Blood Moon

"Tu'lara Tu'lara

Heshpect ala roe

Bring back the dark one

The dark one we all know

Conveya Conveya

Itchst bel mundro

May he be awakened

And our lives his as we know."

***

Hey, so my name is Lana Rae.

Here I am at 16 years old, doing something I'd never thought I'd ever be doing... getting ready to summon a demon.

Let me make a few points right away. A week ago, I didn't even know demons existed, in fact I didn't know a lot of things existed. Demons, Angels, Witches, Wizards, Dark Magic, Light Magic, you name it!

I'm getting a bit excited, I'm just gonna start over.

Ahem.

Today was my 16th birthday, most of the day went as any other day, got up, my family fed me birthday pancakes with sprinkles and whip cream, my older by two years sister gave me crap about my age, and I went to school. There was no party yet, we were saving it for that weekend. After school the family sat around the dinner table, and we discussed grades and sports, and after, my sister and I went to my room to talk about all the drama and gossip we could muster in one sitting about her unruly click of friends.

Bedtime came and I cozied up under my thick down feathered comforter. I let my eyes fall to a soft gaze at the different colored paisley flowers on the wall till I drifted off to sleep, ready for the school day to come ahead.

"Pssst Lana, wake up..."

I felt a small finger poke in my side, my eyes squinting open. There was Sarah, my older sister, now gently shaking my shoulder.

"Wake up sis, we are taking a road trip. Get dressed and meet me in the car."

"It's late." I sleepily protested.

"Just get ready squid." she said, walking out of my bedroom and closing the door. She has called me that since I was 11, and ended up freaking out the day I stepped on one at the beach during family vacation in California.

She will never let me live that down.

We had been driving for several minutes and Sarah hadn't said a word. She was visibly nervous, so I started to become suspicious of what was going on.

"Sooooo.... wanna tell me what this is about?" I poked curiously.

"I'd rather wait till we are there. Just be patient, please."

So I threw on some Beatles and waited. It was a bit of a drive, but not even half way there I knew where we were headed, my families old cabin. It was a remote cabin, miles deep in the woods. We hadn't used it in years, or so I thought. Pulling up, I saw several cars, all of which I recognized.

"Lana!!" I heard as I stepped out of the car.

"Aunt Ruth, what are we doing here?" I asked, hoping she would be a little more giving of information than my sister.

"Come, come in child." She said, ushering me to the door. Walking inside I noticed all of my sisters friends, and a couple ladies standing by my Aunt I did not recognize. It struck me as odd, because right away all conversations stopped, and all eyes were on me. Talk about feeling awkward. I noticed literally everyone was dressed in all black, and no actual lights were on. The room was dimly lit by many candles scattered around, and the smell of burning incense filled the room. And crouched in the corner in the shadows, a pair of green glowing feline eyes fell upon me, watching me as I walked deeper into the room.

"Lana child" Said Aunt Ruth, gently rubbing my cheek. "I wish there was an easier way we could tell this to you..." Her sentence breaking off into dead air.

"Ok..."

"First lets start off with, we are all Witches."

That was my sister.

"Um, what?"

And, that was me.

She went on to explain how at the age of 16, all the women in the Rae family gain their witchy powers, but that the Rae family is also cursed. For one horrible night many years ago, Lana's mother and father fell victim to the trap of a Demon Named Mataius. This Demon was known for inflicting deadly illnesses upon his victims, then blackmailing them into a contract where he will heal the illness, in return for a soul at some point in the future. Sarah told her how her mother had become fatally ill with a sickness doctors could not identify, and how her father was visited one night at the hospital by the Demon.

"He looked just like the Doctor, except it wasn't him." She told me, starting to stroke the black cat who had now curled up on her lap. Mataius was very specific with his demand for the Rae's contract, he wanted their second born, on the first blood moon after her 16th birthday. She explained how my dad only agreed, because their mother had been in an accident and was told she would never even have kids, how he thought that was something they would never have to actually face. It was less than a year later when their mother became pregnant with Sarah. They spent the next year doing everything in their power to avoid another conception, minus the deed itself, but what were the odds right? She was on birth control, they used contraceptives, and Sarah was already a miracle baby, no way would it happen again. But alas, it did, and they were powerless to do anything about it, for they had signed in blood that if either tried to interfere, all three of their souls would be his for all eternity.

