A knock fell on my “bedroom” door as I laid on my bed, scrolling through my social media.
“What do you want?” I demanded angrily.
Dante just stepped casually in the room, sitting on the bed beside me as I kept my back to him. “Are you bored?”
“No, just trying to pass the time.”
“Ah, so you’re bored.”
“Do you mind?” I snapped then, scooting a bit away from him. “I’m busy. Or couldn’t you tell?”
He remained silent then.
But he just leaned over me and snatched my phone.
I shot up, glaring at him. “Hey!”
He just lightly set it on my nightstand and gazed up at me with his… smile. “Don’t be so angry. It’s not like I threw it in the bathtub or stomped it to pieces.”
I just glared, anger brimming inside me. “What do you want?”
He just gazed up, red eyes glowing slightly. “I merely ask for a favor.”
I scoffed then and got up from the bed, picking up my phone from the nightstand and moving across the room to charge it. “Favor? Don’t be an idiot. You can’t just kidnap someone and ask for favors.”
He was silent for too long, and I just sat back onto my bed, back to him.
“It would benefit you, too,” Dante said then.
“If you’re talking about a contract—”
“Luca, I don’t want your blood,” he stated then.
“I don’t care what you want,” I snapped then. “I don’t… belong to you.”
He sighed then, as if he expected this outcome. “If I may ask… is there something you want? Something dear to you?”
“I don’t like the question.”
“It’s simple.”
“It warrants a contract,” I retorted.
He was silent again. “Luca, I don’t want your blood.”
“Yes, you want to kill me,” I snapped then. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? You want to kill me, slaughter me, murder me? Feast upon me?”
“No,” he said then, tone sharpening, “if you’ll just listen, I will make you more bacon.”
I silenced then, sitting still for a moment.
But I finally spoke, “Fine, whatever.”
“If I might be frank,” he said then, tone dark, “it seems as if your life is in danger. I’ve heard your nightmares… let alone the killing of your sister.”
The familiar cold pain of the mention of her name did not come… nothing came.
Did he really manage to make that feeling go numb?
“People have been targeting you, hurting you,” he explained then. “My favor… all I ask is that I’d be allowed to protect you and save you and take care of you. If I have that statement in place—when you are in danger—I will come right away to your rescue. The contract will make sure of it.”
“Define in more elaborate terms,” I stated then.
I felt him smile. “I will be able to murder anyone who dares hurt you, I will protect you from danger.”
“Define… take care of me,” I said then.
“Well,” he said then, tone lighting a little as he thought of it, “I will help you with your homework, provide for you, cook for you.”
“Clean me?” I demanded then. “Help me to bed every night? Dress me?”
He was silent for too long. “If that is what you want.”
“You will act as a father figure over me?” I said then. “Take care of me like a mother to a child?”
Amusement filled his voice. “If that is what you want.”
“And what else?” I demanded.
“I will also ask that you will not leave,” Dante said then. “You will stay within my sight, listen to me.”
“Like a mother to a child,” I said then. “Is that what you’re getting at?”
He was silent again. “Yes.”
I stood then. “I’m no child.”
Before I could leave the room, he flicked a finger, and the door slammed in my face.
I glared back over at him. “Let me out.”
He gazed up, eyes glowing a slight red. “Yes, you will not leave my sight, and I shall know where you are, Luca. But I will take care of you when you’re ill, I will clothe you when you’re tired, I will make you meals, help you brush your hair. Whatever you want me to do, I will do it.”
My lashes lowered. “Elaborate on my piece.”
A smile peeked through his lips. “You will be mine.”
“Define it,” I snapped.
“No one can taste your blood, no one can hurt you, no one can steal you, no one will get away with taking you. I will protect you, I will guide you, I will escort you, I will keep you safe. You will stay with me.”
I just puffed out a breath. “I don’t trust you.”
He just looked to my bed and puffed my pillow. “I will clothe you, Luca. I will hold you when you’re cold. I will wash your clothes and keep you sane. I will calm you after your nightmares.”
“You’re not my mother.”
He gazed up then, lashes lowering. “No. I am your demon.”
I still then, eyes widening.
“I am your dog on a leash. I am the hamster running on the wheel to power your room. I am the lullaby that helps you sleep at night. I am yours. Completely and utterly yours.”
I just glared. “What does that have to do wit—”
“And along with that,” he cut in, lashes lowering, “you will get a wish.”
I gazed up then, eyes widening. “Wh… what?”
“A wish,” he stated then, his expression calm. “Whatever you want, I will grant it.”
“Along with all that?” I demanded. “You being my dog? Being mine, too? You taking care of me like a service animal?”
He just gazed up, smiling a little. “Yes.”
I thought this over with a moment.
I didn’t trust him, but… but I couldn’t give this opportunity up.
He was right, I was in danger… and if I had a demon to protect me?
It was risky because I didn’t know him well enough…
But…
But I…
But I couldn’t.
I gazed up then.
I couldn’t resist.
“I want… I want to save people. And I want you to help me.”
His lips parted in surprise.
“There’s this… mafia,” I said then, lashes lowering when my past burned through my thoughts, “they’re killing people. I want you to help me save them. And anything… anything that I can do to save people. You will help me save them.”
He stared for a moment before he blinked. “Is that all you ask?”
I nodded slightly.
He smiled a little and stood, stepping over to me.
I gazed up when he lightly caught my hands, turning them over so my palms faced up.
He ran his thumb along my fingertips. “Are you sure? You said you didn’t trust me.”
I didn’t hesitate for even a second. “I’m sure.”
I wanted this wish. I wanted it badly.
If I could prevent all the horrible things that happened to me… I would. But I could prevent them happening to others, too.
I could stop this madness.
“Alright,” Dante said then, smiling slightly, “if that’s all you ask, then I shall do it.”
The room suddenly darkened, and I gazed around in shock, lips parting when the shadows crept higher and covered every inch of light.
My hair suddenly blew over my face, the shirt that Dante gave me swarming to the side as a sudden wind burst through the room.
I looked back to Dante who still held my hands. “Why do you want to take care of me?”
He smiled, his pupils slitting slightly into a cat’s as his eyes glowed a dark red. "I've lived a long life as a demon. I've had too many privileges. I just want to take care of someone. It seems more entertaining, at the very least."
My lashes lowered.
But suddenly, something on my side burst with pain, and I cried out, shrinking in on myself.
He just kept a hold of my hands.
I gazed down at my shirt, finding a light bursting through it.
The fabric tore and frayed like it caught fire, vanishing into dust when the light on my side glowed bright in the darkness.
I gasped when a pentagram-shape glowed a bright purple on my skin and vanished into nothing…
And then it came.
Like I was being sawed open, a searing burn tore into my side, making me cry out when I forced myself to keep my eye on my side.
And I breathed shakily when a crescent-moon scraped into my skin with fire, searing pain through my skin as I tipped my head back and nearly screamed.
But once the edge finally curled inward, touching the start of the mark, everything vanished immediately.
The darkness around me, the wind the magic.
I was back in my room… or… Dante’s room.
I breathed shakily, feeling my vision tint with white as the pain settled, but I found myself falling to the side.
Dante caught me immediately, making my head lop to the side as I remained half-conscious.
He just scooped me up and carried me over to the bed, and I watched hazily as he laid me into it.
I watched his silhouette through my white vision… and he pulled the covers over me, staring at me for a moment.
But he leaned down, lightly pulling my hair away from our face.
“Close your eyes and sleep,” he whispered to me. “It will wear off in an hour.”
Wear off…? What would?
Did this happen every time someone signed a contract with him?
But I listened, letting my lashes fall as my breaths stilled.
And I drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
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