by N. P. Martin
"So what are you going to do, Delaney, shoot us?" I said. "Because that’s your only play here, unless you want to call the cops, but I don’t think that would be an option for you, considering some of the stuff you have lying around here."
"And what would you know about it?" he said.
"I saw the Book Of Kells in that room upstairs. It’s the original, isn’t it?"
Delaney stared back, a slight smile on his face now despite himself. "It is as a matter of fact."
"Well, that’s a prison sentence right there," I said.
"Only if people know, which they don’t."
"I know."
Delaney took a step forward with the gun. "Not if I shoot you dead."
I tensed up as I looked into his eyes, trying to see if he was serious. "Come on Delaney, I’m sure there must be less messy options here. Surely there’s something I can do for you…"
His eyes narrowed as he appeared to think for a moment. "This might just be your lucky night, Mr. Chance."
It certainly didn’t feel like it. "Oh yeah? Why?"
Delaney smiled at me, and then at Margaret. "It might actually be fortuitous that you two are here."
"I just want to go home," Margaret said. "Please."
"You can go home," Delaney said. "After you do something for me."
"Do what?" I asked.
His smile turned into a smirk. "You two are going to summon a demon for me."
Chapter 5
I stood in shock for a minute after he said it, wondering if I’d heard him right. "Are you serious?"
Delaney nodded as a different look came over his gaunt face, the look of someone who was now feeling the thrill of expectation. "Very serious indeed. If you want out of here, you will do as I say, otherwise…"
He suddenly fired the gun and I felt the bullet whizz past my head, seeming to miss me by mere inches. Margaret screamed in shock and I just stood there, my eyes wide as adrenaline flooded my system. "You crazy motherfucker!" I shouted, my anger rising to the point where I took a step toward him.
"Don’t!" Delaney said. "Or the next one goes in your head, and I just have the witch here summon the demon on her own, which I’m sure she could do. She looks old enough and experienced enough."
Margaret shook her head at him. "You’re disgusting."
"I’m disgusting?" Delaney said, seeming to take great offense. "I’m not the one who got you into this mess. He did."
I couldn’t argue with him there. "Why do you want us to summon a demon?" I asked him, quickly changing the subject as I felt Margaret’s condemning eyes on me.
"There’s something I need," he said, seeming to relax a little again, the excitement coming back to his face. "Something I’ve been after for a very long time now. Something only a demon can get, as this object resides in Hell."
"Of course it does," I said shaking my head. "So if you’ve been after this thing, whatever it is, for so long, why haven’t you got it yet? You don’t need us to summon a demon. Anyone can do it with the right spell and ingredients."
"You’re right," he said. "Anyone can do it, but only the magically endowed have the power to summon the greater demons. Believe me, I’ve tried."
"I’m surprised you haven’t found someone else magically endowed, as you put it, to do it by now," I said.
"No one has been willing," he said. "The risks are too great for most."
"Meaning we could die?"
"Meaning your soul could end up in Hell for eternity."
"Oh, well that’s all right then," I said shaking my head. "For a minute there I thought it might be dangerous."
"With the two of you, I’m sure you can control a demon," he said. "Not that you have a choice."
"There’s just one problem with that," I said. "I’ve never actually summoned a demon before. Call me a scaredy cat, but the idea of summoning some filthy demon from Hell to do anything always seemed a little…terrifying to me. Hence, I tend to steer clear of such daft things."
Says the man who willingly allowed his own hand to be chopped off just so a dark spirit—who might as well have been a demon—could possess him, but I wasn’t about to mention that.
"Well," Delaney said, making it clear there’d be no backing out. "If you weren’t daft enough to steal from me, you wouldn’t be in this position in the first place, would you?"
He had me there. "That still doesn’t take away from the fact that I know shit all about summoning demons."
"Perhaps not," he said, looking at Margaret now. "But I’m sure she does."
Margaret looked at both of us in turn as if we were about to attack her or something. "You have no idea of the darkness you’d be meddling with," she said.
