by Jessica Cage
“Okay, so explain this again for me? How exactly is she going to summon him?” Zaria’s inquisitive nature made it impossible for her not to want to gain every facet of knowledge that she could. She was also still very uncomfortable with the idea of summoning anything, demonic or not.
“Sybella has to use her gift of sight. With this ritual, she will tap into our magic to extend that gift and allow her to see into other realms. In particular, the Bane, where our friend Genesis is,” Jinn explained. “It’s how she is still alive and well centuries after she should be, she uses the magic around her to extend her life.”
“How do we know she won’t accidentally summon the wrong demon?” Zaria asked again, more interested in the summoning than whatever magic Sybella worked to survive. “I mean, that doorway, when it opens, anything can get through, right? It’s not a limited invitation.”
“We will have to work quickly to get this done the right way. There is no doubt about it.” Jinn glanced at the altar and back to them. “Sybella will lead this, and we will give her as much strength as possible. The faster she can do her thing the better. You’re right, if that doorway stays open for too long, it will allow anything that decides it wants to come here the opportunity to cross over.”
“Is there anything we can do to make sure we don’t bring something through that is worse than Daegal?” Ardyn looked at the tablet floating before him and navigated the screen with his mind. “There has to be something. Maybe we can tune it just to his signal, block anything else from seeing it.”
“Hell, Genesis is worse than Daegal!” Nitara laughed as she further adjusted the placement of the candles around the altar. “Look, I know you guys are nervous, and for good reason. But at the end of the day, this is something we have to do. There is no way around it. I wish we had the time to figure out how to do this without the added risk, but the clock isn’t on our side. We have to move and now.”
“No way around it,” Bruto laughed. “I mean, I’m sure if we tried, we could find another way, but time is quickly ticking down.”
“Bruto, I told you—” Jinn started his exasperated speech again.
“Yeah, I know, there isn’t any time, lives at stake, yada yada yada, whatever you say.” Bruto held up his hand to cut off the broken record because no matter how many times Jinn played it, he would always want to find another way.
“Are we ready to begin?” Sybella emerged from the back room. She’d stripped away her clothing and stood before them completely nude, happy that the inside of the structure was actually as warm as Jinn promised it would be.
“Oh, um …” Ardyn stared, and Zaria hit him with her elbow. “Yes, everything is ready to go.”
“I hope you’re all okay with nudity. I have to be in my purest form to do this the right way. Anything else may lead for interruption in the process. I carry a lot of herbs and such with me at all times, I wouldn’t want those things interfering with the ritual,” Sybella explained.
“No, of course, whatever you need to do to get this done the right way,” Nitara responded, and shot an incredulous look at Ardyn who blushed. Zaria stood by his side, looking as though she would laugh at the poor man.
“Great. Everyone, please take your places. You each have a candle. Hold it in your hands, and when I let you know, light the candle using your magic. The signatures of your flames will be what holds this together. Whatever you do, you cannot allow your flame to go out until the ritual is done. If that happens, I can get trapped there mentally or that doorway will remain open. Also, something we don’t want to happen. At the end of this, when the ritual is done, extinguish your flame properly. If even one remains lit, it could mean a passageway for something unwanted to get through.” Sybella issued her warnings and made eye contact with each of them to make sure they understood the seriousness of the thing they were dealing with. When they all nodded their understanding, she stated, “Okay, let’s begin!”
One by one they lined up, forming a crescent in front of the altar, each lifting the designated candle in their hands. Ardyn and Zaria were to the left, Jinn and Nitara to the right, and at the point was Bruto, staring directly into the mouth of the beast. Sybella stood in the center of them all and began her work. In the middle of the floor was the mixture that they’d prepped for her which was made of the black magic flower petals, black cohosh root, three drops of dragon’s blood, and a variety of other herbs. She lifted the stone bowl above her head and poured the mix over her. As it ran down her face and body, she rubbed it into her skin. Then she walked the crescent, pressing her finger to the forehead of each of the djinn, and as she did, they lit their candles. Blue, purple, green, red, and finally the orange hue of Bruto’s flame danced across her flesh. She turned to face the altar that stood twice her height, and with borrowed magic, she lifted from the ground and smeared the mix along the twisted branches and grim stone. She lowered back to the ground, and when her foot touched the surface, their flames grew with intensity. Zaria struggled to hold hers, which also linked to the fire of her phoenix and burned twice as brightly as the others.
