It's a Deal
It's a Deal
Jaehyo, Kung
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Word-count: 3.5k+
Jaehyo's a struggling witch and needs all the luck he can get. The luck he gets just won't go away.
Written for blockisbang
Jaehyo slammed his hands down on the dusty floor of the unused classroom, chanting out the spell that activated the circle of runes he’d written in chalk. His textbook and gold offering lying in a bowl at his side for the fortune spirit he was trying to summon. The spell looked simple enough. Fortune spirits from the other realm were easy to call forward; their love for gold was notorious.
Plus, they were good-natured and usually looked like tiny fat babies with golden hair and pointy beards. Soon Jaehyo would get his good luck charm, the fortune spirit his gold, and everybody would leave happy.
He was in desperate need of that charm for his exam tomorrow. Desperate enough to perform a forbidden summoning and make an illegal exchange, well, fortune spirits didn’t guarantee success. But Jaehyo would take a fifty percent chance increased success rate over nothing.
"You rang?" The shadowy wisp of a creature said, smoke rising from the summoning circle where the figure was taking shape.
Blinking through the smoke stinging his eyes, Jaehyo took a good look at the thing inside, and it was as far from a tiny fat baby as one could be. Shit, he’d really gone and done it this time. His heart began to race when he caught sight of the claws - black sharp talons - coming out of the creature’s fingertips.
He curled his fingers in the sleeves of his jacket, the air plummeting in temperature around him. Steam rolled off the creature, now fully taken shape, in the circle's center.
The thing in front of him definitely wasn't the neutral spirit that would bring him a day's good fortune. He wasn't sure what he'd summoned, but from the looks of the set of wicked horns growing out of the creatures black hair, Jaehyo guessed it wasn't good. Therefore, he came to the simple conclusion that he'd screwed up, again.
A dark foreboding sensation trickled down Jaehyo's spine. Whatever he'd summoned, it wasn't good. With words stuttering through half-frozen lips, Jaehyo stood his ground. "You're not a fortune spirit...are you?"
The glowing red eyes watching Jaehyo unnerved him - a perfect combination of murderous and creepy.
"Me?" The creature threw back its head and laughed, loud and obnoxious and the sound grated against Jaehyo's eardrums.
Jaehyo recoiled, ears ringing, "No?" His tongue felt fat in his mouth as fear began to creep in.
"You're a really shitty witch you know that?" Walking to the edge of the summoning circle, the creature crooked one finger at him to beckon Jaehyo closer. But Jaehyo wasn't a complete idiot; he saw how the pair of clawed feet approached the circle's edge.
Thankfully, anything within the advanced level circle he'd drawn up was trapped, but it didn't stop his heart from pounding. As long as he didn’t break the circle, he was safe.
"I'm not shitty," Jaehyo said, anger getting the best of him. "I just need more practice." Confidence welled up inside him when he remembered he was the one with the upper hand. He might not have horns, claws, and red eyes, but he did have magic. The creature was the one trapped in a circle, not him.
Although, those claws did look like they could rip him apart.
"You don't know what I am, do you? You are a special type of stupid. Don't they teach your kind anything?"
Jaehyo frowned, "Sorry, I haven't covered douche bag in my witches manual yet."
The creature snorted, steam escaping its nostrils, "Oh, you can fight back. I think I might just like you. Zico would get a kick out of you."
"I can’t say the same. And if you’re not a fortune spirit, then what are you?" Jaehyo took a step back, trying to stop his teeth from chattering. "I called for a fortune spirit and I got you. If you can't be useful, then I'm sending you right back to where you came from."
That made the creature's ears smoke.
“Well congratulations, you caught your very first fire demon.” Then it smirked, revealing a set of fangs, “How does it feel oh powerful witch?”
“Fire demon?” - Jaehyo pursed his lips - “That calls for dark magic, I don’t do dark magic.” Jaehyo got a sudden sensation that the dark walls were closing in on him. Dark magic was dangerous. You didn’t play around with dark magic unless you were powerful enough to control it. Although he’d loath to admit it, Jaehyo wasn’t anywhere near the level to practice dark spells. He had a hard enough time with the spells he did know.
“You don’t do dark magic sure, then where’d you get this summoning spell from?” The demon pointed at the runes below his feet, “This is dark magic, you know fortune spirits are our lowest cousins.”
“I didn’t know - ”
“Of course you didn’t. Didn’t think messing with fate would be dark did you? And gold,” it said, pointing to the forgotten bowl, “they’re really the greediest little bastards. Honestly, you’re better off with me.”
