Icy fingers gripped my arms in the darkness and started shaking me awake. I quickly overcame my shock while blinking the sleep out of my eyes and muttered, “Not again.” I reluctantly dragged my feet to the kitchen, the annoyance trailing behind me, while grumbling about all the sleep that I was losing.

I quickly whipped up a simple sandwich and shoved it towards the tall, dark-haired being who was hungrily eyeing my masterpiece. As he practically shoved it down his throat, I thumbed the spot where his fingers had touched earlier and joked, “You should really install some heaters in hell. Every time you touch me, I can feel myself turning into a human popsicle.”

With a grin that many had come to fear, he replied, “Well, that would most probably cause a commotion among my subjects. And as the ruler of hell, I would have to deal with that.” He paused to finish what was left of his sandwich and dusted the breadcrumbs off his fingers. “Which would be a complete waste of my time and energy.”

“Thank you for your hospitality and that mediocre sandwich.” He said while standing up and bowing elegantly towards me. His expression abruptly turned mischievous. “I hope that the next time I visit, your sandwich-making skills will have improved tremendously.” After being given a threatening look, he flashed me a grin that revealed his pointy teeth before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke.

I stomped back to my room and closed the door with a loud slam. “He’d better not bring along those animals’ souls again just because he reckoned I was ‘lonely’,” I muttered, making those quotation marks in the air to no one in particular. “Although that arctic fox really was the most adorable thing I have ever seen.”