"You need to come with us Sir."

I looked, bemused. Some of the soldiers I'd noticed earlier had broke ranks and ghosted behind me. They stood there just outside the star, weapons not quite raised. They looked tense. I held my hands in plain sight, though not up.

"relax guys, I'm not going to do anything crazy. Though if I'm going to get shipped off I really should tell my parents, get some of my stuff, that sort of thing."

"Please come with us Sir. Everything will be provided for you on site. Your parents will be notified."

"Alright, alright. Relax."

I watched my friends get ushered out of one side of the Gym while I was ushered out the opposite. My 'escort' was a 4 man team which bracketed me in a typical diamond formation as if I were a V.I.P. they were guarding, weapons out and scanning for trouble. They didn't seem the type to talk, so I didn't. They led me to one of their military issue hum-vees. Inside at the driver's seat was a witch. The shrunken gargoyle lying down in the back was a dead giveaway.

"So we meet again."

"So we do Mr Numens. Get in."

"Alone in the car? Not waiting for anyone else? Seems like a waste of gas."

"Article 4, subsection 13, Summoner draft law amendment; also known as 'halo's law'."

Oh, right...the halos were a radical christian group that didn't believe summoners were needed to fight demons, or something. Several years back they had ambushed a bus full of draftees with the help of the parents of said draftees. 2 warlocks would up dead, along with over a dozen of the parents, 21 of the extremists...and all of those chosen from the town of Galapagos Michigan.

Republicans and democrats agreed that the incident was a double tragedy; not only was the body count higher than any school shooting, the loss of manpower of those fifty potential warlocks was largely considered to be what finally led to the loss of Poland.

"Right, well makes sense I guess."

"don't worry Mr. Numens, you'll get there. all recruits are considered as important as federal government officials now."

"Oh, I get a security detail and million dollar pension now?"

"Pension comes later, but you got the best security detail money could ever buy. You're very own summoner, here to make sure you get to your destination. Here, put this on."

She handed me a crude looking silver bracelet. There were squiggles of some kind engraved on both sides of it. Under her watchful eye I slipped it on.

"What's this?"

"A tracking and protection charm; allows me to track you in case you get lost, protects you against small arms fire and grenades, potential enemy spells, that sort of things."

"Alright." Sounded stupid to me, but that was going to be the world I lived in now.

she waited, looking at me.

"...What?"

"Seat belt, Mr Numens."

"Oh, right."

I belted up and she took off, driving through the parking lot at 20 mph.

"Might want to slow down...won't speeding attract attention?"

She looked at me and smirked.

"Yeah you're right, I'll take it easy. Plenty of time to get to the Eyrie."

"The Eyrie?"

"The various centers that teach the art are nicknamed. The one you're going to is called the eyrie. Big tower, built in the middle of nowhere, looks like something out of 'The hobbit'. You're in luck, it has a good reputation. The one I went to was 'The hole.', guess what it was?"

"Uh, a hole?"

"A re-purposed subway station, and kind of like the community college of summoning. Where you're going is probably Stanford...or Harvard."

"complete with snobbish assholes?"

She snorted, shooting me a glance.

"Mind reader. Yeah complete with snobbish assholes."

We hit the outskirts of town and I saw a glimpse of a tail, a mid 90's blue ford sedan. I kept quiet.

"Well, screw this. you're going to be one of us soon enough."

My driver doffed her hood and the effect keeping her face hidden immediately stopped. Her features resolved themselves to show a rather cute if mousey brunette, dark brown hair a mess, green eyes alight with mischief. she looked a bit like one of those actresses that played the perky but not quite as hot best friend in a romance comedy. Couldn't have been more than a few years older than I was, either.

"Keep staring like that and I'll get self conscious. Something on my face?"

"Sorry...I'll be blunt, it's more like what isn't on your face."

"My lack of horns and needle teeth? No tusks or pig nose?"

Her demon snorted.

"Well yes. Sorry if that offends, there are stories, you understand. How you're all marked somehow, and how the robes are to hide that."

"Well those stories are true, pretty much. We make pacts with demons you see...a bargain for power. Those who bargain poorly...who lose that demonic haggle to their demon, usually end up looking like the stories suggest, or worse."

"and if you don't mind me asking, what did you lose?"

"Well in return for Thor there, as I call him...hes a minor demon lord understand, not one of the wimps...I lost the ability to feel emotional extremes. That was the cost he wanted in return for his service and his magic."

"Magic? I thought that was just something the demons themselves did."