“Hold your stance!” Sybella called to her and waited for the woman to get her bearings before she continued.
Sybella centered herself and began to hum. The sound of her voice vibrated the space around them, sending the tremors through each of their bodies. She closed her eyes, lowered her head forward, and spread her arms. As she did, the flames of their candles reached out to her and wrapped around her legs and arms. Bruto’s flame was last, and it strapped itself around her torso. Though she was covered by their fire and they could see the turning of her flesh, she didn’t react to the pain. Instead, when the final band was in place, she lifted her head, opened her eyes, and from within her a light spewed out and onto the altar. Moments later, where there’d been empty space beneath the arch, a wall of sticky darkness appeared.
Her mind was the tool that reached across the barrier into the darkness, leaving her body bound to the earth as she did. Sybella counted on her friends to keep her connected to herself—if they lost hold of her, she would be trapped between realms forever. Around them the darkness filled the space; all light was snuffed out except the flames forged by their magic, though the darkness tried to claim that as well.
Sybella lifted from the ground and her body floated forward toward the opening, trying to follow the mind and spirit that left it. They held onto her as tightly as they could, refusing to lose her to the gateway. Tightening their hold, one by one they stepped backwards, pulling her from the door.
“Hold on!” Jinn ordered the others. He looked to Zaria, who appeared to be faltering, but when her flame began to die, she cried out and her body was engulfed by the fire from within her. With that, the doorway snapped shut, all of their flames went out, and Sybella’s body lifted into the air. It paused, hovering above them for a moment, and then quickly dropped.
Jinn jumped forward with intent to catch her but slammed to a stop when muscled arms appeared beneath her body and caught her. From there slowly formed the arms, chest, torso, and head of a man whose face they couldn’t see. Beneath him, swirls of dark clouds danced. With intention he lifted his head just enough to provide view of the wide smile that stretched across his dark face, and his sinister laughter rang out, echoing around them in the darkness.
“Who has the balls to summon me?” Genesis’ voice was low, inviting, and yet terrifying.
“We do,” Jinn spoke up, unimpressed and unbothered by the new presence. “We have a mutual friend who needs your help.”
“Is that so?” He turned his body to zero in on Jinn still holding Sybella in his grasp. “Calling me here to ask a favor, that is bold for someone I don’t know.”
“Yes, we have every reason to believe you will want to help us in saving her life.”
“A woman?” Genesis’ smile widened though it didn’t seem that there was any more space on his face to allow for it. “And who is this friend?”
“Her name is Rosie,”
Bruto replied, the anger and resentment in his tone.
“Rose.” Genesis lightened and his hold on Sybella loosened, Jinn tensed as it appeared that he might drop her, but he held on as the wistful tone captured his voice. “Ah, sweet Rose.”
“Yes, sweet Rose.” Bruto rolled his eyes. “Look, she is in danger and unfortunately it would seem you’re our best shot of helping her.”
“Ah, I see, and you must be my Rose’s current preoccupation.” Sybella shook in his arms as the deep laughter rolled through his body. “How precious.”
“Excuse me?” Bruto’s hand clutched at his side as his body expanded just slightly with his growing anger.
“Bruto, chill,” Jinn warned, and held his hand up to him. This was not the time for him to lose his temper. He claimed Genesis’ attention again to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. “Look, either you’re willing to help us or not.”