Aunt Ruth and Sarah continued about how they would have told her sooner, but Sarah had only literally just overheard her parents talking about it the night before her birthday, and how her and Aunt Ruth had been contemplating and researching a solution. They decided not to risk bringing their parents into it as to not unwittingly void the contract.

"Through a lot of research the past day on this Demon Mataius, I think I uncovered something to get you out of this." She stood up out of her chair and pointed. "YOU, are the key to this Lana, to all of it." Aunt Ruth said with enthusiasm and newly found glee. "I looked back through old family records and found a grimoire written by our ancester about a coming time where a second born Rae Witch would rise, who would be more powerful than any, that she would contain what was known as the Souls Gate."

"Souls Gate?" I asked, a looming feeling coming on.

"Yes." Sarah pitched in, "The Souls Gate is an ancient power strong enough to pull souls back from other realms, but it is forbidden because you have the ability to absorb their energy into yours." Her look turned to one of concern. "The Souls Gate has been known to influence all of its previous carriers into becoming dark Wizards and Witches, harnessing and consuming the souls of those passed beyond the gate... They have all lost themselves, their minds, then eventually their lives."

"But that's the least of our problems." Aunt Ruth interjected.

"Great..." I winced.

"There is a foretelling of a Demon who has been trying to get his hands on the Souls Gate for centuries now. But the universe has made its laws that it cannot be taken, it must be given freely. I believe Mataius is that Demon, and that you are the Souls Gate keeper. He is coming for you this blood moon."

I hesitated to ask. "Which is when, exactly...?"

"Three moons time." Aunt Ruth reluctantly whispered. "I discovered through more of her writings that at dusk when the last streak of light leaves the sky, on the day of the blood moon, the blood moon will open the Souls Gate. And at that time I believe is when the contract will be complete, and he can take control of your soul... and then therefore every passed soul after..."

"But we found out you're also his weakness, until you are fully in his control, you have the power to destroy him." Sarah added. "We just aren't clear on how. All we know is we have to summon him before the blood moon, and figure out a way to stop him, one way or another."

"So we have two days to figure it out." I said, stating the obvious.

Just then Sarah fell to her knees and started coughing up blood. Everyone rushed around her, asking what was wrong. A huge panic arose. I looked at my Aunt who then shot a sharp glare my way saying, "He knows!"

Before I had a chance to process what she meant, I felt a cold chill run deep into my core. "Of course I fucking know." This voice was menacing and sinister mixed with a weird distortion all in one. I felt him, standing there behind me, I felt his ice cold breath hit the back of my neck, my hairs standing on end. I turn to face him, but he is no where to be seen. I hear Sarah gasp deeper for air and turn to her. There, hand around Sarah's neck, stood Mataius, staring me straight in the eyes and grinning ever so slightly.

"The one and only, Lana Rae, Ladies and Gentlemen..." Only now his voice more gentle, but still distorted. And I could see he looked like nothing more than a clean cut man in a nice, deep blue suit.

"Let her go." I demanded.

"Happy to do so my prize, right after the blood moon is complete, and contract fulfilled." Right then releasing Sarah's neck as she plummeted to the floor. Her face was purple and she was no longer breathing visibly. "I will keep her alive, enough, until you decide and summon me to return. You have no later than mid-day of the blood moon, I'd hurry though, your sister is only human." And like that he was gone. We rushed Sarah to the hospital where they were able to get her stable, but she remained unconscious. A couple of Sarah's friends stayed to watch over her, while Lana and Ruth went searching for a way out of this. They spent over a day combing through their long ago Grandmas books of all sorts, searching for some kind of answer. They Searched until they could no longer hold their eyes open, and as the night of the blood moon came, and it seemed all hope was lost, Lana had decided to rest her head on the desk for just a moment. That moment happened to be when the day of the blood moon was filling the sky.

And the Souls Gate attatched itself to her, infusing the two as one, the power and wisdom of the gate now hers to weild.