Jaehyo didn’t see how having summoned a demon, the creature way higher up on the food chain, was any better. He needed to break the summoning fast before anyone noticed the high levels of dark magic bleeding through the air. The punishment awaiting him for practicing high-level magic without guidance was no laughing matter. “Yeah I don’t think so. You’re going back -”
He picked up his wand from his pocket and drew the summoning release symbol in the air. It glowed a bright green before fading, yet the demon didn’t fade with it like it was supposed to.
Jaehyo tried a second time and got the same results. Palms sweaty under pressure, the condescending laugh from the fire demon wasn’t helping his performance. “Be quiet, I’ll get it right and you can laugh back in hell.” He tried a third time, but failed.
“Sure, but I’m not going anywhere.”
Angry, Jaehyo jabbed his wand at the demon, “Why? You’re doing something -”
“Thank you,” the fire demon said, grabbing Jaehyo’s hand. Jaehyo had made a grave mistake of shoving his hand in the protective circle, breaking the barrier between him and the demon and now the fire demon had a way out. Before he could open his mouth, the fire demon had used his hand like a stepping stop to cross outside into the human realm.
“You have no idea how good it feels to back here again. I swear I’ve been hell’s accountant for too long.”
Jaehyo stumbled and fell on his ass, his wand jerking out of his hand and rolling across the floor. He made a grab for it, but the fire demon got to it first. Helpless, Jaehyo watched the creature hold his wand up in his hand and inspect it with his clawed hands.
His wand glowed and Jaehyo’s insides began to feel uncomfortably tight.
The red eyes focused on Jaehyo and he felt miserable like the fire demon was sucking all the happy feelings from his body and leaving him with what was left.
“Ahn Jaehyo is it? We’re going to have so much fun together. I’ve got a deal for you that you won’t be able to resist.”
Jaehyo wanted to throw up when he fire demon knelt down and took his face in his hands.
“And you know all proper deals should be involve a seal right?”
The last thing Jaehyo saw before he blacked out was the set of fangs descending down upon him.
A sharp slap to his face brought Jaehyo back. Confused, he blinked away the blurriness at the edge of his vision while trying to remember where he was.
“Hey stupid, I didn’t say you could pass out on me,” said a voice next to him, and Jaehyo whipped his head around to put a face to the words. Next to him on the floor, sat a boy. For all purposes he looked completely normal until you noticed the pair of small black horns jutting out of his forehead.
“Who the hell?” Jaehyo asked, realizing that he’d just had an encounter with a fire demon and now there was an unfamiliar teen next to him.
“I like to go by Kyung, but supreme overlord is also a good title.”
Jaehyo shook his head, “What happened to the horns,” - he brought his hands up to his head to mime where the fire demon’s horns used to be - “and the claws, and your eyes.”
“What about ‘em? You know it’s actually a waste of energy keeping my full form in the human realm.” He grinned and Jaehyo could see the sharp canines that humans did not possess sticking out of his mouth. “Everything downsizes. It’s much more economical this way. Large demon powers packed into a tiny unassuming body. Your kind just never sees it coming.”
Taking a deep breath, Jaehyo scooted to the side, away from the fire demon.
“Why are you here? Are you going to try to steal my body? I live in a school full of witches. If you kill me, I guarantee you they will come after you and destroy you into tiny little pieces,” Jaehyo said threateningly. He was trying to act tough, but with the fire demon looking like a regular teen minus the horns his appearance was harmless looking.
“I said my name is Kyung. And no, I’m not a body snatcher, I’m an accountant.”
“An accountant?” Jaehyo asked. He held back a grin, what a weird job for a demon.
Something on his face must have shown his amusement to Kyung, who narrowed his eyes and a puff of smoke came rushing out of his nostrils.
“What’s funny about being one of hell’s accountants? Do you even have any idea how long I’ve been doing my superior’s paperwork? For a century that’s how long. Day in and day out keeping track of souls and expenses, hell isn’t all fun and games.”
“I’m sure it isn’t,” Jaehyo responded. He wasn’t really sure what Kyung the fire demon was talking about, but he really didn’t want to go to hell to find out.
The atmosphere in the room lightened, and Jaehyo relaxed, no longer feeling afraid that Kyung was going to harm him. Even though the fire demon could rip him apart limb by limb, he hadn’t done it. Plus, Jaehyo noticed that his wand was lying next to him on the floor. He picked it up quickly.
“So, if you’re not here to kill me, why are you here?”
Kyung raised his eyebrows and pointed at the chalk circle, “You ask me, you’re the one who drew that.”
“What? But I copied that from my textbook symbol by symbol. It was supposed to summon a fortune spirit, not you. No offence.”
“None taken,” Kyung said. “I was snatched right out of my chair while I was on lunch break. If anyone’s a body snatcher, it’s you.”
