Summoning Trouble [PRIVATE]

[Maevrys]

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As Liz entered the kitchen, the container that held the horrible stench of a liquid called coffee was lifted up and one of the cupboards opened as well. A mug came floating out and coffee was poured into it. After setting down the coffee container once more, the mug floated over to Liz and waited for her to take it. 


All the while, Vaughn smiled in amusement and stayed quiet. Her refusal to do his spell frustrated him, and he felt she deserved however her friend was about to react. He'd used his magic to cool the coffee a bit so it was still warm but not at the heated temperature it had been. That way if her roommate slapped away the cup in shock -- as so many people have done before her -- it wouldn't sting as it splashed over Esme. 


But his eyes still on the girl that lived with Esme, he was disappointed. The witch lived with a human. There was no power in her whatsoever. Which meant that the only one to grant a wish here was Esme, and the only one to do his spell was her too. Vaughn thought about how to get Esme to do the spell he needed. She didn't want to provide for him in any way necessary, she wanted him to be invisible around her roommate, she refused to do magic to make her own life easier. He wondered what she must think of him, what opinions she had though she had only just met him.


Was it because she didn't live as he did? Was she just a sour human? He silently hissed, more infuriated with this woman than anyone he'd ever been upset with.

 

[Fable]

Esme heard Liz gasp and stumble away from the floating coffee up, moving to hide behind Esme for protection.  Esme glared at coffee mug that the demon had procured for Liz and wished he was visible right now so she could punch him.  She shouldn't have expected anything less from the irritating demon, but just for a small moment she believed he would actually listen to her request.  She was obviously very wrong and this was probably some pathetic attempt at some sort of revenge for her not being a willing participant in his scheme.


"E-Esme, that cup is floating," Liz stuttered out.


"Yes, it is floating," she replied with anger in her tone.


"Why is it floating?!"


"Oh, because I summoned a demon last night from saying that spell from that book.  The book is a discussion for another time."  There was a bit of a sarcastic tone to her response.


Liz moved forward slightly to look at Esme to see if she was lying.  After decided that she was telling the truth, Liz started looking around wildly to try and locate where he was.  The fact that Esme was more angry than afraid made the girl wonder what all sorts of things.  Things like what the spell cast was, what did the demon look like, what kind of demon was he, how Esme had summoned him, and so on.  However, being wise in how Esme would react to these questions, Liz kept them to herself; for now.


"Well, since you've decided to be an ass," Esme began, looking right where the demon was located as though she could see him, though it was more of a feeling - intuition perhaps - that made her look that direction, "you might as well introduce yourself."

 

[Maevrys]

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Clever, clever girl, he slid the words into both of their minds at once. Knowing where I am takes skill, usually an untrained witch could never pull it off. For the sheer amusement of it, he stayed in his dissipated form. I think I rather like the way I am now. You certainly asked for me to be this way, to be 'unseen' by your roommate. A chuckle echoed through her mind. Didn't mention anything about being unknown.


Moving his invisible form to float by Liz's shoulder, he blew a puff of air into her neck to let her know he was near then slithered a few steps back. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is Vaughn. He used a spell so that a white rose would appear and float in front of the female. Esme, he started, purring her name. Summoned me to grant her a wish. Yet she seems unable to figure out what it is she wishes.


Sliding himself out of Esme's mind, he pushed his next words to Liz only. Say nothing, for Esme cannot hear me. Might you offer assistance in finding out what is she wishes of me? If yes, take the rose floating there and smile, beautiful. If not, he and Esme would digress even further. He still had no one to do his spell for him, no way to find the people he called his family in this world.

 

[Fable]

Clever, clever girl.  Knowing where I am takes skill, usually an untrained witch could never pull it off.


He was really getting on her nerves now, but that was probably was demons did best; be utterly annoying.  Why couldn't he just accept the same wish for a penny so she could send him back to whatever hell he slithered out from.  She wondered if he'd stop her if she tried to find a spell in the old book to banish him or something.  She was sure there was someone at the university who could help translate the text, then she'd just need to right spell.  What the hell am I thinking?  I told him I had no plans to cast any other spells and here I am actually contemplating it right now.


I think I rather like the way I am now. You certainly asked for me to be this way, to be 'unseen' by your roommate.  Didn't mention anything about being unknown.


Liz was pretty much freaking out by this point.  Her eyes were wide and she held onto Esme's arm so tightly there would probably a hand-shaped bruise left behind.  Esme sighed as she tried to get Liz to relax her death grip.  This was why Esme never went with Liz to those haunted houses.  Her arm would get ripped out of its socket by Liz.


