Price Of A Soul

[Lucyfer]

“I don’t care about my own soul!”


It played out like a nightmare, and that’s what the waking woman thought it was as she rolled onto her side and groped for an irritating phone alarm on the end table besides her bed. Her hand found it, and she shut it off immediately. ‘Strange.’


Liora Bellamy, so named Liora by her father who claimed she was the ‘light of his life’ when she was born, the eldest child and his only daughter. Now she was one of two children left to him. Liora knew that was why the nightmare had come. In it, she’d been consumed with such desperation to live, that she thought to throw away her own soul to figure out what was going on—why her family was being targeted.


Three of her siblings were gone. Her mother. Her grandparents. Cousins, uncles, aunts—all in the course of a month. It would frighten anyone enough to have a nightmare. ‘Not even sure I have a soul.’ It was an amusing thought, though.


Despite her father’s preaching, Liora had become an agnostic.


She opened her eyes and pulled the phone towards her. It was a Saturday. It shouldn’t have gone off, she didn’t have classes or work that day. Yet, it was set for 7am. ‘Why?’ She checked the alarm memo then, thinking she might have forgotten coffee with a friend, and saw a note that said simply for her to go into the living room.


Liora frowned, but opted to listen to her own note, wondering if she had gotten drunk last night. She pulled herself out of bed, noted she was still in her clothing from last night…and that it was bloody. That caused her to pause, and then dart into the bathroom for the mirror.


The jeans were torn up at the knees, and she could tell her knees were scraped up. Her shoes were still on, as well, which was very unusual. Her black hair was more messed up than it ought to be, and there was a deep cut at her neck that she lifted a trembling hand to touch. ‘Ow.’ She winced, shut her green eyes tightly for a few seconds and then opened them once more. The wound was tender.


She lifted her white shirt and saw a variety of bruises and cuts, a few of the cuts rather deep. There was one near her heart that worried her, but apparently it hadn’t been deep enough to kill her. ‘Shit. Shit, what happened last night?’ Liora let her shirt fall back over her wounds, and was about to walk back into her room and check her call log, when she noticed it.


A tattoo on her neck, opposite the wound. Never in a thousand years, drunk or sober, would the woman have gotten a tattoo on her neck. She'd be unemployable!


A bit from the nightmare replayed in her mind, an inhuman hand on her neck and immense, burning pain. In fact, that was where it ended, when she woke up.


Liora swallowed down a bit of fear and did walk into her bedroom. The call log revealed nothing unusual, so she took a deep breath and walked out into the living room, as her alarm had instructed. Maybe she had left a note for herself there.


Or, apparently, a person. “Who the hell are you?” Liora demanded when she saw the stranger.

 

[KittyKiero]

Everything seemed...odd. Too strange that it got a certain demon's attention rather quickly.


"Hmph."


He was confused - a feeling he wasn't used to - and felt a bit out of place. That, however, didn't stop him from doing his natural duties.


He, once again, was a contracted butler. This time, it was to a woman in an unfamiliar territory. He had heard of America due to the ties he's had through his previous.... client. But that was all.


It had been since yesterday that the tale male figure in black was within a stranger's home. He wasn't robbing or vandalizing; he was simply cleaning. Everything was in place, but dust couldn't escape his view. When morning arrived, he began to cook. It was strange being limited to what was only in the house. He was so used to cooking extravagant meals, even in the morning.


Even through the difference, he managed to do so. The plan was to then bring the food to the stranger....


But the stranger was up beforehand. So he met her in the hall.


"Good day, milady," he said with a small smile and a slight bow. "I do hope you slept rather well. I would have cleaned you properly, but I would have the displeasure of deflowering a lady. Without her consent, anyway. Did you have a peaceful rest? It seemed very well deserved."

 

[Lucyfer]

There was food in the stranger’s hand, and he called her ‘lady’. Liora didn’t think she knew him, although the voice was familiar. It was the voice from the nightmare, the one who had asked if she was truly willing to sell her soul. It had belonged to the hand that touched her neck, and burned whatever that symbol into it.


‘No. No, you just got drunk, blacked out, and got a tattoo. And…brought home a stranger…concerned about deflowering a drunk woman.’


Okay, none of that made sense. Somehow the nightmare made more sense than a gentleman going home with her, making her breakfast, and not sleeping with her. “I…yes I slept…,” words were apparently going to be difficult to find in shock.


She needed information. “I’m still not sure what you’re doing in my apartment, though, but if you’ve made coffee as well as food, then I’ll just accept your presence here.” Sure. That sounded about as reasonable as anything else. The cup of coffee ought to help her wake up and get over the shock that was making her far too relaxed about this situation.

 

[KittyKiero]

A small smile tugged at the stranger's lips as he presented a mug of hot coffee before her instead of the food. It seemed she needed to set priorities before doing anything else, and he had to help her along in this transition.


