Chapter 25 #2
“It’s pure evil, Lucian,” Seraphina's voice trembles through my mind. “I’ve never felt anything like this before.”
"Oh, I feel it alright," Emily mutters, her eyes darting around the gloom like she's expecting some eldritch horror to leap out. "Whatever it is, it's bad news bears."
We see it as we venture deeper into this subterranean house of horrors.
It's like someone took a sledgehammer to reality itself, leaving a gaping wound in the fabric of the universe.
The edges of the rift shimmer and writhe, tendrils of inky smoke curling out like grasping fingers.
The rift pulses eerie light, casting sickly shadows across the stone walls.
The air around it feels wrong like it's been tainted by something that shouldn't exist in this or any other realm.
Really brings down the property value of the whole "reality" neighborhood, if you ask me.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I mutter under my breath, my eyes darting between the cosmic tear and the two witches who are our only hope of unfucking this situation.
"Alright, no more screwing around. It's time to put your magical money where your mouth is and seal this blow hole before something really nasty decides to come a-knocking. "
Emily fixes me with a glare that's one part steely resolve, two parts 'I will curse your dick into a cactus if you push me.
' She holds out her hand, fingers snapping like an impatient diva.
"Cough up the magic pebble, jackass. And start making offerings to whatever twisted gods you worship because if this goes sideways, we're all screwed. "
"Wow, way to sugarcoat it, Glinda," I snark, fishing the Soul Stone out of my pocket like a used tissue. "Why don't you just tell me to bend over and kiss my ass goodbye while you're at it?"
I drop the stone into her waiting palm, trying to ignore how it pulses with malevolent energy. "Just don't go all Dark Phoenix on us, yeah? I'd rather not have to explain to my sister-in-law why her best friend went nuclear and turned us all into demonic kibble."
Emily rolls her eyes. "Gee, thanks for the pep talk, Coach.
Really feeling the confidence here." She closes her fingers around the stone, taking a deep breath like she's about to dive into the deep end of a cursed pool.
"Alright, let's see if all those late-night Latin study sessions were worth the crippling student debt. "
Emily's eyes drift shut as she begins to chant. The words are ancient and guttural, the kind of language that could unravel the very fabric of the universe if spoken just right. Or just wrong, depending on your perspective.
"Claudere portam, et signa fractum, restituo velum inter mundos!"
Seraphina presses close to my back, her fingers curling into my shirt like a lifeline.
I can feel her trembling, the fear rolling off her in waves.
I reach back, gripping her hip in silent reassurance.
I'll be damned if I let anything happen to my angel cake, even if I have to personally punch every eldritch abomination in the face to keep her safe.
Sable steps up behind Emily, placing her hands on her shoulders like she's jump-starting a car battery. She joins in the chanting, her voice rising perfectly with Emily's.
"Ex umbra in lucem, ex nocte in diem, ex inferis ad vitam!"
The air around us begins to crackle with power—the fine hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention.
Emily's brow furrows—sweat beading on her forehead as she pours every ounce of her considerable magical mojo into the spell.
The rift pulses and writhes like a living thing, tendrils of inky smoke lashing out as if in defiance of the witches' attempts to close it.
But Emily is a fucking force of nature, her power bolstered by the strength of a hundred witches. She grits her teeth, her hand shaking to channel the stone's energy into the rift. Emily's closed hand begins to glow an eerie purple, pulsing in time with the tear in reality.
"Sigillum fractum, clausus portam, finem tenebris!" Emily's voice rises to a fever pitch, the words tearing from her throat like they're being ripped out by force.
The rift shudders and convulses, the edges beginning to seal shut like a gruesome wound knitting itself back together.
The air is filled with the sound of reality itself screaming in protest, a high-pitched whine that sets my teeth on edge and makes my brain feel like it's about to leak out of my ears.
Just as the rift is about to close completely—
"Oh, shiiiit" I breathe, instinctively pushing Seraphina further behind me. "That's not good. That's so very, very not good!"
The creature that just slipped through the rapidly closing rift is the stuff of nightmares.
It's tall, easily towering over all of us, with a body that looks carved from the darkest shadows.
Its skin is mottled black like it's been scorched by the fires of hell, and wicked-looking spikes protrude from its shoulders and spine like some demonic porcupine.
But the face seals the deal on the whole 'unholy abomination' vibe.
Its features are twisted and grotesque, with a maw full of razor-sharp teeth that look like they could shred flesh from bone with ease.
Horns curl back from its skull like a crown of thorns and its eyes.
.. Christ, its eyes are like pits of pure, malevolent flame, burning with an intelligence that makes my skin crawl.
Seraphina whimpers behind me, trembling.
Emily and Sable exchange a look of 'oh shit,' but to their credit, they don't stop chanting. If anything, they redouble their efforts, their voices rising to a desperate crescendo as they pour every last ounce of power into sealing the rift.
"Finem! Finem! FINEM!" Emily screams, her hand clenched so tightly around the Soul Stone that I'm pretty sure it's gonna leave a permanent impression.
With a final, gut-wrenching howl, the rift slams shut, the edges sealing together like a zipper being pulled closed by the hand of God himself.
