Alien they Seemed to Be

When Louise awoke, she felt lightheaded. Her eyes flickered open, revealing black dots orbiting her vision. What was left of it. She blinked several times, attempting to clear her head. Looking down revealed she had been tucked into bed and the sheets were newly changed.

Was it Sebastian?

Her hands gripped the pristine white sheets, fingers clenching painfully at the memory of his prior assault. The way his face contorted and became that of an animal before her eyes... He was truly hideous. Repulsive.

Her throat hurt immensely, inside and out. She caught her reflection in her vanity mirror which she could see from her bed. Her gaze homed in on the collar of bruises that danced around her neck, no doubt left behind by him. She noted that her face had been cleaned and was now free of the grime that crusted her skin earlier.

A glance at the window revealed it was still light outside. She threw the sheets off of her, revealing the fact that she had been changed into clean garments, no longer stained with crimson. She was a little grateful to no longer be sullied by the blood of her parents, though the thought of that thing that went by the name of Sebastian changing her, made her want to retch.

She sat on her bed for a moment, trying to recall exactly what had happened. What caused him to snap? She had merely asked him if she could remove the contract, so why would he...? Her eyes clenched shut. She really didn't want to think about it. She glanced around, grateful to see that the monster was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he had crawled back to hell. At least, she hoped.

Standing up, she let out a sigh. It was time to retrieve her phone. She faltered.

She didn't know if she was ready to go back down there yet. To face them. However, she needed her phone, needed to call the police, call anyone and tell them... What could she tell them? Would she be a suspect in their murder? She had no idea what she would do- but it began with her mobile phone. Her stomach clenched painfully. She just hoped she wouldn't be sick again.

As she made her way to the dreaded basement, the lack of vision in one of her eyes became much more of a hindrance than she ever would have thought. Her depth perception was awful, not much helped by the looming staircase she quickly found herself standing before. She took a shuddered breath, adrenaline causing her stomach to flip and send her heart into palpitations. If she didn't know any better, she might suspect she was about to have a heart attack.

Would that be so bad? She found herself wondering.

She shook her head frantically, wondering where the stray thought had come from. "You can do this..." She urged herself to begin the descent. Painfully slow and on shaking limbs, she began her journey into the shadowed depths of the cavern-esque cell of a basement. She sighed, wondering why they hadn't installed at least a light down there. Then again, even if there was a light, she wasn't so sure that she would use i

Her bare feet set upon the chilled stone flooring. She couldn't see a hand in front of her face. She suddenly realised: first, the putrid smell was gone. Secondly, she had no idea where her phone was. It had clattered to the ground and presumably bounced somewhere she didn't see.

Her hand rather suddenly smacked against her forehead in a facepalm. She immediately regretted it as a wave of dizziness overcame her.

"I'm a moron..." Was the only utterance to have left her mouth.

"If you say so, young Mistress."

Louise let out a yelp, sharply turning to the staircase from which she had come. The light barely cascading from upstairs allowed her to barely make out his outline, which was standing on one of the bottom stairs much closer to her than she would have liked. She briefly pondered how she hadn't heard him before her instincts for self-preservation kicked in and she found herself backing away from him yet again.

"If I may be so bold as to ask, why would you come down here?" His voice was much too pleasant, much too amused, especially given the last thing he did to her.

She brought her arms to fold, allowing her hands to grip at her upper arms. Her voice shook as she struggled to form a reply. "I jus-just left my phone down here. I need it." She stood, a deer in headlights. Stuck between two corpses and a miscreation. A monstrosity of a creature that was standing between her and the exit.

The brute let out a disconcerting chuckle. "The youth these days. Though I understand that your meagre human eyes can hardly see a thing down here, am I correct?"

Not wishing to anger him again, she quietly nodded to confirm his assumption. She heard him come towards her, to which she responded by flinching back, shoulders tense and eyes screwed shut. She frowned as she heard his footsteps pass by her. Seconds later she felt him take her hand in his, gently placing a flat rectangular object in her palm. She realised it was her phone. "I took the liberty of cleaning up the mess." He boasted. She stood silently. That explained the lack of the horrible smell, of which she was grateful.