I looked at her in surprise. "You’ve summoned demons before?" I asked her.
"In my youth, yes," she replied. "When I didn’t know any better. I almost lost my soul back then, I’m not about to lose it now."
Another loud bang made both Margaret and I jump and shout out in shock. Delaney had fired another bullet, this one seeming to go past Margaret this time, reducing the poor woman to tears.
"Would you fucking stop doing that!" I shouted at Delaney, who had the smugness of someone who thought they were in complete control of everything.
"I’m just reminding you of the stakes here," he said. "In fact…" He suddenly put the gun in the back of his waistband and in an instant, partially transformed into his wolf form, the animal features I remember coming through. His eyes turned a bright yellow, and his teeth lengthened into points, as did his fingernails. "I don’t need a gun to kill you. I’ll quite happily tear you apart instead."
"What happened to not wanting the hassle of killing us?" I said, feeling Margaret’s eyes on me as she probably no doubt thought I really shouldn’t be taunting the big bad wolf.
"I’ll make an exception this time," Delaney said, his voice much gruffer now.
Puffing my cheeks out, I shook my head at the situation I had managed to get myself into. Then I looked at Margaret, who was doing her best not to seem frightened. No doubt, back in her younger days, a man like Delaney wouldn’t have fazed her much. But the fact is, Margaret is now on the wrong side of sixty, and her appetite for excitement and adrenalized situations had probably long gone. All she wanted to do was go home and be in her husband’s arms, and here was me now expecting her to help dig me out of a situation that I pretty much caused when I agreed to steal for Dalia. "Margaret," I said softly. "Do you think you can do this?"
She stared at me, her eyes full of fear and resentment. "I’ll never forgive you for this, Corvin," she said eventually. "Your mother would be ashamed if she knew."
I nodded, taking the hits. "I know you won’t," I said. "And I know she would."
"So we’re all on the same page now," Delaney said. "Good." He reached around and pulled the gun out again, just as his face returned to normal.
"You don’t need the damn gun," I said. "We’re going to do as you ask."
"I know you are," he said. "But I still don’t trust a thief."
"I’m not a thief."
"Then what are you, Mr. Chance?"
I said nothing as I stared at him.
"Can we just get this over with please?" Margaret said. "I really don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be." She seemed to have regained her composure, no doubt realizing she would have to dig deep and buckle up to get through this.
"Of course," Delaney said. "Let’s go to the basement."
I didn’t really know what I expected to find in Delaney’s basement—piles of bones maybe, or more priceless artifacts—but not what was actually there.
"Holy shit," I said. "Are we on the set of The Devil Rides Out?"
"Very funny, Mr. Chance," Delaney said, not amused as he stood behind us.
The basement was a large rectangular room, the walls smooth and painted black, as was the floor. Gaslamps on the walls threw a sickly yellow light into the room, illuminating the center piece, which was a massi
ve magic circle, perfectly outlined in red on the floor, with a pentagram in the middle and magical symbols around the outside. Thick black candles were laid out at each point of the pentagram. Another circle was also marked out on the floor a few feet away from the larger one. And on one of the far walls was row upon row of shelves, containing every ingredient one would probably ever need to conduct a ritual as we were about to.
"You’re a dark motherfucker, Delaney," I said.
"The candles, if you please, Mr. Chance," he said, ignoring my comment.
Hating every minute of the situation I was in, I reluctantly conjured a small flame in the palm of my hand and then gently threw it up into the air like I was releasing a fragile sparrow. The little flame flew threw the air as it went about landing on the wick of each of the candles, igniting each one in turn. When all the candles were lit, the dancing flame fizzled out.
"The wonders of magic, eh?" Delaney said, seeming genuinely delighted by my little trick.
I threw him a look. "Forgive me for not reveling in this as much as you are."
"Reveling? Yes, I suppose I am. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of knowing I will soon be in possession of another highly sought after artifact."
"And just what is this artifact that you think you will soon be in possession of? What are we risking our souls for here, Delaney?"
