Chapter 5 - 4: Demon

Millions of thoughts ran through my head, enough to make me feel dizzy.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬? 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦.

I pinched myself hard.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦.

The demon, Bari, rolled his eyes. "Hey. Human." He said. "I've seen that reaction before. Do something different, will you?" Bari held out his hand toward me. I glared at him, standing up by myself. I heard him sigh but I ignored it.

I made sure to keep my eyes on Bari, backing up to reach the light switch. I watched his movements carefully, my hands fumbling a bit before they could flick the switch. He noticed and chuckled softly.

"I assume you have a few questions, then?" Bari asked, seating himself on the couch in the living room. I nodded. I stood across the room, keeping my distance. "What are you?"

"A demon. I thought you would've understood that so far. Are humans getting slower or something?"

"Are you going to hurt me?"

"I could, but I don't feel like it. Besides, you were the one who summoned me. Why would I hurt you?"

"Well, because you're a demon. Aren't they dangerous?"

Bari sighed. "Yeah, but not the ones you summon. As long as you make a contract, of course."

"Contract?" I scratched my head. I remembered reading about that somewhere in the book from Madeline.

"Yes, a contract." Bari started. "It's an agreement that will be made between the two of us. I write a contract, all you have to do is sign it. We will be bound by what the contract reads. Of course, you can always add on your own terms. Okay?"

I nodded softly. He had said that I could add my own terms, which sounded pretty fair. Part of me hated this idea, but I had summoned him for a reason.

Bari gestured for me to come towards him. I hesitantly walked over and sat in the matching chair that was diagonal to him. "So, how does this contract work?" I asked.

"It's pretty simple, you see. I give you what you want and in return, I get your soul. Understood?" He replied.

"My soul?!"

"Yes, your soul. Or your first-born child. Though, looking at you..." His eyes scanned my body and he shrugged. "You're not going to be having one."

"Excuse me?! I am perfectly capable of having kids!"

"With that attitude and look, I don't think anyone would want to impregnate you, sweetheart."

𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧?

"Rip my head off? Wow." Bari smiled. "I don't suggest talking trash about me. I can read your mind."

𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"Of course I can do anything; I'm not a mousy little human, now am I?" Bari spoke again. "Now, can we please get on with this contract? I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

I nodded, hoping I could get out of this somehow. I didn't want to give up my soul. I would do anything but that. "Fine. There is only one thing I want. I want to get over my ex."

"Get over your ex? Woah... And you summoned a demon for that? Pathetic."

"Don't judge and just give me what I want." I retorted. "In return, I can give you something else. You can't have my soul, but I can give you anything else you want!" I insisted. I wanted to stay alive. Maybe I could go to hell when I die or something? And be tortured there for eternity?

Bari thought over my request. "Well, it is true that human souls are annoying..." His eyes gravitated to the bookmark piece of paper I had given him. He mumbled something under his breath and then made a decision. "Okay. I won't take your soul."

"Yay!"

"But in return, you shall marry the person of my choice."

"What?" My face twisted in confusion. The person of his choice? "You're gonna set me up with the trashiest man, aren't you? I'm not gonna deal with a horrible person." Bari shrugged. "Nah. The guy just won't be a saint is all." I stopped and thought about it. It didn't sound all that bad, honestly. At least it wasn't my soul. But one part of me was still alarmed. One part wanted me to run away from this idea. I decided to go with my gut.

"Let me think it over," I said.

"No."

"Yes. Give me a month."

"A day."

"Two weeks."

"Two days"

"A week and a half."

"Three days. That's it. Either that or I take your soul now."

"Deal!" I said. It was the best I could probably get. I'm not the best at negotiating. As long as I could buy myself time. I wasn't ready to commit to this idea yet.

"I'm staying here in the meantime, sweetheart." Bari said. My eyes widened. "First of all," I started. "No. Second of all, I have a name! It's Momo!"

Bari rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am. Deal with it. Also, I'll only call you by your name if we make a deal, got it?"

"Get out of my house."

Bari stood up from the couch and walked over, pinning me to the chair. He towered over me, his intimidating presence making me sink lower into the seat. He leaned in, inches away from my face. His hazel eyes glared down, little golden flecks glinting at me. I tried my best to make eye contact but looked away in the end. Slowly, he lowered his face to my ear. "I do what I want. So, no." He whispered, his breath fanning my neck. I leaned back further into the couch, frowning.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬.

"I've been called worse," Bari said, smirking. With that, he backed away from me. "Have my room prepared for me."

I frowned and stood, walking him towards my uncle's room. "You can stay here but just for tonight. Don't mess it up or I'm never signing that contract. Also, keep your distance from me. I don't need you in my personal space."

Bari ignored me and walked into the room, looking around. He didn't seem to care too much until he spotted a guitar. The guitar belonged to my uncle, but he didn't use it often.

Bari stared at it for a second, a small smirk forming. "Can I use this?" He asked. I shrugged. "If you break it, I'm going to kill you."

Bari looked at me, smiling. "In your dreams, sweetheart." I groaned. "Whatever. Just..." I looked him up and down. "Don't break anything. I'm gonna sleep and hope that you're gone by tomorrow. If you're not then lucky me." I sarcastically said. I slowly closed the door and walked into my room. I plopped on my bed, not bothering to deal with anything else. I was too exhausted to change.

I shut my eyes and let sleep overtake me. Tomorrow would be a new day, a new problem to deal with.