Harley was very drunk.
She'd lost count of the number of drinks she'd had, and she suspected her companions had as well. There were a pack of five of them in all. And she was kind of the odd girl out here. The others wanted to try out this thing they'd read about in their class about medieval myths and legends.
They each put in a photograph of themselves along with some gross stuff like bird bones and buried a box in a gravel crossroad.
"This is so not gonna work." Andrea laughed, and Harley was struck with a fit of giggles herself.
"What, are you scared?" Brian asked, coming over to join them.
"Would you guys shut up?" Ashley asked. "Dylan's trying to call the demon."
"Demon?" Harley asked. "Why do we want a demon?" She laughed at herself like a moron.
Dylan began to chant in Latin, but nothing happened. They waited for a good while, maybe ten minutes, when Andrea piped up.
"Can we go back? I'm bored."
"No." Dylan said stubbornly. "Do you guys wanna be rich or not?"
"This is stupid." Andrea said, but didn't move.
"Give it a while, besides, we're not missing anything cool." Ashley said, twirling her hair.
They sat in silence for a long while, with only the car's radio going, and watching the spot. Andrea played footsie with Brian and Harley began to sober up a bit. Ashley watched Dylan intently, obviously obsessed with him.
"Guys, let's go back." Harley said. "Nothing's gonna happen." Something about the whole thing gave her the creeps. But it was all just nonsense, right?
"One more try." Dylan said, and flipped open a book he snagged from the University library and read.
And then it happened all too quickly. A man with black hair appeared out of nowhere. He was young, maybe only a little older than themselves, and dressed in a black dress shirt, trench coat, and an embroidered tie-which reflected the car headlights.
"Oh, my, there are a lot of you, aren't there?" he said, in a rich Scottish accent.
"We want to be billionaires." Dylan announced.
"Don't we all, mate?" The demon was amused.
"We summoned you, so you give us what we want." Ashley ordered.
"Doesn't work like that, love." he said. "I need something in return."
"Like what?" Andrea asked.
"Your souls."
"Ok," Dylan said. "I'll trade you my soul for money."
"What? No." Andrea gasped.
"Alright then. You're a billionaire." The demon handed him a slip of paper documenting billions of dollars worth of stocks. "But your life is forfeit." As he said this, he made a fist and Dylan collapsed to the ground; dead.
"Dylan!" Ashley screamed. "How could you?" she rounded on the demon.
"Oh, I know." the demon smirked. "So quickly. Usually I'd sic the dogs on him. Must be losing my touch. So what is it that you want, love?" he asked Ashley.
"I want Dylan back. I want to be with him." she said, tears in her eyes.
"And you're willing to forfeit your life?" he asked.
"Yes...but I will be with him, won't I?"
"Of course. I wouldn't lie." The demon said, and did the same to her. "Enjoy your lives together in Hell."
As Ashley fell, Brian and Andrea jumped into Brian's car and sped off, leaving Harley with the corpses and the demon.
"Any requests?" he asked her.
Harley frowned.
"What is it? Sad your friends are gone?" he made a move toward her but she backed up.
"You...you didn't kiss them. You didn't deal with them." Her book had said that deals were sealed with a kiss.
"No." the demon agreed. "But the stocks weren't real either. I just decided to kill them."
"So why should I bother? You'll just kill me too, and mock me in the process."
"Tell me," the demon watched her. "Why did you come here? Honestly, what did you think you'd be making a deal for?"
"I don't know. I guess I didn't...I didn't know what I'd want."
"Nothing? Fame? Fortune?" he came closer and Harley stood her ground.
"I was drunk." she shrugged. "I didn't think any of this was real."
"But if you could, what would you deal for?"
"I don't know..." she said.
"Not fame, or fortune? Maybe love?"
"I wouldn't know who to ask for."
"You really don't want anything?" he said.
"I don't have anything that I want to risk my life for, no." she laughed. "I barely have a reason for living, let alone any special ambitions."
"Why is that?" he asked, sidling up to her.
"I'm an orphan with no life and no family. I attend college in hopes of having a chance at a decent job, but after that I don't even know what I want to do. I just exist without any real purpose."
"What if I could give you a family? Bring your parents back?"
"I don't even know what they're like. No. No thank you. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to start walking back if you're not going to kill me."
"You really think you exist for nothing?" he asked.
"Some people live." she said. "Others, are just here." She shrugged, and turned away from him. "I'm one of the latter."
"So you've never believed in love or anything like that? No pleasure or real happiness?" he was intrigued.
"Not for me."
"I could show you love." he shrugged.
"I told you, I wouldn't know who I was even looking for." she said, turning to back to face him.
"No...I won't make someone fall for you. I'll just show you what it's like." he said.
"What's the cost?"
"Free of charge."
"Why don't I trust that?" she asked, giving him a wry smile. "How do you benefit?"
"I get to spend the night with a pretty girl." he shrugged. "I'd call that a plus."
"So the deal is we both spend the night together and we both walk away with our lives unaffected afterwards and very much intact?"
"Exactly."
She stared at him for a moment. She'd never known any love, really, so the idea was certainly appealing. But he was still a demon; one who'd just killed her companions, even if they'd only just met. She didn't know what came over her, but she found herself drawn to him. She walked back over to him. She must have still been drunk.