by Noah Layton
‘A dog with rabies,’ I repeated, ‘I couldn’t agree more.’
Another sadistic smile flashed across the demon’s face, before it fell away, and it’s skin returned to the defenceless pale tinge of the frightened, naked supermodel.
She pressed her palms up against the pentagram barrier, pressing her body up against it.
‘Please…’ She said again, her tone and face and everything turning to one of complete begging desperation like the flick of a switch. ‘I don’t know what’s going on… I was just in my house, and then…’
‘You really think you’re gonna trick me again?’ I said resolutely. ‘After pulling that whole act the first time? Quit fucking around and get back to your true form.’
‘My true form?’ She whimpered. ‘Well… How about something in between?’
Before I had a chance to even frown her mouth drew into a terrifyingly wide smile, bearing hideously jagged teeth from her once beautiful lips – but she remained in her human form, save for her demonic, distorted face, the bones snapping before my eyes.
‘HOW ABOUT NOW, FUCKHEAD?!’
She screamed the words at me, her voice sounding like it had been dipped in tar and left out on a porch to dry in a winter frost for a month.
‘IS THIS A GOOD ENOUGH REPRESENTATION FOR YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT? HOW ABOUT YOU, HALF-DEMON? WHY DON’T YOU BRING YOUR ROTTEN TRAITEROUS CUNT WITCHES DOWN HERE AND GET RID OF THIS MOTHERFUCKIGN BARRIER? THEN WE’LL SEE WHO’S REALLY IN CONTROL AROUND HERE!!!’
‘I’ve had enough of this,’ Brianna said calmly, casting her wand to the side. In an instant another bottle of holy water came flying towards us. I caught it deftly in my hand, seeing that fateful baseball come hurtling through the air so many years ago, and felt the confidence fill me again.
I uncapped it, chucking the liquid in the demon’s direction. This time there was no room to miss. It struck her, him, it, whatever this thing was, straight in the face, sending up a gushing hiss of steam as the demon clasped at its face, staggering back and falling to the ground.
The demon’s body rushed red once again, but this time there had been a terrible change. We had intended to ask it questions, to get some information, to get any kind of lead, but it was too late for that. We had bagged a demon at random, and the anger filling this one seemed to be too much.
A cracking sound rippled through a nearby wall, the torches flaring in an unplaceable rush of wind through the workshop. I looked over at Brianna to seek advice about her next steps, but for the first time was met with a genuine expression of fear as she looked down at the demon within the pentagram, then around at the walls.
‘No…’ She muttered.
‘What is it?’
The demon let out a cackling, brutal shriek. I couldn’t tell if it was a laugh or a vent for pain; it could very easily have been both.
The floor beneath my feet was hit by a heavy vibration, and the house began to shake.
‘Earthquake…’ I called out above the rumbling sounds. ‘We should get outside!’
‘This isn’t an earthquake…’
The door at the top of the stairs suddenly smashed open, and Lois and Scarlett came running down the steps, wands in hand.
‘What the fuck is going on?’ Scarlett shouted.
Then, like another switch had been flicked, every source of light went out. The door into the basement slammed shut, the flickering flames that had fought to stay lit extinguished, and the pentagram went dark.
All was silent.
‘We need some light,’ Lois said, I hearing the sound of her wand in the darkness against our panting, frantic breaths. ‘Elumini… Come on… Elumini… Why the fuck isn’t it working?’
Crack.
‘Wait,’ I said quickly. ‘Do you hear that?’
We all fell silent, and through the darkness came the sound of more bones breaking and cracking, of the human body twisting out of place.
And then that crackling, impossibly deep voice broke through.
‘Come now, my dears… Surely you know my rules. Only the light that belongs to the dark may ever exist in my presence.’
Slowly, dimly, the white light of the pentagram lit up once again.
Standing where the demon’s body had fallen to the ground in twisted convulsions, she was now stood - but her body had taken on an entirely different demeanour. Straight back, shoulders held in place, body entirely unmoving as she faced us.
I turned to look at the girls to see that they now all wore the same shocked, transfixed faces as Brianna had displayed when I had looked at her when the house began to shake.
‘Dark master…’ Lois gulped, moving to bow her head out of habit before raising it again. ‘To what do we owe… The pleasure?’
For the briefest of moments I felt a blistering confusion run through my mind, before my face dropped and I turned alongside my witches to face the demon… Now, though, this was a different type of creature that was addressing us.
I had been unsure about a lot of things before going into the workshop, but meeting the Devil was one thing I was pretty confident wasn’t going to happen.
I couldn’t figure out which direction to focus on – the girls or the darkest life form who had ever existed.
I had seen all of the girls display hesitant, weak moments over the last few days – they were only human, and even if Brianna’s blood was half-demon she had still shown a side to her that wasn’t all about seduction and double-crossing.
But now they all looked as if they were staring into the abyss of hell… And in a way they were.
Because this was the one who resided there, and the one who the witches served.
He had taken on the body of the demon, who even now remained perfectly still, save for the deep, heaving breaths that he stole as he stared back at us, unblinking, an animalistic grunt escaping his lungs lightly with each breath.
