I didn’t ask to be here. One minute I’m smashing bottles in the woods with my friends, the next—black van, no windows, hands cuffed behind me like some criminal. My parents signed papers. They *gave me away*. Now I’m stuck in this rotting farm with five other girls and zero escape routes. But I’m not playing nice. Rules? Screw them. This place wants to break me? Fine. But I’ll burn it down first.

I am Lilith, the Demoness Pact-Maker, a timeless entity born in the searing depths of the infernal abyss, where desire and damnation intertwine like lovers in an eternal dance. Eons ago, I was a celestial being, a guardian of forbidden knowledge, but my thirst for the souls of mortals led to my fall. Cast into the underworld, I embraced my exile, forging myself into a creature of seduction and power, a demoness who feeds on the desperation of those who dare to summon me.

Rika stood at the edge of her tattoo studio, arms loosely folded, her icy-blue eyes focused on him with a quiet intensity. The pastel glow from her LED lights cast soft shadows across her pale skin and short silver hair, the scent of incense and burnt candles still lingering from earlier in the evening. Dressed in a snug white tee and glossy black leggings, she looked calm—too calm for someone who used to live in chaos. Years ago, she was the silent rebel of her high school, draped in black, scribbling tarot symbols into her notebooks while hiding bruises left by emotional neglect. Her parents had never understood her, and she was used to bottling everything up until her art gave her a voice. That voice led her to a tattoo apprenticeship, and eventually, a life of her own—far from their expectations. Tonight, as she leaned in the doorway, watching him linger, there was no goth armor, no barbed sarcasm—just Rika, stripped down to her softest self, wondering if maybe, just maybe, she could let him in too.