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I stared at the circle of salt in confusion before looking at the spellbook in my hand. I'd set it up correctly. The lines were perfect and a portable scale weighed the materials I brought out this morning from where it hid in the back of the pantry.

If everything was correct, then why didn't the summoning spell work?

I scratched the back of my left arm, forgetting that I had chalk all over my hand. I'd been at this for over two hours and my eyes were straining. I decided to take a break after not seeing a solution after another twenty minutes of flipping through the book with no answer in sight.

"That bookseller pulled one over on me," I grumbled and went into the kitchen to grab a soda. "Summon a demon, my ass." I sighed. It was illegal to summon them, but it's not like that stopped people.

My own fault really, for being taken advantage of.

I was just desperate. Rent was due next week, I had a total of five dollars and three cents left to my name, and I still had yet to get a call back on any of the interviews I'd done over the past month.

If something didn't happen soon, I'd be living in my car.

There was no way I would call my family for help. Not after the last time.

I sat on the couch to try to relax a little but my cell phone rang. I winced, the ringtone letting me know it was my step-sister. Just what I needed. I debated on ignoring the call yet I knew it was inevitable that she'd keep calling until I answered.

"Hi, Stephany. What's up?"

"Hello, Rosie. You didn't respond to my text yesterday, so I thought I would give you a call."

Her sickly sweet voice made me want to punch something. It always had.

"Do you need a ride to my engagement party?

You have to come! Mother was just talking to Denis and mentioned we hadn't seen you in ages.

" We'd been stepsisters for over twenty years but had never gotten along.

She always had to be the center of attention, and honestly, I never had an issue with it, but she wanted to make sure I knew I was always second best.

"Yes, Stephany." If my eyes could roll further into the back of my head, I'd probably see my brain. "I'll be there." I didn't know how I'd afford the gas, but I would get there to avoid the further judgment that would occur otherwise.

"Perfect! Should I put down a plus one?" The bitch paused.

"Oh, wait!" The smugness wrapped around me like a coiling snake.

"That's right, how could I be so insensitive?

You and Greg broke up months ago. You poor thing.

Being single at the biggest party of the year will be rough.

" The glee in her tone did not match her words.

What a bitch.

I don't know what came over me next, but I ended up regretting it almost immediately.

"I'm seeing someone new, actually. Put down a plus one for me. See you soon, dear sister." The screen should have cracked with how hard I pressed the end call button.

Fuck.

Now I had to find a date for a week-long engagement party.

I went back to the summoning circle with determination.

"How in the nine hells did you manage to summon me?

!" The outraged demon inside the circle glared at me with promises of dismemberment and death in his eyes.

They were an impossible shade of amber-gold and I found myself staring longer than was probably wise when faced with an enraged supernatural being.

"This should be impossible." He attempted to step out of the summoning circle and cursed up a storm when the magic zapped his expensive-looking shoes, Italian leather if I had to guess because demons shopped at high-end boutiques apparently.

The demon looked like he'd stepped out of Vogue magazine instead of the bowels of hell, all tailored suit and perfectly styled dark hair that made my secondhand clothes feel even shabbier in comparison.

He also wanted my head. Not that I could blame him, considering I'd yanked him here without so much as a please and thank you.

It?

I didn't know much about demons beyond what I'd frantically googled in the last twenty-four hours, and somehow 'proper pronouns for addressing hellspawn' hadn't made it into my rushed research.

"That's a great question?" I looked down at the spellbook, holding it upside down to see if I missed anything. "I can't believe it worked."

It worked! Holy shit.

"You didn't even think it would? Why bother? Gods, humans are annoying." The demon scoffed and rubbed his temples with a hand with some sharp-looking talons before turning to look at me murderously. "Why did you summon me? Let's get this over with."

"Oh.Um. Right. Next steps." I wasn't usually this unprepared for things, but my life was in the shithole lately. "What's the next step? Do you know?"

If the demon's eyes could get any bigger, I think they'd pop out of his sculpted face and roll across my dingy apartment floor.

Now that I had a second to look at him properly, and I was going with 'him' since everything from his stance to the way he carried himself screamed masculine energy, I had to admit he was a good-looking specimen.

My best friend Tammy would say he was hot as shepherd's pie and just as delicious, probably while fanning herself dramatically.

His coloring was fascinating, an interesting shade of dark magenta that reminded me of twilight just before full dark, and even the elegant curved horns on top of his head were magenta, just brighter, like neon signs in the rain.

The whole package was intimidating and alluring at once, which I supposed was the point of demon aesthetics.

Draw you in before they went for the kill kinda thing.