And the energy of the Souls Gate spoke to her in a dream.

Eyes shooting open and letting out a bizzare type of yipe, she shot to her feet. "She's only human." She knew what to do. She woke her Aunt and instructed her to call the rest of the coven over immediately, not giving any further detail to avoid the risk, because Mataius might still be watching. Within the hour the entire coven had arrived, and well, that brings us to where I'm about to summon a Demon.

With no time to spare, I instructed them to summon Mataius and told them it was time to end this. The witches circled around me, I sat in the middle, focusing my mind back to the details of the dream. Flashes of a little boy smiling and playing with an small ball, then to a young man with his family, a wife and child. Flashing to feelings of pain and despair. This man was the key. I stilled my breathing as my coven started chanting the incantaion around me. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began to chant with them.

"Tu'lara Tu'lara, Heshspect al-"

I felt the chill hit the room with unease. "Ready to make the deal?" His voice now a eerie distortion.

"Not exactly."

Flashing images. Little boy playing with ball. Young man. Wife and son. Sorrow and pain.

"I had a dream." I stated as I stood to my feet. "The Souls Gate and I are now one, so I don't need to wait till dusk to open it. And it's time for you to remember." And before he could respond, I grabbed his wrist.

At first everything was groggy and I didn't know what was happening. I just found myself standing in a big white space, white open space as far as you could see. Then I turned and saw him and I remembered. There, was the little boy in my dream standing a couple feet from me, looking up at me.

"Who are you?" He said inquisitively.

"Hello Mataius, I'm Lana." I said, smiling gently.

"Where am I?" He questioned, looking around at the empty space.

"I'm not sure where we are to be honest. But what I do know is I just pulled your soul from Hell." I stated as smoothly as was possible. His eyebrows furrowed, and within a blink the boy was no longer in front of me, but now the young man. "I don't understand." He said while rubbing his forehead.

"I didn't at first either, but then I was shown. Once, long ago, you used to be a human. You grew from a young boy, to a man with a family and child of his own. But tragedy struck when one night while you were laboring hard at work, a crazed man broke into your home, and violently murdered your wife and child. You took it upon yourself to kill the man with your bare hands, then took your own life. After being sent to hell, well once your down there for so long, you become a demon of your own making. Now you have been praying on innocent families, similar to yours as an eternal punishment."

In that moment I could see it in his eyes that he remembered, all of it.

"What have I done?" He asked, starting to weep.

"You had no choice in your actions there, and over time you forgot who you were. But here your soul is pure, as it was before it was tainted by evil. Here I can revive your soul on a new plane." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're pain, and the pain you have inflicted on others is over."

In that moment I took a breath, opened the gate and freed him, along with every soul he had tricked into a contract, sending them into a plane of eternal peace. In doing that though, I felt the most subtle pull of something dark and luring, suddenly seeking my audience, and then like that, it was gone.

I opened my eyes, there I was, back with my coven. All of them, eyes anxiously on me. Aunt Ruth broke the circle, rushed up, and wrapped her arms around me. "Child, you're alive!"

I explained to her everything that had just conspired, sometimes mashing all my words together from speaking so fast. I asked one of my sisters friends to call for an update on my sister, and I was beyond relieved when I was told she was awake and eating some lime Jello.

The next night I was escorting my sister home from the hospital with my mom, and as we were helping her into the house I flipped on the lights and heard a roar "SURPRISE!!!"

Jumping out of every hidden spot imaginable was the rest of my coven, family, and friends. All here to give me my birthday party.

"I thought we agreed no party." I whispered to Sarah.

She just shrugged, grinning coyly.

What to do now? I don't know, I guess figure out how to deal with the darkness that eventually comes along with this Souls Gate.

But that's for another story.






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About the Creator
Tressa Rose
Tressa Rose
On a serious self-discovering, soul-searching journey. Breaking myself out of a stagnant shell and reaching out for my dream of being a writer. Small steps but this is my start! Please help me by commenting your feedback, I'd be grateful!

