“And whatever gave you that impression, Miss Dane?” Professor de Spina arched a brow.
I blushed as a few peers, Diana among them, chuckled. I supposed I deserved that. It had been obvious.
The professor twirled back around to face the whiteboard, and the marker began moving of its own accord across the board.
“This is an ifrit. A demon from the Middle East that, as Miss Dane has so intuitively stated, is a fire demon. They’re like a genie in that they can grant wishes if tamed, which is difficult. Most importantly for our purposes, an ifrit is one of the top three demons skilled in possession. They’re often sent from the underworld to inhabit diplomats, presidents, or religious leaders. Ifrits adore those in power, particularly those who do not know how to free themselves and gain access to wishes.”
I leaned forward. Demons never gave humans anything. They sucked the life out of you, and often, fed off the energies of those around you too. If a person remained alive long enough to undo the possession and collect wishes, that was very intriguing.
“Unfortunately, the human normally does not realize the possession in time, so they rarely get the chance to take advantage of their wishes. And what’s worse, an ifrit can only live in the human’s body for so long before the person suffers . . . irreparable damage.”
De Spina twisted his hand again, and a new conjuring materialized of a woman in a pantsuit. I cringed, taking in her appearance. The suit was burned in places, and raw, oozing skin showed underneath. What looked like cigarette burns riddled her face, and her lips were so dry, they looked like dead worms.
“This is what a human looks like after a long ifrit possession. Often, people believe these humans consume illicit drugs. Really they’re being burned from the inside out.” The professor glanced at the illusion of a woman he’d created. “They don’t last long past this stage. The internal organs can only take so much scorching.”
I squirmed in my seat, imagining being burnt from the inside out for days.What a terrible way to die.
“Professor? How do you extract an ifrit? And if you do, are you able to take advantage of the wishes, or is that only if it possessed you?” Mina leaned forward in her chair and twirled a lock of her long black hair in her fingers as she spoke to de Spina. I held back a chuckle. She was always trying to flirt with the young and handsome professor.
“Excellent question,” de Spina said, turning back toward the board. “Anyone can take advantage of an ifrit’s wishes, as long as they bind the demon. As for how to do so, there is an incantation.”
Pages turned and pens clicked as everyone awaited the incantation. Most magic was linked to the caster’s will or emotions, but sometimes, witches needed a little extraoomph. Often when other supernaturals were involved. Before coming to Spellcasters, I hadn’t known a single incantation, nor had I ever needed one.
But now a dozen were drilled into my mind. I had yet to get them to work for me, but I still memorized the magical words, and dreamed of the day when my magic would cooperate.
“The incantation to bind all demons—except for greater demons and the royals of Hell—is ‘relligo’.” The word appeared on the board and Professor de Spina turned back to the class. “It works best when you’re touching the item you’d like to bind the demon to, but merely laying your eyes upon the binding item would suffice in a pinch. I would recommend not to choose anything too large. Remember, portability is key if you’re to attempt this feat. You’ll want to keep the demon close to make sure it doesn’t escape. Andneverbind an ifrit to your own body, unless you want to be possessed.”
Efraim Eastey raised his hand, and de Spina nodded.
“So, once we’ve pulled the demon from the person with the incantation and they’re bound, how many wishes do we get? Three?”
The professor’s lips turned up in a crafty smile. “That depends on your skill level. If you can bind an ifrit, they will remain for as long as you can hold them captive. Witches have gotten dozens of wishes from the monsters. But if the ifrit is much stronger than the witch, they may only get a few. For comparison’s sake, I’ll divulge that I have pried ten wishes from a single ifrit.”
Efraim frowned. I understood his sentiment. The explanation didn’t sound promising. At least, not for witches at our level.
The professor waved his arm about, and the conjuring disappeared. “Time to switch to the other demon I wanted to cover today. One that is also a master at possession.” The professor twirled his hand and then curled his fingers in so that his thumb and pointer finger touched. “However, unlike the ifrit, a fenrir is not as cunning or brilliant. Greater demons, the generals of Hell, often assign fenrir’s more mundane possessions.”
I tilted my head.Mundane?
A figure materialized in front of the class. It was a middle-aged man in a wife-beater and trucker hat who looked as though he drank a six-pack nightly.
“Greater demons often send fenrirs to possess normal people. They are skilled at appropriating a man’s faculties and causing him to slap his wife, or provoking a child to set an outhouse on fire. Not that these things are small. In actuality, these acts of violence often fester into something sinister. Fenrirs tend to irrevocably change the people they possess.”
“How?” Hunter asked, looking very troubled.
“Because fenrirs are shapeshifters, they can insert a little of themselves into the heart and mind of each person they possess. This ensures that the cycle of evil perpetuates for years to come. For the human to be clean again, a witch must perform a full exorcism. And we all know how likely humans are to seek a witch or an exorcism.”
“Are we ever sent to perform those?” I asked, barely repressing my shudder.
De Spina shook his head. “Generally, spies would not deal with mundane possessions. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important, or that you shouldn’t know about them. My motto is if you spot one, always help. Does everyone remember the exorcism incantation for lesser demons?”
“Evellam,” we all chanted, and de Spina nodded, pleased.
I leaned back in my chair, wondering how many normal people were suffering possession.
The professor continued to blather on, but I allowed my mind to drift. Eva would take excellent notes. If I needed to, I could just look at those.
I was just running through a list of not-so-nice parents I’d known in school, wondering if maybe a fenrir had gotten to them, when something outside caught my eye. A van had pulled up to the school. From its doors poured a dozen people around my age.
