Part 4 in a series of short stories. Can be read separately.
The incubus Kai, and his boys Noah and Jamie are being tormented by an angel with a grudge.
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Jamie stood naked as a newborn in the fading light of the Arizona desert. It had taken them all day to lay out the rocks in the shape of a complex summoning circle and carve sigils in to the ground. Now the setting sun cast long shadows on the sand and rock and the desert glowed with the gold of the twilight hour. Kai was walking around the circle, checking every last rock and sigil scratched in the sand while Noah reassembled his handgun for the third time that day. He was getting very bored. It was only curiosity that kept him from wandering off, and when Kai announced everything was ready he perked up.
"Are you sure I'll be fine?" Jamie said, standing in the middle of the circle with waves of anxiety rolling off him.
"Pretty sure," Kai nodded, nudging a rock in place with his hoof. "Eventually. Look, it's your own fault. If you hadn't messed with angels we wouldn't have to summon it."
"So do I shoot it or what?" Noah asked, and Kai slapped him upside the head.
"For the last time, no. Only if I tell you to."
Noah rolled his eyes and sat down on a rock outside the circle. But Kai was glad to have him there. His dry boredom provided a welcome counterbalance to Jamie's anxiety and Kai's own doubts. He had never done this before. It was only by chance he had learned the name of the angel that had been tormenting Jamie, and he wouldn't have dreamed of summoning it if things hadn't gotten spectacularly out of hand. He figured the angel had marked Jamie somehow. It was the only thing that made sense. And he'd had quite enough of it.
He lit the small fires on the edge of the circle. A sharp scent of burnt herbs filled the hot, shimmering air, and Kai took his place at the southern point of the circle.
"Ready?" he asked, and Jamie shook his head. "Too bad. Stand still."
Jamie did his best not to shiver in the breeze that rolled over the sand and rocks. Even Noah stopped fiddling with his new toy and looked up when Kai started the summoning chant. Part of him doubted it would even work, and his most cowardly instincts hoped it wouldn't. But when he raised his hands and spread his wings, the rocks started glowing red. He kept chanting the words, over and over. Noah's eyes shone with delight when the first rock burst like a popcorn kernel. Jamie flinched when several more popped in the heat and pelted him with red hot rock shards, but he didn't move from where he stood. The wind picked up, gentle breeze swelling to hot gusts that tore at them in time with the chant. Fire erupted from the glowing rocks, the bonfires swelled and the air was thick with nauseating herbal scents, and the chant crescendoed when Kai called the name of the angel of the Lord.
Puriel.
A sharp gust knocked Jamie off his feet. He screamed, a scream that abruptly cut off when he doubled over. Kai dropped his hands and looked at the boy in the center of the circle. Jamie was breathing heavily, but he didn't stand up again, and he didn't make a sound. Noah had gotten back on his feet, gun at the ready, but nothing happened. The wind died down, sweeping away the last of the heat. Overhead the stars emerged, and still Jamie didn't move. They waited in perfect silence. When Jamie clambered back on his feet and raised his head Kai felt a jolt shoot through Noah.
"Fucking hell," he said, eyes fixed on Jamie's white glowing eyes.
"Still bored?" Kai asked, looking at the body the angel had taken over, and Noah shook his head. "Well at least we managed that. Let me handle this."
He tried to sound confident, but his insides squirmed looking at that creature that wasn't Jamie anymore. The white eyes were a dead giveaway, but the way the angel moved was eerie as hell. It twitched and squirmed as if the body was too small for it, as if the infernal sigils inked into its skin itched him like fresh brands. Its face was folded into a bare-toothed scowl. The fact that it's was Jamie's sweet freckled face made it all the more unsettling.
Kai's stomach lurched when the angel fixed its bright white gaze on him and finally spoke in a voice that was nothing like's Jamie's. Light poured from its mouth when it did.
"I am Puriel, servant of the Lord, arbiter of souls-"
It went on a bit, and Kai waited patiently with his hands on his back. Its voice was gravely and seemed to echo off the air itself.
"And I'm Kai," he said, scratching at his horn. "Uh. Demon of hell, incubus by trade. That one over there is Noah."
The angel looked, and Noah gave him a lazy wave.
"That's Jamie, the one you're... wearing. You two have met."
"The insolent one," the angel's voice growled, and the light in its eyes shone all the fiercer. "Worm of hell's dirt, servant of oblivion, demon's whore who thought to control the majesty of heaven-"
"Yeah, that's him," Kai smiled, a smile that withered quickly when the angel scowled. "And we're so, so sorry about that."
"You are its master?"
"Unfortunately," Kai sighed, and the he shuddered in disgust when he saw the bones in Jamie's body shift under its stretched skin. "Look, we don't want any trouble. He's learned his lesson, I promise you. I know he's a little shit. Trust me, I do. Why don't you just tell me how we can make it up to you and we'll all forget this ever happened?"
Noah And Kai held their breath waiting for the response. None came. The angel was furious, squirming inside a body it hated with all the holy fire of heaven. It didn't seem about to state its terms, at any rate.
Without any other options he could see, Kai stepped into the circle. Even if Puriel was still bound by the sigils on the rock, it probably wasn't the smartest move, but his instinct was always to get close to the person he wanted something from. The deepest part of his psyche was simply curious what an angel felt like. He wanted to touch it, but even when he got close enough he knew better. The angel studied him with fiery eyes, the body hunched and bent at slightly unnatural angles.
"This body is precious to you," it said, and Kai shrugged and scratched his horn.
"I suppose. I've had it for a while. You become attached after a-"