Page 4 of Monsters After Dark

Kurt grabbed the pen, pricked his finger on the tip of it, and scribbled across the paper in a few places. Then he moved aside and jutted his chin at me. “There you go. All I need is your pretty little signature, and then two hundred million will be yours.”

Cautiously, I edged closer. Despite my desperate eagerness for all my worries to be swept away in a pile of cash, the first alarm bells started to chime. I wasn’t super keyed into religion and demons, but I had watched a few supernatural TV shows over the years. Demons were supposed to be tricksy. Right?

“Are you trying to trick me? We’re talking two hundred million American dollars. Not some obscure currency that’s barely worth anything?”

Kurt chuckled. “American dollars,” he confirmed.

Hmm. “And you aren’t going to deliver it in pennies?” I shot him a hesitant look before I bent over the piece of paper. Most of the text was written in black ink, but certain words were filled in with red the color of freshly harvested blood. The penmanship was impeccable.

It read:

I hereby sell my eternal soul to the demon Kurt, for the price of 200,000,000 USD (two hundred million dollars), to be paid immediately upon exchange of this contract.

This agreement is binding. I confirm that I will not seek to circumvent or in any way render this contract null and void. By my signature, I am surrendering full and complete ownership of my soul, and I understand that the demon Kurt can claim his payment for services rendered at any time he so chooses.

Signed,

“Bills or wire transfer?” Kurt asked as I blinked at the last sentence. “Whichever is most convenient for you.”

“Wait… What does it mean you can claim your payment at any time you choose?” I asked, darting a glance at his face. “Does this mean… kill me?”

Kurt shrugged. “Normally I wait for nature to take its course. I hardly ever claim a soul before its time. Mostly it’s there to ensure no surprise immortality-loopholes. Nothing to worry your pretty head about.”

“Er…” I bit my lip, an unshakable sense of foreboding creeping along my spine as I took in the predatory gleam in his eyes. I’d never given much thought to the concept of my soul—I’d kind of assumed it wasn’t a real thing—but I hadn’t much believed in demons, either, and if Kurt was willing to trade two hundred million dollars for mine… well, it probably wasn’t just a way for religious leaders to manipulate their congregations.

“What… What do you use souls for? What will happen to mine, once you claim it?”

He hummed, shoving both hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “It depends. The pristine ones, I eat. The darker ones, I keep around for servitude. As for yours… well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what kind of life you lead, won’t we, darling?”

“Eat?”I croaked. “You eat them?”

“Come now, don’t look at me like that. Demons need nourishment too. Did you plan to sit on some cloud, playing the harp for all eternity? You don’t strike me as the religious type.” He gave me another of those wry smiles that pricked the hairs on the back of my neck. “How much worse can it be, if you were expecting to simply... cease to exist anyway, hmm?”

He had a point. I looked back at the contract and the sharply pointed pen. Whatever thoughts I’d made about dying—and there had been a few since I realized I wouldn’t be able to pay back what I owed—I’d always assumed my body would just be worm food. The end. What did I care what happened to me after that?

Except… Except I wouldn’t just be worm food. I had a soul. Presumably, those who didn’t get eaten by demons went… somewhere else.

Of course, there was every chance I wouldn’t end up kicking it with a pristine soul. Then what? Servitude? Eternal servitude. I eyed Kurt again. It seemed the better option, but what did I know? I still remembered what he looked like without his human disguise: a creature of hell.

What if signing this contract meant a literal eternity spent in unimaginable torment?

“I…” I chewed on my lip. “Is there not something else you might want instead?”

Kurt raised both eyebrows. “Instead of your soul? No. The only asset you have is your immortal spirit.”

I flushed, the bluntness of that insult smarting more than it should, mostly because it was entirely true. I was nothing, and I had nothing of value to give to anyone, let alone anything remotely worth two hundred million dollars.

“What if—what if it was for less? I don’t need all that money. I just need twenty thousand. There has to be something else we can trade.”

Kurt’s face darkened, that sly smirk slipping off his lips. “I am not here to trade collectibles, human. What did you think would happen when you summoned a demon? That it would be like strolling into a bank and having a pleasant chat about taking out a loan?”

Pleasant chat.Clearly demons didn’t have much experience with asking a bank for a loan.

“No, I…” What had I been expecting during those feverish few moments I’d hoped that Barry wasn’t just pranking me?

A miracle. I’d been hoping for a miracle. I stared at Kurt, at his darkly handsome features and the sneer on his soft lips. His human disguise was clearly crafted to draw people in, but no matter how attractive his physicality, every instinct in my body screamed of his true nature—of the monster that lurked just beneath his pale skin.

This demon was no miracle, of that I was certain. But if he left, my life was forfeit.

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