Avery was awoken by the opening notes of an upbeat melody filling her room. She rolled over in her bed, snatching her phone off the side table to turn off her alarm before throwing the device amongst the bunched blankets at the end of the bed.

Groggily, she pulled herself up from the bed, hanging her feet over the edge as she rubbed her eyes. Light streamed in from the open curtains behind her, a gentle breeze wafting through the open window.

Avery twisted into a deep stretch as she attempted to rid her body of the last lingering effects of sleep, the loud pops of her joints interrupting the silence of the relatively peaceful morning. As she went to stand her foot slipped on something smooth and she toppled forward onto the plush carpet with a thump. A hiss of pain escaped through her lips as she gingerly lifted herself off of the floor, twisting to try and see what caused her to topple over.

The cream corner of the card that poked out from under the mountain of blankets caught her eye. She felt her heartbeat begin to increase as she reached for the paper, gently tugging it free from its soft prison. Her fingers smoothed over the satiny cardstock as she looked over the envelope. Spiky calligraphy spelt out her name on the front. With a deep breath, Avery turned the envelope over to examine the broken wax seal that previously held the flap closed.

I thought that that was all just a dream.

The memories of the previous night returned to her in a sudden crash of emotions. Her terrified awakening, the contracting that promised her happiness, the price of signing it, and the dark-haired demon who held the key to it all.

____

Avery got dressed in a daze as she ran through the entire experience again and again. Details of the contract occupying her every thought before they were interrupted by the image of charming red eyes in the moonlight.

Avery violently shakes her head, bringing her hands to her face as she tried to rub the thought away. Why am I even thinking about this? Avery sighed, her cheeks now a soft pink as she leant down to pick up her school bag.

With a quick look around her room, her eyes locked with the cream envelope she had thrown haphazardly onto the bed. Should I bring it…? With another shake of her head, she walked over to the envelope, taking it in her hands before opening her side table drawer and throwing it amongst her undergarments. I must be going crazy. With a small clunk, Avery closed the drawer, leaving the contract behind as she left for the kitchen.

___

Breakfast was the same as usual, a bowl of bland cereal and a glass of orange juice.

Avery glanced down at her outfit choice, remembering the Gatorade incident from the previous day. She had chosen a white shirt and a light pink cardigan to help battle the cold of the morning. These were her last clean blue jeans, and she hoped that they wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as the pair she had left in the washing basket.

"Good morning Avery!" Her mum exclaimed as she clambered into the kitchen, her purse and a plastic bag were hooked over her arms as she knocked past the cupboards. "Good morning," Avery said with a small smile, watching her mum try to lift the heavy bag up so that she could grab her keys off the hook.

"Augh! I'm already so late!" She exclaimed as she finally managed to hook her fingers around the ring of her car keys, storming towards the front door. As Susan reached for the handle she thought better of it, turning her attention back to her daughter at the kitchen table with a sincere smile, "I love you, Avery".

This small sentiment brought a smile to the blonde’s face. Her mum had been so busy for the last few weeks with her new job that Avery hadn’t seen much of her. They had always been close.

"I love you too" she responded, causing a soft smile to crawl onto her mother's cheeks. Susan turned back towards the door, swinging it open. "Have fun at school!" She called before the door closed behind her. Avery's smile faded, "I'll try…".

____

The bus ride to school was ordinary. As Paige stepped on, following Ethan to the back row, she only gave the blonde a menacing look, otherwise leaving her alone.

Avery was glad to reach her locker without finding a mess of papers and books on the ground in front of it. She didn't even find a hateful note when she opened the grey locker door to collect her books for the first two periods - English followed by Religion.

Perhaps today will be different. The thought brought a smile to her face as she closed the locker to head to class.

Mr. Brauner spent most of English class talking about the book that was currently being examined; Pride and Prejudice. Avery hadn't looked at the book since the start of the semester, although she was familiar with the work having read it a few years ago. She tried to pay attention as Mr. Brauner asked the class about Mr. Darcy and his character development throughout the novel, but Avery couldn't help but let her train of thought go back to the contract.

She hated that each time she thought she had made up her mind to decline, she found herself wondering about how her life could change. How Azrael could change it. She found herself wondering what it would be like to call him to her side, having him appear like a bodyguard in front of her. It brought her a sense of comfort and safety, until he would turn, his red eyes reminding her of what she would be giving away.

It wasn't until Religion that Avery found herself intrigued by the class discussion. "Demons" Miss Edal exclaimed, writing the word in big letters at the top of the whiteboard before underlining it, "What do you know about them from the bible?". The class fell silent, exchanging unsure looks and avoiding eye contact with the teacher for fear of being called on.

"Anyone?" Miss Edal encouraged as a hand at the front of the class raised. "Yes, Jackson" she exclaimed, pointing to a lean boy with glasses in the front row, "That they are fallen angels who join Satan to fight god" he explained.

"Yes!" Miss Edal agreed, writing this answer under the heading on the board. "Anything else?" She asked, turning around to look over the class with wide eyes, scanning the room.

A girl towards the middle of the class raised her hand and with a nod from Miss Edal she added, "They serve Satan and were banished from heaven".

