Johnny had never been so tormented, yet he removed his jacket slowly, casually, and tossed it over the back of the sofa. This was just a misunderstanding. Cool heads would prevail.
"I never hit you," he said softly. He looked pleadingly at those gorgeous green eyes. "You shouldn't have any secrets from me. I'm your future husband." The words felt alien. It was different from before.
A hell-born glint flicked through Lisa's eyes. "You sure about that?" She smiled sickly as Johnny flinched. "Maybe I'll change my mind."
A primal fear awakened within Johnny and battled fiercely with his pretense of calm.
"Don't talk like that," he begged, "What do you mean?" He knew what she meant. His heart pounded.
"What do you think?"
The profane ritual. Their black covenant– that which saved her and now sustained him. He was nearly due, but he shared her time as long as her heart belonged to him. This was law.
And Lisa didn't want to talk about it. She threatened his life and then tried to slither away.
"How dare you talk to me like that?!" he shouted. He shoved her to the couch but did not hit her. He felt his mind beginning to fray. "You should tell me everything!"
Still Lisa refused to talk about it. Johnny begged her with increasing hysteria, and she just looked away.
Johnny felt the edge of the abyss: his soul being drawn irresistibly into the vortex. "You are part of my life! You are everything!" he wailed as he pulled down his right sleeve. He showed her the numbers, all glowing in dull red save the first, which burned amber.
7 years. 2 months. 13 days. 4 hours. 45 minutes. 54 seconds.
"I could not go on without you, Lisa!" he cried.
Lisa lost her nerve. Confronted with the brutality of her threat, she ached for a truce.
"You're scaring me," she whimpered.
But she was tearing him apart.