<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'">The sound of my name on her lips electrified me. It felt like my blood was sizzling through my veins, and my heartbeat was pounding in my ears. Combined with the smile she gave me as soon as she recovered from the effects of experiencing an unexpected spell, I knew she understood and it didn’t deter her in the slightest. Her next words confirmed as much, and told me she knew how to keep a secret, but the secret caress she gave my fingers threatened to break my focus entirely. I wanted more of that touch. I wanted more of her. I wanted to drop everything and find out how far this could go. I’d never felt so strongly about a passing contact, but Ashlynn Rivera was exactly the kind of trouble I wanted to get into. Her answer about the wine suited me and my needs just fine, and I nodded my acknowledgement, but she had a couple surprises for me. <br/>
<br/>
When she gave me back the bill I saw that I had only been charged for one bottle, and I was certain she’d heard me when I asked for two but her next words answered the question. I watched her face as she packed the box, and her playful tease had me grinning. “I’ll be sure to take you up on that,” I said, going along with her offer of a discount and providing the requisite signature. The bill was actually big enough that my accounts would feel it if it were doubled, but my expected payday would have more than covered it. More to the point, the prospect of opening a bottle of this delectable wine with Ash had my mouth watering and my throat dry at the same time, and the numbers on the receipt were a distant concern. <br/>
<br/>
The second surprise came when I reached out to take the box and she laid her hand over mine. My attention was riveted on the seriousness of her expression, and the demand came with as much gravity as I’d delivered mine. Both of them were expressed in caring, but hers was all-in. ‘Come back <i>to me</i> in one piece.’ I met her seriousness with solemn acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything. There were promises I could make and promises I couldn’t, and I knew she understood that. I could see it in her eyes. I set the box down on the counter, and used the hand she touched to take hers, and lift it for a kiss. I pressed my lips against her flesh and watched her eyes with all the determination that I could muster that I would do as she asked. With my other hand I drew a bag out of my jacket and opened it over the boxed and packed bottle of wine. The cloth spread over the box, enveloped it, and then flattened again as I rested my hand over it. I stowed the bag back in my jacket as I released her hand, with the wine secured in a small extra-dimensional space that held its contents steady no matter how the bag itself was jostled. Our business was concluded for now, but the taste of her was on my lips and before I knew it I was pulling my lower lip between my teeth to lick it off. I smiled in spite of myself, gave her a little bow of my head, then retrieved my card before turning to leave. <br/>
<br/>
As I left, I wished I had a promise for her, but I truly did not know how this night would go. I knew exactly how I wanted it to go, and I got the impression she had plans of her own, which interested me to no end, but summoning is dangerous, and summoning a demon, no matter what kind, was seven different kinds of foolish. I knew why I was doing it though, and it was a good reason. I held no delusions about my own lust for power, prestige, and independence, but I intended to use it to return the same to someone who had had it stolen from them. Perhaps not the prestige, but when I saw Julie laying in that hospital bed comatose and dying to a cancer that should never have grown in her, I knew what I had to do. My own soul be damned, I was not going to let her die that way. As much as I wanted to enjoy this fiery, magical beauty that had offered me a place in her home, I had work to do, and time was of the essence. I only hoped I would survive long enough to complete it. <br/>
<br/>
***<br/>
<br/>
I stepped out of the shop and onto the sidewalk, then looked around for a likely door. If I wanted to be back before closing time, which was listed as 4 hours from now on the sign I saw on the way out, I didn’t have time to waste. I needed a door that was close to the shop, but out of the way enough that it wouldn’t be highly scrutinized. After walking down the street for about half a block, I found what I was looking for. There was a side-door to a pub just off the strip and out of sight of the rest of the street, and no one would think twice of a man entering or exiting it, even at such a late hour as I intended to return. I made a subtle gesture with my hand as I approached the door so when I opened it a spell enacted to make the other side of it my summoning room. I stepped through and closed the door behind me, and the sounds and smells of the street were replaced with the dry, ageless, empty atmosphere of a demiplane that existed only when I needed it.<br/>