Jaehyo sat up, “But I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Sure, you didn’t. You screwed up, and now I’m here. Thanks, I appreciate it. I really don’t get many opportunities to get out.”
“But I didn’t screw up.” Jaehyo crawled over and picked up his textbook, examining the symbols on the floor and on paper. “Okay maybe I was a bit sloppy.”
“See what I mean? You need someone watching you before you take your own eye out with your magic stick over there,” Kyung said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall he was sitting next to.
“It’s a wand not a magic stick.”
Kyung shook his head, “Whatever.” He paused and then grinned in a way that made Jaehyo take a step backwards. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement over that, shall we get down to business?”
His wand was in his back pocket. Jaehyo told himself to remain calm while negotiating with the demon. Some things were easier said than done.
“What business is that?” Jaehyo asked. He sat on his knees and tried to remember the stunning spell he’d learned at the start of the school term.
“Our summoning deal. You summoned me with a deal spell, so now we have to reach an agreement with each other.”
“Oh…we do - ” Jaehyo began to speak, but a rush of cold air flew past him and chilled him to the bones.
The floating transparent figure of the second floor ghost stood before him, shaking his head. “Jaehyo what did you do now?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Jaehyo said, trying to defend his accidental actions, “he won’t go away.”
“It’s exactly what it looks like buddy.” Kyung stood up and a small fire erupted from his palm, “You ghosts never have any appreciation for those who don’t like it cold.”
A second ghost came through the wall behind Kyung, startling Jaehyo at its sudden appearance. Ghosts didn’t understand that it was polite to use doors. “Taeil hyung, we’re supposed to be wandering the halls together. We’re not together if you run off.”
The first ghost tilted his head to the side and threw his hands in the air, “I was trying to warn whoever was in the room about the leaking dark magic and its only Jaehyo. Just hurry up and finish the deal before you get caught. That thing doesn't belong here.”
Jaehyo threw his hands up in the air, “What deal?”
The three supernatural beings in the room stared directly at Jaehyo, giving him the creeps, and said, “The deal,” as one. "Your time is running out," the first ghost said with a frown on his hazy white face. Then the two ghosts flickered and disappeared, leaving Jaehyo alone with Kyung once again.
“Fine, let’s make a deal.”
Kyung smirked, “Good now we’re talking. What is it that you most desire?” He started to circle around Jaehyo like he was sizing him up. “Is it the girl in your spells class? She’s pretty, but she isn’t really into you. I could fix that.”
Jaehyo’s heart sped up, “That wouldn’t be right.”
“Of course of course.” Kyung shook his head, “How about I fix some of your grades. They’re not that good.”
Jaehyo opened his mouth to agree, his grades really weren’t that great. However, if he got the demon to change them, then people might expect him to be better than he was. “No thanks,” he said regretfully.
“Now you’re being difficult. You wanted a good luck charm from a fortune spirit right? How about I give you a good luck charm.” Kyung snapped his fingers and a wooden talisman appeared in his hands.
“A good luck charm?” Jaehyo held out his hands, “That is what I want. I have this exam tomorrow and I could use the good luck.”
Kyung tossed the charm and Jaehyo catches it. The charm glowed in his hands and it felt warm like Jaehyo imagined it should coming from a fire demon.
“You can keep that. It should be good for a day for all the luck you’ll need.”
Jaehyo slipped it into his pants pocket, “Thanks.”
A silence fell between them after Jaehyo had the charm secured in his pocket. Fidgeting, Jaehyo tucked his hair behind his ear. “What do I have to give in return?”
“One drop of blood will do,” Kyung said, holding out his hand.
“Just one drop, that’s it?” Jaehyo wasn’t sure if this was a trick, or if human blood was like drugs to demons.
Kyung moved closer to him, “One drop is fine, but if you bleed all over the place I’ll gladly take it.”
Giving Kyung a drop of his blood appeared to be harmless. One drop was a small amount to pay for a good luck charm. Jaehyo decided to agree in case the demon went back and changed his mind or asked for more.
“Do you need to do the honors?” asked Jaehyo, lifting his hand up from his side.
“Not really, but I do have this.” Kyung grabbed his hand and bit his wrist before Jaehyo had processed what Kyung had in mind. He felt a sharp pain as fanged teeth punctured his skin and a tongue licked up the blood that welled to the surface.
Kyung licked his lips, “Not bad, you’re a little dehydrated though.” He dropped Jaehyo’s wrist.
Jaehyo covered his wounded wrist with his hand, “That hurt, and I think that was more than one drop.”
“Well, sue me next time you see me in hell.” Kyung shrugged, “Thanks for the snack human.” He laughed.
