An Offer You Can't Pass Up

[catalyst]

Luca had done his research on demons and other similar supernatural beings for the past week and a half. There was an incredible amount of different types of demons, but most had one thing in common.


They'd do anything you'd like in exchange for your soul.


Luca normally wasn't an idiot. He was actually a rather intelligent man and that showed in most, if not all of the actions he'd take.


But he wasn't getting any younger, and seeing how he didn't like maids or servants being in his home, his home and other daily chores were becoming more than a simple nuisance.


He needed someone to do things for him, things that he didn't have time and effort for. And for all he cared, his soul didn't amount to much. After everything he had experienced, he didn't care too much about it. Some people would even argue that he already had no soul.


The Italian American man finished the last of the summoning words and looked towards the summoning circle he had drawn on the floor in his basement. His right hand, since he was a lefty, had a bandage over the palm to cover the decent cut made. It was another small sacrifice he had to make in order to make his life just a little easier.


All Luca had to do now was wait for the demon to appear.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Cyke had been resting atop a large, somewhat imposing building. It was fairly standard stuff for demons to go about doing such things. They preferred tall buildings rather than some dinky flat to rest upon. And it allowed them to hide better. People rarely came up onto the current building Cyke was resting upon. That was why Cyke always returned to it when he had been dismissed by his master. Well, masters. Two. He had only had two. It had been two years since he'd, well, become a demon. And in that time, he had had two masters. That seemed strange to Cyke, for in order for him to be summoned, the one doing the summoning had to know the name of the demon they were binding to their will.


And then, while he was resting, sprawled out on the concrete of the roof, Cyke began to feel a strange sensation. He was being summoned. Oh good. He'd be able to eat something. He hadn't eaten in a while, and was growing ravenous because of it. The problem was, with the city he was currently in, he had to deal with the fact that people were always out and about, and he could never feast on a human without attention being raised.


Accepting the call, Cyke's body exploded into small shards of glass, twinkling in the midday sun. And then he appeared again, standing in a summoning circle, staring at a man. There was blood in the middle of the circle, under Cyke's feet. He was having to resist the urge to lick it. As a result, he focused on the man instead, taking in his features. He didn't really look like the kind who would summon a demon, but Cyke wasn't really one to judge.


'Yessssss?' Cyke hissed at the man, his orange eyes locked firmly on the figure.

 

[catalyst]

The most it probably took was about a couple of minutes, but honestly... Luca was positive that it didn't even take more than thirty seconds. Suddenly, square in the center of the circle, an incredibly tall demon with orange eyes and a pair of large wings appeared. He hissed his greeting, a peek of his forked tongue showing until it hid itself back in his mouth.


Luca had to take a moment. Standing there, he looked over the demon with nothing but a couple of blinks, staring, until finally a hint of a smile tugged at his lips. God forbid, demons were real.


After that moment was up, Luca stood a little straighter after having been out of posture from the news, and cleared his throat. "My name is Luca, and I would like to make a deal with you." His accent was thick enough to definitely be noticed - considering he still did speak Italian - but it was also thin enough to know that he lived in America and had been for a while.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Cyke, listened to the man speak, remaining silent as he did so. He wasn't about to leap in and say anything during the rather pathetic introduction his new, soon-to-be master was delivering him. So instead, Cyke cast a look around the room he was in. It seemed to be basement of some kind. The floor was wooden-smooth planks that had been oiled at some point in time. Junk was piled up against the walls. Mostly boxes, but a bookshelf occupied a space behind the man.


Giving a small indication that he had acknowledged what the man had said with a small dip of his head, Cyke opened his mouth to speak again, this time without hissing. 'Yes, well, you wouldn't have summoned me for fun, would you?' Cyke questioned, eyeing the man, not blinking. 'Unless you particularly enjoy chanting gibberish and spilling blood onto the floor,' he continued, before looking at the circle he was standing in. Cyke's bare feet were standing on the man's blood, and the smell was getting to him.


'Carry on-I'm listening,' Cyke said, a grin splitting his face, revealing his terrifying teeth at the thought of a soul. That had only just occurred to him. He could be getting something to eat today.

 

[catalyst]

Luca wasn't amused. He only continued to stare at Cyke with a bored, if not at least mildly cold, expression as the demon spoke. But once he allowed for the human male to continue, Luca rubbed his slightly chapped lips together before doing just that.


"I don't need you for anything big: nothing like wanting to be a celebrity or wanting more money. I just need someone to run errands for me, to do chores, and to take care of my home as I'm not around to do it often." He watched the demon in front of him, taking in his reaction if he even had one, as he awaited for his answer. A typical person probably would've went on with their whole explanation of why they wanted this deal, but he didn't want to waste his words or his breath if Cyke didn't even want in on it.


Not to mention the fact that the demon probably thought he was an idiot for wanting to sell his soul in exchange for such an easy thing to take care of, but Luca had his reasons. And he didn't think his life made that much of a difference in the world, so when it was his time to go... it would be his time to go.

 

[vibrantsystem]

The man's-Luca's-reasons for requiring Cyke's assistance had certainly thrown the demon off. While he hadn't been summoned a great number of times, Cyke was more than well aware that people didn't gladly hand over their soul just because they wanted the dusting to be done more often than every time a new moon rose and fell.


