Page 2 of Bargain with the Demon King

Adraya

The first scream cuts through market day wrong—too high, too raw, too real. Then the raiders pour through the square. Overturned carts. Scattered vegetables. Blood spreading across cobblestones. Mrs. Hendrick drops her basket of eggs and runs, yellow yolk mixing with red.

"Chad!" I grab his arm as another scream splits the air. "We need to help—"

He yanks me sideways, pulling me off balance. Heat rushes up my neck—his grip, his immediacy. He's protecting me. Even now, he's thinking ahead.

"This way," he gasps, eyes darting everywhere at once.

A raider rounds the corner—massive, blood-drunk, sword already wet. Chad's grip on my wrist goes white-knuckled. Then he shoves. Hard. I stumble forward, directly into the raider's path. But wait—Chad must see an opening I don't. Some angle, some— The raider grins at me. Raises his blade.

"No!" Chad shouts behind me, and there he goes, my brave idiot, lunging forward.

Not away from danger but straight at it, trying to reach me— The sword catches him across the ribs as he scrambles past. He screams, dropping to his knees in the mud.

The raider loses interest in me immediately, advancing on easier prey.

"Chad!" I throw myself over him, pressing my hands to the wound. Blood seeps hot through my fingers. So much blood. "No, no, no, stay with me."

"It hurts," he whimpers, clutching at my dress. "Adraya, it hurts so bad."

"I know, baby, I know." Tears blur everything. The raider looms over us, sword rising again. "Someone help us! Please!" Nothing. No one. The square empties as villagers flee.

"Don't want to die," Chad sobs into my shoulder. "Not here. Not in the mud."

My chest cracks open. He took that blade meant for me. This ridiculous man who brings me wildflowers and tells terrible jokes and kisses me soft even when no one's watching.

"Anyone," I whisper, then scream it. "ANYONE! I'll do anything! Take anything!"

The raider laughs. Brings the sword down.

The blade stops mid-swing. Frozen. The raider's laugh cuts off. Everything stops—the screaming, the running, even the wind. The only sound is Chad's labored breathing and my own thundering heartbeat.

"Anything. How original."

The voice comes from everywhere. The air goes cold, smelling of ozone and old iron.

Shadows bleed together, knitting into a shape that is tall, broad-shouldered, and beautiful the way expensive weapons are beautiful—crafted for a specific, violent purpose.

His eyes are black with threads of gold running through them.

When he looks at me, I feel stripped bare. Not my body. Everything else.

"You summoned me." He sounds bored. "Desperate little thing, aren't you?"

"Save him." I press harder on Chad's wound. "Please. I'll give you whatever you want."

The demon—what else could he be—circles us slowly. Silent footsteps.

"Whatever I want," he repeats, flat. "Do you even understand what you're offering?"

"I don't care." Chad's breathing gets shallower. "Take it all. Just don't let him die."

The demon stops in front of me. He crouches down, bringing us eye level. He smells of iron and smoke and something else, something that makes the bones in my jaw buzz.

"Your soul for his life."

"Yes."

"Forever."

"Yes!"

He tilts his head. "You don't even know my name."

"I don't need your name. Take my soul. Save Chad."

Something flickers across his face. Not surprise. Interest, maybe. He reaches out, claws barely grazing my cheek. The touch burns cold.

"Are you sure?"

The question stops me. Why would a demon ask that? But Chad makes a wet, choking sound, blood bubbling on his lips.

"I'm sure. Take it. Take everything."

The demon stands. Extends his hand. "Then we have a bargain, Adraya."

I didn't tell him my name.

I take his hand anyway.

Pain explodes through me—not physical but deeper.

Something essential tears from its roots.

I feel myself fragmenting, pieces of what makes me me peeling away and condensing into his grip.

My knees buckle. Vision whites out. When it clears, I'm still holding Chad.

His wound has closed. His breathing steadies.

Color returns to his face. The raider unfreezes and immediately collapses, sword clattering away.

He takes one look at the demon and runs.

"Chad?" I touch his face. "Chad, can you hear me?"

His eyes flutter open. "Adraya? What happened? Did you—" He sees the demon and immediately tries to scramble backward, even lying down. "What is that?"

Not 'who.' That .

"You're safe." I smooth his hair, trying not to notice how he pulls away from my bloody hands. "You're alive. That's what matters."

"Indeed." The demon's voice cuts through. "He'll live a long, healthy life. Probably longer than he deserves."

I look up at this beautiful monster who owns me now. "Thank you."

"Save your gratitude." He pulls something from nothing—a rough crystal glowing soft white, pulsing with my heartbeat. "This is mine now. You are mine now."

"I know."

"No. You really don't."

He gestures. Shadows wrap around me, lifting me to my feet. Chad grabs for me, fingers passing through shadow.

"Adraya!" He struggles to stand, still favoring a side that is no longer injured. "Where are you going? You can't leave me!"

"She's coming with me." The demon's tone could freeze hell. "The bargain is sealed."

"But I need—" Chad's hand, reaching for me, falters and drops. His eyes lose their panicked focus, darting past me to the watching shadows, to the empty market square. The fear in his face doesn't vanish, it sharpens into something else. "How am I supposed to explain this?"

Of course that's his concern.

"I love you," I tell him anyway, memorizing his face. "Remember that."

The demon laughs. "Oh, I'm sure he'll remember exactly what suits him."

Shadows swallow us both. The last thing I see is Chad's face—not devastated, not reaching for me, but already looking around to see who's watching, already thinking about his story. Then darkness takes me, and I belong to it completely.