Blood.
She looked down upon the crimson stains blemishing her hands as she kneeled among the pools soaking the floor.
Guilty.
The glint of a dagger just a few feet from her caught her eyes, reflecting her accumulated sins and failures like the moonlight it caught.
Abomination.
She wept into her spoiled hands as the target of that thought was unclear. The shock forcing her to wretch over the marble floor, bile mixing with the blood that seemed so endless. And yet, the tears continued to flow. After all, what else could she do?
Pathetic.
"Oh god…," she spoke in a hushed whisper. "What have I done…?"
Justice.
"No…"
Vengeance.
"I can't…"
Yes.
"Oh god…"
God?
She shook her head trying to erase the thoughts she could feel advancing. But one more glance at the horrid scene before her and what it meant for her shattered her resistance to hate.
Abandoned.
"Yes…," she muttered. "Why else would this have happened..?"
What about His plan for you?
She fought the urge to vomit again, the realization of her answer dawning on her. "Because if He exists… and this was His plan for me…," she looked up over the mutilation and death before her, her eyes brimming with a righteous fury. "It's sickening…"
So what now then?
She paused, unsure. Her mind was a torrent of thoughts and emotion, stricken by her blatant realization and the trauma and sorrow she was tormented with. She knew it would consume her. It didn't matter who would reach out or how. What the rest of her life presented was irrelevant. She couldn't run. Not from this. Even if she escaped consequence or judgement, she couldn't escape her pain.
So why bother trying?
She considered it for a moment. Yes. If her turmoil would undoubtedly destroy her, then why fight the darkness? In fact, what if she used it? Perhaps vengeance could be had. It would be complicated. Messy. Difficult. But was it worth it?
"Hell yes…," she began. She thought of all that was taken from her.
"I hate you." All that she had done, and how her sacrifices were all for naught.
"I don't need Him…" She gripped her left arm, carefully avoiding a thin but deep gash. Her eyes widened as they landed on a lifeless body in the center of the room. One last tear fell from her cheek as she saw another a few feet away.
"I forsake God!" she screamed in agony. "I will have vengeance!"
Oh?
She gasped as a new voice echoed throughout her mind and reverberated through her body. The shadows on the walls suddenly began to stretch and warp, almost as if they were doing some twisted dance. They began to consume the room and extinguished the light of the candles. Soon even the moonlight from before was etched away.
Despite this she still could see the massacre adorning the almost bare room. The banners and drapes tattered and torn. The patterned marble flooring and the hideously beautiful architecture. The outlines of a ritual still barely visible with a pedestal rising in the center, the bodies all surrounding it.
She sat on her knees, a few feet away from this abhorrent altar, a new fear gripping her heart. She watched in terror as an inky blackness, darker than even the darkness itself, formed over the pedestal. It seemed an oblivion, endless and soulless, tendrils highlighted with arcs of admiral blue stretching from it towards her.
By instinct alone she tried to swipe away at them as they inched closer to her. When one was close enough she smacked it as hard as she could… only to find her hand hit nothing but air and the coil unaffected. And with her surprise came a subtle chuckle.
Her eyes widened once again, absolutely terrified. The voice she had heard before was real. Yet, like the restless darkness, it seemed to possess no real presence in the physical world.
The die has been cast.
She immediately began inching herself away from the void, a last attempt to escape even though she knew she couldn't. The voice was deep and distorted, indicative of something repulsive and monstrous. Her eyes darted around to every part of this expansive darkness, corruption and hunger emanating from the abyss.
What is your name?
"I-I am...," she stuttered, barely able to keep herself together. "My n-name is S-Sophia..."
She was met with silence. Whatever this was, it was expectantly waiting for more.
"I am the-...," she stopped. Tragedy once again gripping her. She shook her head attempting to regain her resolve.
"I am the Marchioness Sophia LaFontaine." she stated, renewed vigor and strength in her voice.
A Marchioness? How interesting…
She stiffened. Her position left her overtly vulnerable, and she was worried this thing could see through the bravado she managed to display. From within the depths she could swear she saw movement. A sideways angular movement akin to seeing a pair of eyes change focus to some other object.
But not as intriguing as your sacrifice.
With that comment guilt and anger suddenly tore away her fear of this vicious creature. This vile beast was assuming too much.
"Sacrifice? What the hell do you mean?" Her anger was met with another chuckle which only pissed her off more.
The irony. But the deaths here are your doing are they not?
She recoiled at the comment. Horror painting her face like a ghost. "That's… not true…"
It is.
"You're wrong!"
I couldn't be here if the deaths weren't a sacrifice. Intent must be clear, and a price must be paid. And I must say, you certainly paid well.
She began to heave, once more feeling sick to her stomach as its cruel words sank in. She did not want to accept what it told her, but deep down, she suspected it was telling the truth. Her gaze met her hands again, and she found herself more disgusted by herself than what had come before her. Her head began to spin as her frustration and terror gradually transitioned into desperate curiosity.
