Young Ash cut through the succubus's seductive tone before it could sink any deeper into the room. "Answer the question, or this conversation ends badly for you." He pointed toward the shotgun in Kelly's hands, its barrel still aimed directly at the containment circle. "We want to know how to cancel the summoning and send the demons already released back where they came from."
The succubus blinked slowly, long lashes fluttering as though she found the situation amusing rather than threatening. "You dragged me across realms for something as boring as a reversal spell?" she asked sweetly. Older Ash's attention was still following the slow movement of her tail when he answered, "What else did you think we called you for, a party?"
The succubus ignored him and kept her gaze on young Ash. "Then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. The contracts were written by the Dark Ones through the Book of the Dead, and demons like me are only responsible for answering when those contracts are invoked. We don't write the summoning rituals, and we don't know how to reverse them."
That matched Eligos's explanation almost perfectly.
Young Ash's expression cooled. "So you don't know either."
The succubus apparently noticed the shift in his mood and immediately redirected her attention toward older Ash instead. She gave him an inviting smile, slowly emphasizing her figure as she asked, "Perhaps this gentleman would rather discuss something more enjoyable?" Older Ash actually sucked in a breath and leaned closer. "Now we're getting somewhere. Maybe somewhere with less audience participation?"
"Can you let me out of the circle first?" she asked.
Pablo immediately found the floor fascinating. He kept his eyes lowered while occasionally glancing sideways to see whether Kelly was watching him, only to discover that Kelly's entire attention was fixed on the succubus with an expression cold enough to freeze the room. Amanda looked only slightly less irritated.
Young Ash sighed.
"Alright. Looks like we've gotten everything useful out of you."
The succubus turned back toward him. "Gotten everything out of—"
Ash took the shotgun from Kelly and fired before she could finish.
The blast thundered through the cramped back room hard enough to make everyone's ears ring. Demonic Power surged through the weapon at the moment of discharge, and the enchanted buckshot punched straight through the succubus's chest, tearing open a massive wound that ordinary flesh could never survive.
The demon slowly looked down at the hole in her torso.
Surprise crossed her face.
Then she forced one last smile.
"You really don't know how to treat a lady."
Ash lowered the weapon. "Depends on the lady."
The succubus's body began breaking apart before she could answer. Her pale skin darkened, the horns cracked, and her entire form collapsed into drifting ash that scattered across the containment circle until nothing remained.
Older Ash stared at the empty space in genuine disappointment. "My succubus..."
Young Ash turned his head.
"Your what?"
Older Ash immediately corrected himself. "My source of information. Obviously. I was planning to ask her a few more questions about Hell for the advancement of human knowledge."
Young Ash gave him a flat look. "I'm pretty sure the only field you wanted to advance was human reproduction."
Older Ash placed a hand against his chest as though deeply offended. "That is a terrible accusation. I was using charm and emotional intelligence to build trust."
"She was probably older than several civilizations."
"Women appreciate youthful compliments."
Ash pointed toward Amanda. "Great. Call her 'granddaughter' and see how much she appreciates it."
Amanda's stare sharpened immediately.
Older Ash suddenly found the Book of the Dead extremely interesting. "So... are we summoning another one?"
Young Ash did not press the joke further because the strengthening from the succubus had already begun. The increase to his body and spirit was noticeably weaker than what he had received from Eligos, confirming Lionel's assessment that the demon had never been much of a direct combat threat. Her true value came from the ability extracted after death.
Succubus Affinity.
The ability did not change Ash's face or body, which was probably for the best because he had no interest in becoming physically prettier just because he killed a seduction demon. Instead, it subtly altered the impression he gave other people, making his presence seem more approachable, pleasant, and naturally charismatic. Strangers would be more inclined to like or trust him at first meeting, though the effect was nothing like direct mind control.
Ash considered it for a moment and nodded.
Useful.
Especially for someone working as a federal agent.
Older Ash watched him suspiciously. "You got that weird look again."
"Nothing."
"You always say that after killing something."
Ash smiled. "Guess."
The interrogation plan, however, had clearly reached a dead end. Eligos and the succubus had given the same answer about the Dark Ones, and there was little reason to expect another random lesser demon to suddenly know the secret everyone else lacked. Older Ash finally sighed and said, "Fine. You keep playing demon exterminator with Lionel. The rest of us will go outside and figure out an actual solution."
Pablo, Kelly, and Amanda followed older Ash out of Books from Beyond and settled near the roadside while young Ash remained in the back room with Lionel. Ash now had a different justification for continuing: every demon still bound to the Book of the Dead was a potential future threat, so eliminating the weaker ones before anyone else summoned them was practically preventative law enforcement. The fact that every successful kill also strengthened him was simply a very convenient bonus.
