"Hello, Lily. Remember me?"
"Wh—"
"Of course you don't," the creature quipped, throwing her head back to let out a sultry laugh that made the ends of my hair stand up in fright. "If you did, we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place."
Striking couldn't even describe her.
What stood out first from the terrifying visage before me were two of the darkest colored eyes that I had ever seen which were calling out to me, beckoning me to come closer only to pull me into a lightless pit of immeasurable depths. Glittering madness. Her hair matched the color of her eyes as even darker than midnight, reaching far past her shoulders. Long lashes batted at me as the corner of her dark, painted lips lifted into a teasing grin.
Her frame was long, and her body almost scandalously curvy. Thin arms currently rested back. Toned and glossy, shimmering in the light. Her breasts jutted out, full and pronounced. They bulged from the cropped bohemian top she wore. No bra. Wrapped around her legs was a sarong. She brought forth a feeling inside me. I felt something thawing—a desire I didn't know I had caged in me, melting away as her pitch-black stare devoured me.
I didn't know what to do. The creature in front of me was possibly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. If she even was a woman. Did I not mention that she was an even shade of crimson from head to toe? That, and she had long, pointed horns peeking from her hair and a long tail swinging lazily behind her. Arrowhead tapering to a pointed head. A sinister smile played on her lips.
"The power of Christ compels you!"
I didn't know why I said that line in particular, but grabbing a porcelain coffee mug from behind me and throwing it at her next made more sense. Both of our eyes widened as the very end of the flying mug went straight towards her face. It seemed forever before it hit her. The mug hitting her forehead produced a satisfying thud and sent the demonic-looking intruder falling over the other side of my kitchen counter, a high-pitched scream accompanying her.
Then I ran like hell.
I screamed and limped towards the front door as fast as I could. Curious, I couldn't help myself and I threw a look behind my shoulder. The demon and I connected gazes as it tried to get up from on the floor.
"Oh no, you don't!"
I had just gotten a hand on the doorknob when something snaked around one of my ankles. Leathery, tight. My head spun as her tail pulled on my ankles, sweeping my body under me. The motion caused me to fall flat on my back on the floor as a thud echoed along the house. I groaned in pain. In an instant, I was staring at the demon face to face. Her body hummed and bones stretched glossy, crimson skin. A smell sweetly reminiscent of spring imprinted on my mind.
"You're a little feisty, aren't you?" her voice, rich and smooth like dripping honey, reminded me of a siren's call. But she was no siren. The second I caught sight of the fangs peeking from her mouth, I screamed again and tried to bolt away. But the demon quickly crawled over me and sat on my stomach, not allowing me to go anywhere. My heart thundered in my chest as she leaned her weight on me. The sarong she was wearing rode up higher on her thigh.
I had been in a lot of provocative positions in my life—some which were downright life-threatening—but to have someone like a demon sitting on top of you and looking at you like it was about to eat you was a novel experience that both terrified and excited me.
I'm a terrible person. I know.
"Do I need to restrain you, Lily?" the demon bent down, putting a firm grip on my wrists and pinning them on each side of my head. "Because that is something I truly, truly would enjoy."
Her eyes bore into me. The mischievous smile of the demon on top of me grew as she had me absolutely at her mercy and she knew it. Her grip on one of my wrists loosened, and she rubbed little circles on the skin there. My mouth ran dry. I was almost certain this whole thing was a nightmare, but nightmares didn't have this much sexual tension in them, did they?
"You owe me something, Lily. And I want it now," the demon whispered in my ear in a singsong voice, and only then did I notice how hot she was. Literally. Her crimson skin was warm to touch, as well as her breath on my ear. It gave me goosebumps all over. She pulled away slightly and drew her face closer to mine, looking at me with her pitch-black eyes, which flashed red for a second. She must have found the look of absolute terror and confusion on my face hilarious because then she burst out into a booming laugh, sitting up straight and floating off of me.
"Playing with humans will never get tiresome," the seductress almost rasped, watching me in amusement.
"Who the heck are you?!" I asked as I clutched onto my furniture—an attempt to regain some of my dignity back by hoisting my body up to a standing position.
"Oh, honey. I'm sure you already know the answer to that question," she grinned at me, twirling her tail with her finger for emphasis. "You can call me Eve."
"Eve? Aren't you a demon?"
