Saturday Delights

Daylight was going to happen any time soon thanks to my poor timing. My parents had left switched their plans so I had to wait till after they'd left to finally mix the pot and set up the salt lines. I stood on my bed for a aerial view of my set up. A poorly made circle of salt took of the majority of my room. The offering placed in their proper spots as the diagram was shown. I jumped down  walking over to the cluster of crystals set in the center of the circle. I adjusted them so the light from the candles at each corner reelected off them just right. I flipped through my book for a better reference. Once I felt everything was as it should be I began the ritual. A small part of me was hoping this would actually work but I knew this was probably going to be another waste of a Saturday night. 

I began the incantation.

I noticed in the corner of my peripheral that the flames of the black candles were flickering. My pulse quickened. Maybe this was actually gonna work. Not wasting a moment I chanted once more. As I repeated the chant I look down at Joanna Marshall's picture. It sat in the center of the crystals a lock of her hair placed across her face. I may have gotten a black eye but it was worth it to know she's missing a huge clump of hair on her temple. As I chanted I noticed the snakes skull had moved over from the symbol I'd wrote on the floor with chalk. At this point I began to feel uneasy…A boom and a flash of purple haze. The room shook violently causing the crystals and ingredients I'd spent two months collecting for the ritual to scatter around the room. I was flung landing by the only window in my room. Clinging for life hugging the old heater that was built into the floor I watched as a small but perfectly contained whirlwind began to grow in the center of this circle. I could feel the heater groan as the full on vortex began to spin in the center of the room. Flashes of light shot out like flames. 

Howling could be heard as I felt my grip begin to weaken. I prayed to whatever deity I may have angered hoping I didn't waste the last nineteen years of my life doing school work and getting grounded. Books started to spin around the vortex joining the salts, crystals and small bags of knickknacks. The snakes skull I'd bought for an arm and leg shattered into a million pieces after it was picked up and tossed by this strong force. 

What had I done? Did I say the wrong word? Added the wrong ingredients? I followed the recipe to a 'T'. There's no way I could've messed this up. 

I watched with wide eyes as a huge hand stretched through the middle of this demonic tornado. It was the size of my body bruised in color with long black nails. I could see the veins in its arms pulsing. With a force I couldn't have imagined it slammed the floor with a thunder and everything went black. No light despite the curtains being drawn back. No sound. Just cold. I didn't dare to move scared of the unknown in the dark. A small ember appeared in the darkness, slowly descending to the floor hovering mere inches from the hardwood. A burst of light almost blinding exploded returning the room to its normal lighting. The sun was just coming up. Dropping my arm from in front of my eyes I noticed a man leaning leisurely against the door. He was dressed in a dark suit the color unrecognizable. Like closing your eyes, a color not black but not defined enough to describe. The buttons of his over coat were unbuttoned revealing an almost stark white chest. Part of me had wanted to unbutton the rest.. 

He fiddle with his hands picking the dirt from under a fingernail and flicking it in the distance. His dark eyelashes were long and lush making his eyes appear closed as he elegantly examined each finger. His hair was a dark auburn color with  a small streak of grayish white in the middle of his hairline. The hair was in a tapered cut closely cut in the back and long in the front. He took a long breathe flicking his eyes up at me. I felt my felt blood run cold as I stared at this beast of a man. I took a moment to close my eyes to get the eerie image of his eyes popping open to look at me. The whites of his eyes were pitch black. Cold, empty, mute of any life. The irises were the color of rubies just floating against darkness. I couldn't move trying to force my legs to run or at least crawl away from this… thing I was looking at. Cause whatever I was looking at was not a man or a human more importantly. 

"I must say," He purred in a voice as soft as silk with a hint of a Spanish accent. Which didn't fit his looks, "For a witch of such low… caliber I'm amazed you were able to pull me." A smile played on his lips. 

"W-what?" I stuttered. 

"Don't act so modest. If I were you I would feel honored." He puffed his chest a bit. Raising his head in pride. The ego of this thing was near palpable 

"This isn't what.. The book said this was a karma spell." That caught his attention.

"A karma spell? There is nothing of that kind nor has there ever been." His brow furrowed as he looked around my once beautifully organized room. His eyes locked on the burnt pieces of Joanna Marshall's yearbook photo and a lock of red hair.

"A vengeance spell?" He repeated to himself quizzically tapping his bottom lip thinking. He looked at me with those same hellish eyes. I had to look away from them. Those things were going to haunt me for life. They were the type of eyes that you were afraid to find when looking under the bed for monsters.

A crackle of laughter erupted from him as he cupped his mouth with faux embarrassment. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. I looked at my spell book looking over the list of ingredients that I needed and the enchantment I had to say. He slowly stopped laughing to follow my gaze. 

"You foolish girl. How much research did you on this little 'spell' before you performed it?"

"I did everything right. How.. what are you?"

