Deal With The Devil

Yawning I sat up and stretched my arms trying to get out all the kinks out that had formed during the night. During this process I looked around and quickly remembered where I was. How could I forget. The bedroom looked no different as usual. I pushed the bed covers back and stood up preparing for the day.

 

After going through the boring ritual of getting ready I sat on my bed and pulled out my copy that I stole from the library of pride and prejudice. I flicked through the pages deciding if I would read it or not. Apparently not. My mind was abuzz with all the information I had crammed into it over the past two weeks or so, really I had lost count of how long I had been here.

 

Sighing I got up trying to think of something to do. Someone pounded on my door just as I thought of what to do. To my surprise when I opened the door it was William.

"I was just about to look for you, I was wondering if we could start our lessons today seeing as I have noting to do"

He just stared at me in his usual silent, reserved way. Nodding he motioned for me to follow him. And I did.

 

William lead me out to an area that kind of looked like an old fashioned court yard. Looking at the floor as I walked I didn't notice when he stopped and bumped into his back, falling down on my a*s. Shocked I looked up at him and glared when I saw that his mouth was slightly pulling up at the sides in amusement.

 

Helping myself up I mumbled

"you know you could of helped me up" to that I just heard a low chuckle from him and wondered if this guy ever talked. Still angry I walked over to a stone bench that was on the side of the circular court yard.

"so what are we doing here?" I asked trying to get him to talk. Surprisingly it works.

"well you asked me to teach you to defend yourself and this is where we are doing it" I was happy that it wasn't cement but was grass that was hopefully soft. I was actually surprised that there was grass here seeing as it's Hell and all.

 

 As if reading my thoughts William said

"the grass here is special, it is for when we train so that we don't get to hurt from getting hit to the ground" he said it in a monotone voice as if he was bored with being here with me. Well I didn't drag him here and if I remember correctly he came to my room for the matter first anyway. Standing up I moved into the middle of the area and looked at William's muscular frame thinking how I would ever beat his bigger frame compared to my smaller one.

 

William looked at me and we stood there in silence until I got bored of it and asked him

"so how are we gonna start this? Are you gonna teach me some kick a*s ninja moves or what?" trying to be funny I taunted him and held my hands up in fists and moved my feet side to side like I had seen boxers do on television.  I failed. Apparently to William I wasn't funny at all and my feet chose that exact moment to get all clumsy and make me fall over.

 

Scowling and muttering profanities under my breath I stood up again and checked my but. Yep there were grass stains. Damn it. At that William burst out laughing. I was shocked because I had never heard him be so loud. He laughed so hard that he collapsed on the ground holding his stomach.

"geez it's not that funny" I growled at him getting more and more pissed of.

"yes… it...was...your...face...priceless" he gasped out between laughs. Angry I started to walk of but his laughter stopped so I turned around to see what he was doing. He still had a small grin but I could see that he was calm now.

"are you done now?" I asked like I was talking to a five year old who just threw a tantrum. He just nodded and stood strait again.

 

I just sighed and thought 'how could this get any worse?' I moved back to the middle and faced him with a bored look on my face.

"ok well first of all tell me everything you know about demons and this place. That way we can figure where we have to get started" I nodded at that and just thought of all the things I had found out in the past two weeks or more.

"well from what I've learnt there are demon's of all sorts and I have no idea what they do or that, there are obviously many souls, there are these freaky huge dogs and I may have got one of my own but I don’t know about that one, there are 6 kingdoms and then the area beyond that is no where and no ones, Lucifer is an evil b*****d and he can do some freaky mind thing and probably some other weird voodoo magiK stuff, with a capital K I think that’s about it anything I missed out?" I said to William.

 

He nodded and said

"you’ve got some of the basics but there's a whole lot more you've got to learn to so I will write a list of books that you should get from the library" I nodded and put hand on my hip and looked pointedly at him, waiting for him to continue. As usual I just got a nod. He started pacing back and forth in front of me in deep thought.

 

I didn’t have to wait long until he looked back up at me.

"ok well I'm assuming that you know absolutely no defence moves so ill start with the basics"  I scoffed at that. 'I know no defence moves?' Pfft that tells me how well he knows me. But I just played along and nodded my head. He nodded back and told me to stand in the same defence position he was in.

 

 I did just that and he talked me through all the basics that I already knew. What he didn’t know was that at home I was the champion black belt in my Karate class and had even gone in some street fights that I had won, lets just say I had a pretty good rep at home. Smirking I got into a more comfortable pose and waited for him to start.

 

He slowly advanced and went to grab onto my arm to immobilize me but expecting me to be slow he went slow and I caught him by surprise when instead of just standing there I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, turning him around I kicked out at his knees and brought him to the ground then I pushed my body on his so he couldn’t get up.

 

William was extremely surprised when I did that and you could see it on his face. I whispered into his ear

"I guess I should have mentioned that I'm not exactly a beginner in this" I chuckled when he growled and tried to get up. He was very strong and I was having a hard time keeping him down so I let go of his arm and stood up and cracked my fingers chuckling at the annoyed expression on his face.

 

"yes it would have been nice to point that out to me" he muttered to me rubbing at his hand absentmindedly. I just laughed at that and thought 'paybacks a b***h baby' I stood back in my pose and beckoned for him to come forward with my fingers. He just nodded and got back in his pose, more careful and aware of my every move. 'Well damn, I didn’t have the element of surprise anymore' I watched him and looked for any slight move to indicate what his next move might be.

