Summary
A Deal Made in Darkness
Highlights
The Warning and the Deal
A mysterious child delivers an ominous, haunting warning for Mary to never leave her bed on a future date. Despite her promise to remember, the sudden arrival of a yellow-eyed demon forces her into a desperate situation. Having lost her parents and John, Mary accepts a soul-binding deal from the demon to bring John back to life, fully aware of the dire consequences.
Burial and Aftermath
After John is revived, Mary handles the burial of her parents alone, keeping John sedated to protect him from the harsh reality of her actions. She plants flowers over their unmarked graves, struggling to process her grief and the heavy weight of the lies she is forced to tell. Her internal turmoil persists, unwashed away by time or comfort.
The Weight of Deception
John awakens, offering mundane comforts like coffee and pancakes, oblivious to the supernatural price Mary has paid for his return. Mary swears to herself that she will stop lying to him, though she recognizes the fragility of that resolution. They find solace in intimacy, clinging to one another as a form of protection against the darkness they have faced.
A Fragile Promise
Despite the history of death and the dangerous path she has dragged him onto, John remains unfailingly kind. Mary finds a renewed sense of purpose in her vow to keep him safe at all costs. In the light of the rising sun, she finds a desperate, personal prayer in her promise that nothing will happen to him as long as she is there.
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Original text
No matter what you hear or what you see, promise me you won't get out of bed.
Mary wants to dismiss this kid who showed up out of nowhere and thinks he has all the answers but the words keep reverberating. Promise me, he said with unchecked desperation, like whether or not she stays in bed on an arbitrary date years in the future affected him down to the core of his soul. Like he knew something that terrified him.
Mary swears she'll remember, just in case, but then the demon shows up and the date slips from her mind.
Her parents are dead and John is dead and she doesn't know what the hell she's supposed to do.
The yellow eyed bastard who's stolen her dad shows up and offers her a deal, ten years before he comes to collect God knows what, and she takes it. His mouth tastes like sulfur and she's damned, she knows it, but everyone she loves is dead and there's nothing else she can do and the son of a bitch knows it too.
When John gasps awake in her arms, saying her name, it's all she can do not to completely break down.
Mary never was much of one for religion for all the trappings she wears. It could go either way with hunters from what she's seen. Mom dragged them to church every week but it was always more to get a sense of who might be struggling with something a lot bigger than them and probably having real nasty claws.
She buries Dad and Mom herself. John insists on staying after he tries to take her away from the house and she nearly clocks him for it. When it comes down to it though, Mary can't send him away and she knows she owes him more than that besides so she makes him a drink and slips a few herbs of Mom's into it. She lays in his arms until he is asleep and then she kisses him and he doesn't stir and then she gets out the shovel and the salt.
It’s light by the time she’s done and she can't give them actual gravestones but she gives them each flowers instead from the bulbs Mom kept in the garage until spring. Daffodils for Dad and tulips for Mom and once another year goes by, Mary tells herself, they'll be beautiful.
When she’s done she can't think of anything to say and just tells them that she loves them. John is still out on the couch but it should wear off soon and she finds that the shower she takes to wash the sweat and the dirt and the night off of her does nothing to stop the shaking. No matter how hot she turns it the night isn't rinsing or melting off of her, out of her.
She turns the water off and there is a knock at the bathroom door and John is asking her if she wants coffee, offering to make pancakes if she wants. Something twists inside of her, hard, the first thing she's felt since he'd fallen, neck twisted all wrong, at her feet. She doesn't let go of his hand until they are in the kitchen and he’s setting to work.
I took care of it, she says and he looks at her and asks does she mean she'd called someone and she says yes and they both know it’s a lie but she swears to herself suddenly that it is the last one she'll ever tell him.
That is likely a lie too, of course, but Mary doesn't let herself think of that, she just busies herself finding cups for the coffee and once they are sitting down on the couch he leans over and kisses her gently, so gently, on the temple, and she puts her coffee down, takes his from him and puts it down and kisses him hard enough that she starts to feel something inside of her again.
You know I'll never let anything happen to you, she says and this is not a lie. Nothing. And she kisses him again because the truth of it is burning her.
Mary, he says when she takes her lips away again. We don't have to…I mean, you've been through… Even after all of this, after she's lied and nearly got him killed, hell, after she did get him killed but nearly made it stick, after she dragged him down into this with her, there is still this kindness in his eyes fighting out the lust and his voice is low with that lust and broken with that gentleness.
She will not tell him. The sun is rising and there is a chance here, slim and weak, winged but fluttering. Mary kisses him again. His arms go around her waist, pull her down on top of him as they both stretch out. Nothing, she says again and knows she has found a prayer she can believe in, nothing's going to happen while I'm here.