The Demon's Contract

The soul

When Michael returned to his world he went home straight away, where he spend the first few days mostly in his own room. It felt strange to be free, so strange he wasn't sure what to do with his newfound freedom. He took this moment to tell his parents about his career as demon hunter alongside of his education. The only other person he told was one of his uncles, he trusted this man more than anyone else and, as it turned out, he knew a great deal about demons, even if he wasn't able to cast magic as Michael was.

He kept in touch with Benjamin, who became a good friend. Together they became ghost hunters. While Michael still went after demons who appeared in their world and killed people, he focussed more on spirits and helping them move on to the afterlife. Their goal was to release all the spirits Xantier had collected, if they'd find a way. They both read up on the subject as much as the could and working in the field gave them great insight in how ghosts were bound to earth and how they could be released again. At one point they learned that the only way Michael could truly be free was to kill Xantier, but they couldn't as long as he had his spirits. And the spirits couldn't be set free as long as he was alive. This was exactly the reason why he was banished the first time. He continued to look for ways to get out of this situation and live, but he couldn't find anything. He did learn a lot about souls and why some demons wanted to collect them.

As months turned into years, he fell in love. The girl was the love of his life and after a while of dating he told her, with pain in his heart, how things could never work out, because he was bound to a contract with a demon. Much to his surprise the girl stayed with him, she told him she wanted to be with him for as long as they could. Eventually they married and got children, a beautiful young girl and two years later a healthy young boy, even though Michael knew he'd have to leave them one day, his life felt complete.

All this time Xantier fought the binding spell. More and more cracks appeared until one day he finally managed to break free. "Michael!" he exclaimed as he raised his arms to the ceiling of his room. "I will-"

"You will what?" Michael asked. He had noticed the binding spell had weakened to a point which would allow the demon would to break through soon, so he had given his wife and kids a kiss, told his wife what was going on and quickly returned to the demon realm with Benjamin. It hadn't taken long before Borastius had joined them and they had waited together until Xantier finally broke free. Benjamin had asked if it was possible to just renew the spell or bind the demon again, but Michael felt that wouldn't solve anything, there would always be a time he'd break out again. If he wasn't here soon enough to bind him again the demon would keep his promise to kill his family. And even if he himself had died of old age by the time Xantier broke free, the demon would still take his revenge. That was something he didn't want to happen.

When he heard Michael's voice Xantier quickly turned around and glared at him. "You! You deceived me! I will hunt down your family and-"

"No," Michael interrupted him with a calm voice as he stepped towards Xantier. "I signed a contract, you wouldn't harm my family if I would give you my soul. I'm here now to live up to my side of the contract. You can claim my soul. In return you will do as you promised and you won't kill my family."

The yellow demon stared at Michael.

"I suppose," Michael continued, "you're more in the mood to torture me for weeks without end for what I did, but maybe we can seal the deal right here and now. I'm ready."

"You surprise me," Xantier finally said.

"I had some time to get ready," Michael said with a shrug. "In the end I know I couldn't escape this, that's why I'm here. I signed the contract, my soul is yours. What do you say?"

Xantier nodded and walked up to Michael. "Very well. I will claim your soul now."

Benjamin watched how Xantier approached Michael and put his hand in his shoulder with both sadness and worry in his eyes. He came along so Michael wouldn't be alone at this point, but he wished there was more he could do. He watched how the demon sliced Michael's neck with his sharp fingernails and how Michael held his bleeding neck and fell to his knees. He watched a good friend die right in front of his eyes and the saddest part had yet to come, he would lose his eternal soul. When life left Michael's body, as he lay on his side in his own blood, his soul stood up from it. Benjamin could see him clearly, like any other ghost. They looked at each other for a brief moment, after which Michael turned his head to look at Xantier.