“For my Rose,” the demon winked at Bruto and laughed, “anything. Anything at all.” He scanned the room, taking account of the ones who surrounded him, and lingered on the face of Zaria. “Firebird,” he whispered, “very nice.” With that, he tossed Sybella’s body and clapped when Ardyn appeared to catch her just before she slammed into the ground. “Let the games begin!”
Bruto took a step forward ready to attack the demon he hadn’t wanted to summon but Jinn’s hand gripped his shoulder, “Not today buddy.”
“This is some bullshit.” Bruto smacked Jinn’s hand away and vanished.
“This is some powerful stuff here.” Genesis rubbed his chin with his thumb as he surveyed the field around Rosie’s home. It had expanded so much that they barely had space to stand on the edge of the island. “I always knew she was capable of amazing things.”
“Yeah, that’s why we needed your help,” Jinn stated. “We’ve tried everything to get through there and nothing has worked. There is another timeline working against us, so we need to get this done sooner rather than later.”
“This isn’t just her, something else is feeding into this.” Genesis held his hand out to the layer of pink light and witnessed the small flecks of black that danced within it, so small that the common eye would miss it, even the eyes of the ones who stood behind him. “Something strong, and dark.”
“Can you get through or not?” Bruto had already grown tired of the show that Genesis was putting on for them.
“Oh, yeah, I can. Without a doubt.” He winked over his shoulder, knowing it would get further under the ginger man’s skin. There was nothing as intoxicating as the jealousy of a lover and the delicious stench was rolling off of Bruto in waves.
“Great, if you’re so confident, how about we skip all of the feigned speculation and get her out of there?” Bruto gave him more of what he wanted—jealousy with a hint of underlying rage.
“As you wish.” Genesis held his hands up to the force which pulsed and moved beneath his palms. From his hands a cloud of black highlighted with red flames spread out and attached to the surface of her shield in a concentrated form. He stayed up close and personal, forcing his will against the barrier that fought back but in time began to grow. With a sharp crack that mimicked the sound of lightning, the home filled with pink light that shot toward them and pummeled the other side of the field. Rosie stood above them trying to reinforce the field and keep the intruder out.
“Rose, baby, let me in!” Genesis yelled out, teasing her as his magic overcame hers and a space just big enough for one to pass through opened in the shield. He turned, winked at the others, and stepped through. Once he was on the other side, the opening slammed shut and he vanished.
“What the fuck was that?” Bruto cursed, looking up to the spot where Rosie once was, but she had also disappeared. “I thought the point was for him to get her out, not disappear in there with her. I told you this was a shit idea!”
“Give it time, Bruto.” Jinn held his hand up to the man whose skin glowed with orange heat. Every moment was pushing the djinn closer and closer to the tipping point.
“What happened?” Zaria landed on the ground beside Ardyn. She’d been tasked with returning Sybella to the safety of Vilar. “Did he get through?”
“Yeah, he did.” Ardyn stepped forward examining the field that still kept them locked out. “And he changed it. Its like his magic is blending with hers now.”
“I’m going in there!” Bruto charged the field, but ended up on his ass as the strength of the magic had been renewed, and exploded when he made contact with it.
“We need to just wait this out,” Nitara held her hand out to help Bruto up but he refused.
“I’m tired of waiting, Nitara. That’s all I’ve been doing is waiting.” Bruto looked up to the empty set of windows. “How do we know he is going to help her? How do we know he isn’t going to make all of this worse?”
“We don’t know that.” Jinn admitted.
“Rose, my sweet rose. I know you’re in here.” Genesis tiptoed through the dark halls and called out to the hidden woman in sing-song fashion. “I’ve come all this way, just to see you. How can you continue to hide from me?” He was met with nothing; the farther he moved into the halls the darker the home became.
“I hear you’re having a tough time out here, and word on my side of the fence is that the bastard who made you is trying to find a way to escape death. Your friends are pretty secretive, but something tells me that there’s a connection between the two. I gotta tell you,” he paused at the entryway of the sitting room filled with plush seats and smiled; she was the same woman he remembered, sassy yet soft, “the stories that have traveled over to my realm about that guy … hell, they’re unsettling even for me. And you know me,” he chuckled. “I’ve done some vile things, but this guy, he takes the prize without a doubt.”