<br/>
The kind and amount of power needed to create such a thing was not uncommon among the circles I frequented, but it was odd to them that I was a part of them. Most wizards with that kind of clout were two or three times my age, and didn’t know what to think of me. Because of that, I got all different kinds of reactions. Some called me a fake, others hated me for being what they wished they were, others thought I was playing at games better left alone. Some actually saw me for what I was, and most of them left me alone. I didn’t blame them, but a few, like Crazy John, took a liking to me, and that was what got me in the door to a place like <i>Gallavan’s</i>. The first time I went a wizard named Trevane tried to give me a hard time, and Crazy John just sidled over to where we were facing off, and calm as anything told Trevane that if he said one more word our conversation would end with me notching my staff with my first wizard fatality. I didn’t actually carry a staff, and I had no intention of hurting anyone, but Trevane went pale, almost apologized before shutting his mouth again, then turned and walked away. Oddly enough Crazy John never had to do that again. <br/>
<br/>
I stripped my coat off and hung it on a rack next to the door behind me, then looked down at the summoning circle. It was two rings inlaid into the floor, the inner made with marble, the outer with reinforced steel. Between the rings were layers of spells and woven runes so thick the etchings were solid and contiguous between them. This served two purposes. The first was fitting that many spells into a space so small, dimensionally speaking, was difficult, but not impossible. This circle was intended to contain any being from the smallest insect to the greatest deity, and anything in between, including entities astral, ethereal, spiritual, or ectoplasmic in nature. Physical barriers were the simplest of the spells included in my circle, and I was proud of it. It was my own creation, and there was no book anywhere that could teach another wizard how to replicate it. That was the second purpose: concealment. I didn’t <i>want</i> anyone to know how to replicate it. It was mine. Unique. One of a kind. That was why I needed the demiplane. This place, which looked like a paneled, wooden room, was mine, and no one could get here without either my help or my knowledge. Or my bidding, as was about to happen. <br/>
<br/>
First, I enacted a cleaning spell. Nothing can truly replace a good soap-and-hot-water scrub, but the spell met the requirements of the ritual I was about to perform, and it also removed any evidence of where I’d been or who I’d come in contact with that day. Second, I summoned that water basin that I had collected Howell’s secrets in, dumped the water in a jar along with the secrets, and refilled it with water from Crater Lake. If you’ve never been, you will never know the true meaning of the color blue. Into the water I poured my own secrets, distractions, and errant thoughts, but most of all I removed from the surface of my mind any thought of Ashlynn Rivera. The last damned thing I wanted was for a demon to find her as interesting as I did. Third, I covered that basin with a shroud, then went to the coatrack to reach into my jacket and withdraw the bag containing the wine. Finally I approached the summoning circle, gathering my focus on the way.<br/>
<br/>
Rituals are finicky things. Most involve at least five items that engaged each of the five senses, or powers, or whatever else your ritual might do, but for this one I was just going to use the wine. All five senses could be bound up in that bottle, the scent of the head, the taste of the pour, the sound of a glass being filled, the sensation of it sparkling and dancing on the tongue… Yes, it would do splendidly. I removed it from the bag, unpacked it, took it out of the box and set the bottle in the center of the circle, then took everything else out of the circle, taking special care to make certain nothing was left lying across the circle set in the floor, breaking the energetic lines. A thought struck me, and I paused to consider it. What about the label? Did I want Ravaniah to know where I’d gotten the wine? Or would removing the label elicit further suspicion that there was something to discover about where I’d gotten it? I decided to leave it in place, and further the reputation of the Wolford Winery.<br/>
