Gloom

Chapter 6

He knitted his eyebrows together, and stared at me.

-I don't know. By? I bit my bottom lip and shrugged. My brother continued to gaze at me for a while longer, then turned away from him, searching his pockets for something. I'm going to see Jess, so I'll be late.

I nodded head down. She had already learned that she shouldn't ask too much about their complicated relationship, not when they broke up and got back together the following week.

"Luck," I mumbled.

He nodded, and left. I was glued watching the front door, where he had left. I got up and cleaned up everything he had messed up by eating. I didn't make any more effort than that, and still my heart was pounding as if I had run a marathon.

"No one is there, so your family is not at risk. You could try to summon it , a strange, new voice whispered  , one that was nothing like the one in my consciousness. Much less than my common sense.

A knot of anxiety squeezed my stomach so tight it hurt.

You have to know about him , the little voice urged. You have to summon him, before he returns when you least expect it and are helpless. Before he comes back... and your family is in danger."

I swallowed hard and shook my head. This feeling was completely alien to me. She couldn't be sure if it was fear for continuing with the stupid intention of calling the devil… or if it was some kind of emotion for the same reason.

Whatever it was, my mind was elsewhere as I headed to my room, searching for the rosary.

I didn't want to do it in the living room. That was where I saw him for the first time, that was where I had been scared to death by his mere presence. My original choice had been the backyard, but I was afraid some neighbor might see me and tell my family I'd gone crazy. So, in the end, I decided that the basement would be the best area to do the stupid things that the most primitive part of my brain dictated.

And there I was, standing in the middle of the basement, the least ventilated and least lit room in the house, full of boxes where we kept our holiday decorations and things we didn't know where else to put. The place that as a child I couldn't even look at from the top step of the stairs, because the mere idea of ​​going down terrified me...

Breath deeply.

A strange chill ran down my spine at what I was about to do. On the other hand, according to my exhaustive search on the internet for « How to summon a demon », I must have had several objects on hand, such as a mirror, red or black candles, offering a few drops of my blood... nonsense of that kind. And I didn't have any of them, but I didn't feel brave enough to put them together either.

I considered just saying his name out loud, though perhaps that was too empty to work. So what did she care? It wasn't going to work anyway.

I closed my eyelids, and took a deep breath.

" Azazziel ..." I mumbled, not sure of the correct pronunciation, "come here."

I opened my eyes slowly.

I looked around me. After a couple of seconds, and seeing that nothing happened, I went to a corner and lay down on the old dark brown sofa, the one my father hadn't gotten rid of despite mom's warnings. A thin cloud of dust emanated from the cabinet and I waved my hand to disperse it.

As expected, it didn't work. For some unknown reason, I felt a little embarrassed, as well as feeling a strange pang of disappointment in the deepest part of me.

I sighed and tilted my head back, closing my eyelids. I wasn't sure that my curiosity and courage were enough to go for the objects that I was supposed to need. I really didn't feel like doing all that just to get answers.

Suddenly, the cold—at once known and at the same time of uncertain origin—filled the entire room in which I was. Only then, with my heart and breathing running at a more or less normal rate, I could tell that it really wasn't  cold  per se that I felt. It felt like that, but it wasn't like being outside without a coat in the dead of winter. It was different. It was heavy, like some kind of…energy? Something that my body perceived as  abnormal , and that it interpreted as a low temperature.

I opened my eyelids, and let out a gasp. As a reflection of what caught my eye, my pulse quickened.

His eyes, the same color as silver, looked at me differently than last time, but I couldn't make out. It was really hard to concentrate when looking at those strange irises, like hypnotics.

I swallowed hard. I almost jumped up and, for the first time since he appeared in front of me, I got a  good look at him .

He was quite tall, which was possibly why he made me feel so small and fearful, aside from the obvious. His skin was so pale it was almost grayish undertone, but he looked immaculate. His hair, a bit long and unruly, under the ceiling light looked a peculiar shade of reddish brown, very dark. The musculature of his bare torso and arms was quite defined, although not exaggerated, and that further increased the fierce and intimidating air he exuded. The only clothing he was wearing was black pants and what appeared to be combat boots, which from my distance looked slightly worn.

His face was not ordinary either. Each feature was of almost…perfect proportion. Enviable, dammit. She had angular features, a straight nose, full lips, the strong contour of her jaw, and of course those enigmatic, penetrating gray eyes. Everything about him seemed to have been specially made to attract, to trap. To  persuade _

Suddenly the demon arched its eyebrows impatiently. Something told me that I should be the one to break the taut edge of silence. Then, appreciating a heavy cumulus in the center of my chest, I inhaled deeply, and whispered in a small voice:

"Hello...  Azazziel . "