"That is mostly true; however the true lords of hell as they are called, can share their power. Thanks to thor I can fly under my own power and do some minor nukes without benefit of summoning circles and the like."

She held up a hand and lighting arced crackling between the delicate digits.

"So,' I turned to Thor. 'do you nobles have a rank system? What rank are you?"

He stared at me a minute, sniffed, then turned over, pointedly ignoring me.

"He doesn't really like people; most demons don't. He tolerates me. For the record he told me once he was the knight of the 212th lord of hell, a "pyfthr of the uncrowned."

"Hmm, never heard of him."

She snorted again.

"Most haven't, hes basically what human aristocracy call a 'hare catcher lord'. A trumped up normal guy living in a castle too big from him, surviving off ancient deeds. That said...I told you his common use name. Don't use it. He's minor, but hes bad juju. He'd chew up a greenhorn like you, and spit you out. And if you called on him to bargain, he'd probably own your soul inside an hour."

"Got it. So names have power then?"

"theirs and ours. Our names have power to them for some reason, and theirs have power to us. We can do a quick and dirty summon with nothing more than a bit of our blood and their use name. Saves us the time of the average 6 hour ritual."

"Six hours? I can't stand still that long."

"you will; or rather you'll sit that long. It's kind of a requirement. You don't even want to think about screwing that ritual up. Or any other for that matter."

"But the 'quick and dirty magic you get is safe?"

"well it's safe-ish...can't lose my soul using it, and doesn't take forever to work up to. It's pretty handy, but I cant do much with it. Thor is stronger than the general run of the mill demon, but hes still small potatoes back in his home."

the demon harrumphed and glared at her; she didn't seem intimidated, which made me remember what she said before I got sidetracked.

"So what does the demon get out of the deal? You said he got your emotional extremes...like fear, love, anger, hate?"

"Yes, sure did...he got all of them, including embarrassment! It's simple; the trade itself gives him power somehow. The action of us selling something we have fuels a demon. Furthermore they try to gear what they bargain for so they can lead us down the path of evil. Somehow most of us picked through the ritual you took part in only get asked for individual things for services, like our emotions or appearance. Most of the early summoners got asked for their
souls outright."

"And they gave them up?"

"Not us. Not the allied summoners. The Axis however, pretty much were all the soulless. More demonic than the demons they conjured."

I shuddered.

"don't worry, they're all dead. Though rumors persist of second generation summoners somehow living in what's left of Germany, somehow."

"I don't see how that is possible."

"Me either, but I won't immediately discount it. I've seen some pretty strange things on the job."

We passed the time during the trip talking, listening to the radio (which was surprisingly good for what I'd consider a federal vehicle) and playing I spy and slug-bug. I learned her name was Karen, she was from Ohio, and had been a summoner for 5 years. She was assigned to the testing and care of new summoners and helped the ADTF when asked.

She learned about my friends and family. I saw no reason to not be as open with her as she was with me.

About an hour and a half into the drive I caught my first glimpse of it. The Eyrie. A huge rust red finger sticking out of the ground in the middle of a small patch of scrubby desert. It had to be at least 20 stories tall, and with no windbreaks I couldn't figure out how it stayed up.

"Magic, duh. The wind parts around it."

"what?"

"Everyone asks. It's good old fashioned magic. Why we do it that way rather than engineering genius, well you'd have to ask the summoner that had it built. Of course he's dead now, so good luck with that."

"Oh."

My phone rang.

Karen stared at my pocket as I jumped.

"Go ahead. Normally I'd have taken it standard operating procedure, but you haven't tried to use it once. It's likely your parents."

"Yeah, likely, thanks."

I quickly fished it out of my jeans and hit the proper button.

"Melvin honey!?! That you!?" Oh great, it's not the level headed parent.

"Yes mom it's me, guess you all heard by now?"

"Where are you?!?!" I looked at Karen; she shook her head.

"I can't tell you where I am mom, sorry."

"listen honey, this is very important! you can't trust anything a demon says!"

"I know mom, I've heard the stories, heck you used to tell them to me as a kid at bedtime."

how she thought that wouldn't traumatize me, I never learned.

"No honey you don't understand! You have to listen ....ry word, and .....!"

"Mom the phone is dying, I'll remember. I love you and dad! See you as soon as I can!"

And the call dropped. No bars anymore.

"sorry should have warned you; Cell phones don't work within a certain distance of the tower, and we just hit it. you get what your mom was trying to say?"

"She was telling me not to trust the words of a demon."

"Good advice."

