Prologue

A full year after his passing the mourning had not run it's course. The heaviness was in her limbs as much as her mind. Things she used to find funny now only caused a deepening of the pain. He should have been there to laugh with her, or at her, or just near her. It was more than crying, it was the kind of desolate sobbing that comes from a person drained of all hope. She sank to her knees at the tiny grave, not caring for the damp mud that dirtied her dress. Her tears mingled with the rain and her gasping wails echoed around the gravestones. The pain that flowed from her was as palpable was the frigid fall wind.

He should be gossiping about the people he worked with worse than an old woman. But most of all he should be there to hug her goodnight and kiss her before she left for work. She missed all that. Now there was just a graveyard, a stone that bore his name and his cold bones beneath the soil. She had always been agnostic, but now she put all her faith in God to care for him and reunite them when her life was done. Nothing and nobody that good could simply disappear, he was waiting, she could feel it.

But someone else had heard her prayers, if not God.

“You are right, Daughter of Man, he is waiting for you,” said a voice from behind her as she turned back stunned at the voice.

“Who are you?” asked the girl. She was barely seventeen years old but her eyes had a maturity which took her beyond her years.

“Ahhh!! Who I am is not important at all…the bigger question is, do you know how he could find you again? Or how would you find him again??” asked the man with a clever smile on his face. He was wearing dark clothes and had slick hair which made her feel sick. There was something very wrong about this entire conversation but curiosity got the better of her.

“How will I find him again?” she asked.

“You will find him time and time again, Daughter of man, but for that, there is a price. Although when it comes to finding your love for an eternity, I doubt that the price could be ascertained. But I can definitely offer you a deal. You are beautiful enough to make angels fall for you, child,” said the man as he smiled at her.

“Do it,” she said without hesitation.

“I knew that you would be the intelligent girl that you look like, Daughter of man. Eternal love in exchange of eternal damnation in hell for your soul. A right price I think,” said the man again as the air swirled around his hands darkly. And a scroll appeared in his hands.

“Every twenty years you will have no memory of the last score of years and start anew in a new place searching for the other half of your soul. While you would no longer remain the Daughter of Man, you would be the Daughter of Hell, the Daughter of Lilith, Queen of Succubi….the one who will teach you how to bring the men to damnation. That will be the purpose of the rest of your existence,” said the man as he chuckled darkly.

“If I find him then all of this matters no more. There is no greater reward than finding my true love again,” she whispered as she pricked her finger and placed it on the contract.