Signed In Blood

Prologue- You'll Probably Regret This

                  The couple sat in front of the pentagram painted on the ground, an ancient book opened in the male's hands. They studied the instructions carefully, making sure the circle was completely sealed and not a line was out of place. After all, they wouldn't want anything going wrong. The atmosphere was tense in the dusty basement, candles lined the outskirts of the small room, casting long shadows in the dimly lit place.

"Are you sure this is the right procedure?" the woman asked, her eyes tired. They had been nitpicking at the details of the ritual for hours now. Her husband nodded slightly, his eyebrows furrowed as he studies the scripture intensely, memorizing the incantation. With a sigh, she tended to checking the pentagram for the millionth time, hoping what they were about to do was worth all this work.

The man snapped the book shut, causing his wife's gaze to wander towards him. "It's time."
"Finally." The wife grumbled, brushing a few stray strands of platinum hair from her eyes. She shuffled back to her husband, standing behind him as he began chanting. Broken Latin flowed from his lips, but to the two amateurs it sounded fluent and impressive. The candles flickered as he continues, his voice fluctuating as he got deeper into the chant. His eyes closed, his hands raising to the ceiling as he rose his voice, screaming the incantation.

His wife sighed as she stared unimpressed as his grandeur. She wasn't the only one. Somewhere in another dimension a dark creature rubbed the bridge of his nose at the sloppy work of the duo. Were these two for real?

The man threw his head back at the climax of his ritual, slipping a dagger from his cloak and a heart from beside him. The organ squelched, blood oozing out of it as the man plunged the kitchen knife into the centre of it. Silence rang in the dusky room, the scent of mildew filling the couple's noses. For a long moment nothing happened, causing the man to shift uncomfortably and his wife to cross her arms, preparing to rip a new one into him for messing up. As she opened her mouth, a puff of smoke erupted from the dead centre of the pentagram, shocking her into silence. The smoke morphed and flickered, twisting until it finally dissipated. A masculine figure was revealed, coming in the form of a young man.

The boy tapped his foot in annoyance, "What do you want?" the couple was taken aback by his casual appearance; they had expected a grotesque creature of darkness.

"Um... Lord Satan?" the man tried, sounding unsure. The demon laughed but it sounded more like a snarl to the newbie humans.

"Ha! Good one, I wish I was the boss. He doesn't have to put up with dimwit humans like you two. No, I'm just the unlucky guy who lost rock paper scissors and got stuck on summoning duty." He stated, cracking his neck while he was at it. "Okay so what do you want- a deal with the devil?"

The woman nodded, "Yes, we want unlimited luck financially." Rolling his eyes, the demon sighed; why was it always money?

"Of course you do. Well, let's see what that'll cost you." He snapped his fingers, an old book appearing in his hand with a small puff of dark smoke. Flipping through the pages with a bored expression, the demon paused.

"Here we are. All right so that'll cost either one of your souls or the soul of your first born child. Take your pick." Generally this was where human's copped out of the deal, nobody liked the price. The man crinkled his nose and the woman smirked; she didn't intend to have a child.

"I'm not giving up my soul." The man said firmly, as if the thought of a demon touching his precious soul was disgusting.

The woman waved her hand dismissively, "Just take our firstborn's soul." The demon shrugged, half expecting that answer. A lot of people were willing to do that until they actually had a kid, that's when the struggle began. However, this couple looked unreliable and he wasn't willing to make a deal that wouldn't work out. The boss would kick his ass.

"If you don't have a child in the next two to five years we will be sending someone to collect your souls as punishment. And believe me when I say, you don't want that. You'd be lucky if the demon that gets you slips up and consumes one of you." He explained, a contract and a sharp quill appearing in one hand. The couple looked nervous but nodded anyway. Greedy mortals.
The demon handed the objects to the man, watching with uninterested eyes as he pricked his hand, using his blood as ink for the signature. Yeah, it was gross, but it was for insurance. When it was in ink humans would just change their name and pretend they didn't sign it. This way they couldn't cop out of the payment; after all, you can't change all your blood. That would be impractical. Once they had both signed the demon took the contract, disappearing with a flash and a blast of thick smoke.

Before his presence completely diminished, the demon made one last remark, his eyes flashing through the smog. "You'll probably regret this." After that, he was gone, the only evidence the event had ever happened was the tiny bubble of blood seeping out of both the human's pointer fingers.

"Sounds like we're going to be parents." The man commented, his eyes gleaming happily. He had always wanted a child but his wife despised them.
She laughed cruelly, "For about five minutes maybe, then one of those demons will come take the thing away and we can be rich!"

"Heh, y-yeah, what a steal." The man agreed half-heartedly, his feet shifting uncomfortably. Was all of this really worth it? He began to think the demon's words rang truth to him. He'd regret this. The woman frowned before a manipulative smirk slipped on her face.

She sashayed over to her husband, gracefully and provocatively. "Hm, since we must, why don't we begin working on that baby?" His cheeks flushed as he nodded in agreement. They kissed passionately; the man would do anything for her. And his wife? Well, she would do anything for money. Even marrying this desperate fool and giving away her own child.

Somewhere in another dimension the demon yawned, tossing the idiot human's contract into a bin full of others for review and sorting by administration. Those morons were someone else's problem now. Little did he know, this was only the beginning for him. He would come to regret this day far more than the parents of the doomed child... Or would he?