Jaehyo opened his mouth, “You’re an ass - ”
“See ya!”
Kyung faded away into the dark leaving Jaehyo alone in the room.
His wrist still burned from the demon’s bite, and he hoped it wouldn’t leave a mark. Jaehyo frowned, took out his wand, and began to clean up.
He'd done it; he passed the exam.
Jaehyo eased back into his pillows the next night. With the help of the good luck charm, he managed to pass his exam with the highest grade he’d gotten in the class yet. For some reason, all the answers came to him. Whatever the demon did, it worked.
He rolled onto his side, intending to go to bed, and shrieked. Jaehyo kicked his legs and scrambled to not fall off his bed.
Where there should have been empty space, a figure now lay propped up on top of the blankets next to him.
A garbled exclamation of fright left Jaehyo’s throat. Recovering, he sat up, “What are you doing here?”
His blankets pooled to his waist.
Kyung raised his eyebrows, “It worked didn’t it? The charm?”
“Yes, it worked! Now go away,” Jaehyo said. He watched Kyung’s face and saw how his eyes were drawn not to his own face, but to his bare chest. Quickly, he grabbed his blanket and clamped it under his armpits.
“But I like it here,” said Kyung happily, rolling over onto his stomach and pressing his face into Jaehyo’s bed. “It’s fun here.”
Jaehyo pushed on Kyung’s back, “I hear hell’s a lot of fun, why don’t you go back.”
“No.”
“How are you even here anyway?”
“A drop of human’s blood has a lot of uses you know. And I really need a break from hell.”
Jaehyo felt a shiver run down his spine, extending to the tips of his fingers and toes. He should have known that giving the demon a drop of his blood wasn’t a wise decision. “What do you mean?”
Kyung turned back over onto his bed, legs sliding up and knees bending. Lazily, he swung his head to face Jaehyo, “Your blood.” He held up one pointer finger. “Plus mine.” He held up the pointer finger on his other hand, and then brought them together, “Equals a blood connection. I can find you in this realm.”
“Why the hell would you want to do that?” Jaehyo asked; frightened that he was going to get in trouble with the school for having forged a deal with a demon that reeked of bad news. “Can’t you find someone else to have a blood connection with?”
“But I like you.” Kyung sat up and scooted closer, causing Jaehyo to scoot backwards until his ass was all but falling off the edge. “You’re so dumb, it’s cute.”
“I am cute,” Jaehyo said before realizing he was agreeing with the demon, “wait, no I’m not cute for you.”
“Sure. Anyway, I’m going to need a supply of that blood to let me go between realms, so keep it coming.” Kyung moved his top lip and his fangs slid into view. “One drop only goes so far.”
Grabbing his healing wrist, Jaehyo rubbed the scabs from Kyung’s bite the previous day.
“Hell no.”
Kyung sighed, “Fine, I’ll help you do your little witch school. I can help you achieve power you could only ever imagine.”
“You will?”
“Hello genius here? I’m an accountant. I didn’t get this job for nothing. Anyone can torture the souls of sinners,” said Kyung, a ring of smoke escaping from his nostrils.
Jaehyo flinched, “I guess if you help me with your magic I’ll let you stay. Just no going off and causing trouble like killing people or creating trouble for my school.”
“Of course,” Kyung said, “I’ll make you into one of the most powerful witches in this school.”
This could be another bad idea, but Jaehyo did want power, or at the very least, to not always be passing with the lowest grades possible. His good looks could take him far, but they’d only take him so far.
“Alright, but only for as long as I still need the help.”
“Good.”
Then Kyung bit his own arm, bloody teeth showing when he lowered his arm away from his mouth.
“Okay that’s gross - ” Jaehyo said, but he wasn’t prepared for Kyung leaning over, putting a hand at the back of his head, and smashing their lips together. The taste of Kyung’s blood was of ash with a metallic aftertaste. He coughed when Kyung pulled away, the revolting flavor wouldn’t leave his tongue.
However, he felt different - more energized and stronger than before.
He sputtered, “What, what, what did you do?” His lips tingled.
“If we share blood, we can connect our powers. You just got a taste of what it would be like to work together.” Kyung licked his lips.
“I’ve never felt my magic this clear before.”
Kyung laughed, “If you like what blood can do, just imagine what other fluids can do.” He winked and tipped his head to the side twice.
Jaehyo paused for a beat, narrowing his eyes and trying to think of what fluids Kyung was referring to.
“You pervert, I’ll never!” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s what they all say,” Kyung said with another fang-toothed grin.
“I said no!”
Kyung rolled off the bed, “You’ll come along.”
Jaehyo threw his pillow at him.
