WHAT ABOUT A NAME?

I went to the abbess right after Valeria had escorted me back to my room. I had to explain myself.

"Forgive me, reverend mother. I do not know what had gotten into me. It must be all the stress."

"God alone knows what truly drives us," she replied. "Our job is to listen to Him, and learn."

"Yes, reverend mother."

"Exercise temperance, dear."

"Yes, reverend mother."

The abbess gave me a warm smile. Sister Evelyn. She was a mellow woman with a gentle elderly voice. Did I mention it already? Besides, her appearance with those big ol' glasses resembled an owl. A wise, harmless owl. She seemed omniscient. No wonder she wanted the archbishop's blessing. It's like she knew there was something evil roving around.

"May I ask if you heard from sister Rosalyn?"

"Why yes, I have."

"When will she be coming?"

"I believe Thursday. Saturday the latest."

"This coming week?"

"Yes."

"And the archbishop?"

"They will arrive together."

"To bless the monastery?"

"Yes, dear."

"That is good news," I remarked, my ceaseless fear vanishing momentarily. But I only had to think of the glowing eyes and my scalp prickled.

It was all my fault. I had made this mess. I was the one to fuck around with spells and herbs, stupid enough to conjure a spirit I had no knowledge of. And I had this gut feeling that no amount of archbishops and blessings would undo the damage I had done. I needed to fix this shit myself.

"Reverend mother, I may need your permission to go to town."

†††

I went alone. I told the abbess that the kitchen was running low on herbs and spices, something sisters Sarah, Nancy and Elizabeth needed to boost their immune system. I also suggested on getting gelatin powder for the elderly nuns to support their stiff joints. The past three days had taken a toll on the women, I told her, and it distressed me greatly; owl Evelyn had bought it.

In reality however, the wellbeing of the grandmas and the three coughing sickos hardly bothered me as I was focused on eliminating the wicked thing which was clearly threatening the wellbeing of the entire community, old and young included.

It was evident, I didn't know what spirit I was dealing with, and it was evident I had to try and gather as much information about it as I could in order to wipe it out. And since the abbess had granted me only two hours outside, I had to compile my fiend's portfolio as quickly as I could.

My first thought was to find a bookstore, but when I stumbled upon one, it was closed. The store's operating hours were shorter on Sundays. I was fifteen minutes too late. Disappointed, I had to think of a different resource as I walked farther down the street.

After several minutes I slowed down. Across the road stood two petite side-by-side establishments, a coffee shop and an internet café. I waited for the red light to turn on.

Inside of the internet café was quite empty, except for three persons: a middle aged man with a 🄺🄸🄻🄻🄴🅁-🄾🄽-🅃🄷🄴-🄻🄾🄾🅂🄴 newspaper, a skinny-bones lad with messy hair, and a teenage girl in huge headphones, ripped jeans, Metallica T-shirt and bubble gum popping every two seconds.

And then there was me. A nun. The bubblegum girl stared at me with a curiously arched kohl brow. I stared back, managed a thin smile, looked away.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…I gave myself a mental slap in the face.

"May I help you?" I heard someone drawl a question. It took me a minute to realize the voice was addressing me.

"Ah, yes, please." I inched closer to the nerd-looking guy with an undeveloped beard who hunched over the cashier desk. His name badge said "Noah". We seemed to be the same age, though I wasn't really sure. "Would you by chance have a spot available for one hour?"

The geek waved sluggishly towards fourteen vacant booths. "Sure, help yourself."

"Thank you," I replied and retired towards the very back of the room were no one could see me google paganistic definitions. Once I flopped on the chair, however, I had no idea where to start, or how to start…a computer, for instance.

Let's not forget, I never had a computer, or any gadget for that matter (besides Val's smuggled iPhone). Let's not forget — good christian girls don't use technology. They use books. One book. Bible. The universal Truth. And they usually ask God for help, not online research engines. I waved at Noah. "Excuse me?"

The guy turned his head as slowly as a sloth, shuffled to me even slower.

