Innocent!Aurora summoning Demon!Maleficent

There had been multiple warnings on every website, in every book, and from every person familiar with everything demon-related. Do not treat demons like they're a joke. Do not mess with them to prove they don't exist. Don't summon them as a "test" just to see what happens. Don't even try it. Don't even think about it. Just stay away.

While there were a million different ways to summon a demon, there was only one word of advice: do not summon a demon.

But Aurora had tried everything else. She'd been good. She'd been patient. She'd been kind. To make sure she had good karma. She tried meditation. She used Ouija boards. She prayed to God. None of it worked. And all of it was things that Aurora was entirely comfortable doing, and she genuinely believed all the practices. But now she was trying something that genuinely frightened her. It was her last resort.

She had studied the articles, read the books, and knew everything of what do to and what not to do, and she still wasn't sure if she was ready. But she had to try before she lost her nerve. She was already in this deep.

The books said that summoning a demon required multiple people to do it, and multiple skilled people to do it correctly. She was only one person, and she hoped that she was strong enough to do it alone.

The candles were lit, the circles were drawn, and the books were kept close by, already opened to page references just in case she forgot something.

She wasn't sure which demon to summon, so she guessed the name that she found most interesting, and called her aloud: "Maleficent."

Aurora expected a rather flashy entrance, but what she got was an even flashier demon. A tall pale woman dressed stylishly in dark feathers and snake skins. Even her twisty horns were wrapped at the base in those skins. She had an unimaginably handsome face, with sharp cheekbones, succulent red lips, and glowing green eyes with flecks of gold in them. She was absolutely breathtaking.

The books had said that a demon will appear in what one finds more attractive. It was a bit startling to Aurora that in the back of her mind this was a woman she found most enticing. It was distracting.

It appeared to finally register in the demon's mind just who summoned her. "Well… How quaint. I never thought someone as innocent as you would summon me."

"T-The book says that I have to state my business, you have to help me, a-and then you-you leave."

The demon, Maleficent, nodded.

"I… I just want to be clear that I don't- want to be possessed. And I don't want you bound to me for all eternity."

Maleficent chuckled. It was sexy. "I doubt either of us would want that."

Aurora gulped. "I want you to help me find my parents. Please."

"Oh?"

"I've lived with my aunts my entire life. But they lied to me… about everything. My said my parents were dead, but they're alive and they won't tell me where they are. They're forcing me to marry and... I have no one to turn to."

"So you turned to the darkest of rituals."

Aurora nodded, but continued to stare at her feet. It felt silly being said out loud. Surely there were others out there with far worse problems than her own. There were children who didn't have parents or relatives. There were children being married to men old enough to be their grandfather. And surely Philip was a nice man… Maybe she should close the gate between worlds now and forget all of this ever happened.

"It's a little late to feel regret, beastie." Maleficent said. "And your intentions are true, otherwise you would not have been able to summon me." The young woman looked up at the demon. "And so I shall help you."

Aurora grinned from ear to ear, ecstatic about… well everything. The spell had worked, her parents were alive, and this demon, this lovely woman was going to help her. She didn't think little of her or mock her like Aurora believed a demon would. She was doing something no one else was willing to do. She was so overcome with joy, she ran over the the devil's trap she'd set, and gave Maleficent a big hug.

If Aurora could see, she would've witnessed the demon's eyes growing large in surprise, but her face otherwise not moving. It was the most responsive she'd been about anything in centuries.

They started their journey, getting on the next train up town. No one had commented on the taller woman's attire, because to them, she was what they found most attractive. It was the best way to travel without gathering suspicion.

Maleficent had told Aurora that her mother had died only recently, but her father was still well and living just north of the city. The girl couldn't have been happier about being reunited with her father. She told the demon that she always imagined that she looked just like her mother, but that she had her father's eyes, and inherited his kindness. That he would teach her how to fish, and maybe he owned a big business and he would teach her how to run it. It warmed Maleficent's heart. If she had one to speak of.

When they neared their destination, Maleficent was getting more weary, and Aurora noticed. Her father didn't live in an extravagant house. He didn't even live in a modest one. Instead, he lived in a grey apartment that, to anyone who wasn't Aurora, was rather depressing to look at. The girl was just too excited to see past it, too excited to have a real family again.

"Oh, thank you so much, Malefi-" Aurora looked to her side. She was gone. The books had said that a demon needed proper closure to the ritual or else the summoner would be bound to the demon forever. Perhaps Aurora did it wrong, and Maleficent could only stay until she filled her request. Or maybe she was able to leave this entire time and didn't.

If that was the case, Aurora had hoped that she would've been able to say a proper good-bye. She frowned, but made her way into the building to finally meet her father.

Not even a week had passed, and Aurora was regretting finding her father. She was right about him owning a business. But he never bothered to go to work. It would've been understandable if he used that free time to spend with his newfound daughter. But instead, he drank, and broke everything in his apartment. He kept Aurora locked in her room, which she was secretly grateful for. Who knew if she was going to be the next thing he broke.

He acted like he never even wanted her to begin with. Maybe that's why she ended up living with her aunts in the first place. But they had never wanted her either. As soon as she was of age, they betrothed her to the highest bidder, and the closer it got for the day for her to leave, she noticed the happier they got.

Again she pondered if she should've left them at all, and maybe she should have married Philip. She may not have been able to love him, but would it have been impossible to befriend him?

Another crash, this time it was close to her door.

She had to leave. She had no where to go, but she knew she couldn't stay there. Then she remembered the demon. Maleficent. If she summoned her again, then she'd be able to help her again. But when she looked around, she realized what little she had. She had a mattress, and a lamp without a shade. No candles, no herbs, no chalk, and certainly no memory of the incantations she'd used before.

But she needed her. She was the only one in the entire universe she could trust, the only one who would help her and not think her a burden.

She cried out her name, "Maleficent!"

"I'm here."