Jaehyo, Kung
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Word-count: 3.5k+
Jaehyo's a struggling witch and needs all the luck he can get. The luck he gets just won't go away.
Written for blockisbang
Jaehyo slammed his hands down on the dusty floor of the unused classroom, chanting out the spell that activated the circle of runes he’d written in chalk. His textbook and gold offering lying in a bowl at his side for the fortune spirit he was trying to summon. The spell looked simple enough. Fortune spirits from the other realm were easy to call forward; their love for gold was notorious.
Plus, they were good-natured and usually looked like tiny fat babies with golden hair and pointy beards. Soon Jaehyo would get his good luck charm, the fortune spirit his gold, and everybody would leave happy.
He was in desperate need of that charm for his exam tomorrow. Desperate enough to perform a forbidden summoning and make an illegal exchange, well, fortune spirits didn’t guarantee success. But Jaehyo would take a fifty percent chance increased success rate over nothing.
"You rang?" The shadowy wisp of a creature said, smoke rising from the summoning circle where the figure was taking shape.
Blinking through the smoke stinging his eyes, Jaehyo took a good look at the thing inside, and it was as far from a tiny fat baby as one could be. Shit, he’d really gone and done it this time. His heart began to race when he caught sight of the claws - black sharp talons - coming out of the creature’s fingertips.
He curled his fingers in the sleeves of his jacket, the air plummeting in temperature around him. Steam rolled off the creature, now fully taken shape, in the circle's center.
The thing in front of him definitely wasn't the neutral spirit that would bring him a day's good fortune. He wasn't sure what he'd summoned, but from the looks of the set of wicked horns growing out of the creatures black hair, Jaehyo guessed it wasn't good. Therefore, he came to the simple conclusion that he'd screwed up, again.
A dark foreboding sensation trickled down Jaehyo's spine. Whatever he'd summoned, it wasn't good. With words stuttering through half-frozen lips, Jaehyo stood his ground. "You're not a fortune spirit...are you?"
The glowing red eyes watching Jaehyo unnerved him - a perfect combination of murderous and creepy.
"Me?" The creature threw back its head and laughed, loud and obnoxious and the sound grated against Jaehyo's eardrums.
Jaehyo recoiled, ears ringing, "No?" His tongue felt fat in his mouth as fear began to creep in.
"You're a really shitty witch you know that?" Walking to the edge of the summoning circle, the creature crooked one finger at him to beckon Jaehyo closer. But Jaehyo wasn't a complete idiot; he saw how the pair of clawed feet approached the circle's edge.
Thankfully, anything within the advanced level circle he'd drawn up was trapped, but it didn't stop his heart from pounding. As long as he didn’t break the circle, he was safe.
"I'm not shitty," Jaehyo said, anger getting the best of him. "I just need more practice." Confidence welled up inside him when he remembered he was the one with the upper hand. He might not have horns, claws, and red eyes, but he did have magic. The creature was the one trapped in a circle, not him.
Although, those claws did look like they could rip him apart.
"You don't know what I am, do you? You are a special type of stupid. Don't they teach your kind anything?"
Jaehyo frowned, "Sorry, I haven't covered douche bag in my witches manual yet."
The creature snorted, steam escaping its nostrils, "Oh, you can fight back. I think I might just like you. Zico would get a kick out of you."
"I can’t say the same. And if you’re not a fortune spirit, then what are you?" Jaehyo took a step back, trying to stop his teeth from chattering. "I called for a fortune spirit and I got you. If you can't be useful, then I'm sending you right back to where you came from."
That made the creature's ears smoke.
“Well congratulations, you caught your very first fire demon.” Then it smirked, revealing a set of fangs, “How does it feel oh powerful witch?”
“Fire demon?” - Jaehyo pursed his lips - “That calls for dark magic, I don’t do dark magic.” Jaehyo got a sudden sensation that the dark walls were closing in on him. Dark magic was dangerous. You didn’t play around with dark magic unless you were powerful enough to control it. Although he’d loath to admit it, Jaehyo wasn’t anywhere near the level to practice dark spells. He had a hard enough time with the spells he did know.
“You don’t do dark magic sure, then where’d you get this summoning spell from?” The demon pointed at the runes below his feet, “This is dark magic, you know fortune spirits are our lowest cousins.”
“I didn’t know - ”
“Of course you didn’t. Didn’t think messing with fate would be dark did you? And gold,” it said, pointing to the forgotten bowl, “they’re really the greediest little bastards. Honestly, you’re better off with me.”
