The man wiped away the remains of his runic design with his foot until the runes were too smudged to be recognizable, then sighed as he turned back to a thick-covered book with thin, yellowed pages. His hands flipped from one page to the next, careful not to create even the slightest tear and risk losing the knowledge that could make or break his endeavor. Dozens of rituals, and not one had done the slightest bit of good… but there had to be something in this old, dusty book that could help him. There just had to be.

But the pages that he had yet to peruse didn't seem to be of much assistance. Gnomes, leprecorns, mermen… All useless, just like the others had proved to be…

Finally, the man paused, his hands still lingering in the air over the book's edges as he read. Every word made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It would be dangerous, for sure… but at this point, anything was worth the risk.

He grabbed sea salt from the kitchen cupboards and candles from the basement, then ran to and fro, slowly and carefully laying down the symbols depicted in the book with as much accuracy as he could muster with his whole body shaking; a quick examination reassured him that he hadn't forgotten a point of the star or the tip of the pine tree. The candlelight danced across the walls, blending in with the dim rays of the evening sun that streamed in through a small open window.

One incantation later, and the man was face to face with a brown-haired, black-suited demon. The book's illustrations didn't do him justice- a mere sketch could never capture the essence of the black-eyed creature before him.

"W̷̮̹̻̲͕ͮ͋̆ͫ̿͒Hͥ͗̈ͥ͌̋Y̼̪̱̼̮̼̾͑̉͟ ̞̥͙ͪ͂ͧ̈̽H̤̯̩̘͛̈́̓A̦̹̫͒ͮ̓͆͛͋V̪̬̪̦̂̔͛̎ͯḚ̛͔̭͉̠̗ ̖ͨ͒͗͆̚Y̖̮͚̗̞ͧ̑͟O̹̩̱͔͎U̠͖͝ ̗̻͎͖̯̜̳͛S͈͙̭̫͔͇̻̋ͭ́U̶̱͉͑̈́ͫͩͪ͐̆M̔̽̉̏̀M̶͌̓́ͨͩͥͤO̼̟̩̘͌̀ͅN̤̪E̒͏D͇̗̎̍ ̝̠̱̼̘̦͕̒̒ͩ̐ͮͧ̚A̡ͦL̷̠̩̮̣͇͙ͅC͓̭̻͈͓̺̮ͧͧ́̉ͬ͊ͫO̦R̺͚̩ͩ̇̊̓̾͡ ̵T̮̝̫̰̰̀H̴͈͈͕̰̉ͦͭͨ̌E̺̜͇ͤͮͅ ̰̪̑D̵͍̥͚̱̾͑ͩ̆ͫR̘͙̲̬̥̈ͭ̑E̝̼̣̖̭͚̬ͨͥÅ̪̜̠̮̳̩̘̀̄M̺̲̖̖̫̹̏̂ͅB͕͑̿͐ͮ̌͋Ẻ͎̬̻͇͑̒͠N͕̓̔́ͦ̊D̴̩̭̻͓͎͖̦È̩̝̲̪͚͓͆́ͪR͚̝̯͉͇̱͂̈ͨ̎͌?̝̳̪͈̖̃͋̔"

The man's throat suddenly felt parched. "M-my daughter… she was born early, you see, much too early, and now she can barely breathe, and the doctor said there's nothing they can do… oh, great and mighty Alcor, please, save my daughter."

The demon's voice lost some of its deep echo. "Bring her to me."

He glanced over to his daughter, who was curled up in her crib. "I won't bring her in the circle. I won't let you touch my child."

"Fine. But let me see her."

The man gave a terse nod and ran to his daughter's side. It pained him to see her mother's eyes, her mother's face, and yet have to hear her every breath, weak and slow and rasping… and she was small, too small, engulfed by the crib that held her.

He scooped up his child, wrapping her gently in a soft white blanket and swaddling her as he carried her towards the demon. She gurgled happily as the two drew near the circle, apparently unconcerned with the demonic appearance of their new guest. The baby's hand reached towards Alcor's hand, and his towards hers, but her father yanked the child away before they could touch.

"Just as I thought." The demon said softly. "Now, tell me exactly what you want from me."

"I…" The man's mind raced, thinking back to all the stories that he had heard of people double-crossed by demons, their wishes gone horribly awry. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. "Save my daughter, and not just from this sickness. I want her to live a good long life. I want my baby girl to stay safe, no matter what."

