Deceit of the Damned

Deceit of the Damned
The atmosphere of the tavern was the usual, Dwarves cheering and drinking mead as per usual, whilst
some humans joined in with the fun. Of course you also had the boring kind of humans, who sat back and
watched from the corners of the tavern, refusing to interact with others around them, which only made
them less approachable. “Come on laddy! Get tha’ drink down ya’!” shouted a Dwarf near the bar, who
was with two other male Dwarves and a weedy looking human male. Upon a table across the room sat a
woman with neck-length white hair and ocean blue eyes, a smirk on her lips as she watched the weedy
human struggle to down the ale that one of the Dwarves had handed him. How pathetic Jennifer thought
to herself as she had to hold back a scoff, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Today on her to-do list
was the usual...Sit in one of the many inn’s she knew of and just sit back and people watch, or victim
watch, whichever you’d want to call it. It had been a few days since Jenniffer had been able to make one
of her infamous deals with an unfortunate, desperate, being and she was hungry for more. Although the
weedy human seemed like a likely target, Jennifer wanted more of a challenge today. She felt the human
would give in a little too easily and she found that boring. Quickly growing tired of the scenes in front of
her, Jennifer let out a sigh as she swung her legs off of the table and skulked off to her room upstairs
within the inn. As she entered her room, the sound of the drunken chatter downstairs was quickly muffled
as she shut her room door. Throwing herself on her bed, Jennifer let out another sigh, but this time of
relief, being around people was such a drain sometimes, but at least now she could rest. Or so she
thought. Closing her eyes, she placed her forearm across her face, ready to fall to sleep only to be reacquainted
with a feeling she was never too pleased to feel as an overwhelming dizziness took over her
mind. “Ego te voco…” a voice spoke in her head, a female one... Interesting Jennifer thought, as she
listened to the summoning “ad hoc evocatis circulus” Jennifer wanted to let out a groan of annoyance,
she just wanted to rest, and now she was being made angry by being summoned, probably for something
stupid and not worth her time. Bracing herself, Jennifer kept her eyes closed, as the summoning always
made her feel a little woozy. After all, she was being pulled into another location through pure magic. It
wasn’t natural for a full being to be transported from one place to another, without the use of a portal at
least. “Cum promissione a pacisor!” There it was, the words Jennifer loved to hear. The mentioning of a
deal, her specialty. Feeling herself being pulled from one place to another, Jennifer did her best to not
grow ultimately angry at the summoner when she arrived at her final destination, knowing that could very
well disrupt a possible deal to be made, and she couldn’t have that. Suddenly a bright light flashed for
Jennifer through the darkness, and she knew she was at her destination. Finding herself on her hands and
knees on wooden floorboards, within some sort of summoning circles, candles littered around her whilst
strange markings were etched in the wood beneath her. Jennifer felt a sinister laugh rise to her throat, but
she stopped herself before it left her lips. A newbie she thought to herself I was summoned by a damn
newbie.
“Oh my...It actually worked!” Spoke a voice, the same voice Jennifer had heard in her head when being
summoned. As the voice sounded, Jennifer looked up, to come face to face with a woman who looked a
little bit too young to be channeling such energies, but of course, she wasn’t going to complain, this just
meant her deals may work easier on this poor naive woman in front of her “You...Don’t look like I

