Paying the Price (RP)

Emma assumed Persephone was about to tell her how she got into escorting, and at first, everything seemed to align with the narrative she imagined: her partner, lover, and friend fleeing with all the money, then going back to the investor, signing over ‘everything’ for another chance at success.

She didn’t flinch when Pers said she ‘sold her soul to the devil’. At first, she thought it was just a metaphor. But when she insisted it was all real, Emma blinked and frowned.

The story was getting stranger and stranger by the second. What the hell was going on???

Pers sounded sincere, but the words didn’t make any sense. How could she have signed herself over to a devil? Was she having a psychotic break over everything that happened? Was she off her meds? Using drugs? The idea that she actually did sell her soul was worse than any of the more plausible options.

She didn’t rule out the possibility of demons existing. After all, she knew vampires were real, and Bev had mentioned a ‘demon hunter’ friend. But she was desperately hoping that Persephone was totally off her rocker rather than making a conscious choice to sell her soul.

Whatever the case, this was bad. Real bad. She wasn’t equipped to help her one way or the other.

She hesitated, struggling to figure out what to say. "Pers… this is horrible." She put her coffee down on the table and reached out to take her hands. She wanted to tell her everything would be okay, that they’d figure this out somehow, but she couldn’t. There was no comforting way to say everything will be okay when Pers was talking about selling her soul to a demon and spending the rest of eternity in hell. This wasn’t something she could fix with reassuring words and a tub of ice cream.

She shifted, trying to think through it. Maybe this wasn’t just a spiritual crisis. Maybe Persephone was suffering from something medical. That’s what Emma wanted to hope for at this point.

"Look, I don’t even know what to say to all of this" Her tone softened, and she rubbed her thumb over Persephone’s hand. "I think you need some rest. It’ll be good for you, at least to clear your head. Maybe things will make more sense after you get some sleep. Take a break. Take care of yourself."

She paused before continuing, unsure of how to broach the next part, but knowing she had to say it "And maybe… maybe you need to talk to a professional. A doctor? Or, a priest?" A doctor could help rule out the possibility that she is hallucinating it all, or help her if she was. And, if she really believed she made a contract with a demon, maybe a priest could guide her, help her repent, or whatever they do. Maybe that would be enough to set her mind at ease...

Persephone laughed bitterly. "Ha! You think I’m insane. Well, I guess I don’t blame you. I didn’t truly believe it either, not until I saw it for myself. Ok. I guess I’ll just… show you."

She sighed heavily and stood. She stepped around the coffee table and took up a position across from Emma. She looked at Emma and said, "I’m going to show you what I have become. But please, I promise I won’t hurt you, ok? You’re safe."

She called on the fell power within, imbued within by her infernal pact.

Persephone closed her eyes and, for a moment, nothing happened. No, that’s not right; something happened, but it was subtle. There was a sound, an energy, like an old CRT TV turning on, and a sudden change in air pressure in the room.

Persephone opened her eyes and they were oily black. Smoke began to flow up and out of them, forming a halo around her head. Her skin grew pale, translucent, and her bones began to shift visibly under her skin, twisting into unnatural shapes — jagged, spiky shapes — shapes for rending flesh. Her shirt tore from the jagged bones and gray, fibrous wings sprouted from her back. They resembled giant moth wings, but with wisps of smoke coming off them.

She held her arms out to her sides and spoke. Her voice sounded unnatural, an octave lower, and like there were three of her speaking at once. She said, "This is my true form, Emma. I’m… I’ve become… a monster."

And then she put her arms down and the transformation reversed. But this time, a vortex of smoke whirled around her and dissipated, leaving only Persephone, the human Persephone. Now her clothes were torn, however. And strangely, she looked revitalized. The circles beneath her eyes were gone. The color had returned to her face. She looked fresh and new.

Emma’s breath caught in her throat as she watched Persephone’s transformation unfold before her eyes. Part of her wanted to recoil, or flee, but a far stronger part of her was captivated by awe. She had seen things that defied logic before. She invited a vampire to bite her. She has seen Benji effortlessly lift a slab of stone that weighed several metric tons. But this… this was different. Something from beyond.

Persephone wasn’t just a person anymore. She was a monster. Translucent skin, stretched tight across jagged, deformed bones. Empty voids for eyes with smoke pouring from them. Massive smoky wings unfurling form her back, and voices that sounded like thunderous chorus.

Despite the surreal, terrifying spectacle before her, she couldn’t help but feel drawn in by it. It was beautiful, in a way. A primal presence greater than her own understanding. Terrifying, and magnificent, like looking into the heart of some cosmic force. She felt so small and insignificant, and for a brief moment, understood what it was to gaze upon something beyond humanity – not just in power, but in meaning.

