Brambles and Brimstone

Accidental summonings were still a thing from time to time. Not doing the ritual right and summon the wrong demon or miss a step and have it fail. But for the unlucky, miss an ingredient and summon a more powerful demon than what could be handled. But for him, this wouldn't be the first time he's been summoned in this sort of situation. He's been summoned from Halloween panties to complicated rituals in the forest and everything in between.

But in this situation, this has to be a first. The room was bathed in an orange-pink light from a few stained glass lamps. The demon appeared in a home yet wasn't anywhere near a summon circle. He looks around to see what kind of situation he was brought into.

Yet it wasn't a bunch of teenagers who wanted something that they couldn't have. He was in the living room of a small but decent sized home. The room smelled like fresh baked gingerbread. A couple of bookshelves with nicnacks, which were porcelain dolls on closer inspection, creepy enough to give Chucky a run for his money. There were even teacups and saucer sets on the shelves paired with doilies made with care. There was a faded yellow couch which had a TV not to far from it, close enough to see but far enough away to not strain your eyes. Old pictures hang on the wall. Some of the pictures where in black and white. Some of them were in color.

In the pictures thst were black in white were a young lady with a man of the same age, both with smiles on their faces. In a few of the couple of tbe pictures in color, were the same couple. The demon looks at the pictures and could see they were smiling in all of the pictures, until he came across one. It was still the same lady in the picture, but she was older. She had quite a bit of grey in her auburn hair. She had her back to the camera. She was in a hospital room. In the bed was the man she was pictured with in the other pictures. She had her hand in his and he had a smile on his face. "Such fragile beings," said the demon.

"Hello? Is someone there?" A voice asks from the kitchen.

The demon snaps his attention towards the kitchen. After a few seconds an old lady walks out. She had her left hand wrapped in a towel which had a few spots of blood on it. "Todd is that you?" She lets go of the towel and pushed her glasses up onto her nose. "Oh it is you, Todd. It's good to set you again. How long has it been?"

The demon was confused. The old lady was talking like she knew him. He decided to play along with her game. "Years I think. Not sure how many," said Todd, the newly named demon.

"Please come sit down while we wait for the tea kettle. Come along Todd." The old lady walks back towards the living room.

"So how have you been?"

"I've been doing well, grandma," said Todd.

Annette sits down on the couch, patting the spot next to her. "Please come sit down. I'm sure you're tired from the drive here."

The demon sits down next to the oldest lady, being careful not to cause a fire. He calms himself down enough to keep his powers in check.

Anette leans forward and removes the cover from the cake that was sitting on the tables in front of them. "I'm glad you arrived when you did, Todd. I managed to finish this on top of finishing the gift I made for you."

"Gift?"

"Yes, dearie. Have some cake first and then I'll go grab your gift." The cake was an orange flavored cake, covered in orange frosting...a lot of orange frosting. It was topped of with those candy orange slices. Annette carefully cuts a slice, puts it on a plate, and hands it to Todd. "I remember you telling me that the cakes I made were your favorite. I also remember you telling me you liked this one the most." She hands Todd a fork.

The demon, Todd, looks down at the slice of cake before him, sitting on the plate. A glob of icing had fallen off onto the plate. Not too sure if this will settle well in my stomach. But if it makes her happy, Todd thinks to himself. He cuts a bite of the cake with the fork and looks at it for a minute. "Hold on here. Just a minute." Todd sets the plate down on the table to remove his mask of bone. He sets it on the floor before he picks up the plate again. Todd soon becomes aware of Anette staring at him. "Yes?"

"You've grown into a handsome young man. I'm so proud of you," said Annette with a soft smile. She reaches up to touch one of the horns on Todd's head. "Are those like the ones made of clay you can buy at a Renaissance Festival? It looks so real."

"They are." Todd picks up the fork again and takes a bite of the cake. The cake tasted overly sweet, a bit too much frosting. He swallows the bite of cake. That wasn't so bad...Todd takes another bite of the cake. At this point he didn't care if he gotten sick from the overly sweet cake. What matters was making Anette happy. After he finishes the slice of cake, he sets the plate down on the table. "You said something about a gift."

"I'll be right back." Anette gets up from the couch, with a bit of help from Todd and her cane, and leaves the living room.

Todd looks around the room again, trying to decide on how to deal with the whole 'Being Summoned' situation.

After about ten minutes, Anette comes back into the living room, carrying a bundle of knitted fabric. On a closer inspection, it was a sweater.

"I'm not sure if I had gotten the design right but I did try my best. It was so long ago thst you told me you wanted a knitted sweater." Anette hands the sweater to Todd.

Todd takes the sweater from Anette. He turns it around and nearly laughs at the design knitted into it. It was a pentagram. This was what summoned him?! Todd could smell the faint smell of blood.

"Sorry if there may be some blood on it. I had finished it right before I had cut my finger."

"Speaking of which, you need to get that bandaged up." Todd puts the sweater on and was surprised it almost fit. He alters the size of his body some it would fit better. "I'll give mom and dad a call and let them know I'll be staying longer."

"That would be wonderful, Todd. We can catch up on a lot of things." Anette takes the empty plate and heads into the kitchen.

Todd watches Anette leave the room again. "It decided. Since she summoned me, I'll stay," said Todd before he makes his way into the kitchen as well.