Give Me Fire

Thomas Branwell stepped into the nearly bare warehouse. It still smelled of must and rusted metal, but most of the cargo containers had long since been cleared away. There were only a choice few left, and the one he was heading toward had a gaping hole in the center, as if a million termites had had their fill of it.

Several voices could be heard echoing around the warehouse, and with a wide grin Thomas sped up his pace. Turning the corner and coming around the red container he caught sight of Sarah Blackwell and Jesse Ravenscar. The two noticed him and waved, revealing several other of Thomas’ fellow Shadowhunters.

When he was close enough that they would be able to hear him should he speak, he glanced around spotting a hunched figure in the center of the room drawing on the ground. He didn’t recognize the symbols but he still knew what they meant. A circle for raising demons. “How long until it’s ready?” His voice boomed throughout the room, and he caught the attention of the rest of the Shadowhunters.

He caught the eye of Leslie Aldertree and just as quickly she looked away, but he knew that wouldn’t be the last look he’d receive that night. Jesse glanced back at the hunched figure, and that figure was now staring directly at them. “Well? How long, Elias?” The warlock glanced back at his handiwork and stood up brushing off his trousers and gesturing widely.

“It is done. Grab your blades and get ready.” Elias left the circle and grabbed a wide dust-covered book that was sitting beside one of the cargo containers. He left it at the page it had been opened at, and cleared his throat eyeing each of the Shadowhunters. They had long since prepared themselves with their battle-ready runes and now they each were whispering to the wickedly sharp blades in their hands.

Elias felt some strange sense of honor at being called upon by Shadowhunters to help them, even in such a task at raising a Raum demon. Though they were easily enough disposed of, it seemed they were bored enough to raise them simply for killing them. Elias had to admit, the sense it made was miniscule but he was bored enough to help them.

When the hunters stood at the ready, Elias cleared his throat and began mumbling under his breath the scripture on the paper. It was a simple enough raising ceremony, but it was more about getting the runes carved in the ground right than anything, making sure that containment was key because if they weren’t contained they could appear anywhere.

The ground opened up then, showing a writhing black hole. White light like lightening flashed in the ground and Elias watched as the first few demons made their escape. The circle was drawn so that they were able to leave it easily enough; they were just forced to enter there. Elias kept mumbling the words; unsure of how many demons they wanted to dispatch of. Out of the corners of his eyes he watched as the few demons that had crawled through were easily dispatched of.

He watched as the blood of the demons spattered and sizzled across the seraph blades, and the cocky grins that lilted across each and every one of their faces as they each made a kill. But it was watching them that caused him to make the biggest mistake. By keeping his eyes off the circle something much bigger than he intended made it through the demonic portal.

He glanced back over and froze, words halting in their place. He noticed that the rest of the room had become just as silent and glancing hurriedly around he saw the same terror on each of the Shadowhunter’s face.

A hulking black form rose from the portal, seeming to need the ground to help pull the rest of it out. “Elias! Close the portal!” But it was much too late for that, even as he began chanting the ritual to close it, the demon was free and it was coming toward all of them.

Elias looked into the eyes of the monster and whispered the only word that he could comprehend in that instant. “Azazel.”



Chase opened his eyes to a black room. The nightmares he had been having had become even more vivid and realistic every night. Though the moment he opened his eyes he could only remember the one name, but he dare not speak it for fear of the dream coming true. He hated being afraid of his dreams, which was why he could never tell anyone of them. Chase was a Shadowhunter and the job description of being a Shadowhunter did not include fear. He feared no demon he had slayed before, nor any warlock or werewolf or even the vampires. Yet, why was he so terrified to close his eyes at night?

Sitting up he glanced at the alarm on his bed and sighed. It was early, but he doubted he would be getting back to sleep any time soon. He left the warmth of his bed and pulled back the curtains, the blinding light of the sun shining through. He heard a growl and turning around watched as his tabby cat sprinted from beneath his bed.

He followed his cat then to the kitchen where he stood yowling impatiently, clearly wanting some sort of food. Chase poured him a bowl of milk before making himself some toast and eggs. When he was spreading jelly on the toast the door opened once more and Chase’s mother stepped through the door. She paused for a moment, upon seeing her son awake so early before frowning.

“Bad dreams?”

“You could say that,” Chase muttered but before his mother could press on, a giant of a man stepped in the kitchen. He had the same grey eyes as his son but sandy blonde lashes framed his. Chase had his mothers near black hair and eyelashes so long and dark they would make any girl jealous.

“Morning,” the man stated before turning to his wife and kissing her on the cheek. “Sarah, the Clave has called upon us,” he muttered under his breath.

“What about? Tom?” But apparently Tom Branwell didn’t need to say anything because Sarah suddenly was quiet before nodding quickly. “Chase, we’ll have to postpone your studies today, your father and I have a Clave meeting to attend.”

Chase merely shrugged before finishing his breakfast, and watched as his parents left him alone for the day. He was quite used to his parents having to suddenly disappear for the day, given their jobs it was quite common. Chase was still waiting for the day where he would be able to go out on his own and fight as they did, but it seemed that living alone in such a large mansion and having hardly any contact with any other teenage Shadowhunters didn’t do well for his social life. So instead, he merely glanced down at the tabby cat that was happily lapping up his milk and tried to think of how to entertain himself for the day.