The Devil's Bargain

HERA

I had been hunted for years until I was captured for the complete massacre of an entire village. The rage in me that day knew nothing but bloodshed, I had only realised what I had done when they began hunting me and now here I was sitting in chains, my hands and feet all bound in chains as I stared into nothingness.

"Do you regret what you did Hera?" Pierre, my lawyer , asked me after a moment of silence.

"No," I replied with my head still hung low and my eyes fixed on my cuffed hands.

"Why?" he asked, his face full of concern.

"I do not have room for any more emotion," I whispered with a very rough voice, my throat was dry as I had not had a taste of water in two days.

"But you are depressed, is that not emotion?"

"I am not," I raised my head, my wet hair sticking to my face and stared into nothingness.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly with a sigh. I could feel his helplessness and his frustration and I wished I could tell him that this was a complete waste of time.

"Don't be," I said with a gruff voice. I hated to hear the sound of pity in his voice.

"I should be, you need empathy, Hera," He tried to reach for my hands and I withdrew sharply with hiss.

"Do I?" I said returning my gaze to him, his obsidian eyes darkened and his brows were knot in concern. He looked tired by burden;a burden that wasn't his to bear. I did not need his pity, I needed no one's pity.

"Mmmm….. you do," he said with a nod staring back at my empty eyes and of course he could see the voidness in my soul.

"Ohh," I said licking my charred lips

"There's still hope for you Hera,"

"Mmmm," I hummed, returning my gaze to nothingness, my thoughts wandering away from the entire scene.

"You can still live the life you want, Hera." Pierre tried staring into my cold void eyes.

"What life do I want?" I asked no one in particular in a tone lower than a whisper.

"To be happy, to feel normal again," he said in a hushed tone.

"Sorry sir, her time is up," the officer in charge barged in, Interrupting Pierre and jacked me up from my seat with one arm such that my chains cackled, I stood up and turned to leave but someone gripped my hand tightly and I turned.

"Think again Hera, it's never too late to live again,"

I stared into his dilating pupils.

"You're scared," I said with that wretched smile and a flat tone.

"I'm not, you're not the monster they think you are," Pierre said in between breaths.

"Move Miss!" The officer nudged me and after I had gone through the metal door with a thin glass in the centre I said to Pierre

"Do not fret any longer Pierre. There's no answer as to what I am." After mouthing those words I gave a devilish grin as I saw his lips quaver.

They led me back behind those giant doors that I had been behind for what seemed like an eternity, The doors screeched open and I was pushed in, before the screeching sound was heard again.

I walked barefooted on the cold greasy metal floor, back to the platform where I sat and hung my head low. My black, long, wet and dirty hair covered my face and closed my eyes so I was engulfed into nothing but darkness.

I couldn't recall how many hours went by before I heard voices approaching

"We have room for only two prisoners," The first man said.

"We have just one for transfer Sir," The officer replied curtly.

"She's the longest we've had here,"he added.

"She?" The man asked In surprise.

"Yes Sir, it's a female and from her file it appears she's not normal and had played a great role in the act of sorcery and voodoo magic,"

The officer explained while rattling the keys to open my cell. Then came that screeching sound again, the footsteps drew nearer, and again he jerked me up rudely and nudged me.

"Move miss!"

I moved steadily behind the two men, soon I was overwhelmed by a bright light that forced me to shield my eyes with my chained hands till I adjusted to the brightness in the office, I looked around and saw a table with seats around it, some files on the table with an old shabby shelf by the corner. The first man was already seated and signed for me to have a seat, as I was about to sit, the man said to the officer.

"Unbind her."

"Sir she is quite dangerous, we are taking a huge risk," the officer tried discouraging the man who happened to be an officer with a quite high rank.

"I said unbind her," and the officer hurriedly unlocked all my chains both my hands and my legs, while fidgeting heavily but he didn't unlock the chains on my neck.

"All of it,"

The young man said sternly to the officer who hesitated a bit before finally unlocking me completely and pulling away the bundle of heavy chains to a corner, but that didn't make me feel lighter one bit. The man behind the desk glanced through some very old files which had some pages tearing off already.

"How long have you had her?" The man said clearly to the officer.

"Sir, long enough, even before the head officer was brought here, the dates on her file were altered. I believe they didn't want to disclose how long she had lived sir,"

The officer answered almost honestly, the man behind the desk tossed the file aside, clasped his hands together, and stared at me.

"What's your name miss?"

Silence

He glanced at the officer before saying.

"Is she deaf or doesn't speak at all?"

"Not at all sir, but she rarely speaks at all only to a certain visitor called Pierre," the officer answered.

"Hmm…, I see," the man said, taking off his glasses and asking the officer to leave us, which the officer bluntly obeyed. After all, who would want to be in the same room as an unchained monster.

"Young lady, what's your name?"

"Hera," I said lower than a whisper.

"Hera, hmm…" he said while nodding.

"Look at me Hera, I'm not your enemy,"

He said again with a calm voice and that was when I looked up at him. Those ocean Blue eyes matched perfectly with his beautiful blonde hair and silk hair. He had a well-chiselled face and appeared very handsome and tall, with broad shoulders and well-toned muscles fixed in the right places.

"Good, I'm Lord Clyde, half-brother to the ruler of the northern region," He said politely and I nodded.

The northern region, the last time I was there, had been centuries ago during the great war between all four realms. There, they had cleared the rest of my kind, I was the last of them and the bodies I buried that day laid a foundation of who I was now, the last descendants of the pure-blooded witches, the most powerful sorceress in the whole universe. There was one being who dominated us, only one being able to destroy us. No one but him and the rage and brutality in his eyes as he slaughtered us one by one that day had laid an indelible mark on my soul. I too was killed on that day but with forbidden magic, I was able to revive my soul so that I was reborn into another body. Centuries had passed since the last time I felt my powers. It was like it was dead or probably gone, but I didn't bother anymore; it was of no use to me anyways.

"I heard there was a prison break years ago and you didn't escape. May I know why?"

Lord Clyde asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"It wasn't time yet," I said, staring at my palm and I swear I saw him tense up for a moment before returning to his original posture.

"How would you like to transfer Hera?" he said in a tone of pity and I felt the extreme urge to drive a dagger right through one of those blue eyes. Heat crept its way to my cheeks as I burned with rage, I chewed on the insides of my cheek to suppress my anger before finally saying.

"Clyde. A cell is a cell so do not ask me like you are granting me a dream come true. And to answer your question…." I paused before continuing.

"I do not have much of a choice anyways," I said with my chest heaving. That was the longest I had spoken in a very long time. After a long silence I heard him chuckle.

"You have sharp words such as title