The Past Will Always Haunt You

"How touching," Stan remarked. "Well, before you can embark upon all of that, there's the small matter of payment. I believe we agreed one soul for another, is that right?"

"What? Oh yes." Johnny gave a dismissive glance towards Chloe. "She's all yours now."

Chloe was now openly weeping, and shaking her head. She looked at Stan with pleading eyes, but said nothing. Her voice was gone.

But Stan's next words took everyone by surprise.

"It appears we are at a bit of a misunderstanding, Johnny," he said. "Chloe's life is not yours to trade."

Johnny stopped, and disengaged Alice. He turned and faced Stan. "What do you mean?"

"You entered this deal thinking that you could just trade a random life for the one you wanted back. Except that you were wrong. I cannot take a life that was not yours to barter. It's against the Code."

"Code?" Johnny was now starting to get more than a little angry. This wasn't going according to plan at all. "What code?"

"There is only one life that every individual has to barter with. Their own."

"What!?" he snapped. "What the fuck are you talking about? Code? You're meant to be the Devil, for God's sake! You don't have to follow some fucking codes!"

"Oh no?" Stan's eyes narrowed. "You really think that? What makes you think that?"

"Everything! Everything that's written about you, in the Bible... in the Torah... in the Qur'an... in the-"

"Oh come on," Stan snapped. "You're telling me you believe this because you read about it in a stupid book? Those were all written by humankind. People who have not even the slightest idea about these things."

Johnny didn't even have an answer to this, anymore.

"So... I think it's time I collected my payment."

Before Johnny could even speak, or raise a protest, Stan raised his hand, and a jet of fire exploded from his fingertips, shooting at him like a flamethrower. Johnny screamed and howled in pain, but they did not last long. Within seconds, his body was nothing more than a burnt pile of ash on the floor.

Immediately, Alice went and stood over them, her face now a picture of anger. "You wanted to apologise to me?" she snapped. "For what? For fucking cheating on me? For humiliating me? For taking me for granted? You know, I was so blind to you before. But death made my vision 20/20. I finally got to see what a piece of shit you were. Good fucking riddance!"

She spat on the ashes. Then she turned and went straight to Chloe.

"You're the girl who was driving the car that killed me, right?"

"Ummm.... Chloe wept. "I... err... I..."

"Just answer."

"I am," Chloe answered, meekly.

"Good," Alice grabbed both sides of her face. "I've been waiting for this opportunity for too long." With that, she shoved her tongue straight into Chloe's mouth, pulling her into a very deep, passionate kiss.

"Wh... what?" Chloe breathed when her lips were finally released.

"I don't know why. But watching the five of you struggle through the pain of ending my life, spending all your time together and not enjoying this night... it broke my heart. Then I started to want to comfort you. Those feelings... well... in Heaven, they magnify by a thousand. To the point where I began to love you. All five of you. I thought I was going to have to wait forever to finally have you, to show you how much I had come to care about you. But I'm here. And I can finally express it."

All of the girls' hearts melted at this declaration. On its own, it was a heartfelt declaration of love. But it was also a huge weight off their minds. It made them feel vindicated. Forgiven.

There was the sound of slow clapping, and they looked to see that Stan was still there, his face a picture of amusement.

"Yes, I'd love to be able to stay and watch this next bit. But I'm afraid I must return to my Kingdom. So I'm going to have to rearrange everything so that your return will make sense."

"How are you going to do that?" Amy asked.

"Fairly simple," Stan replied. "Rewriting memories, changing official records, et cetera. Five years ago, the five of you narrowly missed Alice with your car, and crashed into a tree. You suffered only minor injuries, but she called the ambulance. In the end, you became close friends after the accident, and spent every subsequent Halloween together."

"You can do that?" Katie asked.

"Of course. I'm Satan, you idiot!" he raised his hands. But before he did what he was going to do next, he gave a small, malicious smile. "By the way, you might need to remember this, because it's important. Chloe and Alice -- when you wake up, you two will have been engaged for six months. Katie and Hana will be in the full throes of romance. And Emily and Amy... you two will have no memory of having sex with each other. As far as you're concerned, your boyfriends are the only people you've ever been with. And as for Johnny..." he permitted himself a small smile. "He never existed. He was never born. His parents, as far as they're concerned, only ever had a daughter."

"Thank God," Alice breathed.

"I heard that," Stan snapped.

He brought his hands together, with a loud clap. Then there was a flash of light.

***

Katie opened her eyes. She felt groggy, and exhausted. Looking around, she found herself in her room. When did she get here? The sight of the overcoat she had worn earlier in the evening -- and the rest of the Mikasa Ackermann outfit she had worn -- was on the floor. She was naked.

Then she felt stirring next to her, and looked round to see that Hana was in bed next to her. She too was naked. Feeling a wave of love surge through her heart, Katie immediately leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. The eyes opened, and the lips moved into a smile.

"You feeling better now?"

"Better?"

"You'd had a bit to drink at the party. We just about managed to get you home and into bed. We thought we'd stay over."

"We? You mean the others are here as well?"

"Yeah. Emily and Amy took the guest bedroom. Chloe and Alice took the couch."

"Those two! Can you believe they're getting married!?"

"I know! I guess they have been together for, what, five years?"

"You reckon it'll be us soon?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Hana laughed. "One step at a time, beautiful. We haven't even told our parents yet!"

"Sorry!" Katie darted over and kissed her again. The kiss became deeper and more passionate. Katie's hand moved down towards Hana's pussy. Gently, she began to rub it with her fingers.

Hana's breathing became a bit more relaxed and heavy. She closed her eyes, and moaned softly.

Feeling a bit bolder, Katie began to slide her middle finger into Hana's pussy, before gently moving it in and out, teasing the sweet spot.

Hana's moans became louder. "Oh yes, oh yes... fuck..." she whispered. "That feels so good!"

Katie's fingers pumped harder. She inserted her index finger into the pussy, and leaned down to suck Hana's left nipple into her mouth.

For the next few minutes, Katie sucked on Hana's boobs, and fingered her to orgasm. It was incredible. They'd only done it once before, and she was still getting used to Hana's body. But already, she knew it so well.

Once Hana finally came, Katie kissed her once more, this time on the forehead.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," Hana whispered back.

Katie took her hand out from under the covers -- still coated in Hana's juices. In a seductive manner, she put her fingers to her lover's mouth, and Hana began to suck on them. As she did so, she suddenly jerked back.

"K-Katie?"

"What? What's the matter?"

"When did you get that tattoo?"

Taken by surprise, Katie looked at the back of her hand. And to her horror, she saw that a large Pentagram was emblazoned there.

"What the fuck!? I don't remember getting that!"

"It doesn't look like a tattoo. Maybe it was a brand?" Hana suggested.

A brand? Branding wasn't exactly the kind of thing people did at a Halloween party!

Seconds later, Hana let out a horrified gasp. She showed Katie the back of her own hand.

"There's one on my hand as well!"