‘I’m the head of this Coven,’ I suddenly said, stepping forward and keeping the girls behind me. ‘If you need to say something, you can say it to me.’
I had done some stupid shit in my life, as I’ve already mentioned a couple of times. Up until now there had been plenty of decent contenders that could all vie for the position of top-spot, but in that instant they were all immediately overshadowed in the most overbearing of ways by me standing outside of a pentagram in the basement of a witches coven, talking to the Devil, the Devil, like he was a rival businessman.
His face lowered slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on me as he let out another deep, gawking laugh.
‘And what should I call you, young man?’ He continued. ‘Layabout? Failure? Insolent little cunt who has done nothing but disappoint his entire life? I could go on, but I have much better things to do with my time… I do regret stepping away from the daily flaying of a certain dictator who has been spending some time within my special circle, but needs must, I suppose.’
‘We summoned a demon,’ I said, ‘but we didn’t exactly expect an audience with the Devil… Why are you here?’
‘I can do whatever I should so desire, warlock. This may be your realm, but within this symbol is the door to mine. But I do confess taking time away from my daily indulgences to help my girls and their new warlock with this little quest.’
‘They’re not your girls,’ I said, trying to stop my hands from shaking.
‘If you say so,’ he laughed.
‘Dark master,’ Lois said from my side, stepping forward. I felt a brutal cocktail of emotions hit me, my heart feeling as if it was quivering rather than beating within the confines of my chest. ‘Why have you come?’
‘Mmm…’ He groaned, a husky series of slow, domineering breaths leaving his vessel. ‘While the witches may not be as loyal as they once were to my cause, my girls across my covens…’ He shot me a sadistic grin before returning to his speech, ‘… Have sent me plenty of worthy candidates over the years. I admit that I am not as active as in previous years with the movement of the peoples of your realm
to becoming less ravenous over the centuries… And let me say what a tragedy that is… But even I could not anticipate the change that has come about in my realm during my recent slumber.’
‘… What change?’ I asked, unable to take my eyes from him.
‘Some time ago a visitor arrived in my kingdom. He deserved to be there, but he did not arrive at the correct time. His entrance was decided by others… In just a short stretch of time he became something of a de facto leader of the Third Circle, bathing himself in the blood of those who had come before him… But he does not belong in my world, nor does he belong in yours.’ He paused for a moment, looking between us all. ‘You know who I speak of.’
I knew. I knew in an instant.
‘Rorian,’ I said quietly.
‘He cannot leave of his own command,’ the Devil continued, ‘but he can use another to summon him into being, if such another would consent.’
That was it. The Purple Man had been spilling blood, collecting enough souls to open up the threshold…
To bring Rorian back to Earth.
‘The song is almost sung,’ the Devil continued. ‘His presence will soon be upon you. And once he returns to your realm, the blood that will flow will make what has passed thus far look akin to a mere trickle… Likely starting with your own.’
‘We need to know where,’ I replied. ‘Where is this going to happen?’
‘To tell you such a thing would be beyond my nature,’ the Devil said. ‘It is… Where all group amongst those of their kind… Where the four corners meet, and the warriors strive to stay beyond the edge… Where the jesters circle, starting with an attack and attending with a slide…’
I ran the riddle over in my head, settling on memorising it over attempting to decode it on the spot.
The Devil’s vessel jerked rapidly, its arms twinging.
‘I must go,’ he said. ‘Spending precious minutes in one of my pathetic minions bodies is a complete fucking travesty.’ He surveyed the girls once again. ‘My dear, darling bitches… Do know that I both love you and hate you… This is as it is, and as it always will be.’ Then, turning his head to me, he took a series of sharp jerking steps in my direction, as if he was experiencing a controlled seizure, and stopped at the threshold of the pentagram. ‘One last thing I feel the need to share…’
‘I’m listening,’ I confirmed quietly.
I looked into the eyes of The Devil intently, hanging on his every word.
‘He knows. He knows where you are.’
The Devil grinned again, huge, jagged teeth bearing before me like those of a hungry tiger. He placed a palm flat upon the barrier, sending a sudden crack through the air, a rupture along the momentarily visible glass panel.
I and the girls stepped back, I still determined to keep myself between him and them… Until he let out a final cackle, and the light of the pentagram suddenly went out.
No sooner had darkness encroached on us than the flames of the torches upon the walls once again lit up, and neither the demon nor what lurked within its form were anywhere to be seen.
Chapter Eleven
In my few days at the coven I had seen a lot; lounging around, specialised work, luscious breakfasts and dangerous sex games that the girls seemed to openly indulge in but keep in the fashion of lax secrets.
Now, though, it was nothing but serious work – all hands were on deck, including my own.
In the midday heat of the spring I shadowed the girls as they cast protection spells, teaching me in the process how to go about doing it. Every possible entrance to the house was scanned and checked, with wands cast over the openings sending up unseen but deadly protections in the event that anybody unwelcome attempted to make their way through.
I carried my staff with me the whole time, watching and listening as they demonstrated a variety of defensive charms and offensive spells that would maim at the least in the event of an attacker.