"yes but really predictable, I mean it's stuff you tell kids at the same time you're teaching them to look both ways and not to talk to strangers. Of course mom is insane, so she may just be forgetting things again."

"Maybe, don't discount it just yet. May save your soul."

"I hope you're kidding."

She looked me full in face before pulling her hood back up over her head. Not five minutes later we pulled up to the very large gate breaking the monotony of a very large fence, topped with very sharp razor wire. More army types in desert fatigues walked both sides of the fence and manned the gate. Karen passed some paperwork form the driver door pocket to the dour looking soldier in the guardhouse, and he opened the gate.

Not one second after we drove through, the gate slammed shut again We drove through the military base set around the tower in silence, I wasn't paying attention to the military housing, the drilling troops, or even the sprinkling of black robed summoners walking here and there, most without their hoods up.

No it was the close up what appeared to be a tower made up of massive red brick, at least a full city block wide at the base. Karen pulled up in front of it.

"Welcome to your new home! At least for a minimum of three months anyway."

Before I could get out, she held out her hand. I slipped my phone into it. We both got out, leaving the hum-vee right in front with the keys in it, and I opened the door for her. She led the way inside the cool interior, which surprisingly looked a lot like a combined office building and dormitory, both prefabs.

It was almost amusing how soulless and impersonal it all looked. At least the lighting was bright; I had almost expected rush torches, and cold dank stone walls.

I was led to the left hand side, which were apparently apartments. Sure enough, each door was marked, 1-100.

"This is the first block; there are four more. You're not the first here, but I managed to get you a lucky number apartment. Number 66!"

she handed me a key. Her hood was down again.

"Where did Thor go?"

"Back to his own apartment in hell. We don't keep our demons out when there is no need for them."

"So at the school?"

"Policy, schools with us there have been hit in the past."

"people are scary. Explains why I didn't see any outside."

"Almost. There are guards here, they use theirs on shift. Here."

She handed me a black phone. I didn't recognize the make.

"The push to talk is active. Use it with the number 1, and it calls me. Go ahead and find your room, check to see if everything you need is there, all that moving in crap. I need to check in myself. You call, I'll meet you in front of your door. Got it?"

"crystal clear."

"Great. See you soon."

And she walked off, leaving me to my own devices...or seemingly, till I noticed the cameras cleverly hidden in the ceilings. So rather than explore I found the correct number and entered. Doing what I was told like a good little drone beat the alternative, I was sure. It was indeed an apartment, with modestly tasteful furnishings and real wood molding. The couch and chair were both grey and overstuffed. A desk was randomly tucked into a corner with a comfortable looking computer chair next to it. There was a was kitchen straight back and a door to my left.

Opening it I found the bedroom, a pretty standard single bed sheathed in grey, as well as the typical bureaus and shelves for various items. An open door led to the bathroom, which was white and clean enough to shine in blinding fashion. going back to the desk I found a notepad and pen, and started getting down to business.

***********************************************

*chirp* "Hope I'm not interrupting Karen."

*chirp* "Just talking with my boss. You all set?"

*chirp* "Yep, you're team is surprisingly thorough; I couldn't find much missing."

*chirp* "They have done this sort of thing many times, But they always seem to forget something. I'll be right down, got to give you the grand tour anyway."

I waited patiently, pacing. It took just under fifteen minutes for the knock I was expecting. I opened the door to see Karen standing there alone.

"The base has an excellent military store, and you get a stipend. Here is your card, don't lose it. It's a pain in the butt to get another."

She handed me black debit card, with a series of numbers on it and nothing else. I was beginning to sense a trend here. She left, I followed, locking the door.

"Cautious type are you? Might work out here."

"I see no reason to make it easier for someone to screw me over."

"I'm with you. So what did they forget?"

"Well they guessed at least one size of clothes right, so I put the rest on the clothes rack in the bedroom as requested, and put the ones that fit away. Not so sure what I need seven sets of grey robes for, but I'm sure youll tell me. The soap they provided makes me break out, so I need to replace it, and they forgot dental floss."

"...Dental floss?"

"Yes, dental floss. they have a good mouthwash, but I like to be thorough."

"You must be all kinds of fun at parties."

"Absolutely. I'm like a rabid weasel at a party."

"...What?"

"Sorry, old joke among my circle of friends. I might explain it later if you do something for me."

"And what is that, exactly?"

"Explain to me why there is no television, computer, or even radio in that small apartment you're housing me in?"

"That's simple; the higher ups feel the undistracted approach to learning is best. Can't have any of that crap till you subdue your very own demon."

