Salome and Jeremiah spent two hours setting up the ritual, drawing intricate markings on the floor of the cave. They checked each other's work obsessively, cooperating through sarcasm and insults. The drawings formed two circles: a smaller inner circle enclosed within a larger outer one. They would summon Andras to the inner circle and bind him there, then use his power to activate the outer circle to take them home.
"Rather dull and bloodless" said Salome, surveying the final result, "but I imagine it should work."
"There is no need for blood in this ritual, you know. Dr Kerashan showed this quite conclusively in his experiments with mice blood and levitation magics way back in the 1800s."
"Well, it might not be strictly necessary, but one must consider the aesthetics of the thing, what sort of demonic ritual doesn't use a little bit of stolen blood. For shame"
"Revolting." said Jeremiah.
Maybe some of your own blood, Jeremiah. That will liven things up. thought Salome.
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Trix and Jeremiah arranged themselves and their orbs. They sat one opposite the other, as they had in their previous scrying session. This time, Salome also joined them. She sat next to Trix, touching her shoulder. It would be easier for her to ride in Trix's mind if they were touching. She did not join their journey at first, letting them find their way to Earth without needing to carry her. She could feel the power beginning to flow out of the two humans as they let their awareness float out of the room and travel further and further from the great rock in the sea. The room darkened for a second as the crystals flickered and dimmed: they had made a large jump.
Salome slipped into the vision, seeing what they saw. They were flying above the ground: Green and brown. Soft and wet. England. Salome took the reigns, nudging their flight left, then right, following the twinge of intuition that always told her where her father and siblings were. There was a dreaminess to their movement, time and space not bothering with consistency. The vision hopped and skewed and somehow they had already arrived. A small house in a forest clearing. It was built of grey stone, the thatch roof covered in green moss. An orange light shone from the two small windows on either side of the door.
They slid closer until their viewpoint floated just outside the window, looking in. A great wolf lay in front of the stove, his pelt steaming as it dried off in the intense heat. It looked up as though it sensed them, then stared straight toward Salome. It stood, still facing them.
"Who is there?" it said.
For a second, Salome felt the old fear return. The viewpoint trembled as her desire to flee became overwhelming. She pushed the urge back down: surely he couldn't see her, certainly he couldn't touch her here. They were safely sat in the cave, many worlds away. The wolf swung its head side to side, as though trying to catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of one eye.
"I know your scent, intruder." it walked one step closer to where their disembodied viewpoint hung in the air. Salome felt her hackles rising, the electric tingle of adrenaline filling her feline form. Demons do not know fear. she thought to herself.
The wolf was right in front of her now, she could see its nostrils flare as it breathed, saw the hair stained red around its mouth from its last meal. There was no smell, but she could imagine it vividly: The hot dampness of its fur, the sharp metallic stench of blood, a touch of sulphur, cloves and cinnamon.
"Salome?" the wolf opened its mouth in amusement. "You have come to visit me, from your new home? Such an honour."
The sound of her own name jolted Salome from her stunned silence. She answered in her mind. "Yes, father. It is I. Indeed I thought I should come and say hello. I assume you have missed me greatly. You look emaciated. Unable to sleep or eat. Sick with concern?"
"Yes, my child. Exactly correct."
"Maybe you should visit me, my father? Come and see the new life I have made here, in hell. After all, it is to you that I owe the pleasure of this delightful sunny holiday."
"If but I could, my child. Perhaps one day, when the sun blinks out and all the other worlds are but cold, dead rocks. Perhaps then I will descend, and visit you."
"No. I insist you come now!" And Salome thrust her viewpoint forward, slipping inside the wolf with a slimy cold feeling of dipping her hand into stagnant water. She tore herself from the vision and scratched at Trix's hand. "Do it! Right there! Now!"
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Trix dropped her Orb in surprise, letting it fall to the floor where it smashed. Jeremiah jolted back to his body at the same time. Blinking confusedly before realising where he was. He threw himself flat on the floor, reaching out toward the inner chalk circle with one hand, and drew the final line, holding their position on earth in his mind, targeting the spell to that spot. The line completed the pattern and activated the portal. One by one, the crystals on the walls began to blink out. The rainbow lights that had played on the floor replaced by a white, colourless glow coming from the chalk line.
"I believe it's working!" said Jeremiah, pushing himself to his feet. "If I did it correctly, he is caught, and on his way."
He stood, facing the circle. From somewhere a wind had risen, and it whipped his hair around his face as he spoke.
