• The Demon's Curse •

4: In Which Lily Makes a Deal

Lily had an overwhelming feeling in the pit of her stomach. The feeling of nothingness. Only one feeling replaced it; despair. The feeling of loss and hopelessness. What would she do from here? Where would she go? She did wonder but her eyes remained stationary to that spot. 
        She could paint it over for how long she stared aimlessly at it. That was until her vision blurred and she felt a sudden shock on her cheek. She blinked, being pulled from her trance. Her fingers reached up to touch her cheek where she was surprised to find it damp. She had been crying. A breeze blew her hair back wildly, chilling her bones. She didn't understand, she wasn't sad but lost. Was that a valid reason to cry?
        As she tried to access the situation better, a creaking got her attention. She turned, ready to tell the stranger to go away when it ended up being much more. It was Howl's castle, trumping its way toward her. The turrets blew grey smoke up into the night, as it blocky legs shook the ground below it. She gasped and turned to run. Terror filled her. It was clear that not everything in the book was true as the reality showed. 
        She ran as fast as the gravel would permit her but the castle was quickly gaining on her. 
"Please, leave me be!" She shouted but she doubted it was heard over the castle's stomping. Her heart pounded in her ears as the tears kept finding their way out of her eyes. Before long the Castle was on her heels and the draw gate opened. It lowered itself, looking more like a spider than a castle. The Castle thrust forward with ease and gobbled her up, where Lily let out a scream.
        She shut her eyes as she went tumbling into what she guessed was the Castle's bowels. After her body was flung backward and her legs couldn't keep up she hit a solid object. After she opened her eyes, she let out a gasp. The wind was completely knocked out of her. As she struggled to find breathable air she stood, steadying herself on a nearby workbench. 
        Upon closer inspection she saw the room was in fact the main gathering area of the castle. With a larger hearth for a fire and a small kitchen. There was a dinning table, cover in book and spells and the ceiling was adorned with hanging sages and onion bulbs. On the bench, beside her hand was a grinning skull, to which she let out another scream.
        A laughing had caught her off guard. More like a constant hiss. Almost like a personified snake would sound like. It was coming from the Fire. Lily walked closer to it, feeling the warmth fill her. 
She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stared at the blue flames. 
"What's so funny Demon?"
        A face appeared like the Great Oz from the flames. Calcifer, the fire demon. 
"I've never seen a tumbling body like that before. I was certain that I had killed you." The demon said with a wicked grin.
"Is that what you wanted? To kill me?" Lily retorted with a frown.
"No. I just didn't want to chase you all over the mountains like a headless foul."
        Lily had forgotten that Calcifer was in fact a demon. He was on no one single person's side, only benefiting himself. He could care less if she had died on her way in or in the dirt. It made no difference to him. 
"What is it you wanted from me?" Lily said, taking a seat in front of the fire.
        "I want you to write you name in the ash." he said, staring her down with his flickering eyes.
"Why would I do that?"
"You want to get home don't you?" 
        Without thinking on it she stuck her hand out to the ash and began with an 'L'.
A moment later the fire snapped at her, burning her hand and leaving the demon laughing once again.
She held her burnt hand close to her chest and stared, hatefully at the fire. 
Upset by the fact he had successfully exploited her, she would be wary of his trickery.
        "Nothing is given for free. Everything has price." he said to her.
She broke her gaze with the him and looked at her hand where the fire licked her. A red scar would soon form there from the back of her hand to her forearm. 
        "What do I have to do to get home?" she said finally.
"What makes you think I know?" he snapped, turning his whispy face.
"What if I dump water on you? Of hold a bucket over your head and snuff you out?" she threatened.
"You'll kill Wizard Howl, but you knew that." he hissed.
"So? I don't know him. It wouldn't do me any harm to kill him." She shot back, though she knew in her heart it was a bluff.
        "Clever little witch you are."
"I'm not a witch!" She shouted.
"How else did you come here then?"
        "Madam Calypso-"
"Ah, yes. A fine little witch she is too. I suppose it was fate than?"
Lily shook her head, "How do you know her?"
Calcifer paused for a moment, mulling over if he should give that information away.
     "She was my keeper."
Before Lily could ask what he had meant, he snapped at her once again, "Don't stand there with your mouth open! Where are your manners?!"
"S-Sorry. How about a deal then." she said.
        The demon spit embers in her direction. "What could I possibly want from you?"
Lily hadn't thought of that. "You've already taken my flesh, is there not more of me you want?"  
"Silly girl!" He roared, "I am in a bargain already! I wish to be freed."
        "You mean to die."
Once that was said, it got quiet. Surely the demon knew he would die. 
"Are offering me Immortality? Your very soul?"
        Lily nodded, "Yes, only if you help me get home."
The blueish-green flames smiled, "It's a deal than. The mark you bare will be sure of that. Break your promise child and you will die."
        With another nod, the mark began to blister and burn as if it were under the fires again. With a moment of extreme pain, it was gone again. Lily sank down to hearth with her head on the stone. She watched Calcifer disappear leaving a vibrant fire, until her eyes clouded over with sleep.

    🌸