C19 The portal of hell

I was terribly proud of myself. I had put Claus in his place and it could go on like this. The other members congratulated me on my small triumph and saw me from then on as a new member of the Council. Emily was especially pleased with my admission. In the evening she called me to her; she had a surprise for me. I liked walking to her house. It was a beautiful forest path, at the edge many wild herbs and mushrooms grew. Her house was very rustic, the roof was covered with moss and the front, as well as the back part, served as a garden. Behind the house stood a large oak tree that was at least two hundred years old. The biggest ravens of the area always sat on the roof. With their very dark plumage they even let the night appear bright. The house itself had a room at ground level and an additional floor above it. Downstairs was the kitchen, the living room, a storeroom and the classroom with bookshelves. In the upper part she slept and washed herself and kept her treasures in another room. One room was empty, I didn't know what she was hiding in it, because it was always locked. The living room and the kitchen weren‘t separated from each other and thus formed the largest room. In the middle of these two rooms stood her witch's cauldron, under which a fire always blazed. I had spent many hours here in my childhood, had learned to be a witch and again and again I gladly came back to this place. Emily sat by her fireplace feeding her black cat, Salomon. Salomon liked me very much, especially when I scratched his belly. Emily had saved him from drowning. Some sadistic sow threw him in the river. Shortly before drowning, Emily had pulled him out of the water, she had become aware of his lamentations. When I learned of this, I made inquiries into the person who had committed this crime. It turned out to be a man as tall and wide as a buffalo who loved to torture animals in the area. He sneaked up to the farms of the local farmers at night and killed their cattle, often in a brutal way. The next morning the farmers then found their dead animals, sometimes the murderer let their dismembered carcasses dangle from the stable ceiling and when the countrywomen saw this, they fainted in rows. That's where I came in. It was to protect humans, not only from evil creatures, no, also from their equals. A few questions here and there and the answers quickly led me to the criminal. It would be a real pleasure for me to make him suffer. All night long I had chased him across the forest until his feet bled. His cries couldn‘t be heard by anyone, but a special spell made sure of that. When he thought he was safe and it was over, I let myself slide from a tree and scared the hell out of him. I showed him my sharp teeth and hissed at him wildly, my eyes had reached their full sharpness and glowed in a spooky blue. At dawn he had arrived at the clearing, only a few meters separated him from an inhabited hut. At the last moment I had grabbed him by the neck, hurled him back into the woods and finally bit his throat through. His blood tasted a little sour from the chase, but it still didn't stop me from sucking it dry to the last drop. Afterwards I set fire to his collapsed corpse and thus covered the possibly last traces. Sometimes I got carried away a bit, I knew that, but I was a vampire. You shouldn't fight your nature.

Back at Emily's house, she immediately pointed the place out to me next to her.

"Congratulations on your service to the Council the other day. That had been very brave of you.“

"You know, I just want to be fair for everyone. Claus‘ proposal just didn't seem right to me, so I fought back. I just hope the witches aren't too angry that I rebuked their supreme wizard.“

"I am not. And you don't have to worry about the others. But I asked you to come here tonight for a reason.“

"Yeah, you said you had some kind of surprise for me.“

"As a matter of fact. It's not a packaging, of course, but we'll have to go a long way south for that.“

"Aha, and how far about?"

"You'll see. It's already starting to dawn. I thought if we walked a bit and were out of danger, you'd transform and carry me to that place, I'd show it to you.“

"You want to ride on top of me?"

"Why not? Do you mind?"

I felt a bit queasy; I had never transported anyone on my back before, especially not at that speed. But Emily, as you know, was full of surprises. Immediately we set off and when night had fallen and we were outside the danger zone, I took on my wolf shape. Emily was very gentle with me. Like a queen who gently climbs into her carriage, she climbed on my back. Her long fir green robe would hopefully protect her from the wind that would blow around her at my speed. Then it started. Like lightning, I chased away. Emily held on tight to me and kept telling me where I was going. Our way led us along a big river and several empty huts. The target was on a mountain dome. It had to be eleven o'clock in the evening by now. What Emily was trying to find here was a mystery to me. On the mountain dome stood a stone arch and right next to it a kind of altar, also made of stone. A quiet premonition crept up on me, but I wanted to hear it from her mouth.

