked into cowboy boots with an unbuttoned plaid shirt on top of a loose tank top. The young woman in front of him had long blonde hair that hung in thick ringlets down her back.
"Wh…what are you doin out here so late and by yourself?" Daryl asked, unable to stop himself. The blonde shrugged, her smile widening and her eyes raking over him. The motion made the teenager feel a combination of discomfort and something else, like a pull that wanted him to get closer to the young woman eyeing him.
"I went out for a walk. What are you doing out here by yourself so late?"
"I…" I'm wanting to summon a Crossroads Demon, Daryl thought sarcastically. The woman's smile widened and Daryl felt his discomfort grow.
"Going for a walk, trying to decide if summoning a demon is going to help you solve your problems?" she asked, making Daryl take a step back in surprise.
"Wha…"
"This is a crossroads, you looked upset and torn on a decision and you're walking towards this area…I'm just assuming." The blonde's smile turned wolfish and Daryl found it to be the most terrifying smile he had ever seen. The pull grew stronger, though, and Daryl found his eyes looking the young woman over.
"Is that why you're here? To summon a demon?" he asked, his tone turning defensive. The blonde shook her head, her smiling turning sweet again.
"I'm here because you summoned me."
"What? I don't even know who you are!" he responded, doubt filling him completely for the first time since he left the cabin.
"Granted, you didn't have the traditional way of summoning me, you know with the graveyard dirt, bone of a black cat, and a photograph of yourself? That's really just a formality. I personally come anytime I see someone in need of a deal." The blonde walked towards Daryl and gestured for him to walk closer to her, something he did without thinking about. "My name's Beth, Beth Greene."
"Daryl," he began before Beth interrupted him.
"I know who you are, Daryl Dixon. You've had a rough seventeen years, haven't you? What can I do for you?"
"How do you know…" the teenager began again. His words were cut off when Beth smiled at him, her eyes changing to a red color that stopped Daryl's heart and froze his blood. It was then that he realized all of the animal and insect noises had stopped, that the area around him had been quiet since moments before he saw the blonde. "You're….you're the crossroads demon?"
"And you're here to ask for my help. Now that the pleasantries are over, what can I do for you?"
