OUROBOROS CONTRACT

I appeared in a dinghy room in the middle of a summoning circle and the first thing I did was take a deep breath of the fresh air that did not try to burn my lungs constantly. Gone was the putrid smell of Sulphur and burning and what was here was the smell of exhaust and pollution. The smell was like a breath of fresh air compared to hell.

"Demon, in the name Beelzebub I command you," a whiny voice brought me back from my euphoric moment. Looking down, I saw a curly haired teenage boy, as a pale as a sheet of paper squirming in his place while trying to look tough.

"Well, aren't you a tasty morsel," I growled, a grin forming as I bent down to his eye level. "That was pretty foolish of you to summon me to your world, very foolish indeed."

"I…I control you," the boy sputtered as he took two steps back.

"Yeah yeah, in the name of Beelzebub, I heard you. Only, it doesn't work like that, kid. See, the only name that can bind us is the name of the morning and while that maybe so, I am different," I said before letting go of the Ouroboros Contract in my hand. I had hacked the Ouroboros Contract, so to say, letting it believe it had been signed only to piggy back and get a ride out of hell. "You also need this to do the binding. So, as I said before, Brandon, that was foolish of you." Brandon gulped hard, fear finally consuming him. He turned to run only for me to freeze his time.

"Well, thank you for giving me the chance to walk on Earth once again," I said as I stepped out of the circle, my demonic form reverting to a more human one. "That's why I'm going to spare you the agony."

With now two hands for me to use, I plunged my left hand into his neck, almost salivating as I got hold of his spiritual self, his soul. Demons were extremely hungry for souls and even I, while I do not hunger for it, I am simply compelled to collect them any chance I got and this was a free soul right here. I yanked it out, a blue glowing ball that fit perfectly in my hand and the human shell just fell to the ground. The soul is the consciousness of a being while the brain is like the motherboard. Without a soul, the brain cannot function but the body will continue doing its involuntary actions like breathing. Basically, he just became braindead!

Now, while I could just eat the soul right here and now, I felt appalled to doing so, like it was wrong; something any other demon would never feel. I was glad my obsession with souls only reached that far so I stuffed it into another dimension then walked to the window and looked at the city outside. I couldn't help but smile, this was a chance to be my own kind of demon. I teleported out of the room and onto the roof of a sky scrapper where I sat the edge and looked at the city below me.

I almost envied the humans, living their lives so mundane, not a care of beings that preyed on them, leading them astray, celebrating at their downfall for it will give them pleasure. To live such a life, so carefree, it was almost envious! Looking back at my life, what I was afraid the most was when I didn't have rent and rent day was fast approaching, or I had not finished my allocated job and the manager was coming to tear me a new one. I missed those days.

But there was no use to cry over spilt milk. I was now on Earth and it was time to continue living. My cosmic sense gave me the good news that Lucifer Morningstar was not present in this reality so that gave me some courage to pursue some of the plans I had.

 .................

John Constantine, expert demonologist and exorcist, world class scam artist and a renowned magician, those were among the few titles he had been given over the course of his life. He had struggled earlier on in his career; done some pretty scary mistakes and he has had to live with them. They gnaw at his consciousness, trying and slowly succeeding in making him become insane. He was going to check himself into a mental institute when he received a call from a friend of his.

The case itself was strange though it didn't look like it. So, he hoped into a plane to New Orleans and came the house the incident occurred. His eyes widened in shock seeing the number of priests present along with freelance exorcists and magicians. He was especially glad when he saw another friend of his Giovann Zatara and beside him was his protégé and daughter, Zatanna Zatara.

"Keep the change, mate," he told the cab driver, giving him a hundred bill and walked towards Giovanni Zatara. "Fancy seeing you here, Zatanna, it must mean this is a nasty one." Giovanna and his daughter turned to him and the older man frowned in displeasure.

"Oh, c'mon, you're still not mad about Phenix are you?" Constantine tried to use his foreign accent's charms but Giovanni's frown never left his face.

"If they are brining the riffraff then this is huge," Zatanna interjected before her father exploded.

"I know, right, some people have no business being here," John shamelessly said as he turned to look at some dark magicians who were glaring back at him. Zatanna almost chuckled at this but caught herself before it was too late. She, unlike her father, did not have any animosity with him, but rather found him quite charming and outgoing.

"So, what' the story here?" he asked, seriously. Zatanna wanted to answer but the door to the house was opened and John's shock was immense when he saw the Archbishop of the Vatican, the pope himself, walk out of the house. In his hand was a blood red demon Ouroboros Contract and his face was pale.

"Your attention please," he said out loud, his Italian accent coming out. "Two days ago, the family of this house had called for an exorcism. They had found their seventeen-year-old boy on the ground, non-respondent to their calling. They found a demon summoning circle in the room and claimed the room felt like an evil presence was lurking, reading to pounce on them any moment. A priest came for the exorcism but it was too late. The boy's soul had been taken, all that was left was his shell of a body. But that is not the reason you are all here today," the Pope said before raising the hand with the Ouroboros Contract and letting everyone see it.

"This is a Demonic Ouroboros Contract. What it does is that when a lost soul summons a demon, the demon to get this Ouroboros Contract must sign it and be bound to the summoner so that it can be pulled out of Hell. This contract, however, has not been signed. In fact, we have found out that it has been tempered with. A demon has found a way to trick its way out of hell and is now here, in this realm without paying any price!" the Pope said and the silence that followed was deafening.

John felt his heart skip a beat because what was said was next to impossible. The Ouroboros Contract has been implemented since demons inhabited Hell, it was the only way a demon could successfully be granted passage out of Hell. But if a demon had found a way to successfully trick the laws implemented since the dawn of time, then the entire Earth was in danger of a demonic invasion. This demon might just be scout sent to see if this method works and might be planning on how to summon its horde.

"That is grave news," Giovanni spoke for the first time. "Now I see why they called every renowned practitioner here."

"Grave? This is an apocalypse bound to happen!" John almost shouted. He had seen the horrors demons were capable of and he would be lying if he said he was not slightly afraid.

"I'm sure most of you have come to a conclusion of why I have called you all here but I am still going to say it. If this is the worst-case scenario then the church is severely understaffed to deal with it. So, I implore you all to set aside your differences and see the bigger picture. This demon must be found with all haste and dealt with. That's why I have asked for a special someone for help," the Pope said and on cue, Dr. Fate floated down from the sky, landing gently beside the Pope.

"This demon is a huge threat to this realm thus I have made a proper prison to hold it. Should any of you manage to find it, you can invoke upon my name and I will be summoned and imprison it for all eternity. But this needs to happen fast before it sends the successfulness of its mission back to hell," Dr Fate explained in his usual monotone yet majestic voice.