Down at the parlor, I asked her to sit on one of the chairs near the fireplace and wait while I "supposedly" went to grab my "sketches". In reality, however, I slithered just behind the bookshelves, away from Dominique's eyes and ears, and began conjuring the demon on a fast, unscrupulous nerve.
The ritual with a host differed from the one without. You want to use specific tools for a specific rite to make shit work. And have your intentions straight!
Numsayin?
With that in mind, I had to scribble Asmodeus's sigil with a piece of chalk, then prickle my finger and rub blood against the wood were I drew. Then I had to chant the prayer (as quietly as I could), say his name and โ most importantly โ the name of the host he was to possess.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆโฆher name is ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ," I whispered into thin air, squeezing bloody pearls from my purple finger and rubbing them aggressively against his lime symbol like an utter lunatic. "She is sitting on the chair. Near fire. Near the fig plant. A nun. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ. She is your vessel. Take her."
It is now that I am ashamed of what horror I had committed back then. But ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, young and desperate and so impossibly selfish, I'd sacrifice others like they were oblatory coins you throw into fountains for good luck in the name of my own benefit.
I peaked at the girl through the bookshelf, trying to see if anything about her had changed, but she seemed her usual self, sat on that fucking chair erect and excited like an energizer bunny.
I frowned, walked out to join her.
"So!" I flopped on the opposite chair, a tiny table between us, studying her eyes for darkness. ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
"So?" She smiled. "Did you bring the sketches? I can't wait to see them!"
๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? "Actually, umโฆI couldn't find them. Not sure where I placed them," I responded, gaze involuntarily fierce on the woman in front of me.
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?
"Awwโฆthat's too bad." She remarked.
"WellโI remember roughly what I'd sketched. I can describeโฆ?" I suggested, hoping to win more time.
She clapped her hands again. Her aggressive joy never faltered. "Perfect! Tell me."
I shifted on my seat, pretty disappointed with the demon's absence, considering he always responded to my calls.
"So I was thinkingโฆ" I drawled. ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐. Now I had to pull out nonexistent ideas from my uninventive brain. "What if we, umโฆumโฆmake flower arrangements? Similar to the wreath that you've drawn on your greeting card. Imagine, a few of those on the walls, sayโฆhere and there," โ I pointed to whatever walls my eyes saw first โ "would ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ spring time. And we could tie ribbons into bows or some other cute shapes. Likeโover there, maybe? To make it stand out more? What do you think?"
Dominique considered, lips slowly pursing, forehead slowly wrinkling, eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly. Then she replied, "I think you have exceeded my expectations, sweet Eve." She clapped her hands, but not joyfully, no. This time her monotone claps sounded emphatically heavy, sneering. "๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ."
My eyes bulged in surprise. Then it dawned on me and I heaved a sigh of relief. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ.
"What took you so long?" I spat, more relaxed, now that it had worked.
"Your miserable offering." She spat right back. "I want more blood."
"I was in a rushโฆ" I said.
"To fuck, I'd venture to say?"
"What?"
"T. O. F. U. C. K." Her laughing lips took form of every letter. "Why else gamble on this creature's body to incarnate the ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต? Are you that horny?"
"You donโThat's not why I've summoned you. I need to speak."
"Even worse." She raised a brow. "She'll kick the bucket soon enough because of your running mouth. Relentless indeed. And ๐ฐ๐ฉ, how greedy! Ay, yay, yay, yayโฆsister. How impossibly greedy of youโฆhm." Her cheeks lifted with mirth. "While I suck on scarce droplets of blood, you bathe in whole rivers of it."
"Wait, wait. What do you mean? What, you're saying she'll die? Why die?" I felt panic accelerating my heart as I stared at the warm brown eyes that gradually grew cold and dark. "We won't be doing anything to exhaust her body, right? We'll just be talking. Can't you just let this one slide?"
"Let me enlighten your ignorance on one simple fact. ๐๐ฐ earth-born son, or daughter, can hold a god inside of their mortal girth, let alone a human ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด weak. Whether we lust on her body or not, it won't matter. Her creator had already made her feeble."
"But what about all those poor children you possess? What about them?!"
"They live ๐ช๐ง! Mister Benevolence is in the mood to wipe my dirt off of their baby buttsโฆ" her chuckling was the faintest. "But I cannot account for his Majesty's actions. You know how he isโฆOne day โ a rainbow. Next day โ a flood." A wicked grin.
