Inspiration from Reddit 7 - Summoning the Devil

Another Wednesday, another storytime! This one hasn't gone through much revision since it's a recent story I posted on Reddit. And for the first time, I got over 50 points on a story, a new record!

So what did I write about? The prompt was:

"The last time you tried to make a cake, you summoned a demon. This time, you're prepared. You carefully ensure that nothing could possibly go wrong! The cake is done and you're just about to take it away, when the Lord of the Underworld taps you on the shoulder."
-Posted by Xcmd

The funny thing was that I previously had co-written a prompt-story together with a friend of mine, a story for another time, which was similar to this theme. So when I found this prompt I just let my hands type it away. It was one of the easier and shorter prompts I've written, which is confusing since it's given me the biggest audience response.

---

“Unbelievable,” screamed Leo as he threw his hands up in the air. The cake floated for a brief moment before it fell towards the ground with an ever-increasing velocity, only to be saved by the hands of the devils.

“Afraid you did it again,” said Lucifer as he put the cake with great care on the kitchen table. “Are you sure you’re not doing this on purpose?”

“I didn’t even use the same ingredients!” howled Leo and grabbed his phone to read the recipe. “Last time was a fancy cheesecake with lots of strange stuff but this time, it was just a simple pound cake. Only flour, butter, eggs and sugar!”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” quipped the devil and spread out his arms. “I’m here, right?”

“You must be doing this on purpose,” accused the boy, pointing at the horned person with a trembling finger. “You must want my soul!”

The devil rolled his eyes. “Please, there are so many easier ways to take your soul. I’m all for elaborate plans, but the payoff must be worth it.” He scanned Leo up and down with his eyes. “And you are certainly not worth much.”

It stung. Leo lost his words for a moment but then retaliated with vigour. “And you aren’t that big of a deal if some simple ingredients can summon you from Hell.”

“You sure you didn’t add anything more than those four ingredients to your pound cake?” asked Lucifer, changing the subject with haste. “Maybe a few...daring words?”

“Nope, I just hummed on a song I…” Leo froze in the middle of his explanation.

The devil raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“It was never the cake’s fault…” said Leo slowly as he realised what the source of the summoning was. “It wasn’t the cake. I make good cakes!”

“Well, I don’t know how you learned that...song, but can you please not summon me again, unless you know, you want to do the soul-trading thing,” said the devil with a dry tone.

“Sorry, sorry,” apologized Leo. “How long until you can return to the Underworld?”

The devil glanced at his watch. “Maybe in twenty, probably thirty minutes.” He then sighed. “What am I going to do?”

Leo pointed at the cake and shrugged. The devil smiled.

“Well,” said Lucifer. “You do make good cake.”