Jaehyo didn’t see how having summoned a demon, the creature way higher up on the food chain, was any better. He needed to break the summoning fast before anyone noticed the high levels of dark magic bleeding through the air. The punishment awaiting him for practicing high-level magic without guidance was no laughing matter. “Yeah I don’t think so. You’re going back -”
He picked up his wand from his pocket and drew the summoning release symbol in the air. It glowed a bright green before fading, yet the demon didn’t fade with it like it was supposed to.
Jaehyo tried a second time and got the same results. Palms sweaty under pressure, the condescending laugh from the fire demon wasn’t helping his performance. “Be quiet, I’ll get it right and you can laugh back in hell.” He tried a third time, but failed.
“Sure, but I’m not going anywhere.”
Angry, Jaehyo jabbed his wand at the demon, “Why? You’re doing something -”
“Thank you,” the fire demon said, grabbing Jaehyo’s hand. Jaehyo had made a grave mistake of shoving his hand in the protective circle, breaking the barrier between him and the demon and now the fire demon had a way out. Before he could open his mouth, the fire demon had used his hand like a stepping stop to cross outside into the human realm.
“You have no idea how good it feels to back here again. I swear I’ve been hell’s accountant for too long.”
Jaehyo stumbled and fell on his ass, his wand jerking out of his hand and rolling across the floor. He made a grab for it, but the fire demon got to it first. Helpless, Jaehyo watched the creature hold his wand up in his hand and inspect it with his clawed hands.
His wand glowed and Jaehyo’s insides began to feel uncomfortably tight.
The red eyes focused on Jaehyo and he felt miserable like the fire demon was sucking all the happy feelings from his body and leaving him with what was left.
“Ahn Jaehyo is it? We’re going to have so much fun together. I’ve got a deal for you that you won’t be able to resist.”
Jaehyo wanted to throw up when he fire demon knelt down and took his face in his hands.
“And you know all proper deals should be involve a seal right?”
The last thing Jaehyo saw before he blacked out was the set of fangs descending down upon him.
A sharp slap to his face brought Jaehyo back. Confused, he blinked away the blurriness at the edge of his vision while trying to remember where he was.
“Hey stupid, I didn’t say you could pass out on me,” said a voice next to him, and Jaehyo whipped his head around to put a face to the words. Next to him on the floor, sat a boy. For all purposes he looked completely normal until you noticed the pair of small black horns jutting out of his forehead.
“Who the hell?” Jaehyo asked, realizing that he’d just had an encounter with a fire demon and now there was an unfamiliar teen next to him.
“I like to go by Kyung, but supreme overlord is also a good title.”
Jaehyo shook his head, “What happened to the horns,” - he brought his hands up to his head to mime where the fire demon’s horns used to be - “and the claws, and your eyes.”
“What about ‘em? You know it’s actually a waste of energy keeping my full form in the human realm.” He grinned and Jaehyo could see the sharp canines that humans did not possess sticking out of his mouth. “Everything downsizes. It’s much more economical this way. Large demon powers packed into a tiny unassuming body. Your kind just never sees it coming.”
Taking a deep breath, Jaehyo scooted to the side, away from the fire demon.
“Why are you here? Are you going to try to steal my body? I live in a school full of witches. If you kill me, I guarantee you they will come after you and destroy you into tiny little pieces,” Jaehyo said threateningly. He was trying to act tough, but with the fire demon looking like a regular teen minus the horns his appearance was harmless looking.
“I said my name is Kyung. And no, I’m not a body snatcher, I’m an accountant.”
“An accountant?” Jaehyo asked. He held back a grin, what a weird job for a demon.
Something on his face must have shown his amusement to Kyung, who narrowed his eyes and a puff of smoke came rushing out of his nostrils.
“What’s funny about being one of hell’s accountants? Do you even have any idea how long I’ve been doing my superior’s paperwork? For a century that’s how long. Day in and day out keeping track of souls and expenses, hell isn’t all fun and games.”
“I’m sure it isn’t,” Jaehyo responded. He wasn’t really sure what Kyung the fire demon was talking about, but he really didn’t want to go to hell to find out.
The atmosphere in the room lightened, and Jaehyo relaxed, no longer feeling afraid that Kyung was going to harm him. Even though the fire demon could rip him apart limb by limb, he hadn’t done it. Plus, Jaehyo noticed that his wand was lying next to him on the floor. He picked it up quickly.
“So, if you’re not here to kill me, why are you here?”
Kyung raised his eyebrows and pointed at the chalk circle, “You ask me, you’re the one who drew that.”
“What? But I copied that from my textbook symbol by symbol. It was supposed to summon a fortune spirit, not you. No offence.”
“None taken,” Kyung said. “I was snatched right out of my chair while I was on lunch break. If anyone’s a body snatcher, it’s you.”