"The fine print of the conversation I see.  You know, you're not doing yourself any favors by pissing me off," she said, trying to figure out where he had moved to; a question answered by Liz's jump in reaction to the demon blowing air into her neck.


Esme looked at Liz who seemed to be concentrating on listening to something, which could only mean the demon was speaking to her in her mind alone now.  The floating rose and the sudden invasion of her friend's mind had finally made Esme snap.  She pulled herself free of the enthralled Liz who was reaching to take the white rose, moving in his direction with a fierce and determined gaze.  She knew where he was now, the bastard.  She wasn't sure if it was possible to even touch him in his current state, but she was going to damn well try.


She got what she felt was close enough to where she he was - and if she was wrong she was going to make a complete ass of herself with what she did next - she raised her hand and moved to slap him.  "Stop fucking around!"

 

[Maevrys]

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Vaughn was having fun, enjoying himself even. This human judged him while knowing nothing. She knew nothing of his world, of his culture, that he came from another world. She summoned him without any clue of what she did, yet acted as though it were no fault of her own. Everything was a choice. She made hers, yet sought to blame him for it. Still, he knew she was ignorant of the world, that he should forgive her for it. The male didn't want to be here anymore than she did, but if he was stuck here he didn't plan to complain. He was duke of the demon realm, and had no time to waste on things as petty as self-pity, as she seemed to.


Everything in him darkened when the female came at him and tried to slap his figure. The mere fact that he felt her intent to try to touch him had dark puffs of smoke filling the room from the spot she stood in front of. She would touch him? She would dare hit him? Any thought of trying to justify and forgive her actions in his mind vanished. His amusement was gone, like it never actually existed, as though it had been a facade the whole time.


Roaring out in anger in her mind alone, he muttered a spell that immobilized the untrained witch and moved his dissipated form away. DON'T TOUCH ME, his voice mentally whipping her, giving her the impression he had slapped her hand rather than she slapping him. I was pulled into this world by you, mortal. I am here by your hand. You may blame me falsely as though I had a choice in the matter, as though I have the control to leave and simply won't, or expect me to behave by the laws of your world and your culture, but the fact is I haven't been here in over 500 years.


Our worlds are different. You judge me based on your social expectations, but I expect nothing of my own from you. The one thing I will hope you understand is that you DO. NOT. TOUCH. ME. Failure to respect that will result in.. very uncomfortable results for you. Knowing her temper, his next actions would only infuriate her more. He didn't care in that moment, for she had crossed a forbidden line and he knew she probably wouldn't even understand it. Why don't you learn more about yourself, hmm, mortal? He muttered another spell into her mind, locking her down deep inside. He watched her body go limp and flicked his fingers so she lightly drifted to the ground rather than hurt herself. Vaughn's spell was simple, show the girl her origins. Whatever she saw next of her people and past was written in the stars. He only hoped when she came out of it, she might understand more of who she was and what she had done. Summoning a demon of any caliber... was no casual thing to be dismissed.


If she still failed to learn that? If she still saw no reason? The demon didn't know what he would do then.

 

[Fable]

The rage that poured into her mind at her attempt to the incorporeal demon made her halt in her motions.  There were strange dark puffs of smoke... and then Esme couldn't move at all.  Her body was completely frozen in place.  Liz had the rose in hand and was looking at Esme curiously at the girl's strange stance, "Esme?"


DON'T TOUCH ME!


Esme visibly flinched at the furious booming voice and felt something slap against her own hand, leaving a familiar sting.  She didn't like where this was going.  She didn't like being physically controlled like this and if she hadn't been frozen in place, she would be trembling in panic.  She hated feeling vulnerable.


His he continued to speak directly into her mind, letting what rage he had built up towards her out.  He was right, she had summoned him, but he seemed under the impression it had been something she had wanted to do.  She didn't know how any of this shit worked and like hell she was going to trust a demon; so what the fuck did he expect from her?  And like hell he didn't have expectations of his own regarding her, that was some straight up bullshit right there.  Him expecting her to help him find some random family, use her pitiable amount of resources and push aside her entire life, just to help him.


The one thing I will hope you understand is that you DO. NOT. TOUCH. ME. Failure to respect that will result in.. very uncomfortable results for you.


Oh, that wouldn't be a problem.  She'll just do what he does and find a damn loop hole to indirectly touch him just to prove how irritating it is when someone pulls that shit; like what he did with Liz.  Liz, who was now freaking out and trying to get Esme to move.  She was pleading for the demon to stop what he was doing to Esme, that this was going too far and that if he didn't stop she wasn't going to help him.


Why don't you learn more about yourself, hmm, mortal?