"Here you are. Freshly-ground coffee. Brewed only 10 minutes ago, and still at a presentable heat." He made sure to keep it before her until she accepted it. "There was a bit of a shortening on the usual supply of sugar. Too many with yourself at this current state may be problematic for your health. Plus, it was a decent measurement to wake you up. But do not worry. It will still present itself to your taste buds an elegant flavor."


He slowly nodded his head in assurance.

 

[Lucyfer]

The stranger already knew she liked a ridiculous amount of sugar. ‘Fantastic.’ Liora accepted the cup of coffee and took a sip of it as he mentioned something about elegant flavor. The heat was at that perfectly acceptable level, and the flavor was stronger than she anticipated. “Oh,” she murmured into the cup as she drew her lips away, surprised. "Thank you."


Okay, so the stranger knew how to make coffee.


He could stay. “I’m going to take a seat,” she told him, before moving by him and into her own living room.


It was…tidy. ‘Cooks and cleans. Well. Who did I have to sell my soul to for this?’ She took her usual seat on the couch, thinking she ought to be far more surprised than she was. Instead, she just took another sip of the coffee.


Then, she asked, “Are you from England? You have an accent,” she noted, but it wasn’t just that. The way he strung together words suggested he was either highly educated, or from an aristocratic class that simply didn’t exist in America.


It wasn’t the most important question, but it seemed the best way to ease into this ‘there’s a stranger in my home that makes coffee’ situation. “Sorry, I seem to be forgetting how we met,” she said, in case he took offense, “I’m not sure how much I drank. I don’t usually drink all that much….”She wasn't even convincing herself with that train of thought anymore, though. "Not enough to come home with injuries like these. What...what happened? How did you find me?"

 

[KittyKiero]

"Hm... You could say that." He decided to go along with. Besides, it was still the truth. Just to an extent. It was unnecessary to hit the girl with all of the information at once, especially if she just woke. This was something he learned over the course of seven hours. That's how long he's been in America.


That seemed to be ample enough time for him to learn plenty.


A small sound slipped through his lips, sounding something like him clearing his throat. He shifted to place her food before her before stepping back and staring at her with the same small smile.


"I do believe you were a hundred percent sober during the time period of our meeting. In fact, you began to lose blood as fast as you lost consciousness, which happened to be about....eight pints a second?" He looked up at the ceiling, trying to make sure his calculations were correct. After a few seconds, he stopped and looked back at the woman. "You, milady, experienced a near-death scenario. And I arrived per your request. An assistant to your... dying wish."

 

[Lucyfer]

Liora felt herself go cold as the man mentioned the circumstances that led to their meeting—of all the lost blood. She paled, as if her body only just remembered it ought to be pale. She set the coffee down as she lost feeling in her fingers and then clasped her hand in her lap. “Oh.”


The nightmare was not a nightmare. It was reality, and she replayed it again. She had been targeted, as she feared she would be. Liora didn’t know why—she didn’t understand why anyone in her family had been targeted. That was the mystery he was here to help her discover, though, if memory served.


Her father had been very religious, to the point of nearly alienating himself from the rest of the family. Even the most devout couldn’t keep up with her father’s fervor. Liora had delved into other faiths during her rebellious youth, and happened upon the Keys of Solomon. In a desperate bid for life, she remembered utilizing that knowledge. She remembered it working.


Of course, she hadn’t been able to truly make out the figure that arrived in the dark, but this voice was the same. When she looked up to see his face, those eyes were similar, though not quite the same. They were red, now. “So, I suppose I do have a soul, then. There goes my reputation,” she reached for the coffee again, and this drink drained most of the cup. The heat didn’t seem to bother her in that moment.


She set it aside. “I need to…consider how to go about this investigation, then. And I….” She was about to say she needed a hospital, but remembered what the demon said. He could apparently fix her up. That might be the better route.


She grabbed the plate and fork, and brought a bit of the strange concoction to her mouth. It was tasty, though she hadn’t had a thing like this before. She smiled, a little sad as she realized the position she was in and what she’d done. Oh yes, she’d been sober and sound. She would do it again in a heartbeat, but this wasn’t exactly how she wanted to learn her father was right. “What do I call you? Lucifer?” She laughed a little at the idea that he could be King of Hell.

 

[KittyKiero]

"I must leave the preparations to you, milady. If you would like any assistance, I shall be here." The demon clad in black placed a hand to his chest and bowed his head. He couldn't be in charge of the ultimatum that brought the woman back to life. This was her job; he would only help to see it through.


"Mistress...." He closed his eyes then. Her question made him feel a bit... amused. Although they were contracted and he was supposed to acquire a new name, he decided against informing her of such. It seemed stressful on her at a time like this. Besides, he really adored the name he had from his previous master. "I am Sebastian Michaelis. At your service."

