I was currently walking Alia home, on the insistence of both of my parents. The dinner was not actually as terrible as expected, Alia apparently having mastered the art of deflecting questions. Half the time my parent didn’t even realize, and the other half they simply accepted the outmaneuvering. I did, however, think she could have come up with a lie for how we came to know each other, rather than her waking up on my bed, with little memory of how it occurred. She could at least have phrased it better. After that, it took a while to clear up the misunderstanding that she was, in fact, free to leave whenever she wanted.

“This was nice,” said Alia out of nowhere. I pondered the statement for a moment, before agreeing.

“It certainly wasn’t the fiasco I was expecting.” She giggled slightly at this.

“We should do it again some time, but with less kidnapping.”

I looked at her for a moment, wondering if a nearby demon was playing tricks on me. That wasn’t possible anymore though, at least not without my knowing, so it must be reality.

“Sure.” Nicely done, Jacob. Real smooth.

We walked after that in silence, though she was wearing a smile, so I couldn’t have messed it up entirely. She let me know we were close to her home, and that I could return home if I wanted. Sadly, I was a terrible liar, and my mother would figuratively kill me if I didn’t see she made it with my own eyes. So, I started hardening my mind. Nothing, however, could prepare me for what I saw. When we approached her house, which was apparently a white mansion, with imps and demons flocking the place. I stopped short, causing her to do so as well, though she failed to understand why.

“What’s wrong?” she asked me.

“What do you mean? Can’t you see them?” I asked her, panic lacing my voice.

“see who?”

“The demons! They’re everywhere!” I almost shouted at her. Her eyes widened in response, causing her to look at her tattoo. It was glowing a fiery red. She touched it briefly, before swearing, her awareness of the infernals suddenly changing. She lit her blade and charged at the building. I briefly wondered if she was insane, before charging as well.

We approached the mansion at a sprinting pace, only slowing down when we were right in front of the building and demons started attacking Alia. She cut through them easily, dancing between them as if she was a ballerina. Imps melted, and demons screeched in pain as they were cut in half. I simply stared in wonder, my eyes not quite believing the nice girl to be such a killing machine. Then I realized she was being surrounded, and I started gathering my magic to help her. Before I could use it, however, a voice interrupted me, causing me to freeze in place.

“Stop!” came Anthony’s voice, thick with anger. I had little choice but to obey, stopping every process I controlled, including my breathing. I felt his giant hand on my shoulder, him having arrived from the same direction as us. I watched as the demon attempted to pile on top of her, only to be launched off in an explosion of fire.

“Tsk, damn Ilos and his damned pets. Jacob, you can move.”

I immediately turned to him and tried to launch my magic, but another command replaced the first.

“Seize her.”

As if she heard the words, Alia turned her head towards me. I mouthed an apology, my voice still my own, as my magic flew outwards in a great wave, twice the height of the mansion, before all of it gathered around her in a whirlwind of energy, her being the center. She desperately tried to cut at it, but the fire simply extinguished when met with the ocean of magic. She looked to me once more, desperation in her eyes, but I could do nothing as my magic moved closer to her body, before turning solid, freezing her in place, leaving only her head free.

“Ah! Perfectly done, my student,” complimented the demon principal. “Truly, you were born for practicing magic. And what a privilege it is to direct you towards that goal.”

He started walking. “Come along now! We are making the mayor’s house the new headquarters. I was getting tired of that old church anyway, despite the fun I had destroying the place. Be sure to take her with us.”

I did as asked, the magic around her lifting from the ground, hovering behind me as we walked into the building. As we entered, I saw all of the demons in the city gathered here. Multiple police officers were held against the ground, as well as the mayor and his wife. Alia’s parents. A few demons started bringing out crates, while others cracked them open. Within were white kittens.

“I was actually going to wait until tomorrow after school, but since you are here anyway, we might as well start now.”

The demons started leading cows in from the side of the building in pairs of three, while others began creating a giant circle of salt in the middle of the room. A single kitten was thrown into the circle, followed by six cows, their legs broken. Their lowings of pain filled the room, agitating the remaining cows, though they were quickly restrained with some infernal telepathy.

“Why don’t you,” said Anthony next to me. “Start the ritual.”

I started walking towards the salt circle, two demons joining me, each guiding a single officer, one of each gender, their eyes vacant. I stopped just short of the circle, while the demons made the police pair walk inside the circle.

“Uhyr-hunde, rise from the depths below,” I started, causing a red vortex to start swirling in the middle of the circle. “I offer you sustenance,” a single crimson hound stepped out, the height of a horse, though far more muscular. “and prey to hunt.” Two more stepped out. “If you will accept my will as your own.”

The red beasts tried to eat the cattle, but found themselves unable to move, my magic pressing them to the ground. They growled and barked, but soon I felt the connection create, as they accepted my rule. I let them go, and they fed on the offerings in a gruesome display of blood.

“Hahaha! Excellent!” Came Anthony’s excited voice. “Let’s do that again. Bring the hounds out.”

They followed my will, as I followed his. The hounds left the salt circle, lazily dropping to their stomachs in a loose circle around me. The demons threw another pair of offerings in, but this time they chose Alia’s parents as the offerings. Her father was handcuffed, unlike the rest of the humans here. Guess he refused to contract with them, and they couldn’t get into his mind. I could feel Alia struggle against her restraints, her magic desperately trying to break mine, to little effect.

The married couple was thrown in, and I could see Anthony prepare to give me another command. I talked before he could.

“Anthony,” I drew his attention. “I need my freedom.”

“HA!” He laughed. “Of course, you do. But that’s not an option.”

He realized his mistake immediately, as we both felt the contract snap. I immediately freed Alia, who started cutting through demons once more, her goal clearly being her parents. He made a move to grab me, but a sphere of magic, launched from my hands, got in his way, launching him away from me.

I could feel my magic draining at record rates, as every demon in the room tried to force me to submit. I needed to distract them. I slowly walked towards the salt circle, while sending the dogs out to kill as many demons as they could. They tore through their numbers, slowly reducing the pressure on my defenses and forcing pressure of me, to the point where I could start sprinting. Suddenly, I felt my connection with the hellhounds snap. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Anthony, looking as if he was carrying an world upon his back, with the dogs lying in front of him. It was, however, too late. I had reached the salt circle.

I leant over to the edge of it, trusting the dogs to keep Anthony busy, as I spoke to the mayor.

“I really hope you’re sorry about all of this.”

“Of course I am,” he responded quickly, the surrounding chaos not seeming to affect him much. “I would do anything to take this back.”

“Really? Because all I need is for you to not leave the circle.”

He did so, despite his wife fleeing, not even looking behind her. Guess he didn’t marry her for her loyalty.

“I will do as you ask, young sorcerer. I have nothing to lose, anyway. My soul is damned.”

“I’m not sure your soul will survive this,” I said as I started to gather my magic, as much as I possibly could.

“For where I’m going, the void will be a relief.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for this. You’re still a human being and you didn’t deserve this, no matter your crimes.” I let the magic enter the circle. “Ascalon.”

The name immediately drew Anthony’s attention.

“No. No!” He shouted, before sending the hellhounds after me, having finally seized their minds.

“Ascalon.” I continued, undisturbed by my surroundings. I had already spent the magic, if I stopped now, I was as good as dead.

Every demon started approaching me, their mental attacks forgone in favor of simply using their bodies on me, their intent changing at a thought. But they were too late.

“Ascalon.”