I am seriously so sorry that I don't update much anymore, I'm really caught up with my school work, and I'm really awful at finishing things I've started, but I started a new story anyway? I probably won't update often, and I guess they'll just be random stories at the moment, but I'll try to update older stories...I hope anyway. Sorry if I've caused any inconveniences. And now for chapter 1!

A new soul.

Yes, that sounds nice.

And tasty.

Let's find one just yearning to be free.

I found myself in a large bedroom. Then my eyes came across a sitting, knees to his chest, a young boy on his bed. He was maybe twelve or thirteen. He was crying. He was angry. He was desperate.

Perfect.

He was yearning to be free from whatever shackles chained him.

Then his head turned and he caught the shadow of my figure in the corner of the room, watching him. His eyes were the same dark brown as his hair, which contrasted with his pale skin. He was thin and quite short, not the sort of person to stand up for himself.

"You came," he muttered, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Demon."

My blood red eyes lit up with a lustful hunger. Brilliant, his soul was filled with despair, all the more better to eat.

"I read about you," he said, growing more confident about the shadow-shrouded demon lurking in the shadows of his large home. His hand pointed to a pile of books on the floor next to him. My eyes skimmed over a few of the covers. They were each about demons and summoning them. He'd done his research.

"Your name?" I asked, getting the formalities over with.

"Darren Shan," he answered. "I want a contract," he told me, looking directly at me with hate-filled eyes. But it wasn't hate for me; it was a hatred for someone else.

"A contract?" I asked. That would mean me serving him for however long it took him to complete his goals. But, after that, I would get his soul. A good way to kill time, and I'd get a meal out of it.

Ahh, a meal of his soul; so filled with hate and a lust for revenge, but it also had a taint of selflessness, coupled up with so much pride.

I loved a soul filled with pride.

But he was fickle. Very fickle. He was also very confused; I could sense it. If I made a contract, I could expect him to change his goals, many, many times. If I made a contract, I would be with this boy a long, long time.

"Yes," he nodded, "I want a Faustian Contract," he said, having to remember the words correctly.

"What are the conditions you wish for?" I asked curiously.

"I want revenge," he growled, tears stopping, rage took the place of sadness.

"On who?" I asked him.

"Vampires," He answered.

My gleaming red eyes narrowed. Vampires, I didn't particularly like them that much. They attempted to breed with demons when humans first began to colonise this world. The lowly humans attempted this so that they could obtain the power of the demons.

The offspring were what I like to call 'cursed'. They had our brute strength and swift speed, but not our power and control. Instead of eating human souls, they settled half-way and instead drink human's blood. And the vampires nowadays had nowhere near the ability and magic my kind possess. They adored our ability to be comfortable in the dark. They got that, but they got something worse along with it. They would burn in the sunlight. They're not even immortal, like us, but instead settle for a lengthened life-span of no more than a thousand years. I can't remember how old the current oldest vampire is.

"I want to get revenge on them all for pumping their filthy blood into me," Darren seethed. "I make a few more requests," he said.

"Go on," I nodded, walking closer, the shadows following me, like they were unwilling to let me walk forward.

"One, you obey all my orders unconditionally," he said. I nodded, "Two," he carried on; "You protect me and never betray me until I achieve my goal." He said, I nodded, "And three," He added, "You will never lie to me,"

I nodded in reply. "And after you achieve your goals, I will devour your soul, is this what you wish."

"Yes," he said.

"You wish to abandon the light and walk the path to hell?" I asked him.

"I'm already walking it," he grumbled stubbornly.

"Very well, and you are sure this is what you want?" I asked. He nodded without saying any words. "Well then, now we mark our bodies with the contract seal." I told him, "The more visible the place where the seal is, the stronger its power. Where would you like me to place th-"

"I don't care," he interrupted, "Anywhere is fine,"

"Fine," I answered. My glowing red eyes lit up with a spark of sadistic pleasure, "What about over your heart, where all that pride can flourish," I grinned.

I upon him before he could say anything. My hand had appeared from the shadows and slammed down hard on his chest as I etched the seal onto his body.

As the seal was being engraved into his chest, it was also being imprinted on the back of my right hand. It was a searing pain. But a demon was use to pain.

He began to scream, but I clamped my hand down over his mouth, wouldn't want anyone disrupting our meeting.

Pain. All he knew was pain. Pain was his world at that moment.

He thrashed until I finally removed my hand.

He was panting hard, rage forgotten. He looked at me, and then at my hand, the one that was dripping blood. Then his eyes travelled to his chest. Blood was seeping through the blue material of his shirt. He slipped it off and examined the seal.

It was a purple pentacle.

"What form do you wish for me to take?" I asked him.

"Hm?" he frowned.

"I doubt you would like me to stay like this," I told him, gesturing to my current form. I was just a black shadow with tendrils of darkness wrapping around my body.

"I don't mind, just make it human," he told me.

"Yes, Master," I nodded. I took the form that was most suitable for this boy. I was a female demon, so I took a female human form. An olive-skinned sixteen year old with waist length black hair tied in a braid and large red eyes. I wore a long-sleeved black dress, a white apron and black boots. A maid.

He was a rich boy. Not nobility but rich. I could tell by the state of the house, and his bedroom. The room was immaculate and tidy with not much furniture. The ceiling had gold patterns painted on precisely and looked like they had been touched up recently. The room was incredibly large and every step I took echoed. His bed was massive; it looked humongous compared to the small boy sitting on the covers.

I looked through the large window. It looked close to night. The light was already dying. "And my name?" I asked him, facing him again. "You may choose."

"Annie," he whispered after a few seconds thought.

"My last name is Lockhart." I introduced myself. The demon in these situations is given a first name, but they keep the name they have always had.

"Nice to meet you," he said, sadness creeping back into his voice. He sat silent, looking at his bed-sheets for another few minutes, then he looked up at me and smiled sadly. "I guess I better tell you what happened, hadn't I?" he said. Before waiting for an answer from me he started talking.

"I went to an amazing circus with my friend Steve," he said, "It was called the Cirque Du Freak. When I was there I became obsessed with a performing spider. I love spiders. I also learnt that vampires were real. I found out that owner of the spider was Larten Crepsley. He is a vampire, and Steve wanted to become one. Steve went to Mr. Crepsley after the show had ended and everyone had left where he asked Mr. Crepsley to let him be his assistant. Mr. Crepsley told him he had evil blood so Steve ran out in tears. I then decided to take the spider. Her name is Madam Octa." A disgusted look crossed his face, "Last week, Steve was bitten by Madam Octa. He was in hospital." He looked closed to tears, "I was forced to seek out that damn vampire. He was still in the theatre where we first saw him. Although the Cirque Du Freak had moved on. He offered to cure Steve, so that was great." He smiled, but tears were falling down his cheeks, "But he had warmed up to the idea of having an assistant, so he asked for me instead." He curled back up into a ball as sobs racked his body. "He turned me into a half-vampire, then he healed Steve. But then I ran, I didn't stay with him. I went to school like normal, but I ended up sucking the blood out of one of my best friends when he grazed his knee. Steve saw. He knows. I know he knows. Then, the next day I almost made a meal out of my sister!" He looked up at me "Soon..." he cried, "I'll have to fake my death and leave my family behind."

"And you wish for me to kill Larten Crepsley?" I asked him.

"No," he said furiously. His whole body went still, and then he looked up. "I want revenge on his whole damn kind."

I bowed before him, "Yes, Master Shan."

I hope that was alright. Thank you for reading.