CLOSER TO HEAVEN

exchange

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I gritted through my earth. "Even if you do take me away, there's not a single place on earth that he won't rake through, to find him."

Abnus laughed and whirled me around till my back met something cold and solid. His chest pressed against me and he grabbed my jaw. His fingers were strong but they met my skin gently like he was afraid of breaking me. His nimble, freezing cold fingers were tilting my chin up and then his whisper fell like a kiss on my skin. "We won't be on earth, love."

"What?", I breathed, chest tightening in a way that had me wondering if I was even alive.

"I'm taking you with me, I have your father's consent," he seemed to be frowning against my skin but I could be wrong. "You summoned me, now you have to come with me."

"You can't force me," I spat, slapping my hands against any part of him I could locate. Abnus immediately took control of my wrists, pushing them behind my back with one hand while the other one grabbed my jaw again. "Stop touching me!!"

Immediately as I said that, he stepped away from my body, out of my range of motion and I caught my breath. "I apologize but you have made a deal with me; somebody you should never cross paths with," he stopped to chuckle a little. "At least not on purpose."

"Who...Who are you Abnus?", came my weak whisper of fear. He clicked his tongue and I heard shoes clacking next to my feet. "When did I ever make a deal with you?"

"Ask again Darling, but this time, ask what I am," he laughed a little. "As much as i hate to do this, I assure you I won't hurt you but you need to come with me. A deal's a deal."

"What kind of a sick joke is this?", I scoffed, launching in the direction that felt most familiar to my father's study.

"Cecilia, I'm more of use to you than harm," he mentioned quietly and I halted in my steps. "I'm not some mere gangster as you might think."

"I don't think that," my head thumped against the nearest surface, a pillar. "You made me see, for a few seconds, I felt more alive than ever before. I know you're not humane."

"Your father...he's a sinner, it was time to take him away but he made a deal with me years ago when he gave up your mother," my heart jumped to my throat and immediately all conscious thoughts went blank for a moment. "Now you've summoned me and I'm making a deal with you."

....What?

"When did I summon you?", my call was sharp and cutting. He took in a deep breath. Somehow, breathing around him felt intimate, every whisp of air he intook was shared.

"You know very well that you did call for me, in your head, over and over again," Abnus' presence was not threatening even if his words were the exact opposite. It was almost like I asked to step into a lion's den. I did call for him, though not...like this. My mind had no idea he wasn't an earthly being or whatever he was.

"Abnus..", I swallowed loudly and dropped my hands at my sides. "You have powers."

"A lot of different sorts of power, I do have them but you'll have to be more specific here, love," he murmured and a soft thump suggested he was leaning against a surface.

"You have some sort of magical powers...that...gave me vision," the more I explained it, the more this situation started to unfold in my mind. He had mentioned how he did that as an apology for being insensitive towards me. A deal; an apology for forgiveness.

"Isn't that exactly why you've summoned me?", his voice had a sharp edge of confusion to it. I tilted my head to justify that I was just as confused. "Oh, now I get it. Cecilia, once you've come in contact with someone like me, your desires don't go unheard if they can be fulfilled."

"But wanting sight is not a realistic expectation for someone who's been blind since birth," I defended. "Or, does it not matter to your being? What exactly is your being either way?"

"Ah," he chuckled a little. "Now you've come to the turning point in our conversation. Tell you what, I'll explain myself to you and then if you still want to make a deal, we can just continue this conversation in the underworld."

"W-what do you mean underworld? As in the criminals' world? Like where my father works?"

"No," Abnus said in a voice that indicated that he was clearly expecting me to say that. "The real underworld Cecilia, the one where the Demons live and I'm one of them."

What. The. Hell.

I staggered a little in my position. Certainly this couldn't be the truth. There's no such thing as demons or the underworld but what about him knowing my thoughts? What about his eyes that I saw? The only thing I saw in my twenty one years of life were a stranger's eyes.

A stranger who claimed to be a demon.

"That's right," he assured again. "I'm here to take you to hades."

No. I'm not about to believe this man just like this.

"You don't have to believe me, it's all in front of you," he retorted as if I had said the previous words out loud. I gasped. "I can't read your mind just like that but the disbelief was clear on your face. I can't know your pain or happiness or guilt, I only know your desires."

"I'm not coming anywhere with you Abnus," I cleared my throat. "I barely know you. You can't be trusted just like that." I nodded to myself like I was trying to assure myself instead of him.

"Take your time then," he husked a laugh. "I'll prove it to you every time you'll want me to. You need me Cecilia, god can't do the things I can do for you. Just pay the price and take whatever you want. In a way it's just business. You'll be able to see and I'll take away what's most precious to you in exchange."

"I value nothing in my life right now," I confessed.

"Then why go through the trouble of staying up here, Hades isn't that bad, you know?"