imagined you would though…” said the woman, frowning at Jennifer as she slowly got up from her
kneeling position. Curious at the woman's words, Jennifer also rose, eyebrow raised
“And what exactly did you expect me to look like?” she asked the woman
“Well, I expected something a little...less human looking.” Jennifer couldn’t help but smirk at the woman
in front of her as she tilted her head at the little human, eyebrow still raised
“You mean, like this?” Suddenly Jennifer’s true form came to light, as her olive skin soon seemed to melt
away to reveal an amethyst coloured skin, etched with white markings which looked more like scars than
tattoos. Her white, pixie-cut hair flowed out slightly, still short, but not as short this time, allowing her
horns to begin to protrude from the side of her skull, only to then curve around until the points were
inches away from her cheeks. And finally came a sharp whip of a tail, ending in a sharp deadly point,
with jagged ridges around said point. The woman in front of her stumbled back at the sight, both out of
shock and fear. Perfect Jennifer thought to herself Just how I like them. “Better?” she asked, but the
woman didn’t answer, she just stared wide eyed at Jennifer, mouth almost wide enough to be catching
flies. Jennifer stood there, watching the human for a moment, slowly growing impatient with the
annoying silence that came from the pathetic woman's mouth. Finally, however, the woman finally spoke
up, composing herself as she tried to show little fear towards Jennifer, but she couldn’t hide it from her,
Jennifer could almost taste it her fear was so strong
“What...Actually are you?” the woman asked
“It’s better if you don’t know.” is all Jennifer answered with. Taking a look around the room, she could
tell the woman was new to this sort of stuff. She had a few things littered around the room that showed
she was into some form of witchcraft, but Jennifer couldn’t sense any sort of strong power coming from
the woman, so it was clear she was a newbie. “Now…” Jennifer spoke, looking back at the woman “I
heard you called me here for a deal.” a smirk spread across the demonically corrupt woman’s lips as she
continued “Lucky for you, it’s my specialty.”
“So I had heard.”
“Pardon?” Jennifer asked, raising an eyebrow “Where had you heard that?”
“I-...I’ve been doing a lot of research into things, maybe too many things, things that could get me into a
lot of trouble. But I wanted to find the right way to make sure what I wanted would definitely happen...I
could have done many spells to try and ensure it, however there’s a huge chance they’d end up killing me
if I attempted such spells, so my only other option was...you.” Jennifer’s eyes narrowed as she watched
the human, her cold blue eyes almost flashing against the yellow light of the flickering candles, curiosity
getting the better of her.
“And how exactly did you find out about me? I don’t exactly have a…well known summoning ritual.”
The girl's eyes widened as she watched Jennifer, as if she had revealed something she shouldn’t, or maybe
it was because of the look on Jennifer’s face at that moment. She wasn’t an easy person to find and was

an even harder creature to summon, so Jennifer couldn’t help but have her curiosity pinched on how this
young woman had learnt, not just about Jennifer, but how to summon her also. Quickly, the woman
seemed to frantically move her hands around her on the floor, as if she was searching for something.
Suddenly the woman’s hand closed around something, before she held her hand out towards Jennifer, her
fist shaking slightly, before she opened her hand to reveal what was in her palm. Jennifer’s eyes narrowed
yet again at what she saw in the woman’s hands “How did you get these?” she asked, her voice laced with
venom, making it clear to the girl she wasn’t happy with her having such things in her possession.
“A man gave them to me…”
“A man? Don’t play me. Be more specific. What man?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t tell me his name, but he just somehow knew what I was searching for...He said
he’d been watching me for a while. We spoke, I told him my hopes, what I was wanting to achieve with
my research, and he said that he had a way to make my hopes come true...And he gave me these.” The
girl looked down at her palm, where three gold coins sat, but they weren’t regular coins. The seals on the
front of them proved that. A sight Jennifer was familiar with that was for sure. “He told me to use the
knowledge I had already obtained, along with these coins, to summon a creature that could help me in my
quest.”
“Quest?” Jennifer asked, looking from the coins to the girl
“Well...If you could call it that.” The woman frowned, before placing the coins on the floor in front of
both herself and Jennifer “As you can see, I have...ways with the magics, I come from a long family line
of mages and others alike. However, I am the weakest in my line so far, I get ridiculed not just by the
people I train with, but my family also. I wish to be more powerful, to prove them wrong about me and to
become the most powerful in my family to this date.” Jennifer raised an eyebrow at the woman as she
spoke, crossing her arms across her chest, before she let out a mocking snort
“Do you know how many people come to me asking for more power?” Jennifer sighed, shaking her head
“I mean, I can do it and I will do it-...” the girl's face lit up the moment Jennifer spoke those words, but
Jennifer placed a finger up in front of the girls face “For a price.”
“Anything.” the girl spoke without hesitation “I’ve wanted this for so long, please, I am begging you.”
“Hm…” Jennifer purred, smirking down at the girl “I do enjoy it when they beg.” eyeing the woman up
and down, Jennifer held out her hand towards the girl “Give me your hand.” slowly the girl extended her
arm, giving Jennifer her hand, before gasping as the demonically deformed woman gripped her wrist with
a harsh strength. “Do you pledge your soul to our deal? To me?”
“Yes.” the girl spoke without hesitation yet again. If Jennifer didn’t enjoy her little deals so much, she’d
feel guilty right now knowing what this poor girl was going to put herself through.
“Say it.” Jennifer growled out, her eyes glowing a slight amber