"You said a price had to be paid?" she trembled, her lips quivering, "What exactly have I bought?"
My passage. So that we may talk.
"Passage from where?" she asked, almost daring it to answer what she already knew.
Hell.
Silence. Seconds felt like an eternity. "You're a demon."
You're surprised?
"...no, not surprised," she contemplated, "just… conflicted. What are we to talk about?"
You said you wanted vengeance. I could help with that.
"A deal with the devil…," she surmised.
The Faustian Bargain, a contract between human and demon.
"My soul for vengeance?" she scoffed, "why would I even consider that?"
You're not interested?
"No!" she shouted at the void in anger, "I won't forfeit my life for vengeance! I'll do it myself!"
Though she no longer saw the glimpse of eyes she thought she caught earlier, she could still sense its hunger. Its longing. However, despite her rejection she got a clear view of something sinister within. Glistening pale fangs that were twisted into some ghastly…
A smile. It was smiling at her.
Very well then. I won't waste your time anymore.
The room was still enveloped in the shadows, but the ominous mass began to recede. She gripped her left arm once more. Something was wrong. When it chuckled before it could have easily been amused by her stupidity or weakness, but this was different. That smile was cruel and menacing, yet the demon was leaving like it said it would. So why would it smile like that?
It knows something, she realized. It won't waste my time?
The answer hit her like a ton of bricks.
I have no choice! I didn't mean for this, but this would give me the power to precisely and truly enact my vengeance! Otherwise, who knows if I'll even come close! And I'd have nothing!
"Wait!" she screamed, desperately reaching out for the receding coils. "I'll do it! You hear me demon! I'll make a contract with you!"
No sooner had the words left her lips than the darkness burst forth. The tendrils once again encircling her, wrapping closer and closer. Only this time, she did not reject them. And also unlike last time, she could physically feel them touch her. They were cold and felt like living threads, thin and slick with some unknown liquid, making her shudder in disgust at their hold on her. Before she knew it, she was suspended a foot above the ground by the bindings, hardly able to move at all.
One last coil came forth, but it was unlike the others. This one was thicker and formed the shape of a grotesque hand. As it rested against her neck, she felt a slight warmth from it akin to that of living flesh. It had pale razor sharp claws that drew some blood as it traced the skin of her throat and collarbone. It brought its darkened fingers up to caress her cheek, and she closed her eyes in anticipation.
A seal is required to solidify the contract.
She opened her eyes to see the hand displaying an ethereal demonic sigil in front of her. The sigil consisted of a royal blue five-point star in a perfect circle. The circle had patterned dots on it similar to a spaced pearl necklace, and the spaces between the points on the star held various symbols. She could make out the alchemical symbols for Saturn and Jupiter, but the rest were unknown to her.
It ties me to you and vice versa. I am yours to command, and when your goals are reached I will claim your soul as remission. This is an inescapable pact which binds us to each other. I can place the seal anywhere on you, but certain areas provide more power than others.
"What do you mean by 'certain areas?'" she asked, eyes narrowing.
Placing the seal on parts of the body that are more visible or notable tend to exude stronger bonds between the demon and the contractor. Thus, the contractor has more power.
"Then put it somewhere obvious, asshole!" She was quickly tiring of the demon's refusal to take her and her purpose seriously.
Most humans tend to be reserved about such matters…
"Don't lump me in with others who've summoned you before!" Wanting to get this over with, she screamed, "You can put it anywhere! As long as you keep your end of the bargain!"
...such resolve… I can see that despite the fear and pain you harbor, there is a deep fire within your heart. That truly seems to be the best part of you. So…
The shadowy branches began to reach around her to converge just over her left breast, right over her heart. The twisted hand slithering forward to that same spot, the sigil glowing white.
I will defile you here and mark your heart as mine!
A cacophony of sound thrummed in her ears, recounting all of her most painful memories. Things she had said, things others said to her, beatings, losses, jealousy, hate, solitude, she heard all of her past suffering in mere moments. A searing pain unlike anything she had ever known punched through her. It rippled across her skin and gnawed on the edges of her soul, making every strike she'd received or bit of blood she had shed seem utterly insignificant. She clenched her teeth, trying to force herself not to scream from the pain and failed miserably. It focused on her chest, branding her skin forever with that demonic blue seal.
As soon as the pain subsided, the thin coils eased their grip and let her back down onto the floor, still smeared with blood. She laid there for a few minutes trying to catch her breath, clutching her chest, still a bit bewildered by the new mark adorning her body.
Well then, I suppose this means I am now in your service. And as such, it would probably be best if my form was more inconspicuous for the time being.
At that moment the candles began to flicker back to life, and the gleam of the moonlight returned through the windows. Sophia watched in awe as the shadows converged into the abyss, and the abyss itself began to shimmer and shift into something else. It started towards her, and she began to hear footsteps as the void merged into the shape of a tall, thin man with long, slicked back ebony hair and ice blue eyes.
"I'm at your service, my lady."