A Contract For The Bride

Prologue

In darkness, I lay, awaiting for my first prey to fall into my deceiving hands. I crave for blood, I hunger for a worthy soul to satisfy my taste buds. I observe others of my kind, demons, around me, speaking with the lost souls of others near death who cry out for help. It is such entertainment for us all as we watch their weak figure begin to weaken before our eyes. We bask in the glory of being their only option in order to avoid death. We must decide if the soul is worthy of our service for them. That is how the contract is made. There is a special place, a temple stained in darkness, within hell that we attend in order to obtain our next contract, humans are such delightful creatures, their souls are scattered throughout the temple. The only thing that we are obliged to do is walk in the darkness, slithering between each lost soul as they reach out to us, begging for our help. If a particular soul interested it us, the soul would glow and we would turn into human, a form that would make our master or mistress comfortable with us being mortal with them and their loyal servant. On this particular day, I was determined to create my first contract with a human. I was educated upon which souls satisfy our hunger better, revenge ones that fill our stomachs for a good few years. That was the type of soul that I was craving. Once a fair amount of demons were assembled within the temple, darkness became pitch, all eyes glowed their fearful scarlet, allow with my eyes, it was not far from different as my eyes were a natural blood red. A rare eye colour for many demons, and I was one for the few to be cursed with this colour. A bell then rung, and all souls that begged for our service appeared. One appeared before me, a small, frail child, a little girl. Her clothes indicated that she has been living in poverty. Her scent stunk highly of disease, her request was to live through the disease and live her life before dying naturally. Unfortunately, I was not the one to take pity on a child, therefore I avoided her. She attempted to grab my arm but I was quick to react, snatching my arm away from her. She returned to begging for other demons to help her while I continued on. My ears ringed with the screams for help. I ignored each and every one. I had avoided every soul, not one smelt highly of revenge. I admitted defeat for this session until I heard a cry from one soul that floated alone. The soul was blurred, just an outline of a dark figure, but I could tell that she was a female. She was reaching out to me, the scent of her soul lingering under my nostrils. It smelt of revenge. I approached the soul, not much could be said by her blurred appearance except that it was dark, burnt almost. On her chest lay a gaping hole, where her heart was missing. She only had a few minutes left to live. All other demons had disowned her as she was close to death, but to me she was intriguing. I reached out to her and listened to want she wanted. She spoke of an 'awakening' and that I was to protect her heart, body and soul until her revenge was taken, where I would help her. I stood before and spoke to her.

"I aim to do as you command, do you wish to form a contract with me?"

"I do," she replied faintly.

"Mistress."

All surroundings burned from my sight as I was transported from my lovely home, hell, to a street corner, of the human world. It was snowing and everyone was racing around. I sensed that it was near the time of Christmas, a tradition that all humans seemed to enjoy as they gave each other gifts and fed themselves until they were on the brim of bursting. In all honesty, it disgusted me but at that moment in time, something was bothering me. Where was my mistress? I felt the back of my left hand begin to burn. I glanced down at it to notice my contract mark engraved on my pale skin. I glanced about me, attempting to pick up the scent of her soul but it was to no avail. I turned rather quickly in order to get out from the cold but that only resulted in myself bumping into a dark, mysterious male. He had dark hair, with a slight green tint to it, which cascaded down to his shoulders, occasional locks reaching his chest. His eyes caught my attention, they were a dark red, best compared to the colour of dried blood. His whole appearance represented darkness, his outfit consisted of black robes, along with black leather boots and gloves. The only piece of skin that seemed to be exposed was his face and the top half of his neck. His appearance hinted at him preferring not to be noticed by anyone but considering what he was holding in his hand, it was difficult not to ignore him. In his arm lay a small bundle of pink blankets. I despise the colour pink but I noticed movement within in the blankets. I approached the figure slowly, he didn't retreat, or even flinch. I looked into the bundle and pulled a bit of the blanket away with my left hand to reveal a face, the face of an infant child. The sympathetic moment was ruined by the male grabbing my left hand and staring at the symbol that was marked on it. He examined it closely before he spoke.