Matthew Williams/ Canada

“The Land of the Demons is split into Nine different Realms, each ruled by their own king. The Solar Dead Zone, the most powerful of them all, is ruled by the Demon King Alfred, who also claims the title as King of the Demons. The Lesser Demon Kings are as followed: King Arthur (Kingdom of Pride), King Francis (Garden of Lust), King Ludwig (Pennacle of Chaos), King Feliciano (Indolence), Czar Ivan (Frozen Zone), Emperor Yao (Red Mogwai), Emperor Kiku (Toxic Sakura) and lastly, King-“

“Okay, we get it, Hell has a shit ton of demon kings! Can you skip to where the summoning spells are?” One of the girls cut you off.

You lowered your book, slightly glaring at the girls in front of you. You had been into the occult ever since you were in middle school, gaining you the reputation of the “weird girl”, but recently your roommate and her friend had fallen into the occult trend and wanted you to teach them everything you knew about the occult. Unfortunately, the version of the occult they were into was riddled with misinformation and they were more interested in trying to summon the Demon Kings they were thirsting after in hopes of getting laid. You had tried to explain to them, multiple times, how dangerous that was and that it was more likely their Demon King of choice would tear them to shreds then fuck their brains out. But apparently your years spent as the “weird girl” studying the occult didn’t mean shit when it came to getting demon dick.

You sighed as you flipped through the pages until you found the summoning spell in question.“Alright, here. Are you two ready?” You asked, irritation in your voice.

The other girls nodded eagerly, not noticing your irritation or not caring.

“Close your eyes, envision the Demon you wish to summon. Once you have a clear picture in your mind, take the knife and cut your finger enough to draw enough blood to drip in the bowl while chanting ‘Demon Name, hear me, see me, come to me!’ Three times. Um...obviously you say the name of the demon you want to summon in place of ‘Demon Name.’’ You explained.

The two girls argued for a few minutes over who got to go first before your roommate eventually won. You sat back as you watched your roommate begin the ritual and struggle to motivate herself to cut her finger, which you saw coming.

Once she was able to get past the cut she began to chant “King Alfred, hear me, see me, come to me!” Three times as she dripped her blood to the decretive bowl she'd gotten at the local crystal shop.

Once she was finished, her friend eagerly snatched the knife away from her to begin her turn. She also had struggled to cut her finger, but not as badly as your roommate.

As her blood dripped, she chanted thrice, “King Arthur, hear me, see me, come to me!” before opening her eyes.

“So....how long do we have to wait?” Your roommate asked you with a smirk.

You looked at your book for a moment before answering them, “It says that the times vary but usually about twelve to twenty four hours.” You told them.

The other girls squealed with excitement over the thought that in about twenty four hours they’d be getting railed by the Demon King of their dreams. “Hey wait! Don’t you want to try this?” Your roommate’s friend asked you.

You looked at them in shock and blushed, “Oh, no! That’s fine! I don’t want to bother any of the Demon Kings....” You tried to explain away as the girls brushed you off.

“Oh come on! You can’t tell me there isn’t at least one Demon King you aren’t a little horny for after all your time reading your occult shit?” Your roommate teased you.

You shot her a glare as she and her friend giggled a little harder. God, you just wanted this to be over with. You roommate handed you the knife while raising an eyebrow at you in a flirty way. Realizing they wouldn’t be leaving you alone until you did the ritual with them, you reluctantly took them knife from her, causing her and her friend to cheer you on. God, you really wanted this to be over with.

The girls shushed each others giggling to give you silence so you could clear your mind. You struggled for a few minutes, trying to ignore the other girls’ eyes on you, but once you were able to, you envisioned your Demon King. His violet eyes that rested behind a pair of glasses, his sandy blonde hair that went to his jawline, his stray curl. You took the knife to your index finger, barely feeling it pierce your flesh.

As your blood flowed in the bowl, you chanted three times, “King Matthew, hear me, see me, come to me!”

When you opened your eyes again, you noticed the other two girls looking at you in confusion. “Who’s King Matthew?” Your roommate was the one to ask.

You blushed slightly before you answered her, “He’s...he’s one of the Demon Kings. He rules the Realm of Maple Fléau. He’s the younger brother of King Alfred......”

“He’s not as important as King Alfred then, that’s why I’ve never heard of him.” Your roommate interrupted with a laugh.

You don’t know why her comment made you as angry as it did, but suddenly you found yourself snapping back, “He’s definitely more important than some fucking bitch who only got into the occult because her social media feed convinced her dumbass it was trendy to try and fuck a demon!”

Your roommate and her friend immediately glared at you, but you didn’t care. You were so tired and just done with their bullshit and were just ready to be left alone.

