Prologue

Shimmering light could be seen from outside the small house. The curtains danced softly in the wind that entered the room through the open window. Soft sounds emanated from within the small room where three girls sat around a table, all having their hands on something in the middle of the table. Candles were placed strategically throughout the room, far enough away from flammable objects, but close enough to the table to be able to see what they were doing. Around the table, the three young women sat, their gazes transfixed on the Ouija board in their midst.

Accompanied by giggles, the planchette on the Ouija board moved over to the letter J. The only red-head in the room, Sondra, heaved a sigh. "This is ridiculous," she said.

Marsha, a petite brunette, grinned but didn't take her eyes off the pointer. It was now moving slowly to the next letter in its answer. "So who's pushing it?" Marsha asked.

Her two friends both muttered the words, "Not me." Excitement surged through her body as the pointer continued its path to another letter. When it stopped at the A, she giggled again. "It's going to spell out Jason, I'm sure," she said with laughter in her voice.

To her left, her friend Jaenelle groaned. "Please, Marsh. First of all, our question didn't include anyone outside of us three. Secondly, Jason's a prick. Why would you even consider going out with him?" Jaenelle's blue eyes met Marsha's brown ones and Marsha saw the dislike her friend had for the guy she liked. Lifting a shoulder in a shrug, Jaenelle added, "Just stating the obvious here."

Marsha rolled her eyes and looked back down at the board, ignoring her friend's blatant opinion on Jason. She followed its circuit back to the letter E. Frowning, she was about to say something when Sondra beat her to it. "Jae?" Sondra said, a speculative tone to her voice. She looked up at Jaenelle. "You don't think it's going to spell out your name, do you?"

The first trickle of fear crept up Marsha's spine. No one spoke as the pointer moved from the E to the N, back to the E and then to the L. Eyes widening and heart pounding in her chest, Marsha looked at her friend. Jaenelle sat ramrod straight, frightened eyes fixed on the board.

"What did we ask again?" Sondra squeaked.

Marsha let out a frightened laugh. "Who of us will rule the world."

The pointer was making its way back to the letter L and the fear Marsha felt quadrupled. She released the pointer and jumped up, knocking the chair over as she did. Sondra had released the pointer at the same time and now the only one still touching it was Jaenelle.

"Jaenie, let go," Sondra said. When Jaenelle raised frightened eyes to them, she nearly shouted, "Let go, Jaenelle! This is not funny anymore!"

"I'm trying!" Jaenelle shouted back, her arms jerking, but her fingers still on the pointer.

Sondra and Marsha both took hold of one of Jaenelle's arms and pulled, trying to release her fingers from the pointer. When it seemed their efforts were futile and Jaenelle's fingers still touched the small wooden planchette, Sondra looked from the Ouija board to Jaenelle and then bolted from the room. Marsha yelled after her, refusing to believe that Sondra had really deserted her friends. Turning back to Jaenelle, she saw that the pointer was now moving faster.

It went from the Y to the O, to the U, to the W, until it spelled out, "You will be mine."

"Oh God," Marsha gasped. She took hold of Jaenelle's arms again and tried to pull her away, but they didn't budge an inch. When she focused her attention on Jaenelle's face, she saw the tears trickling down her friend's cheeks.

"What's going on?" Jaenelle cried. "I can't let go. I try, but I can't let go!"

Eyes roaming swiftly across the room, Marsha tried to find something that would help get her friend loose. "You're not tricking me, are you?" she asked, fear making her heart pound against her chest.

"Why would I do that?" Jaenelle yelled. "My fingers won't leave the pointer. You tried to get me off it and it didn't help! Even with super-glue the pointer would still come off the board!"

Covering her face with her hands, Marsha tried to think clearly, tried to figure out what was going on. "I don't know what to do!" she yelled. "I don't know what's going on!"

Jaenelle, now standing and clearly struggling to get free of the Ouija board, was silently crying. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled with the board. "This can't be happening," she whispered over and over again.

Marsha, in the mean time, stood next to Jaenelle, staring out into space. She couldn't think of a single thing to do to help Jaenelle. Her mind was blank and her vision unseeing. She didn't feel it when the room got hotter. Even when an orange and red image appeared in front of her, she stayed in the daze. Words floated towards her, but she didn't understand them. Nothing seemed to penetrate the bubble she had created around herself. It was only when Jaenelle started screaming that she jerked out of the daze.

