djöflaeyjan

She used to take demon lovers. Djöflar, púkar, óhreinir andar, undarlegar vættir allar.

She had a charm, a spell that would summon them. A few words and some numbers with no apparent meaning. And then they would emerge out of the night or from the twilight of dawn or dusk, come to her in her rooms and slide soundlessly into her bed.

One would think that they would have possessed her. That is the usual language and way of these things. But it seems rather that she possessed them. Perhaps the charm was also a binding. After their meetings she would send them back into the mist to be, again, invisible to all.

Eventually she stopped reciting the charm. At the time, she wasn't sure why.

Some time later she found it again, scribbled on a bit of paper and jammed into the pocket of a winter coat. She flattened out the paper. Then, on a whim, she pronounced it backwards.

She told me, once, softly and smiling, what happened then, but I don't think I will tell you what she said.