A Favor For The Devil

Going Beyond

In the days that followed Zackery's untimely death I hardly slept, instead I spent most of my time deep in research. Everything exists in my line of work, all the horror stories, they're true. During my time of mad research Sean took over delegating raids, rescues and just other leadership duties during my absence. People seemed to understand that this death was particularly hard on their leader and gave me slack. When I'd come out for meals people gave me kind words or smiles.

I was going insane with a way to bring back my lost love. Each time I thought about his body in the ground my heart broke all over again, just as when August and Ember brought out his body that fateful night. A long time ago, when my parents were still alive I'd heard of a way to bring back a loved one from the grave. It involved the selling of your soul. I was willing to do anything to bring him back. Even sell my soul. So I lost myself in their journals, any type of material I could get my hands on to know what exactly I had to do.

Finally, one night I found my answer, I was going through my mother's journals as my father's hadn't yielded any information. My mother left step by step instructions on who I needed to conjure and how to make this deal. I grabbed her journal and snuck out to Zackery's grave site, the rest of the team was sleeping, safely tucked away in their quarters. A couple guards acknowledged me, this wasn't the first time I'd been seen heading to my destination, they wrote me off as a grieving widow. Zackery and I had never married but we'd been together long enough. I slipped through to the clearing where my love's body lay resting. The moon shone through an opening where trees didn't cover, casting light upon his gravestone. A few tears escaped my eyes, I wiped them away and steadied my breath. I opened my mother's journal to the page I'd marked, the page that would possibly mend my heart. I started chanting, hoping the guards couldn't hear me. I sprinkled the herbs I needed around his grave, continuing to chant. I finished my ritual and waited.

I kept waiting, nothing seemed to be happening, I was about to give up and head back when I heard a voice, "what's up sweet cheeks, what makes you conjure a creature like me?" My breath caught and I couldn't find my voice. "What's the matter? Devil got your tongue," the creature spat at me. Getting over my fear at his sudden appearance I spoke, "is it true you can bring back the dead?" "Ah cutting right down to business, I like you sweet cheeks, as a matter of fact I can, but we gotta make a deal." "W-w-what kind of deal?" "Well I'm sure you know but I'll tell ya anyway. You see you gotta give me your soul and I'll bring back this dead person." "Okay, I'll do it, what do I have to do, sign a contract in my own blood?" The creature laughed, and then he spoke, "nah sweet cheeks all you gotta do is give Daemon here a kiss, that's me, I'm Daemon, and I'll bring back this dead person for ya, you'll get 10 years and then I'll come to collect." "Bring him back, and my soul is yours," I said pointing to Zackery's grave. Daemon kissed me and then disappeared, after the kiss, everything went dark and I collapsed.

When I came to I was in the medical cabin. There was a bandage on my left wrist and one around my head. Had I fallen that hard? Dr. Sylvia came to my bedside as I aroused, checking my head wound first, then my wrist, mumbling something about how I was lucky one of the guards heard me and brought me in to her in time. Suddenly I panicked, "Sylvia where's my journal?" "Oh that tattered thing? It's right here in the drawer," she opened the bedside table and there was my mother's journal, safely in tact, no missing pages. Then I remembered my ritual and the kiss with Daemon, I should've known better than to ask but I couldn't stop myself, "Sylvia, where's Zackery?" Sylvia looked at me, sadness filled her face, she thought I was crazy and had been denying Zackery's death. "Oh sweetheart, Zackery, as you know has been dead for two months now, you gave the okay for Frankie and Jed to bury him shortly after the wake. Are you sure you're alright? You hit your head pretty hard, and that's no ordinary wound on your wrist," Sylvia sounded concerned. "How about I give you a relaxer and you just rest here and I'll watch over you for a while," Sylvia got up getting the relaxer and putting it into my IV. Soon the world faded into blackness again and I was out. While unconscious I dreamed, I dreamt of Zackery, him coming to visit me in the medical cabin and teasing me about showing off and that's how I ended up here, I dreamt of our training sessions back when we were kids, I dreamt of my parents brutal murder but in this one they weren't the only ones to die, in this version, Zackery perished too.

I woke again, in the medical cabin, three days later. Apparently the relaxer only lasted for twelve hours, the other time I was out was my own body's exhaustion from seeking answers that hadn't even worked. Or so I thought. Even being confined to medical attention rumors spread like wildfire here. There was talk of a miracle and dead man walking...it couldn't be, could it? Sean, Ryan and August came to see me as Sylvia cleaned and rewrapped my wounds. As we walked out I asked about the dead man walking rumor I'd heard upon coming to. All three of them couldn't look at me nor speak. Irritated by their silence I stomped off to my quarters, eager for a shower and clean clothes. When I walked into my room I nearly screamed, or threw something. Because on my bed there he was....Zackery had come back to me.