As he was still met with silence, he groaned and entered the room. He knew how to get to her. Picking up one of the cushions, he slowly ripped it, allowing the soft stuffing to fall out over the floor. The increased tension in the room told him that he was succeeding in finally getting her attention.
“Come, on girl. As far as I came to find you, and you’re telling me you won’t even let me see your beautiful face?” He chose another cushion and this time let it go up in flames. As plush decoration turned to ash, he dropped it to the floor and reached for another victim.
“Why are you here?” Rosie’s voice was there but she used his trick against him. She kept herself hidden in the shadows, but he could feel her eyes on him.
“I’m here to help you,” he admitted languidly.
“I don’t need any help from you, Genesis.” The hatred that dripped from every syllable told him that she hadn’t gotten over his betrayals; she never would forgive him, and he didn’t expect her to.
“I would never assume that you did. Your friends called me, those people standing out there reeking of their silly human emotions. Fear, worry, sadness, and love. That last one is the worst of them all. You know, that big orange one seems to really care about you. I’m sure if it had been solely up to him, I wouldn’t be here now.” Genesis peered out the window down at the people who waited for him to break her barrier. “You told him about me, didn’t you? Not everything but much more than the others. He isn’t just jealous. No, he believes he can protect you from me.”
“As I said, I don’t need your help. You can go back to where you came from,” Rosie spit through the darkness. “Sorry to have you waste the trip.”
“Don’t tell me you aren’t happy to see me here.” He turned his back on the window to peer into the darkness again. “Regardless of how things ended, we had some really good times, you and I. How can you forget how much fun we had?”
“Happy? You think that I should be happy to see you!” Her laugh reverberated around him, pleasing him because each vibrating pulsed confirmed just how much strength and power she held inside of her. “Are you out of your mind?”
“What?” He shrugged.
“You left me in the lurch, Genesis.
Had your fun with me and then ran the hell off. Not only that, you betrayed me on a level that no one else has ever done. Not even Daegal. You’re worse than the monster who took my family from me. Please explain to me, how in the hell you could ever assume that I would be happy to see you.”
“Well,” he paused, “you always did like my smile!” The bright grin spread across his face and he knew he had her. Seconds later, just like always, she reached out to smack the grin away from his face, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the darkness.
“Let me go.” Struggling against his hold, she tried to pull away, but he overpowered her as she cursed under her breath for having been stupid enough to take the bait.
“Never.” He peered into her eyes and frowned. “Your friends were right to be worried. Something is not right within you. I will take you to them now so you can work things out together.”
“I can’t go out there. It isn’t safe.” Shaking her head, she fought hard to get away from him, but still she failed to break his hold.
“And why is that?”
“You just said it, and you saw it when you looked in my eyes. Something is wrong with me. I can’t control myself. If I go out there, I risk hurting the few people left in this world that I actually care about. I nearly killed Bruto. I could never live with myself knowing that I had hurt one of them. I know you and your demonic brain isn’t able to comprehend what I’m saying, but I just cannot do that to them!”
“Fine, so you won’t. But you won’t stay locked away in here by yourself either.” A devilish grin painted his face. “I have a better idea.”
“What—” Rosie started her protest again, but the sound of her voice became muffled beneath his lips. He pulled her into him, devouring her in a kiss that she hated herself for enjoying. She fought against him for a moment before more primal urges, the side of herself she’d been hiding from, took over. Her hands wrapped in his hair and he ravished her. Just as she caught her breath, he tapped her forehead with his finger and her world came to a sudden pause. Rosie fell into an instant slumber, suspended in the air in front of him as he released her voluptuous frame. The moment her eyes slammed shut, her shield fell. Not a breath later, the others appeared inside the home.