"Good!" Miss Edal smiled, turning to write on the whiteboard, "Essentially, they are the servants of the devil. After being cast from heaven due to their rebellion, the Devil and his demons continued their plot to control humans by luring them to sin". Miss Edal messily scribbled the dot points of her speech before she turned back to the class.

"Does anyone know what the bible says demons do?" Miss Edal asked. When her question was met with blank faces and silence she decided to continue. "How about possessing people?' She asked, moving to the front of her desk and leaning against it as she looked over the class, "The bible suggests many things. Blinding people to the light of the gospel, deceiving people by disguising themselves as servants of righteousness, and tormenting believers…".

For a moment Avery thought about raising her hand to ask about demons who would come to mortals with binding contracts, offering happiness and hope, but she thought better of it. She already had enough rumors spread about her - she didn't want 'being a satanist' to be one of them. Regardless, she wondered about staying back to talk to the teacher after class, if anyone would know what they were talking about when it comes to demons, it would be Miss Edal.

Miss Edal was a woman in her late 30's. She had thick short blonde hair with thin bangs and blue eyes. She had a habit of wearing bright color floral shirts with the same black dress pants and dress shoes.

She always brought a sense of interest to religion. She enjoyed teaching it and she was very knowledgeable on the subject. When she had introduced herself at the start of the class she mentioned that she had written books about demons, angels and the gods of either side - not only for Christianity but for other religions as well.

When the bell rang to symbolize the beginning of lunch Avery stayed in her seat, still undecided about whether or not she felt comfortable asking Miss Edal the questions floating around her head. There would be no way that she would suspect that a demon had come to her with a contract - she was still finding it hard to comprehend herself. The biggest thing stopping Avery, as much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, was the fear that Miss Edal would say something to slander the charming words of Azrael. She wanted to believe him.

Slowly the classroom emptied, and before Avery could decide whether to leave or not, Miss Edal came strolling towards her desk. Avery straightened herself, deciding to quickly take her book and pencil case to pack it into her bag so that it didn’t look as though she was staying back on purpose.

“Avery?” Miss Edal asked, approaching her student with care, “Is something the matter? Are you staying back to talk to me about something…?”. Avery’s hasty attempt to pretend as though she wasn’t staying back had fallen through, and Avery let out a little sigh before she placed her book back onto the table, looking up at the teacher.

Miss Edal wore an expression of concern as she leaned against the desk in front of Avery’s. It was clear that she thought Avery had stayed back to take her up on her offer the previous day - to be that person to talk to. But that was far from the case. Avery glanced down at her desk, trying to decide what she should say to breach the topic. She mulled over her choice of words, taking a small breath to ground herself before meeting her teacher’s eyes.

“I’m interested in today’s topic… and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions…?” Avery began. Instantly, Miss Edal’s expression perked up as she realized that the conversation would be much lighter than she was expecting. “Oh, do you mean demons?” She inquired with a quirked eyebrow, “I never thought that you would be the kind to be interested in such a strange topic”.

Miss Edal barely gave the blonde a chance to respond before she continued, “I would never discourage any one of my students from their interest in my studies though!”. Avery gave a shy smile and a grin appeared on Miss Edal’s face in response, “So what is it you wanted to know, dear?”.

“Umm… well... ” She murmured, having not thought about exactly she would ask, “Do you know- do you think that there are ‘good’ demons?”. This question took Miss Edal back, she looked at the blonde with an inquisitive expression.

“No” she answered after some thought, “As far as I know from my knowledge and experience, there has never been a ‘good’ demon”. Avery’s stomach dropped as the information left the religion teacher's mouth, it was the exact opposite of what she was hoping for. She desperately wanted to believe that Azrael was good. Avery’s gaze dropped to the floor, “Oh”.

Miss Edal took a deep breath, studying her student’s strange reaction, “Some demons can be less wicked than others, but none are innately ‘good’. As I said in class today demons are servants of the Devil whose goal is to lure humans to sin. They are created to be ‘evil’ and so to have a righteous demon would be counterintuitive”.

Miss Edal’s explanation made sense, and Avery suddenly found herself not wanting to know anything else about demons. She knew these things, it was common sense that demons would be evil. That he would be evil. What she knew even more than this was that she couldn’t believe that Azrael was completely evil, he said he wanted to help her. He was offering happiness, yes - at a price, but happiness. No angel had offered her this. Not even yesterday when she had begged God while locked in the toilet stall.

“How about this” Miss Edal began, standing to rush towards her desk, “I have a book that I wrote about demonology here. You can take it home with you and read through it at your leisure”. Avery glanced over at her teacher as Miss Edal dug through her desk at the front of the classroom. After this conversation, she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to read through the content, but she was glad to accept the teacher's offer.

As Miss Edal walked back over to Avery, she held out an aged book of diminutive size with a plain black cover that looked as though it had seen many years. In silver writing on the front cover it read ‘Uncovering True Demonology’, and under that, ‘Written by C. Edal’. Avery took the book in her hands as Miss Edal watched her with encouraging eyes, “I hope this book will answer any other questions that you have”.

Avery managed a small smile before nodding, “Thank you”.