My babes.
It's finally happening 🥹
Hope you'll enjoy this prologue. Let me know your thoughts! And don't forget to vote, if you liked it 🖤
*~*
Prologue
Shivering, Anya stands in the middle of a crossroad, her eyes darting in every direction to catch the slightest movement. The soft breeze rushing through the field alongside the road, and the chirping crickets by the small creek combined with an owl howling in the distance, make her shiver. In daylight, when the sun shines upon the wildflowers in the field and the birds sing, this is a beautiful place. But in the middle of the night, illuminated only by the light of a full moon that washes everything into black and white, it creeps her out.
Well...what's actually creeping her out is what she just did.
As per instructions, she buried a box in the dead center of this crossroad. This box contains a picture of her, some graveyard dirt, and a bone from a black cat. Anya is glad she didn't have to look for the stuff herself but got them from a close family friend. That friend also made sure she's well equipped for this, gave her everything she might need.
A few moments pass and Anya sighs deeply when nothing happens. Of course, this doesn't work. Would've been way too nice...
But suddenly she feels a cold breeze and notices she's not alone anymore. With a shaky breath and wet palms, she turns around.
Gasping, the young girl takes a step back as she sees someone standing behind her, not far away, until she realizes it's just a dude. It's still creepy, but less so than what she had expected.
"Gosh, you scared me to death!" Chuckling nervously, she lays her hand on her chest.
The arrival tilts his head, confused, and she eyes him carefully. He's taller than her, with pitch black long hair that falls into his face, slender stature, sharp facial features...
Anya wonders how this dude got here and what she is supposed to do if this underworld creature really shows up.
"Did..." The dude's voice is deep and raspy. "Did you summon me?"
Her eyes widen in shock and she takes another step back. She can't say exactly what she expected but definitely not a human being... or something that looks human. The words get stuck in her throat and she feels her pulse quicken.
Gulping, she looks at him. "You... you are the Crossroad Demon?"
A low chuckle comes out of him. "I know... I'm sexy as fuck, aren't I? People don't expect that."
Her fear is way too overwhelming to focus on his appearance now. She assumes all of these creatures are beautiful in their human form. After all, they wanna make deals, not scare people away.
"How old are you?" he asks now and walks closer to her.
It takes Anya a few moments to find her voice again. "I'm... sixteen..."
"Sixteen?" he asks and seems irritated. "Holy shit!" Still frozen with fear, she doesn't dare to move. Why does her age matter here? "Go home, girly!" he says roughly and turns. "It's late!"
"Wait!" Anya blurts, and hurries after him.
As her fingers close around his forearm, a feeling sinks down deep into her bones. A dark, cold feeling.
The creature stops and looks down the arm she's holding before their eyes lock. He's so close now that she sees their color.
Red as blood.
Abruptly she lets go of him and flinches back.
"I... I need your help!" she insists and tries to keep her voice steady. She figures it's better not to show him how terrified she is.
"Yeah, but I'm not helping you!"
Her desperation only grows with his words and she stands in his way. "Why?"
"Because you're fucking sixteen!" He groans. "You're way too young to make rational decisions, not the least of which is selling your damn soul! Are you out of your goddamn mind? Call me again once your prefrontal cortex is fully developed!"
Fighting down the rising wave of panic in her chest, Anya looks at him. Until a few weeks ago she had no idea these supernatural creatures really exist. And now she has one at hand and he doesn't wanna help her?
"What do you want?" he asks suddenly.
"You know what I want!" she replies, almost hysterically. "Save him! Heal him!"
"Do you understand what you're asking for?" He takes a step closer. "You want me to save this dude's life and in exchange, your soul will belong to me ten years from now!"
She scoffs. As if she wouldn't know exactly what she was getting into here. "I know!"
There's this incredibly long pause while he looks at her carefully before sighing again.
"I hate teenagers..." he growls. "He will break your heart and then all of this will be completely in vain!"
Henry would never do that to her! Sure, they're young, but she knows she has never loved this hard and will never love anyone else the way she loves him. He's perfect. But he's sick. His heart will give up soon and it doesn't look like he'll get a new one in time. Anya can't watch him die. She can't watch the love of her life dying!
