One Last Wish

The contract in their hand was a long one, spooling out from black nails and down onto dusty church stone.

Renata had heard, once, that demons would burn on sacred ground. She supposed Heaven and Hell must be a lot closer together than anyone thought, because the demon stood right in front of the church altar without the slightest bit of discomfort.

“Is all this paperwork really necessary?” Renata asked. “After all, it’s just one little wish.”

“Hell,” the demon sighed, sounding almost bored at the question, “is full of people who love to argue about justifications. Why they should’ve gone to Heaven, why someone else should be down in Hell with them, why they should’ve gotten to do just one more thing before we claimed them, and, more than anything, why their wish hadn’t worked out precisely the way they wanted and should thus be considered null and void. This contract is, to be blunt, a way of covering my fiery little ass.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” She took the scroll from the demon when they offered it to her. It made a hushing sound, like wind through trees, or distant screams, as its end dragged across the church floor. She began to read and the demon, seeming more bored than ever, chanced a look around the sanctuary.

“This really isn’t the usual kind of place I’m summoned to.” They casually sauntered out of the circle originally meant to hold them. That… was a little worrisome, but there weren’t any teeth in Renata’s throat yet, so she figured it was alright if she kept on reading. “I think ‘sacreligious’ might be putting the whole thing a bit mildly.”

“It’s like a spectrum.” Renata told them. “I wasn’t hearing anything from one extreme, so I figured I’d swap to the other. Also thought you might like a bit of presentation.”

“Ah, a showman.” The demon nodded, almost in approval, and stepped up onto the altar proper, lifting the veil on the table to glimpse at the chalice underneath. They huffed, and let the veil drop. “I thought there was always wine in there.”

“It’d probably go bad.” Renata finished reading through the scroll, and rolled it up, simply watching the demon as they bent down and began rummaging in the storage space under the pristine white cloth. After a moment, they clicked their tongue triumphantly and re-emerged with a little platter of communion wafers. “Partaking in the flesh?”

“I think I did when I was alive.” The demon shrugged. “Don’t know, can’t remember. But! I figured now that I know what comes next, it’d give it a little extra zing.” They popped one wafer in their mouth and chewed. Then they let their mouth fall back open and the remains of the wafer slid off their forked tongue and onto the little pile with an unappealing ‘plop’. “I was wrong. Those are still gross. News flash: Actual flesh is better. Not by much, but every little bit counts.”

“Are we going to get on with this?” Renata asked, having finally had her fill of watching the demon trample over everything she’d ever thought she knew about religion, and they unceremoniously jammed the platter, wet reject and all, right back under the altar.

“Finally! Thought you’d never ask. I was wondering what else you were gonna let me get away with while you stared at me all creepy-like.” They hopped over the stairs back down to her, and pointed one long black claw at the dotted line along the very bottom of the scroll. “Bleed here, please.”

“I… Thought I just had to sign.” Renata muttered, even as she began rummaging through her pockets for her knife. The demon just sighed.

“Don’t worry, we get that a lot.” Reaching up and out, they pinched the air in front of their face and pulled. A single silver needle, like she’d use to sew, appeared from thin air and the demon waved her forward with it like a conductor would gesture with their baton. “Come here, I’ll stab you.”

“Much obliged.” Renata held her hand out and the demon did just as they said they would, pricking the tip of Renata’s finger. She pressed the red dot that bloomed onto the parchment. It spread more than it should’ve been able to, scrawling itself almost lazily into her own signature. “I have some questions, before I make my wish.”

“I might have an answer,” the demon replied, as they rolled the scroll up. It burst into flames and fell apart into ashes, the demon shaking the last of it from their hand.

“You said you don’t remember whether or not you were religious when you were alive…” Renata said slowly, “Does that happen to everyone who signs a contract? Both the ‘becoming a demon’ thing and the forgetting?”

“It does.” The demon nodded. “You didn’t really think you could get your heart’s desire for nothing, right?”

“No, I knew better.” Renata admitted, even as she stared at the contract ashes on the ground. The demon’s foot encroached on her field of vision as they stood directly on top of the ash pile and crouched to meet her gaze.

“You can’t change your mind now.” They told her, almost… Kindly. “I guess you could wish to not make a wish, we’ve had people try that before, but we still take them in the end.”

“How long do I have after I make the wish before you claim my soul?”

“The rest of your natural lifespan, we’re not that cruel.” Renata nodded and the demon stepped back, almost bouncing on their heels. “You’re ready now, right? No more questions, no stalling?”

“I wasn’t stalling,” Renata scoffed, but knew from the demon’s facial expression they were just teasing her. “Fine. Are you ready?”

“I was made ready.” The demon swore, and Renata smiled, even as she let out a shaky breath.

“Alright. I wish that… You remembered your life as a human.” The demon went to snap their fingers but froze, blinking at her.

“You… Knew me?” They asked, and Renata nodded, even as tears gathered in her eyes and began to drip down her face.

“Just grant my wish. Please.” Though they kept staring at her, the demon did as Renata asked and snapped their fingers together. There was a long pause when nothing happened.

Slowly, like they were melting, the demon crumpled to the floor at Renata’s feet, and she followed them much more quickly so she could pull them into her arms.

“Re…nata…” They gasped through their own tears, black oil on their red cheeks, and Renata nodded against their hair. “Renata, what have you done?”

“Just what I wanted.” She told them. “I’m sorry, I’m so selfish.”

“No, no,” They shook their head, “Don’t apologize. It’s okay.” 

The two of them sat there for a while, as the church slowly grew dark around them with the approaching night, and eventually they sat up a little straighter, pulling away from Renata to look her in the eyes.

“Did you think any of this through?” They asked, and Renata shook her head. “How long has it been since I died? You don’t look much different.”

“Three years,” she told them. “I tried praying, but… Well, like I said, I wasn’t hearing anything from that end.”

“So you summoned a demon?” They hissed. “And how would you know you’d get the right one? What if I was some other random demon?”

“I put your name in the sigils.” Renata pointed to where their names were scrawled. “Trust me, three years is more than enough time to do my research.”

“Okay,” they nodded and drew in a shaky breath as they tried to compose themself. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. But what now? Now, I go back to Hell and you go on with your life? And I have to wait however many damned years to see you again? Why would you do that to me? To us?”

“I told you, three years is more than long enough to plan things out.” With a flash of speed, Renata drew out the knife she’d been searching for earlier and cut her own throat. Blood sprayed out onto the dusty stones of the church and onto the demon in front of her.

They gasped, hands spasming between where the blood had stained their skin, and towards Renata, who dropped the knife and leaned forwards into their arms. Distantly, she thought she could hear them screaming, saying her name over and over and their hands heating up with her blood and hellfire.

This, Renata decided, wasn’t a bad place at all to die. She could see the stars through the glass ceiling overhead, and she had her true love holding her tight to ease the way. Dying hurt, but life had as well. She managed to smile one last time as shadows replaced her tears and drew her down, down, down.

Later, there would be the pits of Hell, the burning screaming hatred, the ripping fight to be the first way to claw her way out and into the eternal bloody night.

But even further on, past the church and past the pits, there would be a pair of hands to grab her own, to pull her out of the pit, and to whisper her own name back to her like a secret, like a kiss, and like salvation.

And all it cost was her immortal soul.