“Whatever, this shit was getting lame anyway. We’re heading out to the bar, I’d invite you, but I’d rather be caught dead than be seen with the weird girl.” Your roommate shot back as she and her friend grabbed their things and headed out the door.

You sat on the floor of your apartment alone for a while. You looked over at your book, taking it in your hands once again. You flipped through the pages until you landed on the chapter about King Matthew. On one of the pages was a sketch of the Demon King you had tried to summon a few moments ago. You gently placed a finger, the one you had cut, on the sketch’s face, almost like you were stroking his cheek.

“Oh....Matthew....” You gently cooed before closing the book and cleaning up the ritual area before heading to your room for the rest of the evening.

---

Spring was slowly descending upon the Realms of the Demon World, though one wouldn’t realize such in the Realm of Maple Fléau, where winter had a tendency to overstay its welcome. The King of this Realm, the Demon King Matthew, was preparing himself for his annual hibernation before Spring officially began. Matthew groaned in frustration, his body aching as it instinctually prepped itself for the changing of the seasons, but no part of him ached as much as his poor member, which was preparing itself for its own special season that coincided with the coming of Spring.

Matthew always dreaded when Mating Season came, so much so that he had taken to just going into hibernation so he wouldn’t have to suffer through the long three months in agonizing loneliness. As the lesser of the Lesser Kings, Matthew seemed to have unfortunate luck with finding a suitable mate to warm his bed. Yes, there were demonesses who were more than willing to give themselves to him as to “soothe their aching King’s needs”, but he was no fool and knew they were only after his seed in hopes of claiming their child as his heir. No, Matthew wanted a real mate, someone who loved him for him and wasn’t after his status. But until that day came, he would take to hibernating every Spring.

Matthew always dreaded when Mating Season came, so much so that he had taken to just going into hibernation so he wouldn’t have to suffer through the long three months in agonizing loneliness. As the lesser of the Lesser Kings, Matthew seemed to have unfortunate luck with finding a suitable mate to warm his bed. Yes, there were demonesses who were more than willing to give themselves to him as to “soothe their aching King’s needs”, but he was no fool and knew they were only after his seed in hopes of claiming their child as his heir. No, Matthew wanted a real mate, someone who loved him for him and wasn’t after his status. But until that day came, he would take to hibernating every Spring.

He was in the middle of finishing all his work before taking his leave of absence when a servant interrupted him.

“Pardon me Your Grace, but Kings Alfred and Arthur wish to seek your presence, they claim it is urgent.” The servant announced apologetically.

Matthew sighed, “Let them in.”

The servant had barely opened the door when a demon burst through the door yelling “Wakey Wakey Bro! We got some shit to stir!”

This demon had deep blue eyes nearly hidden behind a pair of glasses and short raven black hair with a cowlick that refused to be tamed. This demon looked so incredibly similar to Matthew that, to the untrained eye, one would almost think they were the same person.

A second demon sauntered in after the first, rolling his eyes at the other. The second was slightly shorter with a slim build, short crimson hair, and emerald green eyes.

“Really Alfred? There’s no need to raise your voice.” The second demon scolded.

“Aw, come on Arthur! I gotta take my little bro out for some fun before he takes his nap!” The first demon, Alfred, exclaimed as he walked over to Matthew and wrapped an arm around him. “We’re just in time! Artie and I were about to head over to the human world to go torment some human girls that tried to summon us with some BS spell from a bootleg spell book , wanna come?”

“I’m sorry, but I still have a lot of work to finish. Besides, why would I want to come if they tried to summon you and Arthur?” Matthew asked as he tried to get back to work.

Alfred interrupted him once more, “Dude, I said us. That means you too dude. Congrats, you got a little fangirl.”

That got Matthew’s attention, “W-what?”

Alfred smiled and nodded to Arthur, “Show him.”

Arthur walked over and pulled out a small crystal ball, waving his hand over it and making a vision appear. In the vision were three girls, two who were eagerly giddy and clearly good friends, while the third looked irritated and uncomfortable, clearly wanting to be anywhere but there. Matthew was transfixed on the third girl. Despite being a human, she had an unearthly beauty to her, her eyes sparkled so beautifully when the light hit them, her hair looked so soft, he wondered what it would feel like to run his hands through it. Her skin also contained a lovely kind of softness that he desperately wished to run his hands over her gorgeous frame. He marveled at how the colors of her eyes, hair, and skin tone all complimented each other so perfectly. This woman truly was a goddess in human flesh.

He snapped out of his trance when Alfred told him to ‘Watch This!’ with excitement. The first two girls performed a ritual, both attempting to summon Alfred and Arthur with the intent of.....

“Why are they trying to summon you two again?” Matthew asked.

