In the heart of 1920s New Orleans, a malevolent force prowls the moonlit streets, claiming lives and feasting on flesh. His reign of terror was destined to be brief, a mere footnote in the city's dark history, but something unexpected happened that...
Authors Note: Unlike my other stories, I do not have the full timeline worked out beforehand on this one. There will be heavy editing in this book as I go along and potential changes along the way as well. The series is in its infancy, so I may eventually go back and tweak things as the series reveals more secrets to us. So, be patient and just enjoy the ride. As always, if you have ANY triggers, avoid this story. It will not be for the faint-hearted.
The first few chapters are setting the stage, so they will be short. Bear with me.
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Still in the past...
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Lilith was pissed when she was summoned. She'd been about two seconds away from plucking Charlie out of Lucifer's arms. She loved her husband, she truly did, but he was a dreamer and his dreams involved things that didn't truly serve them.
She found herself manifested in a dark candle-lit room. She tried to step forward but her feet were locked in place. She glanced down and saw an iron pentagram imbedded in the floor.
"What the-"
"It's a demon trap, my dear" came as strange, scratchy voice from behind her. She glared over her shoulder at a tall slender figure. He wore a fitted brown button-up vest over an ivory dress shirt, along with trousers and brown leather dress shoes. He was an undeniably beautiful human male, with light mocha skin, thick brown hair and devious matching eyes, but his smile... it was wide and unnerving.
"Release me, human," she demanded.
"Hmm... no I don't think I will. Not yet anyway," he said smugly as he slowly walked in front of her. "Now, I do understand you're likely a very busy Demon with lots to do in Hell, so I'll make this quick. My name is Alastor. I'd like to make a deal."
Lilith rolled her eyes. Humans and their deals. What made him think he had a soul worth collecting?
"No."
Though his smile remained, she could see his eye twitch just barely. Her eyes narrowed a bit. There was something simmering beneath that pretty exterior, something she hadn't initially noticed. As he slowly drew a line across his teeth with the tip of his tongue his tongue, she focused on him, trying to get a read on the human.
He wasn't normal. In fact, his blood pulsed with forbidden magic, and his soul was dark... so very dark. Hmm, a sinner. An uncommonly bad one.
"No?" he chuckled sinisterly at that, as if he knew something she didn't know, and she had to wonder if he did. She'd never had a human make her skin crawl like this one did.
It's that damn creepy ass smile, she reasoned with herself.
He slowly turned away from her and approached a table. On it laid what appeared to be a simple piece of wood, but as he plucked it from the table and approached her with it, she noticed it was no ordinary piece of wood.
It was a stake, the tip coated in iron and Enochian symbols etched all over the shaft. Her eyes rounded as he approached her. "Where did you get that?" she hissed angrily, trying to shift away from him.
His head tilted oddly and his smile deepened. "Why, I made it of course, and I take it from your reaction, you know exactly what it can do," he snickered cruelly. "Now, are we ready to discuss terms?"
Her fury blazed, yet she found herself ensnared, outmaneuvered by the cunning human. In his bony grasp rested a weapon capable of snuffing out her entire existence. But death was not her chosen path. A pact would be struck, but within its terms would lay a promise: he would rue the day he crossed her, one way or another.
"Very well. What the fuck do you want?" she asked impatiently.
"Now that's much better," he remarked, laying the stake down on the table again. "What I want is simple. You see, I am engaged in vital work, and I harbor no desire for my fellow humans to possess the capability to end my life during its pursuit. In exchange for this formidable power, I offer you what Demon's cherish above all else: my very soul."
Lilith rolled her eyes. "You want immortality? That is a power I will not grant you, not even to save my own life," she snapped in disdain, "However..." she paused, her penetrating gaze boring into the depths of his being, "I do confess your soul does interest me. Tainted by the darkest of sin, it pulses like a rare gem enchanted by forbidden magic. She leaned in, her gaze unyielding. "Perhaps, just perhaps, it could find a place in my collection."
His smiled widened and his eye twitched again. She knew she'd have to give him something, or else she was a good as dead. Her mind reeled, quickly working.
She could offer him a formidable power, but... it would contain a hidden flaw—a vulnerability he wouldn't even consider due to his overconfidence and single-minded focus.
"So, I suppose I will help," she continued, "I can make it much harder for a human to kill you. You will take considerably less damage when they harm you, if any. You will heal much quicker than a human, and can only be killed by a human if they completely remove your head," she explained. "So long as you don't tell anyone this, you'll be nearly indestructible," she explained.
His eyes lit with excitement. "So, they can only kill me if they remove my head?" he asked.
Yeah. A HUMAN, she thought to herself with a snicker. She never said anything about anyone else.
"That's right."
He giggled gleefully and stepped forward, extending his hand to her, "Its a deal, my dear."
