Page 16 of I Accidentally Summoned a Demon Boyfriend

“What’s wrong?” Keri leaned in. “Where the hell are you?”

“I-” I thought about what I needed to say. Keri already thought I was out of my damn mind. How would she accept the news that I was in hell? “You have to keep an open mind and understand that I am not losing it.”

“That’s a comforting lead in.” Keri struggled to turn on the light by her bed, which illuminated her pissed off expression even more.

“Hold on.” I thought it was best to show her better than tell her. I left his bedroom and walked out to the open room with the massive window that overlooked the underworld. Thinking this was the best way to prove my point, I turned the camera to the window and waited for Keri to respond.

“And I’m looking at what, exactly?” she asked.

I turned the screen back on myself and sighed. “I’m in hell.”

“Cool. Can I go back to sleep?” Keri rolled her eyes.

“What?” My heart dropped. She doesn’t believe me. Great. “I just told you I’m in hell!”

“What did you find, some AI generated filter or something? Is this for that game you were talking about creating at one point? Looks pretty impressive.” Keri yawned, a sign she was done with the conversation. “I’m happy for you, but couldn’t you have waited until the sun was up to tell me?”

“Sun? What?” It hadn’t been that long since demon boy kidnapped me. It was barely the afternoon when it happened. How could it be that late? “Look, Keri, I know that this sounds insane, but I’m telling you. I’m in hell!”

“I love you. I do, Rayna, but this is too far.” Keri sighed. I knew what she was thinking. It was a part of the reason I was in therapy. “What do you need to bring you out of this, because I’m seriously worried about you.”

“I’m not lying,” I pleaded with her to believe me.

“Look, I gotta go. My alarm is going to sound off in a couple hours, and I really need sleep before dealing with those horrible people I call coworkers. Please call your therapist. I’m worried about you.”

“Keri-” I wanted to beg her to believe what I was saying, but the call ended. I thought of calling someone else, but the air tensed with a now familiar feeling. He was coming back. I hurried, turned the phone off, hid it in my bag, and sat awkwardly on the large chair by the window.

A moment later, Metice appeared in front of me, holding four bags and staring at me like he wanted to wrap his hands around my throat and end it all. The bags fell to the floor with a thud, and I had to stop myself from laughing in his face.

“Did you really need all of this…stuff?” He pointed to the bags. “How long do you plan on being here?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.” I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes at him. “Unless you’re ready to take me back home, I need every single item on that list.”

“Including the half-finished crochet project?” He lifted the bag that had my yarn falling out of it.

“I finally have some time on my hands.” I shrugged. “Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired to finish it. And you don’t have electricity here, so I need something to do while I wait for whatever you think you need to do while I’m here.”

“Of course,” he grunted.

“This isn’t right. You can’t just kidnap someone.” I rolled my eyes. I expected him to give in and tell me I could go home or at least argue a little more. “I have responsibilities, a job, people who rely on me for things. Am I supposed to sit here and allow my life to fall apart while you do whatever it is you need to do?”

“I don’t care what you do. You have plenty of stuff here.” He moved the bags from the floor to the sofa beside me. “I even brought your laptop, though there is no internet connection in hell. I got one of those portable batteries for you. Its solar charging, so you can keep it powered up by sitting it next to the window.”

“There’s a sun in hell? I mean, I know there’s light out there, I just assumed in the underworld, you didn’t have a regular solar system.” I looked out the window, and for the first time, I processed that there was a source of light in the sky and a warmth carried by that light.

“Please stop trying to compare my world to the various lores you humans have created. This isn’t the hell you think it is. It’s more like another planet far away from Earth. We have our own sun. We even have our own power supplies, though they aren’t compatible with your devices. It should work perfectly fine.”

“Perfect, I can draft emails that will never be sent.” I rolled my eyes.

“The appropriate response is thank you.” He waited.

“There are rules against these kinds of things. Snatching someone up and refusing to let them go home isn’t okay.” I wasn’t about to thank him for a damn thing. So what, he brought me a battery pack—he still had me there against my will.

“Do you honestly think I care at all about your human laws?” Metice stepped back from me and looked me up and down like he was assessing my soul. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“What am I supposed to do here? You want to investigate, fine, but what do you expect me to do? Just sit in this cave hidden away?”

“That’s exactly what I expect.” He pointed to the bags full of items. “Work on your crafts, write in your journal. Hell, work on that screenplay you never finished. Do whatever you need to keep you from annoying me while we figure this out.”

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