Esme didn't know what he was going on about, but she heard the spelled he muttered and she mentally tried to will herself out of her predicament.  Everything faded away and then there was nothing but pitch black everywhere.  What the hell had he done?  Her ears began to ring and a cacophony of voices rose and fell, though she couldn't understand a single work being said.  It felt like there was an intense pressure on her heart and she struggled to breath as her eyes watered.  Her back was burning and something felt like it was trying to shatter, but it held strong.  And then everything stopped.


-


When Esme collapsed Liz kneeled next to her and tried to shake her to awaken the girl as if she were merely asleep.  She stopped for a moment and then Liz's eyes widened in a panic.  She checked Esme's breathing and pulse and found nothing.  "You killed her!"  Liz began CPR on Esme trying to revive her while at the same time trying to remember where her phone was to try and call an ambulance.  "No no no no no!  You did this to her, fix her," Liz screamed as she did chest compressions on Esme.

 

[Maevrys]

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Vaughn watched his magic take hold of Esme, felt it slide into her and run into a wall. He used his magical will to push through that wall -- and it worked -- but it also set off a fail safe of sorts. Or something. He couldn't figure out what. The male watched Liz start to panic, yet the events all happened in slow motion for him. Vaughn didn't know what to do for a moment, or how to react. He tried to sense for her spirit and found Esme locked up in a web of magic, so ancient and powerful he knew he would have been better to go into her mind and get the information out himself.


Muttering a long incantation, he focused his whole being in figuring out the web of this magic. Her heart had stopped beating, but after transferring some of his concentration, he got it beating again. He matched her heartbeat with his own, and for this moment, they were perfectly in sync. The back of his mind warned him what this could do, that they could both be trapped. She wasn't even dead -- though her heart had stopped -- but instead protected by magic. Whatever sealed her memories of magic also protected her from anyone trying to pull them out. Vaughn hissed in displeasure as he felt that protection trying to push him out, away from her spirit. She'll die if you continue. He spoke to the magic in only the way a demon could, they who created magic and granted humans access to it. It seemed to hesitate, and he took that moment to push through.


More walls got in his way, fighting him, causing him mental and physical pain. His body could no longer hold his smoke form and concentrate on his task, so he let go of that, his body floating back onto the futon, though his mind wasn't even there. It was inside Esme, coaxing her spirit out of the hole the magic had created. She didn't want to go with him, and clung to that which protected her. I'm sorry. He purred into the spirit's ear. Come back or you'll die.


... Liz is worried for you. He added that last part in, and it was enough to get her spirit to poke its head out of the web, up at his own. She took his hand and he pulled her free, banishing the magic that served as the barrier on her mind. He knew her memories and knowledge of magic, the history of her world would come back to her soon, but also recognized he shouldn't tamper with her mind ever again. Guiding her spirit back to its place within her body, he slid his existence out of her and back into his own.


Within moments, he was smoke once more, exhausted from the situation that they'd just gone through. Had she truly died, he could have gone home. But Vaughn would never sacrifice an innocent spirit for his own freedom. 

 

[Fable]

There was nothing.  It was just a void and Esme was completely alone here floating in the void.  Whatever he had done to her had done to her had left her here in this place.  The voices had faded away, but she had managed to make out a few of the words from the overlapping noise.  "Demon."  "Abomination."  "Monstrosity."  "Corrupt."  "Unforgivable."  "Exile."  There was just a feeling of hate and fear.  "Shouldn't exist."


The pressure that had faded away returned along with a quick pulse from her heart that had stopped beating in this place.  Something was intruding, something was coming into the void. She was pulled in deeper, away from the intrusion as though she was being dragged through water.  There was no direction, but from a previous experience of diving down into depths of the ocean while on a snorkeling trip, the pressure surrounding her felt very similar to that experience.


She thought she heard another voice, but whatever was said was muffled.  The pull stopped going deeper and seemed to change direction.  Something else was said and then there was a tug.  Esme's eyes fluttered open and she say Liz staring down at her with red puffy eyes from crying.  Her whole being felt exhausted and her head was throbbing.


"Y-You're alive!  Oh thank fucking goodness you're alive!  You literally dropped dead!  I thought you had died!  Are you alright?"


"Liz," Esme groaned out, "I am far from alright.  Just, help me sit up right now."


Liz helped Esme to sit up as requested, completely forgetting about the rose and deal struck with the demon earlier.  Her concern was Esme.  Esme was trying to process whatever the hell had just happened and recover.  Her mind was still very muddled and trying to think back to what happened was only creating a frustrating attempt to grasp at the elusive memory.  She was certain of a few things.  Firstly, the demon had nearly killed her with whatever he had done.  Secondly, she was alive.  Thirdly, she was now very, very aware of what she was and wasn't sure how to feel about it right now.