"But-but Dominiqueโ"
"๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ!" She cut me off. "Curious proposition, Gen. Slide, you say? Hmmmmmmmmmโฆ.depends. I ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ let her ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆโฆthat is, if one of you pays for ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ recklessness. It is not che-e-e-ap," she stretched gleefully, "but I'm willing to bargain. Whichever route you please to choose, I'm game."
"What's the price."
"I never change my currency."
"Time?"
"Time."
"I'll pay."
"How generous." She bared her teeth. "Deal." Her eyes gave out a scary sparkle, again, as if marking my words. "So, ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ." She mocked. "Why am I here, in this pitiable, perishable form?"
"I need to speak to you." I responded.
"Women just cannot shut up, can theyโฆ" Dominique puzzled.
I shook my head. "No, you don't get it. I'm going through a lot and I need toโuhhhhโฆI don't know what to do. What should I do? Should I talk to her? Or should I hint and let her figure out the rest? Or should I just leave everything as is and not stir the pot? I don't know what or who to believe anymore. If what you say is true thenโฆthenโฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ-๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด?" My head shook in denial. "It's unheard of! Do you understand? Do you comprehend what I'm going through? I'm lost. And confused. AndโI'mโfucking scared, okay?"
Dominique grinned. "Would you look at thatโฆ" her plain, miniature fingers drummed against the table. "My little rat needs a therapist."
"So what if I do?"
"Then seek one. This wretched place is swarming with sympathetic pests. Any one of them will gladly lend an ear to your pitiful self. Even this unfortunate soul," โ pointing at Dominique's chest โ "could do just fine at tolerating your whining."
"She won't do. No one will. There is no one here who I can really speak to. None of them feel close, like, like someone I can trust and open my heart to. Youโ" I paused, staring into now familiar, pitch-black eyes of Asmodeus. Sadly, and I mean it โ sadly โ he felt the closest. Closer than mother and father. Closer even than Val. And I thought to myself, ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. "You're the only family I have."
Dominique's squared face soured, a grimace of pure humiliation, nose wrinkling in disgust, lips twisting in disdain. Now I was looking at the demon, for Dominique could never fold her wrinkles in such an abhorred way. "How dare you say these words to me, mortal."
"But it'sโ"
"Do not," she snarled over my voice, "blend me with your unworthy kind."
I was only intimidated by her growling for a moment before a wave of cold rage washed over me.
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ." I declared acidly just to piss Asmodeus off.
Dominique's jaws tightened, teeth grinding scornfully slow.
"Do not provoke me, insect." She uttered.
"Me?" I furrowed. "I am the provoked one here. All these mind games. This 'your mother is not your mother' bullshit. Thanks to you now I feel like I have no family. It was a shitty family, I admit, but it was mine. And now ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต do I have? Besides you โFucking. Nothing. So you don't get to shut me up, Asmodeus, when I'm calling ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ you or ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ you my family."
We glared at each other wordlessly, human and inhuman eyes sharing reciprocal hate.
"I've called you here not out of my 'insatiable horniness' but for support andโฆ" my train of thought faltered momentarily to Dominique's still drumming fingers and her disgusted countenance that gradually turned to indifference โ "and to gain peace. And I know damn well you can give it to me. If you can so easily point to a random woman and call her ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, I am sure you can just as easily explain ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ this "probability" even occurred." I stared at Dominique assertively. "๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, Asmodeus. So it's easier for me to approach her and settle this 'mother' crap for good."
"You know what I'm thinking, little rat?" Dominique's face appeared rather pensive now, matching perfectly those ever drumming fingers. "If you were not such a pant-shitter, you would have all the answers you so crave laying before you right this second, opened wide like the legs of a prostitute. But no. Your cowardly ass needs a pep-talk to act."
"Yes, yes! I ๐ข๐ฎ a fucking coward ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต!" I blew out each word on hot breaths, blood reaching boiling point. "If you're incapable of support, then at the very least tell me what to do, dammit! ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ?!"
"Past, you blind fool." She replied calmly. "Past is the future. As above โ so below. If you want to grow roots of a new family, first pull the weeds in the soil of the one you have known. Think, Genevieve." Her mouth produced a sound. ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ. Once. Twice. ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ. Mirth twinkling in her sick-black eyes. "Dig further. Dive deeper. Fall right into the abyss of your memories. The darker โ the better. There must be something on that very bottom of your past that had made you fear the future and question ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ and ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ. Tie black and white. Do your math for once."
"My past? What about it? What does it haveโ" I halted. Frowned. "My pastโฆ?" I gawked at the nun. "Yeahโฆ" something was forming in that head of mine. Something was emerging. "Oh shit. There ๐ช๐ด somethingโฆ"