#also as always: inspired by asuka's midnight on the demon patrol

[thegoldenavenger]

Whoops demon summoner au. Just about 2k and just an intro. I could be convinced to add more but this is what it is for now.

Liu Qingge did not fidget, and just as well: Shen Yuan was fidgeting enough for both of them. The room was dimly lit with clusters of candles around a bloody circle painted on the floor. The basement was on the small side and the stench of blood clung in the stale air.

"Okay, okay." Shen Yuan mumbled under his breath as his fingers flipped through the pages of his book. "It's just the sacrifice now."

Liu Qingge gripped the pig carcass in his hand and made to symbolically sacrifice it when Shen Yuan stopped him.

"Wait! Let me! Recheck the sigils!"

"You've gone over them three times." More, really. Liu Qingge had been the one on lookout while Shen Yuan scribbled and took photos and notes in the library they were both definitely restricted from. Then, every day leading up to today Shen Yuan spent hours bent over his journal writing and rewriting, making sure each sigil and rune meant exactly what they wanted.

"Yes but..." Shen Yuan bit his lip. "It's different."

Liu Qingge rolled his eyes. "I trust you. It's fine." He would encourage Shen Yuan's self doubts if it meant he'd give up on the entire summoning idea but Shen Yuan was determined to see the ritual through. He just wanted to be the one doing the summoning.

Luckily, the demon Shen Yuan wanted to research was Fire natured, with a metal secondary. Neither Shen Yuan nor Liu Qingge had a fire nature, but Liu Qingge's was metal and that would fare much better than Shen Yuan's Wood nature.  It was an argument they had gone over multiple times.

"You don't even like demon summons!" Shen Yuan had argued.

"It's fine. I'm better suited." Liu Qingge would not say that he'd compromise many of his long held rules to make sure Shen Yuan didn't jump into the jaws of a Fire demon named Xin Mo. At least Liu Qingge's metal nature would be able withstand the heat. Liu Qingge trusted himself that much, and Shen Yuan's scrupulous research for the rest.

If only Shen Yuan had fixated on a different demon. Something with a less foreboding name at least. But Shen Yuan had reason to believe Xin Mo could be a key in landslide research in the demon realm landscape. Whatever he meant by that. Suffice to say Shen Yuan was determined. Thus, Liu Qingge was also determined.

He decided not to give Shen Yuan any more room to quibble over minor details and dug the crude looking ritual dagger he held into the pig's throat.  Then he tossed the pig into the center of the circle. The blood spilled out around the corpse. Liu Qingge didn't pause, launching into the archaic, stilted speech Shen Yuan had made him memorise.

Shen Yuan shut up mid sentence for fear of influencing the incantation, but Liu Qingge could see the outraged look from the corner of his eye.

The summoning circle flared as the candles dimmed, a dense smoke filling the center of the circle. Low hissing started, a deep buzz that resonated in Liu Qingge's chest.  He finished the incantation and the incorporeal demon's hazy form spread outwards. Testing the boundaries of the circle. Like ink in a bowl of water it's thin edges curled around the form of the circle, twisting in little fascinating fractals.

Liu Qingge met Shen Yuan's eyes.

Then he stepped into the first ring.

The demon didn't have features as concrete as eyes, but Liu Qingge felt the full weight of its focus shift upon him anyways. An ethereal voice like shale falling along a cliffside echoed in the basement.

"So this is the little mortal who wants to play?"

The smokey form of the demon gathered into a vaguely humanoid shape in front of Liu Qingge. They were separated by the thin circle of protection Shen Yuan had drawn. Liu Qingge stared at where he supposed the demon's eyes ought to be.

"Will you show yourself?" He asked.

"Why would I do that?" The question could be mocking, but it was delivered in a honeyed tone. If Liu Qingge had even an ounce less self preservation he could be persuaded into thinking the question was honest.  Before Liu Qingge could answer, however, Shen Yuan made a quiet noise and the demon's focus slid off Liu Qingge like water.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The demon laughed, or made a sound close enough to a laugh, as it's amorphous form drifted towards Shen Yuan. Eyes wide, Shen Yuan looked almost entranced, liable to drop his guard and be talked into something stupid like stepping into the circle. So Liu Qingge did it first.

He crossed the inner circle's barrier and used the ritual knife to cut a quick line across his palm. His blood welled immedietly with the cut, hot and red. The demon whirled, becoming dense enough it was hard to see through as it flew towards him.  Liu Qingge thought he could see the flash of fang or claw in the shadows and he steeled himself for a collision of wills.

A more practiced summoner might have a contracted demon, incorporeal but bound with, to help shield his mind from the full weight of a possession. Liu Qingge did not make contracts with demon summons, did not participate in summonings, refused to deal with demons more than using Cheng Luan to fight rogue incarnated targets.  That didn't mean he had no experience with this battle.

Liu Qingge held his hand out, his blood running bright against his skin. He leaned on his metal nature, like reinforcing a fence with steel supports. Sometimes he envisioned it like a coating of liquid silver over his skeleton lending him strength.  Calling on this, trusting in his own ability to withstand whatever heat this demon wanted to throw at him, he made his deal.