Esme's phone began to ring with an all too familiar custom ringtone; her mother.  Liz brought the phone over to her and Esme hesitently answered.  "Esme?!  What's happened?"  Esme swallowed the painful lump in her throat.  She felt conflicted.  "Why would you think something happened?"  Her mother paused and Esme could hear her grandmother's voice in the background, but she couldn't make out what she was saying.  The tone was harsh and lecturing.


"Esme... come home.  I have something important to tell you, but I don't want it to be over the phone."


"Sorry, I have to go."  With that she hung up and Liz looked at her with confusion.  "Your mom must have some crazy intuition to call with perfect timing."  "Yeah, like she knew exactly had happened."  It had to be more than just mere coincidence.  Esme got to her feet, letting Liz help her since she knew to try and tell her she was fine wouldn't work.  She made her way over to her bedroom and sat on her bed trying to process everything.

 

[Maevrys]

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In his smoke form, focused only on keeping his physical body withheld from the mortal world, he faded in and out of consciousness. Bringing the witch back had taken immense concentration and skill from him, but he knew that the fight wasn't over yet. By bringing her back, he connected them even further and saw a glimpse of the things she had hidden within her soul. This witch had plenty of power within her, but it had been locked away for so long. He could feel her distress for having this ability, and started to worry about what his coming here had created, what he might have to do to grant her true wish.


What if she tells me she wants me to get rid of her magic? He thought to himself, and flinched at the conflict it would bring. Demons gave mortals the ability to cast magic, aligned it in their blood so the magic passed genetically. One could not simply learn to cast magic, but had to be born into it. And because it is his people who did this, he had the ability to take it away. Even as he could feel her heart clenching in her talk with her mother, contempt growing for her magic that she didn't understand, he wondered what her true wish would be.


Slipping away further in his own tiredness, the male etched himself into the wall and became an invisible entity so his mind could rest, no longer thinking of such thoughts. It would indeed get him back to his homeland, but the results for everyone else would be dire.

 

[Fable]

Liz's phone started blaring an all too familiar alarm; the one that announced she needed to leave now or she would be late to work.  "I can call in sick or something, y'know.  Honestly, I probably should just stay home with you after what just happened."  Esme wanted to be left alone, to be allowed some time to process what she had just gone through.  She knew that convincing Liz to leave wouldn't work since according to her friend she had basically been dead.  "If you want, but I just want to rest in my room - alone - right now."


Liz nodded and retrieved her annoyingly loud phone and turned off the alarm.  She then proceeded to call her manager and call in for a sick day.  Esme heard her friend lie to her boss that she needed the day off due to food poisoning.  A few fake gagging noises and her boss was quick to get off the phone since he was fairly sensitive about this type of stuff.  Liz had been successful in getting today and even a couple more off from work to recover from her fake illness.


Esme gave her friend a weak smile and said she was going to close her door to try and get some rest.  Liz protested since she worried Esme could die in her sleep.  There was also some weird argument that sleeping in this type of situation was the worse thing she could do, as though she had a concussion.  Eventually Esme convinced Liz she would be fine alone for a little bit and she closed her bedroom door for some privacy.


She knew she was going to have to go home and confront her mother about this; about what she was.  The things she remembered were vague, and every time she tried to focus on a single one, it seemed to dart back into a place where it was just out of reach.  It was like seeing something out of the corner of your eye - a strange shadow - that when you turned to look at it, it was suddenly gone.  It was incredibly frustrating.


She was also way too tired to bother with being angry at the demon who was the cause of this new issue.  She needed something to distract herself right now, even as tired as she was, she wouldn't be able to rest with all these questions tumbling around in her mind.  She went over to the small desk and opened up her laptop.  He had mentioned some family named Tyrell and wanting to contact them.  The chances of her finding whoever he was searching for were slim, but it would make her focus on the task rather than her elusive memories.


She printed out a few pages of everything associated with the name Tyrell, and figured she'd let him dig through the list and determine which Tyrell he was looking for exactly.  She didn't know how the name was spelled, so there were a few variations of the name in the list as well.  Her next mission was in basically requesting personal leave from work.  She stated she had some family issues she needed to attend to in person.  She wasn't given much time off since if she requested for anything longer than a month she'd lose her job.  Since the spring semester had just ended, that meant she wouldn't have to deal with being failed for her courses due to multiple absences.


With all that done, Esme was now back where she started; a mess of thoughts and feelings.  She went to her bed and laid down while hugging one of her many pillows that resided there.  The demon had been oddly quiet and it made her wonder if he had perhaps left.  She glanced around her room as though she could spot him if she tried.  In the end she decided to just ask in a hushed whisper to avoid Liz's attention.


"Vaughn?"