“It worked just a second ago!” Ray mumbled while he fiddled with the phone. A portly red-skinned demon in a black suit and matching obsidian horns looked on with interest. The demon was no longer trapped due to the device malfunctioning; but, he was amused enough that he stayed in place.
“Did you -,” the demon began to offer a suggestion but Ray quickly shook his head without looking up.
“You’re not a programmer; you don’t know,” he snapped.
“Hey, man,” the demon replied. “I didn’t get summoned just to get bitched at. I was just trying to help.” Ray sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he looked back up at the demon.
“Sorry,” he said. “You’re right. What were you going to suggest?” he asked. The demon nodded.
“Did you separate the spells in the code? You need a summoning spell and a holding spell; but, they need to be separate. You can’t cast them both at once. If you do it that way, only one of them will work,” the demon smirked. “And, well, we know which one worked here.” The demon raised an arm and reached out of the pentagram on the floor to flick Ray’s nose.
“Ow!” Ray yelped and immediately rubbed his nose to lessen the pain. “Uncalled for,” he said.
“Yeah well, so was biting my head off when I’m doing all this to help you,” the demon replied with a smug tone.
“I said I was sorry!” Ray said. The demon nodded.
“I’m sure I will too, at some point,” he chuckled. “Anyway, so, we done for today? I got actual work to do.”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Ray nodded. “But, seriously. I’m sorry and thank you. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you helping me test it; I’m gonna be so rich!” he laughed.
“You definitely wouldn’t,” the demon replied. Red, cinnamon-scented smoke plumed into existence around the demon. It began to clear as quickly as it appeared but the demon was gone. Ray heard him one last time. “But, that’s what friends are for.”