Alcor drummed his fingers against his knees and stared at his neatly-polished shoes. It was disconcerting to see such a human-like figure sitting several inches off the ground, the demon having apparently eluded gravity's grasp. "And what will you give me in return?"

The man didn't hesitate. "Anything."

Alcor stopped drumming his fingers and looked the man in the eyes. "A̢͍̩̪ͤ̄̿̎̚ͅN͓̰̼͊̂͗̊̀̆͂Ý͙̳͛̃͗̈́̑T̙͈̼̝̳͎͞H͓͔͍̻ͫ̆̏I̔̍̉ͯͪ̓̚͢Ṇ̢̲͓̿̾̅͌͋͌ͩG̜̯̜̰̙͚̋̾͟?̗̫͎ͧ̊͠"

He looked down at his daughter, at that face he so loved, and nodded. "I would give anything for her- my life, my soul, whatever you want. After losing my beloved Maya, my child- our child- is all I have left in the world. Nothing else matters to me anymore. Just name your price."

The demon cradled his chin in his hand and stared off at nothing in particular. The room filled with silence. The man kept looking at his daughter, whose tiny hands now reached for his face, with her letting out a laugh that soon turned into a coughing fit upon successfully smacking him in the nose. She had entered the world early; he would make sure that she did not leave it early. That laugh, that wide spit-filled smile, was worth any cost.

"I have a proposition."

The man looked up. Was it his imagination, or could he see the room's reflection in the demon's inky eyes? "Yes?"

"I am the Dreambender. But do you know what else I am?"

He sat on the floor, trying to balance his daughter and the book. It listed him as the Dreambender, but… there had to be a list of other titles, right? Demons always had a really long list of titles… the book had to have it… why does this section have such small print? And of course the poor lighting didn't help, especially since the sun was now almost below the horizon, leaving only the faint flames of the candles to give off light to help him read…

"Alright, you're trying, good enough. I'll just give you this one. Alcor the Twin Star."

The man set the book down and stood back up, now painfully aware of how much the demon towered over him (though, in all fairness, Alcor was floating several inches high while his feet had to rest on the floor, so when it came to comparing their height the demon was kind of cheating). "…and?"

The demon's eyes lit up, their eerie yellow light filling the entire room. "You want your daughter not just to be healthy but to be safe, to have life-long protection. And who better to protect her than her beloved twin brother?"

"I don't understand."

"Let me spell it out for you. I'll act as your daughter's twin, guard her all her life, everything you asked for. And nobody will have to know. As far as anybody knows, you'll always have had two normal, healthy children."

"And- would I know?"

Alcor tilted his head to one side. "I don't know. Do you want to?"

The man closed his eyes and thought about it. He had always thought of himself as an honest person, always thought that he'd want to know the truth no matter what… and yet, he knew it would haunt him every day of his life to know that one of his children was an imposter, a demon in disguise. If that was the only way of getting the protection he so sorely desired... well, why not just embrace the blessing of having not only one but two children in his life? "I… guess I'd rather not." He paused. "And you? I suppose you'd remember it all?"

The demon's eyes narrowed. "T̨̠̲̼̦̄͒͂Ḫ̉̎̚A̳̣͎ͤͥͪ͘T͙͈̣͙̓ͯ̉̓̒̽̽'̨͊̾ͦͪS͓̼͎͓ͧ ̸͉M̮͉͋̔͛Y͓̮̭̯ͭ ̭̻̙͓͔̭̒̓ͪ̽̒̄ͯͅB̤̼̮͚̦̬̬͛̑͂̂̉ͬU͔͇͍̓̆S̻̳̱̍̄ͅI̭͑̚͜N͍̆̾ͧE̛͇̤̻͓͔̖͊ͯ́S̺̥̘̝͖̯̭ͦ͢Ś̰̮̍̃."

"O-okay. Fine. Sorry."

"So. Do we have a deal?" The demon extended his hand, which filled with blue flames.

The man stepped forward, looking back and forth between the demon and his daughter before finally keeping a steady gaze fixed on the former. "We have a deal."

The two exchanged a firm handshake.

As the details of the exchange began to leave the man's mind, he heard the demon murmur, "It's been so long…"