I am the kid in your class who always has her face hidden by a book. I am the kid who could easily lock herself up in her room for an entire summer and just read, draw, listen to foreign music on YouTube, and watch some of my favorite anime if my parents would let me and I had the supplies. I guess you could call me a dreamer, because I could live in the fantasy worlds I had erected for myself in my mind. I loved a good story about anything that I found interesting, which seemed to be nearly anything.

Nearly.

I liked to listen to the occasional campfire ghost story for a little jump, but I was never much of a fan of horror. I guess the fact of crazy murderers and monsters under a bed were pretty dull to me. So whenever someone talked about a new horror book or made some monster movie reference, I was always lost.

But Octaviaus isn't a little story. He is much, much more. He is dangerous. He is intimidating.

And he is my master.

But I'm jumping a bit ahead of myself. I guess I should start from the beginning.

-x-

The bell that rang that day was no ordinary bell. Sure, it had the same boring ring like it always had, but this bell was so much more on that day. This bell was like a song, singing of swimming pools and melting ice cream and barbeques. The bell sang of vacations to exotic places and time with friends and a window of time to make some quick money doing odd jobs. The bell sang its song of freedom, of happiness, of eternal youthful antics.

The bell that rang that day proclaimed that summer vacation had finally arrived.

The day before the bell was one that lacked the regular structure. The morning consisted of a talent show and slideshow that held pictures of times all through the year, put together by the Big Four of the Student Council (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary). Then, in the afternoon, the teachers let us bring sack lunches made by the cafeteria staff outside and eat in on the hill and on the rarely used practice field behind the school. We signed yearbooks afterwards, and were then sent to our homerooms until the bell sung its sweet song.

It seemed like everyone moved in sync when it rang. We all stood and ran out of the room. I followed the waves of people that made their way to the front doors. There were a lot of shouts about no more school and freedom, and then just some general shouts of joy. I gave a small shout of joy as well.

"Felix!" I heard Amy's shout coming from behind me. I spun around to see my friend running towards me.

"Hey, Amy!" I said happily.

"Isn't this so wonderful?" Amy said, her voice filled to the brim with joy. "It's like the end of an era! Eight grade felt like it was moving pretty slow at some parts, didn't it?"

I nodded. "I'm just glad school's out. More reading time!"

She laughed. "Hopefully, you'll be reading a published book of mine!"

Amy was short for a 14 year old. She had brown hair that she had highlighted blonde a week ago. She had pretty hazel colored eyes, and a pair of glasses she kept really clean. She never tried to match her outfits, and never in her life wore even a smudge of makeup. She was very creative, full of energy, and had a dream of being a famous author. Every summer since she first started writing, she said she would become published and be instantly popular.

We're still waiting for that to happen.

We both got outside and began the walk home. The school wasn't too far from our street, so we decided a while ago to walk home instead of riding the bus there. Our path went right through downtown, and since we weren't expected to come immediately home that day, we decided to do a bit of store browsing, meaning we just went inside and looked at stuff.

After about thirty minutes, we were getting a bit tired of wandering around. We decided just to continue our walk home. However, we took the shortcut.

In between the shops, there were alleys. You could walk through them and end up only a street away from our road in half the time it would take you to get there. We discovered this secret one day went we were wandering around downtown one day. It became our little shortcut, and we used it whenever we were in a hurry to get home.

Amy and I slipped into the alley by the post office and began to wander through. We had only made the first turn when we smelled it.

The smell of blood faintly filled the air.

"Is that… blood?" Amy whispered to me.

"I think so," I whispered back.

Amy looked a little bit scared.

"We should investigate!" I said.

Amy gave me a fearful yet stern look. "NO! We need to get home. Besides, now is not really the best time for adventure."

I gave her a playful shove. "Oh, come on! Don't you want to write a good adventure story? Well, what's a better way to do it with the inspiration that a real one brings?"

"Felix, think logically for a minute," Amy said, her voice surprisingly cold. "Do you think it would be the best idea to try to find a dead body?"

"It may not be a dead body."

"But what if it is? What if it's a silent murder, and the killer is still there?"

I smiled. "What if you're overreacting? I mean, seriously, a murderer in a small town like this?"

Amy shrugged. "You never know. Besides, that's how the characters get killed in horror stories like this. Except, we'll be killed for real."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. If you want to be all dramatic and scared, fine by me. But I'm going on an adventure."

"Fine," Amy said bitterly. "While you're off getting your nose into things we probably shouldn't be getting into, I'll be at home, safe from harm." And with that, she said goodbye and left the alley.