He paused before answering, as if for dramatic effect. "The Mirror Of Infernal Darkness."
I stared at him, and then couldn’t help but snigger slightly, which seemed to annoy him. "Which B-movie horror flick did you get that from?"
Delaney pursed his lips as he glared at me. "Balk if you must, but I assure you, the artifact is very real."
"So what does it do then? Tell you you’re the fairest of them all?"
"Your sarcasm is grating, Mr. Chance. We’ll see if you maintain it when the demon comes."
"I know what it does," Margaret said quietly as she stood just outside the magic circle. "It allows the user to see anywhere in Hell, like looking through a window."
Turning my head slowly toward Delaney, I said, "You’re even more twisted than I thought you were."
Delaney didn’t seem to take offense at my comment. Instead, he smiled. "Imagine it, Mr. Chance, having he ability to see anywhere in Hell. Imagine the sights you would see, the endless torment of damned souls, the ways of the Fallen Ones, their incalculable cruelty. I can hardly wait to see what sights Hell has to show me."
Some people, I thought. They’re just sick in the bloody head.
"If you want to experience Hell so much, why don’t you just go there yourself?" I asked him.
"Looking will be enough for me. I’m more of a voyeur in that respect."
"I’ll bet you are."
Delaney waved the gun at us. "Anyway, let’s get on with it. Witch, do you know what you’re doing?"
Margaret gave him a look of disdain for his ignorance. "As long as you know the name of the demon, I can summon it."
"The demon’s name is Dath'tauth," he said. "Whatever ingredients you might need for the ritual are all behind you on the shelves." He began to back out of the room then. "I’ll leave you to it."
"Where the hell are you going?" I asked him. "You’re not even going to stick around?"
"It’s too dangerous for me, I’m afraid. I’ll be watching through the hidden cameras."
"Because you’re more of a voyeur, right?"
Delaney smiled. "Precisely, Mr. Chance. Good luck."
I shook my head at him as he left the room, locking the door behind him. Then it was just me and Margaret, as awkward as that was. She stood staring at me for a long time, clearly angry with me for getting her into this situation in the first place. While I understood her anger, there was also nothing I could do. "I suppose we should just get on with it," I said to her.
"Why?" she asked. "We could escape this place right now, walk through the walls."
I nodded. "I know, and you can go if you want to, but I have to stay. If I run away now, dickface out there will just come after me again. Plus, I did steal from him."
"Why did you steal from him?"
"To help Dalia get her grandmother’s ring back."
Margaret stared at me with me look of puzzlement for a moment. "You went to all that trouble just so she could get an old ring back."
"A very expensive ring."
"Still, you stole a priceless ankh and that other thing he mentioned."
I shrugged. "The ring means a lot to her, and Dalia means a lot to me. There’s very little I wouldn’t do for my friends Margaret, including you, so if you want to make your escape, then go. I can handle this."
Margaret sighed after a moment. "Corvin," she said. "No you can’t, and we both know it. I’m going to stay and help you. I’m too old to be running away anyway."
"I’m sorry, Margaret," I said. "For getting you into this. I intend to make sure nothing happens to you."
"I appreciate that, Corvin, but dealing with demons can be dangerous. They are unpredictable, vicious and often cruel for no reason." She paused as she looked upon the magic circle. "We’ll be doing well to get out of this unharmed."
"I know, which is why at the first sign of trouble, I want you to run. Okay?"
Margaret nodded. "Okay."
"Good, now where do we start?"
Chapter 6
I was actually surprised by how much planning and preparation went into a demon summoning. Delaney obviously knew this, which is why he had shelves full of rare and weird ingredients. He knew the ritual, and exactly what we would need. Luckily as well, Margaret seemed to know exactly what she was doing. Clearly she was no stranger to the darker arts, making me wonder if my mother had been well acquainted with them as well. It also made me wonder if I was destined to become acquainted with them myself, which by the way things were going, seemed highly likely.