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Adam
Adam
about a year ago
great work


1 reply

Reply
Kenny Penn
Kenny Penn
about a year ago
Enjoyed this tremendously. I really liked how you started by making us think stereotypical witch summons a demon, then ending with something warm and purifying instead. Great job and congrats on TS


1 reply

Reply
B
B
about a year ago
This was so cute and I love your take on it! Telling it like she's speaking to the reader. It's giving me Malcolm in the Middle vibes, how Malcolm talks directly to his viewers about his crazy family, but witchy edition.🤣 Am I showing my age?


3 replies

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Dana Crandell
Dana Crandell
about a year ago
Very well written and engrossing! Congratulations!


1 reply

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JI
jahangir iqbal
about a year ago
Here I am at 16 years old, doing something I'd never thought I'd ever be doing... getting ready to summon a demon.

Let me make a few points right away. A week ago, I didn't even know demons existed, in fact I didn't know a lot of things existed. Demons, Angels, Witches, Wizards, Dark Magic, Light Magic, you name it!

I am getting a bit excited, I'm just gonna start over.

Ahem.

Today was my 16th birthday, most of the day went as any other day, got up, my family fed me birthday pancakes with sprinkles and whip cream, my older by two years sister gave me crap about my age, and I went to school. There was no party yet, we were saving it for that weekend. After school the family sat around the dinner table, and we discussed grades and sports, and after, my sister and I went to my room to talk about all the drama and gossip we could muster in one sitting about her unruly click of friends.

Bedtime came and I cozied up under my thick down feathered comforter. I let my eyes fall to a soft gaze at the different colored paisley flowers on the wall till I drifted off to sleep, ready for the school day to come ahead.

"Pssst Lana, wake up..."

I felt a small finger poke in my side, my eyes squinting open. There was Sarah, my older sister, now gently shaking my shoulder.

"Wake up sis, we are taking a road trip. Get dressed and meet me in the car."

"It's late." I sleepily protested.

"Just get ready squid." she said, walking out of my bedroom and closing the door. She has called me that since I was 11, and ended up freaking out the day I stepped on one at the beach during family vacation in California.

She will never let me live that down.

We had been driving for several minutes and Sarah hadn't said a word. She was visibly nervous, so I started to become suspicious of what was going on.

"Sooooo.... wanna tell me what this is about?" I poked curiously.

"I'd rather wait till we are there. Just be patient, please."

So I threw on some Beatles and waited. It was a bit of a drive, but not even half way there I knew where we were headed, my families old cabin. It was a remote cabin, miles deep in the woods. We hadn't used it in years, or so I thought. Pulling up, I saw several cars, all of which I recognized.

"Lana!!" I heard as I stepped out of the car.

"Aunt Ruth, what are we doing here?" I asked, hoping she would be a little more giving of information than my sister.

"Come, come in child." She said, ushering me to the door. Walking inside I noticed all of my sisters friends, and a couple ladies standing by my Aunt I did not recognize. It struck me as odd, because right away all conversations stopped, and all eyes were on me. Talk about feeling awkward. I noticed literally everyone was dressed in all black, and no actual lights were on. The room was dimly lit by many candles scattered around, and the smell of burning incense filled the room. And crouched in the corner in the shadows, a pair of green glowing feline eyes fell upon me, watching me as I walked deeper into the room.

"Lana child" Said Aunt Ruth, gently rubbing my cheek. "I wish there was an easier way we could tell this to you..." Her sentence breaking off into dead air.

"Ok..."

"First lets start off with, we are all Witches."

That was my sister.

"Um, what?"

And, that was me.

She went on to explain how at the age of 16, all the women in the Rae family gain their witchy powers, but that the Rae family is also cursed. For one horrible night many years ago, Lana's mother and father fell victim to the trap of a Demon Named Mataius. This Demon was known for inflicting deadly illnesses upon his victims, then blackmailing them into a contract where he will heal the illness, in return for a soul at some point in the future. Sarah told her how her mother had become fatally ill with a sickness doctors could not identify, and how her father was visited one night at the hospital by the Demon.

