Chapter Text
She was desperate. They say all mothers are, desperate for everything to go right, for her child to grow up safe, to be free of every doubt in her mind that her baby was happy and healthy. That’s what they say at least. As far as she was concerned, no mother had ever been as desperate as her, and not one would ever be.
She pulled the hood tighter over her cold body, the pouring rain soaking her, making chills cover every inch of skin and numb every nerve. From under the hood a weak and pathetic cough came, a cough that only fueled her desperation and reminded her why she was here. She cradled the form in her arms, hoping to sooth the baby, before going deeper on into the storm.
It was close. She could feel it in her bones, the pull of dark magic tugging on her soul and mind, teasing her, daring her to come closer. It seemed to know what she came here for, what she wanted out of it.
You can get it, the roaring wind seemed to hiss through her dark hair. But what price would you be willing to pay?
She couldn’t answer that, at least not now, not when she didn’t even know if this would even work. If not, her child was dead, and all of this would be for nothing, and it couldn’t be for nothing. She would go through the very pits of Hell if it meant keeping the baby alive, even if it meant fighting the devil himself.
And from the looks of it, it seemed that wouldn’t be too far from the truth.
Finally, in the blurry, muddled landscape, she made out a place where the roads met, an intersection in the middle of nowhere. It was muddy and waterlogged like most of the road around it, and if you were just a regular person driving by, you wouldn’t think any different of it. There wasn’t anything special about it, not even a stop sign, but to her, it meant something. To her, it meant everything.
To her, it was a crossroads.
The baby let out a small cry, followed by more coughing, and she felt tears pinch at her eyes when she smelled the metallic tang of blood on her shirt. The baby, her baby, didn’t have much time. The only thing that could save him now was the being that lived in this haunted crossroad. She would be at their mercy, something she never dreamed of ever happening, something she swore never to do.
But what was a desperate mother to do when faced with a curse?
She went until she was in the middle of the crossroads, finding that the water was much deeper here, and took out a small box that she had hidden in her hood next to the baby. She didn’t open it, but she knew what laid inside: a pocket watch from her father, a small granite rock, and the a picture of her and her husband. Without giving herself time to think, the woman knelt down in the muddy water and reached as far down as she could, making sure the baby stayed safe in her arms. She suddenly found the ground below, soft and giving from the oversaturation of rain. Grunting, she digged into the earth, burying the box as far down as her arms let her.
She stood up, covered in the cold and numbing mud, and waited for what was to come. She didn’t know if the rain would stop the ritual from taking place, and she prayed to every god she could think of (though, they probably wouldn’t help her now) that it would work. It was the only place she could find, and she knew she didn’t have time to find another.
For several moments, nothing happened or changed. The rain remained in downpour, her baby still cried and the cold grew stronger. It shouldn’t be taking this long she thought, feeling the fear beginning to seep into her. It never takes this long.
Just as she was starting to give up, her nose became alive with the smell of sulfur, and just a second afterwords a loud POP! crackled in the air, the ends of her hair singeing from the intense heat. She squeezed her eyes shut and shielded the baby the best that she could, her heart pounding viciously in her chest. She knew what to expect if it did work, and yet, the feeling of helplessness and total terror still caught her veins, making every moment agony.
Eventually, it did end, just like all things, and the relief she found was instantaneous, shoulders relaxing, breathing smoothing out and heart slowing back down to normal. Even the rain had stopped entirely, though she could still here it’s pattern in the distance. She still refused to open her eyes, however, knowing what would be behind her closed lids. She could feel it’s horrible power surrounding her like a vice, almost caressing and gentle if she pretended it was an entirely different creature.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, revealing the reason why she came at all.
If she was telling someone about the experience, she would tell them that what she saw was unexpected on her part, that she didn’t expect the creature to look so… human. But in reality, she knew they always looked like that. It was supposed to make you feel safe and comforted, but a single glance in it’s eyes would show that it didn’t mean that at all. In fact, it would love to tear you to shreds and goudge on your heart, but it never did. Not until you made a deal.
