Seducing the Devil

Prologue

18 Years Ago

The Hart family sat at the dinner table, eating their dinner. Marco Hart sat across from his son, Angelo, while his wife, Natalie, sat beside him. It was calm evening. Nothing out of the ordinary. It had been a normal day. Marco and his son went to work, while his wife stayed at home, and busied herself with housewife duties. It was as peaceful as any day could be. 

They were then disturbed by a knock at the door. Marco looked at his son and nodded to the door.  Anglo stood up from his chair and went to see who was at the door. He opened the door and froze. Standing before him was a tall man in a business suit. His facial features were covered by the shadow of night. 

Natalie became concerned when Angelo didn't return. She called out to him, "Honey whose there?" The man at the door pushed Angelo aside and replied, "It's me. Hello honey I'm home" Angelo then snapped out of his frozen state and said to the man "What are you doing here?" The man looked to Angelo and rolled his eyes. "I'm here for my end of the bargain. I can't believe you forgot." The man then patted Angelo on the shoulder and walked into the dining room.

Marco and Natalie stared at the man. Natalie then looked to her son. "Who is this man Angelo. And how do you know him?"  Angelo looked at his mother and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the man. "Well your son went into a contract with me, and he missed his deadline." The man then clicked his tongue and and pouted. "Darn. Which ya know sucks to be him, but I get payment regardless." 

Marco then looks at Angelo. "What kind of payment is he speaking of son." Angelo looks down at the floor unwilling to speak. The man then looks back and forth from the father to son before clapping Angelo on the back and saying, "Aw come on Angelo. Tell him. What's the worst that can happen" The man then sighs and grabs one of the wine glasses off of the table. He swirls the drink in his hand as he watches in amusement as Angelo struggles to speak. "If you won't tell them Angelo, then I suppose I have to" The man sighs and takes a sip of the wine. He grimaces at the taste of it and then continues. "You see, your boy Angelo here made a deal with me, but he didn't keep up his end of the deal, so now I get to collect."

Natalie looks at Marco in confusion. Marco then looks to his son. "Angelo, what is he talking about? What does he mean by collect?" Angelo looked at his dad and was fidgeting under his gaze. "I sold my soul" he whispered. Marco looked at his son. "What was that? Speak up boy." Angelo looked at his dad and said a bit louder "I sold my soul father". Marco stares at his son in disbelief while Natalie starts to cry. She grabs her husbands arm. "What is he talking about Marco. What does he mean by he sold his soul."

"Well you see" the man interjects, "All you need to know is that your son now belongs to me." Natalie then starts to sob hysterically. "No you can't take my son." The man then walks up to Natalie and pats her on the head. "There there momma. Your son will be uh well taken care of." The man then grabs Angelo by the arm. "Come now Angelo. We best be on our way." As they walk towards the door, Marco runs ahead and stands in front. "No you can't take him. We can figure something out. There has to be some other way." 

The man looks at Marco and shrugs. "Oooh. Unfortunately my hands are tied." Suddenly a faint cry erupts throughout the house. The man turns his head towards the noise. "Now what to do we have here." The man then lets go of Angelo and walks towards the crying sound. He finds himself being lead to the nursery. Inside the room is a pink basinet with a baby inside. The man leans over the basinet as everyone else filters into the room staring at the man. The man smiles and looks at Angelo. "You didn't tell me you had a baby sister". He then turns back to the baby and bops it on the nose. "You know I love babies. They are just so cute and innocent, but they can be little devils." The man then turns to look at the family. "Tell ya what. Since you love your son such much and can't bear to be parted from him, how about a little trade." The family looks at each other then back to the man. Marco clears his throat and asks, "What kind of trade?" 

The man looks at the baby and then back to Marco. "How about you give me your daughter instead. I get the soul I've been promised and you get to keep your precious son." Natalie looks at the man and shakes her head. "But she is just a baby." The man sighs. "Of course I would let her stay with you until she is of age. I'm not a monster. Although some may disagree with me on that. I'll let you keep her until she is 18. On her birthday I will come to collect." Natalie looks to her husband who has a calculating look on his face. He then steps forward with his hand out. "Deal."