Adventures in Summoning

Chapter 8

Sleeping wasn't comfortable at all. The bed wasn't meant for two, and with our arms restrained at opposite ends we both lay on our sides, trying not to kick each other in the head. I let Dee have the lone pillow, and I just put my arm behind my head. In addition, nobody had come down to flip the light switch that was in the hallway beyond the glowing rune line, so the fluorescent lighting kept everything bright all night. I had a fitful sleep, waking up multiple times. Each time I could see the glowing orbs of Quin staring curiously back at me.

It was a lovely combination of terrifying, hot, and confusing.

Neither Dee nor I wore watches. Normally, this wouldn't matter, but since both of our phones were taken from us, and the room was completely bare and had no windows, we had no concept of time. It wasn't like Quin had a pocket watch to help out either.

One thing was for sure though, our bladders were letting us know it was time to get up. We had almost stooped to using the little water bottles from the night before as mini porta potties when the adults strolled up to the door. No way was I going to a makeshift bathroom with them around, I wasn't giving them the satisfaction.

The three of them stood at the doorway, looking none too pleased. "Why are they still alive?" My father growled.

"They need to go to the bathroom," Quin said, ignoring the question.

"Not if they're dead!" My Aunt chimed in.

"You gave me a command, but you have no idea how these summonings work. There is no time limit unless you make that part of the command."

"Fine!" My Aunt screamed with a sneer "Kill those two, right now."

Quin sneered right back at my aunt. "No. You gave me my command, and I don't have to take another. One per summoning, you should do your research."

My Aunt looked livid, and Dee and I snickered. I know, it was stupid, our lives were still almost over, but at least Quin wasn't going to make it immediate.

Karen pulled the summoning scroll back out. "If you're not going to do it, then I guess I'll have to get another demon to do it."

"Two summoned creatures in the same summoning chamber? That won't go over too well." Quin smiled at her.

"You're all demons, you'll be fine together," Karen muttered, then sat down and started chanting again.

Quin stalked to the middle of the room, right in front of the cot and rolled her shoulders. I noticed her normally delicate looking hands had grown immense talons, and I grabbed Dee to huddle in the middle of the cot. This didn't look like it was going to be pleasant.

The rune line started to glow again, and my aunt's voice got stronger. A small black ball formed in the center of the room again, right in front of Quin. I could feel the room rumbling, which got louder until I realized it was Quin growling as the ball grew. The ball grew, but not as big as it had for Quin, and then exploded again to reveal a pale winged woman. For one heartbeat I was able to see long eyelashes and red eyes, a nude body a porn star would be jealous of, and long blonde hair cascading down her back. Her lips were fixed into a sultry smile, like she was here for one thing, pure sex. She also looked nothing like Quin.

The sultry smile fell as soon as she saw Quin, to be replaced by a horrendous scream of terror. Quin leapt forward, her left claw digging into the creature's belly and lifting her to be slammed into the ceiling and raining dust down in the room. The right claw swept upwards and ripped right through the demon's neck, severing her head, and cutting off the scream. Quin whirled and threw the body at the doorway where it bowled over the adults, covering them in demonic ichor. If I didn't have a hand cuffed to the bed, I would have given her a big standing ovation. The fight lasted maybe three seconds.