Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
I pressed my trembling lips tightly together, staring at him with hard eyes. Even so... I was beginning to believe him.
“My only interest in the sub bond is that it will alert me when you’re in pain or feeling extreme fear,” he went on. “Yes, it will do so in the form of pleasure, but at least it’s more reliable than hoping the next group of attackers is also too stupid to take your phone from you before jumping you.”
I flinched. I knew very well the outcome would’ve been different if I’d broken my phone on Kazuya’s head and been left with no way to call Ronin. No one was coming to save me, and there was no way out.
I squeezed my eyes shut, fists balling. Why pretend like I have options right now, when I really don’t.
“A contract,” I blurted.
“Excuse me?”
“I want a contract,” I said louder, quickly seizing on the idea. “Like the one Lucifer offers. One that lays out the terms of this sub bond thing. You promise to never use it against me or to force me, and in exchange, when I get my hands on this all-powerful hallow magic, you’ll get first crack at it before I hand it over to Lucifer.” As the words tumbled out, I nodded to myself—feeling more assured by the second.
“There’s got to be something you want that not even your face can get you. If the power of the All Hallows is really as amazing as Lucifer thinks it is, then granting your wish will be my payment for protecting me and my sister until the end of all this.”
I held out my hand. “Deal?”
Ronin shook. “Deal.”
Just like that, the knot in my chest loosened as Ronin snapped the contract into existence. As promised, the terms were straightforward—he protected me and Dora from all threats demonic, vampiric, fae, and all the others in between, and in exchange, I’d use the power of the All Hallows to grant his wish. The terms also stated that I could end the bond whenever I wanted.
That done, we signed in blood—his inky black and mine ruby red—and then he pressed our bleeding fingers together as he chanted the spell for the sub bond.
I hissed, pain rippling through my thumb and traveling down my arm. “Ahh!”
Agony blossomed in my shoulder. Snapping down, my eyes widened as a black mark wiggled and grew on my skin—slowly and painfully becoming a rune-like tattoo.
“My true name,” Ronin said, “and here...” He shifted, letting me see the mark that had taken up space on the same place on his body. “Yours.”
“I... can’t read it,” I confessed, squinting at the squiggly marks making up the second-worst tattoo I’d seen in the last thirty seconds. “Does it say Charlotte Hunter?”
“No, it says She Who Sets The World Ablaze To Light Her Way.”
“Uh...” I blinked, genuinely stunned. “That’s my true name? My goodness, who the heck named me that?”
He laughed. “No one gave you that name. It’s simply the name written on the strings of destiny that guide your fate. We all have a true name, although most of us don’t discover what it is until it’s too late.”
I glanced down at my new tattoo. It still smarted something fierce, but the pain was starting to ease up. “What’s your true name?”
Ronin smiled. “Belphegor, The Devourer.”
“Oh. I—”
“And now it is done,” Ronin said, turning away—contract in hand. “From this moment on, you are bonded to me in mind, body, and soul, Charlotte Hunter, which means I can finally do—”
Ronin dropped the contract and snapped his fingers. It caught fire in a furious burst of heat that ripped a scream from my lips. It was ash before it crumbled to the floor.
“—this.”
“What the hell are you doing!?”
Ronin laughed. Loud, raucous guffaws that made something in my soul shrink and hide. “What does it look like I’m doing?” Throwing himself back, Ronin plopped on his armchair, propping his worthless chiseled chin on his loathsome fist. “The contract wasn’t worth the parchment it was written on. Who knows why you thought a piece of paper could bind a demon’s hands the way it does a fallen angel, but that little pantomime got you to agree to the bond, so...” His ruby eyes glittered. “I gave you the show.”
“But... but...” I backed away, hands shaking. “But—”
“But, but, but,” he mocked, fake pouting at me. “Aww, you look so confused. It’s quite adorable. You mortals wear all of your emotions on your face, it’s astounding—and just a little bit sexy.”
I almost threw up in my mouth when he winked at me. “But we have a deal!” I screamed, finally finding the words. “You said— You promised—!”
“I promised what? That I’d be your devoted lackey and bodyguard for the indeterminate amount of time it takes for you to find a power that doesn’t exist and grant my wishes like a fairy?” Ronin laughed. “Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but I have no unfilled wishes. All that I want is mine, and now...” His eyes darkened. “So are you.”