The Devil's Bargain
560 Words
The world was burning again.
But this time, it was her fault.
Mira stood in the center of the destruction, her curse flaring out of her skin in black tendrils. Trees wilted. The earth cracked. Lucan lay unconscious, thrown into the ruins of the elder’s stone, his bones twisted unnaturally.
Maelra was gone.
Coward.
And Kade was dying.
Blood pooled beneath him like a blooming flower, his chest rising only in shallow gasps. His eyes fluttered, lips blue. The blade had hit something vital.
“No,” she whispered, dropping to her knees beside him. “No, no, no…”
She pressed her hands against his wound, but her magic only burned. She couldn’t heal. She was destruction. Poison. Death wrapped in silver hair and broken promises.
“Kade,” she sobbed, her voice cracking. “Please stay with me. I’ll give anything just don’t leave me.”
A pulse answered her plea.
Cold. Unnatural.
Something ancient stirred.
And then she heard laughter.
It came from the shadows between trees, slinking in like smoke.
“Anything, you say?” a voice drawled. Smooth. Sultry. Male and female all at once. “Now that’s an offer I haven’t heard in centuries.”
Mira stood slowly, eyes narrowing.
From the mist stepped a figure.
Cloaked in raven feathers. Skin like moonlight. Horns curling upward like a crown of bone. Eyes—one gold, one black. And lips curled into a smirk that promised pleasure… and ruin.
“Who” Mira began.
“Names are power, darling,” the being purred. “But you can call me Veyra.”
“I don’t want riddles. I want him alive!”
“And I want your power,” Veyra said simply. “But we don’t always get what we want. Still, you offered anything, didn’t you?”
Mira’s hands clenched. “What’s the price?”
Veyra crouched beside Kade, trailing a finger across his cheek. “I can save him. Stitch his soul, mend his blood, even keep that delicious heart of his beating.”
“Then do it!”
“But… I want your firstborn.”
Mira’s blood ran cold.
“My what?”
“You heard me,” Veyra cooed. “Your first child. The product of this twisted love. Give it to me… when the time comes. And I’ll save him now.”
She shook her head. “You’re a monster.”
“No, darling. You called me. I’m just answering.”
Mira looked down at Kade. His breath was shallow. Fading. She could feel his soul slipping. If she waited any longer…
She looked back at Veyra. “Swear you’ll save him.”
“I swear on the blood moon.”
Mira trembled, then whispered, “Take it. Take my firstborn.”
Veyra grinned, wicked and wide. “Deal.”
A rush of wind. A flash of light.
And Kade gasped.
His body arched, eyes wide, air flooding back into his lungs. His wounds sealed, slow but sure. Color returned to his skin.
He was alive.
Mira cried, clutching him, shaking in relief. He blinked up at her, confused.
“What… happened?”
She kissed his forehead, holding him like he’d vanish.
“Nothing,” she lied. “You’re safe now.”
But Veyra’s voice echoed in her head.
“Nine moons from now, darling…
I’ll come for what’s mine.”
- Writer
