A Demon's Contract by Delmire Hart

Author:Delmire Hart [Hart, Delmire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-10-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Zaxor shrugged, unconcerned, before reaching out to slip the thin branch behind Barkley’s ear. He slapped the demon’s hand away, although he could just make out the flower perched beside his ear from the corner of his eye. Anger rolled through him as the stunned surprise wore off.

“What the fuck was that?!” Barkley all but yelled, his rage barely held in check. “You said you would help me!”

“I merely called a fool out on their supposed cunning,” Zaxor replied, serene as before. “You are screaming as though all is lost. You are still thinking like a farm boy, not someone aspiring to change the world.”

“That was my ticket into the army! Now I’ve wasted precious weeks, for what?”

Despair threatened to overtake the anger, and it was all Barkley could do to hold the feeling at bay. Desperate thoughts of his family suffering, their ordeal extended days beyond what was necessary, all because of this arrogant demon standing before him. The thoughts choked him, crowding his mind.

“Max already provided you with an alternative, you have a ticket into the army.”

“And he said it was better to get the mage license first,” Barkley snapped. The effect was lost as he choked on a sob, the anguish over the wasted time finally clawing to the surface.

“So far all you’ve done is accepted the path in front of you, barely pushing away from the path others have shown you. I told you before, forge your own path.” Zaxor’s voice was sharp, the first sign of any emotion from the demon. “You never spoke with anyone from the military directly, you’ve based your course of actions on assumptions and well-intended suggestions. It’s time you stepped back, looked at what your goal is, and chase it with the same determination that brought you to me in the first place. Complacency leads you to the same ending as the mages here.”

The swirling mix of emotions raging through him took on the tint of anger as Barkley’s glare at Zaxor intensified. The arrogant bastard was making it out as though him losing the opportunity for the mage license was not only his fault, it was a stupid idea to begin with.

“It’s not like you’ve helped me so far,” Barkley spat. “You said you would, and now you’ve undone everything I’ve worked for.”

“You’re fixating on something that’s pointless.” Zaxor turned his attention to Barkley’s tiny desk, picking up the small anchor stone he had left there. “I agreed to help you win the war to save your family, not hold your hand as you dither in a place so far from the war that I can only idle away my time. I’ve told you before that you need to stop playing other people’s games and make your own choices.”

Any retort he had was interrupted by a wheezing Max bursting into the room. The mage clung to the door frame as he tried to catch his breath. A small huff of annoyance was all the warning Zaxor gave before he vanished back to the demon realm, his anchor in hand.

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