"Emily, say to me. Is that what I think it is?"

She grinned. "Yes, my dear, it's a portal to hell.“

I couldn't believe my ears. I had read about the portals of hell. There were only seven of them in the world. I couldn't believe that there was one standing here of all places. It was believed that if the seven seals of hell were broken, the armies of the underworld would come out of the seven portals and ring in the end of the world. So far, this hadn‘t been fulfilled. The only thing that was valid was that you could conjure up ghosts, haunted figures and even demons at these portals. Only the witches were capable of these rituals, fortunately. If knowledge were passed on to humanity, chaos and destruction would reign. Because the spirits that you called once, you couldn't get rid of so quickly. Rather, what was Emily's intention? What did she want to achieve? Were we just here to look at the portal or would we be experimenting?

"Emily, what exactly are you up to?"

"It's not me. It's you. You will summon a demon.“

"What? You're crazy, what's it good for?"

"It's a test, see it as the last. I've shown you how to do it, what kinds of demons and spirits there are, and now I want you to show me that you can control them.“

"Yes, but that was just theory, I've never faced a demon before.“

"Then it's time. It won't do you much good if you only know them from the books. You must have seen them and fought them. Imagine one day someone's terrorizing people, then what are you doing? Look the other way?"

Emily was right. I was now a witch, a very powerful one even. It was our job to ban these freaks or kill them. But I wasn't quite comfortable with the thought.

"What if I can't make it?"

"I have no doubt about you. You control the four elements in your sleep, you can defend yourself against those creatures.“

She put her book of incantations and spells into my hand with complete seriousness. I put it on the stone altar, opened the right page and started reading.

I conjure you.

Through the air, come here,

show me your face.

So that I may look into the demon's eyes.

I bit my hand, distributed my blood on the altar as an offering. A glow surrounded the portal, a tremendous power was already emanating from it. Winds streamed in, rearing up to a real storm. A demon of the element Air would soon rise from the portal, there was no turning back now. Emily stood behind me, ready to help me. The storm broke branches from the surrounding trees that blew wildly around our heads. Once again I began to speak the verses.

I conjure you.

Through the air, come here,

show me your true form.

Take my blood and come forth,

I may look upon in the demon's eyes.

The portal opened. It opened like a gate. I saw a hand terribly bent with ugly, sharp claws. His body was as white as chalk, his face terrifying. He walked upright, had the physique of a human being. Red glowing eyes sparkled in his head, the tongue was split like that of a snake. His head was crowned by horns bent backwards and, to make matters worse, he also had wings. What had I done? If I couldn't ban him again, we were lost. He roared loudly, stepped out of the portal, which immediately closed. His full height was a good two meters. The demon knew he was free now and he took the opportunity. He spread his mighty wings and wanted to flee.

"He's trying to escape, Larissa. Show him the kind of wood you are carved from.“

I immediately caught his heels. He flew fast, but not fast enough for me. Now I cursed that the vampires could no longer fly. How was I supposed to get to him? Use your power over the four elements, it shot through my head. I ordered a tree snare to tie his foot. It shot up from the ground and wrapped itself tightly around his ankle. Now I had him, he was stuck. Like wild he fluttered his wings, they produced a cold wind that blew in my face. But I didn't let up. I made a jerky movement towards the ground. The noose whipped back and tore the demon with it, which banged on the ground. A cloud of dust had formed, in between I could see the glow of his eyes. I had made him angry, he shot at me, grabbed me by the throat and squeezed. I got dizzy, my eyes got clouded. With my last strength I reached back and punched him in his ugly face. He screamed and let me go.

