Chapter Text
The smoke from the incense rose to join the thick blue haze already hanging low in the basement. Antony watched as it curled and swayed on the faint draft. He’d often tried to find the source of the slight breeze but was never in luck.
No matter, he thought. After tonight he wouldn’t have to use the basement anymore, not once the demon was his to control. He looked over the circle outlined in black salt and edged with slashing, harsh-looking ruins he’d deciphered, the black and red candles that formed the points of the Chaos star on the outside of it, and lastly the sacrifice.
She was a pretty thing, he had to admit, even if she really didn’t have any curves to her. He knew her eyes were a deep hazel that complimented her chestnut hair and tanned skin. Tanned from hours working in the hot sun, evident in the smattering of freckles that covered her shoulders and arms and lightly across the bridge of her nose.
Plutt had promised she was a virgin. Antony had scoffed at that, but he’d bought her anyway. A virgin sacrifice for the demon he wished to have serve him. It was so cliché it might even work. He called out to his gathered followers to take their places; he was eager to start.
Slowly they started the chant. It built in volume and complexity, just as Antony had envisioned it. He stared intently at the circle, waiting to see any signs that the demon had arrived.
The chanting continued, a low droning sound that seemed to blend into the static buzzing that was filling his ears. Antony saw the shadows thicken. He grabbed his blade. He needed to give the blood sacrifice at just the right moment. Something moved... wrong inside the circle. That was the only way his mind would interpret it.
The shadows swirled and twisted. The darkness seemed to coalesce into a form.
A large form.
Antony stepped up, holding his empty hand out.
“Demon, we have called you here,” he announced to the shifting shadows churning in front of him. Part of him couldn’t believe it was working. The demon was really coming. It was going to work! Soon he’d have all he was meant to have, all that had been denied him during his life. Every petty slight and insult would be repaid threefold.
Antony smiled as he raised the knife, the edge reflecting the flickering candlelight. Quickly he slashed his palm, hissing at the sting of the cut. He squeezed his fist, letting his blood drip down onto the floor.
The shadows whirled faster, twisting and nearly thrashing against the circle. Hungry for blood, Antony thought, stepping closer.
“We have called you here to do our bidding, but not without reward,” Antony told the shadows. “We have a sacrifice, not just blood, but of flesh. She is yours, Demon, in return for doing my bidding.” He gestured to the bound girl on the floor off to the side of the circle.
He stepped closer as the shadows slowed their movement, like watching fabric floating in a whirlpool. Antony could see a glimpse of, he thought, pale skin - ghastly white compared to the inky blackness that moved around it.
Antony took the last step, bringing himself right up next to the edge of the chalk circle. The shadows-turned-cloth fell in folds about a solid figure, a very tall, hulking figure. Antony craned his neck up, trying to guess where the demon’s face would be, hidden as it was under a deep hood.
What is my name, mortal? If you dare to command me, then tell me my true name.
Antony heard the voice slicing through his mind. It hurt to hear the demon’s voice inside his head. A sharp spike right against his temples that made him flinch.
Well, impudent wretch, I'm waiting.
This time the voice cut into his head, stopping his thoughts, and blinding him with a white-hot flash of pain. It was so intense that he stumbled right over his oh-so-carefully drawn circle of holding.
Antony couldn't hear anything over the harsh laughter inside his head as his feet left the ground and his followers begin to panic, tripping over their robes and capes, with some even knocking over the candles in their frantic attempts to flee.
Ignorant fool, how dare you try to control me.
His head felt like something was squeezing it from the inside. Warmth trickled down his jaw as his vision swam with streaks of gray and white. The demon had him suspended in midair; he was dangling close enough to it that Antony could see its eyes glowing a startling shade of yellow in the absolute blackness of the hood.
Know this worm; you die first.
Antony screamed as he saw the demon reach for him, screaming out the name that he'd pieced together over many hours of reading and research.
“Kylo Ren, Heir of Darkness, I command thee!”
Oh, you really are a fool if you think that is my true name.
The demon laughed as he tore the leader in half by his shoulders, sending the two halves of the man flying in opposite directions, before he waded in to deal with the rest of the panicked and fleeing cultists.