Jaehyo sat up, “But I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Sure, you didn’t. You screwed up, and now I’m here. Thanks, I appreciate it. I really don’t get many opportunities to get out.”
“But I didn’t screw up.” Jaehyo crawled over and picked up his textbook, examining the symbols on the floor and on paper. “Okay maybe I was a bit sloppy.”
“See what I mean? You need someone watching you before you take your own eye out with your magic stick over there,” Kyung said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall he was sitting next to.
“It’s a wand not a magic stick.”
Kyung shook his head, “Whatever.” He paused and then grinned in a way that made Jaehyo take a step backwards. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement over that, shall we get down to business?”
His wand was in his back pocket. Jaehyo told himself to remain calm while negotiating with the demon. Some things were easier said than done.
“What business is that?” Jaehyo asked. He sat on his knees and tried to remember the stunning spell he’d learned at the start of the school term.
“Our summoning deal. You summoned me with a deal spell, so now we have to reach an agreement with each other.”
“Oh…we do - ” Jaehyo began to speak, but a rush of cold air flew past him and chilled him to the bones.
The floating transparent figure of the second floor ghost stood before him, shaking his head. “Jaehyo what did you do now?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Jaehyo said, trying to defend his accidental actions, “he won’t go away.”
“It’s exactly what it looks like buddy.” Kyung stood up and a small fire erupted from his palm, “You ghosts never have any appreciation for those who don’t like it cold.”
A second ghost came through the wall behind Kyung, startling Jaehyo at its sudden appearance. Ghosts didn’t understand that it was polite to use doors. “Taeil hyung, we’re supposed to be wandering the halls together. We’re not together if you run off.”
The first ghost tilted his head to the side and threw his hands in the air, “I was trying to warn whoever was in the room about the leaking dark magic and its only Jaehyo. Just hurry up and finish the deal before you get caught. That thing doesn't belong here.”
Jaehyo threw his hands up in the air, “What deal?”
The three supernatural beings in the room stared directly at Jaehyo, giving him the creeps, and said, “The deal,” as one. "Your time is running out," the first ghost said with a frown on his hazy white face. Then the two ghosts flickered and disappeared, leaving Jaehyo alone with Kyung once again.
“Fine, let’s make a deal.”
Kyung smirked, “Good now we’re talking. What is it that you most desire?” He started to circle around Jaehyo like he was sizing him up. “Is it the girl in your spells class? She’s pretty, but she isn’t really into you. I could fix that.”
Jaehyo’s heart sped up, “That wouldn’t be right.”
“Of course of course.” Kyung shook his head, “How about I fix some of your grades. They’re not that good.”
Jaehyo opened his mouth to agree, his grades really weren’t that great. However, if he got the demon to change them, then people might expect him to be better than he was. “No thanks,” he said regretfully.
“Now you’re being difficult. You wanted a good luck charm from a fortune spirit right? How about I give you a good luck charm.” Kyung snapped his fingers and a wooden talisman appeared in his hands.
“A good luck charm?” Jaehyo held out his hands, “That is what I want. I have this exam tomorrow and I could use the good luck.”
Kyung tossed the charm and Jaehyo catches it. The charm glowed in his hands and it felt warm like Jaehyo imagined it should coming from a fire demon.
“You can keep that. It should be good for a day for all the luck you’ll need.”
Jaehyo slipped it into his pants pocket, “Thanks.”
A silence fell between them after Jaehyo had the charm secured in his pocket. Fidgeting, Jaehyo tucked his hair behind his ear. “What do I have to give in return?”
“One drop of blood will do,” Kyung said, holding out his hand.
“Just one drop, that’s it?” Jaehyo wasn’t sure if this was a trick, or if human blood was like drugs to demons.
Kyung moved closer to him, “One drop is fine, but if you bleed all over the place I’ll gladly take it.”
Giving Kyung a drop of his blood appeared to be harmless. One drop was a small amount to pay for a good luck charm. Jaehyo decided to agree in case the demon went back and changed his mind or asked for more.
“Do you need to do the honors?” asked Jaehyo, lifting his hand up from his side.
“Not really, but I do have this.” Kyung grabbed his hand and bit his wrist before Jaehyo had processed what Kyung had in mind. He felt a sharp pain as fanged teeth punctured his skin and a tongue licked up the blood that welled to the surface.
Kyung licked his lips, “Not bad, you’re a little dehydrated though.” He dropped Jaehyo’s wrist.
Jaehyo covered his wounded wrist with his hand, “That hurt, and I think that was more than one drop.”
“Well, sue me next time you see me in hell.” Kyung shrugged, “Thanks for the snack human.” He laughed.
