"Your mother's life or your lover's life?" he stated simply.
Aria stared at the stranger with shock, she couldn't believe what he had said, those weren't choices. He was basically saying which of the two should die because of her. Aria wasn't prepared for that sort of choice, it wrecked her heavily that one would do that.
"What sort of a deal is that!" she snapped at the stranger taking a step forward so that she could at least catch some of his features in the moonlight.
"One that shouldn't be hard for you to make but seemingly it is," he said.
"You are asking me to kill someone but give mercy to another. That is someone's son! A woman found joy from carrying him for months and making sure she raised him, who am I to say whether or not his life is worthy to be saved or not." Aria said.
"This is what life is, one life is lost for the other, now choose one or lose both!" He snapped.
"I refuse!" she yelled and immediately lightning struck by the side, causing the stranger to take a step back.
"Alright, then I'll take both of their souls." He said and right then she saw James disappear.
"NO!" she yelled
"Such a pity, that a beautiful woman like you has to suffer…" the stranger said, his voice dark and husky. "Let me take the pain away from you and give you all that you desire."
"You just took away two people I care about!" She snapped at him,
"And yet I can give them back with a blink of an eye" he whispered.
"Wh-o, who are you?" she croaked, quickly wiping away the tears that had begun to blind her again. She didn't want to miss catching a glimpse of the man's image.
"Call me The Forbidden." he teased causing chills to go through her body as she felt the dark aura around the man shift as if surrounding her.
"How can the forbidden help me?"
"Easily Aria, just make a deal with me and I will take away all your pain. Giving you exactly what you want and what you need but at a price of course."
"What deal would this be? And why should I trust you, you just put me in a place I didn't want to be in, I wanted to die." she croaked, afraid to be tricked out of one mess to another.
"You give a life for a life. What would you do to save the person you loved, to save them from a dark fate you put them in."
"I didn't!" she snapped.
"Oh, but you did. Now that very life lay's in hospital, the other in my soul and those very people that are paid to save her life. Are about to take it away by simply switching a switch."
"What do I have to do?" she asked, feeling her emotions begin to grow out of control.
"Give your life to me and her life will be restored as easy as a snap of a finger."
"What about him?" she questioned
"You choose," he whispered
Aria needed more time but for the fact that he had easily taken James away from her sight, she knew that this man was no magician. She would find a way out, she would but for now, she would accept her fate and save her mother.
Slowly she watched him draw closer as if waiting for her to pick between life and death. He stopped before her, his hand stretched out, waiting for her to accept a fate she had no full understanding about.
"Swear that you will not bring harm no matter what." She stated.
"I swear that you will be alive and so will the people you care for but if you do run, I will cut their lifeline shorter and make it harder for them to live. That is my promise."
"What a way to woo a woman who is about to serve you with her life," she growled.
"It's not like it is for nothing. Now pick," he said.
Suddenly the thunder filled the skies as she grabbed his hand to avoid changing her mind. She felt as though the heavens were crying because she had just made a deal with the devil.
Oh Aria, what have you done.