The sudden absence of sound is almost deafening, the only noise the ragged breathing of four people who just stared down the barrel of the apocalypse and lived to tell the tale.
But we're not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot. Because now we've got a pissed-off demon from the depths of hell itself stalking towards us, its clawed feet gouging deep furrows into the stone with each step.
"Alright, new plan," I announce, my voice only shaking slightly.
"So far, we've checked off 'seal gaping asshole' and 'prevent the universe from going kaboom' from our to-do list. Gold stars all around!
But now we've got this walking Hot Topic mascot.
Anyone got a demon-sized rolled-up newspaper we can smack it with? "
Emily and Sable look at each other, then back at the demon, then back at each other. I can practically see the gears turning in their heads, the calculations of 'Can we magic this thing back to the abyss before it rips our faces off?' running at lightning speed.
"I'm open to suggestions," Emily begins to back up, her voice strained with exhaustion and panic. "Because I'm running on empty here, and I don't think asking it nicely to pretty please go back to whatever circle of hell it crawled out of is gonna cut it!"
I take a deep breath, squaring my shoulders as I step forward. "Well, then. Guess it's time for Plan B."
Seraphina's hand shoots out, gripping my arm. "Lucian, no. You can't—"
"Maga." The demon's voice is like gravel being dragged over a cheese grater, low and menacing. Its burning gaze locks onto Emily like she's the only thing in the room worth noticing.
Emily, to her eternal credit, doesn't even flinch. She thrusts out her hand like a magical crossing guard."Daemonium, ego praecipio tibi! Flectere genua et oboedire!"
And then, in a twist that makes my brain do a record scratch, the big evil demon drops to one knee like a fucking medieval knight pledging fealty. "Ego ad mandatum tuum, venefica," it rumbles, its head bowed in submission.
I blink. Once. Twice. Nope, still see a creature straight outta Satan's asshole kneeling at the feet of my sister-in-law's bestie. "Well, then," I mutter, my jaw hanging open like a broken puppet.
Seraphina's grip on my arm tightens, her nails digging into my skin like she's trying to anchor herself to reality.
I don't blame her. I'm half-convinced I'm hallucinating this whole thing, and any second now, I'm gonna wake up in a padded room with a straitjacket and a daily dose of the good drugs.
But nope, this is happening. Emily, our resident witch queen, just made a fucking demon her bitch. And I thought I'd seen everything.
"Uh, Em?" I venture, taking a cautious step forward. "Not that I'm not impressed by your sudden foray into demon taming, but what the actual fuck just happened?"
Emily glances back at me, her eyes wide with shock and dawning realization. "I... I think I just bound him to my will," she says slowly like she's testing out the words as she says them. "Holy shit, I didn't even know I could do that."
"That makes two of us," I mutter, eyeing the kneeling demon warily.
Now we have to figure out what the hell to do with our new pet hellspawn. Because something tells me this isn't the kind of stray you can take home and feed table scraps.
"Ego ad mandatum tuum, domine mi." it says to Emily, voice like gravel in a blender. "Potestatem deae habes et ego apud te miserere."
"What the hell is it saying?"
"He said, 'I'm at your command, My Lady. You possess the powers of a goddess. I am at your mercy.'" Emily conveys.
"Wow, laying it on thick there, aren't we, edgelord?"
Emily's eyes go wide, then smirks. "Is that so?"
Oh shit—I know that look. That's Emily's patented "I'm about to be a magnificent asshole" face.
Emily's lips curl into a shit-eating grin. "Oh, this is gonna be good. Okay, big guy. Do your best chicken impression!"
Big, dark, and demonic just stares at her like she's lost her mind. "Right—maybe your new pet only speaks the language of dead people and Catholic guilt."
"Click sicut pullum," Emily tries again, because apparently demon-taming isn't entertaining enough.
The demon's flaming eyes narrow like someone just insulted his mother. "Non sum spectaculum aliquod entertainment."
Emily snorts like a teenager who just found their parent's browser history.
"Translation for those of us who didn't take 'Speaking in Tongues 101'?"
"He said 'I am not some entertainment show.'" Emily repeats, looking way too amused. "Our demon's got sass!"
Great. Just what we needed. A demon with attitude.
"Uh, guys?' Sable interjects, looking two seconds away from shitting her pants, "Not to rain on this weird little parade, but can we continue this discussion somewhere that's not a creepy catacomb full of unspeakable evil? Just a thought."
I clap my hands together, echoing through the chamber like a gunshot. "Alright, kids, mission accomplished! We've sealed the butt hole, acquired a pet demon, and I'm missing my favorite TV show. Time to blow this popsicle stand before something else decides to crash our party."
I turn to Emily, gesturing grandly to her new pet. "After you, O Mistress of the Damned. Lead the way."
Emily rolls her eyes, but I can see the hint of a smile playing at the corners of her lips. She snaps her fingers, pointing towards the exit. "Audisti hominem. Movere eam."
The demon rises, towering over us like a living shadow. It inclines its head towards Emily, a gesture of respect that looks utterly bizarre coming from a creature that probably eats souls for breakfast. "Ut iubes, hera."
And with that, our little party of misfits and monsters makes its way out of the catacombs, one apocalypse averted, and one demon tamed.
All in a day's work for the fucking Scooby Gang from hell.