Bound in Blood

Chapter 1

The street was eerily quiet. Nothing but a soft wind could be heard snaking its way around the buildings. Orion walked slowly, each step of his boots echoing off the asphalt. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his black coat. It didn't matter how long he had been doing this, no matter how many jobs he had taken, the stillness and tension of city streets before he made a deal still frightened him.

They say the key to negotiating is to find the sweet spot of not overplaying or underplaying your hand. If they see your weakness or call your bluff from the start then it's game over. Orion had his fair share of "game over" moments and a body full of scars to prove it, but that was just the nature of his work. His days of learning from his mistakes were over; it had been years since he met a deal he couldn't land. Tonight, though, there was a high chance that things would not go as he planned. He was about to negotiate with someone who already knew all of his weaknesses. The wind continued to howl through the buildings, the tails of his coat waving carelessly behind him.

Orion barely remembered the day he signed his soul away. Becoming a demon was never a part of his plans. Hell, becoming a demon was never really a part of anyone's plans, but sometimes people had no other choice. Growing up, Orion was always alone. His parents were successful executives who cared more for their work than they did their child. Their marriage was arranged as a merger of two companies and Orion was the desired product of their union. Their love came in the form of possessions and material goods. Most would say he lived an easy life - big house, always a decent meal on the table, the best education money could buy - almost everything he could ever possibly want was handed to him without question except the love of his parents. He excelled in school, had a few friends but mainly kept to himself. Most of his peers looked to him as a rung on some bullshit social ladder because of his family name. He could never escape the reminder that he was nothing more than a product to verify the validity of a deal. His parents never let him forget that either.

That was how he got into this whole mess in the first place. The mafia promised him a sense of purpose that he had never had before. In retrospect it was all bullshit. No one in their right mind would have believed the demon mafia would provide anything other than pain, but Orion wasn't in his right mind - he was still searching to find meaning that was his own.

His parents passed away when he was eighteen. He felt nothing except an empty void inside of memories he didn't particularly care to remember. They had left him everything except validation of his existence. No hidden notes in the will of how much they loved him, no baby pictures or traces of them ever having a son in the spotless house. Coworkers who attended their funeral didn't even know who he was. He was nothing but a tax write-off, a smart business decision.

He approached the door to the large brick home. A decadent array of vines and flowers lined the walkway and slithered their way up the side around the door. The copper handles were in perfect contrast to the dark red exterior. The entire home had an air of old-world charm - from the brick foundation to the manually lit lamp posts out front, it looked strange against the background of the modern city. To either side loomed tall office buildings, their glass reflecting the flickering street lights. Orion reached up to knock but the door flew open before he had a chance.

"Please do not knock, sir, the door is original," came a bored voice from the entryway.

"George is that you?" Orion asked enthusiastically. George let out a low groan before stepping into the light. He was a tall man with a perfectly styled head of curly hair. His body was young, but his expression and disgruntled attitude were that of someone much more elderly. Demons do not age as long as they are in a contract and George had been in contract with Mr. Mon long before Orion had ever joined up, which was going on ten years ago.