Cynthia Mattscheck is the only person the Devil has blocked in his contacts.

After the seventeenth time she fooled him, he knew he could no longer pretend their interactions would end with him getting the best of her.

All of sixteen herself, Cynthia was everything the witch of Rock 'n Roll, Stevie Nicks, wanted to be.

Her jet black hair shot out like a wayward roman candle fight. Her family had raised Cynthia to fear the Devil- the Mattscheck clan was a respected Baptist family in Madison, Wisconsin. Evil was simply against their nature.

Cynthia's aunt Sybil was the black sheep of the prim and proper Mattscheck clan. She smelled of patchouli and independent thought. Sybil fell into the habit of leaving secrets gifts for Cynthia. The ouija board Cynthia found for her fifteenth birthday changed everything.

***

"Fool me once, send me to Hell. Fool me seventeen times?! I'm the God damn Devil!" Samael said. Shadows flickered around his form, never letting light fully outline his silhouette. His phone showed one missed call from Cynthia Mattscheck.

"There's no way she should have this number," he said, flipping through his messages. "I don't even need her soul." Samael kicked a small demon out of his way as the gates of Hell opened before him. There wasn't any reception down there- he'd be safe from Cynthia there.

Masking her intentions was the first vital skill she learned as the child of fundamentalists. Never argue for the thing you want, instead, suggest a parallel opportunity that will allow you to pursue your desire- without ever revealing it.

Cynthia looked like the girl you'd cheat off of in math class and then accidentally run over in the hallway.

After she summoned the Devil for the first time, she realized she could alter the spell and call on spirits and deities across all cultures and faiths.

Like an eager socialite that just got unlimited minutes- Cynthia made calls every chance she got.

The benefits of being the youngest child meant that she had grown up watching negotiations. She made sure to slightly overextend on each deal- giving the illusion that the other party would get the better deal on the back end. Cynthia never asked for an overwhelming amount of power, but she did ask a vast amount of deities for it. None the wiser that their deals weren't the only ones she had made.

For each deity, Cynthia asked, she received a unique power. Each God, Goddess, Demon, Jinn, Angel, and Abyss got the same deal. Cynthia got power, and in several days, the deity could retrieve her soul from a specific location.

None of them expected to see one another there.

Cynthia stood in front of the crowd of immortals

"You can have it-- if you can claim it," she said to a shocked audience. Samael looked on in bemused satisfaction. He hadn't fathered a child in centuries but started to have doubts as he watched a young girl pit the world's powers against each other. An immortal Battle Royale-- in which she presided as queen, not a sacrificial lamb.

No one except Samael put together the size of her coup as Gods clashed together. Cynthia had snagged an ability from each one of them and kept her powers in reserve as she watched from the sidelines.

The crowd thinned as more bodies littered the ground than stood upright. The first challenger to shoot out from the group towards Cynthia met a blinding light and disappeared with a sizzle. Those on the periphery slowed down to watch a globe of crackling fire grow in Cynthia's palm.

Eons of being predators meant their instincts took notice of a more powerful opponent. The globe kept rippling outward as the realization of an apex predator stood in the form of a high school girl surged in front of it.

Cynthia smiled and pushed forward- the globe engulfed the crowd of gods, demons, and beings used to winning immortality. She smiled at Samael before turning back to the scorched earth.

"So, Cynthia, how'd you do it?" Samael asked.

"A little hustle never hurt anyone." The Devil gestured at the carnage beside them.

"I'm sure they'll pull themselves back together."

"You're a wicked girl. Are you sure you're not one of mine?"

"Who knows, Samael?"