Chapter Text
Jinx always knew to steer away from troubles she was aware could not escape. Thanks to her years of training and intuition, she was still alive; besides, she also trusted her senses where to avoid sticking her nose in.
Being offered by an old lady some cooking recipe in an old alley for a few changes in exchange was weird. However, if she was to compare its extremity, it was nowhere near the abnormal situations she has encountered on numerous missions before. Additionally, her instincts screamed at her to accept the cookbook.
So here she is, scanning the recipes offered by the book. It looked like a regular cookbook, tears littered the corner and the spine battered; it looked frequently used.
She scouted her refrigerator’s contents; some chicken in her freezer could be turned into chicken soup. It fitted since it was cold, and at the same time she thought of it, she shivered under the chilly season.
She didn’t return to the HIVE Base; instead, she decided to stay in her run-down apartment near the old area of Jump. The boys for sure would hoard the kitchen, depleting the newly purchased (well, stolen on the way home from their latest heist) groceries.
Despite their high income from massive commissions in their mercenary career, Jinx preferred to keep it low, opting to rent in old, ignored areas. She made her studio comfortable enough; furniture was minimal.
Setting a permanent place was a fool’s idea in the career they chose. She would never know when someone would plot to kill her. Having a price on your head was never great.
She shrugged. If she was going to be hunted, she might as well be comfortable with a full stomach. She finally found the chicken soup recipe, and fortunately, all the recipes listed were currently on her countertop. Dinner would be decent today.
The broth was being prepared for over half an hour now, the chopped vegetables set aside. The cookbook laid on the nearby wall, kept open with a pencil wedged between its pages. Jinx squinted to see the following instructions.
“Okay, that old lady’s cookbook is weird, what do you mean say , ‘hezberek, cortis rex, skaath, serathos?’ ” The moment she tried the weird phrase, her pot suddenly lit alive with flames from the inside! Jinx stuttered back in surprise, wondering what happened wrong for the chicken broth to burst in flames when it was liquid in the first place!
An unnerving tugging at her senses told her to hide behind the nearest furniture. Trusting her guts, she made a dive for the chair and covered her body against the sturdy furniture; just in time for the pot to explode, she heard the contents splash in her floor, and the fire continued to spread.
“What the fuck?!” Jinx turned her head suddenly at the cookbook, blown away by the blast. She took a long look before grabbing it for reasons she didn’t know. She stood up to assess the damage done to her studio.
What she was not expecting was to see a figure clad in a loincloth covering her bottom, with her long white hair covering her treasures. The figure looked panicking, head swerving left to right before settling into her. Jinx found that she could not move despite her body screaming at her too.
“ How? ” The figure screeched, and Jinx watched in horror as it snapped its head in her direction, four slits of eyes stared back. “ How were you able to summon me?! ” It bellowed, intensifying as it resonated in her small apartment.
Remembering her cookbook, she frantically switched between the pages, trying to find the specific recipe.
“I don’t know!” She screamed, trying to buy time as the demon approached. She took a step back for some distance. “You were supposed to be chicken soup!”
“I was summoned from a recipe that’s supposed to be chicken soup?! CHICKEN SOUP?! I’m the daughter of an arch-lord demon who has conquered dimensions!” The figure howled in mocking pain.
It paced in her room, her hooves thundered against her creaky floor as she walked in circles. The figure spouted profanities in an unknown language with terrifying speed. Jinx gulped as her furniture was enclosed in obsidian energy and floated.
She took this as an opportunity to escape when her body began to follow her command.
“You are not going anywhere, mortal! You are to spill how this happened!” The figure had a deadly grip on her throat as she was raised a few feet from the ground. She helplessly struggled against the assault. Try as she might with all her strength, she can’t remove the hand.
“The fuck do I know! Someone sold it to me, ya fucker!” Might as well go out with a loudmouth.
It was a disappointment that a recipe from a cookbook would lead to her death. Her vision strained, and her strength slowly bled away from her. How would her team react to seeing her dead with a cookbook in her hand and a destroyed kitchen? Oh no! To die from being unable to make chicken soup, her reputation was beyond fixing!
She gasped when she was thrown against the corner of her studio. The wall cracked and bent to her figure when she met with it. She dislodged herself with a weak grunt and landed heavily on the floor. The figure growled before looking at her in contempt.
“Tsk.” Before recalling its power, the figure hissed at her, and her furniture settled down. The figure sat at the chair and glared down at her as she recuperated. “ Unfortunately, one cannot kill their summoner without fulfilling one of their wishes.”
Jinx heaved strenuously; her back seemed broken. Maybe she broke one or two in her back, thankfully her spine was spared. The cookbook lay at her side. It still remained intact after the powerful blast.
