THE DEVIL'S DUE

NEW YORK CITY

Luca Barone

Humans are the most desperate little fuckers amongst all of the species in this world. My purpose on earth is to sniff out the most desperate of them all, so they can sell their shitty little souls to me.

My black SUV rolled into the dirty driveway of the dilapidated looking house, and I swung my door open even before my driver stopped the car.

I stepped out of it with a goal in mind; to collect.

One soul had signed a contract with me, and his demand was fifty thousand dollars. For me, a tshirt price, for him, he was smart enough to keep his soul, but promised me double the money.

It was the sixth day of the sixth month, and my money had still not been paid. These were the kind of days I hated the most, because I would rather be in-between moist thighs. Yet here I was, debt collecting.

I walked into the house to discover my boys had set the scene for me already. The old man's knees kissing the ground, with his shirt soaked in sweat as if he dipped himself in a pool of water.

A gasp escaped his throat when they forced his head up to look at me.

“Please, I beg you to have mercy on my soul, Diavolo,” Colin Nova cried.

I huffed at how pathetic he looked begging for his life. But because I wasn't ready to respond to him yet, my eyes scanned the room that smelled like piss and poverty.

A tiny little cubicle for a living room, with barely any furniture. If I even decided to take the house, it wasn't worth as much as my weekly haircut.

My gaze returned to the sorry old man, and I began to roll my sleeve as I watched him avoid my gaze.

“You were very confident you would pay me back in three months, still, I gave you six. What did you do with the money?"

He opened his mouth to respond but I beat him to it. “You gambled it away. Since you love to play games, Mr Nova, let's play a little game called bullseye.” The corner of my lips twitched, and my eyes twinkled as two more of my boys carried a dart board into the room.

“Please Diavolo, Please!” he began to scream as my boys strapped his wrist and ankles to the board they quickly nailed on the wall.

“Look at that,” I shook my head almost pitifully. “Look at how sorry you look.”

One of the boys dropped some darts in my hand, bowed, and stepped back as I began practicing my aim.

“I have a dart championship game coming up soon. I have to prepare very hard for it. You'll help me right, Mr Nova?”

His lips quivered so hard, he couldn’t form a proper response. I sighed, and to alleviate his misery a little, threw the first dart.

He let out a high pitched screech as the dart fell directly to his pot belly. It recoiled, and fell to the ground.

A round of laughter erupted from my boys. To be fair to them, it was a hilarious sight.

They continued to laugh as I toyed with this bastard who had made the grave mistake of owing me.

“Okay, fine, fine. Let's play a more serious game.” I tossed the dart to the ground, and one of my boys brought me a couple of daggers.

Mr Nova spotted it, and his flabby body began to wobble as he made whimpering sounds.

“Dante, you roll the board, and I'll throw the dagger.”

“Please don't hurt my father!" A frail voice cried behind me.

I paused and turned to see a girl, pale in skin, but as gorgeous as the sun.

“I told you not to come out Ava! Please go hide. Please Ava!” the old man cried.

In a split second, I put two and two together, and it made me smirk.

“Is she the one you were going to offer as collateral before I told you not to worry about it?”

His eyes widened, and he swiftly went on the defensive. “No Diavolo. It’s not her. My Ava is sick. Terribly sick. She has nothing to offer you. Please don't take her.”

I took another quick glance at the girl. It seemed like Mr Nova was telling the truth. Her back was hunched, and she looked like her legs would give way underneath her at any second now.

“What a waste of pretty,” I muttered in my mind.

“Alright. She's out of the equation. You pay me now, give me something worthy that would help repay your debt, or die. The choice is yours.”

He didn't waste any time. In a heartbeat, he responded.

“My second daughter, Take her. She's all yours. I'll give you her address. She'll help pay my debts."

My head doubled back in amazement. Things just got even more interesting.

“You’re willing to sell one and not the other? Cold.”

“She is not sick."

It was the only thing he said.

I looked behind to see his daughter's reaction. All she did was cry. Her sister was taking her place in the devil's hands and all she could do was cry.

It was certainly amusing.

“Fine. my boys will collect this daughter of yours address. For your sake, she better be real.”

“She's very real.” He bobbed his head.

“Sold.” I threw him a wink.

The daughter flinched as I walked past her towards the door.

Poor thing. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. That is if she wasn't in the middle of one already.

I was never going to accept her anyway. She smelled like death. And the only death I welcomed was the one forged from the furnace of my own fingers.

When my boys came out, it was with an address. They disclosed it to me through our wireless earplugs that connected us together.

“Drive,” I commanded my driver. “Call Niko,” I said to my artificial intelligence assistant.

“Boss?” My underboss answered on the very first ring.

“Prepare my private jet. I'm going to Los Angeles.”

“As you wish.”

The call ended, and my eyes set in a determined glint. A soul had been sold to clear a debt, and as the devil, it was only my duty to collect.