“I think they’re trying to get us to fuck them or something.” Alfred answered, “Human girls are into the occult lately, it’s ‘trendy’ or some shit.”

“Unfortunately none of them know what they’re doing, and it’s always for such ridiculous things such as this.” Arthur added.

“So, Arthur and I decided to make an example of these girls. We’re going to answer their little summoning spell and give them a night they’ll never forget, it’ll unfortunately just not be in the way they were expecting.” Alfred explained, a devilish grin on his face.

Matthew looked back at the crystal orb to see the two girls pressuring the third into doing the ritual with them. He desperately wanted to see her say no, but he unfortunately already knew what was about to happen. The girl took the knife and did the ritual, chanting his name. Of course she did, that was the reason Alfred and Arthur were here, because one of the girls summoned him as well, but it still made his heart beat uncontrollably to see this girl, his darling, calling for him.

“So, are you in or out dude?” Alfred asked, starting to grow impatient.

Matthew watched as his darling sat in the room all alone, holding the spell book. She was looking at a detailed sketch of him, stroking his face with her finger. “Oh Matthew......” He heard her gently coo his name once more before the vision faded away.

Matthew looked up at the other Demon Kings and nodded, “Yeah, I’m in, but the girl who summoned me is mine, got it?”

Alfred smiled widely, “Well, get off your ass and let’s get going!”

You hadn’t realized you’d drifted off to sleep until you found yourself waking up in confusion. You were still in your clothes from hours earlier, your laptop and a notebook at the other side of you on your bed. You checked your phone to see that the time was around six in the morning. You also decided to check to see if your roommate had texted or called to tell you that she had returned home from the bar last night. You groaned in frustration to see nothing from her. This was ridiculous, you two had an agreement to always, always, let each other know when you were leaving and returning. Yes, you two were pissed at each other right now, but she wouldn’t be pissed enough to break that rule, seeing as how she was the one who implemented it.

You pulled yourself out of bed and headed towards your roommate’s room. Normally you would knock before entering but you were starting to get worried. You were hoping to find her asleep in her bed and that she’d just forgotten to message you and it would be another thing you two would fight over in the morning, but that’s not what happened. You found her bedroom void of its owner. Now you were really starting to worry. You and your roommate may not be what you considered “friends”, but you two tolerated each other for the most part and tended to coexist in relative peace until recently. Sure, she wasn’t in your Top Five favorite people, but you still didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

You grabbed your phone and frantically began to call her. After about three tries, she finally picked up. “OH THANK GOD! Seriously, what the actual fuck? Do you have ANY idea how much I’ve been worrying? I was starting to think you were dead?-“you rambled, scolding your roommate, before noticing the voice on the other end was not your roommate’s.

The voice was masculine and it was laughing.

“Oh honey, do I have some news for you!~” The voice taunted you on the other end.

You stood in stunned silence for what felt like forever before you were able to regain the use of your voice. “Who-Who is this? I swear to God if you did anything to-“

“Aw man, what didn’t I do to her? Let’s see? I ripped out her eyes, broke her fingers one at a time, ate her heart. I did really everything BUT fuck her.” The man said.

It was then that everything began to fall into place, “Oh-Oh My God, You’re The Demon King....You’re King Alfred!” You almost couldn’t get the words out.

“Fuck, you sure are a lot smarter than those other two. It’s almost a shame that my brother gets you all to himself, but the little guy needs it. Hey! When you see him, tell him Alfred said Hi!” Alfred said cheerfully as he hung up.

“WAIT, PLEASE!” You pleaded, but the line was already dead.

You lost the use of your legs and collapsed on the floor of your roommate’s room, your vision beginning to blur as you sobbed uncontrollably. Your roommate was dead, her friend most definitely was as well, and now you were next. Maybe you could find a way to plead with King Matthew, make a deal with him, sell your soul if you had to, anything to spare you from suffering such a horrific death.

“I’m SUCH a FUCKING IDIOT!!!!” You screamed in between your sobs.

You were beginning to hyperventilate harder and harder, definitely feeling yourself going into a full blown panic attack. You found yourself struggling to breathe as your sobs became rougher. The situation you were in caused you to be completely unaware of the presence that was now in the room with you.

A gentle hand lightly brushed your hair out of your face. “Sshh, It’s alright..... Just breathe Maple....listen to my voice. Everything will be okay. Just breathe...in....and out....”

You listened to the calming voice as the gentle hand began to softly stroke your cheek as you breathed in and out as instructed.

“That’s it, good girl......just like that.....in....and out.....”

The hand continued to gently stroke your cheek and the voice continued to speak to you softly until your tears dried up and you were breathing completely normal again. The hand moved from your cheek back to your hair, gently stroking your hair and whispering sweet nothings to you until you managed to fall back to sleep