Disclaimer: I don't own Georgina Kincaid.

A Deal with Hell

I knew that my time had come, when my vision went dark and all I could see was a white light. I had the surreal experience of looking down at my own body, which looked like it was sleeping.

I'd lived a rather long life. I had wanted to be a musician, but had ended up managing my father's business instead. Not the happiest life, but I had lived it as best as I could.

The white light was beckoning to me and I knew I was supposed to pass through it. Although what waited for me on the other side…who knew?

I was about to, but then I hesitated.

Something that a young girl called Letha – who said we'd met before, but I didn't remember her at all - had asked of me a few years was suddenly at the forefront of my mind.

"Are you…are you happy?"

I'd told her I was content because I'd led a good life. But I hadn't told her that it felt like something – or someone – was missing from my life.

I'd felt that there was a gap in my life. There was supposed to be someone with me to cross into the afterlife with.

But everytime I thought of this phantom person….I felt both happiness and despair.

"Why are you taking so long?"

I looked up and saw a man. He was wearing simple but elegant clothes – clothes you wouldn't see around here. His hair was extremely sleek and oiled back. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you supposed to be Charon?"

"No, no. I'm Niphon, at your service. But I've sensed that something's holding you back from passing on and dying."

I hesitated. "All my life…I've felt that there's a gap in my life. That there was someone who was supposed to be with me this whole time…but they're gone. And I want to know why I've felt empty this whole time. Why I feel like I've forgotten something…or someone."

The man was silent for a moment. "I can't tell you everything…but I can tell you that you were supposed to have forgotten someone. She was your soulmate."

"Why did I forget her?" What could've happened between us that I'd forgotten about her existence? I wished I could meet her again, and make amends for whatever had happened, whether it had been her fault or mine.

Niphon shook his head. "Can't tell you that. Client confidentiality." There was suddenly a gleam in his eye that I didn't like. "But…what if I could offer you a deal to reunite with her and make amends?"

I was instantly wary of the way he spoke. "What would be the terms of this agreement?"

A scroll was produced out of thin air and I blinked.

"You will be granted ten lives in order to reunite with your soulmate. Make it nine, since you're on the verge of leaving your current one," Niphon said. "We'll ensure that your following reincarnations will be born in times and places close to your soulmate so that you can reunite with her and reconcile with her."

I stared. "I was always told that our souls go to the Underworld after death, and we're judged by a council. Then we're sent to the Asphodel Fields, Elysium or the Fields of Punishment." I had heard stories that people who tried for Elysium three times would go to the Isles of the Blest – but this sounded very different from what I'd heard. Nine more lives?

"You're not dealing with the Underworld. You're dealing with Hell," Niphon said.

Hell? As in where evil souls went to after death, as some people thought? It sounded different from the Fields of Punishment.

"What do you want in return?" I asked slowly.

"Upon the end of your tenth life, your soul will belong to us. To Hell," Niphon said. A quill pen appeared.

"Even if I successfully reunite with my soulmate?" I asked.

Niphon shrugged. "If you take this deal, your soul will belong to us regardless of if you find your lover or not. You can either accept this deal and reunite with your lover…or you can die and move on, and you'll never find who she is."

I wanted to find this mysterious woman, no matter what the cost was to myself. If it meant consigning my soul to Hell at the end of my tenth life, so be it.

I turned to Niphon. "I accept this contract and its conditions."

He handed me the pen and I signed my name at the bottom of the scroll.

The contract rolled itself up and it vanished. I could feel a slight "wrongness" in the air around me and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

"For now, you'll pass on," Niphon declared, pointing at the white light, which had grown steadily brighter. "When the time is right, you'll be reborn and have a chance at reuniting with your soulmate."

I took a deep breath, and then passed through to the other side.

Author's note: So there's no Kyriakos under the character list (yet) so I stuck this as Seth for now lol