“I pledge my soul to the deal...and to you.”
“Perfect.” Jennifer spoke with a grin, before placing a palm over the young girl's wrist. She’d close her
eyes and began to chant something, for just a short moment, but as she did the woman in front of her
began to whimper and tried to wriggle free “Don’t. Move.” Jennifer growled yet again, before continuing
the chant. Finally, Jennifer let go of the girls wrist, and the female stumbled back, holding onto the part of
her wrist Jennifer had recently covered. The girl began to cry and scream, before removing her hand to
look at the spot. There on her wrist, her skin seemed to be burning a fel green, forming into a shape.
Jennifer just stood there and watched with a sinister grin upon her lips as she sadistically enjoyed
watching the woman squirm in pain and fear before her
“It burns!” The woman screamed, falling backwards into a bookshelf, as she frantically tried to rub her
wrist with her other hand, trying to stop the flames, but it didn’t, she couldn’t. “Make it stop!” She
screamed again, looking at Jennifer and before long, the burning finally stopped and the flames died
down. The woman stood there, breathing heavily, dripping with sweat and her chest moving quickly
“What did you do!?” She yelled suddenly, looking at Jennifer, who didn’t move and wasn’t phased by the
woman’s outburst.
“If you were to calm down for a second and look down at your arm, you will see what that was all about.”
just like an obedient little mutt, the young woman looked down at her wrist to find a familiar looking
symbol etched into her skin, the same symbol that was found on the coins that was used to summon
Jennifer
“What...what is this?”
“That symbol represents you being bound to me.” The woman’s eyes widened as she looked at Jennifer
then
“But what if my people see this? They’ll ask questions-...”
“Only you and I can see that symbol, so you need not worry...Now, what is your name? I cannot simply
go on about my business with you, without knowing your name.”
“Marissa.”
“Marissa…?” Jennifer rolled her hand, as if telling the woman to continue, a frown between her brows
“Marissa Wilkinson”
“First name is pretty nice, second name? Rather boring.” Jennifer shrugged, whilst Marissa’s nose
wrinkled like a Bunny Rabbit’s at Jennifer’s remark. Silence overtook the pair for a moment, whilst
Jennifer looked around the room once more, still standing where she had been first summoned, before her
head clicked back towards Marrissa “Now that that’s over and done with…” her eyes narrowed once

more “Do send me back.” Marrissa’s eyes widened at the request, making Jennifer’s left eyebrow raise
“What?”
“I-...What if I can’t do it? I’m not as strong yet, I need more training-...” Marrissa was cut off by
Jennifer’s mocking chuckle, before she shook her head
“Marrissa, darling, did you forget about the deal we just made? You have all the power you could dream
about right now.” Jennifer took a few steps forward, before bending down, so she was right in Marrissa’s
face, her voice but a whisper “Now send me back, little sorceress, or I will have to retract our deal.”
Those words seemed to put Marrissa into gear, as she sat back on the floor and onto her heels, closing her
eyes and beginning to chant in a different tongue. Jennifer slowly rose, before taking a few steps back to
her original position within the circle, watching Marrissa carefully, a smirk upon her lips as she knew
what was to come. Everything around Jennifer suddenly became distorted, as she closed her own
eyes...she hated the dizziness feeling summoning’s gave her. Suddenly she felt a floating sensation, whilst
everything around her was deathly silent, but she didn’t panic, this was normal. Before she knew it, her
feet were back upon a surface, a creak of the wooden floorboard confirming her arrival back into her
room. Slowly, she opened her eyes, her vision blurry for a second, before finally clearing up. A sight left
her lips, both from tiredness but also accomplishment. Walking over to the mirror that was in the room,
she looked at her reflection, a quiet snarl leaving her lips as she saw she had forgotten to place her
glamour back on. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back, before circling her neck, cracking a little as
she did so. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jennifer slowly started turning back to her other appearance, her
more…’human’ looking appearance. Her horns slowly recess, until they were no longer existent whilst
her white hair slowly began to morph back into its neat, pixie cut, along with the chestnut brown slowly
filling in from the roots outward to the tips of her hair. Her amethyst coloured skin soon began to pool
with olive spots across her face, before they began to bleed into one another, removing the amethyst
colour and leaving a tanned olive skin tone. Jennifer let out a slight jump as her tail also suddenly
disappeared, the jolt of it recessing back into her tailbone causing a little discomfort but nothing she
wasn’t used to. Finally, she leaned forward, towards the mirror and opened her eyes quick enough to see
the transformation of the unnatural sharp, pointed pupil turning back to a ‘normal’ shaped pupil, at least
the shape that humans had anyway. “Bed time.” Jennifer grumbled to herself, before dragging herself to
her bed, feet shuffling across the floor. For a powerful being like herself, you wouldn’t think a simple
summoning spell would take a bunch of energy out of her. Lying in bed, she placed an arm across her
eyes and lay there in silence, trying her best to fall to sleep. It didn’t take long for the darkness to crawl
upon her, before dragging her into a deep, comfortable sleep.
****
Two weeks had passed since Jennifer had made her little deal with Marrissa. In fact, Jennifer was
surprised she hadn’t seen Marrissa yet, usually the people who make deals with her attempt to summon
her again to ask questions, but this time Marrissa hadn’t. She wasn’t too bothered though, it meant less
dizziness in the long run. There was a pop up marketplace going on right now that had been advertised for
a week or so, and Jennifer thought it’d be nice to get out and see what there is to buy - there was always
something new and interesting popping up in these marketplaces after all. As Jennifer walked up and
down the stalls, eyeing everything laid out whilst merchants beckoned people over with offers, haggling

