by T. S. Bishop
“Okay, so let’s go the briefing room to get the mission parameters,” I said, “Hopefully we can start soon. I’d hate to let this demon run amock and kill more people.”
The next day, the four of us were sitting in a corner of a coffee shop, spying on the target.
If I had to pick someone out of a lineup who looked likely to have made a demonic pact to gain immortality, I don’t think I would have picked this guy. He was wearing a dress shirt and slacks, and typing busily on his laptop. He had a light scruff and looked tired. He couldn’t have been older than his mid-thirties.
“That’s Ethan Miller,” said Noah, who was looking at his tablet and scrolling rapidly, “He works in IT security for a bank, and he has no family except for a sister who lives in Milwaukee with her two kids. Parents died when he was a kid, no girlfriend. And, from creeping on his social media, doesn’t look like he has any regular friends either.”
“Oh wow,” I said, peering over Noah’s shoulder, “Only three likes on a brunch photo? Poor guy.”
“Yikes,” Adrian said, but Dominic just looked blank.
“Is that supposed to mean something?” he asked, looking to me for help.
“Only if the number of likes you get on insta is proportional to your self worth,” I said seriously, “The answer to that is yes, by the way.”
“I hate to say, ‘kids these days’, but I am feeling my age,” sighed Dominic.
“This Ethan guy is older than you are,” said Noah, “I think it’s more down to you being an anti-social kid who was too busy reading Lord of the Rings to really do social media.”
“Because Lord of the Rings is awesome,” Dominic was saying indignantly, when I waved at them to shut up.
“The target’s leaving!” I whisper-yelled, and sprang up from my seat to follow him, leaving Noah scrambling to pack up his stuff and Adrian and Dominic to hurriedly collect their coats.
We weaved through the steady stream of people going in the other direction, almost losing Ethan once or twice but managing to catch up with him. He was still blissfully unaware of us, and seemed to not be too observant because we were as inconspicuous as a bull in a china shop.
“Just to confirm, are we really calling him the ‘target’ now?” snarked Dominic.
“I like it,” said Noah loyally, “It makes the mission seem more real.”
“It makes me feel like a magical assassin, which I’m pretty okay with,” added Adrian.
“Glad we got that settled,” I said impatiently, “Now can we all pay attention, please? The target’s just walked into that building that has public parking!”
“This might be a good time to mention that I dislike dark, enclosed spaces,” I whispered to the boys as we crept up the stairs. At every turn I saw the flash of Ethan’s forest green jacket as he climbed higher and higher, so I knew we hadn’t missed him.
On the fourth floor he went into the parking lot, and it became a slightly ridiculous game of hiding behind pillars and cars so he wouldn’t spot us: a girl and three tall guys, two of whom were over six foot. We were very conspicuous. Luckily for us, he didn’t turn around.
“Why would he be meeting someone here?” Adrian asked, voicing my thoughts. Noah hummed consideringly.
“It could be that we’re at a Crossroads here,” he suggested, “Or at least, it used to be where hangings happened but now someone’s built a parking lot over it. Without some kind of instrument to measure demonics energy, we can’t be sure. I’ve been trying to make one but—“
“Shh!” Dominic interrupted, as Ethan stopped abruptly and glanced around.
Immediately, I dropped flat to the ground and dragged Dominic and Noah down with me. I’d fallen to the side, pushing Adrian down with me, and he groaned quietly as I landed on top of him.
“Everything hurts,” he fake-whimpered. I elbowed him unsympathetically.
“I was trying to keep him from noticing us. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Oh god, yeah, how could I forget to express my gratitude that you fell on me like a sack of potatoes—“
“Are you saying I’m heavy?”
“I’m saying—“
“Guys, he didn’t see us! He’s on the move again.”
We hurried to follow him, and when we rounded the corner, he had disappeared into…the men’s restroom.
“Well, he’s obviously not doing anything too bad in there,” I began hurriedly, but Noah tugged on my arm.
