This first chapter is dedicated to my friend Marie in honor of her sixteenth birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Chapter 1

Pain.

Around me, in me, through me. My world was pain.

Help me, please, somebody help me.

I awoke with a start, the dream still vivid in my head. I reached inside myself and drew out my power. When I grasped it, I sent a finger of flame to each of the candles in my room. I could have just gone and turned on the light, but there was something comforting in the lit candles that I used so much. Not even attempting to go back to sleep, I walked into the room adjoining mine. It was a huge clear space, with bookshelves surrounding most of the walls. On the floor was a large circle with intricate designs and patterns. The only decoration in the middle of the room was a pedestal with a black book on it.

The black book, my wondrous grimoire, was bound in black leather and had a steel clasp; it would open once you turned that. Yeah, yeah, seems stupid to leave my most treasured possession with such little protection, but don’t worry. The book was bound in spell and curse should anyone but my brother or I try to open it. Wondering why it’s my most treasured possession? Well, it has the notes for all my spells, incantations, and rituals. Priceless. Just priceless.

Oh, right, sorry. I forget to mention. My brother and I are certified and registered warlocks, magic-users dealing in the secrets of shadow, flame, and demonology. Not all of us are evil, soul-sucking bastards; some of us are honest hard-working people, with the exception of the whole communing with demons thing.

Checking to make sure that everything was in order, I closed the door and left my bedroom, it was time for a midnight snack – a girl’s gotta eat you know. Just as I turned around a corner, I was confronted with a tall, darkly handsome twenty-three year old man. And when I say dark, I mean it. His long hair, eyes, and clothes were midnight black. He had something of a tan, but only a little

“Hello Layra. Nightmare again?” My brother said to me.

I sighed “Yeah, it was the same one. I was alone, surrounded by darkness and fire. As the shadows and flames lashed at me, I just stood there, hoping someone would come to my rescue.” I shuddered.

“Lay, you need to find yourself a good guy, and then you won’t feel so alone.” He said to me in a concerned older brother way.

“Lucky you, Caleb, you already have one.” I was referring to his latest boyfriend, Michael.

He chuckled. “Yeah. Come on, let’s get some breakfast.”

“At 12:05 am?”

“Uh-huh. I’ll make you some bacon.” My brother can actually cook. Whenever I tried all I’d get were some indefinable burnt lumps. How’s that for appetizing?

As my brother took out the pan and some bacon, I poured us some orange juice and then sat down at the table. As I watched my older brother fraternize with the sublime slabs of pork fat, I thought of how similar we looked and yet how different we acted.

We have the same long, black hair and dark eyes. We’re also the same height: 5’8”. My skin’s a bit tanner and my ears are pierced, but if I cover those and wear baggy clothes I could pass off as my brother. In the way we acted, my brother is kind, polite, and never swears. The only time he’s different is when he’s teasing me or something gets him riled. And yes, I mean that in both ways. (If you don’t know what I’m saying pick up a dictionary every once in a while or just think) As for me, I have a bit of a problem with my superiors. On top of that I curse a lot, and I’m quick to anger.

My brother and I both use our “dark” powers to try to do good though, but he does it a bit differently. I’ll go into that a bit more later.

For a brief history on warlocks, we came into power during the middle ages, but had to hide for a few centuries afterwards. Recently, we had to come out (expose ourselves to the humans…..funny isn’t it?). This could probably be blamed on the twenty or so of us that had this “world domination” phase. Nowadays, we all have to be registered by the government and then secluded away from society; taught in special schools. Discrimination much? Although because our magic is innate, we could end up accidentally destroying a block or two without the proper instruction.

Both my brother and I worked at the largest school for our kind, The Cabal. For some reason the principal wants to keep up with sinister tradition. The Cabal also serves as a sort of agency that hunts down rogues: unregistered warlocks. An unregistered warlock is very dangerous; he or she can cause all kinds of harm and is nearly impossible to track down.

Employees of The Cabal have to receive basic combat training, be extremely skilled in magic, and be available anytime, anywhere. I work there as a teacher for regular classes. My brother teaches one of the advanced classes. Every now and then he gets a call to catch a rogue, I however was perfectly happy to just teach. I have never actually gotten an assignment.

“Here you go.” Caleb snapped me out of my musings as he laid down a huge plate of bacon, eggs, and toast before me, and then took up a chair on the opposite side of the table with his own plate. He tried to draw my train of thought back to getting a boyfriend. “You know, you could try going for an incubus.” He said with a smirk on his face.

I glared at him, bacon hanging half-way out of my mouth. Incubi are male demons that used seduction to steal the souls of beings. They were shape shifters, and tended to be a bit more sadistic than most demons. I swallowed my food and replied with my usual snide “Like you did?”