He, if you could even call it that, was tall and lanky, skin pale and arms covered with tattoos, one eye the color of a rich red wine while the other shined like fools gold, which to say, a fool is exactly what you’d be to seek him out. A red button up with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, a perfectly pressed vest and black dress pants accompanied him, giving him the aura of someone ready to go out for a night on the town. Though, she reckoned this being would happily destroy the town if one person dare to defy him.
She held her breath as she watched him, the creature cracking his neck and brushing off stray particles of ash that found their way on his pristine appearance, the shadow’s bending around him. His gaze finally found her’s, and in a split second a terrible, sickening grin came to his pale face. At that moment, she knew that he knew what she was. It was clear from the way his eyes flashed red and the marks on his arms darkened, a show of power of sorts. But that didn’t matter to her. She knew what he was as well.
“Hunter,” the being said smoothly, his tone underlining with venom. She narrowed her eyes, lifting up the sleeve on her right arm, showing the silver printed halo around her wrist. If you looked closely one could see the silver branching off into their own little streams, all making their ways up her arm. It glowed much like the creature’s mark did, making the shadows around him cower back slightly, giving away his true nature despite the form he possessed.
“Demon,” she snarled, watching as he only laughed at the name. For what reason she never understood, seeing that nearly every one of them brushed off the title that they were given, creatures of darkness and despair and power. Instead they gave themselves names of all things, as if that made them human enough to ignore what they really were.
Monsters. She used to hunt monsters, demons and witches, but that was a long time ago, in another life when she was young. That was before she found the love of her life and had a child, and now it seemed as if that child would be the reason she entered the world of monsters and curses once again.
“Call me Nathan. So much better than… demon,” it purred, slinking closer to her, keeping his eye on the silver glowing tendrils. “Now, I assume you summoned me for a reason… perhaps you want to make a deal?”
Just as he said that the baby began crying again, and it made her sick to see the pure glee light up on the demon’s, Nathan’s, face. He obviously knew now what she wanted, in fact, it wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest if dozens of other hunters did this same thing; seek out demons to solve problems and curses they couldn’t fix. It was rather ironic when she thought about it: hunters, ones who swear to destroy dark magic and kill any monster that threaten humanity making deals with the evilest creatures that ever existed.
She held her breath, not trusting herself to speak, and gently took the baby from her hood and into the outside. His face was red from crying, snot and blood running down his nose and amber eyes wide. On the side of his neck was a black mark, much like the silver tendrils around her wrist, but they moved and curled like snakes.
It was a curse. Anyone with even a little understanding of magic would know that, and those who study it would see that it was a very strong curse that only affected the weakest and youngest. This specific curse could only be given by a demon, their last dying breath sending out a terrible fate to the child of the one who killed them, promising revenge.
She killed the demon that did this over ten years ago. She never thought about it until her child was born, and by then it was too late. Her only chance to reverse it was to get another demon to take the curse back, if that was even possible.
Nathan’s eyes widened at the sight of the baby and the obvious curse printed on his neck. “Quite the handful you have there, Miss,” he commented, the smirk in his voice as sinister as the one on his face. It made her want to vomit.
“Can you reverse it or not?” she demanded, holding the baby close to her chest. Tears dribbled onto her hood,and she had the urge to cry as well, but she learned long ago how to keep the tears inside. She couldn’t show weakness now, not when she was so close.
After a view moments, the air so thick with anticipation that she could scarcely breathe, the demon replied with a simple, “yes.”
She couldn’t hide her relief at that, all of the tension in her muscles melting away within a second. Her baby would live! Oh God this hadn’t been all for nothing! A small smile creeped its way onto her lips, though in the darkness it was hard to tell. As long as the demon didn’t see it, she didn’t care.