“No, I know why he’s in there!” he said, with a tone that combined horror and excitement, “I’ve never seen it happen in real life before! We have to go inside.”
I found myself being pushed towards the men’s toilet by an unexpectedly bossy Noah, who didn’t stop to think that maybe the guy was just, y’know, doing his business in there.
“Noah, I don’t want to be traumatized by seeing evil demon-contracting dick!” I said helplessly.
“I told you, it’s not going to be like that,” said Noah, seeming to barely listen.
I looked over at Dominic and Adrian for help, but they just shrugged back at me.
“Noah’s our ideas guy,” Adrian said, throwing up his hands, “If he says we need to go into a disgusting public toilet to watch this guy pee, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Well, assuming he’s just peeing,” Dominic muttered, and I made a retching sound.
We were close enough that I could hear strange noises coming from inside the toilet.
“What is that?” asked Dominic, frowning.
“Aside from the obvious?” said Adrian sarcastically.
“No,” I said slowly, “He’s right. It sounds like…chanting?”
“He’s performing a summoning,” Noah said, and without warning pushed the door open and stopped, mouth hanging open in shock.
The guy had shed his clothes, and was entirely naked. That was a lot to take in by itself. Then there was the little fact that he had cut the skin on his arms and legs so they were dripping blood, and he was standing inside a pentacle drawn out of chalk and had closed his eyes and was chanting in a strange language.
To my surprise, Noah swiftly pulled the door closed again, leaving only a small slit for us to peer through.
“We have to stop him,” I said, pushing at Noah’s shoulder. He shook his head, face white and tense.
“Then we won’t be able to capture the demon,” he whispered, “We need to wait.”
“He’s right,” Dominic said reluctantly, “It won’t be any use if we just get the summoner and not the demon.”
“I don’t like this,” I said, frustrated, “At what point are we going to stop this guy? What if it spins out of control and he’s able to hurt someone before we catch him?”
“Sophie’s right,” Adrian said, fingering his sword’s hilt, “I vote we get him and let the higher ups figure out which demon’s been using him.”
“Demons spread through hosts faster than lice,” Noah said urgently, “You guys don’t get it—even if we stop this guy there’ll be five more people making deals with this one tomorrow. It’ll take exponentially more witchpower to get this done later.”
The three of them looked at me, and I understood that they were waiting for me to make the choice. I was the one with the power, and if I didn’t agree with Noah there was nothing he could do because he wouldn’t dream of going against my wishes. No matter what, we would end up doing this my way.
“All right,” I sighed, “Let’s wait for the demon to show up, and then we get both of them.”
We waited in silence, watching Ethan Miller slice strange patterns into his skin, symbols that made me queasy when I looked at them, for some reason. He continued chanting, and I was beginning to hope that the summoning had failed, when it started.
Wind began to blow, lifting my hair lightly at first and then whipping it around my face. Pipes and taps began to rattle and shake, the mirror vibrated and distorted the reflection of Ethan’s profile. The circle he was standing in, drawn with
chalk, began to glow and let off sparks.
The lights blinked on and off. Between one blink and the next, the demon appeared.
This one was different from the one we’d captured before. He had a more human form, and aside from something in his face that said ‘probably not human’, if you passed him on the street you wouldn’t even know what he was.
He was wearing a dark, stylish suit with pointy oxfords and a bow tie. Not coincidentally, he was dressed like every rich hipster I’d ever seen. His hair was slicked back, and he had just enough scruff to not look like he was trying too hard.
“Ethan, my man!” he said with a whoop, holding out his hand for a high five. Ethan slapped his hand enthusiastically. The contrast between Ethan’s pale pastiness and the demon’s glowing tan and expensive clothes was a little jarring to see.
No wonder Ethan was so taken in, I thought with unexpected sympathy. The demon was clever, too clever. Who wouldn’t have all their doubts and fears vanish with the appearance of someone who had the looks, confidence and wealth that this demon had? He was everything someone like Ethan was probably dying to be.
“How’s it going ‘Zel?” Ethan mumbled, looking impossibly awkward next to the sleek sophistication of the demon.
