There wasn’t a car in sight when she stepped into the middle of the cross the four roads created.

No streetlights were shining, and not even the moon peeked out behind the thick, heavy, wall of clouds.

Everything was eerily silent and heavy. Wrong. Like a blanket had fallen over this specific place and muffled everything that wasn’t necessary.

Yet, she could see things perfectly. Everything was clear. The newly laid asphalt shimmered, still slightly sticky beneath her shoes. The trees lining all eight sides of the four roads rustled, full and lush with green leaves. Even the air and wind seemed to take shape, patterns in the night that blew in unpredictable swirls.

“I know you’re there,” she said, confidence spilling from each word. At least, he was supposed to be. But still… She didn’t know how she knew. And while she couldn’t see him, she could feel him. The hairs on her arms rose up, gooseflesh swarmed parts of her one moment, and the next they were gone. Like a shadow lingering shortly only to move and linger a new place, resting only for a second before it was gone.

She could feel his gaze, the shadow, on her shoulders, her collarbone, then looking straight into her eyes.

All she could do was stare back at the air where the feeling came from.

No answer splintered the silence, no air swirled with new words.

She breathed in, inhaling courage and exhaling any doubt she may have had.

“You can hide if you want, but I doubt that will give you what you want,” she said, her words gaining more momentum as she spoke. The air around her thickened. Shimmered. Came to life. The leaves on the trees rustled faster despite the wind not having picked up.

And then… She smiled.

She wasn’t sure why or how, but she knew she had won. She was certain their little game of hide and seek would come to an end in her favor. She could feel it in her veins, knew she had chosen the right words.

Knew that he hated losing.

It took a moment.

Two.

Then it happened.

The swirls of air, the shimmering without light, the impossible.

He wasn’t there, right in front of her, and then he was. Nothing more than a blink in between.

His impossibly long ears with pointy ends, his black eyes with no reflection that seemed like they would swallow up everything if you looked for too long. A smile hidden behind a cruel sneer.

“I do not enjoy your assumptions.”

His voice was cool as the air around them, but sharp. Rather than caressing her skin, it cut her down. Her lungs contracted, but she wasn’t scared. She couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t mind.

He couldn’t hurt her.

Not if he wanted what she was going to offer.

And he did, oh he did. She could feel the want, the need, the desperation. Whatever was around them, whatever the muffled blanket was made from, it made her acutely aware of him, it made her know him in a way she had never known anything. Anyone.

“I don’t enjoy being stalked,” she spat back, voice small, knowing full well that if anyone, she was the stalker here.

She couldn’t gather quite enough air to speak with the same fire she had done earlier. She couldn’t put enough breath into her lungs to spit it out with the force she had wanted. Talking hurt, but not talking would hurt even more.

He looked angry at this. Angry that she wasn’t afraid of him, of what he was doing to her, of what he could do to her if he pleased.

Angry that she knew he wouldn’t.

Even though she hadn’t said it, he could see it in her eyes, her stance, her shallow breaths that were steady and calm, despite how hard it was for her to do one of the simplest things for a human.

She couldn’t breathe and yet she was not scared.

And if that was the case, using his magic to squeeze her lungs was a waste.

The moment he released his hold, a big inhale was followed by a choking exhale that tore free from her lungs. She coughed from how overwhelmed she suddenly felt, but more than that, she was victorious.

She was convinced she had won.

“I would appreciate it if you gave me what I showed myself for, unspoken though it might have been, the intent of a promise is still a promise,” he said. If his voice before could have been compared to shards of ice, his current tone was now lava. Molden and hot, but ready to explode at any second. One wrong touch and she would burn.

She gulped, feeling scared for the first time. Feeling the tendrils of horror coiling in her stomach, slowly making their way up her throat and stealing her voice.

“I’m sure you would,” she found herself saying, stupidity winning out in her inner battle between what she should do and what she wanted to do.

She wished the smart side of her had won out, but knew it rarely happened.

That’s how she found herself in this situation in the first place, after all.

He just stared at her, dead black eyes boring into her soul. His silence was terrifying, but not more terrifying than what she was about to do. What she knew she was supposed to do.

She was the one that had called him out here.

She was the one who had made him appear.

She was the one who wanted this bargain and had put all the pieces in place.

She was the one who had to offer it up freely.

Yes, she played a game, she couldn’t help herself, but she also couldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers.

She had one chance.

One chance to get what she wanted, no matter the cost.

Her resolve steeled, lungs fully functioning, she looked right back into the abyss of his eyes and spoke the words she would never allow herself to regret.

“I will give you my soul if you give me your heart.”

He laughed.

A cruel laugh that exposed the inside of his mouth, full of sharp teeth, and sent a shiver through her spine. Merciless laughter that made things very clear.

She hadn’t won their little game. She hadn’t even started playing.

He had played her from the start.

Too late, she remembered the warnings she had gotten, the stories she had been told, but she had been too blind with overconfidence.

The golden yellow of headlights shone upon her, a car coming their way, but it was too late.

She was caught, deer in the lights, frozen to the spot, outreached hand curled up in the inhuman one with long curly fingers, rough like bark.

The car drove by but saw nothing.

There was no longer anything to see.

The deal was done.