"I don't care..." she says and tears fill her eyes. "I love him!"
The creature lifts his hand and wipes his thumb over her cheek, dries it carefully. His touch feels overwhelming. But the young girl is not sure if it's in a good or a bad way...
"I won't help you!" he repeats and brushes past her again.
Okay, fuck this!
She lifts her leg and snatches a dagger out of her boot before darting into his path.
She points the knife at him. "Yes, you will!"
His eyes fall on the weapon and she sees it in his face that he knows this isn't an average knife. He knows that this is one of the few weapons that can kill him...
Anya wasn't sure about its impact when her friend gave it to her. But she also wasn't sure at that time whether supernatural creatures existed in general, so she's glad this weapon lives up to its promise.
Even though she can see in his eyes that he's surprised that she would own such a weapon, he raises his eyebrow and scoffs.
"Really?"
Threatening, she takes a step forward, her eyes fixed on his. "I will summon demon after demon until one of you will make this deal!" she says in a steady voice.
For a long moment, he looks at her.
"Fine!" He sighs and slowly walks around her. "I'll save him. He will live a long, happy life—and you'll get ten more years with him and then you're mine! Got it?"
She hears his voice close to her ears as he paces around her. With his last words, he stops in front of her and she nods firmly.
"Yes!"
Gulping, she stares into his crimson eyes. Every inch of her body wants to look away, but she's petrified—and mesmerized at the same time.
"Can't believe you wanna throw your life away like this..." he whispers and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But fine, it's your soul! Gosh... I'll go to hell for touching a minor..." He rolls his eyes before he smirks darkly. "Oh, well..."
Was that supposed to be a joke? And what does he mean?
Before she can ask, he suddenly grabs her by her cheeks and crushes his lips on hers.
Shocked, her eyes widen. She wants to push him away but...it's almost as if an invisible magnetic field pulls her deeper into this kiss. Her body fills with warmth and her heart throbs hard at the touch of his lips.
Gasping into the kiss, Anya closes her eyes, pulls him closer by his jacket and returns the kiss greedily. There's this split second when she seems to forget about Henry, about what this creature is.
He gently buries his fingertips in her hair, and lets his tongue slip into her mouth. A moan escapes her throat when her tongue begins to prickle pleasantly. Never in her life has a kiss aroused her like this. It's like her body has been set on fire...
But there's a moment within the kiss when she feels something happening to her. It feels like a wave of darkness creeping through her body, shooting into her arteries and coloring her crimson blood pitch-black. Suddenly, Anya feels dead, and yet so alive. And God, he tastes amazing!
When he breaks the kiss, she whimpers at the loss of his lips. It isn't until she opens her eyes and looks in his dark, red ones that she finally comes back to her senses.
"What the fuck was that?" she gasps and looks at him wide-eyed.
This creature tilts his head and chuckles. "This is how you seal the deal, idiot!"
"By kissing someone?"
Still a little startled, she lets her fingers glide over her lips. It's almost like she can still taste him.
"Trust me!" He smirks before he turns. "This is more disgusting for me than it is for you! You have no idea what kinds of creatures I've kissed before! It's settled..."
This is the last thing she wanted to know about all this... ew. But still, she can't deny that this kiss made her dizzy. The urge to do it again is so huge that she even seems to forget Henry—the reason she's doing this—for a moment.
So desperate for him to touch her again, she feels rising panic inside of her when he starts to leave.
"Hey!" she calls and he turns around again.
"What?"
"Can I know your name?"
"Why?" He smirks. "Do you think you'll have to tell Lucifer who sent you, when you're standing at the gates of hell?" He chuckles and this deep chuckle sends shivers down her spine. "Don't worry. I'll pick you up myself!"
Ten years from now. It's almost as if she can hear the time ticking already...
"I just wanna know who I'll spend eternity with..." she says sheepishly.
"You really have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you? The ones you'll be spending your eternity with are nowhere near as sexy and respectful as I am. But you can call me Kyun!"
Smiling, he turns his back on her again and raises his hand. "See you in ten years, babygirl! Don't waste your time, you don't have much of it left..."
With these words he disappears, leaving not a single trace that Anya had ever met a demon on that dark, empty gravel road...