Jaehyo opened his mouth, “You’re an ass - ”
“See ya!”
Kyung faded away into the dark leaving Jaehyo alone in the room.
His wrist still burned from the demon’s bite, and he hoped it wouldn’t leave a mark. Jaehyo frowned, took out his wand, and began to clean up.
He'd done it; he passed the exam.
Jaehyo eased back into his pillows the next night. With the help of the good luck charm, he managed to pass his exam with the highest grade he’d gotten in the class yet. For some reason, all the answers came to him. Whatever the demon did, it worked.
He rolled onto his side, intending to go to bed, and shrieked. Jaehyo kicked his legs and scrambled to not fall off his bed.
Where there should have been empty space, a figure now lay propped up on top of the blankets next to him.
A garbled exclamation of fright left Jaehyo’s throat. Recovering, he sat up, “What are you doing here?”
His blankets pooled to his waist.
Kyung raised his eyebrows, “It worked didn’t it? The charm?”
“Yes, it worked! Now go away,” Jaehyo said. He watched Kyung’s face and saw how his eyes were drawn not to his own face, but to his bare chest. Quickly, he grabbed his blanket and clamped it under his armpits.
“But I like it here,” said Kyung happily, rolling over onto his stomach and pressing his face into Jaehyo’s bed. “It’s fun here.”
Jaehyo pushed on Kyung’s back, “I hear hell’s a lot of fun, why don’t you go back.”
“No.”
“How are you even here anyway?”
“A drop of human’s blood has a lot of uses you know. And I really need a break from hell.”
Jaehyo felt a shiver run down his spine, extending to the tips of his fingers and toes. He should have known that giving the demon a drop of his blood wasn’t a wise decision. “What do you mean?”
Kyung turned back over onto his bed, legs sliding up and knees bending. Lazily, he swung his head to face Jaehyo, “Your blood.” He held up one pointer finger. “Plus mine.” He held up the pointer finger on his other hand, and then brought them together, “Equals a blood connection. I can find you in this realm.”
“Why the hell would you want to do that?” Jaehyo asked; frightened that he was going to get in trouble with the school for having forged a deal with a demon that reeked of bad news. “Can’t you find someone else to have a blood connection with?”
“But I like you.” Kyung sat up and scooted closer, causing Jaehyo to scoot backwards until his ass was all but falling off the edge. “You’re so dumb, it’s cute.”
“I am cute,” Jaehyo said before realizing he was agreeing with the demon, “wait, no I’m not cute for you.”
“Sure. Anyway, I’m going to need a supply of that blood to let me go between realms, so keep it coming.” Kyung moved his top lip and his fangs slid into view. “One drop only goes so far.”
Grabbing his healing wrist, Jaehyo rubbed the scabs from Kyung’s bite the previous day.
“Hell no.”
Kyung sighed, “Fine, I’ll help you do your little witch school. I can help you achieve power you could only ever imagine.”
“You will?”
“Hello genius here? I’m an accountant. I didn’t get this job for nothing. Anyone can torture the souls of sinners,” said Kyung, a ring of smoke escaping from his nostrils.
Jaehyo flinched, “I guess if you help me with your magic I’ll let you stay. Just no going off and causing trouble like killing people or creating trouble for my school.”
“Of course,” Kyung said, “I’ll make you into one of the most powerful witches in this school.”
This could be another bad idea, but Jaehyo did want power, or at the very least, to not always be passing with the lowest grades possible. His good looks could take him far, but they’d only take him so far.
“Alright, but only for as long as I still need the help.”
“Good.”
Then Kyung bit his own arm, bloody teeth showing when he lowered his arm away from his mouth.
“Okay that’s gross - ” Jaehyo said, but he wasn’t prepared for Kyung leaning over, putting a hand at the back of his head, and smashing their lips together. The taste of Kyung’s blood was of ash with a metallic aftertaste. He coughed when Kyung pulled away, the revolting flavor wouldn’t leave his tongue.
However, he felt different - more energized and stronger than before.
He sputtered, “What, what, what did you do?” His lips tingled.
“If we share blood, we can connect our powers. You just got a taste of what it would be like to work together.” Kyung licked his lips.
“I’ve never felt my magic this clear before.”
Kyung laughed, “If you like what blood can do, just imagine what other fluids can do.” He winked and tipped his head to the side twice.
Jaehyo paused for a beat, narrowing his eyes and trying to think of what fluids Kyung was referring to.
“You pervert, I’ll never!” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s what they all say,” Kyung said with another fang-toothed grin.
“I said no!”
Kyung rolled off the bed, “You’ll come along.”
Jaehyo threw his pillow at him.