The floor of the dungeon was cold and damp, the feeling had sunken deep into my bones, making me feel heavier than I knew I was. The only light source was the few flickering candles in the hallways outside the bars, just enough to give slight clarity, but not nearly enough to provide warmth.
A thump pounded through my head, memories of screaming and overbearing heat singing my head, and an excruciating sob tore itself out of my throat.
~Flashback~
Flames licked my bare feet as they dashed down the carpeted hallways. The velvet curtains that were once fun hiding places were now waterfalls of yellow and orange. My hand was to my mouth, trying not to breathe in the harsh smoke that threatened to gag me.
My parent's bedroom was so close, and with the help of the adrenaline in my veins, I managed to burst through the door, after the first attempt of grabbing the handle burned my skin. "Father!" I coughed when I took an inhale of smoke. "Mother! We must leave! The mansion is on fire!"
I rushed over to their bed, grabbing the blanket and pulling it up, "Father! Mother!"
However, I didn't find my parents... only their corpses. I wept over them and screamed in agony. Their corpses were shredded, my mother's gown mixed with strips of her skin, and my eyes went wide when I noticed my father didn't have his. Their blood had completely soaked the silk sheets, deep red almost black and the irony smell cause my mouth to water from the bile rising in my throat.
They had been massacred.
"GET THEIR BLOODY BRAT!! OUR EMPLOYER DEMANDS HER!!"
I had frozen like a fool, neither my fight nor flight sense kicking in until a group of large and brutish men had busted in through the doors. I had dived under my parent's bed, scrambling away from the men's grubby hands. I pulled my nightgown over my mouth so I didn't inhale anymore smoke, although my eyes burned from it.
"Get over here you BRAT." The man spits at me, and I scrambled the other way, narrowly escaping the arms of another.
I don't ever recall running so quickly in my life, I ran down the hallway, the carpet slipping under my feet and my chest wheezing painfully from the lack of breathable oxygen. I was grabbed from behind and hoisted into the air, I screamed and kicked with all of my might, making contact with my captor's stomach.
"You BITCH." He threw me off of him and I hit the wall with a sickening crack. My eyesight was blurry, and I could only lay there limp as the guy punched me and my vision went black.
~Flashback end~
That was a year ago, and here I am now with a black market trade seal on my back and lying in a pool of my own blood, dirt, and sweat from months of being unable to bathe. It wasn't like I was going to die... The guarding officers told me no one was to kill me unless they wanted a brutal death wish themselves. The words didn't provide me any comfort. In fact, it made me disgusted.
My life was worth more than death but still not enough to treat correctly, or at the very least to be given daily meals and water. To make matters worse, no one knew the 'Boss' as they called them. The orders that were meant to be followed are sent in letters and if they weren't completed... Let's just say there are a lot fewer guards in this prison then there was when I first arrived.
I growled, "Bloody idiots, I'll show them one day. I'll kill every last one of you."
It was a very vulgar wish, to want to take not just one but multiple lives because of the harm they caused you. It felt as hot and heavy as tar, threatening to choke on it as you hold onto those selfish desires.
A Nightingale flew into my cell from the bars and landed in front of me. Its little head ticked, black beady eyes staring me down. It was normal for birds to fly into here from time to time, although they were usually more occupied by my dead cell neighbors, whose rotting bodies were in various stages of decomposition. I smiled at it, "You are a handsome one aren't you?"
The bird twittered, still staring at me as I bit my lip and pulled out the small bread crust I saved from the half of burnt loaf that was thrown into my prison four days ago.
"I'm deeply sorry it's not much... but it's better than rotting, diseased flesh." I broke up the crust and watched the bird eat it.
"You certainly are quite a soul." a deep voice mused.
I jumped and looked around, but there wasn't anyone here. I look back at the bird, shaking my head. "Fantastic. As if I wasn't crazy enough, now I'm hearing voices."
I laughed pitifully at myself and held my hand out, the nightingale took the invitation and sat politely on my middle finger.
"Oh, how beautiful you are." I hummed softly.
"Yes," it said. "Quite a soul."
My eyes widened then I relaxed into a smile, "A talking Nightingale, maybe I'm dreaming? Although I would call it more of a nightmare."
The nightingale nodded his head. "It's not a dream or a nightmare. I am a demon."