 

[Lucyfer]

Sebastian. He was so English it was almost painful. She actually chuckled at the surname, “A demon named after the Archangel.” How perfect. He was here to let her lead, too. She could drag this out forever then, couldn’t she?


Except, of course, she didn’t want to just sit and wait. There was a decent chance the people would come after her again. She could just wait, but that was boring.


She continued to eat as she pondered her options. Thoughts of her own health slipped as she took what she’d signed up for more seriously. “The people who attacked me yesterday, are they alive?” If they weren’t, it might not be an issue. Acquiring their identification could lead her and this Sebastian to their associates. “We could question them if they are, but if they aren’t, then we’ll need to find the morgue they’re at and get their identification details.” There would be a report in the news, right? Something about dead bodies being found…if they were found.


And she needed to get some detective shows on DVD so she could figure out how to go about this. A demon would change things up, but it could give her ideas.

 

[KittyKiero]

"The ones who attacked are still alive, milady," Sebastian answered as he glanced down at her. He knew he would have a lot of work to do in his "assisting", so might as well start soon. And by soon, it was now. "I arrived after they escaped, so it could not be helped."


He then took a deep breath and kneeled down before her. His wine red eyes slowly began to cross over the woman's body. As seductive as it may have looked, he was constructing a search of his own. Some things took priority over others. Like health.


"Mistress, I do pose a question," he said, meeting his eyes with hers. "You are badly wounded. And although you still walk among the living, you're covered in your own blood. Why was it not the initiative to clean up?"

 

[Lucyfer]

Escaped. That dampened the woman’s mood considerably. That meant they’d have to be found, and her memory of their appearance didn’t help much. They could be any random Caucasian man for as much as it was going to help. “I see,” but disappointment seeped into her tone.


The demon knelt before her then, and she immediately straightened up in her seat, as if it were a reflex. He seemed to be looking her over, and his question came as no surprise, “You should be happy I’m eating,” she joked. He wouldn’t get it, not yet, but she lived the life of any student. Health wasn’t often a priority. Sleepless nights, poor food, and rushing from work and classes were the norm. There was no time for illness or injury. Mind over matter was often a useful tool.


“Also, my name is Liora. Calling me mistress is going to be odd, here. To answer your query, my phone told me to come into the living room, so I did. I thought there would be answers out here as to why I woke up in this state, and there were.”


She set the plate aside, half-finished, but she felt full. “I’ll go get cleaned up,” she stood, stepped away from the chair. She had clean clothes and a shower. If she was careful, she wouldn’t open any new wounds. “Then we can go to a hospital, unless you’re good with doctoring,” she’d avoid a hospital if she could. Best not to get this reported. Not yet, anyway.

 

[KittyKiero]

"Yes, I do suppose nourishment is key." Honestly, he suspected that the coffee would've been enough for the time-being. At least, to rid oneself of the dirt and blood. But, of course, new contractor meant new ordeals.


He had noticed the downtone in her response beforehand. It was unfortunate that the assailants escaped, but he was not inclined to do anything until she summoned him. So basically, it was none of his business until now.


As he heard her sudden declaration on her name, Sebastian nodded in compliance and stood up.


"Very well.... Liora." He figured he wouldn't question it. It was obvious 'ol Sebby wasn't in England anymore. It wasn't credible to being saying out in this vicinity, that he picked up in seven hours as well. "And it was very much to your benefit that you followed said alarm."


As he recalled the alarm, the demon's eyebrow twitched. There was a bit of.... trouble in him setting it in the first place. However, that blew over rather quickly.


He was, after all, one hell of a butler.


Speaking of being so....


"Please do so." He began to take off his coat and roll up his sleeves. Neatly, he folded his jacket and placed it in a chair. "When you return, I shall tend to your wounds."

 

[Lucyfer]

Liora nodded, and walked back towards her room. She set out new clothing, but opted to grab a robe first to bring into the bathroom with her. It’d be easier for the demon to tend the wounds if she wasn’t wearing jeans. ‘Well, this will save on money.’ A live-in doctor.


She still locked the bathroom door behind her, stripped, and turned the water on to a nearly scalding heat. It helped to wake her up as it ran over her flesh, washing away blood and dirt. It also put her back into thinking of the stranger out in the living room. ‘Really just gonna buy this whole demon thing, eh?’


It was absurd, but in spite of that, it was the only thing that made sense. The gap in her memory was filled in easily by the details of the dream. The tattoo was there. Gingerly, she touched the location, and then sighed. She’d need to get scarves, or something, to keep it covered. It might pass as a simple tattoo, but her father wouldn’t even forgive her of that. ‘I should let him know…or perhaps my brother.’ That sounded safer. She’d give Jacob a call.