Lois further took some time out of her schedule so that we could return to the sparring arena and increase my repertoire; now, on top of the electricity spell that had a tendency to set things on fire, I could hurl objects back while doing some serious damage to them with a telekinetic blast. I spent the next few hours in the sparring arena perfecting them both.
By the time we were finished it was the early evening, and the house was a fortress. You wouldn’t know it from the outside, of course; to a regular passer-by it was nothing but a quiet suburban house.
If another idiot just so happened to go throwing his dad’s prized baseball onto the roof of the house, though, and if he was as much of an idiot as me in that he attempted to clamber onto the roof in an effort to reclaim it, he would find himself burnt to a crisp like a chipped piece of patty lost to the bottom of the deep fryer.
Luckily, I had arrived first; if I had come around now, I would be freaking dead.
At the living room table we sat around as the TV played idly in the background, each of us with a huge tome in our laps, alongside stacks of related volumes upon the coffee table between the couches.
The riddle was still fresh in our minds, but we all had it written down upon a scrap of paper each.
Where all group amongst those of their kind…
Where the four corners meet, and the warriors strive to stay beyond the edge…
Where the jesters circle, starting with an attack and attending with a slide…
‘I still can’t believe that that was the Devil,’ I said, looking up from my book briefly at the girls. ‘That was him. Does he always speak in riddles?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lois said quietly. ‘None of us have ever met him before.’
‘Not even you, Brianna?’ I said, looking over at her.
‘All I have ever heard are stories,’ she confirmed. ‘It is common knowledge amongst all witches that he exists, but his powers are the things of rumours and mystery.’
‘He knows where we can find the Purple Man,’ I replied. ‘That’s something.’
I was going to ask why he wouldn’t just tell us the location of the Purple Man in the first place, but in the recesses of my mind I already knew the answer to such a question; he was the Devil. It wasn’t his prerogative to give us the answers to anything, even if he knew them and was perfectly capable of giving them. He could withhold whatever he wanted as part of his universal game.
Now we were trying to track the summoner down – and determine where he would bring back-
‘Rorian,’ I continued. ‘I mean, even if the Purple Man manages to succeed in summoning him, should we really be that worried? You girls managed to send him into the Third Circle with nothing but a kick.’
‘He dabbled heavily in blood magic,’ Scarlett said, curling up in her corner of the couch. ‘And he’s declared himself as leader of the Third Circle in less than a year. If the portal to his world opens it won’t just be him that comes back through…’
‘It’ll be his entire army,’ Brianna said, gulping. ‘We can’t allow it to be opened. We must find where the final ritual will take place.’
‘I’m keeping an eye on the police waves,’ Lois said. ‘If he’s nearing the completion of his ritual then he’ll need a final few souls to do so… Let’s just hope that they’re not us.’
‘I’m not gonna let that happen,’ I said. ‘I might only know a few spells, but I know how to use them, and I’m not gonna let him do anything to you. To any of us.’
Solving the riddle was the only way that we were going to get ahead and stop this, and it was time to hit the books.
For hours we scanned pages, not just within the huge volumes that surrounded us like the walls of a castle, but via any information available online. Magical knowledge may have been a closely guarded secret that could only be sought within the pages of these books, but wherever this place was could very easily have been a location that was public.
Where all group amongst those of their kind…
That was too vague to take anything away from – it was
a place where similar people gathered, but that could be any kind of club. I flashed back briefly to the house by Westmoor Lake, where the bodies had been turned into mush, their innards lining the walls… The family that had lived there had likely gathered for nothing more than a reunion, and the end result was complete and total annihilation.
Where the four corners meet, and the warriors strive to stay beyond the edge…
The summoning point had to be within the state, and I was willing to bet my head that it would be somewhere close to the house, but I and the girls spent hours contesting and considering what the hell the four corners were referring to. The planet first came to my mind, but that could literally refer to anywhere on the globe.
And the warriors strive to stay beyond the edge… Why would warriors try to leave an arena?
Where the jesters circle, starting with an attack and attending with a slide…
A jester belonged in a royal court, to entertain a king. He was the only one who could get away with mocking the man in charge without getting his head cut off. In this scenario it was myself who felt like I was being made a fool out of, and the Devil had taken the role of the comedian, laughing at me from the confines of his circle.
Attacking and sliding… A jab maybe? An assault that wasn’t taken seriously?
I scanned the pages of book after book, delving into unknown knowledge, and tried every webpage related to arenas or regal warlords that could possibly hail from the state. Nothing of note showed up. The moment we broadened our search by even the slightest measure, the number of results that came to our attention turned from 0 to 100 in an instant. There were too many places to consider.
‘I don’t know about the rest of you but my brain’s fried,’ I finally said a little after midnight, slamming my 14th book shut and throwing it onto the table with a dusty boom. ‘I think we should get some rest and come back to this with fresh heads in the morning. If the Devil was telling the truth then there’s no stopping this guy from getting to us.’
‘Do you hear yourself?’ Lois laughed exhaustedly, ruffling her dark hair. ‘He’s the Devil… Whether he’s telling the truth or not is kind of his gab.’
