Chapter Text
Ten minutes to midnight, and I was so nervous. I’ve never made a summoning spell so everything had to be perfect. I double checked the pentagram, the runes and signs I just draw with a special paint. It took me a week to prepare it with the extracts of different flowers and plants. Carefully, I placed the burgundy candles at each point of the star and lighted them with my magic.
I stifled a yawn, trying to focus on the task. The past two months were a nightmare. At the beginning, the doors would slam once in a while. And sometimes the mug I was using suddenly would fall to the floor but that was just the first week.
With each day passing things got odder and creepy. Dead birds and rats would appear on my doorstep, even someone mailed me the head of a goat. Each night I would be haunted by horrible nightmares. In the last month, it didn’t matter if I was wearing 5 layers of clothes, a permanent feeling of coldness would never disappear. It was like my whole body was permanently immersed in cold water, everything ached and felt numb.
I shook my head, focus! I repeated to myself. I looked at an old clock I kept on a shelf near the stairs. Five minutes to midnight. I groaned and scolded myself for getting distracted. Now I would have to hurry up if I wanted to do the spell tonight. The mere thought of having to wait another week scared me. And frankly for how the things were, my fears were justified.
Hastily, I finished placing the rest of the candles and the gems between them. I took my grimoire and open it in the page I marked previously with the spell. When the clock marked midnight, I cleared my throat and started to recite the spell. I could feel the flow of my energy with each word and the light of the candles started to grow.
A soft mist appeared in the middle of the pentagram and all the candles turned off. I heard a loud thud, followed by a groan. I ran to the light switch and turned the light on. I saw a man standing in the middle of the diagram.
“What the hell?!” I exclaimed surprised. Examining the man with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes.
“I should be the one making that question,” he said and his eyes flashed to me.
I ignored him and read the spell again. I looked to the pentagram, the white lines were black now, but they were the same as in my book. My brows furrowed in confusion.
“What I did wrong?” I mumbled to myself, suddenly my grimoire disappeared from my hands. “Hey!” I complained and the stranger’s gaze met mine. I froze in the place, his eyes looked like ice and his aura screamed danger. I suppressed the chill that came down my spine.
He read the spell and extended the book in my direction. “Here,” he said and pointed at the spell, “you pronounced this word wrong”.
“What?!” I grabbed the book from his hands and tried to remember how I pronounced the spell. “It can’t be… this is pronounced as /eɪ/”
“No, this is pronounced as /aɪ/” he argued.
“And how do you know how I pronounced it?”
“I heard your voice in my head before I appeared here”, he shrugged.
I read the spell again as he said it was pronounced, god damn it! He is right. I sighed, and when he saw my face full of disappointment he started to laugh.
“You are the worst witch I’ve ever met,” he mocked and I lowered my head.
I closed the book and hold it tight against my chest, I fell to my knees, tears started to cloud my eyes and a sob escaped from my lips. I screw it up, as always, but this time it was important and now who knows if I could endure another week of suffering while I prepare the materials again.
“Hey,” I heard his voice full of concern “I didn’t mean to make you cry”.
“I don’t care what you think of me,” I spat between sobs, “I was trying to summon a familiar to get their protection not… whatever you are”.
He frowned and crouched in front of me, “I’m a demon and I don’t like to see a woman cry so stop it”.
I shook my head, and glared him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“I know I’m not what you expected, but I could help you,” he said and smiled “You said you wanted protection right? I could get rid of whoever is bothering you”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Why? Demons are famous for being ruthless”
“Like I said, I don’t like to see a dame cry”
“And what do you want in exchange?”
“Your soul,” he said nonchalantly.
“WHAT?!” I screamed and he laughed.
“Just kidding,” he said and looked at me with a boyish grin in his face, “Actually, if you could remove a seal I have in my left arm I could help you with your problem”
I looked into his eyes. Is he serious? Can I trust him? I could feel his energy and I could tell he was a powerful demon, so maybe he could actually help.
“Come on doll I don’t have all night”
I nodded, at the end it couldn’t be worse… right? He stood up and offered me his hand. Hesitantly, I reached it and he pulled me up. I guided him upstairs, staying in the basement chatting didn’t seem like a good idea.
I walked to the kitchen and asked him if he wanted some coffee. He nodded while he looked around.
“So what kind of seal do you have in your arm?” I asked while I placed a mug in front of him.
He took off his jacket and pulled up the sleeve. On his shoulder was a red star, surrounded by different symbols and lines mixed in and intricate patron that went down to his wrist.
“Can I?” I asked and he nodded. With my finger I traced each line and rune, it was oddly beautiful. A mix of runes and words in different languages, I could read some words.
Near his shoulder I found the words longing and one written in Chinese. Above his elbow the words rusted and homecoming were written in Rumanian. In his forearm the words seventeen and benign were written in Russian. In his triceps the words daybreak and freight car were in German. Does this word say Furnace?... yeah, it says furnace in Arabic. Near his wrist I could read the word nine in English…
“Well?” his voice pulls me back to reality.
“Do you remember who did this to you?” I asked, I could sense what this spell was made for, or at least what some of the many spells do. It was complicated to focus in its real purpose.
“Not really. I woke up one day with this in my arm”
I hummed and when I reached for my cup of coffee it exploded. I screamed in pain, the hot beverage felt over my hand and burned my skin.
“Are you alright?” he asked and looked around, searching for something or someone.
“Y-yeah” I stuttered and walked to the sink. The water soothed the pain of the burn, a heavy breath escaped from my lips.
“Now I get why you wanted a familiar”
“This is not the worst” I murmured, taking deep breaths. The thought of yesterday’s incident still fresh in my mind. I was walking down the street, lost in my thoughts when a car skipped the red light and almost ran over me.
I flipped my hand and the cup reappeared intact over the table and the coffee disappeared.
“Look… uhm…” I realized that I didn’t know his name.
“James” He answered and I told him my name.
“I’m not sure if I can remove the spell entirely. I can deactivate it, but maybe the runes and signs would remain and it’s going to take some time”.
“I’m fine with that,” he smirked.
“And you are going to help me find and stop the person who is messing with me while I work on your seal” I said but it sounded more like a question.
“I promise,” he said and put a hand over his chest dramatically.
I rolled my eyes and extended my hand “We have a deal?”
“Yes,” he said and he took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles.
In what kind of situation I got myself into?!