Page 2 of He Who Sleeps

“One step closer and I will do the same to the lot of you,” she warned.

"Oh, I like her!" the man in the snake mask breathed, amusement ringing in his tone. "It's almost a shame we have to kill her."

"There is another option," the devil said thoughtfully, moving toward her. She kicked out, but he moved almost faster than she could register, dodging to the side as he grabbed her foot and yanked. She went sprawling to the ground on her back and he moved over her, swiftly pinning down her limbs under his implacable weight. "What do you think, guys? You want to play with this little bunny? Perhaps we could get our sacrifice in pleasure rather than death."

They were all quiet for long moments, Petra looking into the blacked out eyes of the devil’s mask, his weight not uncomfortable, but also there and pressing. Sacrifice? What were they playing at? And why were they even there at all?

“Touch me with a single appendage and I’ll cut it the fuck off,” she gritted through her teeth.

“Let her up. Give her the deal,” she heard, the modulated voice coming from one of the others that hadn’t spoken before. “If she takes it...” The rest of the statement hung in the air.

"I'll let her up if she gives me her word she'll listen and won't try to fuck us up," the devil said softly, the black eyes fixed on hers. "Give us five minutes to explain the deal, during which you have my word that none of us will hurt you. Understood?"

Anything was better than being under this guy. She nodded, swallowing again, her fight or flight instincts raging inside her.

“Don’t run. You do, and Ghosty here will just slice your throat. Crude, but it gets the job done,” the goblin said as she stood, looking at the guy with the Ghostface mask messing with a bowie knife.

"And that," murmured the devil as he eased back onto his knees, "would be a crying shame."

She looked at the Ghostface guy once more and then at the crew of them that were all standing together. Seven masks, all different, the malevolence wafting off the group palpable. “Talk. I wanna go.”

“That all depends on your answer,” Goblin said.

"Who are you kidding?" The guy with the stitched skin mask snorted. "She either dies or she accepts the deal. She isn't going anywhere soon."

"Stitches!" the devil snapped and she could hear the snarl in his voice. "Shut the fuck up."

"Sorry." Stitches dipped his head in acknowledgment and the devil turned back to her. "So here it is...we have to make a sacrifice on this night, every year. Since you've deprived us of our intended victim, you either take her place, or you let us harvest the life force we need in other, less mortal ways."

“Less mortal ways?” She frowned. “Great. So, I’m dead or I’m raped...and then dead.” She rolled her eyes, the possibility of dying ensuring she wouldn’t go a meek and delicate thing. “You try either, I’m taking at least one of you with me.”

“And that just won’t do,” Neon said. “Why did you save the girl?”

“Why? Because you assholes tied her down and she did not look like she consented to that.”

“No...she didn’t,” he said to her. “And if you could stop that...random women dying for something they don’t understand?”

She arched a brow. “I don’t want people to die.” Didn’t want to die herself, either.

“You take the deal, no one dies,” Neon said. “Not even you...unless you cross us.” She could hear the smirk in his modulated voice.

She looked to them, the malice still there but tempered. She didn’t feel completely safe, she just felt...interest. “What’s the deal?”

"Fucking." The devil shrugged. "Orgasms generate life force. All seven of us and you over two nights should do it."

She blinked. “What?”

“Two nights a year, you belong to us,” Goblin clarified.

“Any two random nights?”

“Black Night and Samhain,” Neon said. “Two nights. All seven of us. No death, except the little death. And no faces.”

“No...no faces? I don’t get to know who you are?”

“It’s safer,” Neon offered.

"Besides, we're not idiots and we're not going back on our word," Stitches said. "Do as we ask and you get to walk out of here in two days’ time. We're not going to let you see our faces so you can go running off to the cops."