But it was all an illusion, I tried to convince my brain. It was a thing full of corruption and lies and deceit. It was the ancient enemy, and it had to be stopped. It was just a little hard to remember when it was telling Ethan that the rave it went to last night in Ibiza was ‘tite’.
“Now,” ‘Zel said, brisk and business-like, “What’s your availability tonight like? There’s a bar I want to hit up, couple of my buddies want to hitch a ride too. I told them my man Ethan wouldn’t let me down.”
“That’s fine,” Ethan said, like he was barely listening, “Listen, ‘Zel. About tonight…you’re not doing anything—I mean, you’re not doing anything bad are you?”
“What’re you talking about, man?”
“It’s nothing, only—I’ve been reading about stuff. Bad stuff. People are saying that there’s this guy going around, hurting people. Leaving bodies. Someone who looks a little like me.”
“Ethan, I thought we were past all of that stuff!” ‘Zel said, drawing himself up, wearing an expression of hurt and shock. I didn’t believe him for a second. He wore feelings on his face like a badly-fitting suit. “I’d never do anything like that! I’m just here to have a good time. It’s not my fault I don’t have a body, is it? But if you really don’t trust me, we can end things right here. No hard feelings,” he said ruthlessly, “I thought you were making some real progress with Amy, but—“
“No,” Ethan interrupted quickly, “I was just—I wasn’t accusing you. I knew you wouldn’t do me dirty like that. Come on, we’re friends aren’t we?”
“I thought we were,” the demon said. Ethan’s shoulder relaxed. Any reluctance he had was gone.
Just then, Noah let go of the door and the wind sent it flying back. It creaked loudly on rusted hinges, swinging back and forth.
We were frozen in place when Ethan and ‘Zel looked in our direction.
“You didn’t tell me you brought friends, buddy,” ‘Zel said, baring his teeth in an expression that was far from friendly.
“We’re not friends of his,” Adrian said contemptuously, “We’re here for both of you, courtesy of the Chicago Sanctum.”
“Not you though,” ‘Zel said, flicking a dismissive eye over Adrian, Dominic and Noah, “Not a lick of power there. You couldn’t cast a spell to sharpen a pencil, so...ah, here’s your lovely witch.”
He looked me up and down and his smile widened. Noah grabbed his dagger and Dominic his lasso as I prepared to funnel power into them.
“Well, this is a surprise, cuz,” he said, “Didn’t expect to see you here. You working with them now?”
“What’s he saying?” Noah asked nervously. He must have been speaking in demon tongue, I realized.
“No idea,” I lied, “Don’t worry about it.”
I reached inside myself and found the bubbling well of untapped power that was crying out to be used, and brought it up. I channeled it to all four of them until their eyes glowed gold and their hands crackled.
“Why are you lying to them?” the demon said in a sing song voice, “Shall I tell them myself?”
“What’s happening?” Ethan asked, looking pale and frightened, “’Zel, I don’t know these guys—“
“Shut up, fool,” the demon said casually. He flicked his fingers and sent Ethan flying into the wall, where he crashed with a sickening crunch and fell on his face. He didn’t move.
“I have no idea what you’re saying!” I yelled at him.
Adrian rushed him then, knife aloft and determination burning in his face, ignoring Dominic and Noah’s yells to slow down. The demon laughed, and held his outstretched arms in front of him.
“Try your best,” he said encouragingly, in English this time. Adrian struck him with a blow that should have sliced him in half. I felt a momentary rush of relief when the demon’s form flickered, but less than a second later he reformed, looking unharmed.
He laughed with a kind of gloating triumph and before I could warn Adrian to get out of his reach, he struck out with a casual blow that sent Adrian hurtling into the sinks. I shot out with a shield of my own just in time, so his fall was softened and he was relatively unharmed.
“Should I wait for these two to try as well?” ‘Zel asked, sounding bored, “We both know they aren’t a match for me. I could rip them in two if I felt like it. But that would be so boring. The only thing here that isn’t boring…is you.”
