Raising The Devil

"Give them here."  Dave took the two mice out of there cage.  "O Devil," he began, "I invite you to visit us here upon this patio.  Come, stand within this... circular line, beyond which thou may not pass.  Join us here, and we shall give you the souls of these mice," he bent down and placed the mice in the circle, "and maybe a drink as well."  He paused.  "Here Devil Devil Devil!  Come on boy!  Come on.  Here boy!"

The others laughed at this.  Dave grinned.

"Oh come on, he's not going to come if you call him like a dog," said Tim.  "You have to be nice to him.  Something like, 'Oh great and magnificent Devil.  Oh marvellous ruler of Hell.  Prince of Evil, come to us.  Stand within this shrine which we have painted for thee, and impart to us thy infinite wisdom."

Erica laughed.  "And," she added, "if you're very nice, we might take you to the movies."

They all laughed.  "We'll take him to the Exorcist!" Tim cried.  "Oh fuck, that would be funny."

"I am here."

"Good one Dave," said Erica.  "How'd you get your voice so deep?"

Dave looked around.  "I didn't say anything."

Tim said, "Well it wasn’t me."

Erica looked around.  It took her brain a moment to register what she was seeing.  "Uh, guys."

"Where's my mice?"

"Aren't they in the circle?"

"Um, guys."

"Hmmm?  Yeah, what?" asked Tim.

"It worked."

Dave and Tim looked up.  Standing in the circle, as real as anything, stood the Devil.

"Holy shit," said Tim.

The creature before him laughed.  "As yet," it said, "I have not known God to bless any faeces."  It leaned forward.  "Are you the one that called me?" it asked.

"Um, I think we all did."  He looked up.  "Are you really the Devil?  Lucifer, Beelzebub, and all that."

The Devil straightened, a hideous grin showing across its face.  "I am."  It looked down, then suddenly reached down with a speed that made it blur.  When it straightened, it held Tim's mice.  For a moment it stared at the two minature rodents, then with a roar threw them against the wall, where the sheer force made them mush.

"They were not innocent!" it roared.  "Recently they had been visited by a male!"

"Ha ha!" said Tim in a bad imitation of Nelson.

The Devil rounded on him.  "You will be the first to die," it growled.

"Bugger off."

The Devil seemed startled by this.  "What?" it asked.

"I said, 'Bugger off.'  We raised you.  Now we're sending you back."

"Absolutely," said Dave.  "Go away."

"Return to hell," said Erica.  "Off you go then."

The Devil stood uncertainly for a moment, then with a roar that broke the windows it vanished.

The three hell-raisers stood for a moment, staring at the small puff of smoke which was all that remained.

"FUCK ME!" yelled Tim, whooping with delight.  "GODDAMN!  We raised the Devil.  We actually raised the fucking Devil!"

"Shit," said Dave quietly.

Erica was slightly surprised to discover she was shaking.  She ran her hands over her face, rubbing her eyes and massaging her muscles.  "Boys," she said, "promise me we'll never do this again."

"You know what we need to do," said Dave.

"What's that then?" asked Tim.

"We need to get drunk."

"Damn straight."

From inside came a plaintive shout from Brendon, "Close the door!  It's cold!"

Erica, Tim, and Dave looked at each other, then burst out laughing.  "I'm too sober for this," laughed Dave.  "Lets go."

They went inside to find some liquor, closing the door on a painted circle and a blood-red smear.
The End.