They came upon a cleared space they'd gradually made during the weeks they'd been using the site. The rest of the boys were already there, dumping a 50-pound bag of store-brand salt into a crude circle.

Doc was studying a worn, leather-bound journal with a frown on his face. He had a smaller container of salt that he was using to draw symbols along the circle, just inside the boundaries.

Jax set his light on the floor facing the circle. Three other flashlights were set up the same way, lighting the area with uncomfortably angled beams.

Jax clapped his hands together, the sound cutting through the creepy surroundings. "Alright, boys and girls. Tonight, we take this shit to the next level. I'm talkin' epic destruction at our fingertips, great power... all that shit!"

Everyone grabbed their needed items and shuffled into place as he spoke. Viv took the spot at his right hand. Doc stood at his left, and the other boys spread out around the rest of the circle, standing just inside the salt line.

"Veni nobis elementis," Jax began. "Motus!"

Kenny held out a closed fist in front of himself, letting the graveyard dirt fall slowly onto the ground.

"Inferno!"

Johnny T held out a bowl of liquid and clicked on his butane lighter. He touched the flame to the liquid, and it whooshed into a nearly invisible blue fire. Before the alcohol burned down completely, Johnny T dumped the bowl, letting the flaming liquid fall to the ground and sputter out.

"Inundatio!"

Viv opened a plastic bottle filled with a dirty, yellowish fluid. She poured the flood water onto the ground.

"Turbinis vasti!"

Doc took a huge breath and blew it out as hard as he could.

Jax nodded. "Veni nobis Eris! Veni nobis Chaos! Veni ad nos, et obeditis, chao daemonium!"

Viv and the boys began chanting "Veni ad nos, et obeditis." Jax shouted out a series of gibberish syllabus meant to conceal the name he was summoning. Viv caught a few sounds that she thought could have been the demon's name, but she wasn't sure.

She felt a breeze shift the hairs on her head, and she saw Kenny flinch. A wind that shouldn't have occurred indoors gusted around them.

Jax pushed on with the other guys chanting louder. An old light fixture sparked, showering down tiny lights that illuminated nothing.

Jax began screaming a shorter phrase over and over, shrieking the words over the sudden cracks of thunder. The ground beneath their feet began to tremble.

A sickly green light appeared at the center of the circle. The group immediately took a step back, simultaneously leaving the circle of salt.

Viv and Doc each took out a small pocketknife, kept sharp for these rituals. Viv winced as she pricked the ring finger on her left hand. As the blood welled up quickly, she wiped the blade on her shorts. Doc passed his blade to Johnny T on his left.

Viv turned to Jax and grabbed his left hand. The man continued to shout the words over the chanting as she sliced a tiny gash into his finger. She looked up to find that Kenny, just to her right, was tearing a hole in his own finger.

As one, they reached out their bleeding hands and squeezed out drops of blood, causing several to fall onto the salt line. The growing green light immediately became darker, as if seen through sunglasses.

Jax thrust his bleeding hand into the circle, screaming "Est enim sanguis meus solucionis."

A drop fell from his finger. He snatched his hand back as a form leapt from the light towards the falling blood. The shadowy creature engulfed the blood and it vanished.

"Per meum sanguinem, servus meus es tu." Jax croaked out. "Come to me."

The shadow slunk down in front of Jax, just on the other side of the still-unbroken circle. Jax knelt down and whispered at the creature.

Viv tried to hear what Jax was saying, but his voice was pitched too low. Only the supernatural hearing of the demon would be able to make it out. She ground her teeth in frustration.

Jax was a damned control freak, not that he would think that was an insult. No one else in the gang thought much of it. In fact, it was pretty normal for this kind of group.

Viv just bit her lip and focused on the lightning bug tattoo on her right ankle. She mentally chanted at it, giving it instructions much like Jax was giving instructions to the demon.

Suddenly Jax jumped to his feet. "Vacat vobis, liberum parere!"

The shadow creature leapt up from its crouch. The circle vanished as if it had never been, and the demon raced for the nearest window.