the-book-of-azazel

E.A. KOETTING
watching, waiting, perhaps whispering words that I could not
hear.
As Belial stayed with Shawn, this other entity stayed
with me.
To this day, years after the fact, it is clear that Belial
never fully left Shawn; that she never renounced him, but clung
to his possession enough to keep a back door open for his
return.
Something remained with me, as well. A demon
followed me, and waited for the moment to announce itself, to
invite itself into my awareness, and to continue the work that
had begun in that basement.
Over a year later, my marriage having dissolved, my
attention turned wholly to the worlds beyond, I found myself
again haunted by that same figure that had stood over me while
I slept that night after the ritual evocations. The demon had
never left, I suppose, but had simply been waiting, following,
watching me until I would listen to its whispers. I could feel it
around me, closer every day, more intrusive, as if the specter
would dart out of invisibility and would present itself in a
physical body at any moment. And as time wore on, he
became less and less alone, until a seeming army swarmed
around me, clattering at me to pay attention.
I laid out a simple ritual area in my home, lit candles,
burned incense, and performed what I call a “blind evocation,”
which is an evocation into physical materialization of an entity
whose name, sigil, and attributes are unknown, but who can be
sensed nearby. Such evocations are indeed dangerous, as the
Evocator has no idea what he will find forming in Temple
around him, and he cannot pretend that he will be able to
constrain whatever may arise. It seemed to me, at that point
however, to be more dangerous to continue without knowing
the identity of the spirit that haunted me.
40