It was day outside, and Arthur slept inside his cell under the church. Then, a noise woke him up, and he knew precisely what sound it was.
"Someone is opening a cell," he thought as he got up and tried to peek at the dungeon corridor to see who was getting out.
A priest had opened the cell of one of the captains, and with the help of a spell, the priest tied up the vampire, pulling him out of the dungeon-like an animal.
That was not a good sign, and Arthur knew the other captains were in danger, as the priests would start killing them, one by one, and only Arthur would remain.
"This is not good. Wait, what's that priest doing?" Arthur thought as he looked at the dungeon's entrance.
There were two priests, the one pulling out one of the captains and that same priest who tried to go toward Arthur's cell, but the Bishop stopped him.
"I will keep watching the door to make sure none of them try something," the priest said.
"Sure. Be careful, Jake."
The priest who had the vampire tied in a rope did not think Jake was acting suspicious, and it was normal for a priest to keep watching the dungeon's door — they did shifts for it as well.
But Arthur, who heard the conversation from afar, felt something strange about the situation.
When that priest left, Jake slowly made his way toward the deepest parts of the dungeon, where Arthur was.
There, he saw a young man with long blond hair and deep red eyes.
"What are you doing here, priest? Isn't this against the rules?" Arthur said, looking up toward the priest, smiling.
"I-I"
Jake was lost for words, and when he made contact with Arthur's eyes, all he wanted to do was run away, afraid of the demon in front of him.
"Do you want something, Jake? I can give you anything."
A pact. Arthur wanted to get Jake on his hands, and then he would get his help to flee from that place.
"You can do anything? Are you serious about this?" Jake asked, putting both of his hands on the cell's bars.
Arthur scratched his long nails on the cell's tiles, making a sound from a horror movie.
"It depends. I am not the strongest demon, you know, but tell me, what do you want?"
"There's a girl here in this town. She owns a flower shop, and I am in love with her, but she's not willing to date a priest, you know, this is against the rules…. And I cannot leave my duty, so can you make her date me?"
"Are you willing to run away with her? You know people will discover you two are dating, and you are a priest," Arthur said.
"Yes, I am, can you do it?"
Arthur smirked and said, "yes, I can. But there are some conditions, you know."
"Like what?"
The biggest condition was that the priest would give up his soul and have to obey anything Arthur told him to for eternity, and his essence would grant Arthur power, and he would also gain power himself.
But, if he said that, the man could get scared to death and move away from the pact. Jake only wanted a lover, and it was not like it was something impossible for him to give up.
"You will have to help me leave. Please help the others in those cells if you can, but I am the priority."
Arthur was not stupid. Some of the other captains were decent vampires, but they were not him! He would always think about his safety first, especially in a dangerous situation with a rank three mage, the Bishop, trying to murder him.
"Okay, I can help you with that. So, how does the pact work?" Jake asked.
"First, you will have to bring me something from her. It could be a piece of clothing, a strand of hair, anything. Then, we will make the pact, and she will do anything for you. Also, Jake, don't act suspicious up there, and we never had this conversation before, right?"
"I understand."
Jake nodded, returning to the dungeon's entrance, acting like the guard he was supposed to be until someone else came to take the position.
"Agatha and I will be together," thought Jake as he left the church area and went into Agatha's shop in the middle of the town.
Agatha was busy with many clients, and Jake took the opportunity to get a comb that belonged to her. With it, not only he got an item that belonged to Agatha but also some strands of hair, which would help Arthur make the pact.
"Should I go to the dungeon now? Or should I wait?" Jake thought.
If he went there, people would get suspicious of him. No one wanted to get multiple shifts because watching the dungeon was boring, and the place smelled like shit.
It was a nightmare to any of the priests, and Jake had to wait until his turn again, which took him four days.
~~~~
During these four days, the priests removed other captains from their cells, and those vampires never returned.
Arthur was almost sure they were killing them, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it.
And after four days, it was time for Jake to act as the guard of the dungeon, and when he was alone there, Jake went toward Arthur's cell with a comb in his hands.
"I got this from Agatha," Jake said, giving the comb to Arthur.
"I need some of your blood," Arthur said.
Jake did not like getting hurt, but if that got Agatha to love him, he would do anything. So he went closer to the cell and placed his right arm between the cell bars.
Arthur poked it with his nails, and the blood fell on the comb, and it was time for the pact.
Strange words came out of Arthur's mouth in a foreign language.
"How am I speaking this?"
Before, Arthur had no idea what that language was, but after he started the chant, the knowledge entered his mind, and he now knew a new language, the one the Blood Monarch used to perform most of the chantings from his spells.
"Is this the language from that other universe?" Arthur thought, but there was no way for him to get these answers.
As he kept chanting, images of Agatha appeared inside his mind, and the comb shone in a red light. Then, with his eyes closed, Arthur said, "say it aloud what you want."
"I want Agatha to fall in love with me, and we will be together for eternity," Jake said.
When he finished his sentence, a mark appeared on Jake's body, right on his stomach. Two bat-like wings.
Now Jake's soul belonged to Arthur, and he got himself a new worshiper who would have to do his bitting for the rest of his life.
"Done. Agatha is now crazy over you, and you must help me leave this place."
"Why would I do that? Now I have the girl, and you can remain here, so no one will ever know about this," Jake said, laughing like a maniac.
"Kid, do you think you can fool the devil?" Arthur said coldly.
Jake believed Arthur was speaking bullshit, but when he turned around to leave, all Arthur had to say was, "stop moving and get back here."
It was like a mysterious force took over Jake's body, and he did precisely as Arthur told him to.
"Now, where were we? Right, you will help me escape."