"Well, the devil actually. Or the devil's apprentice, if you really go all technical on it. I still would like to be called by my name," she shrugged, walking over to my lounge chair and elegantly reclining on it.
I remained standing in place. "An apprentice?"
The devil rolled her eyes and groaned, waving her hand dismissively. "What is this, twenty questions? Yes, I'm an apprentice and my boss, Satan, is currently on vacation."
"Are you fucking with me?"
Because despite the coiling four-inch horns on her head and the very realistic tail behind her, I still couldn't just believe every word that came out of her mouth. If I thought about it, I definitely shouldn't have believed anything that came out of her mouth because of the horns and tail.
"Careful, you're being a little speciesist there," Eve said, sounding like she literally just read my mind. And as if to mock my thoughts further, she grinned and bared her fangs at me. "What, I'm not trustworthy because of the tail, the skin, a little pointy horn here and there?"
"You just said you're the devil!"
"Apprentice, darling. I can never compare to the real thing. And do I look like I fuck with someone for kicks?" Eve chuckled darkly, resting her elbow on my chair and framing her perfect little heart-shaped face with her palm. I raised an eyebrow at her, forgetting for a second that I was supposed to be afraid of her.
The devil's apprentice threw her head back in laughter that I could only describe as pure evil. "You're absolutely right! I love fucking with humans for fun. Ah, you're definitely an upgrade from the last human I talked to, that's for sure. With her, I only had to pretend to be a genie to get what I wanted."
And then I swallowed the lump in my throat. Right there was the problem. What she wanted. What did a creature like her want?
"Why are you here?" I asked, daring to meet her dark eyes.
"Finally," she smirked knowingly. "I am here on official Hell business and you, Lily, owe me something."
I took a step back unconsciously, tightly gripping the foyer table beside me. Owing people is never good news, but owing the devil something? "What do I owe you?" I asked nervously, not wanting to hear what she would say next, because I got an inkling of what it was and it rhymed with pole.
"Your firstborn child."
That caught me off guard, and I didn't bother to hide my confusion. I thought she would go for my soul. Wasn't that what fiction always depicted as what demons wanted? What did she even mean by my firstborn child?
"Do I look like I have a kid to you?" I asked, a little offended.
"And do I look like I care? A deal is a deal. And ten years has already passed," Eve retorted, picking something off from her shirt indifferently and looking bored. Somehow, I got a feeling that boredom was not an emotion that someone as dangerous as Eve should be experiencing. Idle hands are the devil's workshop, as they say.
The words rang in my ear but refused to add up in my brain, to my utmost confusion. "What do you mean by a deal?"
"You made a deal with me ten years ago," the crimson-skinned woman told me, now serious. "Your heart's desire for the simple price of your very first child."
"I don't remember making a deal with you. What are you saying?"
"Well, of course you don't. But I think this will jog some of your memories," she said in a sigh, flicking her hand up and producing a scroll out of thin air. Then without another word, she opened the scroll up and it unspooled into a long parchment which touched the floor and continued to roll away from her until it touched my feet.
"What is this?" I asked incredulously as I bent down and the unfamiliar glyphs danced right before my eyes and shifted into familiar letters and words until I could make sense of what was on the paper.
"Behold: a demon's contract. At the very end, there is a little souvenir from you," Eve replied, tilting her head playfully as I followed her gaze to the very end of the script. Over the dotted line of my full name was my unique signature that I had used for almost all my life, neatly scribbled down and signed with ink. I gasped and almost fell flat on the floor trying to get a closer look at the signature. It was undeniably mine. Looking at how it was written, I could say that it almost looked like I signed it yesterday. That was how accurate the signature was. But I never in my life remembered meeting someone like Eve and signing a contract with them. For fuck's sake, I knew I was careless and I liked to breeze my way into things, but I think I would definitely remember if I signed a contract with the devil!
"This must be a trick. I never remembered signing anything with you!" I yelled angrily, not caring that Eve could snap me like a twig if she wanted to.
"Ah, but that is your signature, yes?" she asked, looking as unbothered as ever while looking at her black nails. Of course she has black nails.
"Yeah, but... but that is false!" I reasoned. The scroll was dated ten years ago, as Eve had said. And indeed, today was the 10th anniversary of the signature.
"Are you calling me a liar? I know I'm the devil, but you truly wound me, Lily," Eve pouted in mock grief, flicking her hand and making the entirety of the scroll disappear. "I never falsify documents. Can't tarnish the reputation of my boss."
