Do you know what it feels like to be hunted? No? I didn’t either. Not until two years ago. But I survived, by the skin of my teeth, all with the hope that I could have peace again. But that doesn’t seem very likely anymore. No, not likely at all, because I’ve spent all the good luck I had, and there’s no way I can get out of this one.

“David, is this really the end?”

That’s my friend Brad, he’s a simple guy, but he’s been the only constant in my life ever since that fateful day. 

I nodded. “It’s the end, we have no chance anymore.” 

I had lied before about our chances of surviving, but here it was pointless. With all escape routes blocked, both of us severely injured, and that perpetually smiling demon slowly walking towards us, it was certain.

Today, we would die.

So, the question arises. How did we find ourselves in this precarious position? Well, that can only be answered if I take you back to the beginning of all this. Back to a simple evening with some friends. 

—-

“David you idiot, why are you spilling the drinks?” Chris shouted.

“Hey, don’t blame me, I’m more sober than you. If I spilled some, you would’ve spilled more!” I replied in similar volume.

“Maybe I would’ve spilled more, but at least I wouldn’t be the most boring one here!”

A series of ooh’s sounded around the room.

Then Brad spoke “Are you just gonna have that David.” 

Classic instigating, but when you’re drunk, things like restraint tend to slip away.

“Who’s not gonna have what?” I roared as I got off the sofa and started walking over to Chris.

Upon seeing my path of destruction, Chris let out a girlish scream contrary to his masculine appearance, and stumbled over himself as he made his way to the opposite side of the table from me.

“I’m sorry sir!” He shouted in the same feigned high pitch.

I felt a smile threatening to appear and struggled to keep a straight face.

“Sorry’s not gonna cut it!” I shouted and started chasing him in a circle around the table.

After a few circles, we both came to a stop, though he stopped to make sure his dinner didn’t come back up, and I stopped because I had run out of breath.

Seeing this, a smile spread out across another of my friends' faces, James. “Ohh, Brad, he’s having it! Chris really violated him like that and he’s taking it!”

Brad laughed. “Damn David, if you want to pussy out that’s fine, but personally I could never do that. That’s just me though.”

They had the desired effect as I started thinking of the easiest way to get to Chris. Over the table, straight to him. It was a low coffee table with only a few full beer cans on it and a whole load of empty ones. James and Brad seemed to notice my idea as they followed my gaze and quickly retrieved the cans we were currently drinking.

Chris backed into the corner, next to a bookshelf with some dusty old tomes filling it. But it was all he could do, and I took a step back to get a running start before leaping over the table like a graceful eagle gliding through the air. Or at least that’s what I felt like, in truth I was probably more akin to a fat chicken desperately flapping its wings to slow its fall.

Nevertheless, my valiant appearance caused him to scream again and I had made it over. I wasted no momentum, going in directly for a barge which pushed him into the bookshelf, knocking a few out onto the floor. Then, without a delay, I put him into a headlock between my arm and body.

“Who’s boring?” I shouted.

“I’m boring! I’m boring!” He quickly cried.

I let go of him in satisfaction and let him get to a proper posture. Then, as we both caught our breath, we locked eyes and burst out laughing. Brad and James also joined us in our laughter.

Only after several seconds did we stop. 

“I can’t lie, that last scream was real. You can be scary when you decide to imitate a flying pig.”

I chuckled a bit. “Shut up man, you want round two?”

“First you guys can put my books back where they came from.” Brad said.

I nodded. “Fair enough, it was our fault.” I said, a joke was a joke, but I didn’t want to trash my friend’s house, and bent down to pick some up.

But Chris had a different interpretation. “Our fault? I’m the victim here and you want me to help?” He cried in indignation. 

I just ignored him with a smile and kept putting them back, there had only been a few that fell in the first place.

“What’s with all these massive books anyway? They can’t all be dictionaries.” Chris asked.

“I don’t know to be honest.” Brad replied. “I inherited them from my grandad and I didn’t want to just throw them away, so I put them up there. It makes my mum smile when she visits.”

All of the books had hardcovers and were at least two inches thick.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I took the last one on the floor and read the title, the only thing on the cover. Written in golden letters across a dark green background was a single word.

“Demons.” 

The room grew silent for a moment.

“He was into the occult I think. Always told me stories of how he and his friends used to visit haunted places a lot when he was young.” Said Brad.

We were quiet for another moment, before James spoke.

“What does it say inside? Maybe we can summon one, spice this evening up a bit.”

I opened it and read.

“Demons. They are a part of nearly every religion and mythology that has ever existed on Earth. They come in many forms and are clouded in mystery. But there is one undeniable truth about them. They are real. 

In this book, I intend to reveal the true nature of these creatures; their origins, their goals, how to summon them, and perhaps most importantly, how to kill them. For they are not benevolent creatures. And if one targets you, the only end is the death of the demon, or you.”

Chris spoke. “Well that’s a bit creepy.”

“Totally creepy.” Said James. “Skip to the part where it says how to summon them already.”

Chris trembled slightly, “You want to keep going after hearing that?”

James smiled. “Yeah, what’s the problem? Unless you’re scared?” He goaded.

“Come on man, you know how I feel about these kinds of things. Can’t we just enjoy a regular evening without all this supernatural stuff?”