"That's...asinine. They want me to study in perfect silence?"

"Or get out and do something else useful with your time. Remember, you're in the army now, drafted and everything."

"Oh, right...we are technically under the army. Do I have a rank?"

"Yep, officially you're an 'acolyte'. That's what the robes are for. the actual army rank is specialist, or OR-4. You're very first day it takes a sergeant or better to order you around, seniority doesn't count. The minute you graduate, assuming you do, you jump to lieutenant. Of course, after that it depends."

"Depends on?"

"What the higher ups think of your performance. Do badly, and you're a grunt. You get three more months of boot camp, a promotion to first lieutenant, and sent to one of the fronts. That's a bad idea, since only 1 out of 3 summoners sent to a front make it home alive. Do really well, you'll likely be kept stateside and used in work like recruiting."

"Or police work?"

"Oh that sort of thing interest you? Yeah you can get police work if the brass feel you're suited for it."

Our conversation had eaten up our walking time; we were at the store. don't the army call them Px's? Anyway there we were, a store laughingly called 'Spells-R-us', looking much like a local walmart, in smaller scale.

I walked in and there was even a greeter. A man in military fatigues and a floppy hat, looking like a Gandalf reject, snowy beard and all.

"You gotta be kidding me."

"Hah, that's just Ralph, the owner. Retired captain.'She leaned closer and muttered; 'Doesn't really have all his marbles."

I waved to him and muttered back; "You think?"

"He's harmless enough; just don't get him talking about Harry Potter."

"you mean that pollyanna crap kid's story that says you can do magic without demonic help, and beat demons at their own game? Shudder worthy garbage."

"Agreed. Had a huge spike in morons getting themselves killed playacting magic after the movies. Kept trying to fight demons off with twigs and Latin. But Ralph, he loves the stuff."

"Let's get what we came for and get out; place already gives me the willies and I still need that tour."

"Sure thing. I won't even shop for myself, I'm so considerate."

"Why would you shop here? you don't live here do you?"

"No, only seasonally, like now...got a furnished apartment here in the tower, much like yours. But...this shop sells everything on the cheap, and what they don't carry they can order."

I started walking buy and snagging useful stuff, like coffee, assorted perishables that weren't stocked, and other things.

"So you mentioned Latin. I could have sworn I heard Latin during the ritual used to select me."

"you did, not saying Latin isn't used, it's one of the languages that rituals were translated in. We could probably do English if anyone cared to, but that just increases the chance others will overhear what you said....with unfortunate consequences. You'll know at least some Latin before you leave."

"Good to know."

Seeing a selection of metal stabby implements, I added a survival knife to the growing pile. Karen let it pass without comment, or even a raised eyebrow. We finished and I paid with my shiny new card.

"Yo Ralph!"

"Yes Karen?"

"This is acolyte Melvin. He just bought these bags. Would you be so kind as to watch them while we tour? We will be back to pick them up before we tour the tower."

"Certainly Karen, enjoy the fresh air. Not too many days left before the birth of the death of hope."

....What?

"...Right. Anyway, we'll be back later."

I barely made it out of the store.

"Guy might be worse than my mom."

"Well I don't know about your mom, but I know what happened to him. For most people, seeing demons causes their minds to unhinge. Prolonged exposure worsens the effect, by some multiple I'm not math whiz enough to know. The stronger demons can literally have someone gibbering and pissing themselves inside an hour due to their presence alone. Ralph was at the front for a long time...too long, but we didn't always know what we know now."

"Sucks to be him."

We chatted while she showed me the highlights; the barracks, the training yard, the fence, the mess hall. Outside the fence was 200 miles of desert. The land was flat, you could see for miles away.

then we grabbed the stuff I bought and went back to the tower, where I learned they where the library, work rooms, our own mess hall were. There were even public rest rooms near them. This place was too big...heck the library alone covered half a block, and went up three floors. All those banned and forbidden books....

I'd gotten a jump on that at least. With nothing to do in this place but read, I'd grabbed a starter set, so to speak; English translations of 'The Various Mysteries', 'The Virulent Truth', and Latin for dummies. I'd almost checked out 'summoning for dummies', but that was a bit too much for my personal weirdness meter.

"OK, last thing. Starting tomorrow, you're in the army. You got here early, so today was free. But tomorrow you're going to be expected to wear the robes, be up at 5am, all that crap. you'll be in classes most of the day; they are going to try and cram your head full. So set your alarm, and be prepared for more school."

"Will do. Five a.m. huh? stupid."

I shut and locked the door, and settled in to read.

