ARIA'S POV
The hitting stopped.
Silence filled the alley. Worse than the screaming. So much worse.
"Is he dead?" one gang member asked.
"Not yet. He's still breathing."
"Finish it. Boss's orders."
I pressed my hand over my mouth to stop the scream building in my throat. No. No, please, no.
I had to see. Had to know.
Using every bit of strength I had left, I pulled myself forward. Inch by inch. My broken ribs screamed. My hands left bloody trails on the dirty ground.
The shadows moved, and I saw him.
The boy from college. Danny. That was his name. Sweet Danny who always smiled and helped carry my books when I had too many.
He lay in a pool of his own blood. His face was destroyed. Barely recognizable. Three gang members stood over him, laughing.
"Please," Danny whispered. His voice was so weak. "Mom... tell my mom I'm sorry."
One gang member raised a metal pipe.
"No!" The word ripped from my throat before I could stop it.
All three men turned to look at me. Their smiles made me want to die.
"Well, well," the one with the pipe said. "The bride wants to watch. How sweet."
"Please don't kill him," I begged. Tears ran down my face. "He's just a kid. He didn't do anything wrong."
"He saw our drug deal tonight. Can't have witnesses." The man shrugged like he was talking about the weather. "But don't worry. You're next on the list if you don't behave."
"I'll behave! I swear! Just please let him go!"
"Too late for that."
The pipe came down.
Danny's head made a sound I would hear in my nightmares forever.
His body went still.
"No!" I screamed. "NO!"
The gang members laughed and walked past me. One kicked trash at me as he passed. "Remember this, bride. This is what happens when you disobey."
They went back into the warehouse, leaving me alone with Danny's body.
I crawled to him. My hands shook as I touched his arm. Still warm. He'd been alive thirty seconds ago. Alive and begging for help.
Help I couldn't give.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Danny, I'm so sorry. I tried. I tried to help but I couldn't move. I'm so weak. I'm so useless."
His eyes were open. Empty. Staring at nothing.
Just like my life. Empty. Meaningless. Useless.
I'd watched an innocent boy die and done nothing. Just like how I'd done nothing when my family sold me. Nothing when Damian betrayed me. Nothing, nothing, nothing my whole worthless life.
The blood spread across the ground, touching my knees. Warm and sticky.
I put my head in my bloody hands and sobbed. Not quiet crying. Ugly, loud sobs that came from somewhere deep in my soul.
"Why?" I screamed at the sky. "Why does this keep happening? Why do bad people always win? Why does no one ever help?"
No answer came. Just the sound of the gang laughing inside the warehouse.
"I hate this world," I whispered. "I hate being powerless. I hate watching evil people destroy innocent lives and never facing justice."
My hands curled into fists. Danny's blood stained my fingers.
"I wish I could kill them all," I said. The words felt like poison in my mouth. Dark. Wrong. "Every monster who hurts people who can't fight back. I wish I had the power to make them pay."
The air changed.
Got colder. Heavier.
The warehouse lights flickered.
My breath came out in a white cloud even though it was summer.
"Careful what you wish for, little Aria."
I spun around, my heart hammering.
A man stood in the alley. But he hadn't been there a second ago. The alley was a dead end. There was nowhere he could have come from.
He wore a perfect black suit. His hair was dark and slicked back. And his eyes...
His eyes glowed gold. Like fire. Like nothing human.
"Who are you?" My voice shook.
He smiled. Beautiful and terrible. "I'm the answer to your prayer."
"I didn't pray. I just—"
"You asked for power. You asked to destroy evil. You asked to make them pay." He walked closer. Each step made no sound. "I can give you all of that and more."
My body screamed at me to run. But I couldn't move. Couldn't look away from those golden eyes.
"What are you?" I whispered.
"Some call me Samael. Some call me the Devil. Some call me justice." He knelt beside Danny's body, touching the boy's cold hand. "This child called for help. No one came. You called for power. I came. Funny how the universe works."
"You're not real. I hit my head. I'm hallucinating."
"Oh, I'm very real, Aria Chen." He stood and held out his hand. "And I'm offering you a deal. Power to hunt the monsters. Strength to save the innocent. Skills to excel at everything you touch. You'll become judge, jury, and executioner for every evil creature that walks this earth."
"Why would you help me?"
"Help?" He laughed. "I'm not helping. I'm trading. You get power. I get half your remaining lifespan. You have about fifty years left based on your genetics. Give me twenty-five, keep twenty-five. That's twelve and a half years from now—plenty of time to reshape this rotten world."
Twenty-five years. Half my life.
I looked at Danny's broken body. At the warehouse full of laughing murderers. At my own bloody, beaten hands.
"What if I say no?"
"Then the gang boss comes for you tomorrow. Uses you. Breaks you. Probably kills you when he's done. You die meaningless and forgotten. Just another victim." His golden eyes burned into mine. "Or you take my hand. Become the hunter instead of the hunted. Make every monster pay for every innocent life they've stolen."
The warehouse door opened. Voices drifted out.
"Check on the bride. Make sure she's still breathing."
Footsteps coming closer.
I was out of time.
Samael's hand stayed extended. "Choose now, Aria Chen. Die a victim or become vengeance itself."
I looked at Danny one last time. At his seventeen-year-old face frozen in fear.
"No one else dies like this," I whispered. "Not while I'm alive."
I grabbed Samael's hand.
The world exploded into fire and darkness.
Pain. So much pain.
My bones cracked. My skin burned. Something dark and ancient poured into my soul, filling every empty space with power and shadow.
I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out.
Because I was changing.
And I could feel myself dying and being reborn at the same time.
The last thing I saw before everything went black was Samael's smile.
And the glowing contract burning itself into my skin:
25 YEARS. PAYMENT DUE: AGE 48. SIGNED IN BLOOD AND SHADOW.