He shut the door behind him, and then he was gone.

The only acknowledgement she gave to his exit was an emotionless stare. Months ago, she may have been angry, insulted even.

Weeks ago, she might have curled into a ball and wept until exhaustion overcame her frail body.

But not anymore.

There was no-one to help her, to free her from this fate worse than death. She had no control over her life, and eventually she just faded into the background. Emotions did nothing to help her, it was less painful without them, easier to be empty than insane, for she would have surely gone mad by now had she not rid herself of those pesky feelings.

She made an effort to be compliant, if she were to displease him, her body would suffer for it, and it took time to heal. He was impatient, the torment would be worse if he was not kept happy, so meek and complacent was the only way for her to survive. There was no way out, there was nothing in the room that could be used as an instrument to end her pitiful existence, if she refused to eat, the doctor would stick a tube into her stomach and force her to absorb nourishment, which was followed by painful punishment. So, in order to preserve her sanity, she had reverted to a human's most basic instinct, that of self-preservation.

This night, she sat up, rubbing her arms to ease the pain of the dark bruises appearing on her pale skin, got up and wrapped the latest silk gown about her small form, it only came down to mid-thigh, but it was some coverage at least. She was tired, and he had retired for the night, she could still sleep.

…

When she next awoke, the sky was still dark, although the tell-tale atmosphere of a crisp morning was beginning to materialise. Soon enough, the maids would be bringing her the outfit for the day, which would be in accordance with what had taken his fancy this particular morning. The maids envied her, "Though…", she mused aloud, "…they must not know the details…", and a brief longing to escape this imprisonment worked its way into her treacherous thoughts.

"Interesting" a voice broke the silence.

Instantly, she was sitting upright in bed and looking about for the origin of the mysterious voice. The darkness revealed nothing, and tentatively, she spoke, "…Who's there?". The voice, nothing more than a low, hissing sound, chuckled, then,

"a demon".

Her eyes widened in shock, and she clutched the covers closer around her fearfully, "…a…demon…?", she repeated, more to herself than to the voice. The voice replied all the same, "That's right, a demon".

Her next words were more confident than before, "Have you come for me? Is it my time?", her eyes shone in the semi-darkness with un-shed tears. She should be happy, she thought, if a demon had come to take her soul to the Afterlife, she guessed that someone as tainted as she would not be allowed to pass through the gates of Heaven, for fear of poisoning those pure souls who had reached salvation.

Quite suddenly, the dams broke, and tears were cascading down her cheeks. Surely death would be a welcome alternative to the fate that awaited her here, a gift even, to finally and be at peace. Yet, she did not want to die, it didn't feel right, as though there was something she needed to do before leaving this world forever. The rush of emotions was too much to bear, after having hidden in the darkest corners of her heart for the longest time.

When the voice spoke next, it was accompanied by a dark, heavy presence that seemed to fill the room, clogging the air, "Do not confuse me with a Death God, human, I was summoned here". Her silent tears stopped, "Did He send you to me? For punishment?", she whispered shakily, it seemed he had found yet another way to make her life even worse, the twisted, sadistic bastard!

The sudden flash of anger surprised her, and she barely recognised the feeling.

The voice spoke again, "No, it was your soul that brought me here", the girl frowned, "but how…?", the voice replied without hesitation this time, "I was browsing the local area as I could sense a large amount of unhappiness radiating from this mansion, when there was a particularly strong wave of despair coming from this room, so naturally I went to investigate, and what should I discover? A little girl, so complicated and contradictory. You want to die, yet you desire to live, you have lost all hope, yet you long for a future. As you can imagine, such a delightful fragrance only fueled my interest in such a delectable soul.".

She could only stare in the direction of the voice in shock, unable to absorb to huge tsunami of information that the demon has bestowed upon her. They both remained silent for a long while, the sun was already peeking over the horizon by the time wither of them spoke again.

"Make a contract with me, little one who is so deliciously torn against herself. I will lend my powers to you in order to fulfill that complicated heart's desire…". At this, the girl looked up sceptically, narrowing her eyes, the demon continued, "…in exchange for that exquisite soul of yours". As the demon finished speaking, she was surrounded in complete darkness, bound from head to toe by some kind of enormous creature, she could feel it's smooth, cool texture against her bare legs, and the only thing she could see was a pair of bright green eyes with slits for pupils, bulging from their sockets. She could feel the creature squirming from excitement and anticipation.

"So, if I give you my soul, you will help me to achieve a goal", the eyes seemed to bulge even more from this statement, "Bien sûr", they said, and for the first time, the girl was able to distinguish the demon's voice from something other than a low hiss. It was feminine, with an entrancing low pitch, the French words were pronounced like silk, and the girl felt a pleasant shiver spread through her body when she heard it.

Finally, the girl whispered, "Yes…".