Page 32 of Demon's Desire
“All right,” I told her. “What next?”
“Now… We’re supposed to speak out loud the things that the demon has done,” Kelly read. “Like… its crimes or sins, I guess?”
“The demon possessed Mica,” Torie said.
“And Elias and Marcus,” Mica added.
“It broke the window too.” Kelly nodded at the piece of glass. “And it flirted with Mia. I-I don’t know if that counts.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said simply. “What next?”
“Next…” Kelly hummed softly as she skimmed the page. “Next, the candle needs to be lit. Mica.”
He nodded and lit the candle again. As soon as he pulled the lighter away, the candle went out again. He flinched when it did, hesitated, then lit it again. This time it stayed.
It was… strange. Everyone else was on edge, but I felt a sort of calmness during this that I hadn’t felt all day. I think a large part of it was resignation. If this was going to make things worse, we had already committed to doing it, so it didn’t really matter. We made a choice, and there was no going back. There was no pretending this was all a coincidence, that it wasn’t real. It was happening. It was happening to me. And I would get through it.
“All right,” Kelly continued, “when there’s some melted wax, once the demon has interacted with the candle, take the wax and pour it on the item we’re going to trap it in.”
“I can do that,” I offered, reaching out to grab the candle. I grabbed the flared base, holding the glass flat in my other palm. I tilted the candle, taking care not to extinguish the flame as the wax started to drip out, landing on the glass. After a couple of seconds, I started to straighten the candle, but apparently a few drops of melted wax were on the rim. When I shifted the glass, the wax changed directions and fell all over my fingers.
“Fuck!” I hissed, nearly dropping the candle as I pulled my hand back and shook it. I blew on the wax to try to get it to cool down.
“Are you all right?” Kelly asked quickly.
“Fine.” I shook my head. “Just stings like a bitch. Keep going.”
She nodded and looked back at her laptop. “‘Kay. Um… Now, we all touch the item. Don’t touch the wax, though.”
“Why?” Mica frowned. “Does something bad happen?”
“What?” Kelly blinked. “No, it’s just hot. I don’t want anyone else getting burned.”
“Oh, good.” He relaxed and reached out for my hand. I held up the palm with the glass. He put his hand against mine and rubbed the glass for a second. Torie and Kelly did the same, using my hand to steady theirs, so no one got cut.
“One last step,” Kelly narrated from the book. “Now it says that we should give the demon a name… Um… All right, it doesn’t have to be its real name, but we just give it a name and then we all say ‘demon’s name, confined.’ And then… That’s it.”
“That’s it?” I repeated, looking over at her. “Then it’s done?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “It says that’s all. So what do we want to name the demon?”
“Bastard?” Mica suggested.
“I don’t know if we should insult it,” Torie countered. “Let’s just give it a real name. Let’s call it Jake.”
“My dad’s name is Jake.” Kelly frowned slightly. “Let’s pick something else. Um… Let’s see, think of someone you don’t like, I guess?”
“Can we get this over with?” I pressed. “I’m sorry, I really don’t care what the name is. I just want this thing out of my life.”
“All right, call it Adrian,” Mica said quickly. “We’re naming the demon Adrian.”
“Adrian?” Kelly raised an eyebrow. Mica gave her a quick shake of his head, implying he would explain later, so she took a deep breath. “All right, so on the count of three, let’s all say the name Adrian and ‘confined.’ Everyone ready?” We all nodded, so she took a deep breath. “One. Two. Three.”
All four of us spoke the next part at the same time.
“Adrian, confined.”
I heard something shaking. I looked around and saw the television wobbling a bit. I started to get up to fix it when my focus widened, and I realized that the television wasn’t the only thing shaking. The candle on the table, every book and decoration on the shelves, even the coffee table was shaking, and so were all of us.