Those two words were all she needed to convince herself to sign the contract. She didn't need the other trivial questions answered, she didn't need to know if he was innately good or bad. He would protect her, he would stand beside her. Nobody would be able to hurt her again.

"Bind me to you… So that I can keep my promise".

Avery's heart skipped as she gave him a small nod. A smile reappeared on Azrael's lips as he looked down at Avery, pleased that she had finally agreed.

Azrael reaches down to hook his fingers under the rim of his shirt, lifting the material up, revealing the inked skin of his hips.

"W-wait!" Avery stuttered, putting her hands out to shove the demon back, "What are you doing?". Quickly finding that her human strength could not move the demon standing before her, Avery quickly turned away from the boy who was about to strip before her eyes.

Azrael couldn't help but smirk at her outburst, his eyes watching her as he tugged the black shirt over his head, discarding it on the floor haphazardly. The sound of clothing hitting the floor sent a shiver through Avery. The demon stepped behind the blonde, leaning down to whisper against her ear, "The binding ritual... Did you forget?".

These words left goosebumps as Azrael's breath brushed against the exposed skin of her neck, lighting a fire within her that she hadn't ever felt before. A bright blush turning her cheeks rosy pink, "D-don't I just sign the contract?".

Azrael chuckles at this question, leaning away from the young girl and turning to walk towards her desk. "I thought that you had read that thing at least fifty times, did you not read the agreement clause?". His words echoed through the room as Avery drew a blank. She had been so careful to read each section and subsection so meticulously that she had just assumed that she would only need to sign the paperwork to make it official.

Avery turned to look at the demon who leant over her desk, opening the top drawer and rummaging through the stationary that she kept in it. Her eyes widened as she noticed his shirtless form. He was muscular, his inked skin moving flawlessly over the padded muscle and indent of his spine. Two small dimples present just before the black denim of his jeans swallowed him.

She could see that the vines that ran up his chest and behind his ear disappeared into his hair. Another long vine began at the nape of his neck and ran straight down his spine. Toward the middle of his back, this vine split either side, joining with the tattoos that ran around the length of his arm just before the elbow.

Avery had taken so long examining him that she had forgotten to answer his question. He turned to look at her, a smirk graced his lips as he caught the mortal eyeing his body.

Avery jumped, turning her back to the demon as her cheeks flushed into a deep red. She brought her hands to her chest, feeling her heart pounding beneath her shirt. She felt nothing but pure adrenaline running through her as she tried to calm her breathing.

"Do you like what you see?"

Azrael's voice had returned to her ear as a whisper, causing her body to jolt forward in shock, distancing herself while refusing to turn and look.

The demon's eye gazed over the nervous mortal standing in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back. He caught his lower lip between his teeth letting a quiet groan escape, eyeing the blush that had flooded all the way up to her ears and getting lost in the pure innocence that emanated from her.

Avery struggled to catch her breath. She let out a gasp, her lips parting as she tried to calm herself. "I-I didn't see anything..." she lied, glancing down at the wooden planks below her. She lowered her arms to her side to tried and act as though she was unaffected, but both she and Azrael knew that wasn't the case.

Azrael takes a step towards the blonde. "Here, you'll need this for the ritual..." he says, bringing his hand to hers as he placed the small object in her palm. She grasped it before bringing the object to her chest to look at it.

Avery recognised the object the moment that she saw the foil square sitting on her palm and she turned to the demon in a swift motion, panic in her eyes.

"This! This is!" She couldn't say it, it was something that she had never even considered the use of and didn't think she would be for many more years. She held her hand out to Azrael, her entire face feeling as though it had caught fire. Azrael grinned as he looked down at the small silver packet that laid on her palm, his eyes flashing with a bright red as he glanced back up at the blonde.

A knowing smirk graced his features before he finished Avery's sentence, "A pair of scissors?". Confusion flashed through Avery's eyes as she glanced back down at her palm to see the pair of pink scissors that she kept in her desk sitting on her palm, "W-what?? Wait no! That's-".

After a moment of silence, all of Avery's confusion slowly flamed into anger. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" She yelled, knowing full well that what she had seen sitting on her palm was not a pair of scissors.