<br/>
Preparations complete, I blew the last of the air in my lungs out, then began the spell on my next inhalation. How exactly I did it is a trade secret, but I will describe the process in general terms. First I held the True Name of the being I wanted to summon in my mind, and focused all of my magical strength on the entity it belonged to. I saw her clearly in my mind, down to the tiniest detail, the smallest hair and the last freckle. Then I reached out with my spell and bent space so wherever she was in spacetime at that moment was part of my knowledge of her name. Then, and this part is both the simplest and the most difficult, I made it so the space she occupied was within my summoning circle. Like scooping a fishbowl into a pond and bringing it back out again with a fish inside, I made it so the place Ravaniah was never changed, but now it was here instead of there. From her perspective it was probably more like hearing someone call her name, turning to look over her shoulder to find out who it was, and then finding herself somewhere completely else. The wine served to entice her into doing that turn in the first place. Otherwise the spell would need to get considerably more violent in order to operate.<br/>
<br/>
The first time I’d summoned her, she’d been in the middle of feeding, completely naked with two of her orifices still stretched open from the appendages she’d been feeding on, and horizontal in midair when she arrived. She was limber, and with no small amount of flailing she’d landed on her hands and feet, and I’d gotten a priceless view of her. This time she came dressed in a grey business suit with her long, black hair up and her nails painted red. She didn’t appear to have wings and a tail at the moment, but I knew she could if she wanted to, and that they were functional if she had. Her keen eyes took in her new surroundings, starting with me and then travelling around the mostly empty summoning room. “You know, Devon, this place could really use an interior decorator.”<br/>
<br/>
I smirked. “So you said the last time.” She liked to banter, and I wanted something from her, so I took the path of wisdom and indulged her. I waited for her eyes to return to mine, then continued. “I got something for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Did you?” She looked down and saw the wine bottle between her feet, then glanced back up at me with dark eyes. “And I suppose you’d love for me to bend over and pick it up, wouldn’t you Devon?”<br/>
<br/>
I lifted an eyebrow at her as I glanced at the bottle. “I think you’d enjoy that just as much if not more than I would, Ravaniah.” I put a little bit of steel in my voice as I pronounced the name, stopping before uttering the rest of it. <br/>
<br/>
Her amber orbs darkened further, but a smirk played at the corner of her lip. She made as though to bend at the knees in her pencil skirt to pick up the bottle, but stopped when I forestalled her with a hand.<br/>
<br/>
I used the outstretched hand to gesture at the bottle with two fingers, manipulating it so it lifted up off the floor and idled in mid air within the succubus’ easy reach. Ravaniah was opening her mouth to speak when I flicked my thumb across those two fingers, causing the cork to pop out of the bottle. <br/>
<br/>
Ravaniah’s curiosity simmered into sensual pleasure as the aroma of the wine filled the air within the circle, and her pleased, sultry moan curled through her parted lips as her eyelids fluttered. “Oh, <i>Devon</i>, you bring me the sweetest gifts. You must want something badly.” She moved her body in ways I was supposed to watch, then reached out to take the bottle from before her. Her eyes scanned the room, then landed back on mine. “Surely you wouldn’t mind…”<br/>
<br/>
I nodded once with a smile, waved my hand, and a wineglass appeared where the bottle had just been. <br/>
<br/>
“Oh, how charming, one of my very own!” The delight in her voice was evident, if partially tinged with annoyance at her situation. She poured a thumb of wine into the glass and swirled it, partaking of the bouquet before taking a sip. “Ohh! Oh gods, this is better than sex. Wherever did you find such a…  Serallia? From Wolford Winery? My, but this is a treat. I can’t help but notice there is only one glass.”<br/>
