I Sold My Soul for Chocolate

Chapter 3

I was getting squished by people, and I didn't like it. I was more than annoyed, and I kept moving away until I left the crowds, and joined the 'resting by the wall' crew. I could scout for them from over there. They would hopefully realise I was gone and find me.

The corners were darker than the rest, with a couple of occupied tables, mostly hosting couples, groups or vampires feeding on some dumb teenagers.

But in a corner, a group of figures wearing black hoods was getting escorted by security through a hidden door. Memories of the criminal hunting party entered my mind - maybe it was something interesting. Or maybe it was a s*x cult...

Spiked with sheer curiosity and the help of the drink that contained more alcohol than Argal admitted, I walked closer, wanting to catch a glimpse of what was going on. I had absolutely no intention of joining or getting seen, knowing that it could end up being something too gruesome for a normal human mind to bear. I’d read about supernatural s*x cults k********g young teens to later murder them after abusing them to the max.

The security moved away with a nod to a guy with a read hood and cape, who took over the position of holding the door open with more hoods under his arm, while the rest were walking inside.

I must've gotten too close, because the red cloak, whom I could only assume was the leader, turned their head towards me, and threw a cloak at me. I caught it in surprise, barely stopping myself from gaping at them.

“Are you dumb, stay concealed!” they said in annoyance, their whisper carrying over the loud music. Dang, I probably got super close... I looked around to see that I was, indeed, too close. I could touch red cloak if I reached out.

And I wasn’t part of their group.

So I fiddled with the cloak in my hands, and draped it over my shoulders, pulling the hood over my face as best as I could. I silently prayed to Zehna that it wasn’t a s*x cult. Anything but that, I’d survive.

I walked inside after the person in front of me, feeling only slightly excited at the fact I was going to join them and they'd never know who I was. I felt like a super spy. I nearly laughed out loud, and masked it with a slight cough. God damn it, Argal.

The room we were entering was quite small, compared to the space we were just in. It was likely a large broom closet or storage space. But it was still big enough to fit all of us.

Everyone seemed to be lining up into a circle, so I followed suite. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw were lining around a pentagram. Demonic cult? I didn’t know much about demons, except to ‘stay away’. In fact, there was some trouble with demons at the time, some of them apparently attempted to overthrow their king. I think they failed? Nobody really liked talking about it, they always got all nervous.

I might have looked like a hardcore demon summoner to people who saw me, but I was just into strange music, thank you very much.

It was quite beautifully drawn, in a bright red colour I hoped was paint, and not blood. It didn't look like a regular pentagram, as it had some other shapes added to it. I wasn't into demonology, so I had no idea what it meant. But I knew I was definitely surrounded by witches and wizards, and we were doing a group ritual. Which meant I wasn’t really going to contribute to the group effort, but take the credit, anyways, like I did in school during most group projects.

Through the influence of the elixir, I managed to pull out a single rational thought: s**t.

At first, I considered just walking out of there. Pretending I needed to use the bathroom, or something. But the leader was just pushing a large key into the lock, followed by some muttered words. Instantly, all the sounds of the party were gone. Sayonara, adios, hasta la vista.

We were locked out. There was no stepping out now.

Gulping down my fear, I took the hand of my neighbour on the left, and the leader stepped on my right.

Hands linked, they began chanting something.

The leader was close to me, close enough to hear me, or not hear me, so I began muttering some words under my breath, similar to those that I heard. I understood nothing they said, so my attempt at recreation was clumsy. The leader didn't seem to notice, to my relief. Suddenly, they stopped chanting, and so did I, with slight delay.

For a while, nothing happened, and I barely contained a sigh of either boredom or relief. I couldn’t tell the time, but the elixir was making me really impatient and innocently unaware of the situation I was in. A small, rational part of me was screaming at me to run, but the drunk part was telling me to stay, it was fun, I looked cool and it would make a cool story to tell my friends and Zehna.

But then, black smoke appeared in the middle of the circle, and I cringed slightly in surprise, but I held myself together, behaving like the rest of them. It was spreading around the circle, keeping to the ground, until it covered the whole surface of it.

We unlinked hands, and the smoke grew taller, thinner, and then took shape.

In the middle stood a handsome man, with slicked-back black hair up to his ears, blood-red eyes and black clothing. He was smirking, and everyone around me took a step back and started muttering amongst themselves.

His face was angelic, sculpted to perfection; there seemed to be nothing demonic about him except his eyes and the aura of death that followed. Okay, his smirk was also quite... nasty. And a flash of sharp teeth didn’t really convince me of his angelic intentions. And the raw power that even I, a mere human, felt radiating off of him? Nuh-uh, not angelic at all. In fact, it was making me nauseous and terrified. I felt like a sheep about to get mauled by a wolf. Even the drunken part of me was telling me to run.