"What's up?"

"I—er—Would you be so kind to help me turn it on?" I felt ancient and the need to justify my technological illiteracy. "It's been a long time."

"Go-o-o-t it," stretched Noah tonelessly. With a placid expression he pressed a button at the bottom of the computer on and began to impatiently drum his fingers against the desk in anticipation for the screen to wake up. It didn't.

He looked over at the router. Pressed another button. Nothing. "Da' hell?" I heard him mutter. He tweaked something, waited some more. Nothing. "Come on, wake up, you old thing." I wondered if he perceived me the same way.

When nothing happened again, he pressed the button for longer and softly banged the top of the computer with his fist. It turned on. "Yep. Works every time." He smirked, more to himself, as he straightened himself upright. "Here ya' go. This one lags quite a bit. If you want faster speed, there is number seven over there."

I glanced at the booth labeled "➐" that was situated in the middle of the room. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘐'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, I thought.

"Thank you very much," I smiled my polite smile, "but I am fine with this one. I just need to look up one thing."

He shrugged. "A'ight ma'am. If you need any assistance, I'm at the front."

"Perfect, thank you."

The geek shuffled away. I breathed out.

𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

My fingers covered a big mouse with a roller at the top. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. The browser unfolded. Before me, Google search bar. My fingers went from the mouse to the keyboard. I was surprised at how loudly it sounded when I punched on the key. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘢𝘱. 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦! 𝘛𝘢𝘱! 𝘛𝘢𝘱-𝘵𝘢𝘱-𝘵𝘢𝘱-𝘵𝘢𝘱! 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦!!!

𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚛𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝?

A bunch of websites, Ad. suggestions and related searches popped up. I checked out several links, a few forums, Q&As from strangers with queer nicknames. Everything and everyone gave identical replies put in different words. Holy water. Prayer. Sage. A second seance to ask the spirit to leave. 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, I thought, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘣𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱'𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣. But for now it wasn't…it. I reworded my request.

𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚓𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝?

Nothing useful came up. In general, the links I visited only spoke of 'being careful' and then referred to 'top 10 steps you should take in case you're not careful' which were redirected back to holy water, sage, prayers, and a proper 'farewell'.

𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝

One of the Q&A forums had some interesting info.

𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑦/𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑜 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

𝐐: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥?

I was trying out a spell and it looks like it worked. I think I've summoned something. Not sure if its good or bad??

[𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝] 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

If it scares or harms you in any way, it's definitely evil.

𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧_𝐓𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Has it spoken to you? Did you talk back to it? Don't do it! It's bad luck.

↱𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑛_𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑡

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐲/𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨 2 years ago

I kinda asked if it was there? Does this count as talking to it? Never heard a reply but I constantly hear weird noises and it gives me nightmares. What do I do to get rid of it?

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐫𝐚 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Please follow the link to purchase my Healing Energy Kit which includes a limited edition evil eye bracelet,100% pure lavender oil, premium quality white sage bundle and a Russian shungite stone. http://www.chichakra.com

[𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝] 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Not much, buddy. Ur in deep shit.

At least now I had a rough idea of were I was – 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩. I scrolled down to stumble on another desperate cry of the same person.

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐲/𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Please, anyone, I need help ASAP. My cat is going nuts! I think it senses it. It scares me! Please what do I do? How do I get this thing out of my house?

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫_𝐛𝐲_𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Don't fuck with spirits lol

𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞_𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝟐𝟎 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Identify the entity first.

↱𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑙𝑒_𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟20

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐲/𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

How?!

↱𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑄𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑦/𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑜

𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞_𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝟐𝟎 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

What was your ritual about?

↱𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑙𝑒_𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟20

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐲/𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

I don't really remember. Something for prosperity to a hindu deity.

↱𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑄𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑦/𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑜

𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞_𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝟐𝟎 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜

Do you remember its name?

"A name!" I yelled excitedly.

The bubblegum girl who had goggled at me earlier goggled at me again. Without a back thought I closed down the page and went bad to the search bar.

𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵?

