Work Text:
It had been three days.
Three days since Bela died. Three days that her body, broken body, was laid in a casket in Sarah’s house. Sarah had never seen a dead body before, but seeing Bela’s was worse than anything she could imagine. She couldn’t do much but just stare at her. Praying that some merciful god would take pity and bring her back to life.
Sarah couldn’t wait around for much longer. No one else was going to save Bela’s soul from Hell, but Sarah could.
There was something her father had once told her about. The legend of Robert Johnson. God there was so much artwork based around this myth, this story but. Sarah wasn’t so sure it was a story anymore. And maybe she could use that.
Her house, her father’s house, had a library filled with weird things, first editions. A collector is a collector. And of course, Sarah kept tabs on all things weird and wonderful, had made enough friends and connections through selling haunted art. Had a list of names to go through to find answers.
Like just how Robert Johnson managed to summon a demon.
It took another day, but a friend of a friend of a client finally told her what she would need. And lucky Sarah, after spending two years collecting supernatural pieces, had most of the things. Tin box, black cat bones, graveyard dirt, flowers, and her college ID card.
It had been four days and Sarah couldn’t take staring at Bela’s body any longer.
Under waning moonlight, Sarah stood at a dirt crossroads. Barely a mile away from her father’s mansion but on the edge of humanity. Cold chills ran down her spine and her jacket did nothing to stop it. She was knelt in the dirt, hand still pushed into the soft earth. Nothing happened. And maybe Robert Johnson was just a story. Maybe she wasn’t going to get her happy ending.
She screamed into the fields, begging the demon to come. Everything stayed silent, even the winds stilled. And she started to sob, because she knew she would be going home to a dead girl. She couldn’t save Bela.
“Oh, darling, you’re too pretty to be crying.”
Sarah looked up. There was a woman in front of her, holy beautiful woman, with a coy smile. Her eyes flashed red as she offered out a hand to help Sarah up.
“You’re a…”
“Demon, yes,” the woman, demon, said. “And you’ve come to bargain your soul, Sarah Blake.”
Sarah nodded eagerly. “Please, take it. Take anything I just-“
“Slow down, tell me what you want first, then I’ll see what I can sell it for,” the demon laughed.
“Bela. Bela Talbot, she’s in Hell and,” Sarah held back tears. “I want her back, I want her alive and safe. Please tell me you can bring her back.”
“Ooh, bringing a soul back from Hell,” the demon gritted her teeth. “Especially one like your little friend, Bela. Darling, she sold herself to us. Big boss wouldn’t be too happy if I just… gave her back up like that.”
“Please,” Sarah said, and she was back on her knees again, fingers tangled in the fabric of the demon’s dress. “I’ll do anything, I promise.”
“How about,” the demon said. “I take your soul in five years, you get five lovely, long years with Bela dearest, and then I… take you both.”
Sarah let go of the dress. Let her fingers fall until the hit the damp ground. Five years. Five years with the love of her life, five years longer that Bela doesn’t have to spend in Hell. But she couldn’t sell Bela’s soul again, use it as a bargaining chip. It wasn’t fair, Sarah wasn’t Bela’s parents she wouldn’t use her as a pawn. But…
Five years alive again. It wasn’t a bad deal, not when Bela was already in Hell.
“I’ll do it.”
The demon grinned a feral grin. “Oh darling, I knew you would. Now, up you come, we have to seal a deal like this with a kiss.”
And the thought of kissing anyone but Bela made Sarah’s stomach turn. But this was for her, it was okay, one quick peck on the lips and the devil had her.
“Five years, Sarah Blake,” the demon said. “And your soul is mine.”
Bela woke up screaming.
Pain rippled through her body in ways that she couldn’t comprehend, places she didn’t know could ache. But there wasn’t anyone touching her. Not like there had been a second before. A second before, a demon had been leant over her with pointed grin, telling her that she would never leave but.
There was the ghost of pain, and no one there. No cold chill of Hell. And it took a second to blink life back into her eyes but they adjusted, and she was in… someone’s living room. Plain ordinary living room. Her joints were stiff but she leant upwards to take in more of the room.
There was a woman hunched over in the corner. Brown hair in neat plaits.
It was Sarah.
“What did you do?”
Sarah stood up fast, her face was white and eyes dark, and she flung her arms around Bela. “Oh God, you woke up, you’re safe, you’re okay.” And Sarah kept whispering to her, you’re okay, everything’s okay. Except it wasn’t.
“What did you do, Sarah,” Bela asked, gentler. Pleading.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sarah said. Tear in her eyes, she stroked Bela’s hair over and over again. Clung to her. “It doesn’t matter, because you’re safe. It’s okay.”
“Sarah, please.”
And she let go. Leant Bela carefully against the side of the casket and sat back. She blinked back tears and smiled. Eyes empty kind of smile.
“I couldn’t do it,” Sarah said. “I couldn’t live knowing you were… down there. I couldn’t! I’m sorry, I just... I made a deal.”
“No, Sarah,” and Bela was crying as well. “Sarah, I’m not worth that.”
“You are to me.”
Her arms were back around Bela, and she held her as they both cried. Bela’s body still ached, her chest felt empty but. She wanted to be angry at Sarah. A part of her was so thankful that the hands she still felt were only memories. And Christ she was thankful for Sarah saving her.
But Sarah saved her, and decided to take her place in Hell.
Oh sweet, soft Sarah, how could she.
“I got us five years together,” Sarah said. “I’d go to Hell for that.”
“I’ll get you out of this,” Bela said. Both their sobs subsided. And Sarah looked up so hopefully at her. “I promise, we can fix it.”
“Bela, sweetheart, five years is a long time. We can talk about this later, okay, I just want to enjoy the time we have now, please.”
“Okay, okay,” Bela shook her head and smiled. “Help me out of this coffin and we can go to bed, love.”
As Sarah helped her up, pressed life and love back into her bones, Bela knew. She was already thinking of ways to kill the damn demon that bought Sarah. How she could fix things. Five years was a long time for Bela Talbot to get her revenge.