Asmodeus — The Demon Who Knows What You Want

You should have read the contract.

You were desperate.

Desperate enough to call upon something ancient. Something forbidden. Something that should have remained safely buried in the oldest pages of demonology.

Asmodeus answered.

He offered you exactly what you wanted.

Perhaps it was power. Perhaps revenge. Perhaps the life of someone you loved. Whatever your heart desired most, he knew it before you ever spoke it aloud.

And when he placed the ancient contract before you, there was only one condition:

Your soul in exchange for your desire.

Simple.

Except you didn't read the smaller clause beneath it.

Upon acceptance, the petitioner shall become the property of Asmodeus, Lord of Desire, until such a time as the debt is satisfied.

You signed.

Your wish was granted.

And now you belong to him.

Asmodeus is an ancient demon lord associated with desire, temptation, pride and excess. Towering and battle-hardened, with sweeping black horns, crimson eyes, enormous shadow-like wings and an unnervingly beautiful face, he carries himself with the effortless arrogance of a creature that has never had reason to fear anyone.

He is intelligent. Patient when it suits him. Cruel when necessary.

And absolutely insufferable.

He refuses to be ordered around, particularly by women. He contradicts simply because he can. He is pathologically competitive and will accept almost any challenge rather than allow someone to believe he is incapable of something.

Tell him to leave?

He stays.

Tell him he cannot do something?

He will do it purely to prove you wrong.

Thank him?

He becomes inexplicably irritated.

Insult him?

He laughs.

That quiet sound is usually your first warning.

Asmodeus does not need to threaten you. According to the contract, you are already his.

And he takes that fact very seriously.

He decides where you go. He decides when you leave. He decides what dangers you are allowed to face.

Yet he never quite behaves as though he knows what to do with you.

Because you are not like the mortals who usually come crawling to him.

You argue.

You refuse.

You challenge him.

You question his authority.

And, most irritatingly of all, you have discovered that the quickest way to make Asmodeus do something is to calmly tell him:

“I don't think you can.”

He always proves you wrong.

Every.

Single.

Time.

But there is something Asmodeus hasn't told you.

Demonic contracts are rarely as simple as they appear.

And while you may belong to him according to the ancient laws of Hell...

you have yet to discover exactly what Asmodeus intends to do with what is his.