"You're literally the devil! Or your boss is, whatever! What reputation are you talking about?"
The dark-haired seductress finally rose from her seat, looking at me like a predator looking at their fresh kill. "I'm getting tired of this little game, Lily," she said again, her airy voice and innocent smile not matching the ominous intent in her eyes.
The ground rumbled and shook. Then the wooden floorboards creaked in protest at the unnatural movement of the ground. I looked up in alarm to find the horned woman pointing to the floor and with a loud boom, the floor of my living room burst open to reveal a black, bottomless pit with menacing hues of red. Sweltering heat blasted in from the ground and from the open windows, not quite burning my skin but causing beads of sweat to form on my forehead.
"I'm going to make this easier for you, Lily," Eve started, the wails of a thousand tormented souls providing a complementary background to her sinister voice. "You give me what I want, or I throw you down there for pissing me off. Your choice."
"What kind of choice is that?!" I dared to complain while simultaneously backing away from the slowly expanding hole, which I could only assume was the entrance to Hell. Beads of perspiration continued to swell from my forehead.
"Don't be such a cynic. I'm in Hell most of the time and I love it there," the crimson-skinned devil cackled, her voice echoing around my house like we were in a cave. "The blood, the pain, the grief and the delicious fear thick and heady in the air. What absolute fun!"
There was no way that she made up the perfect line on the spot, even if she was the devil. She must have practiced it for sure.
"This is hardly fair!" I yelled over to Eve to be heard as the screams and the desperate pleas from the hole grew louder and louder. It rang in my ears. I couldn't shield myself from such a shrill sound because I was holding on to my credenza for dear life, the floor chipping away and dropping into the hole. Seriously, couldn't my neighbors have heard this? Or even feel the ground? The asshole Greg was literally ten meters away from me. I know. I measured.
"Oh, sorry, did I hurt your feelings? I'm the devil. I don't care," Eve scoffed and swayed towards me, hips swaying languidly in a fashion which drew the eyes. Irresistible. She floated over the entrance to Hell. The ominous red hues from the hole illuminated her form, creating a soft glow against her skin. Finally, she stood menacingly in front of me and I couldn't help but swallow hard. A finger lifted my chin up to make my eyes meet powerful dark beacons and I almost forgot to breathe. "So, what's it going to be, Lily? Hmmm?"
I didn't have that much of a choice now, did I? Not if I wanted to live.
"Yes," I whispered in surrender. My terrified gaze met her corrupt one.
"Yes, what? Say the magic words, Lily."
"Yes, I'll give you what you want," I finished, resignation in my features. After muttering the last word, the screaming and the shaking ground stopped. The dizzying heat ultimately disappeared.
The demonic Eve bent down slightly and put her lips near my ear, whispering, "Good choice, pet."
Her words were a slap in the face. I wasn't a pet! I make people submit to me!
As the devil continued to gaze upon my very soul, came the surprising realization that I'd happily allow myself to writhe under her and drift off into oblivion. Who did she think she was to make me want to do stuff I didn't want to and then make me lie about it to myself?
"I don't even have to look into your mind to read your thoughts. It's very loud. And very... needy."
"Stop reading my thoughts!" I cried out in a desperate attempt to salvage what little ounce of dignity and pride I had left. The slight hitch in my breath bemused Eve.
"You're not the boss of me. In fact, I seem to be the boss of you now," the devil's apprentice said, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"The hell you are!" I said back, my voice shaking in the process which only caused the devil to laugh at me once more before sitting back down on my chair, crossing her legs at the knees.
"It always amuses me when humans like you use 'Hell' so casually. I love it," Eve sighed contentedly. "Makes me think about all the times you all use the Lord's name in vain. You know I count each one as a sin, right? Not that there's a shortage of sinners in hell these days, but I got to meet that quota."
"What are you even saying?" I started, barely having the strength to finish the question. Just confronting Eve drained me of most of my energy and worsened the pain from my previous injuries. I groaned and limped to my couch, not even caring about the literal devil sitting just a few feet away from me as I fell face down, sprawling on top of my couch.
"Oh, right," the devil's apprentice said, onlyjust remembering why she was in my house. "Back to you and your debt. Seemslike we're stuck on a dilemma here, I see. I want your firstborn child, butobviously, you don't have one. You don't have one yet."