“You know, he was great in bed.” He said, trying to regain some face. He wore a reminiscent smile on his face.

“Yeah, but then the man-whore tried to steal your soul.” I smiled at him playfully.

He grimaced, shrugged, and then smiled back at me. We ate and then talked for hours until it was time to go to work. I grabbed my grimoire and my bag stuffed with soulgems. Soulgems are crystals that contain the souls of the dead, warlocks use them as a sort of fuel for a few powerful spells and curses. Okay, before you say anything, let me tell you many warlocks nowadays had their own ethics on how they get their souls, I personally take them from dying or sickly animals, or crazed demons. Soulgems were a bit tricky to deal with; they immediately dissolved if they weren’t in contact with a living thing or not placed in a special enchanted bag.

After checking the gems, I left our house and went to my car. I had to start earlier than him, lucky S.O.B, but at least when I arrived there would be hot coffee and doughnuts waiting for me. I parked my car and walked up to the huge old building. Its design was much like that of the stereotypical medieval cathedral, except much larger. It was made of stone, had huge archways, and to top it all off it had gargoyles every three feet or so. Not many knew that these gargoyles were actually demons bound into service to protect The Cabal. Some of them actually didn’t look half bad, but most were ass-ugly in appearance and nature.

I entered through the ridiculously big double-door archway into the main hall. I grabbed some coffee and three doughnuts and headed to my classroom. One interesting things about warlocks, we don’t really gain weight after puberty. Our magic actually drains us somewhat and so we have to eat a lot. As I sat there eating my second breakfast, I went over the lesson I had planned today. My students were going along quite well so I thought it was about time I taught them how to summon an imp. Imps were mischievous, but not beyond the control of a competent warlock, even if said warlock was a beginner.

Having finished that thought, I thought back to what my brother told me earlier. Deep down, I wanted to be in a relationship but, honestly speaking, my love life was horrible at best. I’m not going to go into detail, but let’s just say that the last guy I dated ended up in a psychiatric ward. It’s nothing, nothing at all.

“Alright bro, you win this one.” I said to the empty air. I pulled my laptop out of my desk and did a quick search for a pen pal through a site my brother had used. That’s where my brother found Michael, and if it worked for him, it shouldn’t completely fail me. I entered in the information it asked and it said to wait a few hours. “What the hell! Don’t you have it on file?!” Yeah, that’s me, shouting at inanimate objects.

One of my colleagues opened the door with a questioning look on his face. I smiled broadly at him, told him this one site was being a bitch, and he nearly fled. Laughing to myself, I shoved the laptop back into my desk as the bell rang. My students were in for it now; they had no excuse for being late. Of course they give the students here dorms and meals, all free, but us teachers? My brother and I had to get our own house nearby. I tell you, if it wasn’t for the great pay and some of the people here, I would have left long ago. My students filed in and were just about to take their seats.

“No need for that, get the desks out of the way, I’m sure you all are already prepared.” There were only a few scared faces compared to the overjoyed, eager ones. This was going to be their first summoning, I had shown them how before of course, but the farthest they had gone was helping to draw the circles. “Alright, imps do not need huge spaces, so everyone draw a circle about, three feet in diameter.” Luckily we were in a big room, so I was able to get five kids to go at a time. The rest of the class stood off to the side and observed.

The first group spread out and took out some chalk from their jeans pocket. Thank god we don’t have to keep up with the old “cloak and robe” tradition some schools have. The kids drew their own circles and spelled out sigils along the circumference of them. I noted with special interest that Matt, one of my better students, drew his circle and signs nearly perfectly. Alice, a timid and shy girl, was drawing hers with a shaky hand. Alice didn’t really seem suited for this life, the demons scared her, and she was afraid to use her powers for fear of harming someone or something. She tried her best though, she didn’t want her powers to be locked and bound. That is something no warlock should have to deal with. Knowing your powers are still there, but you can’t do anything. I really hoped Alice got one of the less frightening imps, but the process was determined by the sigils she used and the desire she put into them.

Matt, although he was a good student, delighted in the cruelty of demons. He wasn’t a bully, but he could be sadistic. He obviously wanted a strong imp, one that wasn’t cowardly like most and skilled in its magic. I had no doubt in his ability to control such an imp.

When the first five finished with their summoning circle they looked up at me. I nearly laughed out loud. Only Matt had remembered to draw a binding circle as well. I pointed out their mistake, a bit scared at what would have happened had they gone through without the binding circle. They corrected this, then sat down and began to chant the ritual, some with strong determined voices, and others with shaky ones. The circles began to glow with an eerie dark green light with flecks of red. Small, ugly, horned creatures appeared. They stood between two and three feet tall, had dark green skin, disproportionately long arms, and clawed hands and feet. Some had faces covered in warts and long hooked noses. Alice’s, to my relief, had a face that was nearly human.

