Terrible Friend

13

Beverly couldn't hide her bitterness. She refused to.  It wasn't often that she had to because most already knew the vile nature of those from the other-world.  Jax, at least in her case, was the worst of the worst.  He took her Jacob from her.  She would never forgive him for that.

"Jaxolox is a demon. A creature with a nature of destruction, hell bent on devastation and vile intentions for humans.  Other demons too, if I know him at all.  He may have been just a figment of your imagination, but he turned the lives of so many upside down, including mine, before I captured him. "

Albert wanted to roll his eyes at the word demon, again, but as she continued, mentioning destruction and devastation, she had his attention.  He put his elbow in his hand and brought his other hand up to his chin.  He stroked and rubbed at the stubble. If he was going to help her, and stop these guys from attacking him out of nowhere, he needed to know more. "So, how did he end up inside me. Is he bound to me now?"

"The first rule of spell casting is to never do it from an emotional state. The second is use the least amount of energy possible. I went against both.  I was angry, the spell was overpowered, and in my haste, I overshot the necklace.  As for how he got into you, I'm not absolutely certain.  Were you anywhere near the apartment over on Moxley and Main about 32 years ago?

"Yeah. My aunt lived there and she was my sitter until I was twelve. Whoa."

"Really?  Which unit?" 

"Seventeen, but I played all over the place there. Except for around thirty-two. That area creeped me out after...whoa."

"After you met Jaxolox, I'm going to assume?"

"Yeah. It was weird.  This vibration went through me, like I'd stepped on a live wire or something. I never wanted to go near that door again."

"That explains a lot about why I couldn't track him down. I wasn't expecting him to end up inside a person. I'm so sorry. If I had known I would have removed him immediately." Beverly bowed her head. She'd made a lot of mistakes that day and she was finding one more person's life she'd ruined because of it. Determination to stop whatever Dongorul had planned was even more pertinent now.

"So, why did you not look for him after that? Why did you not hunt him down?" Albert asked.  Recalling all of the havoc that has happened in his life.  He wondered if his life would be any different if he had stuck around instead of running home and never going back that day.

"I did. I checked everywhere in the complex that day. And over the next few months, I expanded my search. I watched the mailman and the water delivery guys when they came, just to be sure they had not picked him up and carried him off. I've been searching for him ever since. I didn't know you existed, let alone had been there and ended up with him."

"Would summoning him not work?" I don't know a whole lot about this, but I know that when you summon a demon, they have to come. Right?

"Right. Every month on the full moon for the past thirty two years, I have been.  I'd go to the portals and summon him. He wouldn't show. That night on the beach though, I tried something different.  Instead of summoning him to me, I summoned him to the necklace.

"Portals? Locations where the magical pull is strongest and the window between here and...wherever, is thinnest?"

"Yes. There is one there on the beach that is really thin, and on full moon's, the energy there is intense. I went to that one a lot."

"Whoa. This is blowing my mind. I don't know how to tell you this, because I'm struggling to believe it myself, but we would end up on that beach just about every night after the full moon. Full moons are crazy in my line of work and I would always go to the beach to relax and sleep because it was the only place Jax and the rest of the voices would be quiet. Did you do anything different that night?"

"I didn't think it would matter, but yes. I tried summoning him to the necklace.  Nothing else had worked."  She went to quietly talking to her self.  Drawing lines in the air and making conclusions.  "Ha ha, that makes perfect sense."

"You want to share with the rest of the class?" Albert joked.

 I didn't undo the protection spell before I cast the summon spell. He couldn't come directly to me because he was forbidden to.  All those years ago, I didn't want him sneaking up on my or him knowing I was sneaking up on him, so I cast a spell that would wipe his memory of me, and anything that had to do anything to do with me.  He would just feel pain if he tried.  He came, but had no idea why or to whom. He wasn't allowed to even see me. You found the necklace on the beach because I was there, trying to use the necklace to find and summon him. He didn't appear immediately, so I didn't think it had worked, but here you are."

"I suppose it has. You know where he is now. So why have you not tried to remove him from me and put him in the necklace now?"

"Well, I learned some things."

"Like what?"

"If you recall, you stormed out earlier, taking him with you. He's not been out in the world doing any damage, and you seem to have a decent handle on the thing."