Her eyes had turned dark and for a second Azrael was taken aback by this side of Avery that he hadn't seen before. She had the potential to be much more than the shy girl that everybody bullied, and this realization brought a smile to his face. He couldn't help but think she could prove interesting yet.

"Don't smile! You- You- demon!" She demanded, pointing the blades of the scissors in his direction. Azrael chuckles as he raised his hands in mock surrender, "Okay, okay... you caught me". Azrael's eyes softened at the feisty Avery that had revealed herself, "I hope you realize though that those scissors couldn't pierce my body...".

At this information, Avery eyed the demon with squinted eyes. She huffed, coming to the conclusion that he was probably right, not that she would have stabbed him anyway.

Avery had been so occupied by her burst of anger that she had forgotten that Azrael was standing shirtless in front of her. She took a step back as she looked over him, her nose wrinkling as she looked over the ink painting his skin. Those aren't vines...

His chest had a large circle with strange symbols and words written in a language she couldn't read covering both the inside and outside. At the very center of the circle, there was a small area of flesh left untouched by ink - about the size of a ring.

What she had previously thought were vines extended from the circle. Two ran up his chest to his neck. Another pair extending horizontally and wrapping around the width of his arms above the elbow. The next extending down his side's to connect with thick black bands around his wrists. The last pair extending down the indents of his abdominal before disappearing into the waistband of his jeans. It's like he is trapped in barbed wire.

Apart from the strange marking on his chest and wire that ran across his body, his arms were covered in tattoos, all of which seemed much more normal. One in particular that Avery had noticed was the name 'Claire' in small cursive writing amongst the images of skulls and roses.

Azrael broke Avery's concentration when he spoke. "These markings here..." He began as he ran his fingertips over the skin of his chest, glancing down at the symbols, "They are a binding seal". He glanced up to Avery as her eyes moved back and forth taking in the ink that covered him, "This blank space..." he continued, pointing to the small untouched opening at the center of the circle, "means that I am currently not under contract-".

"Are- are they-" Avery interrupted as she pointed to the barbed wire extending from his chest, "Barbed wire?". Azrael wasn't prepared for Avery to be curious about the seal, most of his previous clients cared little for what they meant, only wanting to complete the deal.

Azrael nodded, "Chains that bind me to the agency, and the chains that bind me to you when the 'ritual' is complete".

Before Avery had seen these markings permanently etched into Azrael's skin she had assumed that he was doing this of his own free will. That he wanted to work for the 'agency'. It was clear now that he was nothing more than a servant. That this was nothing but a contract to borrow someone else's slave.

She looked up into Azrael's eye, wondering how long he had been doing this work, whether he was just forced to do it. She knew that the answers to these questions weren't hers to demand. Nevertheless, a feeling of relief rushed over her as she realized that Azrael wasn't a demon dealing in contracts because he wanted to, and therefore he could really be 'good' under the control of 'evil'.

Azrael took a moment to study the mortal’s features, his expression had pressed into a frown as he worked through the flood of thoughts that he had just heard. His eyes darkened at the word ‘good’ that floated through the mortal's mind, a word he hated. "I'm not 'good'” He spat, glaring down at Avery with anger burning in his eyes, “if you believe that for a second you should ask yourself why I ended up in Hell to begin with" he growled.

Avery's expression dropped as Azrael's words hit her in the chest, fear and regret flooding through her. "I- I never..." she stuttered, unsure of how to respond to the cruel tone directed at her.

Azrael sighed as he brought his hand to his head, pressing his fingers into his temple before mumbling, "I'm sorry...". The dark-haired boy slowly removed his hand from his face, anger now replaced with regret, "I didn't mean to frighten you".

Avery was taken aback by his softened demeanor. It was clear to her that the circumstances that lead to his current position was a sensitive topic. In all likelihood, it was a topic she would never hear about, although now a curiosity for his past had been lit within her.

Just as Azrael was about to speak, Avery cut him off. She didn’t want to put this off anymore, the doubts that she had entertained earlier in the night were beginning to creep back. "What do we do now... y-you know... for the ritual".