I had a horrible feeling everything was going to go to s**t at that moment.

“We called for Ose, but it’s Raum! Bow before the great earl!” the leader yelled out, and the man, Raum, laughed, exposing sharp rows of teeth. His laughter resonated around the room, causing shivers to run down my spine, my blood to freeze as I hastily dropped to my knees with the rest.

Judging by everyone’s reaction, I could assume this demon, Raum, was powerful, or judging by their shivers, even infamous, and they didn’t want him to appear.

My heart was clenched in fear, and I was glad his back was turned to me at that moment. I was sure I'd pass out if I saw those menacing eyes one more time.

“Oh, don't flatter yourselves," he said with arms raised, "I'm not here for you, I am here for someone else.” He swiped his gaze across the room. He turned around slowly, and once his red eyes landed on me, his smile widened, and remained locked onto me. I gulped. Uh oh.

My heart skipped several beats, and I felt like I was going to pass out. If I hadn't peed recently, now would have been the time I would pee myself.

“There she is," he said, clapping his hands enthusiastically, flashing a toothy grin to the horrified audience. "Kay, I didn't expect you to be a member of a cult,” he said with intrigue in his voice, like we were old friends, and I took a step back as all gazes turned towards me.

“Kay? I don't remember a Kay among us,” someone spoke up, and muttering started again as Raum grinned.

With a snap of his fingers that silenced the cult, I felt the weight of my hood gone, and I was left revealed. I linked my hands in front of me nervously, aware of my vulnerability. I was glad that the demon seemed to be contained within the circle. Despite that, I was ready to run for my life and scream for Argal and Liney to save me.

“She's not one of us!” the leader said, but they made no move. Raum laughed again, and I looked at him in terror. How did he even know me? Why did a demon know me?

“Now, leave!” Raum’s voice switched from playful to cold and sharp. I felt a chill run down my back before he flicked his wrist and the door which had been magically locked simply swung open.

I prepared myself and then made a run for it.

Except I didn’t. I couldn’t move at all, I was frozen in place, left to watch everyone leave the room, leaving me behind without a word or another look. The door slammed behind the last person, making the place eerily quiet again. My heartbeat racing, I turned my head back towards the demon, whose grin was gone and left replaced by a serious and stern expression. He noticed my utter confusion and tilted his head slightly.

“Oh, don't you remember me, Kay? That feather you wear around your neck is mine. That little star on your wrist? Mine. Your soul? Mine,” he said, his voice becoming more intense and his eyes seeming to get redder with each word.  I took a step back, heart pumping wildly. This was just a bad dream; I was drunk and I passed out and I was dreaming. No way was I facing a demon. Who apparently owned my precious good-luck feather.

“Sorry, I think you got the wrong person, I've never seen you before,” I said to the demon, voice small and quivering, moving towards the door slowly. I couldn't help but take a look at my wrist, at the star-shaped birthmark. The feather around my neck felt ten times heavier.

Raum stepped towards the edge of the circle, until he was standing uncomfortably close. In spite of his good looks, I felt no bit of attraction, only pure terror. And it showed. He was much taller than me, and actually leaned above me, only making me more intimidated. My courage was nowhere to be found, and I stared at his eyes like a sheep ready to be devoured by a wolf.

I gulped and tried to look at anything else but him, only making him more amused.

“Oh, Kay. You were young back then. Five or six, I believe. And dumb as a brick, apparently. Your aunt had died that night, and I sent rumours of a child to an old witch. Zahna? Zehna? Anyhow, she got you. After, of course, you sold your soul to me,” he explained in a dark voice. My heart was beating wildly, but I frowned in annoyance. The effects of the elixir suddenly came through again, giving me a boost of courage I definitely didn’t need at that very moment.

“Listen here, I didn't sell my soul to anyone. I'm not into demons, thank you, I’d say nothing personal but you just made it very personal,” I said, jabbing my finger into his chest.

That was a mistake.

As soon as my finger made contact, I felt like a jolt of electricity passed through my body, making me feel so much pain that my mind went completely blank and I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream.

Luckily, it lasted only a second. But it wasn’t the end of my suffering, as Raum’s gloved hand instantly found my wrist, gripping it so tightly he stopped my blood flow. I couldn’t find the strength in me to grunt.

“You will address me with respect, human,” he said sharply. “If I wanted to, I could claim your soul right now and think nothing of it.” He let go of my wrist, and I stumbled back, trembling all over.

“Then why don’t you do it?” I asked without meaning to. Raum narrowed his eyes, sending me a cold glare. I could see him tense, and prepared for more pain.

“You will be useful otherwise before it is time to claim you. You will speak to nobody of me, and if anyone asks, you have never heard of me, understood? And you will accept the invitation. I will handle the rest. Is that clear?” He spoke.

“Yes, sir.”