Compilation of Good Omens One Shots

A Very Strange Pact part. 1

Summary: In an AU where Aziraphale is a lonely human bookseller and Crowley, a retired Pact demon, with a strange, uncommanded book... What could possibly happen?

1654 words

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  Aziraphale was a bookseller. It was his job, and it had been a family thing for almost two hundred years. He had grown in his bookshop, and if there was one thing that he had learned, it was that it was a lonely activity. It didn't really bother him. He liked books, they often were more comforting than most people. However, sometimes it was pleasant to have someone to live with, to talk with, about every little annoying thing of life, someone who’d be there for him… He seriously lacked affection.

  One day he was thinking about it, while he was going through his latest book arrival, he found one that he hadn’t ordered. Or at least, he hadn’t meant to buy it. He didn’t usually buy demonic books, he thought, seeing the pentacle on the front cover as he picked it up. He was rather intrigued. 

  ‘Should I read it?’ he murmured to himself.

  Of course, he already knew the answer he was waiting for. He always read the more intriguing books before selling them. Plus, it could be adding to his knowledge. Nothing wrong could get out of a book, could it?

  (That was true if he put aside that one time when he tried reading pornography. That was wrong. Never did it again, and wouldn't do it for anything.)

  He opened the strange book and started reading.

***

  In the end, it was an ordinary book, thought Aziraphale. He considered it a fictional story, and certainly didn't believe a second what it could do.

  The book stayed on its shelf for days, and a thin layer of dust slowly appeared on its cover. Customers came in and out, buying some books or talking with the bookseller, and a day followed another, again and again. This one day, Aziraphale had stayed alone all day – it was sunday, and his only day off. He had nothing to do, and was really getting bored. Had he read all the books he owned? Most definitely, yes. He quickly gave a look around the shop, and sighed at the demonic book. Why not, he thought. It probably wouldn't do it anyways.

  He pulled over the round rug and went to get candles. Aziraphale pulled down the curtains and checked that the door was locked before grabbing the book. He opened it and leafed through it, eventually finding the protocol to summon a demon (safely).

  The pentacle he had to draw was complicated and very precise, and the book did certify that it had to be perfectly realized to be funcional. He didn't believe it would work, but at this point, what did he have to lose? Aziraphale traced it in a way that it would just fit underneath the rug. He then proceeded to place five candles at equal distance from one another, one for each branch of the star. Once it was done, he lit the candles and stood outside the outer line, caring not to erase the circle of cray. He then read the incantations aloud. It was an ancient kind of Latin, with some of the most unused words of the language, and Aziraphale only had learned the basis. He knew the pronunciation, which was of course useful, but didn't understand half of what he said.

  A loud silence followed his words. There was no answer of any kind, he was still alone. Well, that was predictable, he thought, though he was a bit disappointed. Suddenly, a blow of wind shut the candles. The bookseller noted it was slightly darker around him. He began to doubt. Did it work? Did he really summon a demon?