 

He lurched forward and tried to swing his arm at me but I dodged it and flew a right hook at him but he dodged it to. We were in a dance now, when moving forward but the other moving back, constant, no one advancing, no one losing. We occasionally got in a few punches but they were always returned. I was starting to get tired but it seemed as if William had good endurance and would last longer than I was going to. Well duh he was some freaky king of part of hell, of course he was gonna have some freaky powers and be all strong and that.

 

I was starting to wear down quicker and he was getting in more punches. When he sent me a particularly good swing into my stomach. I bent over winded and sore.

"ok are we done here?" I asked wincing as I gently touched the bruise on my stomach. He nodded and stood up straight pushing the long black locks that fell out of his elastic during the fight. He walked over to me with no limp, no wince, no nothing. I was sure I had landed some hurtful blows, but maybe not.

 

He checked my arms and pushed my shirt to check my bruise and only winced when he saw it.

"well truthfully I am very surprised that you lasted as long as you did in a fight with me because not many mortals can hold there own ground like that. But be warned not all people or things in this place or any where else will be as merciful as I have been" he said in his grave way that only he could pull of without me laughing at him. I just nodded and scowled as he touched my bruises again.

"but you did good and all that will really be necessary will be for you to learn all the things that will be in the books that I will give you a list of and we will touch up on your fighting skills and make sure you have higher endurance and stamina" I nodded at his words, taking them all on.

 

I think this was the most he has said to me ever.

"and I will teach you how to use certain weapons that will help you kill and defend your self" he added. I froze at the word kill and looked at him shocked.

"Don’t be silly girly, you know as well as I do that there are plenty of things in hell that will kill you in a heartbeat and not take a second glance. So toughen up girly" I was shocked at his words. I mean sure I knew there was gonna be a fair few who wouldn’t hesitate in killing me but I thought that hardly anyone knew about me in the first place.

 

I just stood straight and turned to walk away but William grabbed my shoulder and I hissed when he touched a sore spot. He quickly let go and quietly apologised.

"yes?" I questioned as to why he had stopped me. He just looked at me and put his finger up as if telling me to wait then sped of to somewhere else and I really saw his real speed then. He looked like a blur and I could hardly distinguish his black hair from the rest of him.

 

He was back in a second with what looked like a sword sheath. The case was incrusted with gold that was in intricate designs with swirls of green on it. He gave me the sword and I took it hesitantly, weighing it in my hand I found that it was lighter then it looked. He nodded towards it and said

"keep this on you, I will teach you how to use it properly but for now I will just give you a basic lesson" I nodded at this thinking 'well I don’t know how to use this and it could be useful' so I unsheathed the sword and was amazed at the beauty of it.

 

The sword was a blinding silver with a decent length and very sharp by the looks of it, I wasn’t going to test it out. It had a two-hander hilt that had the same design as the sheath. The sword felt as if it fit in my hands, as if it was made to match my hands. So I handed it back to him.

 

"I cant accept such a great gift, thankyou but no" I said to him but he just shook his head and forced it into my hands

"no, trust me this sword is meant for you, look how well it fits in your hands" he nodded to wear my hands held the hilt of the sword. He was right, the sword fit my hands perfectly and was light enough so that I could pick it up with ease.

"still" I muttered "its not right for me to take it, who's is it anyway?" I asked. He looked at me incredulously as if he couldn’t believe I was refusing his offer.

"no one really knows who's it is exactly but just trust me on this that you need to take this. It will become clear as to why you have it, but for now just take it" he pleads to me. I realise his not going to let me refuse and grudgingly take the sword back but let a small smile escape my lips as I feel the sword in my hand again. It feels right.

 

He nods to me and turns around to grab a sword of his own. His sword's sheath was just silver with gold designs and swirls but his seems much more complicated and intricate, much more elegant, so much more like him. He took the sword out and held it up in the light so he could get a better look at it. The light gleamed of it and shone brightly. He put the sword at his side and headed over to me.

 

"I have decided that I will not give you a lesson today seeing as you are probably exhausted right now but there is a storage place not far of from here that has all sorts of fighting equipment and there are some sword dummies there that you can practice on" he pointed out a big shed that was not far of from the courtyard.

"we will practise on them another day when you are less busy, ok?" he said. I nodded and walked away. Looking behind me I saw that William was following me.

 

I was ok with him following me so I didn’t say anything at first. No one said anything but it wasn’t an awkward silence either.

"so why exactly are you following me?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. He chuckled and said

"well it seems that you attract trouble so I thought it would be safer for everyone if I escorted you to your room" I grimaced at that. Did I really cause that much trouble? Ah well, watcha gonna do. Walking up the big stair case I walked to the corridor where my room was.

"so I guess ill so you later" I turned around to see William in his quiet way as usual. He nodded and turned to leave but this time I was the one to stop him

"hey" I yelled out to him. He turned around and looked at me confused

"thanks for today" I grinned at him. He just nodded and walked away.

 

 I smiled and walked into my room heading strait for the shower. Once in a gently touched all my sore spots and thought 'damn, I'm gonna have to get used to this' relaxing in the shower I let all my troubles wash away for the moment with the water.

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think!

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good chapter. I like the detail in the story. Each conversation and situation with a purpose. No weakness in this chapter. A excellent chapter.
Coyote