Another story with demons?! Believe it or not, I kinda like the idea/general aesthetic of demons and demonic corruption.
Gonna warn y'all ahead of time that this involves a guy losing body autonomy to a demon gal, so if you're not into seeing people get trapped in situations where they can't control their bod, this might not be your kind of story! But I think it's hot so I wrote it.
If you're into it, read on! ♥
*********
There are three rules you learn when you first get into magic.
One: let no one know your real name.
Two: never cast a spell you can't control.
And three, perhaps the most important one of all: don't make deals with demons.
At some point in his life, Calvinius Indominus Valor had broken just about every law that nature and supernature had come up with to put in his way. But he'd never violated those. Common sense didn't extend far in the world of sorcerers, but he wasn't a stupid man.
That point was arguable, given that he was about to break Rule Three in a big way.
The circular room at the bottom of his lighthouse had been his study, but he had prepared it to be the focal point for his summoning ritual. Its walls, decorated with accolades and awards from magic and non-magic institutions alike, were lined with magic-suppressing cold iron. Blinding seals built into the floor and ceiling kept any scrying eyes out, and its lack of corners prevented any interference from Tindalos. He had also moved all the furniture or any other large object that could be tossed with telekinetic force. Difficult for him to move those bookcases and desk all on his own. Years of worming through books had depleted his muscles. But what use were magical powers if you couldn't use them for minor physical labour around the home?
Three concentric rings of protective sigils circled the final ring of salt extracted from the Dead Sea. Even before he pulsed energy into the seals, he could feel the thrum of power. Mana leak from a nearby leyline crackled through the symbols like speaker static. The noises faded to a steady pulse in time with his heartbeat. Each ring flashed into azure light as it awoke. With the seals in place, he cracked open his grimoire to a page bookmarked with a ribbon.
Summoning rituals were not difficult. First-year students can safely pull Familiars into the mortal plane with enough oversight and study. Playing with fire was likewise relatively easy, though if you're not careful, someone gets burned. That's why he had spent a considerable amount of time preparing.
He read and reread the ritual to make sure. He was glad he did! A crucial ingredient was missing. He ran up the spiral staircase to his kitchen to fetch seven individual jars filled with a dark red fluid. Setting them in an equidistant line along the ground in front of him, he was ready to begin.
In a wicked tongue that made his ears ring, he spoke the invocation. He marshalled his energies to reach out into another plane of existence and warp the fabric of space and time to pull through a single spark from that great beyond into his own world. Time lost all meaning during the invocation. Days could have passed and he would not have noticed.
Grasping his target, he firmly pulled with his mind's eye. A spark of magical energy filled the containment circle. Buoyed, he redoubled his efforts. The spirit tried to slip away, but the seals weakened it while strengthening his own grip. It was an inevitability.
The wisp of white light dissolved outward into a spectral humanoid form. The details filled in. Long, flowing silver hair. Ashen skin. Eyes that burned brightest red. It moved in slow motion as it grew in opacity, examining its own form like a self-aware illusion.
It was then that Cal realized something was wrong. The form was too small, too frail to be the Viscount that he'd tried to summon. It was only five and a half feet tall, if that. Rather than bulky muscle on a skeleton of protruding spikes, the creature before him had the generous curves of a feminine form. Ghostly wrappings covered her body in the loosest sense of the word, barely concealing her nipples and curling around her hips a handful of times
As the ritual finished, gravity asserted itself and dropped it, her, the short distance to the ground. The jolt made her breasts heave in a distracting way. Despite her deathly appearance (and the knowledge he'd just pulled her from Hell) he might have considered her beautiful.
"If this is about the Church I burned, I didn't do it," the demoness said with a sneer.
Cal scrunched his brow, then looked over at the grimoire. "That can't be right..." He flipped through the pages to the first part of the ritual. "I specifically invoked the Viscount of the Sinister Meridian, 4th Circle."
"Viscountess. Variel is no longer around to take calls from impudent sorcerers. What are these seals, Nehemothic? I'm flattered."
He flipped through the book, looking for a designation for the entity trapped in his summoning circle. A novel idea occurred to him just as he was about to reach for his copy of the Diabolica Magnus: ask.
"You're far too attractive to be from the 4th Circle. What's your name?"
"I'm not stupid, mortal. Call me Lyla," she said with a feigned curtsey, hands clasping an imaginary skirt in her dip of the knee, "At your service, m'lord. What do you want? Love? The head of a rival? Fame and fortune?"
He stiffened his neck, making him look as stern and impressive as one could in a stolen Mariot bathrobe. "Power. I desire power above all."
"Hells to Betsy, that's a new one. Well, I don't give anything away for free. That'd dilute the brand," she said, folding her arms. "Go ahead human: impress me."
Cal spread his hand out at the jars of blood at his feet. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in seven jars of Tyrant Blood?"
"No...unless it's fresh?" She waited for him to shake his head before continuing, "Ah, see, it's no good to me then. Variel drank that stuff like it was Red Bull but I could never stomach it cold."
He made a face. "I could warm it up in a microwave?"
"Do you have anything else to offer? Something that's not reheated vital fluids?" Lyla asked, tapping her foot.
"I have gems, precious metals..."