hh_mirror

This was a bad idea.

Moonbeams skittering across the grass, the quiet rustles of the forest a bare stone's throw away, the entire world seemed peaceful and secure. I carefully etched out a circle in the ground, digging out the sod and leaving a harsh brown wound against the lush green. The salt was next, shaken out with a hand just this side of trembling. My breath was a harsh noise against the near-silence of an early summer evening. Kneeling, I pressed green candles I'd bought in town to make the five points of the pentagram I wasn't going to draw. Letting my mind focus on the mundane aspects of my task, I could ignore my growing panic.

Summoning a demon was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

But it was coming after me. It would show up sooner or later; at least if I called it I'd have a slight advantage as its summoner.

No one knew what I was doing. Jenks and Ivy would kill me. I was pretty sure Dean would lock me in a closet somewhere. And Turn it all if I was going to sit in my room and wait for this demon bastard to come get me. I could be doing this inside, where I wouldn't have to worry quite so much about roots going through the circle and making a point of weakness where the demon could get through. But, somehow, it made more sense to be doing this out in the Scottish breeze, under a half-moon.

Also, this way the house-elves wouldn't have to clean blood off the ceiling in the morning. Hopefully not my blood.

Quickly walking around the outside of the circle, I checked my compass again, making sure the top of the pentagram pointed true north. For the hundredth time. And then there was no other reason to procrastinate. I had made sure I was well enough away from the trees to keep my circle secure. No twigs or leaves crossed the line, there was enough salt to stop an army, and the candles had all been lit on holy ground previously - thank the Turn for the lax security in most church yards. Nothing left to do but set the circle and call myself up a demon. Joy.

Closing my eyes, I opened my second sight, peering into the ever after. Everything faded away in a wash of red light. The castle itself was ghostly in the corner of my eye and I felt my eyebrows arch up in surprise. Most of the time buildings, people, anything temporary disappeared completely. But the castle existed in both worlds. Interesting.

Unsurprisingly, a ley line ran close by. Stretching out my will to it, I tapped in, gritting my teeth as the flow of energy into by body made it tingle and my stomach twist. Breathing deep, I tried to stay upright as I let it balance out. Finally the tide reduced to a bearable level and I pushed out the energy needed to replace my ring of salt with a circle of the ever after. With an audible pop, the salt was gone and an arch of energy, colored the gold hue of my aura, took its place. The green candles were transparent, but the flames existed, too, in both worlds, and lit up the night with a soft glow.

Opening my eyes, I pulled out a book in which I had carefully translated a summoning spell. I didn't know the demon's real name, nor did we have a previously-standing agreement. I had to do this the old fashioned way.

The unfamiliar Latin rolled off my tongue and dropped into the night air. I already felt dirty and uncomfortable; summoning demons wasn't illegal or immoral in any way, really. But it never ended well, and with a demon mark on me, I tried to avoid it. The last word of command faded into silence and I stared at my circle, heart pounding. It hadn't worked. Oh, God, it hadn't worked.

But my breath escaped me in a sigh of relief as a dark shape oozed into the middle of the circle. It was here. I'd managed to summon it.

My life was so extremely messed up that that was the high point of my day.

Yellow eyes blinked open and the demon focused on me, its nondescript appearance making the obvious malice in its expression that much more jarring. "Rachel," it all but purred, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"You can call me Ms. Morgan," I told it, eyes narrowing as it started to laugh. But hell if I was going to let it see any of the fear that was trickling like ice water down my spine. "I summoned you here."

"Yes, I can see that." It turned in a slow circle, arms crossed, taking in the candles. The demon reached out one finger to run it slowly around the invisible barrier, smirking. "Quite the little risk taker, Ms. Morgan." Its tone was mocking, but the hidden edge of loathing made me stiffen slightly and pray that the circle was as secure as I thought it was. "And to what do I owe this little late night summon?"

Cold yellow eyes swept over me and I suppressed a shudder. "Do you want a deal?" it asked, gleeful.

"No." The word was out with more force than I'd intended and I watched as the demon smiled, slowly, an oily pool that crept across his face and made the air seem suddenly several degrees colder. "I want to give you a warning."

The rolling laughs that came out of the demon seemed out of place, much too jovial for such a foul creature. "Really? Rachel Morgan, you are a treat. And tell me, sweetling, what exactly you think you could do to me?"

"I want you to leave Dean Winchester alone." The words were clear in the night air, and I pulled myself up to my full height, trying to look commanding. "I want you to stop playing whatever sick game it is you've come for and leave him the hell alone."

The demon was examining its fingernails, an amused smile curving its lips. "And if I don't?"

"I'll take out Sam Winchester."

Hey, give me a little bit of time, and I can figure most things out. I was a runner after all. And Dean had been surprised that the demon was after him. Couple that with the things he'd let drop and I had a pretty good idea what was going on here. The demon was trying to break Dean down so it could get to Sam easier. Like some sick, twisted version of a vampire hunting a desired shadow. So if I threatened what the demon was really after, maybe it'd leave Dean alone.

I hoped.

Okay, I'd already said this was a stupid idea. But it was all I had. A week of thinking, planning, researching, and this was what I'd come up with. Maybe I should take a page out of Ivy's book and use markers.

