A Devil's Pact (Celestial #1.1, Complete)

The Day After the Night Before

My eyes opened and I shot up from my bed with a powerful gasp of air. The sheets tugged uncomfortably around my body, they had obviously wrapped themselves around me as I tossed and turned in my dream last night.

What a dream it had been as well, or perhaps nightmare was more appropriate? They were hardly new to me; it was a miracle if I ever slept without seeing the same fiery scenes flash before my eyes. Even so this dream had been a strange one, unlike anything I had felt before. It wasn't the same as the nightmare where I was remembering actual events, nor did it feel like the dreams I could remember from before those very same nightmares had started.

It had felt unusually real.

I knew it couldn't possibly have been real however. I had checked my body over as soon as I had woken and even with the healing flames I would have normally expected to see a scar on my chest from the wound the night before. It would disappear relatively quickly as the flames healed me more thoroughly, but their should've been some evidence this soon after taking an injury like that.

Oh yes, the healing flames were real. I know I hadn't dreamt them. I had discovered that particular power when, aged just twelve I had been reborn in the flames of that night. Although the flames were great at healing even serious injuries, they seemed to leave scars, almost consciously on certain occasions. Reminders perhaps, from whoever had granted me this power that I wasn't invincible, as much as I liked to believe I was.

Still a deal with the devil! That was how I really knew it was all a dream. It had taken me a long time to get over the fact that I existed with magical healing powers, but even for an impossible boy like me, the thought of angels and devils was preposterous. I had never really believed in the bible, or any sort of deity for that matter. It all seemed so silly to me.

Although I suppose I could certainly be persuaded to believe if all the devils looked like the crimson haired goddess in my dreams. She would be enough to make a believer of just about anyone.

My body ached as I finally threw the covers off me and attempted to make a start of the day. I was more than relieved to find a four-fifths empty bottle of tequila standing proudly on my bedside table, glistening as the mid-morning sun shone through its transparent liquid contents. I took a quick swig to swish around my mouth before shuffling over to my small bathroom and turning on the shower. I always had it set at the lowest possible temperature, if only to feel something other than the warmth of the fire inside me.

From outside my room I could hear the loud talking and screaming of my dorm mates in the communal area. Even with my healing powers my head was still pounding with the amount I had obviously drunk last night. That was an achievement in itself. Still I could hear them practically shouting through my door, and I wasn't about to let that continue. I ripped open my door, dressed only in my jeans and still soaked from the shower I had only just left.

"Guys I have an absolute banging headache, can you please just-" I trailed off as the realised the four people currently in the communal area had turned to stare at me. That I had expected, what I hadn't expected was for them to all be sitting at the opposite end of the room, quietly hunched over the small screen of a phone. Although I could see it wasn't playing very loud at all, it was somehow still ringing clear as day in my ears.

Well this was new.

They looked shocked at me, one looked as if he wanted to bite back at my seemingly unprovoked action, but he wasn't the one who spoke. Instead it was the sandy haired blonde in the middle, whose name if I remembered correctly was Marcus. I really would have to learn their names if I intended to live with them for nearly a year.

"Eh, yeah sorry man. Heavy night last night?" he asked with a slight chuckle. "Where did you get off too anyways? We must have lost you about midnight."

All I remember of last night is the dream. It was around midnight when I had been going back to Stacy's dorm, which if I remembered correctly had been located near the cathedral in the centre of town. Of course, that was all a dream... but it was all I could remember.

"When I remember you'll be the first to know." A rumble emerged from my stomach at that very moment, and I decided to make my way over to the small kitchen that would serve the seven of us for the next year. There was a simple oven and microwave, 4 electric hobs and a sink among other appliances. All pretty standard of your average student houses. 

There were five things I truly loved in this world, tequila, sleep, girls, football and bacon. Right now it was number five that was closest to me, as someone in the place had thankfully had the bright idea of stocking up the small fridge before heading out for the first night of freshers. Inside the fridge there was a glorious unopened pack of eight rashes of bacon.

"Hey Marcus, do you know who's bacon this is?" I asked, not that it mattered much, I was going to have it anyway but it never hurt to check.

"Yeah Matt put it in there yesterday. He said we could help ourselves as long as there's some left. That's the last pack though."

"Excellent."

I took the bacon out of the fridge and placed three rashes into a pan, which I left sizzling as I poured myself a lukewarm cup of hot water from the 'boiled-a-while-ago' kettle to make tea. It was then I noticed something was off about the room... it seemed smaller.

There were boxes, three or four of them all quite large stacked in one corner of the room.

"What's with the boxes?" I asked.

"What?"

"The boxes. Where'd they come from?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Marcus in surprise, as he seemed to remember something quite important. "Right. Yes." He stuttered, "erm... we have a new roommate, showed up about half-six this morning! Dunno why he arrived so late, he disappeared straight into his room as soon as I let him in, the uni haven't got a key for him yet you see. Actually, I haven't seen him since-"

What's that saying? Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

At that exact moment to door to room seventeen, the previously unoccupied room in our little cluster, swung open to reveal a boy with dark black hair, the tips of which had a dark crimson hue, much like the crimson haired girl from my dreams. That wasn't what really set me off though. No it was the goose bumps that had erupted all along my neck and arms. There was an urge to fight this boy in my head, a small voice screaming to be heard. I couldn't shake the feeling I knew him. Then it hit me.

He had been there too.

In my dream.

And although I know it isn't possible, I could have sworn he knew it too from the way he was staring at me.