"Ten came from hell, at the point of earth's creation
Rending the warm membrane between our words
But man has learned of his enemy. And today we take up arms.
And send them back, the bastards. Back to hell!"
The wind became stronger, and blackness began to gather in the centre of the room. The humans stood in a line around the inner circle: Dean and Emma holding hands. Jeremiah with his hand on Wilbur's shoulder. Trix stood slightly back, her mouth tight, ready to fight. Salome watcher her. What was the next bit again? Demons of flesh and blood? she thought, maybe that girl is worthy of such a name. Her, I might miss. She pushed the doubt from her mind. I need to focus.
The dark cloud in the circle was now a boiling, swirling mass of black and red and purple. It became denser, congealing into a form: The shape of a wolf, huge and grey. It's mouth hanging open, spittle dripping from its teeth as it panted in pain. It stood in the black cloud that was now slowly dispersing. There was none of the mocking contempt left in its eyes now. They were hard and focused. Focused on Salome.
"You bitch." said Andras. "Perhaps I underestimated you." It looked about the room slowly, fixing each of the children in turn, its eyes stopping on Jeremiah. "Or perhaps I did not. I thought it unlikely that you would manage to communicate with me at such distance. Of course, the truth is that you debased yourself to the point of working with this human, the sworn enemy of your family."
Salome felt light headed as she answered, words much rehearsed spilling out before she could stop them. "Oh spare me your false morality. You tell me all your life of how morality is a false god, a shackle around mankind, and yet you reach for it yourself when you wish to imprison me in turn. Always you talk of unity and loyalty and respect, yet you only ever demand it from others! You never wish to offer these things to me."
"Such large words from a traitor, you yourself know that what you are doing is weak and without valour! A true demon would rather be snuffed out than betray his kind by working with that" the wolf shouted, spittle flying from its mouth.
"A demon knows no fear, a demon knows no guilt, a demon knows no law. You used to make me repeat that, every night."
"No law but mine." Andras leapt forwards towards Salome, and was thrown back as he hit the edge of the inner circle, the crystals flared and the smell of singed hair floated out into the room.
"Yes. Well. A law is meaningless without someone willing and able to enforce it, father. Don't you think? So make me listen. Or perhaps, it is my turn. Might makes right, father. Vae victus."
"You're a pet!"
"And you, short-sighted and foolish. You have no real ambition, you cannot plan further than the next meal, you are ruled by your pride, you--"
Jeremiah quickly interrupted before Andras could respond: "This is a very touching reunion, Salome, but perhaps we should hurry up and get this show on the road, before the way closes up behind him."
Jeremiah and Trix changed some of the markings on the inner circle, then backed back out. It began to slowly contract, a shimmer of heat in the air marking the edge of the barrier. Andras threw himself against the edge a few more times, causing them to flash and hiss and bounce him back. It contracted more and more until he was forced to crouch down, curling his great body into a circle.
Wilbur and Dean came forward. They held a long spear between them. The point was blackened as thought it had been heated over a wood fire. The shaft was twice as tall as a man. Together they levelled it at Andras, holding the point of the spear just outside the circle, preparing themselves for the thrust. Andras changed form now, becoming a young boy, and sat cross-legged on the floor. He began to cry "Please...no" he said.
"Embarrassing." said Salome, "ignore him, just...do it."
Dean hesitated, looking to Jeremiah. Jeremiah strode forward and gripped the spear with them. "It is just an illusion, go ahead. And he pushed forward with the point. The tip of the spear slipping easily into the demon and out the other side, his body offering no resistance. They pulled it back through. The shaft was now covered with a thick black ichor. The liquid dripped from the wound, pooling on the floor. Before they could fully retract the spear, the boy was a wolf again, it whipped around, grabbing the shaft in its jaws, wrenching it back, trying to pull the boys into the circle with it. Jeremiah shouted and slashed two marks on the floor with his chalk, shrinking the inner circle even more, forcing the beast to crouch low to the floor and giving them a chance to flee back outside the outer circle.
Salome saw her chance. She slipped inside as they fled, running between their legs. Before they could react she had dragged a sharp claw across the floor, completing the pattern and closing off the outer circle with only herself inside. She saw the humans looking back at her in horror, their faces distorted by the shimmer of force that now separated them.
"Salome, open the circle so we can enter." said Jeremiah firmly.
Salome looked back at the human who had held her hostage for so many years.
"No." she said.