The Summoning
“So let me get this straight,” said the demon, in a tone that suggested he was dreading the answer. “You want to trade your soul for, uh… demon dick?”
“No, don’t be stupid,” Liam replied, annoyed. “I want to trade my virginity for demon dick.”
The demon stood well over eight feet tall, with dark red skin and a physique Liam was inclined to call “ripped as hell” and only slightly regret the pun. A thick mane of dark hair ran from between the demon’s long, curved horns to somewhere between his shoulders, and Liam could spot a hint of fangs every time the demon spoke. A heavy brow and flat, goatlike nose made the demon’s face a little more bestial than Liam had expected, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker. Neither were the literal cloven hooves.
Especially considering how the demon’s defined abs and cut groin led the eye down to where he was wearing a long, silk loincloth that left very little to the imagination, and nothing else.
Overall, Liam was pleased with the results of the summoning ritual. His instructions had been very specific.
The demon, on the other hand, seemed a little more annoyed than anticipated.
“Okay,” the demon said. His voice was low and velvety, with a bass rumble that went right to Liam’s cock. “So, setting aside that virginity is a social construct—”
“What, and souls aren’t?” Liam interrupted.
“—setting that aside, there are easier ways to get laid than summoning a demon.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“You’re an adorable little college twink—”
“Excuse you,” Liam interrupted again. “I’m a twunk.”
“Fine. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” The demon sighed and scratched the base of one of his horns. “My point is, how have you not hooked up at all?”
“I’m an engineering major,” Liam shot back. “I don’t have time for hooking up.”
“But you have time to practice black magic?”
“Yes, apparently!”
This was not going the way Liam had imagined.
Maybe the location was wrong. The ritual had to be conducted at a crossroads, but most of the actual crossroads—crossroadses?—on campus were a little too exposed for black magic and associated tomfoolery. So he’d set up his ritual site at the junction of two access hallways in the basement of the biological sciences building, which was practically a liminal space even before Liam had started chalking sigils on the floor.
Apparently exposed plumbing and hastily plastered-over asbestos didn’t do it for the average demon. Go figure.
The demon let out an exasperated groan and rubbed his temples. “Okay, listen—let me out of the circle, all right? I promise I won’t kill you or eat your soul or whatever you—”
“I can’t leave college a virgin,” Liam blurted out. “Please, I worked so hard, I missed out on everything else, I just—I just want one little bit of the normal college experience.”
The demon blinked at him. “‘Normal college experience.’ Selling your virginity to a demon.” The demon inhaled slowly and let the breath out in one explosive sigh. “All right. Let me out of the circle and we’ll talk.”
“Promise?”
“On my mother’s grave,” the demon said, then quickly added, “She’s not actually dead, though. She’s running a tech conglomerate in California.”
Liam stepped forward, wary, and scuffed out a section of the chalk circle with his shoe. There was a faint snap in the feel of the air around them, and the demon visibly relaxed.
“Thanks,” the demon said, and stepped out of the circle.
“I half expected you to disappear,” Liam said.
“I can’t actually do that,” the demon replied. “It’s a summoning ritual, not a ‘you get to go home now’ ritual.” He squeezed past Liam and headed up the hall, toward the stairs. “Come on. I left a teleportation glyph around here somewhere.”
Liam followed the demon, jogging a little to keep up with his massive strides. “Okay, I can guess what that does, but why do you have one on campus?”
“I have them all over,” the demon replied. “That summoning ritual is a real pain in the ass. One time this guy summoned me to the middle of a swamp and I had to get a riverboat home.”
“Wow,” Liam said, for lack of anything better to say.
“The worst part was how I got halfway there, and then he summoned me back because he forgot something.”
The teleportation glyph was in an ill-used supply closet on the first floor of the building, which confirmed a few of Liam’s suspicions as to the unholy nature of the place. The demon cleared a space in front of it, then turned to Liam.
“You coming with?”
“Where are we going?” Liam asked.
“My place,” the demon said. “We can talk about… stuff… there.”
He was about to go with a demon to a second location. Bad idea bad idea bad idea—
“… Yeah,” Liam said. “Sure. Let’s go.”
The demon nodded, took hold of Liam’s wrist, and pressed his hand against the glyph.
Liam’s stomach lurched as everything went dark. For a moment, he panicked at the horrible mistake he’d surely just made—
And then the world rematerialized around him.
Judging by the view out the window, they were still in town. And by god, what a view. The demon’s “place” was apparently the most expensive penthouse in town, furnished in rich leather, red velvet, and dark wood.
“This isn’t exactly the ninth circle of hell,” Liam remarked.
“Second,” the demon replied.
“What?”
“Lust is the second circle of hell,” the demon said. “And I work remote.” He headed for the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Can I get you anything? Water? Snacks?”
Liam took a moment to adjust to the sight of an eight-foot-tall demon squinting at the interior of what appeared to be a poorly-stocked fridge. “Uh… I’m good, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” The demon emerged from the fridge, a bottle of expensive-looking water in his hand. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Liam. What, uh… what’s yours?”
The demon shrugged. “I’d pull the ‘I have many names’ gag, but it’s not that funny anymore. You can call me Hex.”
Hex settled next to Liam on the couch, his weight actually tilting it a little in his direction.
“So,” he said, twisting the cap off the water bottle. “What is it you want to happen here?”
Liam stared at him for a moment, brow furrowing a little. “Sex,” he said, in case Hex needed a reminder.
Hex rolled his eyes and took a few gulps from the bottle. “A little more detail than that, please. What’s off the table?”
“Uh,” Liam said, thinking. When he summoned a demon to take his virginity, he hadn’t anticipated that boundary negotiation would be part of the evening’s events. “I’m okay with a little rough stuff. But not, like… really rough stuff?”
Hex polished off the water and set the empty bottle down on the coffee table. “I can work with that.” He leaned into Liam’s space, hot breath teasing against his lips. “Where do you want to start?”
“I really want to suck your dick,” Liam blurted out.
“Wow, okay,” Hex said, pulling back a little. “I figured we could start with some foreplay, maybe.”
“That works too.”
