That works for me. "Okay, well the first thing we need to do is clear our minds and make the demon feel welcomed."
A loud laugh escapes him. "Are you serious? I'm supposed to make a demon feel welcome in my own apartment?"
I have to bite my tongue to hold back my laugh. He does have a fair point. "Better your place than mine."
"Thanks, Chris. I appreciate that." He sticks his tongue out at me.
"Oh, shush." A huge smile fills my face and my cheeks hurt. "Come on, take this seriously. We need answers."
"Fine, but only because you're so cute." He winks at me and grins.
Holy shit. Is he kidding? My heart picks up its speed and my palms get a little sweaty. Something inside me feels off, but it's not my power. I push it aside, because right now, I don't have time to focus on emotions. "Are you being open minded?"
"Yeah, I am." He closes his eyes as if he's concentrating internally.
"Okay, good." I swallow my giggle and focus on our task. "Okay, demon I invite you to stand before us and visit with us for a little while in our realm."
"What are you expecting to happen...?"
Before he can finish the question, the coffee table begins to shake, and a black mass begins to form in the center of the room.
"Oh my god. You did it." His eyes are wide, and he steps close to me.
I'm not sure what I did. This may not have been the smartest thing I've ever done. There is no telling what kind of demon I brought here.
The dark mass forms into a blob and red eyes stare at us. A dark, throaty whisper fills the air. "Why the hell did you bring me here?"
For once, karma is on my side. This has to be a lower tier demon. They usually can't take a form other than a blob. The higher the ranking, the more of a human shape it can take in the presence of us, like Damien. Hell, he looks just like us except for those damn shadows, but that just shows how powerful he is. No human can see them hover around him like I can.
"We need your help." Charlie straightens his shoulders and takes a step toward him.
Attempting to intimidate this demon isn't going to go over well.
"Like I would help you." The black mass quivers as if it's laughing. "You might as well just send me back now."
"Yeah, you're right." We have to play this cool and not forceful. "It's not like you know anything anyways. You're obviously a low-ranking demon."
"What?" The blob stills and focuses on me.
"We've heard about your kind." I bite my tongue, trying not to laugh. "You can't take any type of form so you must be the bottom of the barrel."
Charlie turns his head and blinks, lowering his voice. "What are you doing?"
I reach out and squeeze his arm. He's going to have to trust me on this.
"Is that what you think?" His voice is so rough it almost sounds like fingernails running down a chalkboard now that he's loud and angry. "Test me. I'll prove to you I know things."
"Okay, let's start out with something simple." Shit, I don't even know what a simple question for Hell is. "Who is Damien to the Underworld?"
"That's easy. Everyone knows that." The black blob gets bigger as if he's puffing up his chest. "He was once Satan's right-hand man."
Hmmmm... "What do you mean by once?"
"Well that's a stupid question." He grunts out and moves closer to me. "At one point they were close and now they aren't any longer."
Wow. That's what he thought I was asking? I had him pegged right. "But why aren't they close any longer?"
Charlie's shoulders shake with laughter, but to his credit, he doesn't make a sound.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" The coffee table begins to rattle again, and his eyes take on a redder hue. "I'm not either one of them. I just do as I'm told."
All right, it's time to move this conversation along. This is not going anywhere. "What about the Flame of Hell?"
The demon stills and is silent for a moment. "How do you know about that?"
"We heard about it from Damien." Charlie speaks up and crosses his arms.
In a flash, the demon focuses on him. "Why would Damien tell you about that? It's forbidden and a secret."
"Well, obviously he felt like we should know about it." Charlie smirks and tilts his head.
"That must be true, otherwise you wouldn't know." The demon's eyes disappear so he must have closed them. "It is in Hell, in the deepest part, guarded as it should be."
"As it should be?" Wow, that's not very helpful.
"It changes depending on how Satan feels it should be guarded for that day." He spins around then stops. "Wait, if Damien told you about it, then why are you asking me these questions?"
Crap, he’s not as dumb as he seems. "Because he wanted us to figure this out so we could prove we are worthy."
"Ah...." The demon shakes his head. "That makes sense. Of course, you would have to prove yourself to someone like him."
Charlie glances at me, his hazel eyes wide.
Yeah, this thing is an idiot, but that's to our advantage. We need to use it to the best of our abilities until whatever useful knowledge is run dry. "So... How would you go about getting it?"
"You would never get it." His tone is loud and ear piercing at this point. "Why would you ask that question? Is Damien trying to take over?"
Oh, dear God. What the hell is his problem? "No, I was just..."
"He is, isn't he?" The coffee table shakes, and the couch begins to vibrate.
"No, it's not that." Crap, he's flipping his lid.
"This isn't right. I can't tell you anything else." The black mass begins to rotate as if he's a storm cloud and going to rip everything apart.
"Chris,