“What do you want then?” she rushed, eager to know what her debt would be. She’s already decided there’s only one thing she would protest to, but that one thing was so rare and hardly used (no matter what you might see on T.V) that she barely thought about it. Nathan’s eyes went black for a split second, and when they went back to their usual colors, he wasn’t smiling at all.
Should this have been concern to her? Possibly, but all she could think about was her baby being safe. Who cared what the demon thought of it?
“The price for reversing this curse will be… your soul,” Nathan said in a deadpan voice, looking her right in the eye. At those words she could feel all of the blood drain from her body, leaving her cold and bare. No… why… so few deals need to be sated with a soul, so why did it need hers? Who would be there to take care of her baby, her helpless boy that would have no parents and be left alone in this cruel world? Of all the things she could be asked to give…
“What? What do you mean you need my soul?” she snapped, eyes alight with fire. “Don’t think you can just trick me into giving it, you of all creatures should know I’m not a fool like most mortals.”
Nathan gave her a long stare, his ivory face flickering with shadows and the moonlight. He seemed hesitant to reply, which only made her more angry. There was no time for this!
“You see… it is the nature of the curse itself,” he finally said, eyes glancing down at the baby. “It is a demons last wish, their final request before they are plunge into nothingness. The only way to satisfy a curse this powerful is to give it what it wants: a soul. If not the one who was cursed in the first place, then someone else. If you simply try and break the curse… well, let’s just say there will be disastrous consequences for us all.”
“But… but there must be some other way…” she begged, disgusted at herself for doing so. But she was desperate, and that meant she did desperate things, like beg for her life in front of a demon. She could almost see the pity in Nathan’s eyes, what little emotion they were allowed to feel besides anger, lust and glee as they ripped someone to little bitty pieces.
“Well… you could do it so that you give up your soul at a later date, and I merely suppress the curse. It wouldn’t be a final solution, but it would buy you a few precious years with your boy,” the demon suggested, and she could have sobbed in relief. A few years was all she needed, time to let her boy grow up and learn about the world he lived in. A world, she hoped, without monsters and demons and the dangers of being a hunter, but instead a normal life that any kid had. A life she never got to experience.
She didn’t see the sinister smile creep onto Nathan’s face as she bathed in her hope.
“The suppression would last about 10 years-”
“ Only 10?!” she immediately interrupted, making the demon sigh and roll his eyes.
“Look, Miss, I’ve already told you just how powerful this curse is. You’re lucky I’m even doing this in the first place. And plus, it’s either 10 years or 10 hours by the looks of that baby. So, what’s it going to be?” A long scroll appeared out of thin air with a snap of Nathan’s fingers, along with a pen with a golden tip. Small printed words written in what looked like blood covered the scroll, and she knew it was the terms of their deal in great detail, mostly about how once it was signed there was no way it would be broken. Unless of course, you wanted to be damned to Hell for all eternity.
Though, she guessed her soul was damned to Hell no matter what.
“Do we have a deal?”
She looked up from the scroll, looking the demon dead in the eye, making sure to take in account every shade of red and gold she found. She stopped only when she heard her baby coughing, gently patting his back to sooth him. It was a reminder to her what she was doing this for.
“We have a deal,” she whispered with every last drop of confidence she could manage, bracing herself.
“What’s his name?” Nathan questioned as she plucked the pen from the air and turned it over in her hands. She didn’t say anything for several seconds, hovering the pen over the paper, right over the blood red line where she was supposed to print her name. She almost didn’t hear the question at first, but as close as the two were, it would have been hard to, even with her thoughts a thousand miles away. She took a deep breath, and before she could somehow think herself out of it, she signed her name.
Nyome Trimmer.
The gold ink absorbed into the scroll, instantly becoming black. Her soul was now bonded with this very contract. She didn’t feel any different like she thought she would, and for some reason, that made it all the worse.
“Bim,” she said, not looking at the demon who she just sold her soul to.
“His name is Bim Trimmer.”