The Devil Beside Me.

An Unfortunate Meeting.

"Come here, my boy." 

"Yes, Father?" 

"Have I told you humans are fools?" 

"A little too many times, Father." 

"Well, I know you have faith in the human race. But let's shatter those dreams, shall we?" 

"Do whatever you please, Father." 

"Watch this, my boy. This is going to get interesting." 

Bianca lighted up the candle and placed some lavender, cinnamon and wormwood in a bowl filled with burning coals and sat back in anticipation. "Everybody ready?" she asked. She could see Renee's tensed features illuminated by the candle flame and Benedicta's eyes flickering between the candle and the front door. "Got cold feet, Dicta?" Bianca teased. Benedicta's eyes held Bianca's as she replied, "Don't even think about it. I just want to see you making a fool out of yourself and only then am I walking out of here." "Great, then you are going to be here for a long time." Bianca replied. Benedicta just snorted and kept quiet. "Ok, first we all have to place a drop of our blood into this goblet. I'll go first." Bianca took the small silver blade and pricked her finger with it. A single drop of blood fell into the goblet. Renee and Benedicta followed suit. Using the blade, Bianca stirred the liquid filled goblet thrice anti-clockwise and muttered some incarnations. The three girls held hands and made a triangular pact with the goblet and her aunt's picture and items in the middle. "Repeat after me." Bianca whispered.  

Blood of my blood,  

You spirits of love, 

Come from below and from above, 

Entities loving who wish me well, 

Come to this circle when I sound the bell. 

The two girls repeated the spell and Renee rang the bell three times. Then, they waited. "This is ridiculous." Benedicta fumed. "Nothing is going to happen. I mean, we have been waiting a solid 15 minutes!" she said. "I think Dicta has a point there. Maybe we should clean up and go to bed." Renee said in a small voice. "I don't believe it. This is supposed to be a fool proof plan. I did everything according to the Book of Shadows. Why can't I summon her?" Bianca muttered. "Maybe because all of this is not real. It's a hoax. When are you going to see that?" Benedicta shouted. "Don't say that. I thought you believed in me." Bianca was close to tears. "Girls, can we all just take a deep breath and cool down?" Renee pleaded. A deep chuckle from the corner of the room stopped all other activities going on in that room. "My, my, you girls are rather not patient for doing a summoning charm." The voice said. "Who are you? I summoned my aunt and no one else. Leave before I-"Bianca was cut short by low, husky laughter. "Before you what, darling? Send me back from where I came from? I'll love to see you try." And the figure stepped out of the shadows. 

The three girls gasped in shock. Bianca had personally prepared herself to face something horrible or gruesome or at least some kind of black smoke when whatever it was that she had accidentally summoned finally revealed itself. What she saw reeled her mind into shock. A young man, around his early 20, with jet black hair and bottomless black eyes greeted the girls with a sly grin. What shocked the girls was the fact that he was inhumanly beautiful. He was perfectly sculptured with high cheekbones, a sharp nose, broad forehead, perfect lips and a toned body. He was dressed like a lawyer with the whole suit and the tie and up to the perfectly polished shoes. He looked like the devil's advocate with his smug expression. As the three girls stared at him, speechless, his eyes started changing color. From infinite black it became lighter with a dash of gold in it. As seconds flied, the gold started to spread and cover the black. It was like watching the sun swallowing a black hole. In the end, all that was left was molten gold replacing the earlier black. Somehow, this managed to scare the three girls further. Finally breaking out of the shock, Bianca managed to stammer, "Who are you?" He looked up from his gold Rolex and looked at Bianca as if he was truly seeing her for the first time. He flashed them a brilliant smile and said, "That's a very funny question considering it was you who summoned me. But just to help you out, I go by many names. Some call me Belial or Azazel." "I summoned the Devil?" Bianca cried. "Apparently, yes." The man said with a smirk on his handsome face.

 "Where do you think you are going, Benedicta?" he asked dangerously. Benedicta stopped moving and said, "This is all Bianca's fault. It has nothing to do with me. I'm leaving now so that you guys can work this problem out." The young man looked at Benedicta and started laughing, a really loud whimsical laugh. Finally catching his breath, he said, "My dear child, the blood pact was made by the three of you. All of you are in this together. Leave now and I'll guarantee that you will never see daylight ever again. All that will be left for you to see and feel for all eternity will be scorching hot Hell flames." The color drained out of Benedicta's face and she quietly walked back and stood beside Renee. "How is it possible that I summoned you?" Bianca asked softly. The man's face lit up like as if he was a child being offered candy. "God, he is breathtakingly beautiful." Renee thought dreamily. He looked directly at Renee as if he had heard her thoughts. Renee blushed and was suddenly very interested in the marble floor. Smiling, he replied, "Well, we can start with the usage of blood. Blood is always associated with satanic rituals and spells, didn't you know that? Your summoning spell was all mushy and pathetic but thankfully, it was all a cover up. Just because you asked for those who cared for you, doesn't mean you are going to get them. But of course, your stupidest mistake was your diagram. Your summoning charm uses the Star of David. Tell me, what do you think you used?" The three girls looked at their diagram and quickly referred to Bianca's Book of Shadows. After a few minutes, Renee whispered, "It's the Grand Pentacle. But if that is true, you cannot be out of that circle. I mean it is the Devil's Trap. "And the purpose of the Grand Pentacle is to make all spirits obey orders from the summoner." Bianca added. "That's true if your circle is complete. That tiny crack in your drawing gave me a way to get out." He said with a low chuckle. 

"And to answer your previous question as to why I am so hot, I can assure you that God has nothing to do with it. You see, the more people burn in hell for their crimes, the hotter the flames get, devouring on their sins. I am merely the manifestation of what hell is. The hotter hell gets, the hotter I get. Don't you just love English? There are just so many interpretations on what a word such as 'hot' can mean. Of course, I can also come as a supernova flame, but it will damage the business. Many people prefer to deal with someone beautiful. The ignorance of your kind is a wonderful toy to play with." He said with a dazzling smile. "It still does not explain how come the spells were designed to summon you!?" Benedicta said loudly. "Little one, you are too loud. Careful or I might just rip your vocal cord off. You girls are very ignorant, aren't you? Its right in front of your eyes and you can't see it!" he said, laughing. "My ancestors were your followers?" Bianca guessed softly, tears threatening to pour out. "Bingo. And your prize is that you can sell your soul to the Devil, absolutely free." The man said with a million buck smile. "You want our souls? But we didn't even make a pact with you!" Benedicta said in between sobs. "Summoning me here has already sealed the deal. All that is left is the fees." The man said with a low chuckle. "And what do we gain from this loop sided deal?" Renee asked. He looked directly into the young girl's eyes and replied, "You can have back your fragile miserable life back without me there to create hell for you. Sounds good enough?" Renee gulped and slowly moved behind Bianca. "Wow, he is a good negotiator. Definitely the Devil's advocate. No, wait, he is the Devil. He must have been God's lawyer back in the days then. No wonder lawyers rarely go to heaven" Bianca thought, amused. The young hotshot lawyer look-alike smirked and looked at the terrified girls and said, "You have until tomorrow, midnight to prepare. Since I pity you, I'll take another soul in exchange for yours but there is a catch; she must be a virgin, pure of thinking and actions, her name must be associated with God, and she must be ten years younger than all of you." "But that kind of girl is impossible to find!" Benedicta cried. "That isn't my problem, is it? Good day, girls." He said and disappeared.