Whatever I woke up on was soft which... didn't feel at all like a bus bench at all. Did I dream all that crazy shit like leaving home and-
"Keep pretending to sleep and you'll regret it," a familiar voice said.
Fuck! It was real!
I opened my eyes and saw the strange man without his hat on. His hair was a mess of shaggy black strands that fell across his forehead, framing a face that was almost too handsome to be real. High cheekbones, a sharp jawline, and lips that were curved in a permanent, knowing smirk. But it was his eyes that held me captive, a startling, unnatural red that seemed to glow from within, like embers in a dying fire. One finger traced the line of my jaw, slowly and gently, tilting my chin to the side so I had no choice but to meet those piercing red eyes. I began to tremble a bit.
The shock of actually being kidnapped was... strange.
What the fuck was going on?
"Hello again, little one," he murmured. "Don't be afraid." His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth, almost tender. "I'll take very good care of you from now on. You'll want for nothing and everything you want to change will," The smile he gave me was way too psycho. I felt like this was going to be a lot more dangerous than I originally thought. "And even that, with time, you may stop wanting."
He leaned down until his lips nearly grazed my cheek.
"You belong to me now," he whispered. It made my stomach twist. "My perfect, trembling pet. I'm going to enjoy breaking you in."
I don't like how that sounds at all.
"Such delicate features. Soft skin. And that pulse." His thumb brushed over the vein in my throat, lingering where my heart was hammering wildly. "It races for me already."
That's fear!
Is he stupid?!
I swallowed hard and tried to pull away but his grip tightened just enough to hold me in place. Not painful, but a reminder that I shouldn't try anything retaliatory. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes before I could stop them.
He released my chin slowly. His hand lingered near my throat for a second longer before falling away. I exhaled shakily, letting loose some of my panic. His gaze never wavered. It roamed over me again, slower this time, as though he were memorizing every inch.
I've never been so happy to have clothes on.
"Beautiful," he said. Why was he acting like we were in some soap opera? Just kill me or don't! "Do you have any idea how many demons at the bus stop last night would have killed to claim you? And just how many would have torn each other apart just for the chance to see you trembling in front of them the way you are for me now?"
"Huh?" I didn't want to hear this. I especially didn't want to imagine the alternatives for how last night could've ended.
But he kept speaking, "Astaroth. He would have kept you in chains. Displayed for his friends. Just another pretty thing in his endless collection of fragile, living dolls. He would have watched you waste away, too precious to ruin, too coveted to release." The man's smile sharpened. "He would have let you keep your pride for a while. Let you believe you still had some small control of yourself. Then he would have taken even that. Slowly. Until nothing remained but a broken shell of who you once were."
I felt the blood drain from my cheeks. The image he painted was already shitty, but he wasn't finished.
"And when he was finally tired of showing you off, he would have used you for breeding. Nothing more. Your body would have carried spawn after spawn until it broke or until he found a newer, fresher human model to replace you." He paused, letting the words sink in. "He would have stripped every last scrap of your humanity and left only the womb. You would have been nothing but livestock, you know."
I pressed a hand to my mouth to keep from getting sick.
"My father-"
"You mean the same one who approved the sale?" The stranger asked.
Excuse me?
"Yeah, your dad sold you to the demon world for untold wealth. Thanks to that, you've become the luckiest creature in all the Devildom," he whispered, leaning so close his lips nearly grazed my temple. "Because I do not share, and I do not discard." His hand slid to the back of my neck. "I keep. Forever."
My dad... my dad is negligent among other things but one thing I know for sure is that he does love me. I couldn't believe for a second that he'd sell me out for a bit of money.
He already got so much after mom died!
"There's no way that's true," I said trying to convince myself more than anything. After last night I fear what's actually happening to me. He pulled out a glass sphere, small enough to hold in one hand in response. "What's that? No tricks!"
"I don't do tricks. I'm just giving you some perspective on what's really been going on." He sighed handing it to me. "Why don't you go ahead and take a look for yourself on whether I'm lying to you or not."
Do I even want to see what this is going to show. And even if this thing does show me something... why?
Since when the fuck were magic items real? Why are demons suddenly real? Why did my father sell me to these so called people if that's even true? Would they have even known that demons were dangerous?
Why did nothing feel magic at all?
Don't I at least get a few minutes to digest this?h
"Stop stalling and look already," he snapped me.
Against every rational fiber of my being I looked right into the glass sphere.
The room around me dissolved.