Page 146 of Devil Inside

I summon them...

The fissure within the center of the living room hisses even louder. It has Jordan’s voice, this sibilance of it distorting the air all around. Vibrations are everywhere, in the air.

I call upon them...

The light intensifies. I am drawn toward the center of the room, even as it burns. The very proximity to its brilliance incinerates what’s left of me. It will scorch right through.

I bind them to me.

The fissure shifts. Cracks open further.

It turns. Moves.

What is it?

I see a silhouette. The light emits from a man. He’s on his knees.

Is he praying?

Summoning. We’ve been called forth by... by...

Oh, Jordan.

It’s him. Just look at how much he burns.

He’s so beautiful.

He kneels on the floor. Sitting within a circle of salt. As if that will save him. All these paltry parlor tricks, learned from books crudely written by men who never knew any better.

But this is different. Something has changed. There’s power here, even if his hands are unsteady. He doesn’t know how to control it, control himself, from the looks of it.

He’s burning. Blue butane flame.

There is light. He is opening himself up even further. Cracking his rib cage back.

Look how stunning he is. Look at the darkness within.

The living room is full of light. Blinding. The sheer intensity of it, the unbearable brilliance of his blackened soul. I’m burning under the beam. What is happening to him?

What is he doing to himself?

I summon them... I call upon them...I bind them to me.

Jordan cracks himself open even further. Look at how open his chest cavity is. Look at the blinding light. It seeps out from his rippling ribs, every exposed bone oscillating in this burning inferno that just won’t stop pouring forth from within him.

Such a volcanic soul. He has ripped open the gates of hell.

Look at it. It calls to us. All of us.

Others will come. There will be many, too many, all of them eager for a taste.

I won’t have him all to my—

Too late. They’re already here.

I’m not alone. Shadows writhe all around.

Not shadows.Tendrils.