Annie was all I ever needed. I conjured her on the night of All Hallows Eve, and she remained by my side for years. She had a transparent, humanoid form. She clung to shadows and I could never get a proper look at her face, but the silent laughter that echoed in my head after a payback was definitely female.

Annie isn’t her real name. Her full name is something old and Aramaic - Anazael, or something equally hard to pronounce. I decided to just call her Annie. She didn’t seem to mind.

I needed Annie to help me take revenge on my enemies. I had quite a few. I was a scrawny kid, tall and thin with the kind of chunky glasses that sent bullies into raptures. I had no friends and ratting the bullies out only made things worse, so the way I saw it I only had the one ch...

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