Pact (4 of 6)

The girl was tied to a chair. The imp was still perched on her shoulder, one hand buried inside her head. Even more evidence that he was chasing a covern of amateurs - anyone who knew what they were doing would have put a clause in the imp's contract so if something happened to the girl, it could abandon her and warn its summoner.

Not that Dante was complaining - it made his job much easier. He could just make it out without the aid of the smoke, but only because he knew exactly where to look. If he had to try and restrain it, things would get very interesting.

"So this coven. How many are there?"

The imp snarled, and the girl spoke.

"Hundreds. Thousands. Countless numbers!"

Dante sighed. Tiny demons were always like this - so desperate to be powerful that they couldn't tell when they were trapped.

"Okay," he said with a sigh "I know exactly what you are, and I know quite a few ways to hurt you. I also know how to trap you in a box, which I would then happily cover in cement and drop to the bottom of the ocean. So, let's try again. How many are there?"

"Five of them. Four of them are children, playing with forbidden toys. But one, the leader, she has darkness in her. She knows what she's doing."

"Which one's the leader?"

"This one's sister. The girl you were asking about. She convinced the others to try and summon me. They had their petty desires they wanted fulfilled, but she wanted power."

"And you gave it to her?"

The girl laughed wickedly

"No, it was beyond me to give. But I showed them how to get it."

"Hang on, you said there were five girls in t he coven. Who are they?" Dante pulled the list of absent students and started reading names. The imp stopped him when he read Jennifer Green's name.

"Not her. She wasn't one them."

"But then, what's her connection..." Dante trailed off as the girl started to grin like a cat.

"She's their sacrifice isn't she? Of course. I wondered how her school bag got home. The symbol her father found - it was a lure. The coven must have planted it in her bag during the day, and then she found it when she got home. She wouldn't have been able to resist it's pull..." He suddenly caught himself thinking out loud. The girl looked like she belonged in a Japanese horror film, but the imp had faded from sight again. The aspirin was wearing off, and Dante was running out of time.

"What did you show them? How were they going to get their power?"

"I told them how to summon Adramelech."

"Adramelech. Oh fuck."