"So do we have a deal?"
Ashley didn't answer right away. She had hoped more than anything that this would work, but now that it had she was having a difficult time accepting the cost of the offer.
"You don't have to agree, of course, but I am busy. If this you're turning down the offer then I will be on my way."
She suddenly looked up from her shoes and to him. "Wait. Don't go. I... I accept."
"Wonderful, then let us get started."
"I thought everything was already in place, what else is there to do?"
"Oh, sweet Ashley, you may have managed to call me to this place and we have reached a bargain, but if you want what you just sold your soul for then there is still much left to do."
It wasn't the first time tonight that Ashley felt nervous. The entire idea seemed like it might have been doomed from the start, but after every step, it seemed like she had already invested too much to stop there. Over a year of research, stealing the needed components slowly over the last three months to not raise suspicions. She had given what little bit of a social life she had to dive deeper into the lore, finding out exactly what she had to do and what she would have to give up for what she desired. Even with the research dropping her somewhat average grades down another letter and slowly losing the few friends she had, Ashley was hesitate to go through the last step. Fear held her back, but she had given up too much not to at least try. She still didn't fully believe that it would work, summoning a demon was hardly a realistic goal, but it had somehow worked.
Ashley had spent the last few weeks cleaning out one of the storage rooms in the science building on campus. There were a dozen or so of them in the basement and given that the one she had settled on had been housing decade-old textbooks it seemed a safe bet that it wasn't being used regularly. She had emptied the space out and began drawing the necessary seals. And tonight she had finally finished them. With the campus all but empty on a Sunday she had decided that tonight was the best time to do it, less risk of her somehow being caught. As prepared as she would ever be she ignited the seals with a candle, burning them away and leaving blackened markings in their wake. Ashley had no idea what to expect. She was left standing in the poorly lit storage room, humiliation slowly building in her. She had wasted a year on this, a foolish idea that she had taken too far. She had lost what little bit of a lift she had and was now left with nothing. She was about to begin cleaning up the mess she had made, the last thing she needed was a janitor finding it when she heard a voice.
There was someone else in the room, they had appeared silently, the door was still closed. "And what bargain are you looking for?"
Ashley turned around frantically, spotting the figure. Her heart nearly stopped. She couldn't make out all of its features, the shadows in the room hid it too well. It was tall, perhaps six foot six, it looked mostly human. She couldn't see much more than the upper half of its silhouette, the main reason was that its skin was black, not brown, but a full deep black that blended in with the shadows behind it. A pair of white horns rose from its head, curling back and running alongside its scalp. Grey medium length hair was swept back and its eyes were a bright, very human blue. While it was tall it seemed to be of a more slender athletic build and from all features, she could make out it seemed masculine.
"At a loss of words?" He said, his voice was fairly light at the moment, slightly amused if a bit impatient. He looked around the room, "Hardly the most pleasant place to be called, but I can see the need for the privacy." From behind him, Ashley could see what could only be a tail moving side to side. He didn't step forward but his eyes moved along the seals she had drawn. "You have a steady hand, I rarely see this amount of precision for a first timer, which given you state I assume you are." His eyes moved back up to her, "What may I help you with, my dear? I can only assume you have a bargain you wish to make, given the research, you must have down to arrange this meeting."
She was slow to find her tongue, her disbelief in the current situation slowly fading, "I... want power."
He smiled, showing a very human set of teeth, if on the sharp side, "Of course, but you'll have to be more specific. I can offer many boons, what is it you desire?"
There had never been a moment in her life that Ashley hadn't been second best. She was pretty, but only just. Not ugly enough to be scorned by classmates, but not enough to ever be pursued. She was five four, with somewhat lackluster blonde hair. Even with working out and carefully watching her diet she had never reached a figure she had been happy with. Her coursework never excelled, even when she put in the extra effort she could barely manage above a B. Her social life was lacking as much as any facet of her life, a few acquaintances she had been forced to get to know from group projects. An older sister that had always done better than her didn't help. Katy had gotten a full ride, graduated at the top of her class, and was already engaged, all achievements that Ashley was woefully short of completely herself.
More confident now she looked up at him, "I want to be better, I want to succeed at anything I attempt, I want to be beautiful, I want to be everything that I'm not now."
He nodded along with each demand. "I see. I think we can make a bargain then. My name is Uandan and what is yours, my dear? There are rules that have to be followed after all. You are versed in some of our rules are you not?"
She was, in all the reading she had done she had learned a lot about how demons operated. From the strict hierarchy, they obeyed to how they couldn't lie while making a deal. "My name is Ashley Doorn."
Uandan grinned at her, "Then Ashley, you know what the cost of this deal will be?"