Before I could reply, Noah threw a knife at him, laced with energy. ‘Zel flicked it out of the way with ease, but wasn’t fast enough to block all three that followed. One managed to strike him in the abdomen before he could dematerialize, tearing a hole through it.
Demons weren’t made of the same stuff as people. That should have been obvious, but I didn’t realize it fully until the hole made by the knife started gushing something black and thick, and smoking and letting out a charred scent that made us gag.
He also seemed to have some kind of advanced healing, because the hole which look ragged around the edges at first was slowly knitting itself together.
“That was way harsh,” the demon said, straightening up. I was glad to see that his hair had a few strands out of place. He’d definitely felt that last hit.
“Time for you to go to sleep,” he said, tilting his head to the side and flicking his hand in a careless gesture at Noah. Who, to my horror, crumpled to the floor like a puppet that had its strings cut.
“What did you do?” I demanded, power crackling in my fist, enough to blow a hole through him that even he would take a while to heal from.
“Nothing permanent,” the demon said, “Calm down.”
“If there’s one thing I hate getting told when my friends are lying unconscious,” I said, “It’s ‘calm down’.”
“Do I need to take care of you?” the demon asked Dominic, “Or are you okay staying right there and being very quiet?”
“Fuck you,” said Dominic very clearly. The demon sighed and waved a finger carelessly, and Dominic crumpled to the floor in the same way.
I immediately sent a bolt of current flying towards him, which he dodged easily. Successive bolts didn’t faze him, and he was unharmed even when I started sending discs of flat, sharp power at him. Even a graze would easily slice him open, but he managed to dodge them all.
He yawned ostentatiously, to show how little I was bothering him with my attacks.
“Have to try harder than that,” he said, and looked around at the destruction. Every one of my attacks which missed him had gone and hit the walls and sinks and cubicle doors of the toilet.
Shards of porcelain and tile and rubble were littering the floor and I had narrowly missed the prone bodies of Noah, Adrian and Dominic by a few inches at times.
“You’re going to
hurt them if you keep trying,” he pointed out, buffing his fingernails airily, “It would be so much easier if you’d just agree to talk to me.”
“Why? So you could possess me like you did to Ethan?”
“Ethan is a cowardly little shit who needed more hand holding to get through life than any human could give him,” said the demon, “He should be thanking me. He was getting along so well with that girl—what was her name?—oh, who cares. Anyway, the point is, he needed me so he called me. I didn’t do anything to him that he didn’t ask for.”
“You’re lying.”
“Silly witch,” he said, smiling at me with his pointy teeth, “We can’t lie. I couldn’t tell you an untruth even if I wanted to.”
Something in his words rung a familiar bell. I looked around at Dominic, Noah and Adrian, all lying unconscious because of me, and at Ethan cowering in a corner. He had streaks of wetness running down his face. I wasn’t feeling very sympathetic.
“I’ll agree to talk to you on one condition,” I said.
“Oh, we’re bargaining now? I mean, sure, why not.”
“I’ll talk to you for five minutes, if you promise to let my friends and I go in one piece.”
Ethan whimpered from the corner.
“Oh, and I guess Ethan too,” I added reluctantly.
“Giving up so easily?” he said, sounding disappointed, “I thought the Sanctum would pose a better challenge than this. I didn’t even work up a sweat.”
“I’m still technically in witch school,” I said through gritted teeth.
“No offense, but you look older. And that’s not even the strangest thing about you.”
“I think I’d prefer to be murdered than to continue this conversation, to be honest.”
“Too bad that’s not really up to you,” he smirked. “Now tell me, how did you do it?”
“Do what?” I asked, momentarily distracted by a movement out of the corner of my eye. Dominic was stirring and reaching for his knife. I had to distract ‘Zel so he wouldn’t notice.
“Whatever’s going on here,” the demon said, looking me up and down, “I gotta say, you have good taste. Did CeCe set you up? She always tells me she doesn’t have access to bodies anymore but I always knew that was a lie.”