A/N: Title taken from Imagine Dragons' 'Believer'


"You know, sitting in a summoning circle in your living room was not how I planned to spend my evening."

Ryan blinked several times before shaking his head and stumbling to sit on his couch. "I – you – this is for demons."

"Well, yeah," Shane said. "They don't make summoning circles for Care Bears." He held out the bowl he was holding and offered, "Popcorn?"

"No." Ryan shook his head again. He looked around as if to reassure himself he was still conscious and as sane as he had been before. "I'm not hallucinating, am I? I made this," he gestured to the salt circle on the ground surrounded by various objects and spells, "and you showed up."

Shane nodded, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Yup."

Ryan reached out and shut off the camera, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of Shane. "Does this – " his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, "does this mean you're a demon?"

Shane sighed. There were a lot of ways to answer the question, some more theatrical than others but most of them were assuming no traps were involved. "Yes," he answered after a couple of seconds. "I wasn't planning on doing anything, uh, demonic tonight, though. Just a movie. Hence the popcorn."

"You're a demon," Ryan said again, "and you make YouTube videos for a living?"

"There's literally no better cover," Shane pointed out, eating a handful of popcorn. "No one suspects a thing."

Ryan nodded. "Uh-huh." He paused, trying to take in the ridiculousness of the whole situation. "So, uh, what now?"

"What do you mean?" Shane asked, eating more popcorn. "Isn't it obvious?"

Feeling completely out of his element, Ryan stood up and took a step back from the circle. "You're a demon. Demons exist. You aren't human, the supernatural is real, and you've been hiding it from me the entire time you've known me!" He finished the sentence nearly shouting. "What," he demanded, "are we going to do about this?"

Shane set the bowl of popcorn aside and stood up. "There's one thing I need you to do for me," he said calmly, "and then all of this will make sense."

"What is it?"

"I need you to let me out of this circle."

Ryan shook his head. "I'm not letting a demon out to wreak havoc on me!"

"I wouldn't wreak havoc on you," Shane said. Demons were generally evil, chaotic creatures but there was no obligation on his end to hurt anyone he wasn't ordered to. "Look, Ryan, you know me. Would I hurt you?"

Ryan dragged his hands over his face. "Jesus, Shane. I want to trust you, I really, really do, but I…" he trailed off.

Shane tilted his head, considering. "Well, I can't swear on a Bible or anything, but I can give you my word as – "

"No."

"As your friend," Shane finished the sentence. "Seriously, Ryan, I promise that if you let me out of here I won't hurt you and nothing bad will happen." He cracked a smile. "This isn't a horror movie or something."

Ryan sighed through his nose. "Sure feels like it," he muttered. Stepping forward, he rubbed out one section of the chalk circle before jumping back several feet.

"Thanks," Shane said, not moving. He looked at Ryan and carefully stepped out of the circle. Nothing happened; he didn't smoke or sprout wings or horns. His eyes were still brown, and he looked exactly like the Shane Ryan had worked with for years. Taking another step towards Ryan, he held out his hand.

Ryan stared at him for a long moment. "What are you going to do to me?" he asked.

"Do you really want to remember this?" Shane asked honestly.

Another silence reigned before Ryan said anything. "No," he said finally. "The idea that my best friend is a demon scares the shit out of me."

"That's what I thought," Shane said as Ryan took his hand. "It won't hurt, don't worry."

The last thing Ryan heard before he passed out was Shane saying, "Have a good day at work."

"How was last night?" Shane asked.

Ryan shook his head. "I woke up with a wicked headache for no reason at all." He dropped down into his chair and leaned on his desk. "I didn't even drink anything."

"Aspirin?" Shane offered.

Ryan took it gratefully, swallowing two of the pills. "You're a godsend, you know that?"