Loukas gnawed on his lower lip, almost bursting through the soft skin as he placed the red chalk back into its box. He dusted his hands on a spotted handkerchief as he observed his work.

“I think it looks good, maybe?” he murmured to himself as he looked down at his summoning circle. He gripped his hand on the cross around his neck and muttered a brief prayer.

What was he doing?

This was a bad idea. 

What was he even thinking?

 

Despite his anxiety, he took out a match and lit one of the 6 candles that surrounded the circle. He looked at the book again to make sure he was doing this right. 

Why this book had to to be this stereotypically creepy? It had a cover and even pages in leather and writing in red ink that smelt of iron.

He would have to take another long, hot shower once this was all over. Even then, Loukas knows he would still feel dirty at the fact he had been touching a book like this.

He started to doubt the leather was animal hide at that point.

 

Let's see...

A circle that surrounds a weird star thing, surrounded by 6 red candles on the 6th hour, lit with 6 matches...

Loukas would have thought this whole thing was a cruel, mean joke. Just to get him to do something he would not like, and make fun of him afterwards for being stupid and gullible. This would all end in him just smiling at being pranked but still sinking into despair of being that foolish to even consider that this would be an answer.

However, that seemed out of character for a girl like Carole.

 

She had been nice to him...

Well, as nice as she could be. She did not smile a lot, so it was hard to tell if she was messing with him. 

Although he disliked the suggestion of turning to satanic methods for help. At least, according to her, if his faith was strong, he keeps his cross on him, and his mind focused, it would be fine.  

He finished the set-up and the summoning circle gave a gentle glow once the last candle was lit, filling him with a confidence he had never felt before. 

Loukas swallowed as he tried to stop the shaking in his hands by tugging on the long sleeves of his wool sweater. He was skipping his late afternoon classes for this. It was world literature, he liked that course, even though he knows he probably was not getting it like the other students in the class.

Maybe... 

 

 

Maybe he should turn back and try this another time...

 

A less busy and offputting time…

 

Maybe not do it at all, he can find another method other than this right?

 

He could try medicines, those lovely purple flowers his estate used to grow… 

He had tried them so many times before and they had only made him so sick he would just spend the day and night emptying the contents of his stomach. 

However, maybe he was not doing right all those times? He was always fed those plants back home so maybe they know something he does not.

He does not know a lot anyway.

Their eyes showed that they thought the same thing as well.

Maybe this time.

"No," He thought as he balled his hands into a tight fist.

 This has to end. 

Those flowers had not worked and only made him miserable.

As awful as his home was, he had to accept he was no longer on his large family estate, with a forest as far as the eye. He was on a university campus, with few places he could go except just a small tiny forest area and he would not risk it.

The young ginger-haired man had made his choice. As he went up to the candle, match in hand, and a determination in his soul.

 Then a thumping and creaking from upstairs interrupted his thoughts.

His roommate must have arrived back early.

Loukas was about to ignore this until his then very sensitive ears picked up the muffled yet obvious lewd moan from the man and all that thumping and rustling of sheets took a different meaning.

Loukas blushed as he tried to push the thought of what he was doing out of his mind, but as usual, his thoughts still drifted. He knew that thumping and softer moan was probably another girl the guy picked up, the kind he usually saw around him. Loukas tried to push down his bitter black bile that rose in his throat at the thought and ignored his annoyance of this. 

 

It was just nothing...

 

His roommate was… Nice to look at, despite his annoying habits. 

Much older student, soft skin, a light voice, a bit on the short side, a nicely shaped behind.

Loukas realised his face had been turning bright red and he had let out a gasp as his hand had palmed at the erection that was beginning to form in his jean from the thoughts he had been allowing.

 

No, no, no. Damn it. He should focus, not... fantasize.

 

The glow of the circle intensified as his thoughts spiralled and lit up the dark basement in a warm red glow. Loukas tried to stand firm and clear his mind. 

 

He gave one last lord's prayer and then tried to focus as the glow grew. 

 

The light then blinded his sight. He heard voices from beyond that were distorted and hard to listen to but Loukas still tried his best to withstand it. 

 

The light eventually dimmed, and he once again was able to open his eyes as he found himself on the ground.

 

Loukas' brown dusty eyes slowly adjusted to the now dimmed basement as kept his hand tightly clutching onto the cross. He peered up, expecting to see a towering behemoth.

 

Sharp teeth and red skin, like the picture he saw on the pages of that book.

 

Instead, his eyes had to gradually shift downwards to see a much shorter figure surrounded by smoke.

 

Loukas held his breath as a hoof stepped out of the smoke. He had to keep calm and have a cool head for this.

 

“Damn a tall bean pole this time,” a voice that Loukas definitely did not expect. It sounded like a nose was clogged from a bad cold.

 

The demon he had summoned was…

 

 Not at all what he thought.