"You could have killed me." Her voice was a hoarse, broken whisper. She felt his grip on her hand linger, sensed him kneel before her as she could only look on blindly. Her eyes stung with tears yet to fall as he spoke. "And I am very sorry, my young Mistress. It will not happen again. I swear it." His hand came to rest where his non-existent heart should be, the same hand that was squeezing the life from her not all that long ago. She furiously blinked the tears away, she would not cry again in front of him, she was determined of it. Though she couldn't see him, she could almost hear the smirk on his face. She knew he was lulling her into a false sense of security. All he wanted was her soul and yet...

She desperately wanted to believe his actions to be genuine. Perhaps then she would feel less lonely. It was difficult to fear the fiend of hell when he kneeled before her. Giving her the illusion that he was at her mercy, though she knew better.

It was, in fact, her who was at his. He could kill her within moments if he felt like it. She had a choice, and she chose not to provoke him. She stayed silent, grudging having his hands upon her. She feared pulling away, as her instincts screamed at her to do. She desperately didn't want to make him angry.

He could sense her fear. She was positively terrified and he took great pleasure from being the source of her pain. Although, he wasn't sure what to make of her fear. He supposed from her perspective he must appear like some kind of wild animal. Barbaric and unpredictable. That assumption wasn't entirely unfounded though. As the holder of a demon contract, Louise had to be the one to take command. Put him on a leash with her binding words, lead him with a firm hand. That's what separated demons bound by contacts to those running loose in the wilderness of Hell. However she had failed to do any of that. Her outright rejection of him brought about a wrath within him, she wanted to break the contract just like her father did to save his own soul in a bid to get into heaven. He found that hysterical to no end, but first and foremost, he found it detestable.

When he looked up at her from where he still knelt before her, his eyes were glowing, appearing as two red flames in the dark. The fragile young girl found herself assaulted with the memory of his demonic face glowering up at her. She let out a startled gasp. Her promise to herself not to cry was forgotten as a lone tear ran down her cheek. "Please don't hurt me... " She whimpered pathetically.

Instantly his eyes stopped glowing. He placed a tender kiss to the back of her palm where he still held her hand captive. "Let us put everything behind us, shall we?" He cooed. It was condescending. Laced with the assumption that she had just forgiven him. She would never.

She swallowed thickly. Just how was she going to get out of this one?

Emerging from the basement with her newly acquired shadow following behind her, Louise found herself stricken with a wave of nausea as the scent of food wafted into her nostrils. She wasn't hungry at all. The events of the day had rendered her appetite non-existent. She grimaced as her shadow of a companion spoke.

"I have prepared you something to eat. If you will accompany me to the kitchen." She almost gagged at the thought.

"I'm not hungry. I just want to go to bed." Came her nonchalant reply. As she made to go towards her room, she found herself stopped by Sebastian, who stood to block her path. "I'm afraid I must insist. I've been with you all day and you've yet to eat anything."

Louise merely closed her eyes, her expression pained. Memories of her parents laying in a lifeless heap stuck with her. She felt the loss, the silent and empty house. She just wanted to hide away and sleep forever. She still had to call the police, being completely dumbstruck as to what she would even tell them. She would think about it later. Though she couldn't stomach the thought of food, she was terrified to argue with him. He seemed to be analysing her trembling form, scrutinising her every movement. She needed to bypass him, yet found herself rooted in place, petrified in case he hurt her again. It was all too much to bear. "Please... just. I can't eat. I can't, I'm sorry, please don't make me." She stared at the ground, her bottom lip beginning to quiver.

He merely smiled down at her, which she did not find comforting in the slightest. "Very well. However, I will require you to eat at some point." He would make sure she was the best exemplar of her species, someone worthy of holding a contract with a demon. That began with making sure she was properly fed, he had to keep his end of the deal too. He noted the bruises on her neck, how the deep purple contrasted her skin beautifully. He found it a nice improvement, though he'd have to have more restraint when handling her, lest he accidentally kill her.

The trembling girl only nodded silently and dashed past him, making a B-line for her bedroom where she would dwell amidst her own thoughts. The demon merely watched her go.