After meditating for a while, Samedi stood from his chair and walked over to a stand-alone cabinet and opened it. Inside was a collection of various voodoo objects, including candles, talismans, stones, crosses, features, bells, and dead things. Among all of them was the vial of blood he'd taken from the girl in the warehouse. Picking up a book in the back of the cabinet, he opened its pages to a section he'd earmarked previously. The section dealt with some of the more powerful and dangerous demons that a practiced summoner could attempt to call and control. He wanted one that was especially vicious. Scrolling his long nails down the page, he stopped on a particular one called Bakasura and read the summary associated with it. Close, but he wanted one that was even more bloodthirsty and turned the page. After a few minutes of scanning, he settled on a particularly nasty choice.

"Yes. I think you will do quite nicely." Picking among the items inside the cabinet, he selected what he needed and proceeded to arrange everything on the floor of the trailer, where a summoning circle had already been inscribed with maroon chalk. Twenty minutes later, Samedi had everything he wanted and went to the light switch and turned the single hanging bulb in the room off. Darkness consumed all for what seemed like countless minutes.

Then, a flash from a single-struck match interrupted the darkness, briefly chasing the shadows from Samedi's grim smile. Lowering the match to touch the wick on a long black candle, he watched the flame travel over and take hold of the wick, illuminating the small room. Flicking his wrist to extinguish the flame of the match, he dropped it into an ashtray next to the candle, already overflowing from previously used matches.

Slipping a chosen talisman onto his wrist, Samedi took the vial of blood, opened the stopper, and emptied it into the center of the summoning circle. Chanting a summoning spell he knew by heart, the blood hissed and fizzled as if it had been poured into a hot pan, and the circle itself began to glow and pulse a dark light. "Come to me, Canis Infernus Rygen, come and be my slave!"

—

At the same point in time, in Hell, Rygen gnawed lazily on the bones of its latest victim, an imp demon that had wandered over from the Wrath ring and into the Gluttony ring for some stupid reason. Charcoal-tinged leathery skin flexed, and black coarse hair flung along his neck and back, much like a lion's mane, as Rygen stretched his long, triangular form. Stout at the shoulders and thinning out to his hind legs, it gave him a shape similar to a doberman but at least three times larger, and a face similar to a Grey Runner.

Rygen was well fed, as he was never picky about what or who he ate. Chewing on the imp's flesh and swallowing, he sniffled the air with his long muzzle, and his large nostrils flared in response. Rygen watched with blood-red eyes and soulless black pupils as the other demons steered far clear of him but otherwise ignored him as they carried on their daily business. He grinned as he chewed, blade-like fangs soaked in black blood, wondering how they'd taste. After all, he loved to chase a good meal with a long drink of frightened demon blood.

Suddenly, something pricked at his senses, and he picked up his triangular, sharp ears, his whip-like tail swishing behind him. A low hum called to him, and he felt himself moving, his legs carrying him against his will through the streets and out of town. He growled in rage as his body was lifted off the ground and pulled with a painful force towards an area of Hell where demons did not dare wander, including himself.

Trying with all his strength to dig his long, sharp claws into the dirt and brimstone, he struggled to stop his momentum, but it was all in vain. Screaming in rage and pain, Rygen felt his body being stretched beyond any physical possibility and then snapped like a rubber band, and he was flung through the air, out of the Wrath ring, and swallowed up by the one thing in Hell all truly feared: Tenebris profundis nusquam!

—

Erupting from the red, luminous flames and filling the small room with its swirling presence, Rygen's throaty voice was filled with an oily, gurgling rage as he tumbled into the circle, his body covered in steam from the journey: "Et suscitemus eum conferamus, si legas!"

Samedi smiled, twisted the band on his wrist, and Rygen screamed in agony, "I have summoned you—my slave—Canis Infernus Rygen, and you will speak in my human tongue!" Rygen reached a claw out towards Samedi's arm and cried out in pain as Samedi twisted the band again. "You are bound by my spell, demon, and will obey! Take on your human disguise." Samedi knew that hellhounds had the ability to shapeshift and take on a disguise of human design on Earth. Usually something that fits their blackened souls.

Eyes glowing a dark blood-red, Rygen found his body obeying against his will, shifting and pulling his demon dog features into his body and leaving behind a tall, elegant-looking gentleman dressed in a tailored black suit, slacks, & tie. Rygen saw a mirror hanging on the wall behind Samedi and walked past him, who stepped aside to let Rygen peer at his reflection. "Why am I here, human?"

"Master." Samedi played no games. "You will address me as Master."

"Master." Rygen repeated the word with distaste: "You have pulled me from the very bowels of Hell, thrown into the maw of Tenebris profundis nusquam, painfully, I might add, to stand here against my will to serve you. Why?"

"The one whom I serve commanded that I bring you forth to subdue and bring into our control a demon unlike any I have ever seen or heard about before. You will find this demon and break her, so I can bind her."

"A demon? Not under anyone's binding?" Rygen turned, deep blue eyes shining with actual interest, "And how did it come to be here, Master?"

"She will answer that once we have her under our control. She is with a man called Angel, and they appear to be aligned, so you will eliminate this Angel and bring her to us."

"I will be allowed to taste human flesh?"

"Oh, yes, and with this Angel person, you may eat your fill."

"Know this well, Master, that should even the binding between us break, I will strip your skin from your body and lap up your blood slowly." Rygen's blue eyes pulsed, "But what you command of me, I will enjoy doing, with relish."

With a short, mirthless laugh, Samedi waved his hand and said, "Save your idle threats, Rygen. You have your orders, and you will carry them out with haste. We want the demon bitch as soon as possible."

"You say she is different? How?"

"She attacked my men. To save a bunch of children. No demon I have ever encountered has fought to save lives. She is unique."

Rygen tilted his head, "Not so unique, Master. Some in our realm have altruistic ideals. It's sickening, but not unheard of, and can be easily manipulated."

"Intriguing. I shall have you tell me more after you finish your tasks. Find Angel, kill him, and then hunt the demon bitch, subdue her, and bring her to me. I trust you can sense your own kind on this earthy plain?"

"With ease, Master, and anyone who it has been in close contact with will have its scent upon them. I will find this Angel in that manner."

"Excellent. Make haste. I want this demon now."

"I must feed first, Master, to regain my strength from the pull of Tenebris profundis nusquam, or I will be too weak against this demon you claim is special. I smell carrion and earthly beasts nearby. Allow me tonight to feed and gain my full power, and I will hunt your human before the moon rises again."

"Very well. So long as you do not fail me, Rygen, or I will send you back to your hell in pieces. Are we clear?"

"You've made it very clear, Masssster." Rygen drew out the word with a dark warning and then gave a half-mocking bow. He then let his demon form spill forth, returning him to the great hellhound form that he preferred.

Samedi went to the door, opened it, and stood aside. Rygen bounded past him and out into the darkness to find his first earthly meal. Samedi smiled as he watched the hellhound disappear and felt actual giddiness for the gift his demon would soon bring him.