The Problem With Demons

I

"Wait, why do you need my blood?" Nate asked even as he pressed the needle to the pad of his thumb. "What's wrong with yours?"

Dom had gone all out for this attempt; the fire alarm on their dorm room ceiling was covered to allow for the use of candles (Nate sincerely hoped their RA wouldn't see this), all the lights were off and even the windows were covered with curtains Dom had bought specifically for the occasion. The only allowance he'd made was to paint the summoning circle on a large piece of cardboard rather than the floor so that they wouldn't get reported for vandalism.

"I'm not a virgin, obviously," Dom scoffed with such derision Nate wondered if he should feel a little offended.

Dom's enthusiasm waned when not even a spark appeared; he sighed and threw up his hands before turning accusingly to Nate. "You lied, you're not even a virgin, are you?"

"Nope, still a virgin." He shrugged, he pushed himself up from the ground and stepped around the circle. "Maybe your summoning just sucks."

"My summoning is perfect. It's because you're a redhead, isn't it? You're demon enough already!"

Nate laughed, yes, that must have been it. It couldn't have been that demons just didn't exist. He flicked on the light and started blowing out candles. Dom whined, but helped, and they managed to clear the room of anything incriminating fairly quickly.

"Maybe Lucy will donate," Dom wondered aloud, he folded up the summoning circle and slid it under his bed. "She's into supernatural stuff, right?"

"I think that's just the show." Nate stuffed the cover from the fire alarm into Dom's desk drawer and took down the curtains. "I still can't believe how much of a cliché you are."

Dom laughed; his lip piercing glinted in the yellow light of the room and he buffed his painted nails on his band tee. "We'll take the world by storm, roomie."

"Yes," he agreed, his voice deadpan, "a ginger computer nerd and Gothy McGoth. A killer combination."

The smell of lemongrass still lingered in the air, and Nate scrunched up his nose wishing Dom's dedication to his aesthetic had extended to unscented candles. He opened the window with a sigh of relief, ignoring the mocking one Dom made after, and sat down at his desk. "Lemongrass, really?"

"What?" Dom asked. "Can't expect anyone to visit if it stinks."

☾

He was too warm, and there was a weight on his bed there wasn't before. Nate turned and his hand hit something solid. "Dom? Get off."

The weight shifted, but they didn't get up and he pushed at it lightly. Mumbling a complaint under his breath, he settled in to put up with it. He heard a phantom of a laugh and something wet and warm slid up his neck.

Nate threw himself off the bed with a shriek. He scrambled for the light switch and rubbed at his neck with the top of his shirt and his sleeve. Dom groaned from his left, but Nate couldn't turn from the sight of his bed. It was empty.

"Nate?" Dom asked, his voice heavy. "The hell?"

"Sorry." Nate turned off the light and rubbed his arms. "Just a weird feeling. Night."

Nothing; there was nothing to explain the sudden weight from before nor the rapidly cooling wetness on his neck. His bed looked the same as it always did in the dim blue light from his laptop. There was no person, no creature, and definitely no monster; just scratchy supplied sheets, a pillow, and an oversized duvet.

A dream. It had to have been a dream, he decided. He forced himself through the motions of getting back into bed and lied back. The smell of lemongrass rose to meet him, and he muffled a groan with his pillow. He must have been humouring Dom too much; it was definitely starting to affect his mind.

Sleep, like his alarm, had not been kind. Nate was sure he'd been dreaming, but he couldn't remember much. He'd tried to remember some of it, as he zoned in and out of conversation at the dining hall during breakfast, but it was just snatches of whispers and heat. A clatter of cutlery brought the noise of the dining hall rushing back and Nate jumped in his seat.

"Ready to go?" Lucy asked shouldering her bag. She tugged her long blonde hair from underneath the strap and brushed it back. "We have that quiz in web programming today, yeah?"

"Yeah," Nate said. He picked up his backpack and joined her as she walked from the hall. The warm morning sun helped ease some of his exhaustion and Nate turned his attention back to Lucy.

"I told Dom 'no', of course." She said with a laugh, "what kind of person just gives their blood like that?"

"Of course," Nate agreed his voice strained. "But it's not like demons really exist."

"I suppose." Lucy ran her thumb across the anti-possession tattoo below her elbow and grinned. "I'd be fine even if they did."

"I don't think that show's the guide you'd want to follow." Nate smiled a little himself and they joked enough that even the imminent quiz couldn't break the comfortable feeling he'd settled into.

☾

In the end, he decided that he must have overreacted that morning. A couple of weird dreams were nothing compared to the homework he'd been saddled with. He'd get back to the dorm room and get started before Dom got back and roped him into another grimoire hunt in old bookshops. Everything was perfectly normal.

He opened his dorm room door to a man on his bed.

A man with horns and dark, glittering eyes.

"At last," the man said and stood. "You're back."

Nate pulled the door back shut. He'd never been more wrong in his life.