A Devil's Dealings

"Good morning, Lilith." My brother greeted me the moment he caught sight of me. He wore a cocky grin as I walked up to him in the dining room. "Father left early again." He said, sipping on his drink as he wiped away the sweat from his brow.

"Name one day that he doesn't, Lucian," I replied, slinging my coat over my shoulder as I brushed aside my hair. "I'll be leaving too. Aren't you working today too?" I asked, leaving the room by walking toward the front door of our home, my hand on the knob as I heard him reply.

"I am, but I start later."

I walked out into the street, the ground nearly singing my feet as I took steps toward the bend. This was my home, a city of assholes that would steal everything from you if you couldn't fight them off, people who'd light your garden on fire just because they could. As I looked around and grumbled about my circumstances, I heard a faint voice whisper into my ear. "Someone's calling you." It said as a hand was placed onto my back. I grinned as it pushed me down into the path of a burning vehicle as its fuel lit up the streets.

"Please, help me!" I opened my eyes, finding myself in a cell of some sort in the middle of the night. I looked down at where the voice originated from, finding a man that I'd wager was in his early thirties. Clad in rags, his face gaunt and his eyes sallow; the perfect client. "I... I have a family, but I've been trapped here for weeks."

"What do you want me to do, master?" I smirked, the shadows in the room clinging to my body as it snaked up to my hands. I clenched and flexed; these were good and strong shadows, he harbored intense emotions. I took a deep breath, floating slightly off of the ground as he clung to my clothes.

"Kill the king... kill every last one of them. I want out!" He pleaded, his chains clinking as he moved. I looked down at him, lifting his chin up with my hand as I placed my finger on his forehead.

"Contract signed," I said, leaving a small scar on his skin as I turned into a cloud of black mist. In this form, I explored the building. A castle overlooking a cliff; lit up with candles, and filled with the noise of a few hundred human souls. "This will be fun." I thought as I made myself a new body and walked up to the front gates. As I slowly made my way to the gate, a light was shone down on me by the guards.

"Halt! Who goes th-" They spoke as I dug my hand into their neck.

"Ah! Monster! Witch! Demon!" Another guard yelled, followed by the sound of bells echoing out throughout the building. I looked at him as he let go of the rope and unsheathed his sword. That was a good idea.

"I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job." I said, looking at my arm as the shadow that clung to it moved out to a small dagger that was as black as pitch and as hard as steel. He saw the weapon and charged at me, swinging his sword down as I dug my dagger into his throat. "I... why don't they ever listen?" I muttered to myself as more guards came running out with lanterns and weapons, at least it would be over quickly. The stench of blood clung to me; it stuck to my hands and feet so much that it was nausiating.

It didn't take long for me to dispatch them, cutting them up like I would my food. Now, it was the guests' turn. I walked in, finding people dressed in elaborate coats and frilly dresses; nobles. Some were portly, some were lanky, but they all feared me as I stepped toward them. Their screaming drowned out the sound of their blood spilling onto the floor, and it was only the first room. One by one, room by room, the bodies started collapsing as I made my way to the royal bed chambers. It was high up in a tower, away from the slaughter that occurred everywhere else. I gave the door a knock; it opened slowly as the king rubbed his eye with his hand. "What's going o-"

"Darling?" The queen asked, watching her husband stand by the door as his body slowly slumped forward. "Is everything alright? Have one of the guests come to get you?"

"You could say that your highness," I said, shoving the door open and pushing the king's corpse onto their rug. The queen lay down on their bed, her belly swollen; a small crib rocking nearby. "Goodnight." I frowned, pulling my dagger from the king's chest and walking toward her. Her eyes widened as she tried to roll away and block me from getting closer to the crib; mothers... why did she have to be a mother? I quickly slit her throat, moving over to her child and plunging my weapon into her skull. "Contract complete," I said as I made my way back to my master's prison cell.

"Elizabeth, I'm coming home." I heard him mutter as I walked up. Looking at him through the bars, I saw him clutching a small piece of parchment in his hands as well as a letter of some sort that I presume came from his wife. He looked up at me, looking at the blood that covered my arms and legs with joy. "Is it over?" I just nodded to answer him, walking up to him and staring down at his belongings, his wife was beautifully drawn on that parchment. He smiled as the mark I left on him started to grow and spread across his body. He screamed out in pain as he started bleeding from head to toe. "Why?"

"You made a deal with a demon and expected to come out of it without paying? Are you a fool? This is the price you'll pay; maybe if you asked for something else it would have ended better for you." I said as I raised my hand, his blood gathering in my palm before solidifying. "Payment collected. It's been a pleasure." I said coldly, kicking his corpse in order to return home as I pocketed his blood. Before I did, I bent down to rifle through his belongings; there was nothing left besides the sketch and the letter.