"My blood for your covenant."

"Qingge—" Shen Yuan's voice, panicked, was drowned out by the hissing of the demon.

"You want to play this game?" The demon's low voice asked. "Against me?"

"My blood," Liu Qingge repeated, "for your covenant."

The words were as ancient as the study of demons, and as such did hold a fair amount of power in their own right. Still, they weren't very precise. Shen Yuan, along with the ritual summoning he'd recited earlier, had meticulously written a bulletproof contract Liu Qingge had been meant to bind Xin Mo with. It was just so wordy though, and with more negotiation and words the less power there was to command. In order to just hold this demon's attention, Liu Qingge had to lean on the power of tradition and ritual.

The voice that had sounded bemused started to shade darker. "Imagine, a mortal, barely a breath's length of life when held to mine, a candle next to my flame, dares." The hazy apparition drew closer to Liu Qingge, the buzz of its power raising the fine hairs on his arm.

"My blood for your covenant." He squeezed his fist as he repeated these words, and the fresh pulse of blood seemed to incite the demon.

"You want my covenant then? My name?" It felt as though a shadowy limb reached out and gripped Liu Qingge's arm. Pressure closed down around him, but he tensed and withstood it, even as the blood dripped down his wrist.

"Give it to me." He answered, boldly.

He couldn't tell if the taste of blood at the back of his mouth was part of the name, but the fullbody heat wave was. His body flushed so hot with his blood that he felt it tingling in his extremities, the way he only ever felt when so furious that splitting his knuckles hour after hour at the gym could barely temper it.

It was, on the surface, exactly how one could imagine a demon named Xin Mo to feel. He leaned back into himself and his core to ground himself, letting the heat wash over him. Letting the rage course through. He had been angry before and he had learned how to breathe through it and let it go.  Except that what should be passing through him, what should be working with his metal nature to make him more flexible, was creeping into his joints. Locking them.

Even if he were to be overwhelmed by the demon's power and will, which he wouldn't be, he shouldn't feel paralyzed... he should feel liquefied, melted down. He inhaled sharply. Instead, he felt almost brittle. Like the fire wasn't heating him at all.

He thought, abruptly, of sinking his fingers into dough heated over the stove. As a child, eager to help, he had dug into the steaming ball ready to knead it. He'd been warned that it was hot but his small hands had frozen—the dough felt cold at its heart. Paradoxical, like when hypothermia made the body feel overheated.

It was like the earth cracked under him—a shift in perspective that had him reeling. His fingers were stiff, numb as static traveled up his arms in waves. With the new understanding he no longer could perceive the name as hot, or even warm, instead he was trapped in a blistering cold.

Dread crept up inside of him and he briefly thought that he should have let Shen Yuan and his wooden nature handle this. The cold only ever left him sharp and brittle. Shen Yuan managed to seem charming even in winter; red-nosed and endearing when he pulled off his gloves so he could use his phone better, leaving them for Liu Qingge to find and return.

The thought knocked him out of the freeze just enough. Like hell he'd have Shen Yuan put himself at risk just because of a little cold. As if fire was the only crucible metal went through, when quenching was just as important.

What had at first felt like heat and rage had revealed itself to be cold and fear. He could work with that. Being flexible and breathing through it was not the best defense any longer. You had to shut cold out, you had to overcome fear. He could do both, and with that, the demon's name fit perfectly in his mouth.

The approximation he could say out loud wasn't a true reflection of the demon's name, but it was good enough, close enough, that Liu Qingge could wind power into it. He repeated for a final time, "My blood for your covenant, Luo Binghe." With all the draw that he could summon upon the demon's true name.

There was the impression of surprised blinking, the demon pulled back just a hair. Then the apparition fell into itself, condensing into a wash of bubbling black shadow until finally it incarnated on the physical plane.

The demon incarnated was humanoid, with long inky hair. It was crouched, it's limbs were long, jointed weirdly like an animal or insect; something inhuman in their articulation. It's nails were sharp, a killer spur on each dewclaw wickedly curved in a scythe shape. It had a long thick tail and leathery bat wings that were mantled over its shoulders.

When it lifted its head its black eyes seemed confused.

"No one has ever actually understood my name before." It said. Incarnation had rendered its voice low and rich, with a subtle dual harmonization. It stood slowly, it's tail lashing as it found a balance on new limbs. It's eyes met Liu Qingge’s and stayed locked to him as it approached gaining a confidence in each step.

Liu Qingge still held his hand out in offering.

The demon reached out its own hand, curling its claws around Liu Qingge's wrist. It's thumb swiped at the rivulet of blood over his skin. This close, Liu Qingge could see that its eyes were actually a deep, dark red. Idly, he wondered if they would flash in the light like a wolf's.

It drew Liu Qingge's hand to its mouth, its lips black and parted to let fangs peak between them. Liu Qingge could almost hear Shen Yuan's voice but couldn't exactly make out any words. "I accept your sacrifice." The demon said and turned its head just enough that it's nose nuzzled against the thin skin of his hand. Then it's mouth fit over his cut, its wet tongue lapping over his blood.

Power rushed through him: a circuit closing.

They were bound.