That was the only thing I could not remember. I thought hard. You may call me—what? My fists softly banged on my head. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦—𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦—I could only recall that it was something ancient. Something long. Something that started with an...A.

𝙰𝚜𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜

𝐈𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

𝙰𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚗

Nothing.

𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚒𝚜

Nothing. I tried several more names that I thought sounded familiar, manipulated them so and so. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

𝙷𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝙰𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚎𝚕

What came up was: Demons – the antipodes of angels.

𝙳𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚞𝚜

The page started lagging. I hopelessly watched the rainbow circle as it took its time to rotate. "God, come on. Work."

The page refreshed.

Did you mean: 𝘼𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙪𝙨

My jaw dropped. This was the name. With nervous excitement and shaky fingers I punched in, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘶𝘴? I clicked on the top link and was momentarily redirected to a Gothic-themed platform adorned by the dark pentagrammic artwork. A large bright image of a monster with a cock leg, a serpent tail and three heads – a man, a sheep and a bull, crowned the page. Underneath the picture: Ȧṡṁȯḋėu̇ṡ. I began to study the creature with accelerating heartbeat.

𖤐 One of the Seven Princes of Hell commanding 72-legions.

𖤐 Greatest Devil.

𖤐 Lord of the Nine Hells.

𖤐 King of Lust.

𖤐 The third face of Darkness.

𖤐 Patron of dissipation and terror.

𖤐 Guardian of the hidden treasures and custodian of secrets.

𖤐 Incites gambling and sexual desires.

𖤐 Able to grant the power of invisibility.

𖤐 Reputed for teaching geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and the mechanical arts.

𖤐 The Demon of Destruction.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭…

The article seemed endless, with plenty of literature about the demon. Besides the Bible — how did I miss him? — his name featured in the Book of Tobit (400 AD), where Asmodeus appears as an evil spirit, kills husbands of some Sarah chick, and is driven away by the Angel Raphael.

That is besides Talmud, the Malleus Maleficarum, the Dictionnaire Infernal, The Magus, the Kabbalah, the Quran, and the Vedas. Further down, a bit about its preferences. Loves sexual satisfaction, fullness, praise, recognition, clear intent, sacrificial energy. Hates unintended disturbance, sheatfish, water and birds as those remind him of God. Prefers a host communication.

𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭.

Finally, the step-by-step guide on how to connect with the demon. The ritual made me hysterical.

𝕃𝕚𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕦𝕥𝕖𝕤:

"Salt. Mint. 3 large candles. Red color of any form and shape to ignite passion. A wand. The sigil of Asmodeus. Headphones for binaural sounds to clear out mental chatter or otherwise quiet space. The summoning prayer. An article of sacral offering."

𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕡𝕤:

"Assemble a triangular altar using the aforementioned attributes. Light the candles. Meditate on your request, and then delineate the sigil of Asmodeus using the wand. Call upon the spirit with intention."

𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕚𝕟𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕣:

"The seance must be performed with a clear motive, and as with all spirits, Asmodeus must be addressed with high respect and gratitude. Failure to present sacral gratification, or the inability to construct the question for which the spirit is conjured may anger it and lead to serious consequences such as illness, immediate harm to an inquirer or his/her environment, self-possession, death."

I could not believe how precisely I fucked up.

"Genevieve, you are an astronomical idiot…" I muttered through utter shock. This was exactly my luck.

There was a soft rustle behind my back. I slowly turned around to find a boy of no more than thirteen years of age sitting on the opposite booth's chair with a half-eaten candy bar in his hand. He just gawked at me, mesmerized.

I could only imagine what it looked like to him, seeing a nun googling satanism in an internet cafe. Then I saw what really mesmerized him, the gothic screen behind me.

He got up from his spot and inched towards me, goggling at the gruesome artwork of the beast. Then he stared at me, and I at him. Then we both gaped at the screen.

"What the hell's that?" The boy asked with mounting interest in a thin boyish voice.

"𝘈𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘶𝘴," I enunciated. "And I need him back in hell."