“I think we should see, I want to see what my grandpa was so interested in. I never had a proper look at the books.” Brad said.

“Well I’m against it. What do you think David?” Said Chris.

I thought about it for a moment, before throwing caution to the wind.

“We can just read it first, we don’t actually have to try and summon one.” I said, causing a cheer from James and Brad.

I flipped through the book to the start of the chapter titled, ‘How to summon a demon.’

“If you have read this far, you no doubt understand the true horrors that would come to pass if the demons were to achieve their goals. So why would you ever want to summon one? It is because the reward that can be obtained from successfully summoning one is enormous. Some might argue that some of the things you can achieve from summoning a demon are physically impossible if you live a normal life. Though I disagree, it is a fact that demons can drastically ease the difficulty of success.

However, you must understand that the success a would-be summoner seeks is not without its drawbacks. Some tremendous enough that they could cause you torment for an eternity. If your soul were to fall into their grasp, it is certain that you would forever suffer. Perhaps if one was evil enough, they could even choose to sacrifice their own children. 

Of course, matters concerning the soul can only proceed with the agreement of the owner. It is, in nearly all cases, impossible for a demon to forcibly seize another living being's soul. Which is one of the reasons why they value them so much. But it is not so easy to convince someone to give up their most important essence, so they must offer something in return. This logic forms the basis of the demonic contract system. An exchange fuelled by greed. 

I am of the opinion that any who enter into a contract, are among the most idiotic of all humanity. To give up your very self for a brief bout of excitement is the most unfair exchange in existence, one that can only occur from the narrow worldview of a short lived human. As such, I will not be describing how you can form a contract.”

I was interrupted by James. “Come on man, I told you to skip to the good bit, stop wasting our time with this boring stuff.”

“If you find it so bad, then we can just stop now, we don’t have to read anymore.” Said Chris.

“We’re reading it Chris, stop trying to pussy out.”

“Relax James, Chris is just scared. Now, I think the writer was just about to move onto the part you want anyway.” I said

“You’re right, my bad Chris.”

Chris nodded in response, and I started reading again.

“You might wonder why I have even bothered to write this book, if I am so against contracts. It is because they are not the only way to gain the power of the demons. The method I prefer is much more straightforward, without any of the drawbacks mentioned. Simply, you just need to kill the demon.

Doing so will allow you to usurp a part of the demon's power and process it as your own, allowing you to do what you want with it, when you want. Although you only receive a fraction of their capabilities, you can continue to accumulate power as long as there are still demons alive to kill. You must stay vigilant though, because the demons are fully aware of this possibility, and none will go without a fight. That is why more than 95% of this book is dedicated to how you can kill demons, even starting from nothing. I must warn you now, that you should read that entire section at least twice before you even consider summoning a demon. Ideally, you should study and follow my methods for at least five years before you summon one. In the long scale of a demon killer’s life, five years is just a blip. However, I understand that my potential readers are not likely to be the cautious type, so I will tell you the simplest truth to kill demons. 

Improve yourself. 

If you continually improve your abilities, you will survive. Remember this.” 

The words felt important, and seemed to describe exactly what we were, so I let it sit in the room before I continued.

“Summoning a demon requires both an offering, and an intention to accept them into our world. Strictly speaking, the offering is not necessary, but demons are prideful and will not usually deign to answer a summons if there isn’t something guaranteed for them. This offering should be something that is valuable to you. For them, it is not just an item of value, but also a show of subservience, which they love so dearly. Truthfully, you are unlikely to have anything which they would find valuable.

However the intention is vital. Demons are naturally rejected by the world, and they can only bypass that rejection if they are granted passage by an inhabitant. This is why our world hasn’t been overrun yet, and why they remain myths for the most part. Thankfully, this is easy and should be automatically fulfilled by the process of summoning.”

The book went on to describe the process of building a summoning circle and activating it. Dreadfully boring stuff, that I won’t bore you with the details of. However, if it was to be believed then we were now equipped with the knowledge to summon a real demon right in our room.

Chris seemed a bit shocked by the whole book, which was slightly surprising, as it had been more dull than scary to me. Nevertheless, he still excused himself to go for a smoke outside. 

As he left, James spoke. “Well we can’t have spent all this time, just to not go through with it. Let’s try it whilst Chris is still outside and won’t stop us.”

Brad replied, “I didn’t really understand what David was reading towards the end. I agree though, let’s summon one. Three grown men can’t beat a single demon?” He took a swig from his can.

James spoke again, “So David, you in?”

To be honest, the book had managed to draw me in more than I thought it would. But as much as my curiosity beckoned me, the warning of the unknown author still hung in my mind. Whoever they were, they had to be an expert on the topic, whether it was real or not, and they thought that we weren’t ready.

That grated against me, maybe it was just my ego being hurt. I might not have done much with my life yet, but I had always felt that I had the potential to become successful. So if I had to judge my ability to survive against a demon before I read the book, I would have said that I could do it. Yet, I had been told otherwise. It didn’t make sense for me to get worked up over it, but I was. Who was this person to tell me what I could or couldn’t do?

I grabbed my beer from the table and finished it.

“Let’s do it.”