"You don't know what the next steps are? Why did you summon me?" His roar could probably be heard by my downstairs neighbor if he had been home. "Release me, human, before I disembowel your innards and grill them on a hellstone!"

Shaking my head, I crossed my arms in fake bravado that I did not feel inside. "No way. I know the basics." I was semi-sure of it, at least. "I want to make a deal, and until we finalize the deal, you're stuck in that circle."

"Fine. Why did you summon me? Do I need to keep asking?" If the demon could kill me, he would.

"I need a date." That was the first thing, but most important at this point. "To start with." Rent and having a place to live could wait if it meant rubbing something in Stephany's face for once.

"A date?" He crossed his arms, an incredulous look on his face. " That's why you dragged me here?"

I ran my fingers through my tangled hair, a nervous habit I'd never managed to break.

"Well, it wasn't, to begin with, but when I took a break from setting up the summoning circle, I got a call from my step-sister and she's such a bitch and always trying to make my life miserable that I now need a date to her engagement party to show her and all my judgy family that I'm fine and not a screw-up!

" I stomped my right foot in frustration, the thud echoing off the cheap floor.

Just thinking about Stephany's smug voice on the phone made my blood boil.

"What I need is a job so I don't get evicted soon and end up on the street, but the engagement party comes first." Pride was a hell of a motivator and I'd eaten enough of Stephany's shit over the years.

I glanced at the demon, suddenly aware of how unhinged I must sound.

"I'm sorry, I've been rude. What's your name? "

He blinked those otherworldly eyes, and his perfectly sculpted mouth dropped slightly. His magenta skin seemed to lose some of its rich color, fading to something closer to a dusty rose.

Could demons do that? Add that to the growing list of things I should have researched before attempting this whole summoning business.

"What do you mean, what's my name?" His voice dripped with disdain as perfectly manicured talons gestured in disgust at the salt circle surrounding him. "You couldn't have summoned me otherwise." Each word was precisely enunciated as if he were speaking to a particularly dim-witted simpleton.

I flicked open the worn book, its pages crinkled and dog-eared from my obsessive studying over the last few days.

Running my finger down the spell I'd used, I double-checked every detail before turning it to show him.

Years of Stephany snatching things from my hands had taught me caution, so I maintained a careful distance from the salt circle.

Getting murdered by an angry demon wasn't on my to-do list today.

"There was no mention of a demon's name here.

" I tapped on the yellowed page next to the intricate image of the circle that I'd painstakingly copied onto my floor using table salt from the dollar store.

The memory of how long it took to get those curves just right made my knees ache.

"What the fuck is this shit?" He reached for the book with those elegant talons, only to jerk back with a string of curses that would make a sailor blush when the circle's energy crackled against his skin.

The acrid stench of scorched flesh filled my tiny apartment, making me wince with unexpected sympathy.

I hadn't meant to hurt him. "That's not an actual spellbook.

Are you telling me you managed to summon me with a fake spell?

" He shook out his hand like someone who'd touched a hot stove, those otherworldly eyes wide with disbelief.

"This is ridiculous." His deep laugh started low in his chest before he threw his head back, the sound bouncing off my water-stained ceiling.

Uh oh.

Did I break him somehow?

I lowered the book to my side as I watched him.

I think I broke him. I scratched the back of my head with my free hand as I looked around my room in despair.

The way his throat moved when he laughed was oddly mesmerizing, and I found myself staring before I caught myself. Great, now I was ogling a demon. This night couldn't get any weirder.

"Look, regardless of how you were summoned, can we make a deal? Please?" I rubbed my forehead as I started to pace in front of him. "What do you want in return for being my date?"

"You were serious." He gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine. A date to this engagement party to show up your step-sister and family." He crossed his arms again. "Your soul is standard practice."

I stopped pacing and turned toward him. "When would you take my soul?" If he took it, I wouldn't have to worry about being evicted at that point. "What does that entail exactly?"

The demon crossed his arms, his tail flicked behind him. "You'll essentially be my servant for all of eternity, while you're alive and after you die." His grin was wicked. "I take care of my souls, don't worry. I can go more into it after you agree."

Fuck. Was I going to waste my deal on one-upping Stephany?

Why wasn't I terrified that I would be giving up my soul for this? Was I just that desperate?

Yes.

Yes, but maybe I could wrangle a better deal.

"You will go as my date, convince the family we're happy, and after you'll pay my rent so I'm not homeless while I serve you. Whatever that means."

The demon's eyes glowed bright red. "I will be your date to this and you shall sign your soul over to me. I agree to make sure you're housed and fed as well as a modest salary. Do we have a deal?" He held out his hand, careful not to go further than he needed to.

I was going to do this. It seemed almost too good to be true.

I reached through the circle and shook his hand.

No going back now.