“What… do you… mean,” She started before coughing. A few drops of blood stained her wooden floor. Great. “Summoner? Wishes? You’re not making sense.” She remained on all fours as she desperately tried to keep up a strong bravado.
“Foolish mortal. You summoned me. I am to fulfill a wish of yours. Do you even know me?”
“No… who are you? Wait, I summoned a demon? Not a familiar? Like a demon demon , from your realm?” Jinx left her mouth agape, trying to stare pointedly at the figure. The figure was surrounded by dark mist; however, she could see her loincloth, her white hair, and those four eyes.
“Now we’re making progress.”
“How many wishes am I granted?”
“Two, my dear. However, a contract requires your soul; and your soul, darling, is looking delicious. Your chaotic energy is a rare sighting among my peers.”
“Cool.”
“Cool? Cool? Do you not understand the situation you’re in, you frail being?” The figure rose to its towering height, a brusque pace towards her, and Jinx leaned to the wall as the figure intruded her personal space. They were mere inches apart, and Jinx struggled not to shiver. Despite the burning flames behind the figure, they did not spread further, as if tamed by the being.
She should be panting for oxygen now or being burned to death. The figure, however, was so fucking cold! The mist she was encasing herself seemed cold as the glaciers in the arctic! Her teeth clattered, and the figure smiled at her suffering condition.
“I believe this would take time.”
With the way it crouched just in front of her, head tilting as it scanned her facial features, Jinx knew it would be a long day. She gulped, her body still shivering from the unnatural temperature the demon was exuding. The monster did say she could not harm her until her wishes were granted.
“So, uhm. First wish, eh?”
“Go ahead.”
“So uh, yeah, what’s your name? Ya said you a high-rankin, right?”
The figure balked from the useless question before she threw her head back and laughed. It was guttural, rich, and promised of merciless death. Jinx tried her best not to curl in defense. Escape is never an option at this point, to run from her is akin to signing your own death.
“Hmm, what a foolish question to waste one of your wishes upon,” The figure clasped her chin, and Jinx let her, lest she receive a scratch from one of those deadly claws. Its thumb delicately caressed her skin. She heard flesh moving, and the thumb felt firm, similar to human flesh. “For sure, you will know me soon enough.”
The figure has retracted her claw in her thumb and stared at her. Jinx felt unnerved. Is this demon playing with her before she is eaten? The thought was easily seen and transparent to the nightmare before her.
“My my, you mortals always have the same thoughts. We do not eat such worthless meat,” The hand retreated, and Jinx could breathe a little easier. At least she won’t become someone’s dinner tonight. She ought to find that old lady and beat her to death if she can even escape in this situation alive.
“Fulfilling your wish, I am Raven. Daughter of Trigon the Terrible.” Jinx gasped in fear, the magical community was well versed with his cruelty, and one should never forget his capabilities lest they fall to his bribery and temptations. She bowed her head, in respect or of fear, she didn’t know. Maybe both.
“I… I did not mean to summon you, uhm, Miss…Raven.” She finished weakly. Raven was also one of the names to be feared upon. The demoness stood along as Trigon’s right hand. Together this duo was unstoppable; what only stopped them from invading this land was the parallel dimension Azarath holding them off.
“That’s one wish gone, dear. Now, what is your last wish?” Raven purred, the guttural tones vibrating from her throat, and Jinx felt it drumming in her chest. Jinx felt her heart about to escape her chest with how fast it was beating, close to palpitation at this point. How… How did she summon one of the strongest demons alive? No wonder the demoness was so angry for being summoned from a cookbook.
“Uhm… spare me? Heh.”
“You are one oddball. First, you were able to summon me from a fucking cookbook. Second, your wishes are so pathetic. Those who could summon me wished for world domination, mass genocide, and hedonistic wishes. However, your soul is so delicious. Do you wish for a contract, human? Your chaotic aura could prove useful in my conquest.”
“N-no!” Jinx bit her tongue and lowered her voice before continuing. “I mean, no, ma’am. Should I be calling you ma’am, lady, or mistress?”
“You have no sense of danger within you, don’t you? I like you. I shall depart but expect my arrival soon, human. You have a minute to fix your kitchen before your puny friends visit you. Goodbye.”
The flames were extinguished, yet the damage was done. To her surprise, the kitchen was free from burn marks, only the broken kitchen and thrown objects served as evidence that a blast occurred.
The figure retreated, the mist collected around her, and the shadows from nearby furniture swayed and flicked around wildly. Jinx stopped shivering when Raven stood in the center of her destruction; with a swirling blaze, she was gone.
And she departed with a wink directed at the hex caster.
The door opened up to show the rest of the HIVE members.
“What the fuck happened here, ya fuckin’ witch?!”
Great.