Acrasia

The Summoning.

          "Don't drop the fucking shit!" Narius snarls, batting his hands around dramatically as I glower at him. I try to steady myself as we gather what we will need for a summoning. My patience is thin as ever, and my body restless and uncoordinated. I can hardly hold onto my thoughts, let alone the pillars full of sand and small stones.

        The house is dark, eerily silent even for me.  The only sounds to be heard outside of our headbutting is the soft snores of a tired Axar. Narius takes over the circle, sick of my shakiness, and I focus on candles and other things.  This is our quickest option. Demons of all forms and types can be summoned, even half breeds. The dead or alive can be summoned.

        We press our hands into the ground and begin to speak the dying tongue that our kind know by heart. We chant and echo through the walls of the house. We try again, and again, but recieve nothing. Nothing happens. My mind draws a blank. Being antisocial and relatively young for an incubus, I don't understand why we have failed.

        "Why didn't this work? We've done everything right." I groan. Narius looks flustered, gears turning in his mind.

        "I've only heard of this happening in few occassions..."

        "Speak."

         "The soul is in limbo, the soul is tethered, they are denying or someone is denying the summons, or the wrong name was used."

         "Barima said that the three if us had the aura of death. Could this be related to that?" Sera, just appear. Come on. Please.

         "Would you like to summon Barima instead?" No.

        "Yes. If you think she could give us more information about the aura and if it could effect a summoning. I doubt she will speak to us though."

       We resume our positions and chants and instead we call on Barima. We listen closely as a faint heartbeat and sounds of struggle pulses into the room. No apparition appears, oddly enough. "Barima..."

       "We're little busy here. No time for your shit!" Barima's panicked voice fills the room.

       "We? This is important. I need to ask you about the aura of death-"

        "Possibly manifesting itself as we speak. Now do not call on me-"

        "Barima! This is important! We all three have the aura. I cannot summon Seraphine.  Something is wrong-"

        "Yes. Yes it is. I am currently inside your Seraphine. We are both trying to keep her alive as we are trapped inside with an unstable Yeomorah. So far he has not noticed us or persued us, but the house is barricaded. How? We do not know."

        "She absorbed you?"

        "Yes. Now-" She drifts out and we wait a while, with no response. Cold sweat coats my forehead and travels down my brow as my nerves begin to mount. Yeomorah? Why? How? Why did Seraphine go back to Barima's and absorb her soul? I move on instinct as I rise and turn to my brother.

         "Narius, will you stay here with Axar? I need need to check Barima's house for Sera." He grins.

         "Certainly."

         I try to teleport, but it fails. I have eaten today. Even if it wasn't from Sera, I have eaten. Why is this happening? Frustrated I snarl and try again. And again. Finally I manage to focus hard enough to make it. I am in Barima's home. Frantic I rush around, swinging doors wildly and searching for Sera. I find candles and an open ouija board in the livingroom and quickly I gather that Sera had used it.

           Unnecessary objects and ingredients litter the floor surrounding it. Pictures hang titled on the wall and potted plants are turned over, ceramic vases busted. Furniture is in disarray. Down the halls is the same, I do not miss the claw marks on the walls round the corner. I see the holes where they had dug in to hold, only to be proed away. Where are you, Sera? Blessed salts are scattered everywhere, and are thicker near a bedroom. I rush the door and step into the room, not prepared for the sight.

        Barima's body lies on it's side, clean and ashen. Hair braided lovely, and fresh cotton pajamas cover her. She looks like a child who's mother had bathed and readied them for bed. This was done almost lovingly. She's surrounded by salts, herbs and special gems. Magic radiates from her. Sera did this to preserve her body. She was going to bring her back. This is why she ate Barima's soul. Could that be the tether? No. Because we couldn't have summoned Barima either.

        I exit this room and enter the next over. This one. This is the one that holds so much lingering energy. I can sense the fear, anger, arousal, and hunger. I can even sense despair. The energies mix to create a disturbing cloud that costs the room. Even my hair stands. Power radiates in the mix. Yeomorah. Descendant of Asmodeus. What would he come after Sera for? Has he taken her? Dread and guilt runs through me as I finish what little remains of the house. I find Sera's grey pants in a hamper in the bathroom and I take those into my hands, clutching them for the life of me.

         I sift through Barima's house with reckless abandon, find things to create another circle. I have completed this in moments, and I focus my will on trying Barima once more. She doesn't respond.  I try again and again, desperate to reach her. I need to know where they are. I have to know. Nothing. Just the deafening quiet and sounds of nocturnal animals and the hum of appliances indoors. I bellow out in rage and my voice rings throughout the house. I am about to leave when an idea strikes me. Yeomorah. Let's try to summon Yeomorah.

        I return to my true form, and begin the ancient chants. Clawed hands into the floor, horns casting a shadow down over the circle below me. I tear into a finger with my teeth and I follow the circle with my blood, knowing that will heighten my odds of him responding.

        "Yeomorah. Come fourth. You have something that belongs to me. I will have it back."