When the transformation reversed and the smoky wings dissolved, Perspone looked more alive than ever, as if she transcended human vitality. She looked so much more vibrant, with the weariness gone from her face.

Emma was still reeling as she looked at her, struggling to process everything she had just witnessed.

What the hell did this all mean?

Demons.
The Devil.
The creation of the world.
Hell.
God...

Was Persephone now a damned soul, or a demon in the making? Could she be saved, or was her fate to be bound for eternity in hell. She couldn’t make sense of it. Didn’t even know where to begin.

She sighed as she pushed the braided lock of hair behind her shoulder and slowly sank back down onto the couch.
"I swear, I’m like some kind of weirdness magnet" she muttered under her breath. Her voice was quiet, almost a little breathless. "This is a lot to take in."

She paused as she tried to get her thoughts in order, deciding to focus on the practical. She couldn’t comfort Persephone with empty reassurances. She couldn’t pretend she was fine with any of it. With what Pers has done to herself, and to others. But maybe… maybe there was something to be done.

"The contract you signed… I mean, you don’t seem particularly happy, right? Are you sure there’s no exit clause? No terms or conditions that could, maybe, let you out of this? How does this whole thing even work?"

Persephone's mouth dropped open an her head tilted to one side. "You're a weirness magnet?? That's all? Huh. I guess I expected you to freak out or something."

She collapsed back onto the sofa across from Emma, looking and feeling more comfortable, energetic, and at ease that she had in weeks. She'd been avoiding taking on the demonic form; it was evil, after all, and good for nothing but death. Or so she had thought. Apparently it could also cure hangovers and sleep deprivation! It felt pretty great, actually. Persephone was equal parts excited and afraid.

She nodded as Emma asked about the contract and replied, "It's irrevocable. In principle my patron can offer me my freedom in exchange for something I might give them, or do for them. But here's the thing; everything it wants, everything it has me do, is evil. I... Emma, I had to kill a man two nights ago! I mean, I was supposed to, but I ended up just convincing him to OD. And he did! I might not have done the deed directy, but he is dead because of me."

Persephone's eyes began to well up with tears, but she shook her head in self-disgust and stopped them. She continued speaking, in a level tone.

"Every time I do something my patron wants, I lose a little of myself. If I ever do pay off my debt to my patron, I don't know if there will be any of me left...So I'm not sure waht to do."

For a moment she looked forlorn, despairing. Then a grim determination set in and she grit her teeth and frowned. She spoke again, but this time there was anger and conviction in her voice.

"No. That's not true. There is something I can do. I might be damned, but I can still use these powers to help poeple, too. There's no rule that says I can't. And first and foremost, I can help others who might be trapped by demonic power and influence. Like your friend Kat. She is a kept woman, and whoever keeps her is a demon. I'm sure of it. Now, your other friend, Sarah, I'm less sure of, but I suspect it may be something similar. Emma, I want to help them. To use my power, and influcence, to help free them."

"Yeah, I’m dealing with all sorts of craziness lately." Emma’s tone was surprisingly calm, more than it had any right to be given what she had just witnessed. But she chose not to elaborate. She didn't want to make the conversation about her.

Her eyes did narrow when Persephone spoke about the consequences of her deal, unable to hide a hint of disappointment. Persephone had sold her soul—she could understand the desperation, and that she regretted her choice. But dragging other people into it?? That crossed a line. It wasn’t just about being a victim anymore. It was no longer a 'mistake' - she was making a conscious choice to delay her reckoning at the expense of other people's immortal souls. Something in her was annoyed with seeing her crying for herself, knowing what she was choosing to do was basically worse than murder.

She pushed those feelings aside. Emma was good at compartmentalizing inconvenient truths, especially when she couldn’t do anything about them.

"Demons exist, right? Does that mean Jesus does too? What else is out there?" she didn't expect Pers to answer, but to give her some food for thought "Maybe there is another way to break this contract. But your patron probably hasn’t told you about it because—why would he? It benefits him to keep you bound to him. There has to be more to it, and we need to find someone who knows about this kind of stuff, because honestly, I don’t think we have the full picture here."


She stiffened when Pers mentioned Kat. Part of her didn’t want to believe her new friend could ALSO be involved with demons (what were the odds?) But she couldn’t ignore what Persephone was saying: "I can tell you who Kat is associating with, but be careful. You can’t just waltz in and confront him. He’s a very powerful man."

