A Shade's Task

Chapter 1

The door to the small shop closed with a loud thud, and Carinia started counting back from two hundred. Tonight, Diane took their shared bodyguard, J'hared, with her to the coven meeting, where they met once a month on the new moon. This left her alone for the night, which was rare and far between.

Once her count reached one, she jumped off her bed and headed towards the back door and placed her hands on each side of the door frame and closed her eyes. With a small whisper of a spell the wards that were placed around the door were broken and in an instant, she was able to open the door and head out into the crisp night. Tonight, was the night that the student became the master. Tonight, her mother would die.

She made sure her dagger, which was a kris with a small skull with blue diamond eyes on the edge of the hilt, was secured and concealed in the waist of her pants. It was all she would need after memorizing the pentagram and the necessary spell. It was time to summon her own demon and make a pact so she could order it to help her to be free of that wretched woman.

There wasn't a time Diane hadn't been abusive. There wasn't just once that J'hared had to save her from that woman's wrath, being beaten for no reason other than breathing. In fact, if it wasn't for J'hared she would have either starved to death or burned to death a few times over. Not anymore, after today she would be free of all that.

Without hesitation she cast a quick spell on herself to speed up and hurried into the woods and travelled about fifteen minutes in till she found a small flat clearing. It would take them some time to find her if they came back before she was finished. Carinia was confident in her abilities to complete the summoning.

She stood up straight and unleashed her fire, the blue flames danced in her hand and reflected off of her eyes until she willed them to the ground. The starting point to her pentagram was at her feet as the flames then moved further away moving forward and backwards as she created a double pentagram. Once completed she dispelled the flames and a charred summoning circle remained. The last piece needed was the sigil in the middle which was that of two crescent moons mirroring each other with an arrow going through the middle. Once again, she created her symbol with her flames. Carinia looked over it, it was just how she memorized it from her mother's grimoire, she thought to herself.

The grimoire had a deep black cover with the mirroring crescent moons on the front. What the leather was made from she had no clue, but she could make some guesses. The binding was tied together with the same leather in a crisscross pattern. Intricate metal covers protected the corners from fraying or getting damaged. The clasp was what made it Diane's grimoire, as there was a small needle that couldn't been seen that stuck out in the middle of the clasp. When you went to put your finger down to unlock it your finger would be pricked, if you were Diane or of her blood, the book would open. If you weren't, well let's just say that you wouldn't be concerned about anything else any longer.

Her heart started racing, this was it as she started her chant. Once her spell was finished the wind picked up around her and then with a loud boom and a snap of lightening a man was standing in front of her. He was about seven feet tall with ebony black short unkept hair which rested on top of his head like he had run his hands through his hair. His face was muscular with a solid strong angelic square clean jawline. Deep piercing dark eyes that seemed black in the dark light that was around him, looked down at her. His nose was long and intense and just below was a pair of angelic full lips that did a slight part as he took in his surroundings. He wore nothing but black leather pants, showing off his well chiseled abs, leaving nothing to the imagination, which made her heart flutter. He was something to be admired and she had yet to learn his name.

He looked at her then around at their surroundings and then back at her. "You summoned me?" He asked her, "Alone?"

Carinia nodded unable to speak just yet. She was excited that it worked, and she had a demon to make a pact with. The demon smiled and let out a low chuckle as though amused by something she knew not. It was probably her age, but that didn't matter as a summoner. Giving her a warm smile, he asked, "What is your wish, my dear?"