Chapter One #2
I mix everything together and then draw the three symbols together on the floor in a two-foot circle around the three red candles that have yet to be lit.
“Hm. Honestly doesn’t taste too bad,” I say as I lick a little off my finger. I do it again, and make a face. “Never mind.”
I’m not sure if I’m supposed to wash it off my hand, it doesn’t say, so I decide keeping it on that hand might be more beneficial. Make myself connected to the spell more deeply. If that’s a thing.
I still have one clean hand though, and I use that one to light the candles with a long lighter. One by one.
“Show me who I am by day, show me who I am by night. Bring me what I desire most, bring me the answer’s host.” I say as I light them.
Then I stand back from the candles and the circle. I look down at the ridiculous mess on my kitchen floor and laugh a little. That’s going to be fun to clean up.
I repeat the words two more times.
Then, I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Until it seems like nothing is going to happen.
Then again, I didn’t really expect anything to happen anyway if I’m being honest with myself.
I thought maybe there’s a chance that I’d figure out what the hell is wrong with me just by lighting some candles and smearing some sticky stuff on the floor?
Yeah, maybe I have figured out what’s wrong with me.
I’m absolutely delusional.
I sigh and sit down on the floor on my ass with a little huff. Of course this wouldn’t do anything. Why would it?
Now I need to clean it up before I go to bed so that my cat, Mazie, doesn’t lick it up and get sick.
I look to the side just to make sure she’s not already sauntering in here curiously. Nope. She’s probably snoozing on the couch or under my bed where she usually is at this time of the night.
Just as I start to stand up from the floor something begins to happen. A breeze rushes through the kitchen, which is impossible because the one window in the room is closed and there’s nowhere else a breeze would come from.
I stop in my tracks, halfway standing, and look around again.
“Alright then,” I mumble.
I stand up the rest of the way and that breeze turns into a gust of wind that knocks me back against the wall and sends my hair flying all over the place. With my surprise I suck in a breath.
The candles are flaring in the center of the jammy circle, and that sticky stuff starts to lift off the floor as though it’s made of ooey gooey slime instead of strawberry jam.
It’s floating in the air and dripping back down to the floor.
Until the only thing remaining is some of the crushed-up flower buds.
“What is happening?” I ask, and I can barely hear it over the wind rushing in my ears.
The lights in the rest of the house go out with a crackle, and suddenly the floral specks fly toward the center of the sigil and make out a form, a form that is slender and at first seems slightly feminine but then quickly shifts into something more masculine and flatter.
What is just a shape made of specks along the outer edges bursts into a form that is undeniably humanoid but not of this world.
I gasp as the wind disappears so fast that my ears ring.
“What the hell am I doing’ here?” a voice from the person in the middle of the jam and standing on top of the candles that are now just smoking all around them.
The lights in my house come back on, and the one in the hallway is the only thing that illuminates the kitchen.
In the dimness I see him. A man, a few inches taller than me, with dark red skin and dark hair that rushes down his back, tied together at the back of his neck. But several strands of it hang along his forehead and the side of his face.
He’s dressed in half of a suit, black dress pants, white button up shirt and a tie that’s undone around his neck.
“Oh my God,” I whisper. “What have I done?”
His eyes are on mine. He squints at me.
“Did you summon me?” he asks.
I move forward quickly. “I didn’t mean to! I was trying to do a spell I found online. It was supposed to…help me.”
He growls under his breath. The sound is low and animalistic. Something about it makes me shiver.
“I swear I didn’t mean to!” I add. Fear climbs up my body, but at the same time, so does excitement.
“Of course you didn’t. You’re just another human doing some bullshit spell off the internet, summoning a demon in your kitchen…how intelligent of your kind.” He comes barreling at me, pinning me against the wall beside the entry way and slams his fists to the sides of my head.
“How—how is any of this real? I didn’t know it was real, not…really,” I say with a shaky breath. Suddenly I perk up. “Does this mean other creatures are real?” I gasp. “Like unicorns!” I smile brightly, unable to help myself.
“What is wrong with you? I’m literally threatening you and—” he stops, inhales, and his pupil grow bigger. “Mm. Hello.”
Suddenly the demon that’s pinning my curvy body to the wall is leaning his head down toward my neck.
I put my hands on his chest, and feel that it’s strong, but flatter than I’d have expected.
There’s a little bit of facial hair along his jawline that scratches against my neck as he leans down.
“What are you doing?” I ask him. “Stop it.”
I try to push him away but he doesn’t move. He’s so strong.
“You smell so good,” he whispers. “No wonder your spell went wrong.”
I blink. “What are you talking about?” I ask him, voice laced with irritation. “Just get away from me!”
The demon inhales while sliding his nose up my throat to my jawline and then presses his mouth to my cheek. “Holy fuck, I’ve never smelled anyone so…delicious. There must be something very special about you.”
I stop moving. “Special?” I ask.
“You don’t know?” he nips at my cheek and I yelp softly.
He leans back and looks into my eyes. I swear that the black of his pupil makes up more of his eyes than the purple of his iris now.
“What?” I whisper. I feel captivated by his gaze.
“Why did you do the spell again?” he asks me, not really answering my question. His tongue darts out along his lips.
“I n-need to know what’s wrong with me,” I explain.
“Every friend I try to make, I scare off. I always say the wrong thing. I hate being out in the sunlight at the beach like most people I know. I hate not being able to sleep during the day with my day job… Plus, I have these dreams that feel real, I just… it’s too much to just list and tell you.
I just don’t feel right in my skin. Like something is seriously wrong with me. I just wanted to find out what.”
He stares at me. “I see,” he says low and quiet. “I think I can help you figure that out, little one.”
My eyes go wide. “You can?” My heart is pounding in my chest for a different reason now.
“Oh, definitely. There has to be a reason why you smell the way you do. There’s one person who can tell you, but…if you want me to take you to them, you’re going to have to make a deal,” he says with a smile. A crooked smile.
I eye him from head to toe, feeling a bit unnerved. “What kind of deal?”
“Let me taste you, your blood,” he asks of me. His tongue darts out again and I can see it better now. It’s forked at the end. I shiver as he leans in and presses his mouth against my jawline again.
I close my eyes. There’s a part of me that wants to say yes.
“O-Only afterward,” I tell him.
He grunts and presses his body against mine. I melt against him for some reason. He’s not incredibly hot like I’d expect, no, he’s colder than me, and it feels so nice.
“After I take you to her, you’ll let me taste you?” he asks, his head dipping down to my neck. He traces down my throat with his tongue and a soft moan escapes from my lips.
“Y-Yes,” I tell him. “I promise.”
He leans back with a grin. “A deal is a deal.” A long red tail with black feathers at the end comes out of nowhere from behind him and wraps around my arm.
It hurts at first, a searing burning pain throughout my body and I gasp and squeeze my eyes closed. Then it’s gone.
“What did you do?” I ask him breathlessly.
“I marked you with the deal.” He unwraps his tail from my arm. I look down at my arm and see the golden light emanating down from my elbow to my wrist, as it slowly dissipates.
“What happens if I don’t go through with it?” I ask him.
He tilts his head to the side. “I’ll let you guess.” His hand slides over and onto the front of my throat.
I swallow hard. Not just because I’m scared, but because this is the first time in five years a man has touched me, and something about the way his fingers press against my neck makes my knees weak.
Maybe there is more wrong with me than I realize.