Free Tantrics Of Old by Krishnarjun Bhattacharya Page B

opportunity to grab a few hours of good sleep. If only sleep would come, if only that infernal ticking would leave. Tick, tock, tick. Every second. Leading to the dawn. His death. Death. A Fallen’s promise; what was it even worth? He could not sleep, how could he, when his life was literally in the hands of someone he could not trust? Adri frowned, despite himself. He counted the seconds with mad helplessness.
    Gray turned around and looked behind him, at the door that the Driver had gone through. It was solid metal. For an instant, just for an instant, he had a mad urge to run to the door and throw it open. He looked outside again. Darkness. It was going to be a long trip.

Adri wasn’t happy. He didn’t trust Demons and he didn’t like summoning them. Besides, under more normal circumstances, no boy his age would be expected to summon Demons. But then he had seen things not normal. Things he would remember for life.
    ‘I don’t want to trust a Demon,’ Adri spoke with finality. His voice was young. Untarnished. Innocent.
    ‘It’s like a formula, Adri. A mathematical formula. You put things on the board, you do it right and perfect, and there is no reason why the Demon won’t carry out your task,’ Victor explained for the hundredth time.
    ‘My Familiars can handle my tasks, Father,’ Adri spoke with the air of someone clutching at straws.
    ‘Familiars? Ha!’ Victor scoffed, turning away towards a giant window, as big as an entire wall. ‘They can’t even keep your secrets, can they? Not to mention their amazing fighting skills.’
    ‘I don’t want to call Demons,’ Adri insisted.
    ‘Are you afraid of them?’ his father asked.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Really, Adri?’
    ‘I’m not afraid.’
    ‘This is the age you have to start at, my boy. By the time you are my age you shall be perfect, you shall be flawless. Undefeatable.’
    Adri remained silent.
    ‘Adventure is the ultimate aim, Adri. Experience. See it all. Do it all,’ Victor spoke with enthusiasm, turning back to his son.
    ‘I’m interested,’ Adri admitted. ‘I’m interested in what I learn, Father.’
    ‘Then why not Demons?’
    Adri was silent once more. ‘I’ve heard bad things,’ he spoke at length.
    ‘You’ve heard that they kill Summoners even though all the conditions have been fulfilled. You’ve heard that our protective measures don’t work against them at times,’ Victor said.
    ‘Yes,’ Adri muttered.
    ‘You heard wrong. Nothing steps inside the circle. Nothing! You are always safe within it if the other measures were correct, if your incantations were correct, if the pentacle and the sacrifice were correct. Anything goes wrong, feels wrong, banish the Demon immediately.’
    Adri was silent.
    ‘Seven hundred and sixty-two summonings, Adri,’ Victor continued, his voice now barely audible. ‘And as you can see, I’m still alive.’
    ‘Father,’ Adri asked, ‘have you ever summoned an elder Demon?’
    ‘Several,’ Victor replied.
    ‘Have you ever summoned one from the realm of shadow?’
    The question hung in the air. ‘Have we been reading forbidden books, then?’ Victor asked softly.
    ‘No books are forbidden to me, Father,’ Adri replied gently.
    ‘This is exactly the kind of attitude I want from you,’ Victor said. ‘You must know more, much, much more than is expected from one your age. I am happy.’
    Adri nodded politely.
    ‘You question is an important one, but you do not corroborate it with research. Demons of shadow do not heed our call. They are not bound to human summoning.’
    ‘And if one is called?’
    ‘If someone is silly enough to call a being they cannot control or banish. . .’ Victor shook his head. ‘I’m not telling you to do as you wish. Read the books, ask me questions. Learn the rules. But what I’ve been trying to tell you is that Demons can’t just be read about in books. You have to summon them, talk to them, see them for real, breathe in their stench, look into their