"You want to mess with me, come on over here.“

It wasn‘t my intention to kill him, I should banish him again. All I had to do was lure him back close enough to the portal. I ran, the demon followed me. His flapping of his wings was clearly listening. That's right, you dirty maggot, just follow me and you'll end up in hell again. Arriving at the altar, I got ready to cast the spell, but there was no trace of the demon to be seen far and wide. The sound of his wings beating was no longer listening, as if swallowed from the ground. Somewhere he hid and lurked, but where? He could be anywhere. Hopefully he hadn't seen through my plan and secretly and quietly flew of the coop. Demons aren‘t stupid and once they were free, they wanted to keep their freedom. A gust of wind blew through my neck, it came from behind. I turned around in a flash and there was. . . nothing. Where the hell was he? A violent kick hit me in the back and the pain crawled up my spine like fire. This sneaky pig had played hide and seek with me and now attacked me. The kick was hard, I could barely get up from the ground. He ran toward me slowly, a two-meter demon, ready to put an end to me. With my hands I pushed myself back, tried to gain some time. One last time I gathered my strength, commanded the earth to devour him. She shot up from the ground and entwined him from his feet upwards, in vain. He was too strong and freed himself again. He was now very close to me, so close that he raised his claw hand and reached out for the final strike. Then a ray of light came out of nowhere and pierced the demon. He screamed, crouched. Emily had sent the ray of light, she stood next to the portal, had opened it and now banished the demon. There was a ghostly silence; I feared the demon would free himself again. Not a single star shone in the sky, not a single sound was hearable. For some time I stood there spellbound and looked at the portal. But the demon remained gone, he had returned to where he belonged. Emily lit a log of wood and used it as a torch. Banning the demon seemed easy for her. Somehow I was ashamed I couldn't have done it without her.

"You did good, I've been watching you the whole time.“ She gave me her hand and helped me up off the floor.

"If you hadn't come, Emily, I'd be dead by now.“

"A creature of your kind isn‘t so easy to kill.“

"But I didn't manage to banish the demon either. I had no chance against him.“

"That's not true, you weren't properly prepared, I had pushed you into the cold water. All in all, you were very good, you lured him back so that I could banish him, that's all I wanted.“

After that night I was sure that I wouldn't go back to this dome so quickly. In Emily's house I made myself comfortable by the fireplace, she brought me tea. My wounds had healed again on the way here. Vampires and werewolves have accelerated self-healing powers for which I was all too grateful.

"I'm sorry I don't have blood in the house for you. If you feel like it, feel free to chase some rabbits behind my house.“

"I don't feel like it now, Emily“, I put the cup of tea aside and considered what had happened. Then I leaned slowly in front of her "Emily, I still don't quite understand why you forced me to summon a demon and then ban him again. I‘m well aware that there are terrible things out there, but first and foremost I’m a vampire, or am I not? The witches are responsible for the expulsion of spirits and demons.“

"You've had a rough time on this night out, haven't you? It'll be the first and last time you've been there, I promise. But I told you, a coin always has two sides. In witchcraft, there are not only positive events. The dark out there is very powerful and to destroy it you have to understand and see it, otherwise, your knowledge is of no use to you. Every witch and every witcher knows both the light and the dark side.“

"You too?"

"Yes, but long ago I left this path and devoted my attention more to the good. For only good can defeat evil.“

Her answer made sense to me, and now that I knew that she knew the dark magic and probably mastered it as well, doubts arose in me again.

"Emily, you said you know dark magic. How about your brother, how does he feel about that?"

Her lips squeezed together as if she was trying to hide the words behind them. She closed her eyes and inside she weighed whether it would be wise to answer me. "What I'm about to tell you must never leave this room. My brother, like all of us witches, is powerful at dark magic. All the others of my circle have renounced this form of magic, but he …“

" …he's still practicing. Probably in secret, so no one will catch him. I knew it, there was something about him that always made me feel like it. But why don't you end it? You're the leader, it's in your hands. Do something before he ruins everyone.“

"And how, my dear child? It's a pure suspicion I have. You said it yourself, Claus acts in secret, he‘s cunning. Unfortunately, I couldn't prove anything to him so far, otherwise, believe me, I‘d have provided him long ago. But please don't worry about it. You and your clan have nothing to fear while I'm here.“

How much longer? This question suddenly ran through my head. How long would the security Emily promised last? I didn't dare say it out loud. Keeping my thoughts to myself, I set off home at dawn. A shadow was on my back. A shadow I thought impossible to grasp. And that very shadow seemed to be watching me. But who did it come from?