Page 12 of Cookbooks and Demons

He paused to see if she comprehended. “Do you have a question?” he said, probably noting her expression.

“Well, I mean…” She sighed, deciding to let her caution go a bit. “It’s just… all the movies and documentaries out there about the dangers of demon summoning. You’re making it sound so… normal?”

“Look, don’t let me mislead you. Demon summoning is really dangerous. I’m not kidding,” he stressed, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back. “But it is determined by scale. Like having a drink of wine at dinner, mostly fine. Having a case of wine at dinner, probably going tokill you.”

Helena thought about that as she took a drink of her milk.“What? So, for little things you can just cut your finger, but for big things like…” She tried to think of anexample.

“That’s where you get into the human sacrifices, yes,” he said, nodding. “It’s all to pay the… let’s just call it demon magic. It pays it back. And demons always get paid back.”

And just when I start to feel comfortable, he says something like that,she thought. “Okay, then. What doyouwant?” she asked, steeling herself. “What would be a fair compensation for dinner?”

He held up his thumb with the other two fingers.“The third thing. Mind.Mind usually means I can consume a memory, thought, dream, something like that.”

“You want one of my memories?”she asked.

“Yes, please.” He nodded effusively.

Helena scraped at the plate, gathering up the mousse frosting onto the edge of her fork. “Will it hurt?” she asked, bringing it to her mouth.

“No,” he said, then leaned forward and thumped his hand against herforehead.

The world tilted sideways. The lighting in the room went wrong and sounds echoed sharp and painful, all while echoing hollowly. There was no illusion around him now. The demon sat across from her in all his emaciated horror. The ground seemed to be opening up through the boards of her floor, letting in sulfurous smoke and waves of heat, along with cries of pain and suffering which no one would be able to assuage. Coldness pressed against the inside of Helena’s skull, like an ice cream headache but sharper and physical as she felt something leaving her through the palm of the demon’s hand.

And then itwas over.

Helena sat there stunned as the room returned to her soft dim lighting. The floorboards were normal and flat, and there were no other sounds except the ticking of her clock onthe wall.

Then the demon next to her moaned.

She jumped a little bit as he leaned forward, once more hiding behind a human facade. His fingers were pressed to his mouth, his eyes closed in pure ecstasy. Then he leaned back, tilting his head, breathing hard as if he were going to orgasm or something. Helena found herself recoiling in her seat but unable to look away.

Then he sighed, letting his arms drop to his lap while his face morphed into pure bliss. “Oh damn, that was good,” he said, then added. “Too much butter though. I didn’t need to overcompensateso much.”

“What… what was that?” Helena demanded, rubbing at her forehead where the ice cream headache faded but left her feeling disturbed.

“My payment,” the demon said, opening his eyes to look at her. “I just ate your memory of eating that chocolate cake.”

Her eyes went wide, then she glanced down at the finished plate, before going back to him. “You ate my memory of me eating the cake. I can’t remember what it tastes like at all.” It was a disconcerting feeling.

He nodded, drunkenly sitting up in the chair. “See? I told you. Not so bad. We’re square now.”

“I really wish you had asked first before you…” she gestured at her head when the proper nouns for it just wouldn’t come to her, “did that.”

“If I had, you would have tensed up, maybe even fought me about it, and made it harder on both of us,” he said simply.

She wrinkled her nose. “You still should have asked for permission.”

He looked at her askance. “I’m a demon. Sue me.” Then he slapped his hands on the table “And we’re done here. You can send me back now.” He stood up and moved back toward herkitchen.

“What? That’s it?” Helena asked, rushing after him as he spurred himself away.

“Yup,” he said, changing back into his demonic self the second he crossed the threshold. “I got what I want; you got what you want. Never summon demons again, and we can call this a win-win. Hurray. I rarely get those.”

It all seemed too abrupt. He hadn’t even tried to upsell her for her soul with promises of more power.“Butwhat if—”

He spun back to her, pointing a black nail straight at her nose. She managed to stop half an inch before it sank into her skin, her eyes crossing as she stared down at it.

“No,” he said. “No, ‘buts.’ No summoning me again. Do you understand me? Like you said, this was an accident. Don’t become just like every other human being in the world and suddenly get greedy becausethatpathwillcost your soul and the destruction of everything that you love and care about. Arewe clear?”

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