It was surprising just how much information Pers was able to glean in that short interaction with Kat and Sarah. Maybe someone with Pers demonic nature had a supernatural sense about these things.

"And about Sarah…" she sighed softly "I was just about to head to her apartment to try to get some answers myself. I’ve got a roommate I need to talk to too." She decided to let Persephone in on a bit of what she knew. There was no harm in it, really. "Sarah’s been fed on by a vampire. Multiple times. That’s why I took her in. To protect her. But I’m worried that whoever sees her as his property might come back to ‘reclaim’ her."

Persephone shrugged at Emma’s theological questions. "I dunno? I mean, yeah, they’re demons, but they don’t seem especially Biblical or anything. I assume angels exist to counterbalance the demons but, maybe not? Who said the universe had to be balanced?"

She shook her head in doubt at the topic of breaking the contract. "Maybe?? Sure don’t know about it. I guess we could do research? I don’t even know where to begin with that…"

When Kat and Sarah came up, Pers replied, "yeah of course he’s powerful. He’s either a demon or a senior henchman to be putting off that much infernal stink. But yeah, I’ll be careful."

After that, all she could says is, "Wait WHAT? Or you telling me vampires are REAL? Ohmigod… heeeyyy wait a minute! Was your book… like, a field report???"

"Gosh, my first book?" She put an emphasis on the word 'first', since her next novel was indeed very much a personal journal chronicling her life. "No... I got so many things wrong back then. I didn’t know the first thing about vampires." She let out a soft sigh "But when I started researching for my new novel, someone reached out. He claimed to be a real-life vampire, and proposed an exclusive interview." She paused, her fingers idly brushing her hair. She could have told her about her meeting with the vampire lord. How she carefully designed tomake herself irresistible to him. How she allowed him to feed from her. His growing obsession. But what did it matter now? She didn’t want to dwell on these details right now, and besides; Eliot was gone, and it didn’t look like he was ever coming back.

"So here I am," she brought herself back to the moment "I’ve gotten a lot better at spotting them in a crowd since then. And their victims..." She made a reference to Sarah, without speaking her name.

She looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the pouring rain. The dull gray sky, obscuring the light of the sun for so many days now. She drifted for a moment before turning her eyes back at Pers.

"There is so much more going on, but I haven’t had time to look into them yet. Everything’s moving so fast." She gave a small shrug, like the chaos was just another part of her life she was getting used to.

"But I know a few people. I can ask around if you want. There’s definitely someone out there who knows more than what you are being told"

Persephone raised her hand in disbelief and asked, "Wait a minute. You got contacted by an elder vampire... for an interview? Wasn't that... from that book? By the romance author? What was her name..." She waved it off and focused on the topic at hand.

She again raised her hands up next to her face in confusion and exclaimed, "Wait, what‽ You 'know people' who might be able to help me with my demon problem?! You know vampires?? Emma! What is happening with you?"

She shook her head in disbelief and then looked at Emma and said, "How did we get involved in all this?!" She sighed. "I miss when we could just go shopping together and talk about our crushes and that big Brit Lit essay we were working on... I miss our friendship. How can we find our way back to that, with ... all this in our lives now?"

She looked sad and added, "And Emma, I'm sorry. I've... I've been selfish, and stupid, and I should have reached out a long time ago. And I should have told you. And... Well, I'm sorry." She reached out a hand to squeeze Emma's.

"Anne Rice?" Emma stifled a smile. Obviously, she knew the author. She read all her books; not only the famous ‘Interview with a Vampire’ from the Vampire Chronicles, but the other book series as well, including the ones which were mostly smut. "Her books are obviously all fictional. Real vampires aren’t suave 19th-century gentlemen seducing innocent maidens. They’re predators. Like sharks. Or snakes"

She said it with a casual shrug, as though discussing the nature of supernatural predators was just another day in her life. Unlike Persephone, Emma embraced the supernatural world with an almost giddy fascination, reveling in the strangeness of it all. She wasn’t bound to hell, after all, so she wasn’t overwhelmed by doom and gloom like her friend.

"Are you kidding me?" her lips curled into a smile when Pers reminisced about the old times "We have much more interesting stuff to gossip about now!! And you should see the red dress I got for the recent gala. Even vampires could feel their blood running hot in their icy veins looking at me!"

She instinctively hesitated for just a split second when Pers reached to grasp her hand. Pers was a monster, and something primal inside her recoiled at her touch. But once she overcame the sensation, she pushed the thought out of her mind and folded her other hand over Persephone's, trying to reassure her: "Hey, don’t worry about it. You weren’t in London anyways until recently, right?"