Brett blinked as the flame of the candle he had lit did a sudden dance then went out. His small room then started to fill up with swirling white vapour. In the centre of the vapour swirl, Brett saw a figure materialising. Brett shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes. His summon ritual was a success...!
Oh but wait hang on. What the..
Brett then muttered;
"No way, oh c'mon."
The figure in front of Brett bit his lip, holding back its tears.
What the... is he crying !?
"Oh please, you have got to be kidding me."
With tear-filled eyes, the figure in front of Brett finally snapped back.
"Hey, devils have feelings too, y'know!!"
Say what?!
Brett stammered.
"L, look, I'm sorry, okay..? It's just that you don't look like a typical devil.."
The sad devil pouted and snapped back.
"I'm fully aware of that. Nevertheless, it's no fun seeing this disapproved look every time I make an appearance. All I get is oh Eddy you so don't look like a devil. Oh Eddy, are you sure you're a devil? Oh my god Eddy there is no frickin' way you're a devil!... I'm just so sick of it...!"
Brett widened his eyes as he furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Look, I'm sorry okay? ..So all the drawings and documents done to describe you guys.. were they all wrong..?"
The devil shrugged.
"Nah, you guys are pretty on point.. my brothers actually do look a lot like what you may call typical devils I suppose... but about a million times scarier."
"What..?"
"When my brothers are summoned, usually all it takes is one glance and the summoner passes out."
"I see.. so.. Eddy, was it? Why do you look so.. different?"
"Well for starters, I don't like wearing black. It's just not my colour."
Eddy was wearing a stylish white suit, decorated with white feathers.
Brett raised an eyebrow.
"Ooookaaay...?"
"And I don't like my red eyes.. they're very photosensitive which means the sunlight stings like hell but I don't like the look of myself wearing sunnies either, so I wear coloured contact lenses."
Brett looked at Eddy's eyes. They were a soothing light brown colour. When their eyes met, Brett quickly looked away in case Eddy took it as an opportunity to put some kind of spell on him, as Brett remembered that's what happened in some of the stories he'd read in the past.
"And my natural hair colour is too dark so I changed it."
Eddy had light brown highlights which glistened in the morning sun that came through Brett's bedroom window.
After close inspection, Brett now appreciated the trouble Eddy the devil had gone through to look very easy on the eyes. Brett was now glad he got Eddy and not one of his brothers which could've made Brett pass out.
"By the way Brett, this is a really sh*tty time to summon a devil. Most of us are active at night and would be in bed by this hour."
Brett shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh yeah, I suppose. Sorry. I lost track of time preparing everything and by the time I was ready to do my summons it was dawn."
"Well, everybody else was asleep. I was the only one idle all night and not tired that could respond to the summon."
"Oh, I see. Well, um thanks for coming. So, um, do you... still.. work? as a devil?"
"Well, that depends on what kind of work you've got cut out for me."
"Okay..and.. I have to pay you with my soul, right?"
"Yeah, um, about that.."
"Yeah?"
"I can change the currency if you are willing."
Brett furrowed his brows.
"I don't understand."
"I wanna change careers. I need character references."
Brett was so confused, he further furrowed his brows into a knot.
"I.. I still don't understand, Eddy."
Geez, this is getting too weird, maybe it wasn't worth all the trouble...
"Look Brett, I take it you summoned me because you've got someone bothering you that you want me to deal with? I'll help you resolve it, but I have a peaceful win-win policy so I'm not gonna do cruel sh*t like turn his cat into a soup and make him eat it, okay?"
Brett cringed.
"Geez, no, I wouldn't like that either! Sure, I don't like this guy but I like cats."
"Okay, good. So I'm gonna work out a civil way to resolve your problem and if you are happy with my services you write a five-star review about me on;
devil.com/chen_e85801/career_transition/references
Deal? I need character references to become an angel."
Brett rolled his eyes.
Ooookaaay, now that actually almost makes sense....!