The demon simply regarded me for a moment. I had expected it to laugh again, to be honest, and I found the silence even more unnerving. Finally it grinned, something that froze me in my spot like a deer in thousand-watt headlights. "I think you'd do it, too," the demon whispered. "That's... Interesting. No wonder Dean-o is so intrigued by you. Unsullied soul and yet you really would find a way, wouldn't you? Oh, not kill him. You wouldn't kill him. But you'd find some way to make him worthless to me. How very, very sweet."

Leaning forward, it rested one hand flat against against the edge of my circle, the grin edging wider as its skin sizzled in a red wisp of ever after. "No deal. I'm afraid I just don't care that much. Oh, don't get me wrong - Sammy's my boy. But if he was suddenly out of the running, I'd survive just fine. Dean, however, wouldn't."

But it wasn't dismissing me out of hand. I felt my shoulders slump slightly in defeat but that one thought made me stop from just sending the demon back to wherever the hell it hung out in its spare time. "What do you want?"

Oh, this was so beyond stupid. But I knew that the demon would just keep wearing down on Dean, keep breaking him, until there was nothing left. And I couldn't just stand back and watch that, much less be a weapon used against him. I cared about Dean, way more than I liked to admit. If I could stop this and keep my soul intact, I wasn't going to walk away from the chance.

"You." The demon grinned. "But I'm assuming that you are not on the auction block. So how about this - I will limit my interactions with Dean to only if I am summoned, if you do the same. No dropping by, no owls, nothing unless he calls for you." It moved forward with a speed I wasn't expecting and I flinched back, forgetting it couldn't pass the circle. "The second you break our deal, I'll spend every night camped outside of his window, singing in his mother's voice. That will drive him to suicide in a week." The demon seemed far too gleeful about the prospect "Agreed?"

For a second I hesitated, brain scrambling frantically. That didn't sound bad. No part of my soul would be sullied - and, best of all, there was a high likelihood Dean would never find out. Not like he'd care if I stopped seeing him. Slowly, eyes locked on the demon's, I nodded.

"Done." A bright shot of pain shot through my other wrist - the one unsullied by a demon mark. Or, rather, the one that had been unsullied. When I looked down, a small circle with one slash through it stood out, a bright, pink, new scar against my fair skin. When my head raised again, the demon was gone from the circle.

Turn take me, I'd done it. I'd made a deal with a demon. Shaking a little with the magnitude of what I'd done, I reached out one foot to scuff across the line, breaking the circle. I hissed as the flux of ever after rushed through me and then left me empty. It was done.

Or so I thought until I turned and a fist the size of Antarctica connected with my face, lifting me up and sending me flying ten feet away. Collapsing to the ground with a loud grunt of pain, I blinked the stars from my vision and looked up. The demon was stalking towards me, murder in its eyes. Oh, shit, shit, shit, I hadn't sent it away. I hadn't ended our summoning.

I was going to die in the middle of the yard outside of a freaking magic school.

Scrambling backwards, I swallowed down a sharp, sour jolt of fear, frantically reaching for the splat gun I had tucked in the back of my jeans. Just as my fingers brushed the welcome cool metal, though, I was plucked from the ground and slammed up against the tree by an invisible force.

Oh, swell. I'd forgotten about the telekinesis. Panting out a harsh breath, I watched the demon come closer. God, I was a runner. I didn't know how to summon demons. I didn't want to know. But now some stupid mistake was going to be the end. Struggling, my heartbeat a steady thunder in my ears, I tried to twist my arm back far enough to grab the gun. What the hell sleepy time potion would do on a demon was beyond me, but I wasn't going down without a fight.

Which, apparently, it was counting on. Leaning in, actually smelling my hair, it breathed, "Now, now. Have to send my boy, Dean, a little goodbye card." With infinite care, like it was caressing a lover, the demon reached out and yanked my arm forward. I heard it snap with a detached wave of nausea. Then, as the pain caught up with my body, it let me drop. I didn't scream. I would have remembered screaming. Instead I cradled my arm close to my body and rolled away from a quick kick aimed at my head.

Struggling to my feet, gulping back a sick coating of vomit, I finally pulled out the splat gun and aimed it, firing off two balls of potion towards the demon as it advanced towards me with scary grace. The potion exploded on him as I flew backwards, my ribs cracking hard against another tree, the breath leaving my body in a whimper. Sliding to the ground, I looked over. It was down. I'd knocked it out. Oh, thank God. I was going to live.

Pushing myself up, I staggered to my feet and started towards the castle, limping hard on my right leg. I'd only gotten a few steps away when a hand shot out, yanking on the ankle I'd twisted somewhere along the way and sending me crashing to the ground. My entire world went dark and I cried out in pain. The demon was straddling me, now, raining blows down on my body that I hardly felt as I drifted out of consciousness.

When I came to, it was still dark, and I was lying on the ground. Dried blood obscured my vision in one eye. I tried to sit up, but the pain from every part of my body made me literally scream out in agony and I curled up in a ball. I was alive. Of course I was. Freaking no-kill rule. But I was a walking bruise-o-gram for Dean, apparently. If he came and found me. Otherwise I couldn't go to him for help.

Which was looking like a really bad thing, hidden as I was from most students' everyday commute. Beginning to giggle at the idea of a group of robe-clad students poking at my unconscious form as part of their classes the next day, I felt my body sliding into shock. And, with no reason but waves upon waves of mind-numbing pain to stay awake, I let the world turn into nothingness. The next time I woke up, I'd try and drag myself to the Hospital Wing. With Wizarding medicine, I'd be back to normal in no time. Trying to cling to that thought, my body half in and half out of my summoning circle, I passed out.