Chapter Text
The job of a priest is not for the tempted; you must follow specific precautions and must fit the mold perfectly.
Mariana was the perfect fit, he did not care for the unholy temptations of life, or at least he was very good at hiding it.
That was until his daughter’s health began deteriorating. Juanaflippa was never the healthiest girl, but for the past month or so she has been suffering more than ever. Mariana tried every clerk, every doctor, and he spent many nights with his fellow worshippers praying for her- but nothing worked. He had tried everything,
Everything except one.
The priest had no other choice- he had to contact the unholy.
The thought of it alone gave Mariana shivers; prayers repeating in his mind begging for forgiveness of what he was about to do. After running through the halls of his place of worship, bags in hand, he came across the basement. It was originally used for storage but hasn’t been touched in a while. It would have to do. He entered the dark room, closed the door behind him, and proceeded down the stairs.
Once he reached the bottom, he set up things on the empty, dusty floor. He started drawing with chalk and lighting candles, creating the perfect summoning circle. He took a seat on the cold floor and took a deep breath before citing some words in an unknown language, unfamiliar to his own.
The candles began to flicker, much more than usual, and the room grew colder. The air around Mariana was tense, causing him to close his eyes shut out of fear and shame.
But then everything stopped.
When Mariana opened his eyes, he analyzed his surroundings. It was quiet, the candles burned normally, and his muscles loosened.
It didn’t work. He thought.
He rose up, preparing to clean up the scene.
What a waste of time. What will I do now? I’ve tried everything-
“Hi there!”
Mariana jumps back.
“¡Ay, mierda!” He yells.
“What’s wrong little priest, didn’t think it’d work?” The figure said with a smirk.
To be completely honestly, he didn’t.
When he eventually calmed down his breathing, he took the time to quickly analyze the being before him.
Giving by the curved horns, bat-like wings, and swaying tail, this was in fact a demon. Besides his demonic features, he was quite humanoid-looking. Swept, mid length, brown hair with emerald green eyes. He was a bit shorter than Mariana.
None of this was surprising to the priest, besides one thing; he looked… slimey?
Was this normal for demons? He was getting off topic, Mariana needed to get to the point.
Mariana clears his throat.
“I’m here to make a deal.”
“Wow,” the demon replied, “not even gonna take me to dinner first?”
This guy can’t be serious right now.
Although a light pink brushed over Mariana’s face, he remained unamused.
“Ok ok, sorry, I’ve always wanted to make that joke.” The demon pouted.
The being began to stretch, looking around at his surroundings.
“Go on, now.”
Mariana stood up straight, took a deep breath, and prepared for the worst. Demons weren’t fair, as far as he knew, so he has to be careful with what he asked for.
“My daughter is very, very ill,” he says, “I am willing to do anything to make her healthy.”
“Awe, how sweet,” the being remarked, “usually priests use these methods for… what is is called? Unholy things.”
It is true, there have been many stories of worshippers falling from glory, but Mariana wasn’t one of them.
The demon continued, “Well I’ll see what I can do.”
Mariana sparked up.
“What is your daughters name?”
Mariana looked at the demon with distrust, but he assured the priest that it was needed for him to continue. He did need to identify her somehow.
“Juanaflippa; she means the world to me.”
Everything went quiet.
The demon’s face went from smug and calm to worried and scared. Mariana almost felt pity for the guy with how his eyes widened, but the real question was why. Why was the demon reacting that way.
After what felt like decades, the being spoke again, as if coming back to reality.
“Your name… it isn’t Mariana, is it?”
“How did you know that.” Mariana asked, getting tense once again.
“Oh fuck,” the demon was breathing heavily now, “Fli- Juanaflippa, is she really that sick?!”
Oh. So, he knows Juanaflippa. Why does this demon know his daughter.
“How do you know my daughter?!” Mariana yelled, “Did you do this to her?!”
“No, no!! I- I would never hurt her, I-“ he sighed, “let me explain, please.”
Still tense, Mariana allowed the demon to proceed. Not like he could truly do anything about the situation at hand.
“First of all, my name is Charlie.”
So, they have names?
“I am a demon, obviously.”
After fixing himself up a bit, Charlie continued, “As a more- lower ranked demon- one of my roles is emplacing fear on mortals, which includes nightmares.”
Mariana was visibly growing impatient.
“The point is, I was put in charge of your daughter’s nightmares. Children are often targeted because they are so… pure. But I…”
Charlie’s eyes seemed to glisten in the basements low light, as if they were getting watery.
Can demons even cry?
“I couldn’t do it. That kid, she was too… amazing.”
He had to be lying. Mariana thought. How could a demon be so sympathetic?
“Instead of nightmares, I filled her dreams with whatever she liked! We hung out a lot, and let me tell you, your kid is something else.”
That, Mariana could agree with. His daughter was his everything after all.
“But I- I messed up. Really bad.” Charlie started looking hysterically now. “Higher ups found out and- I wasn’t allowed to see her again.”
The priest could already see where this was going, and it made him furious.
“So, you were the reason for all of this?!”
Charlie flinched as Mariana stepped closer. As if Mariana was capable of doing anything at the moment, what would he even do?
“It’s ok- I can fix this!! Well… sort of.” Charlie said hesitantly.
“Sort of?”
“Yeah, well you see, we still need to make a deal. It can’t be something small either, it has to be something that would negatively affect you.”
Mariana lets out a sigh “Fine, what do you have in mind?”
The demon thought for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up.
“As a person of religion, you despise demons, right?” Charlie implied.
“Well,” That’s one way to say it.
“I would not use the word ‘despise’ but, I suppose.”
“Then let me bind myself to the contract and I will ‘torture you for eternity’!”
The priest gave a bewildered look.
“Ok well… I’m not actually going to torture you but, demon contract rules have some pretty good loopholes if you find any.”
Mariana considered it for a moment, but then came to a realization.
“You just want to be around her- you are using this for your own well being!”
“Is that really so bad?” Charlie asked. Mariana did not want this thing near him or is daughter ever again but, he seemed so genuine. Now this may be a stupid decision, the demon could very well be manipulating him right now, but Mariana was desperate to see his daughter happy and healthy again, so he let it go.
“One last question,” Mariana asked as Charlie peaked up, “why do you care for her so much? I have never heard of a demon being so… emotional.”
“I don’t know,” Charlie replied, “I never felt this way before Flippa.”
“Flippa, huh?” Mariana didn’t know how he felt about some demon calling his daughter by her nickname but, it wasn’t so bad.
“Yeah,” Charlie replied, “that’s what she liked me to call her.”
Mariana pondered one last time, deciding whether to abandon the whole idea or not.
“Fine, but you must promise me that you will keep your word and also don’t do anything stupid.”
“I promise”, Charlie said confidently as he put out his hand. There was a sigil in his palm that glowed. Mariana assumed that it was there to confirm the deal.
“I will warn you this will burn a little bit, but then it will be done.”
Mariana nodded in understanding, lending out his hand to finish the deal.
It did burn, like hell, but it didn’t matter anymore.
Mariana would finally have his daughter back.