"We’re almost done," Margaret said after she had positioned a bowl of human blood in the center of the circle, into which she had put various other ingredients, most of which seemed to be very random to me, such as strange herbs and even human teeth. "When I’m doing the evocation you will stand beside me in the circle here. When the spell is complete, the demon should appear in the other circle over there."
"Will the demon be able to move from the circle?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No, it will be trapped. It must also do whatever we tell it to do."
"Maybe we should tell it to kill Delaney."
As soon as I said it, there was noise in the room like feedback, followed by Delaney’s voice booming from some hidden speaker. "I heard that, Mr. Chance. Just to let you know, in the last few minutes I have taken steps to ensure my own safety. If anything happens to me tonight, I have a man standing by to kill your little friend, the one who was with you the night you broke in here. So I suggest you do as your told unless you want your friend to die."
"You bastard!" I shouted. "You’re bluffing!"
"Am I? You don’t think I have the resources to arrange such a thing at short notice?"
I shook my head in annoyance and looked at Margaret. "Ignore him," she said. "We do what we have to do and then we get out of here. No one has to get hurt tonight."
"Listen to her, Mr. Chance," Delaney said. "For your own good, and the good of your friend."
I raised my middle finger and started to slowly turn around the room, not knowing where the cameras where, so I wanted to make sure he saw me. "Screw you, Delaney."
"Calm down, Corvin," Margaret said. "I need you focused. It’s our magic that will keep the demon within the circle. If it senses a weak link, it may break out."
"I thought we’d be safe within our own circle here?"
"We should be, but as I said, you never know with demons. I’d just prefer not to take any chances, so focus please and do exactly as I tell you to."
I nodded, smiling at her. She seemed like a different person now, focused and determined, having the air of someone who knew e
xactly what they were doing and wasn’t afraid to do it. In fact, she was coming across like a bit of a badass, which was a far cry from the quiet, gentle woman who worked in the bookshop.
It wasn’t long before the ritual was ready to begin. Margaret now stood in the middle of the circle, her eyes closed as she appeared to center herself. I stood nervously near the edge of the circle, feeling like a bit of a spare part as I waited for Margaret to begin the evocation. As I said to Delaney, I had no experience with demons at that point. Growing up, my mother always warned me not to mess with such entities, for in doing so, one would always be putting their soul at risk, just as we were doing now. But as bad as the situation was, I couldn’t allow myself to feel resentful for having to be in it, since I put myself into it in the first place.
"Do you know the words to the evocation?" I asked Margaret. "I think there’s a book over there…"
Margaret dismissed me with a wave of her hand, as if she didn’t like me disturbing her concentration. "I know the words by heart."
I nodded. "Of course you do."
She turned her head to look at me then, her eyes darkly focused as if she was in a completely different headspace now. "When the demon comes, you will feel a great fear go through you. You must try not to give into that fear. If the demon senses weakness, it will try to use it against you. That’s what they do. Demons put people into a state of terror, making them easier to control. It is we who have to control the demon, not the other way around."
"I understand."
"Focus on directing your magic into the other circle, keeping it powered up so the demon will be contained, at least until I get control over it. Then it will do our bidding."
"What happens if it escapes the circle before you get command over it?"
Margaret stared hard at me a moment. "Nothing good."
I nodded slightly, saying nothing.
Margaret then closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, before saying, "Let us begin."
She said us, but she really meant her. As she began to boldly speak the words of the evocation in ancient Gaelic, I merely stood just behind her and waited, dry swallowing as I felt an immediate change in the ambiance of the room. The temperature dropped for a start, to the point where I began to shiver slightly. I could even see my breath pluming out in front of me. The air itself also felt charged with energy, to the point where I could hear said energy crackling around me. My stomach was turning over with fearful anticipation, and I realized that I was scared. Very scared. Even though I knew Margaret was capable, I kept having visions of the demon killing us both in horrific ways, while all the while, Delaney sat in a different room watching it all go down on his TV screens. Just remember kids, don’t steal, unless you want to find yourself standing in a magic circle waiting on a demon to come and possibly rip you apart. At the very least, try not to get caught.