Azrael took a deep breath before pointing to the scissors that Avery still clutched in her hand. "We seal the contract in blood" he stated, reaching for Avery's free hand. Avery didn't resist when the demon's fingers gently wrapped around hers, lifting her hand so that her palm faced upwards.

"Blood...?" She muttered, looking down at her palm. Azrael gave a nod as he reached for the hand tightly gripping the scissors, lifting it to the same height as the other. "To complete the contract, your blood has to activate the binding seal on my chest".

Avery considers this for a moment as Azrael's hands slipped away from hers, returning to his side. I have to... put my blood on his chest? The thought echoed around her head as she looked between the glinting blades and the soft skin of her palm. The idea was already horrible enough but adding that she’d have to pierce her own flesh to do so made her stomach turn.

Her fingers curled into a loose fist, gently pressing against the thin skin of her palm and feeling the heartbeat thrumming beneath. Through all of the torment from Paige, through all of the messages telling Avery to hurt herself or kill herself, she had never thought about going through with it. This is what it takes to keep him by my side.

Ever so slowly Avery opened the blade of the scissors, clutching the open blade in her right hand as she flattened her left, bringing the sharp point to her skin.

Azrael watched her eyes as she struggled to muster the strength to go through with it. The thought of purposely making herself bleed made her insides clench and squirm. I have to do this…

Avery’s grip on the scissors loosened for half a second before tightening once more as she pressed the sharpened point into the flesh beneath. Burgundy bloomed in a straight path from her thumb to her wrist as she hissed and dropped the now bloodied blade onto the carpet, a soft, barely-there thump underneath her hissing.

The wound stung and thrummed as she pressed her hand to her chest, soft breaths hissing between her clenched teeth as she resisted the urge to shake out her hand. She was brought back into the moment when Azrael let out a deep exhale.

"Now place your palm on my chest" Azrael instructed as he took a deep, grounding breath and readied himself by clenching his hands together at his side's.

With slow movements Avery unclenched her fist, moving her palm to face the demon's chest. There is no going back now.

The seconds before contact seemed to last years in the near silence of the room, their breathing the only sound to accompany them. Avery’s hand seemed almost magnetically drawn to his chest, her blood felt almost like it was boiling against her hand, branding her.

Avery pressed her palm to the circle on his chest and the moment that her blood touched the symbols they began to light in a bright red glow.

Avery's eyes widened as a scarlet light slowly spread throughout the sigil, finally connecting with the barbed wire before the red shot through each of the chains that held him. Azrael erupted in a loud groan of pain that caused Avery to jump away from him, bringing her bleeding palm back to her chest.

His hands were balled into tight fists, veins prominent from his arms, neck, and forehead. The crimson iris quickly grew brighter, swallowing his entire eye as he let out another scream of pain and fell to the floor on his knees.

Azrael tilted his head back as another painful groan tore itself from his throat as the red of the binding seal began to pulse. The light returned without warning, crawling back down his chains to the circle of symbols before a small red dot glowed in the center of his chest. Azrael was left heaving in deep labored breaths as his body fell forward, his forearms stopping his face from hitting the hard floorboards.

Avery’s heart was beating out of her chest as she looked over his limp figure, kneeling on the floor in front of her. “A-Azrael...” She stuttered, taking a step towards him and reaching out her hand for his shoulder.

Suddenly, a pained scream forced its way from Avery’s lips as a burning sensation sent a searing sting from her palm, up her arm and through the rest of her body. She quickly turned her hand over, seeing that the cut that she had made was now glowing that same bright red that Azrael’s tattoo’s had only moments earlier.

Avery clutched her wrist as her knees collapsed beneath her. The pain in the palm of her hand felt as though she held blistering hot coals in her hand. Avery’s vision blurred as another wave of pain pulsed through her body.

Azrael’s head lifted from the floor weakly as he strained to look at the mortal now on her knees in front of him. He could have sworn that she was trying to say something to him, the words only coming out as stuttered, pained breaths. With a loud thump, Avery’s body toppled over in front of him, her arm cushioning her head from the fall as her eyes fluttered shut.