Cyke had, from the two other times he had been summoned and from various other demons he had met going about their master's bidding (more often than not they wished to know about his appearance, for it was just as curious to the demon world as it was to that of the human one). Most often their masters wanted something out of the deal in exchange for their soul. Cyke had even heard stories of people summoning multiple demons and then offering the one who did the best job their soul. In such cases, these people often wished for large sums of money or a bag of jewels. Standard stuff, really. Whatever the case, it seemed as though Cyke was to have a fairly easy job in exchange for this man's soul.


'Housekeeping, is it?' The demon asked, scrutinising Luca's face yet again. Cyke, following the icy look he had received earlier for teasing Luca had caused him to tone down a little. With the way he spoke at very least. 'Done deal,' Cyke said, speaking again. 'Now how about you let me out of this summoning circle, hmmm?'

 

[catalyst]

"Mm," Luca confirmed along with a small nod of his head. Housekeeping, yes, that was probably the best way to describe it, though Luca was sure that other small errands might come up as well. As long as Cyke would accomplish things and get everything done, Luca would be a happy man. Or.... maybe. He couldn't promise anything.


Hearing the demon's "request" to be freed from the circle, the Italy-born male took a step forward to show that he would comply, but then paused for a moment. He still had a question or two that he wanted to get off his chest before he did anything even more stupid than any of this.


"So how long will you be of service?" he asked, looking at the other.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Cyke stared at the man, his eyes seeming to flare an intense orange briefly. How could the man not know about the Laws of Service? Was he just generally incompetent, or had he not done his research well enough? Whatever the problem, Cyke assumed he might as well tell the man. He didn't really seem to know what he was doing.


'I'm bound to do you work until you dismiss me. However, I do not recommend keeping me around for an extreme amount of time. Or any demon, for that matter. They tend to get cranky,' Cyke paused, before casting a look at the circle and noticing how poor it really was. He'd be able to destroy it with his toe.


'Now, let me ask again, are you going to free me now? Or should I let myself out, for this is a rather shoddily drawn summoning shape. Should have done a triangle. That I wouldn't be able to break out of.' The demon concluded, providing a little advice to Luca.

 

[catalyst]

All Luca really wanted was to get stuff done. He never usually did anything half-assed, but this time he didn't really care about drawing a perfect circle. To him, it just didn't matter that much, especially if the deal was made.


And it seemed it was. He wasn't planning on keeping Cyke for too long. Perhaps a timeline of about six months to a year, maybe longer if the two of them agreed on it. That wasn't an extreme amount of time, was it?


Grunting slightly, the Italian American approached the circle and smudged out part of the line to let the demon out. He then stepped back and looked up to the demon. "I suppose I should show you around now, unless you would rather do it alone," he said before taking another look over the other. "You know, you look pretty human for a demon. I know there are different kinds, but I wasn't expecting... you."

 

[vibrantsystem]

Cyke, instead of immediately escaping from the circle when the offer was presented to him, stood there and listened as who was soon to be his new master stood there, talking to him. While Cyke was rather, well, surprised by the fact that Luca had noted how Cyke didn’t look as “demonic” as he had expected. However, the demon contained its surprise, instead continuing to focus the orange gaze at the man, trying to guess what his soul would taste like. All souls tasted different.


However, once Luca had finished speaking, Cyke let himself out of the circle, his body exploding into a mass of twinkling orange sparks, which fell to the ground in a swarming mass. The sparks then proceeded to make their way out of the small gap in the summoning circle, forming another squirming mass on the other side. Once all of the sparks were through, the demon reappeared, standing outside of the shape.


‘Yes, well, I’m probably not as “demonic” as you were expecting,’ Cyke said with a small, barking-like laugh. He was now out of the circle and was interested in when he could claim Luca’s soul. ‘I wouldn’t mind being shown around. Not many masters present that kind of offer.’

 

[catalyst]

Well, Luca hadn't expected that either. Maybe he really didn't do enough research, but he thought that Cyke would be able to simply just step out of the bounding circle.


Apparently not.


After the orange sparks massed back into his body, Luca blinked a couple of times though he probably didn't look as puzzled as he felt. Why the demon had to burst into the burning mass, he didn't know. But it's not like he cared all that much either.


Hearing that Cyke actually would like a tour, Luca nodded. With that, he took care of a few things in the basement before heading upstairs, beckoning for the other male to follow. On the first floor, there was the kitchen and dining area, the living room, a guest bedroom, a laundry room, a closet, and a bathroom. On the second floor was two bedrooms, one being a master bedroom where Luca slept. There was another bathroom, and a rec room that Luca used as an office.


"And that's pretty much it... as you see, I don't have much and I could probably use a little cleaning." It wasn't a pigsty, but the place could definitely use a dusting and some pickup.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Cyke cast an unimpressed look around Luca’s home as he was escorted about, swiftly being shown about. In all honesty, Cyke didn’t really care that much about this man’s house. But he was going to try and be polite. Demons weren’t typically polite, so there wasn’t really any point if Luca wasn’t aware of that fact, but Cyke wanted to leave a good impression on the man either way. It was a decency thing. Something that Cyke’s parents had forced upon him before he underwent his, strange, transformation.


‘Depends on who you ask, really,’ Cyke replied as they finally ended the tour. In all honesty, the place, to Cyke anyway, was a mess. However, much like the previous instance of him being polite, he wasn’t going to go about saying how filthy he thought it was.


‘You could just order me to fix it up for you, you know,’ Cyke remarked dryly, continuing on from what he had been saying earlier. ‘But it’s all up to you, of course,’ he ended, before grinning at his “master.”