Lionel rebuilt the salt circle once again.
Then the experiments continued.
Over the next twenty or thirty minutes, several summoning attempts failed completely. Each failure still produced a faint infernal disturbance that blackened portions of the salt and consumed ritual materials, forcing Lionel to replace sections of the containment circle even when no demon appeared.
Eventually, Lionel confirmed what he had suspected earlier. The success rate for specific contracted demons was only around one in three because many of the beings recorded by the Book of the Dead had apparently died during the enormous stretch of time since the Dark Ones created those contracts. Hell was evidently not a peaceful place, and centuries or millennia of fighting had reduced the list considerably.
The random summoning spell older Ash had originally read worked differently. It did not depend on calling one specific contracted demon, instead reaching into a broader region of the demonic realm and pulling available lesser spirits across. That was why it remained reliable even though so many individually named demons were already dead.
Young Ash and Lionel focused only on creatures whose species appeared naturally weak.
Several successful summons ended quickly.
Ash killed them one after another.
Then Lionel found something stronger.
A Flame Demon.
The moment the ritual completed, the atmosphere inside the bookstore changed violently. Heat rolled through the room, nearby wood creaked from the sudden temperature increase, and orange light flashed across the shelves as though a furnace had opened in the middle of the building. Lionel nearly lost control of the circle before Ash forced the creature back and finished it with repeated blasts and Demonic Power.
Outside, older Ash had been sitting with Pablo, Kelly, and Amanda while trying to think of another method to close the book. Suddenly, the air around the bookstore became hot enough to make breathing uncomfortable, and orange-red flashes pulsed through the windows. A series of heavy impacts and muffled shotgun blasts followed before everything abruptly went quiet.
Older Ash stared toward the entrance.
"That sounded expensive."
Kelly stood up. "Should we check?"
Before anyone moved, the front door opened.
Young Ash walked out supporting Lionel, whose legs looked barely capable of holding him upright.
Older Ash immediately approached. "You already finished?"
Ash shook his head. "Not all of them. We got several weaker demons, then a Flame Demon."
Lionel took a moment to steady himself before explaining. "We attempted quite a few summons, but only about a third succeeded. Eligos changing so much from the book should've been our first clue that an enormous amount of time has passed since these contracts were made, and a lot of those demons simply aren't alive anymore."
Older Ash frowned. "Demons can really die in Hell?"
Lionel nodded. "Apparently very often. The fragments I've translated describe constant conflict among them, so most of the demons with specific summoning contracts probably died centuries ago."
He looked exhausted as he continued. "The failed rituals still leak infernal energy, though, and that contamination keeps eating through the salt. We only had enough supplies for a few more attempts, so I rebuilt the circle one last time and went back to the book."
That was when something stranger happened.
"The summoning entries started disappearing."
Older Ash blinked. "Disappearing?"
Lionel nodded. "One after another. Most of the surviving weaker demons canceled their own contracts."
Young Ash looked almost offended. "Cowards."
Amanda stared at him.
Ash shrugged. "What?"
Lionel continued. "By the time it stopped, almost every manageable individual contract was gone. The only things still active are the broad random summoning spell Ash originally used and a handful of contracts tied to demons that are clearly far more powerful than anything we should attempt with a salt circle."
Nobody argued with that conclusion.
If the only specific demons left were top-tier entities confident enough to watch their weaker counterparts get slaughtered and still keep their contracts active, summoning one just to see what happened would be suicidal. The remaining ritual supplies might support one or two more circles, but nobody intended to test whether a monster strong enough to ignore Ash's killing spree could break through a line of table salt.
Older Ash rubbed his chin. "Why would all the weak ones suddenly cancel at the same time?"
Lionel looked toward young Ash.
Then back at older Ash.
"If my theory is right, contracted demons can observe what happens around the Book of the Dead."
Silence followed.
Lionel pointed toward the volume. "That would explain how Eligos knew your name the moment it appeared. The demons connected to the book may be able to watch through it, and after seeing young Ash summon their fellow contractors one at a time and kill them, the weaker ones decided they wanted no part of this."
Young Ash nodded slowly.
That made sense.
Older Ash, however, went pale.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at him.
He stared at the Book of the Dead as though it had personally betrayed him.
"You're saying they can watch through that thing?"
Lionel hesitated. "Potentially."
Older Ash's expression became horrified.
For decades, the Book of the Dead had traveled with him.
It had been inside his trailers.
His rooms.
His RV.
His private life.
Older Ash looked physically ill.
"You mean every time I had company..."
Kelly immediately understood.
"Oh, God."
Pablo covered his face.
Amanda looked away.
Young Ash smiled.
Older Ash pointed angrily at the book.
"A whole bunch of demons have been spying on me for years?"
He looked genuinely offended now.
"Perverts."