and such, suddenly an old, wrinkled hand grabbed hold of Jennifer's forearm, making her jump. She
looked down to find a hooded old woman gripping tightly onto her “You…” the old woman croaked out
“What did...you do to me?” Jennifer looked around to find a few faces looking at her, nervously she
removed the woman's hand from her forearm before frowning at her
“I think you have the wrong person, ma’am...Please don’t touch me.” Jennifer then continued to walk on,
looking over her shoulder for a second to see the old woman slowly disappearing between the crowd,
before she looked onwards yet again. Shaking her head, she let out a breath of relief, finally getting away
from the strange woman. Who walks up on people like that? Jennifer soon turned the corner of one of the
stalls, only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw the hooded, old woman standing by the nearest wall,
staring straight ahead at Jennifer. Looking around frantically, Jennifer tried to see anyone else was staring
at her like last time, thankfully...they were not. Jennifer quickly walked up to the woman, glaring down at
her as the woman stood there with a hunchback, her walking stick in one hand, whilst her other hand was
balled up in a shaking fist, as if she was holding something - the shaking being because of her old age.
“What do you want, old lady?” Jennifer asked in a harsh tone
“You did this to me.” She croaked out again, looking up at Jennifer, eyes narrowing “You tricked me.”
“I don’t know what you’re on about.” Jennifer spat. She had no idea who this is and the old lady saying
she tricked her didn’t narrow it down either, she’s tricked a lot of people in her past. There’s a long list to
go through if she wanted to find out who this was herself “Who are you?”
“You don’t remember?” the old lady asked, her voice laced with venom “It was only two weeks ago...you
must have a bad memory for the powerful creature you are…”
“What?” Jennifer asked, frowning
“Marrissa.” was the name the old lady croaked out next and Jennifer’s eyes widened, before she stood up
straight, crossing her arms across her chest
“So I see you overindulged in your new powers.” Jennifer spoke with a teasing tone, which didn’t seem to
please Marrissa one bit
“You tricked me!” she raised her voice, maybe a little too much, as she began to cough.
“Oh my, you really have aged quickly, haven’t you?” Jennifer smirked “Maybe you will have learnt your
lesson.”
“Lesson?!” Marrissa looked at Jennifer in disbelief “What lesson?!”
“Greed is the evil of the universe. You asked for power, you got it...But you clearly didn’t use it right.”
Jennifer motioned towards Marrissa “Otherwise you wouldn’t be in this state. Let me ask…” Jennifer
leaned forward, her voice at a whisper “...Did you decide to take revenge on the people who judged you
for being less powerful?”

