Demons of the Human Kind (tentative)
an excerpt

“Beelzebul!” Adrian exclaimed. “His name is Beelzebul!” After four hours of reading and painstaking note taking, Adrian finally found the right name. “The prince of demons,” he muttered, carefully re-reading the passage. “‘Appearance so alarming he can’t be anything other than demon.’ What’s that supposed to mean? Fangs instead of ears?” Shaking his head at the ancients, translators, and whoever else might be involved with the exceptionally vague description, Adrian added the name ‘Beelzebul’ to a list of specifications. He returned to his kitchen and would have screamed in shock if he had less self-control.
“Andre, what the hell are you doing in my house?”
His friend turned around and smiled broadly. “I came to visit you and see how you were doing. By the way, you’re kitchen’s a mess, in case you hadn’t noticed. How do you keep your eggs in a container labeled 'Pickles' in the pantry? Don’t they start to smell?”
“I know, I do? And probably. And, how’d you get in? I changed the password …” he trailed off as Andre waved a slim rectangular card in his face with a well known security company’s logo emblazed on one side. “You have a master key.”
“Precisely. Now then, judging by your exuberant shout moments ago, I take it you’ve found the name of the Prince of Demons.”
“Right. All I have to do now is have a seal created with these specifications—” Adrian waved the small piece of paper in his hand “—and perfect the summoning circle. Then, I’ll have an angel in my grasps.”
Andre nodded. “So, how’re you planning on making your seal?”
“I’m asking you to find someone who knows how to work with metals to make it.”
“You can’t make it yourself?”
Adrian thrust the paper under his nose. “What do you think?”
“Ah, it has to be made of brass and iron. No, you can’t make that on your own, and then to have that inscribed on top of it …No, you defiantly don’t possess the skill to do that. It’s good that you came to me.” He beamed at Adrian and clasped his arm, blissfully ignoring the pulsing vein in his friend’s temple. “I know a guy who’s great at this sort of thing. I can have it done for you in two … no three days.”
“Three days? You’re sure it can’t be any faster?”
“You want this thing to work, don’t you? If he rushes it, it might not come out right, which could obviously be problematic. Besides, it’ll give you time to practice your summoning circles and figure out what exactly you’re going to do with the angel you summon for the next month or two.”
“I was planning on keeping it contained until the machine was up and running again.”
“You mean containing as in a cage?” He received no response. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Andre sighed. “You know, far be it from my place to lecture you on ethics, but let me ask you a question, Adrian? What are you going to do if whatever you summon is … human-esc? Will you still keep it in a cage?”
“It won’t be,” Adrian argued. “I’ve done the research; the only angels that look distinctly human are Domains and regular Angels, neither of which I’m summoning. So it doesn’t really matter.”
“I see,” Andre murmured. “Well, if that’s the way you see it, then I have no business trying to change your mind. If you’ll be so kind as to give me your specifications for the seal, I will be off and will not bother you or your confused identity eggs further.” He skipped past Adrian and to the door. Upon reaching it, he spun around and saluted. “Until next time, mon ami!” he pronounced. Andre pushed against the door and danced out. The door slammed, echoing throughout the apartment.
Adrian laughed, collapsing onto the hard wood floor. He continued laughing even as his ribs ached and breathing became difficult. Andre would probably be the only person who ever had the ability to make him laugh like that. After spending several minutes getting aquatinted with his floors, Adrian stood, using the kitchen table for support. “Identity confused eggs,” he muttered. “Only Andre can think up something like that.” Carefully stretching his aching sides, he took out pen and paper and continued practicing the summoning circles. Everything would have to be exact in just over seventy-two hours.