*******************************************

So five a.m. bright and early saw me showered, made presentable, and dressed in standard fatigues with a robe over them. I was one of very few dressed thus, which added to my anger. Honest to dog drill sergeants walked among the 120 or so of us present, taking us in with hard eyes and disdainful expressions. Then an older gentlemen with a sour lemon expression, a heavily decorated robe, and a body showing through that robe that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger nervous walked up to a podium set in front of us all.

"Good morning maggots!' He had no microphone, nor did he need one. I fought the urge to stick my fingers in my ears, standing as straight as possible. 'Welcome to the glorious united states army! As stated in federal law, as of 1959 a federal draft is in effect for all persons with the skills and or abilities required to defend our glorious country from demonic incursion, as well as halt the spread of demonic influence among the allies of the glorious United States of America!

To that end, you have all been drafted, in accordance with federal and local laws! You're my fresh meat now, and a member of the Summoners Corps! You will refer to it as such; the first person calling another a warlock, witch, or other derogatory term will be cleaning heads for a month! The next will clean toilets Till they die, and will then clean Hell's toilets for all eternity!

Now you may ask yourself why you? Well that's simple. You worms stand on the backs of giants! Heroes of humanity the likes of which our world will not see again! Let's all take that walk into history book lane, shall we? in 1945, the closing months of world war 2, a psychotic gasbag known as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany, and had led the German country to it's own demise. But that wasn't enough for the Aryan scum.

You see Hitler was fascinated by the occult. Perhaps obsessed would be a better term. Unfortunately for humanity at large, in his scavenger hunts for relics and lore, he found some real gems among the crap he collected. So when the allies were winning he got the bright idea to use them. He took his most fanatical SS, taught them what are now known as the rudiments of summoning, and set them loose. As the allies reached the outskirts of Germany, the first known summoners, true warlocks who had sold their souls to the lords of hell, opened a full gate to hell in order to stop them.

It succeeded; but only after the demons were done massacring every German man woman and child left in the city. The time they spent on that saved the allies, as it was time needed to pull out. You see the allies learned early on that normal weapons did absolutely nothing to demons but slow them down. A massive half year long was holding action was instituted. Hundreds of thousands died to ensure the encroaching horde from hell gained as little ground as possible in strength.

At the end of that time, we had erected the wall; a wall similar to the great wall of china, spanning the heartland of Germany. We had to cede it to the enemy; the gate was still active. At this time, special forces from many countries performed suicide missions into Berlin to discover how the gate had been opened, and how demons were summoned and fought. Wise men from other countries stepped up and added to the overall knowledge of how to fight. This knowledge was added in the form of protection charms and runed weapons, and we began to hold rather than just lose.

Then the first summoners came to the line, even as the Poland threatened to break, and France was invaded. They helped more than anything else. We began regain what we had lost, and it looked like our children might never know the horrors we had seen! However, those first summoners, those heroes, fell one by one to crippling madness or, their souls devoured by the very demons they pacted with, slowly twisted and became that which they hated most. Some however took much longer to fall than others. In some cases, decades longer. And we learned, as humanity is wont to do.

Some of us, whether by nature, nurture, or both...are more resistant to the sirens' call of power, the lure of hell. Some of us are immune to the madness that besets others. That is why we have the selection, and the draft! So that you few, you lowly worms, can stand on the backs of hose giants, and finish what they started! Nothing less than the fate of humanity itself will be decided by your actions.

Now on to brass tacks. You are drafted. that is reality. Your butts are ours for 10 years, the duration of the draft. After which you can rejoin civilian life where you left it, rich as lords and sipping mai-tai's in Tahiti...or you can rejoin the fight. It all depends on you, the world will be your oyster by 29.

Look to your right, then your left. There will be no racism in my beloved Corps, to me you are all equally worthless! You are here to learn, and learn hard! you're only concern is the skills you need to save your lives, and the lives of your friends and loved ones. Keep in mind that no matter where you are, no matter what hole you die in, you are the last stand for humanity in a hostile world; any act you take from now on directly affects who lives or dies! The only distinction made in my Corps is Summoner, soldier, or civilian. You are the elite, the cream of the crop...should you succeed. Should you fail, nothing more than death and an unmarked grave awaits you, your soul feeding hell's own death machine.

The circumstances of life and death are dire for you, so that the rest of humanity survives. Do not forget. That is all."

....What could you say to that? The various sergeants gathered us up one name at a time, arranging us into squads while the commander in chief and living legend of the Summoners corps calmly walked out.

(tbc)