Chapter One: Deal With The Devil
"Never read aloud from The Necronomicon, the ancient Egyption Book of the Dead, or the men's bathroom wall," I muttered as I shifted through the "occult" section at the used book store. I was delicately fingering an old leather-bound book and turning the pages with care. It was a book on demonology and looked older than anything I'd ever seen, which seemed ridiculous given the five dollar price tag.
I shrugged, thinking if nothing else, it would be a fun coffee table book to freak out my relatives with when they chose to visit. I purchased the manuscript, took it home and set it beside my little at-home altar.
It sat there, forgotten, for days. At some point, one of my cats must have knocked it behind my altar, because it was completely out of sight and out of mind.
One afternoon I was casting, totally nude, the boundaries of my sacred circle extending to the walls of my room, my bed at the circle's center, my altar to the south, in the direction of fire, passion and desire. As I cast the circle, calling in each element in turn, I turned to face each direction.
"You do know you're rather quite fetching in absolutely nothing at all, don't you?"
I turned from having just called in the element of earth in the north, and saw a vaguely familiar looking man holding my newest literary acquisition and leaning on my altar.
"I'm sorry... Tom Ellis?!"
He frowned then looked down at the body he was in and shrugged. "Is that the actor who plays me? I liked it so much better when it was Viggo. He completely got the dark humor... less camp, more terror. But hey, could be worse! Could be that guy from Supernatural... please! I am far better looking."
I was glancing from him to my bedroom door, wondering if I could flee. "Oh, please don't," he said dryly. His image changed to something closer to the comic book version of the character Tom Ellis played on television... pale blond hair, almost white it was so fair, blue eyes and a bit of a curl to his lip. "You truly should know what you're bringing home before you allow it uncleansed into ritual space, little witch."
I sat on the end of my bed with a slight thump, gaping. "I'm sorry... am I to believe you're..."
"The First Fallen, favored son of the Almighty, undisputed King of Hell, and unlike the late, great James Dean, Rebel *WITH* a cause." His lips curled further into a charming, if lascivious smile.
"I'm not a monotheist." It was said dryly, but that didn't mean I wasn't terrified. Still, it seemed necessary to state the obvious.
"Really? You don't say?" He made a gesture to my altar, whereon statues of Herne, Hera, Kali, Buddha, Bast, Buddy Christ and Stan Lee all stood. "Enter why I am not cursing you to Hell and back."
"...there's a Hell?"
"And a Hel, single L. Two doors down from Tartarus and due south of Purgatory."
I think I blinked. That was about all I could manage. I swear, he pouted. "This isn't at all as interesting as I thought it would be," he confided. "I expected the usual ranting and screaming... or a good shunning and exorcism, if nothing else." He frowned. "I would say you're disappointing, Ms. Witch, if you weren't so very fascinating."
"Um... thank you?" Was that a compliment? It sounded like a compliment... my addled brain muttered on and on to itself. "Well, I'd hate to be boring... so, this was just a mistake then? Because I sure as He-er... HADES... didn't purposely summon you!" His smile was unsettling but he didn't answer. "Well, I can break the circle and you can be on your way. No offense, but you're not really part of my belief system. I mean, it's not that I don't believe in you, in theory, but I certainly don't subscribe to any tenets of your pantheon."
"And you think that makes you somehow immune?" He tilted his head and regarded me. "You were baptized. Catholic, if I'm not wrong, and I rarely am."
I felt a chill up my spine. "Sure, when I was an infant. I chose a different path."
"Do you think that somehow makes you exempt from my touch?" He seemed genuinely curious. "Sorry. Your parents marked a little piece of your soul to their God, and all His angels and that just to happens to include ...me." He took the two steps from the altar to me and lifted my face with a finger under my chin. "Why do you think the earliest Christians would claim that witches were my wives, my slaves, minions and whores?" He winked. "Because you take after my own heart. You rebel. You shake off the yoke and bridal of My Father and you go your own way. You weren't raised to believe in something other than Him, and you were warned over and over what turning from His light might entail. But you still chose something else. I like that so much about your kind." He smiled and stroked my cheek, and I swear those eyes all but blazed the color blue you see at the base of a flame. "But you cannot break this circle or set me free until we make a deal. A small sacrifice on your part, if nothing else."
"S-sacrifice?" I shuddered, as images of Black Masses and slain animals flitter sickeningly across my thoughts and he made a face. "I have no interest in dead animals. I far prefer living ones."
I wanted to ask what he meant, but I couldn't. I was petrified by fear. My wide, terrified eyes were unable to tear away from those dancing blue depths of his. He gave a slow, knowing smile, and whispered into my ear: "So, to quote my fictional self... what do you desire?"
I was wet immediately. I couldn't have explained it if I tried. It was like despite the emergency stop my brain had stalled into, my body was still keenly aware of everything being said and done to it. And it's aching fed my stalled brain into flickering with images, all more shocking and debaucherous than the last.
His eyes widened and he looked vaguely impressed. "Ooooh, well aren't you a shocking delight? I tell you what, little witch. I will leave you be... mostly. What I propose is a deal... you sacrifice your passions to me one night a month, and I will protect you and give you my blessing."
Something about that seemed fishy. So, I countered: "No pain." I said, quoting a line from the first movie I could remember making me wet. "You do not hurt me in any way and instead of any sort of protection, you just leave me and mine alone. No interference for good or ill."
He pondered for a minute then countered with: "No *UNWANTED* or undesired pain. No permanent scars or lasting injury. I get to watch you, but not interfere save on the one night that is mine."
"Provided that 'interference' harms none." I said firmly. He rolled his eyes.
"Yes, yes... all of that. Do you consent?"