On the Darkest Night

"So will you grant my wish?"

Even the way she sat was arrogant. Her back straight, leg elegantly resting on the other, and even though she was shorter than him, the way she held her chin made it seem as though she were looking down at him. He bit back a sneer, instead giving her his best version of the English smile, lips curved upwards, and just a hint of teeth.

"Was it you who summoned me?" The dark haired boy inclined his head the side, feigning curiosity. Of course it was her who had summoned him, that much was clear. He had heard much about her. About the girl who killed for sport and smoked cigarettes of their skin. It was the one fear of every Djinn to be summoned by a human like her. To be forced to grant the wishes of humans who had such dark twisted hearts.

And yet here he was, sitting opposite her, his head propped against his palm, feeling quite comfortable. The series of circles and stars drawn across the floor underneath him told him that he was confined to that one chair, and trying to escape would only lead to immense pain. But he didn't mind being held prisoner. He had been incredibly bored in his own realm, with nothing to do and no one to talk to. It was the foolishness of humans that entertained him. And foolishness seemed to be present inside the young women who had summoned him.

She crossed her arms delicately. "I am." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Your not how I expected you to look."

He gave her a lazy grin. "I appear differently in each realm." He examined himself in the mirror the sat behind the girl. He looked no older than a twenty year old man, with golden skin and dark hair. Reasonably fit, he supposed, with eyes of glittering amber.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "There are other realms?"

"I'm not obliged to answer your questions." Came the curt reply.

She leaned forward, growing irritated. Another thing about humans-- they take everything personally. "But I'm the one who summoned you!"

He let his sigh drag out dramatically. "I'm not a genie, you know, I won't grant you wishes just because you ask me to. I'm a Djinn." He pouted. "I'm honestly offended that you couldn't tell the difference."

The girl, to his surprise, gave him a catlike grin. "So you can't grant my wish." She said flatly, leaning back into her chair. A flash of irritation cut through his chest.

"Of course I can." He scolded. "But I won't, why should I? Just to appease a human who has done nothing for me?"

He could tell the girl was full of tension. Her shoulders were almost rigid, her toes curled tightly under her socks, and though she hid it well, well enough the he almost missed it, he was certain it was there.

"And what if," She said quietly, "I force you?"

He couldn't stop the harsh laugh from escaping his lips. "Force me? Force me? And how, pray tell, will you do so? So long as I'm in this barrier you cannot touch me." He didn't attempt to hide his snarl this time. "And even if I wasn't, what gives you the idea that you can force me?"

"This." She stated casually, reaching for an old and tattered book that he hadn't noticed resting on the dresser besides her.

It was his turn to stiffen. That was the Book the Lore. The only known book to exist that entailed the details about the Djinn. What they loved, if the loved, and what they feared. And he knew exactly which page in that book gave directions for extreme torture. He would never die, just live in pain until he gave in and be forever shamed.

The thought made his stomach twist.

"Where did you get that?" He demanded and made as if to reach for it, but instantly curled his fingers back, reminded of the barrier between them.

"Oh this old thing?" She smiled, all teeth and no humor. "I traveled very far this, and payed the price in blood."

"Yours?" He couldn't help but ask and her grin widened.

"Does it matter?" She let the book rest on her lap. "As long as I have this, you must grant my wish."

He glared at her. "And what, exactly, do you wish for?"

She straightened. "I wish to know how I will die."

"Be careful what you wish for." Said the boy. "You ask for what you want but are you prepared to get it?"

"There is nothing more I want than to know how I will perish." She said, without hesitation.

Silence. Then,

"You humans are all the same." He said, disgust dripping from his words. "You are more arrogant and foolish than I had hoped, but if that is what you desire, I shall tell you," His eyes flickered, "For a price."

Her expression hardened. "A price?" She spat. "I can tear all your skin from your body and keep you alive for all eternity, and you're telling me that I must pay a price?"

"I believe," Said the Djinn, "That you wish to know how you will die more than you want to torture me." He offered her a slow grin. "Torture me all you want, but you will never get your answer, and with a profession like yours, you will be paranoid for all the short time you have left."

Her eyes were like ice and he could almost hear her thoughts. Was it worth taking the risk?

"Very well." Said she, lifting her chin. "What price must I pay?"

"I want my freedom of course, after I have granted your wish." He wet his lips. "And I want that book."

Her eyes flew open, and she took a step forward, enraged. "You make two request , I'm afraid, in exchange for one. I refuse!"

He rolled his eyes, feeling quite enraged himself. He would make her pay for how she's been humiliating him. "The book belongs to a Djinn not a human!" He snarled, lips pulled back. "It is not a request you are fulfilling but a demand! If it shall not be so than I will not grant your wish, and my burning flesh will not give you what you desire most!"

She seethed at him, her lips pulled back in her own snarl. She made to move forward another step, but caught herself. Another step and she would be inside his circle. She inhaled sharply, eyes gleaming with resentment. "If I set you free will you swear by the stars that you will not come after me?"

He bit back a curse. That was exactly what he had planned on doing, but so be it. There would be other ways to get his revenge. "I swear by the stars that I will not directly come after you when I am free."

She nodded, mostly to herself, her chest heaving with a breath. "Very well, than I swear by the stars that I shall grant you your freedom and the book."

She snapped her fingers and the drawings underneath him disappeared. He felt his ears pop, as if the pressure in the room had changed, and instant relief. He stood, throwing his arms over his head in an exaggerated stretch.

"My wish, demon, or I shall put this book to good use." The girl spat and his lip curled.

"You wish to know how you will die? Fine. You will die in the darkest way, by the one you would never suspect, in between the darkest night and the lightest day."

"That is no answer!" She said. "That is a riddle."

"Riddles often have answers." He held back a smirk. "If one is smart enough to find them."

As he suspected she was too proud to admit that she wouldn't be able to find the answer, and as soon as his claws wrapped around the binds of the book, he disappeared into a dark mist of laughter and fury.

Sixteen years had past, and there was no moon to light the night. A young women, hidden beneath a large black cloak, stumbled out of a small town. She flinched when someone stepped too close, gasping at the flash of silver, only metal that adorned women's wrists not blades that would take her life.

She threw herself into the woods dwelling deeper and deeper and deeper still.

She couldn't live like this anymore.

And there, on the darkest night of the month, a flash of silver cut through the air and through her flesh and through her heart, guided none other than her own hand. Before the dark had overtaken her completely, she could swear that she heard a familiar laughter, and a familiar voice,

"Be careful what you wish for."