"My dearest Johnathan, may you return from your journey safely. I will be waiting every day for your arrival. the flowers that we planted in our garden had begun to bloom, eagerly anticipating your loving gaze. Please take care of yourself as you cross the border, the kingdom has recently declared war and it had sent everyone into a frenzy. My love, be safe. Elizabeth." It read.

I went around and grabbed a lantern, pooling the oil in a corner of the room. Before I stepped into it, I looked back at his corpse. "... Elizabeth, I'm sorry but he won't be coming home." I said as I lit the oil. The fire swelled and swelled, roaring in the silent castle as I stepped into it. I felt my body burning up as I stepped into the oil that I ignited, arriving at a white room and waiting in a line. "This is going to take a while..." I muttered to myself, yawning as the pain subsided.

"I see, please take the first door on your left and tell the man there your name. He'll open up the gates for you, darling." A voice said as the person in front of me walked away, her white clothes, and brilliantly shining smile disappearing through the door that the voice pointed out. "Next! Oh, Lilith, are you done with work already?" It was a voice I knew well.

"Hello, Greg." I greeted him as he pulled down his hood. He was a busy man, working himself to the bone without rest for as long as there was life in the world. "Here." I handed him what was in his pocket, a literal blood diamond. He reached out his skeletal hand to receive it, putting it in a machine as he used his scythe to reach for something behind him. Rummaging through everything, he pulled out glass bottles and vials, filling them one by one, until the machine had squeezed out all it could from the gem I handed him. It was like a juicer, or at least that's the closest thing I can use as an analogy, taking what emotions created the gem and giving them a consumable form.

"Third door on the right." He said, gently nudging half a dozen bottles over to my side of the counter. "As usual, good job."

"Thanks, Greg." I waved goodbye to the reaper after I pocketed the bottles, walking away and reaching the door that I had gone through multiple times before. Dark wood, nearly burnt around the edges, the handle marked with soot; a welcome sight. I swung it open, the swirling flames inviting me as I walked through.

"Oh, you're back. How was work?" Lucian met me as I arrived at the steps of our home; he was looking out the window at me. I flashed him a smile as I walked in, finding him sitting by a table with a book open in front of him and a pot of ink with a quill to the side.

"It was fine. Just the usual." I replied, pulling up a chair to watch him work. "What's the assignment this time?"

"A book, duh. Planting it in the human world is going to be the hard part since people have more alternatives for traditional paper books now." He said, pulling out the quill and pricking his finger with the tip, mixing his blood with the ink in order to enchant whatever he wrote with it. "What should I make this one? Death curse? Plague? No, those would be too boring."

"How about mind control? It'll be fun to watch the humans act like morons." I suggested, seeing a flash of brilliance come over him as he started scribbling. This was our life, or non-life to be more accurate. "Man, what I would do if I had your job instead of having to do their dirty work." I groaned as I ran my finger over the glass I got from the reaper.

"At least you have some steady income. How much did you get this time?" He asked, dipping his quill back into the ink as he watched me empty my pockets onto the table. "Six? Damn, you scored." He chuckled, reaching for one before I swatted his hand away. "Can I have one?" He asked as he jokingly nursed his hand.

"Mine! And you know that you shouldn't be drinking this, you're too young. Only for emergencies." I scolded him, gathering all of my rewards and walking to my room for the rest of the day. I walked around, keeping five of the bottles in a drawer with all of my previous rewards; I held the last one in my hand, looking at it with a smile as I popped off the top and gulped down the liquid.

It was known as "Lekos" to us, but the humans had various names for this; the most popular one was Ambrosia if I was correct. A drink made for the people in the realms other than the human realm, it was sweet like honey and a little sour like lemons. There were times when humans had a taste, and it was hilarious. They thought they were immortal, how cute. In reality, it was more like their narcotics than some potion of longevity. Its original use was to enhance the capabilities of the consumer, but now it's used as currency or a recreational hallucinogen.

"That man, I wonder what happened to his wife..." I muttered to myself, frowning at the thought of that woman waiting for someone that would never return. "I wonder when and where I'll get summoned next," I mumbled, looking around the room at some mementos from some of my more interesting jobs. Once I had a job with a neanderthal village to help them hunt, the one after that was substituting for a general during one of the humans' wars; good times.

I shut my eyes, letting the lekos hit me hard as I started hearing things. "Oh, Johnathan. When will you come back? I wanted to surprise you..." I opened my eyes, my room spinning as I hallucinated the figure of Elizabeth sitting by my window, her belly swollen with a child that Johnathan would never meet. I tried to walk over, but I couldn't move; not like I could really change anything, though. Lekos trips are a bit different compared to other ones, they were always partly real. I wonder if she was actually pregnant. I smiled, dreaming through the night in preparation for my job tomorrow.