Accidental Demon Summoning

Part 7

Daisy's phone rang for the seventh time. The sun was rising over the distant mountains, spreading the fields they were racing past with shadows and light.

Asmodeus had faded back to rust red, the dark markings on his face swirling down under his eyes. They shifted, tattoos creeping into curls and twists and flowers, tracing his cheekbones and blossoming over his bare chest. He drummed his fingers along the windowsill, swaying his head in the wind.

Daisy swiped along to answer the call. She'd ignored six, she couldn't put her mum off for much longer before she'd call the police.

"Hi, mum!" Daisy rolled her eyes at Asmodeus. He raised his non-existent eyebrow at her. "How are you?"

"Where are you!?"

Daisy hung up and texted instead. Don't call police. I'll be back soon. All safe.

Even Daisy knew that it was a bullshit message, no excuse for running away in the middle of the night with no explanation. The phone rang again.

Asmodeus reached over and grabbed it. Daisy slapped his side. Asmodeus tossed the phone over his shoulder, out of the car.

Daisy launched herself up, stomach catching on the seat belt. Asmodeus hummed, letting his hand dip through the breeze.

"What the fuck!? Turn around, it might still be intact!" It hadn't been intact since she'd sat on it at her twelfth birthday party, two hours after she'd gotten it but that was beside the point. The demon hummed another few bars. Daisy slapped him. "Are you listening to me?"

Asmodeus turned and put a hand on her shoulder. The other was still draped over the steering wheel. "I haven't listened to you since you told me that ketchup on macaroni cheese was a thing that some humans enjoy." He tilted his head and smiled. "There's still chocolate on your mouth, by the way."

"We've been driving for eight hours and now you mention that I'm covered in food?" At the mention of food, her stomach rumbled.

Asmodeus' smile widened. "Obviously." He clicked his fingers, a puff of eggy smoke washed away on the breeze. Daisy's phone rested in his palm, cracks sealed over. "Happy?"

Four more missed calls. Daisy tossed it into the back of the car and slumped in her seat. Her mum would miss her, it was a legal obligation for parents to want to find their kids, right? But would she call the police? Her mum hated the cops almost as much as she hated Daisy's dad.

Daisy propped her legs up on the dashboard and popped two sticks of gum into her mouth. The sun was rising in the distance, the top of its sphere edging over the mountains. The fields were stained with inky shadows, sheep glowing gold under the pink sky. Asmodeus drove through the near darkness, the car silent as they zipped along the silent roads. He hummed something under his breath, a David Bowie song that Daisy had been raised on.
"Where are we going?" She blew a gum bubble and snapped it between her teeth. Asmodeus stared straight ahead, the patterns on his face condensing into tight knots and swirling out again. His skin seemed to ripple. Daisy reached out and tapped his shoulder. "Az."

He glanced at her and bit his lip.

"Asmodeus." Daisy struggled upright. The cold wind caught her hair and lashed it into her face. She was very aware of how alone she was, if the demon she'd effectively trapped on earth decided to kill her and bury her body in a paddock she'd never be found. "Azzy, where are we going?"

The incubus shrugged his shoulders. "An old friend."

Daisy swallowed her gum in a coughing fit. "Who!?"

Asmodeus squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't know if he's still alive." He shook his head. "Please don't ask me."

"I command-" Daisy slammed her hand on her knee. Asmodeus turned to her. The markings on his face had stagnated.

"Please, Daisy. If he's not alive..." he bent his head back to the road. "I don't want to think about it."

Daisy stared at the demon.

"He summoned me. It was my first time being summoned, he'd found an old ritual for me and wanted to see if it actually worked. Below the earth, we have a strange timeline. I'll pop up one day in the sixteenth century for some dutchess, then I'll be in a back alley with a modern teen, then I'll be hundreds of years in the future with the Last Ones.

"The worse thing an incubus can do is get attached to their human. The person will waste away to a shell if they summon the same incubus too many times, or if the incubus comes of its own volition. But he was fascinating. Not huge and muscular, small and skinny and intelligent and kind.

"But I made him literally sick. If he'd summoned me once more, or if I had come to the Surface with the intention of seeing him, he would have crumbled to dust in my hands." Asmodeus stared straight ahead. Black markings collected around his eyes and slid down his face like tears. "The very best of humans, and I don't even know if he's alive in this timeline."

Daisy frowned. Asmodeus had left his best friend on earth, while he'd been trapped in hell. It wasn't fair. "How far?"

Asmodeus yanked the wheel, jerking the car to the left so fast that the back was flung backwards and they skidded several feet. He floored the accelerator, spinning the wheels, and they shot off the road up a dirt road. He smiled. "Not far at all."

A/N: I've finally figured out where this book is going and yall are going to go mad. Poor Azzy. HA HA HA HA HA
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