I blinked and slowly closed my eyes, I mentally counted to three in my head and when I opened them the bird was still there, although its eyes twinkled in something close to amusement.
"A demon?" I asked.
The bird nodded again, "Your selfish desires brewed such a tantalizing scent I had to investigate... Although you're not nearly what I was expecting." He chuckled, and I blinked again.
"Um... What do you want?"
"I'll make a contract with you. I'll help you achieve your deepest and greatest desires and when it's time, you will give me your soul."
"A contract on my own terms? Sounds oddly counter-productive for a demon. Shouldn't it be you that creates the contract?"
The bird's black wings rustled and the deep voice responded again. "Souls happen to taste better when they're satisfied and willingly given."
I nodded slowly, taking in the information. "Okay. I want a contract."
"What are the terms that you wish?"
I thought about it, I'm the last heir to the Rosewood family, therefore I'm a Lady in status. Also, my family is one of the most well-known caretakers of the underworld of London. My parent's corpses flashed into my eyes and I grew bitter.
"You will help me rebuild my family name. You will protect and serve me, never betray me, and will only act with my best interest or orders in mind. You will also help me achieve revenge for the wrongdoings I have dealt with and make the ones that made me suffer, suffer just the same."
"Are you sure this is what you want?" the nightingale asked.
I looked at it with a fierce glare which indicated I wasn't joking at all. A low chuckle escaped from him.
"Very well. Where would you like your contact seal? The more obvious it is, the tighter our bond will be." he said.
I thought about the several places it could be. I pointed below at my collarbone right above my left breast. A handsome man stood before me, he had dark brown hair and the piercing crimson eyes.
He looked no older than me.. but you can't judge a demon by their physical look. He stepped forward, slowly encasing my body with his, and leaned down to my neck. His lips placed his kiss there and a red hot searing pain went through my body. I clenched my teeth and took a deep breath, trying not to scream out or thrash even though my eyes had watered from the excruciating pain.
It was over soon after.
My hand gently grazed over the tender flesh where the mark was now burned into my skin in a dark purple. It was an oddly elegant pentagram, which had a small rose at the tip of each star's point and vines going around the circle, long stems of blood was slowly sliding down my chest.
"It's beautiful." I whispered as I continued to glide my fingers across it lightly.
I looked up at where my guardian now stood, and he kneeled down to me, his hand over his non-existent heart.
A wave of power and deep calmness had settled over me, I felt satiated like I had a long heavy meal, and it was a maddening feeling. A low almost shriek of giggles escaped me, and soon I heard voices coming down the stone hallway.
"What are you giggling about brat?" one of the guards came stomping forward and glared at me through the bars.
I recognized him immediately, he was the greasy man who always liked to sneak into my cage at all times of the night. I tilted my head, my mouth opening slightly.
"I'm bored! I wanna play a little..." I took a few steps forward and gave the man a lookup and down, "Will you play with me?"
The guard rolled his eyes, "You always fight me when I go in there and now you're begging for me. Well, I'm not in the mood."
The guard begins to walk away and my face dropped into a blank and calculating expression.
"Edward." I turned to the demon who was watching the exchange with vivid interest.
"Bring him to me."
"Yes, My Lady."
The guard stared at Edward as if he had just realized his presence. "How... How did you get in there?!"
"Quickly now." I reiterated.
Within moments and a very loud scream, the guard was now laying on the floor at my feet, his arm twisted in an unnatural way.
"You know," I said, kicking him over with my foot and purposely ignoring the scream of agony when he landed on his broken arm. "When a lady asks you to do something... it's only polite that you do so."
I didn't recognize my voice when I spoke... it was low and sinister, my words striking at the already fallen man.
"Especially after all that you've done to me!" my voice broke a little at the end, but I cleared my throat as I rounded on the crying man. "You don't deserve hands if all you can do with them is defile others."
As if my new partner had heard my unspoken order, the man had cried out again and blood was splattered over the cell bars, tinting the air with a metallic scent.
I faced Edward. "Let's go, please take me to where my manor used to be... when we get to the area you will rebuild it and from then our contract begins."
I walked to the broken cell door, which was used to bring the guard in here and crunched one of the flailing man's dismembered hand under my foot.
Edward was by my side helping me over while looking down at me; a light smirk came across his mouth.
"Yes, my lady"