Candles adorned a painted ring of crimson on the basement floor. The flames violently lapped back at the nipping winter chill. Blackness covered Daren except for the candlelight that kissed his face. The book he held open had no distinguishable title, but donned silvery embroidered patterns over its faded leathery cover. Though the words on the page were foreign to him, each phrase he chanted caused tiny electric sparks on his tongue and a faint copper taste.
Not a rumble or mystical ballet of light heralded the summoning ritual's completion, but only the hollow thump of a shrouded form that now lied within the pentagram.
"It worked!" he exclaimed as an excited shiver coursed over him. "That old thing actually worked!" He dropped the book and rushed closer with a gallon jug in his hand. Without giving his eyes a chance to adjust, he poured a steady stream on the dark figure. "This is holy water," he said. "I'll pour it on you until you bind yourself to me, demon."
A delicate and shaking voice rose above the sound of spilling fluid. "Yes, I will, I pledge myself to you. Please stop!"
He stopped pouring at once. "You," he said, the commanding tone now replaced with a nervous timidity. "You're a woman?"
"I am," she replied. "I am yours. Make this pain end!"
He ran light switch as fast as he could. With the room illuminated, he saw the naked form of a somewhat pale skinned girl lying motionless and incapacitated. Her long coal black hair concealed most of her porcelain face.
"This is bad, this is bad!" Daren repeated as he walked to her. "I didn't expect this at all. How is she supposed to be my eternal body guard?"
First thing to do was clean up his new guest. For all he knew, the filth that covered her was his fault. He hooked his arms around her back and knees to carry her to his bathroom. Daren had a typical physique, but luckily he'd been using his gym membership the past few months and could lift more than average. She was lighter than he expected, but the red ooze on her body emanated a sickly pungent odor that nauseated him.
"God, what is this shit all over you?" he said as he gave careful attention to not let her head hit the rails as they ascended the stairs. "And what will I tell Taylor? 'Oh hey, this is uh... my new girlfriend.'" The thought of another girl so soon made his already churning stomach do a somersault in his belly. "No no, that won't work. She'll know I'm still not over Jess."
**
He laid her in the bathtub carefully. Relaxing hot water rushed out of the tap with a few turns of the valve and it was quickly time to clean her up. He brushed a few locks of hair out of her face first, then lathered soap in his hands.
He washed her face first, noticing how her cheek bones stayed defined, yet soft, almost in a nurturing way. In fact, he noticed her whole frame seemed to hold to a defined-yet-cushioned manner as he cleaned the rest of the red filth off. Her skin was free of wrinkles save for small ones in natural places they would occur, and her body was completely hairless, not even the most expensive spa and waxing could keep her this way.
A soothing warmth enveloped her and bright lights pricked at her vision as sleep's hazy clouds rolled away. Her eyes were cerulean blue with hints of red as a mirror if inner contrast between peace and something more impish. "Wha... where am I?" she said aloud.
"My house. Well, my side of the house." Daren's scratchy voice answered. "To be exact, you're in my bathtub.
The memory of what happened returned to her, and she jolted up, which caused the water to splash. The room felt alien to her and the tightly cramped walls were making her claustrophobic. That is, until here scan of the room met his kind green eyes. "Are you the one who brought me here?" she asked with a taste of concern.
He lifted his hand and rested it again as though he suppressed a gesture. "I am," he replied. "But I wasn't expecting you. I was trying to make a—I was trying to summon—" He took a deep breath. "Demons," he concluded.
"Demons..." she repeated as she looked at herself in the tub. "I guess I am one." She looked back to him to see his reaction, but he was shaking his head.
"But you're a woman. Not a demon."
She grinned as if he said something flattering. "I am what you'd call a demon, and I pledged myself to you, master.
"M—Master? What do you— When I came here, you made me bind myself to you. Doesn't that make you my master?"
He rubbed his forehead. "I mean yeah, I guess. But you aren't... I mean you... Look, I don't understand what's going on. I found some old book at an antique shop yesterday. I was trying to summon a demon. You know, big and strong, sometimes smelly, good at fighting. I wanted a bodyguard."
"Oni." she said as she looked back into his eyes. "You wanted an Oni, they're the big ones. That's why I'm here."
"What do you mean?"
"I had... I mean they were... I should say, I was 'servicing' some before I came here."
He nodded. "You were brought instead of them for some reason." His eyes widened.
"'Servicing.' So is that the reason for those bruises?"
She looked at the large yellow bruises over her legs and arms. "Yeah." she answered with a grim chime in her voice.
They sat a moment in silence. The bath water was cloudy and tinted light pink. Except for the bruises, her skin was flawless in an otherworldly way, and Daren couldn't help but keep his gaze fixed on her.
"I washed you while you were passed out," said Daren. "So if you're ready to get out now I can help you up."
"Oh, I think I'm ready, yes."
She tried to push herself up in the tub but found her legs were more sore and wobbly than she expected. Daren reached around her to help and together she made it out and on her feet. She was shorter than he was with the top of her head barely reaching his collar bone.
"So then, you washed me with your hands?" she asked as he grabbed a towel in which to wrap her.
"Yeah, I normally don't use loofahs or anything so I just—"
"Does my shape please you?" she interrupted.
"Um, yeah. You look shapely." A slight blush of crimson flushed into Daren's cheeks.
"So you like them?"
"Like what?"
She reached for his hand and guided him to her breast. "I hope to be pleasing to my new master." She said in a near whisper.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh! You mean that! Well, I uh, yes, I mean, you're very endowed."
She smiled again, differently than before, with a naughty hint hidden somewhere within. She felt his hand growing hotter.
"Does Master need anything from me?"
His heart was now dancing in his chest and his pants grew tighters from a familiar throb. She still held a constant gaze, her plump lower lip clenched between her teeth, her hand on his, his hand squeezing her tender breast. His frantic trail of thoughts degraded into a boiling desire in his blood, but he managed to force something out to change the subject.
"Daren!" he blurted, surprising himself with his volume. "My name is Daren."
"Daren," she repeated, then closed her eyes to better visualize the name.
Breaking eye contact freed him from what wanton paralysis he was previously experiencing and he pulled his hand off of her chest. He also cleared his throat as an attempt to chase away his dirty thoughts.
"Yeah, that's me. Daren. What's your name?"