The imps turned to those who summoned them, but before they could do anything, the circles and sigils rose in the air, wrapping themselves around the demons. The summoning circle and its sigils would ensure the demon could stay in this world until it was released. The binding circle, if you didn’t guess from the name, bound the demon into service. The marks changed color, now glowing a dark purple, as they infused themselves into the demons’ skin. They flared once before disappearing. They would appear again should the demon try to violate its contract, along with a shitload of pain.

The students stared incredulously at their new minions. I began to applaud them, as did the waiting students. They walked over to the side to get to know their demons better, and establish the rules of their contracts. By the time lunch came, all of my students had a new “friend”. In Alice’s case, this was actually literal. It was very rare that warlocks actually befriended demons. Myself? Ha! That’s funny. I don’t really have a fondness for demons, especially after meeting Ba’alzevuv, or Beelzebub as he’s called now. I’ll tell you that story later as well.

I went down and got some lunch before returning to my classroom. As I ate, I decided to check the pen pal service, just in case. I was surprised when they told me I had been paired with a man named Asrael, a twenty year old warlock. I was the exact same age, and I automatically started typing him a letter, my mind still in shock. He had already sent me a letter, and this was pretty much the exact man I had dreamed of. He was extremely hot, smart, and expressive. There were a few other qualities I would like, but I’ll find out if he has them after writing to him a few times.

I pressed send just as the students were filing in. “Now that you all have your first minion, let’s see how well you work with it.” I grinned evilly at them; this was going to be fun. They will have to learn the hard way that just because they bound their demons doesn’t mean they don’t have a semblance of free will. I told them to pair off for sparring, the smile still on my face. When everyone had a partner, I took them outside to a clear area where they would fight one group at a time. Matt and his partner, Alex, stepped up first. I had a feeling that Matt would win, having seen him cowing Huthrik earlier, showing him who’s boss. Huthrik’s the name of his imp if you couldn’t guess. I signaled for them to start and they were off. Alex and Matt had been rivals ever since they entered my class, so no doubt this would be a good fight.

“Huthrik, launch a fireball.” Matt was good, he even had the commanding tone down. His minion hurried to comply. Alex; not so well. He told his minion to counterattack but all he got was some backtalk about how the fireball was coming for him and he had best dodge now. Alex barely got out in time.

The rules to this were simple, all they had to do was get their new imps to obey them, no curses or anything else allowed, just their minion’s abilities. As I said earlier, imps had basically no skill in hand to hand combat, but they were mischievous and had some magical talents.

Matt grinned, seeing he had the advantage. “Huthrik, shift behind and attack.” Huthrik’s image blurred and disappeared, reappearing right behind Alex. If there was one thing going for that kid, it was that he could think quickly. The fact that he also trained in martial arts probably helped too. He grabbed his own imp and held it directly in Huthrik’s line of fire. Having no other choice, Kripnak shielded himself and his master. Kripnak glared at Alex, but at least now he had some respect for the budding warlock. This match could go either way.

And then Alex began to speak in demonic, the tongue of demons. “Kripnak, brakh me’shar tehlakhthaliz.” Kripnak, in a daze, followed his orders. He summoned shadows to bind his opponent’s feet. He then sent a few fireballs to each of them. I narrowed my eyes at Alex, few people nowadays could speak demonic, and I wondered where he had learned it. It certainly gave him another advantage in this fight, only the two imps and I could understand him.

Matt seemed a bit shocked too, but he was able to get his imp to shield him and itself in time. Huthrik, shifted back to his master, and then shifted the two of them out of the cloying shadows. This was exactly what I wanted; now Matt and Huthrik were working together perfectly. I have to admit, I’m impressed that he could reach that level of teamwork in such a short time.

“Alright, that’s enough.” I stepped between the four combatants, signifying the end of the battle. “It’s time for the next team. Matt wins this one.”

Alex seemed a bit ticked at this, but he walked off the field as the next two approached. Smart kid. Next up was Alice and her minion Ikthrak, against Julie and Kufrik. Just as they were about to start, one of the other teachers ran out onto the field, calling my name.