"Yes, you did everything right but for the wrong spell. Everything to darken your soul and summon a demon."

"Demon?!" I was going to faint. 

"So you tarnished your soul for a stupid wish. Which now thanks to this loophole of a spell I have to agree to."

"I don't understand." I forced myself to look him in the eye.

"Let me dumb this down so even a child like you can understand. That spell you found is not a vengeance or karma spell as you said, it's a 'Familiar Spell'. One that forces the demon summoned to grant the caster a small wish in return for giving over their servitude."

"I don't want to be your familiar." I found the strength in my legs and stood up. I walked over to this lie of a book tossing it on my desk for closer examination. I should've listen to my gut and not trusted that shady clerk. I better get a refund for this.

"I can tell you don't read latin. 'Thy soul shall be til star cross and granted thy dying wish. Poorly written if you ask me but it's there in black er, well red and white. That things seen better days." 

"A familiar," I repeated to myself trying to register the meaning of this unfamiliar word.

"Lucius, that sneaky b*****d must love to watch the world burn probably still paying off that witch he crossed over. I thought he died after the last poor soul he made a spell for. My dear you've been had. Got. Bamboozled. Hoodwinked. Liiiiiiied to. All for a taste of revenge. It's hard to purify a black soul you know. As we speak your one and Only wish is being granted as promised." 

With that he bowed keeping his eyes with mine. I watched in horror as his once round pupils pulsed morphing to become that of a goats. The room trembled for a moment. I looked around as the near melted candles rolled around in random directions. A cool breeze blew through the room and settled. 

"And so it is done." He returned to his standing position his eyes returning to his version of normal. He adjust the collar of his shirt turning to walk out the door. 

"WAIT!" I yelled as I chased after him. I ran to the door pulling it with all my strength. The hallway of my home was no longer there. I was hundreds of feet above a empty street. I stared out into the vastness of a black forest. A dark sky carrying the smell of burnt hair made my stomach churn as I peered out in the colorless void searching for the demon. A monstrous scream was heard. The forest was gone and a vision of Joanna covered in blood eyes gone and jaw dropped in an inhumanly manner. The veins in her face were engorged and purple in color. Her red hair floated around her. She raised her frail arm pointing a bony nailless finger at me. A scream of pain like torture filled the house echoing. I cried out gripping my ears shutting my eyes in fear. The door slammed shut. The silence the room fell in was more deafening than her scream. I moved back a couple of feet crouching down rocking softly in fear.

What'd I done?! I just wanted her to feel the way she made me and others she bullied feel. 

"You know opening doors without knocking is extremely rude. Deadly in some cases," He said as he walked back through the same door. I didn't look up to see if she was still in the doorway or not. He walked pas

"What was that?!" I felt my eyes water, there was a slight burning sensation. 

"You got to see limbo. The next time you choose to stupidly walk through the same door as a demon knock." 

"It shouldn't matter! This is my house!" I yelled still shaken.

"You saw it does. "Knock but hear a sound, Hell is found. Not a sound it's holy ground.' Simple enough for the simplest man to follow. Last I checked that was the first lesson any dark witch was taught," He said smugly as he started to walk around the room. He would touch random items in my room. A homemade vase I'd made, my jewelry box, a school sweatshirt.

"I'm not a witch."

"Of course you are. No human has the power to summon a demon of my stature." He bragged keeping his back to me.

"Clearly your 'glory' days are long gone since I was able to." He was reaching for my calendar that had my workout schedule and daily planner when he paused hand still stretched out. In a flash he turned on his heels and strutted over to me. The look on his face I couldn't read. Instinctively however I started to back away from him.

"Come here!"

"The hell I will!" I kept retreating back. My back bumped into the computer chair that'd travel during the spell vortex. I looked back to move it only to notice he was in my space. I stared up at him taking in his height, wishing he'd been the size of a dwarf and not towering over me like some nab star. The smell of ash filled my nostrils. With a blur he had my hand in his holding it in front of his face. I blinked trying to register how he had done this so quickly. I struggled trying to break his hold. 

"Will you stop moving!" He barked. Raising his other hand to mine. 

"Let go!" 

With a jab he pricked my middle finger with his index causing a drop of blood to appear. I hissed in pain forced to watched as he dragged me closer to him by my hand. He slowly brought my hand closer to his lips. A snake like tongue lashed out lapping up the blood that had dripped from the wound and down his own hand. It was disgusting. I felt my stomach flip. With a look of horror he dropped my hand and flew back with wide eyes.

"You're a human!" He hissed at me.

"I told you. Don't ever in this life time or the next touch me." I rubbed my finger even though the blood had stopped. 

"This can't be possible. There has to be a reason for this. You can't have that kind of force to manipulate a spell like this."

"Well at least that's a positive. If I can summon you I can send you back," I smiled looking at him slyly. 

Now if I could figure out the 'How' part…