A bit of soap and scrubbing soon washed off the more difficult bits of dried blood and dirt. Her thoughts drifted from the important things, to the fact that she was going to have to explain the stranger.


How would this look on a lease? Her landlord would throw a fit. Then there were her friends…her face heated with the thoughts they’d no doubt start to think. Living with a man she just met? There was no question they’d think she had hooked up with someone for financial reasons. And her father and brother, as well, not that her father wasn’t already suspicious of every male friend she had.


Telling them the truth would be even worse. “Ow,” she nicked one of the cuts on her legs as she tried to dismiss the thoughts. The blood streamed down into the water and she cursed it, washed it off, but realized the futility of it soon enough.


Well, she’d have to think up some story for Sebastian that wasn’t scandalous. Police detective assigned to watch her? Perhaps.


She stepped out of the shower and dressed herself in the robe and undergarments, not wanting to be completely nude underneath the robe. She picked up the dirty clothing and walked them back into her room, into the laundry basket, before returning to the living area, fluffy robe wrapped tight around her.

 

[KittyKiero]

"Taken care of, I see." Sebastian had an entire medical kit strewn about the coffee table before the couch she had originally sat at. The couch itself was rid of dirt and the table full of medical necessities were in fact in an orderly fashion. He had it set in accordance to what order he planned to use everything in. The unnecessary items were placed back in their respective locations. "Please, have a seat, milady."


He knew "mistress" was a bit of a stretch, but decided to test the former statement to see if she would prefer that as well as her name. It was so....uncommon for him to call out by name who he served. So he tried to affirm himself back into customs.


His hands were clad in the very gloves he'd worn after cleaning and making breakfast. They were clean, and - although he was about to proceed into a bit of a messy procedure - he decided to wear them, anyway. The confidence that his hands needn't be exposed for such elementary work was strong.


"Now then," he reached over from the table a needle, securing it to his fingers and plucking at it with his other hand, "do say you have no fear of needles. If you do, then this may become.... troublesome."


Despite his statement, a cheerful grin appeared across his features.

 

[Lucyfer]

Sebastian didn’t use her name, but rather, ‘milady’. It was a bit less formal than mistress, but it still caused her to sigh. However, she voiced no comment on it, displeasure or otherwise. Adapting to the informality of America was clearly going to be a concern for the demon, though.


Even so, she took the seat and glanced over all the equipment. ‘Where did all of this even come from?’ The more important question was whether or not she truly wanted to know. She made a deal with a demon. It was probably not legit.


‘Needles….’ Liora stiffened, and the demon’s smile didn’t help matters. She forced her body to quickly relax, though. The demon had to complete the contract, though, if nightmare memory served. Harming her would be detrimental to that. “Just…just do what you need to do, I’ll be fine.” She’d hate it, but she endured getting vaccine shots, “Just talk. Tell a story to distract me.” It was what she asked of nurses who gave her vaccine shots, and that was a much shorter process than what she imagined this would be.

 

[KittyKiero]

"Very well then." Sebastian shifted back a bit to allow her to sit down. It was obvious that his new master had a strong distaste for needles...


And he thought he got away from brats.


Even so, she wasn't running away or crying about the upcoming pointed injection. All that was to be traded for her compliance was a mere story. And if he couldn't provide that, then what kind of butler would he be?


He cleared his throat as he shifted closer, aiming the needle for the now-exposed arm. "I've had a master before you. He was... young, but the head of what would seem to be an empire in the business of toy-making. At least, that is what I picked up from it. My attention was more towards his household and detective work. He was, although a child, the guard of the Queen of England. Such a big responsibility, but he managed to will his way through to the end."


As soon as the last word left his lips, the needle began to smoothly slide into her skin. He pressed down onto the back to eject the fluid before slowly removing the needle altogether.


"Shall I continue as I prepare for the next phase? The serum should numb your body for the alloted time necessary."


Even though it was one dose, it was strong enough to travel through the entire body. He had the utmost faith in it.

 

[Lucyfer]

Liora focused on the story that Sebastian told of his previous master. He didn’t offer a name, but it was clear a google search would give her the answer. His former master had been young, and in service to the Queen of England, after all. He owned a toy company, too. Most curious.


“How—” and she winced at the pain as the needle entered, wishing the demon had talked through that rather than end his story early. It did make it easier to endure, since the story was a fresh curiosity and her mind spun it out further with questions.


She swallowed down the pain and nodded to his question about continuing the story. “Yes, please,” she said, even as she felt the serum working through her body. Was it going to numb all of her? That was a scary thought. Surgery and the things associated with it had never been happy thoughts for her. “About that previous master of yours, or others. It sounds…interesting.” She was curious how many humans he had served before. For some reason, she’d considered it a rare thing for demons to do.


Perhaps he just really enjoyed it? That was an interesting thought.


Had he failed any of them?