It was ten minutes later when a pentagram had been drawn in chalk along the ground. Candles had been lit at each point, and blood from each of us had been drizzled over the center. I created a circle of salt around our blood and nodded, satisfied. Now, I only needed to invoke the demon.
I lifted my arms toward the sky. “Oh, denizens of Hell,” I said, projecting strength into my voice. “The children of the night call upon you for aid. Thy services are required.”
The flames of the candles flared momentarily before retreating back to the wicks.
“I requirere praesidio ad inferos.” I proceeded. “I vocare te!”
The candles blazed once more, brighter than before, and then blinked out all at once. Freya grunted as the power from the spell sapped her strength to energize it, since I no longer had any to give.
The scent of sulfur permeated the air. A figure appeared in the center of the pentagram within the confines of the salt circle.
I smiled. “Hello, Samuel.”
Samuel stared at me with those lidless eyes. “Oh, hello, Callum.”
“I see you found another body to occupy.”
Samuel nodded. “Oh, yes. There are many to choose from to occupy in Hell. Sometimes I itch for an excuse to inhabit a new one, and get flayed once more. That horrible witch gave me just that.” He tilted his head. “Did you see what she did to me? Positively pulverized my head.”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that.”
“Sorry?” Samuel barked out a laugh. “It was the most wondrous experience I’ve had in my many, many years. I wish I had the chance to do it again.”
I shifted uneasily on my feet. “Yes, well, you’ll have the chance much sooner than you’d think. I need you to bring me back to Hell with you to visit the Ice Queen, you see.”
Samuel stared at me again. “You betrayed the master.”
“No, no, no,” I said, putting up my hands in a placating gesture. “I’m still in his service. I have three tasks to complete for him still. What I said before was just a simple misunderstanding. That Ice Queen is working for the rival of your master’s. I need to stop her to protect him.” When Samuel didn’t respond, I continued. “Do you understand?”
Samuel sighed. “Very well. But if the master flays you alive, it’s me who gets to devour your soul.”
“Deal.”
Samuel held out a bloody hand, and I grimaced as I grasped it, feeling every fleshy muscle as I shook it. “Then it is done,” Samuel said. “Follow me.”
A portal appeared at his back. The scent of sulfur was much stronger now, so thick that it nearly gagged me. I nodded to Freya, who walked up to the portal with me. I paused on the threshold to look back at Lexi and Therese, who hadn’t left Auggie’s side. Lexi smiled up at me weakly, a soft golden glow between her hand and Auggie’s chest.
I hoped I saw her again. I hoped I saw Therese again as well.
“Good luck, Mr. Witch,” Therese offered. I nodded back.
My eyes dropped to Auggie, and my jaw hardened.
I put a hand on Freya’s shoulder, and we stepped through the portal, as one.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
My face waspressed up against stone. I stared back at Freya, her body barely able to squeeze between the rock. We were wedged in a crevice, and as I took a deep breath, the stone wouldn’t allow enough room for my chest to fully expand. A bead of sweat trickled down my face, but there wasn’t sufficient room to lift my hand to wipe it away.
“You didn’t tell me Hell was so inviting,” Freya said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, well, I haven’t seen this particular side of it before.” I twisted my neck around to gaze up the crevice in the opposite direction to find Samuel slipping along the rock easily, pushing forward as if nothing was the matter. “Samuel, some of us are more than just muscle and bones, you know. We don’t have a natural lubricant coating our exposed muscles.”
Samuel paused to look back at me. “Ah. Apologies. I’ve had complaints that the entrance I used was far too literal, so I chose another. I didn’t realize you were claustrophobic.”
“I’m not claustrophobic as a general rule,” I said, shifting forward an inch. Pebbles rained down from above, the space threatening to collapse at any moment. “But I’m not sure anyone would be comfortable with this amount of constriction.”
Another stab of pain in my gut reminded me that I was probably not in very good shape at the moment. I felt blood rise in my throat, but I swallowed it down.
