Contract [PART I]

He appeared out of the night, like a living shadow breaking loose from the darkness that draped him. A smile rested lightly on his thin lips. "Well?"

"S-Stay right there! don't come closer." She clutched at the rosary beads and thrust the ridiculously tiny cross towards him. Her breath came out in puffs under the harsh streetlight glare. Her eyes rolled left and right in her skull, wide with fear as her gaze attempted to puncture the darkness behind him. Her other hand closed around the vial hidden in her pocket.

He retreated with a polite bow, that graceful smile never faltered. "As you wish." He wasted no time getting to business. At a snap of his fingers, parchment appeared out of nowhere, and words formed themselves on the blank pages. He reached into his coat slowly, as to not startle his guest, before turning to her with a peculiar, apologetic expression. "I'm rather old fashioned, you see." He explained as he drew out the fountain pen and offered it to her. The twin silver serpents detailing on the otherwise black fountain pen glimmered ominously under the streetlamp.

She drew near slowly, took the pen from his proffered palm hesitantly. The same pen now in her hands didn't seem so sinister as it did in his just a moment ago. Upon closer examination, the twin snakes were incredibly detailed down the last scale. Tiny blue jewels slotted perfectly into the eye sockets, and tiny forked tongues curled over minuscule fangs. The pen seemed so very harmless, as if he bought it from a fancy stationery store. It calmed her somewhat, to imagine a receipt somewhere hidden in his pockets.

She must've spent too long running her fingers over the silver snakes, but she snapped out of her daze immediately when he made to speak.

"It'll need three drops of your blood m'dear." His tone was too casual for the content of his words.

The hair along her back prickled with fear. The uncomfortable sensation of the raised hairs brushing against her clothing only made the nauseating task worse. Biting the skin of her lip, she unscrewed the cap of the pen to reveal the needle-sharp tip. A shock of pain, then throbbing numbness as she stabbed the tip into the pad of her pinkie. It might've been her jumping pulse, but she could've sworn that she felt the pen quiver.

"Ah wonderful, I think that's quite enough for now. Now would you like to look over the contract again madam?"

She squinted at the parchment under the orange lamplight, scrutinizing the page for fineprint and hidden clauses.

As if reading her mind, his smile stretched larger, dark eyes curving into two pretty crescents. The gentleman's features are individually exquisite, but the effect was unsettling when those features were assembled together. Even now, his breathtaking smile seemed too perfect to be real, like a soft mask that shifts over the real horrors that lie beneath. "Don't worry my dear," his voice was all but a lilting purr "there is no trickery in our little agreement. Everything is exactly as you wish" He chuckled when she glanced at him warily.

Even though his smile held a hint of mockery, she was satisfied with the promise. After all, demons are incapable of lying. Not wanting to waste more time loitering in his presence, she quickly signed off the contract before passing the pen and the parchment over to his waiting hands.