<br/>
“It's going back with you, along with the bottle,” I said. “I have a request for you, and you’re going to do it for me, and then our arrangement will be at an end.”<br/>
<br/>
Ravaniah’s eyebrow went up at that, but her smile didn’t sour. “My, my, I’m normally the one dictating the terms of the deal. What exactly, young wizard, makes you think I would do anything of the sort?”<br/>
<br/>
“By your name, demon, I bind you. By your word, I bind you. By our contract, I bind you. Thrice bound, I bid thee, give me your willing and determined assistance in collecting the bounty on Rigonaldo Salvarion, and your debt to me, forged on promises past, will be cleared.”<br/>
<br/>
Ravaniah shuddered, her eyes rolling back as they closed, her mouth dropping open in a gasp. She’d said the wine was better than sex, but this was something else. She was silent for beat, then her voice came out, breathy and sparse. “Yes, Master.”<br/>
<br/>
The word twisted my gut. I was no fucking warlock, I was a wizard. I hadn’t called her here to bend her to my will, I’d called in a favor, and was fit to leave it at that. I didn’t say anything, but I saw her open her eyes to see my reaction. <br/>
<br/>
“Ohh,” she said. “I disgust you. Well, I must say, that is a new one for me.” She licked her lips as she looked me up and down. “But you are not a fool. You know what I am, and what my touch would do to you. Whether you like it or not, I am bound to you by your own word, and I will do your bidding. The term fits, Master.”<br/>
<br/>
I felt somehow manipulated. I grit my teeth but said nothing because in that moment I was certain that the manipulation went far further than I even understood at that point. Fucking demons. Fucking bitch. Just how screwed was I now? I saw the humor glimmering in her eyes, but it was the lack of malice that confused me. Like somehow she was doing this for my own good. Fuck. Good was the last thing on her mind, I was certain of that much. Even so, this was the path I had chosen, and I was going to walk it. “Salvarion is still hosting that Summer Ball of his?”<br/>
<br/>
“He is, Master.” Ravaniah’s smirk was devious. “Do you wish to attend?”<br/>
<br/>
I snarled. “Not particularly, but we are going anyway.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, Master. Do you have an invitation?”<br/>
<br/>
“We will be attending together.”<br/>
<br/>
Ravaniah’s grin spread wide. “Of course, Master. I shall have to cancel my original plans for a plus one, but a date with Master is <i>ever</i> so exciting.”<br/>
<br/>
“It is not a date, Ravaniah.”<br/>
<br/>
Her eyes flared vivid red and she showed me her teeth. “Of course not, Master. It was only jest. I know my place. You will use me for your ends, and then we will be at a close. Surely you would not deny me the pleasure of enjoying my service to you in the meantime?”<br/>
<br/>
I worked my jaw but kept from snarling again. “Not this time.”<br/>
<br/>
The blood red in her irises darkened to a dusky crimson. “Thank you, Master.” She performed a curt bow, a curtsy without the skirt, then stood waiting, apparently for further orders. <br/>
<br/>
“Why did you do that, Ravaniah?” If there was one thing I did <i>not</i> want circling through the rumor mill, it was that I had truck with demons. Everything I accomplished would be attributed to dark deals, and no one would ever trust me at my word again. “Why did you make me into something I am not?”<br/>
<br/>
She looked at me, and the luminescence faded from her eyes. She was quiet for a moment, giving the question a berth of stillness, then opened her mouth to answer. “Because it is the only way to give you what you demand of me. We would fail were it not this way.”<br/>
<br/>
My anger died a small death. From the way she said it, I could tell it was the truth. There wasn’t a damned way she could lie to me through the wards that laced my circle, but she didn’t have to be so honest either. Which… made me wonder. “Why else?”<br/>
<br/>
A wide grin stretched over her face, and she was showing me her teeth again. “You will see, Master. You will see. But you must send me back now, or there will be difficult questions. Neither of us desire my service to you to be cut short so soon.”<br/>
<br/>
Again, too much truth from a demon, but inescapable. I lifted my hand to send her back, pausing only to hear her last words to me.<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you for the wine, Devon.”<br/>
<br/>
With that, she was gone, and I was left wondering what the fuck she could have been talking about.</span>