Demon Callers

These are not extraordinary people.
You've seen them. At the register. In the cubicle next to yours. In the stairwell. On the other side of your wall at eleven at night, dragging furniture around for reasons you'll never understand.
They watch the good things happen to other people. They watch long enough that watching becomes its own kind of hunger. Then one day they decide: enough. I want what they have. I want what's mine. I want someone to pay.
The desires are recognizable. You've had them. Maybe you have them right now.
The problem isn't desire.
The problem is how sloppy people get when they want something badly enough. They invoke forces they don't understand. They skim the instructions. They mispronounce the words that matter. They mix up one demon with another the way you mix up one pill with another.
With results that are equally final.
The demons in these stories are real. Their names, their sigils, their attributes come from the Western demonological tradition. From grimoires that people spent centuries copying by hand. People who believed in what they were doing. People who took their time.
The mistake isn't invoking them.
The mistake is doing it badly.