A Summoned Date

I was busy with office work when my phone rang. It was my sister, Carin. I dreaded answering it. Our cousin’s wedding was a month away and she was pushing me to find a date before it because she didn’t want me to go to the ceremony alone while she would attend it with her fiancé. She was persistent as ever on the phone.

“Brian says he can set you up with one of his friends. Why not give it a shot?”

“Why are you two so bothered by me not having a date? I have no issue going by myself.”

Carin sighed, and I hung up the phone right after. She called again; I put my phone on silent. She and mom were always the same. Neither of them ever respected my boundaries. The last time Carin set me up with someone was a disaster. They can’t understand that not everyone needs a partner to be happy; I’m the happiest I’ve ever been since my breakup and now they’re trying to drag me back into dating again? I missed grandma. She was the only one who understood me.

That night, I had a dream about grandma. She told me to check the books she left for me, saying that the one with the red cover had just the spell I needed. I grabbed the red book I dreamt about and started flipping through its pages. Suddenly. They began to turn on their own, picking up the pace until stopping just three pages from the book’s end. The spell was in a language I had never seen before, but somehow, I could understand the words that were written down.

I recited the spell and, by the time it was complete, a gust of black mist blew through the air and engulfed the entire room. The gaze of twin crimson eyes pierced through the dark haze and rendered me petrified. What had I just summoned?

“Curse that old witch. Even in death, she mocks me,” the being spoke. Soon, the black haze began to disperse, and I could finally see what was standing before me. The being was humanoid in shape, taking the form of a man, but his skin was ashen and his eyes were of fire and blood.

“Wh-what are you?”

The being frowned. “You mean to say you summoned me without knowing who I am?”

I said nothing.

The man scoffed. “I’m Lucifer.”

My eyes widened without me even realising it. “What? How can that be?”

“Your grandmother created that spell to control me, but it can only be performed a limited number of times. This is the final one. Now, tell me why you have summoned me.”

“I… Well… I wanted a date for my cousin’s wedding.”

Lucifer’s expression suddenly went blank. “You want me…as a date? Now I wish that old hag would have just killed me.”

“Well, aren’t you obligated to see this through, considering the seal?”

Lucifer furrowed his brows. “When is the wedding?”

I explained everything that was going on to him and he agreed to disguise himself as a human and go by ‘Luke’. Four months passed and the wedding went smoothly. Lucifer seemed to hate every waking minute of the ceremony, but he put on a fake smile whenever anyone approached us. After the reception, he was seeing me home when a man tried to mug us. Lucifer didn’t hesitate to eliminate him, incinerating him in a mere second with just the snap of his fingers. I didn’t even have the time to react; I simply rushed away from the scene with him.

That night, once I was home, Lucifer bade me farewell, saying he hoped to never be summoned again. Three months passed, but I couldn’t help but think about him from time to time. Was I missing the fallen angel? I was surprised by my thoughts. There was no other spell in my grandma’s book to summon him, so I did the only thing I could: I called out to him with my thoughts, hoping he’d hear me. Surprisingly, he did.

Lucifer appeared before me with another gust of black mist, his piercing gaze freezing me where I stood once again as it did before. But this time, I wasn’t afraid.

“What do you want now?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m willing to find out,” I replied.