"He looked just like the Doctor, except it wasn't him." She told me, starting to stroke the black cat who had now curled up on her lap. Mataius was very specific with his demand for the Rae's contract, he wanted their second born, on the first blood moon after her 16th birthday. She explained how my dad only agreed, because their mother had been in an accident and was told she would never even have kids, how he thought that was something they would never have to actually face. It was less than a year later when their mother became pregnant with Sarah. They spent the next year doing everything in their power to avoid another conception, minus the deed itself, but what were the odds right? She was on birth control, they used contraceptives, and Sarah was already a miracle baby, no way would it happen again. But alas, it did, and they were powerless to do anything about it, for they had signed in blood that if either tried to interfere, all three of their souls would be his for all eternity.

Aunt Ruth and Sarah continued about how they would have told her sooner, but Sarah had only literally just overheard her parents talking about it the night before her birthday, and how her and Aunt Ruth had been contemplating and researching a solution. They decided not to risk bringing their parents into it as to not unwittingly void the contract.

"Through a lot of research the past day on this Demon Mataius, I think I uncovered something to get you out of this." She stood up out of her chair and pointed. "YOU, are the key to this Lana, to all of it." Aunt Ruth said with enthusiasm and newly found glee. "I looked back through old family records and found a grimoire written by our ancester about a coming time where a second born Rae Witch would rise, who would be more powerful than any, that she would contain what was known as the Souls Gate."

"Souls Gate?" I asked, a looming feeling coming on.

"Yes." Sarah pitched in, "The Souls Gate is an ancient power strong enough to pull souls back from other realms, but it is forbidden because you have the ability to absorb their energy into yours." Her look turned to one of concern. "The Souls Gate has been known to influence all of its previous carriers into becoming dark Wizards and Witches, harnessing and consuming the souls of those passed beyond the gate... They have all lost themselves, their minds, then eventually their lives."

"But that's the least of our problems." Aunt Ruth interjected.

"Great..." I winced.

"There is a foretelling of a Demon who has been trying to get his hands on the Souls Gate for centuries now. But the universe has made its laws that it cannot be taken, it must be given freely. I believe Mataius is that Demon, and that you are the Souls Gate keeper. He is coming for you this blood moon."

I hesitated to ask. "Which is when, exactly...?"

"Three moons time." Aunt Ruth reluctantly whispered. "I discovered through more of her writings that at dusk when the last streak of light leaves the sky, on the day of the blood moon, the blood moon will open the Souls Gate. And at that time I believe is when the contract will be complete, and he can take control of your soul... and then therefore every passed soul after..."

"But we found out you're also his weakness, until you are fully in his control, you have the power to destroy him." Sarah added. "We just aren't clear on how. All we know is we have to summon him before the blood moon, and figure out a way to stop him, one way or another."

"So we have two days to figure it out." I said, stating the obvious.

Just then Sarah fell to her knees and started coughing up blood. Everyone rushed around her, asking what was wrong. A huge panic arose. I looked at my Aunt who then shot a sharp glare my way saying, "He knows!"

Before I had a chance to process what she meant, I felt a cold chill run deep into my core. "Of course I fucking know." This voice was menacing and sinister mixed with a weird distortion all in one. I felt him, standing there behind me, I felt his ice cold breath hit the back of my neck, my hairs standing on end. I turn to face him, but he is no where to be seen. I hear Sarah gasp deeper for air and turn to her. There, hand around Sarah's neck, stood Mataius, staring me straight in the eyes and grinning ever so slightly.

"The one and only, Lana Rae, Ladies and Gentlemen..." Only now his voice more gentle, but still distorted. And I could see he looked like nothing more than a clean cut man in a nice, deep blue suit.

"Let her go." I demanded.

"Happy to do so my prize, right after the blood moon is complete, and contract fulfilled." Right then releasing Sarah's neck as she plummeted to the floor. Her face was purple and she was no longer breathing visibly. "I will keep her alive, enough, until you decide and summon me to return. You have no later than mid-day of the blood moon, I'd hurry though, your sister is only human." And like that he was gone. We rushed Sarah to the hospital where they were able to get her stable, but she remained unconscious. A couple of Sarah's friends stayed to watch over her, while Lana and Ruth went searching for a way out of this. They spent over a day combing through their long ago Grandmas books of all sorts, searching for some kind of answer. They Searched until they could no longer hold their eyes open, and as the night of the blood moon came, and it seemed all hope was lost, Lana had decided to rest her head on the desk for just a moment. That moment happened to be when the day of the blood moon was filling the sky.

