Page 12 of Hellfire & Tinsel
“Not how summonings work,” Kassel said as he contemplated the conundrum. “Not when you use that book.”
“I don’t understand.” Beau tilted his head to the side.
“Neither do I,” Kassel admitted. “That’s just what I was told. Upper management.”
“Are you telling me it’s above your pay grade?”
“The person who made it controls the devil.”
“God?” he guessed.
“More powerful.”
“Oh wow. Um… so… how does it work then? The summoning,” Beau murmured, picking at the corner of the box in his lap. “All it said in the book was the rules for how to do it and that you couldn’t do it again for another century after the first. I don’t want to keep you trapped here.”
There was that voice again, laced with so much pain Kassel could taste it. Did it taste as good as the pain and the agony of those he tortured? No. It wasn’t sweet or filling, leaving him wholly unsatisfied.
“There is a simple solution,” Kassel said.
“There is?”
“The book allowed you to summon me because you had a true reason for it.”
“Oh.” Beau looked away and bit his lip.
“So if you tell me what you wanted, I can make sure it’s done and then I’ll be free to go,” Kassel said.
Beau fell silent, the lamp revealing how his skin bled red in embarrassment. He shuffled over and finally replaced the lamp in its spot on the side table. Kassel watched the gentle tremble of his fingers.
“I don’t think it will be that simple,” Beau said with his back turned.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not sure how to fix the reason I summoned you.” Beau peeked over his shoulder. “I’ve spent my whole life trying and it hasn’t ever worked.”
Kassel stiffened, all his eyes fixed on Beau. “What was the reason?”
Beau looked down, shoulders drawn up to his ears. “I didn’t want to be lonely anymore,” he whispered.
4
Beau
Beau stared down at the box in his hands, feeling the words echo and linger in the air around them. He didn’t say them out loud very often. If ever.
No one had ever cared that he was lonely, so there had never been a need to voice it.
Kassel let out a low rumble, making Beau chance a glance up into his eyes again. So many eyes in the brightest of jewel tones. Beau found he liked the purple ones the best, right in the center of his face, their clarity and shine like amethysts. Strangely, they weren’t cold. Something about them felt the warmest when they looked at Beau.
“I’m afraid I don’t know how to combat human loneliness in an effective way,” Kassel said eventually.
“That makes two of us.” Beau snorted, covering his mouth with his hand at the sound.
Kassel tilted his head, observing him.
Beau felt a little warm under the scrutiny, self-consciousness creeping up his neck to tickle the backs of his ears. It wasn’t exactly based in his usual discomfort. There was something else lurking at the corner of his mind Beau couldn’t rightly name, something brand new that made Beau care about how Kassel viewed him.
He watched with suspended breath as Kassel moved as if to sit down and scrambled out of the way to make room for his massive frame. As soon as the demon made contact, Beau all but rolled back into him, the mattress and frame nearly giving out.