“I-...”
“What about...taking their life in some way? Or causing something that lead to their death?” Marrissa’s
eyes widened at Jennifer’s words, which confirmed the answer to those questions for her. Slowly Jennifer
rose, arms back across her chest again “There you have it. I gave you the powers to use responsibly. Not
to ruin other people’s lives. Hatred is an ugly emotion.” Jennifer sneered down at Marrissa, before
speaking again “My deals affect everyone differently...Usually the ones who ask for more power, end up
abusing it in some way...and my magic punishes them. I have the power to give you what you want, but I
do not control what that power does to you if you do not use it for the intended use.”
“But you didn’t say that!”
“You didn’t ask. You wanted a quick fix, I gave it to you. After all…” Jennifer paused for a second “...I
told you there was a price and you said you’d give ‘Anything’.”
“But I didn’t think!” Marrissa croaked out again, coughing
“That’s the problem with you humans.” Jennifer spat “You don’t think. You always live in the ‘Do it
now, regret it later’ mind set. Tell me, Marrissa.” Marrisa looked up at Jennifer mentioning her name
“Was it worth it? All that power?” Marrissa fell silent, before her head dropped, silently answering
Jennifer’s question. Jennifer stood there for a moment, in silence with the woman, whilst the background
of the marketplace chatter continued behind them.
“Reverse it. Please…” Marrissa asked, desperation in her tone
“I can’t do that.”
“Please!”
“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. My deals don’t work that way. I’m sorry, but the deal was settled...and
you paid the price.” Marrissa looked up at Jennifer then, her eyes pooled with tears, but it didn’t seem to
phase Jennifer, after all...she’d seen this sort of thing many times when her deals didn’t go the way people
expected them to go. “Now...If you’d excuse me, I have business to take care of.” With that, Jennifer
turned on her heels and walked away from Marrissa, now a crooked, old woman, without even looking
behind her. Marrissa stared after Jennifer until she disappeared into the crowd of the marketplace. A sigh
left Marrissa’s lips, however it came out more of a wheeze than anything. Slowly, she began making her
way through the marketplace until she came across a young boy, no older than eighteen, sitting on the
floor at the corner of a stall, his clothes ripped and ragged. As she made her way over to him, she noticed
a small tattoo on his ankle, a tattoo she had seen before to symbolise a magic user. Wickedness fell over
Marrissa and she approached the boy
“Excuse me, young lad…” Marrissa spoke “...Are you okay?” The young boy looked up, before nodding
at her

“As okay as I can be, ma’am.”
“What are you doing?”
“Begging, ma’am. I ran out of the last loaf back at my hovel, so I need some coins to be able to feed
myself.” Marrissa hesitated for a second, before holding out her balled up fist towards the young boy
“Open your hand.” The boy did as Marrissa said, before she dropped a number of coins into the boy's
palm. However these weren’t the currency that could be used to purchase bread and fruit. The boy took a
moment, inspecting the coins, before frowning
“Ma’am, what are these? These aren’t like any coin I have seen before.”
“That’s because they’re not.” Marrissa started “They will sort all your problems out…” Marrissa then
reached into the beaten up bag that hung upon her shoulder, before taking out a piece of crumpled up
parchment paper “Here…” She held it out to the boy with a shaking hand, the boy taking it “I noticed
your tattoo...You are able to handle magic, yes?”
“Y-yes, ma’am. But I’m still learning.”
“Aren’t we all?” Marrissa said in a snarky tone, before continuing “Upon that paper are some
instructions...follow them carefully...and you’ll be able to sort yourself out in no time.”
“Ma’am” the boy spoke, looking at the paper “This looks like a summoning spell-...”
“Ah-ah-ah…” Marrissa cut the boy off, before placing a shaky hand to her lips “It is forbidden to speak
about it...You may get in trouble if someone knows you’re using it.” The boy shut up after hearing
Marrissa’s words, before nodding and placing the paper into his pocket “Remember to mention me when
the time comes.” was all Marrissa said, before turning around and hobbling away from the young boy.
The boy just sat there, watching Marrissa walk away, lips parted. He didn’t understand what just
happened, but curiosity was beginning to crawl into his head. Suddenly the boy stood up, attempting to
take off, before someone grabbed him
“Where do you think you’re going, Tommy?” asked a gruff voice, the man that had grabbed Tommy
stood at a tall six foot eight, towering over him
“I have to get home, I have something very important to do!” Tommy wriggled free from the man's grasp
without another word, before sprinting off away from the marketplace and towards a thicket close by,
where his hovel was located. Finally Tommy thought My life will change forever.

And so it did…
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