And the Souls Gate attatched itself to her, infusing the two as one, the power and wisdom of the gate now hers to weild.

And the energy of the Souls Gate spoke to her in a dream.

Eyes shooting open and letting out a bizzare type of yipe, she shot to her feet. "She's only human." She knew what to do. She woke her Aunt and instructed her to call the rest of the coven over immediately, not giving any further detail to avoid the risk, because Mataius might still be watching. Within the hour the entire coven had arrived, and well, that brings us to where I'm about to summon a Demon.

With no time to spare, I instructed them to summon Mataius and told them it was time to end this. The witches circled around me, I sat in the middle, focusing my mind back to the details of the dream. Flashes of a little boy smiling and playing with an small ball, then to a young man with his family, a wife and child. Flashing to feelings of pain and despair. This man was the key. I stilled my breathing as my coven started chanting the incantaion around me. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began to chant with them.

"Tu'lara Tu'lara, Heshspect al-"
d moon."


I felt the chill hit the room with unease. "Ready to make the deal?" His voice now a eerie distortion.

"Not exactly."

Flashing images. Little boy playing with ball. Young man. Wife and son. Sorrow and pain.

"I had a dream." I stated as I stood to my feet. "The Souls Gate and I are now one, so I don't need to wait till dusk to open it. And it's time for you to remember." And before he could respond, I grabbed his wrist.

At first everything was groggy and I didn't know what was happening. I just found myself standing in a big white space, white open space as far as you could see. Then I turned and saw him and I remembered. There, was the little boy in my dream standing a couple feet from me, looking up at me.

"Who are you?" He said inquisitively.

"Hello Mataius, I'm Lana." I said, smiling gently.

"Where am I?" He questioned, looking around at the empty space.

"I'm not sure where we are to be honest. But what I do know is I just pulled your soul from Hell." I stated as smoothly as was possible. His eyebrows furrowed, and within a blink the boy was no longer in front of me, but now the young man. "I don't understand." He said while rubbing his forehead.

"I didn't at first either, but then I was shown. Once, long ago, you used to be a human. You grew from a young boy, to a man with a family and child of his own. But tragedy struck when one night while you were laboring hard at work, a crazed man broke into your home, and violently murdered your wife and child. You took it upon yourself to kill the man with your bare hands, then took your own life. After being sent to hell, well once your down there for so long, you become a demon of your own making. Now you have been praying on innocent families, similar to yours as an eternal punishment."

In that moment I could see it in his eyes that he remembered, all of it.

"What have I done?" He asked, starting to weep.

"You had no choice in your actions there, and over time you forgot who you were. But here your soul is pure, as it was before it was tainted by evil. Here I can revive your soul on a new plane." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're pain, and the pain you have inflicted on others is over."

In that moment I took a breath, opened the gate and freed him, along with every soul he had tricked into a contract, sending them into a plane of eternal peace. In doing that though, I felt the most subtle pull of something dark and luring, suddenly seeking my audience, and then like that, it was gone.

I opened my eyes, there I was, back with my coven. All of them, eyes anxiously on me. Aunt Ruth broke the circle, rushed up, and wrapped her arms around me. "Child, you're alive!"

I explained to her everything that had just conspired, sometimes mashing all my words together from speaking so fast. I asked one of my sisters friends to call for an update on my sister, and I was beyond relieved when I was told she was awake and eating some lime Jello.

The next night I was escorting my sister home from the hospital with my mom, and as we were helping her into the house I flipped on the lights and heard a roar "SURPRISE!!!"

Jumping out of every hidden spot imaginable was the rest of my coven, family, and friends. All here to give me my birthday party.

"I thought we agreed no party." I whispered to Sarah.

She just shrugged, grinning coyly.

What to do now? I don't know, I guess figure out how to deal with the darkness that eventually comes along with this Souls Gate.

But that's for another story.