Case #3 (part 1)

OVERSEER POV

*somewhere in between Scotland and Britain*

"Come one Charlie, lets do this." Dawn whispered giddily, pulling him towards the circle. "It's just fun and games. It isn't like this summoning spell will work. We all know that magic doesn't exist."

"I dunno, Dawn." Charlie chewed on his lip nervously. "Mum and Dad will be furious if we do something like this. You know how they are about the cult like stuff."

"Oh, come on. They don't have to know. Besides, it'll be fun."

Seeing how cheery this was making her, he said, "Fine. But only this one time." They finished the circle of other curious teens, some who even wore robes with weird looking symbols on them. They waited.

"Let us begin." The leader of the chant started and Charlie and Dawn joined in. Dawn closed her eyes, while Charlie kept his open.

"Azazeal Daemones appellamus: de deorsum nec eorum ut ostendat hoc circulo excedas." The room went quiet. Too quiet. The room went cold and a dark mist started to erupt from the circle on the floor.

"Dawn?" Charlie whimpered. She shushed him and didn't bother to open her eyes until it was too late. The mist had her. "Dawn!" He screamed as the mist grabbed him too.

ALICE POV

"These are the wrong type of ruins." Alice announced after studying the circle long enough. Angus looked at her with a raised eyebrow but said nothing. For once her 40 year old half-brother's silence was appreciated by the hung over Brit. Being the head of Scotland Yard, he had given them clearance to look at the 'disappearance scene' of twelve teenagers. The whole case was a mystery and he had called her and Alfred to come check it out. "These ruins summon trolls, but the scrolls that they were reading off of summons a demon." Turning to look at the others she said. "These kids are dead and they have let loose one hell of a demon."

"How do you know?" Angus asked pointedly, his Scottish accent leaking through.

"I'm a sorceress. I memorized demon chants and angel chants when I was five. Trust me, I know my spells and runes." Alice glared at him.

"But Mum and Dad said that you-" She cut him off.

"We are not to bring them up. Ever. Is that clear?" Venom dripped from her voice. She was already fairly buzzed, but she would still be unable to talk about her parents. Thank goodness Alfred was back at the hotel, looking at other strange occurrences since the disappearances of the teens. He wouldn't have let her off as easy as Angus. Her companions looked at her with surprise. Francis was the only one who knew of her 'family matters' but he was back home with the two girls, still recovering from the Fox Demon case. Felicia had yet to wake up and the absence of her normal cheeriness was obviously weighing everyone down, and Maddie, not doing much better.

"What kind of demon are we dealing with then, aru?" Tao asked finishing her own examination of the incantations. "I honestly cannot read these."

Alice paused, regaining her composure. "Azazeal. The betrayer of Eden."

"Isn't that the demon that..." Angus trailed off, seeing the not so hidden pain in her eyes. It was him. He was the reason that she... She pushed the memory away. She was back in Europe and it was getting to her. The instinct to run was getting stronger and stronger, but she stood her ground. She would not fail to fight against him again.

"Yes," she replied briskly. Her friends were confused by this shortness. She wasn't this short with them, ever. "We'd better get to the hotel. Alfred will have found something by now." They nodded and started on their way. She stayed when Angus grabbed her wrist.

"You know, you don't think straight when you're drunk, lass. I would lay off of the strong liquor for a while. Even if it does... dull the pain of being back here." Angus gave her an apprehensive look. "You've got better friends now. Don't push them away just because you don't wanna get hurt." He let go but not before he said, "You should talk with Mum and Dad. I know they told you to never see them again, but still you should see 'em."

"I'd rather die." She snapped bitterly, stalking off towards the car.

Translations:

Azazeal Daemones appellamus: de deorsum nec eorum ut ostendat hoc circulo excedas- Demon (specifically Azazeal) summoning spell that is really whacked if you translate it so I'm not even gonna try.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I am so happy! We get to see from an angsty Alice's POV of what her past is. Score! I know that this was a super short chapter, but hey it introduces the case and I figured it was fine. Yes, Alice is going to be drunk for more than half of the storyline of this because she can't handle the stress of being back in England for reasons which you will learn soon. Be prepared for more Alice and Alfred banter in the next chapter.