I sighed. Amy could write some pretty amazing action stories, but she was never really a fan of experiencing the feeling she wrote about for herself.

I guess everybody had some kind of weak point when it came to their personality.

I used my nose as a guide, and after a few false turns, the smell grew stronger. It was definitely blood, and I had a feeling it was a lot of it. I kept my breathing quiet, and moved fast enough to get there quickly, but slow enough to keep from making too much noise.

I came around a corner, and then I saw it. Fear overtook my body, and at first I quickly hid behind the corner. I took a few deep breaths, trying to register what I just saw. But the image was impossible to replace. Eventually, I took a deep breath and stood in front of the scene again.

It was a woman. Her face was twisted up in a look of fear and surprise. Her chest had been ripped right open, and the bones of her ribcage were broken. Her lungs were shredded, and her organs were all destroyed. Some were hanging out of her chest. Blood was everywhere: on the dirt streaked brick walls, on her clothes and face, in a pool around her body, and all over the murderer, who still stood before her.

The murderer was a male, but I couldn't pinpoint his age. He had black hair that fell into his crimson colored eyes. He was dressed in a white tailcoat and matching pants, but his shoes were black dress shoes polished to perfection. His suit had blood splattered on the front of it. His hands were covered in so much of it that it looked like he was wearing a pair of red gloves.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said. He turned his head so that those crimson eyes focused on me. It felt like he was staring right into my soul, and the gaze turned my blood to ice. I was paralyzed. A smirk formed silently on his face.

He turned fully to me, still smirking. He took a step towards me, his footstep echoing off the walls and ringing in my ears. He took another. Then another. Finally, when he was within reach of me, I suddenly had feeling in my legs. I ran immediately from the man.

I was terrified. I knew he was chasing after me, but I had no clue where he was. I heard his voice echoing off the walls of the alley, but I had no clue where he was. Finally, I made a sharp turn and ran into something. I fell back on the ground. I opened my eyes, and saw it was the man.

I gasped, and tried to crawl away. He bent down, grabbed my ankle, and picked me up as if I weighed nothing.

"You're very pretty," he said, still smirking. "Kind of like a robin. Yes, a very pretty robin indeed."

I began to struggle, trying to break my ankle lose. The man took me and placed me on top of a rusting trash can, holding my arms down firmly.

"Such a sweet looking robin," the man said. "I will try my best not to make you feel too much pain when I snap your neck."

His hand slowly went up my arm and placed his hand around my neck. He had a strong grip.

Terror hit me in huge waves. There was no way to get out this situation. It was it. I was dead.

"I'm going to twist your neck, robin," the man said gently, a murderous look in those eyes. "You'll feel a little pain, and then the pain will be all gone."

He readied himself for the twist. He was about to do it, and then something happened.

"WAIT!" I shouted. The man paused. "I… I'll give you anything you want. You can have my money, just don't kill me."

The man gave an emotionless laugh. "My dear robin, I don't want your petty little human objects," he said. "What I long for is in here." He relinquished his grip around my neck to poke my chest where my heart would be. He then placed his hand in the same position.

"You can do anything you want to me!" I begged. "I… I'll give my body to you."

"I don't want your body. I want your soul." The man let go of my shoulder and brushed a stray piece of hair out of my face.

"It's all yours then! Just don't kill me!"

The man paused for a moment. The smirk vanished off his face. "Do you understand what you're saying, robin? Or are you saying words just to save yourself?"

I closed my eyes. "I… I just want to live. I don't want to die."

"How about a trade then?" the man asked. "I take your soul, and you serve me until I set you free."

I opened my eyes, and looked at him. "I don't understand," I said.

He smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth. "You don't understand. I am a demon, robin, and I feast off of the souls of others. It's a simple trade: I get your soul now, and you work for me until I say you have worked enough."

A demon? I wasn't for sure if he was being serious or not, but the look in his eyes told me he wasn't making it up.

"Fine. Do it," I said coldly.

The man got a serious expression. "Think carefully before you decide, Robin. I will not let you see your family or friends. You will be in full servitude to me and only me. If you break this deal, then the Gates to Paradise will be forever closed to you."

I took a deep breath. "Yes, I mean it. Now please stop asking these questions and tell me if we have a deal."

The man smiled, but this time it gave him a demonic look. "Yes, we have a deal. Now close your eyes; the pain will be temporary."

I did as I was told, and heard the sound of hissing snakes. There was a boom in my ears, and suddenly there was a great wave of pain that washed over me. It was the worst pain of my life, and I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was blacking out all of the sudden. I felt myself going out cold. Suddenly, I heard an echoing voice in my head.

"Remember, robin, the choice was always yours to make."