She blinked several times before her brain could make sense of what she was seeing. Standing still as a board, she watched as Jaenelle now struggled with the…thing…that had her in its grip. Her friend's hands were loose form the Ouija board, but her wrist was now enclosed by a scabby looking hand that ended in 3 inch long black nails. As her eyes travelled up the arm, she saw nothing that looked even remotely human.

Its entire body was covered by orange, red and black scabs. As she stared at its…skin…she had to swallow hard. It looked as if it was made out of lava. Not that she'd ever seen lava upclose, but from what she'd seen on television, it looked a lot like it. Her gaze travelled up to its face and whimpered softly. Bright red eyes looked back at her from within a face that was so twisted, it could've only come from a fantasy story about demons.

As her brain focused on the word, Marsha knew what she was looking at. This was something that she'd only read about, the thing that people should fear the most. A minion of Satan, the devil, stood in her room and she could do nothing but stare.

Its fiery gaze was upon Jaenelle, who was struggling to get free of its grip. Where the thing touched Jaenelle's skin, blisters formed. Seeing it and registering it, the smell of burning flesh suddenly filled Marsha's nostrils, making her gag. Upon hearing her, the demon shifted its attention to her.

"You are of no use to me," it said but didn't say. It was as if she felt the thing in her mind, in her soul. It gripped her heart in fear. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Marsha didn't know, but she knew that if she so much as moved a muscle, it would come after her.

"You have no skill I could use," it said as it seemed to burn away her mortal husk and looked past it to see what lay beneath. When it looked back at Jaenelle, Marsha could breathe again. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath, but when she breathed out the stale air, she breathed in air that held the essence of smoke, but was completely devoid of the actual thing.

"Will you serve me?" it asked Jaenelle.

Jaenelle, tear-stained cheeks raised up to the demon, cried out, "NO!" The demon gripped her wrist tighter and Marsha thought that, if he should put more pressure on her wrist, its bone would be broken.

"Just do it," Marsha whispered. She had no idea what was going on, but she wanted the demon out. She wanted to forget everything that had happened. There was no way this could be real, but there it was looking at her: a real demon. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she was, in essence, betraying her friend, but she was in too much of a daze that she didn't fully realize it.

Somehow, the softly spoken words reached Jaenelle's ears. Her friend looked at her with an expression that screamed she thought Marsha was an idiot. Which, in retrospect, she was. Why would anyone want to serve a demon? Not her, that was for sure. She didn't have the strength to go up against something that evil.

"You will serve me and you will be mine," the demon growled, yanking Jaenelle to her feet.

A combination of fear and rage, Marsha was sure, made Jaenelle snarl at the demon. "No way in hell will I serve you," she snarled.

The demons red eyes glowed brighter. "You think to defy me, human? Your soul is mine. Your powers are mine."

Marsha frowned. Powers? Okay, this was one really weird demon. Powers? The only powers anyone had was…well, strength was a power, wasn't it?

"I will NOT serve you!" Jaenelle screamed. "I might've been demon-bait two years ago but that doesn't mean I'll serve any of you!"

In a mockery of human expressions, the demon raised an eyebrow. Or, it would have looked like that had he had an actual eyebrow. "Then you will suffer until you finally submit to me." His eyes roamed over the room until it fastened on Marsha. "And the suffering starts now."

With a flick of a wrist, the demon did several things simultaneously: he released Jaenelle with such force that she went flying into the wall; burned a spot on Jaenelle's wrist that would leave a nasty burn; and set Marsha's insides on fire.

Frowning, Marsha looked down her body. Flames of fire licked at her clothes, but only her clothes. Everything around her seemed to be safe from the fire. Numb, she continued to stare as the fire spread over her legs and up to her stomach. She kept watching as it continued its ascent to completely cover her.

Before it reached her head, she snapped it up to look at Jaenelle who was staring at her in horror. "Jaenelle," she whispered. Then louder, "Jaenelle!" When the fire reached her neck, the pain came. The numbness was gone, but the pain now touched every part of her. She could feel the blisters forming on her skin where the fire hadn't touched her yet. She could feel the skin on her legs burning, burning, burning.

Her scream, before the fire completely consumed her, was her last.