“Layra! Layra! The principal wants to see you!” I snarled mentally, but kept my face composed as I told him to finish up the lesson with my class. I ran up to the building, jumping through the shadows of the trees to get there faster. Of course, the principal had to keep his office up on the very top floor, so I ran up four flights of steps, went to the middle of the top floor to run up another set of stairs into the dome. And no, these couldn’t be straight, ordinary stairs. They had to be circular. I stopped outside the door to his office to pant. The door itself was a masterwork, I noticed as I tried to catch my breath; a complex lock, bronze handle and hinges, and strange sigils carved into its mahogany surface.

When I regained my breath, I knocked on the door and didn’t even wait for a reply as I let myself in. The room was the huge dome crowning the school. However, it didn’t exude the feeling of claustrophobia as the ceiling of the dome rose forty feet up. At the far end of the room was a large desk, behind which sat a tall man in his early thirties. He wore black leather-like cloth that covered everything except his feet, hands, and head. His leather shoes, in the exact same color, were padded so that he could be silent on nearly any surface. He also wore a heavy cloak that was even darker than the rest of his clothing, if that was even possible. He had that evil villain goatee, twisted and black, but otherwise he looked like a rich spoiled brat. He had a condescending gaze in his brown eyes, and his nails were even manicured.

Darek Thelson, Leader/Principal of The Cabal, looked up as I walked in. Before he could say anything, I lashed my tongue at him. “What the hell is this about Darek?” Told you I had a problem with my superiors. He was unfazed; he even had the nerve to smile a little bit.

“We have an assignment for you. A particularly dangerous group of rogue warlocks have been running rampant.” This immediately silenced anything I had to say. “You are to find out who they are, and bring them back here.”

I somehow regained my voice. “If they’re so dangerous, why not send my brother after them?”

He looked a bit sad. “I did, he’s in the hospital right now.”

For a moment I just stood there in silence until I exploded with, “What!!! Why the hell wasn’t I told this sooner?!?!?!?!”

“He only just came back. Now this is important, so shut up and listen. Your brother is going to be fine, he’s just incapacitated. Michael is with him. The task now passes onto you. As of this morning, there has been a gang of rogues running through the streets, destroying everything in their path.”

“How am I supposed to do it if my brother couldn’t?” I can’t believe he didn’t note the one tiny detail that my brother was…oh I don’t know…stronger than me?

He regained his smile. “I’m not going to send you in alone. I’m lending you the use of my demon.” My eyes widened in shock.

Darek had always kept his demon a secret; he told all of us that it was a rare but powerful breed. This mission had to be extremely important if he was lending it to me. My eyes glazed over as my mind was racing with ideas of possibilities of its appearance. Darek snapped his fingers to bring me back the present.

“You will tell no one about this mission or my demon, understood?” My curiosity won over my impulse to tell him to go fuck himself. I nodded my answer, and the smile I got in return was more than a little unsettling. “Alright then, he needs a circle twenty feet in diameter, and all of the markings are very complicated. You can use my grimoire for this.”

Okay, now I was sort of freaked. There are barely any reasons that a warlock will ever lend his grimoire to someone else. We tended to be very selfish and secretive, Darek even more so. I took the book he offered me and stared down at it. Wisps of shadow rose from it, and the clasp looked as if it might reach out and bite me. It was said that a warlock’s grimoire reflected the person, if so I want as little contact with this man as possible; his book scared the shit out of me. I can’t even begin to describe how it felt to just hold it. This is one book I never want to see again.

Using my bull-headed determination, I unlocked the clasp and flipped through pages with unseen words until I came upon one I could read. I took out my grimoire, which I never let out of my protection, and copied the pages I could read. I readied myself for the summoning and took out my chalk. Drawing a wide circle, I inscribed various sigils and marks along its circumference, and then repeated that using a wider circle and different marks. Having finished drawing both circles, I took out the last thing I would need, a soulgem. Having to use a soulgem meant that this was one hell of a demon. Hesitant, I threw the soulgem into the middle of a circle. Just like the notes said, it hung suspended in midair about five feet in above the floor. Still in my daze about the whole ordeal, I began the ritual.

My god, I thought as the chalk on the floor began to swirl up and form into something. This was definitely new to me. Darek watched as the circles and symbols formed the creature. It stood about six feet tall, and seemed to have a very lithe figure. It was human in shape, having an unassuming figure of a man. No horns or claws. When the dust finished forming the body, it changed color and substance, seeming to become the creature it outlined. Blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, and a beautiful face with closed eyes. It didn’t seem to be very strong, but I had learned to not take looks for granted.

Just as I finished that thought, its eyes flashed open. I tell you, nothing I had ever seen before was that stunningly beautiful. They seemed to shift color with the light in the room, but at the same time they drew you in, as if you could see all the beauty within yourself reflected right there. I had to remind myself it was still a demon. Without a word, the demon walked forward and drew me into a deep kiss.