Shady Lady

Caim had been, I couldn’t touch him and learn his name, either. So I had to deal.

“Not at first,” the demon said. “But this old she-witch has had far too much truck with the netherworld over the years. There’s practically a swinging door in her head.”

His appearance could mean only one thing, and it wasn’t good. “You’re calling payment due.”

“You owe me a favor.”

“What do you want?” Hell, I needed another chain saw to juggle.

“Is this the thing from Kilmer?” Shannon asked. “What did you do? Did you make a deal with it?”

Aw, crap. Well, no. Not intentionally. That technicality wasn’t going to make her like my answer any better. I motioned her to silence, because I didn’t want Maury paying attention to her.

“Nothing too difficult,” said the demon dressed in oldwoman skin.

“I’m listening.” I found it hard to imagine what I could do that it couldn’t. Of course, the human mind balked at certain boundaries.

“You will sacrifice your firstborn child to me.”

Shannon’s breath came and went in a shaky hiss. She put a hand on my arm, as if imploring me not to agree. Jesus, her opinion of me had really gone down the shitter in the past few days.

“Relax,” I said. “He’s fucking with me. Aren’t you, Maury?”

“Alas, you know me too well already. But look on the bright side—whatever I do ask for won’t seem so bad by comparison, will it?”

“You’re stalling.”

“I had almost forgotten how tiresome you can be.”

“I’m a real demon downer, all right. Spill it or I consider this conversation repayment in full, because you’re wasting my time.”

“Very well, no more games. Which is a great pity because I love them so. You, Corine Solomon, will summon my mate for me.”

I said, “You’ll have to give me his or her true name.”

“I am aware of how it works,” he said dryly. “You will, of course, pledge on your mother’s immortal soul that you will never use it to my bind my love to your will.”

Since I wasn’t sure anything of my mother had survived to see the afterlife, I didn’t consider that a powerful vow. Best not to tell the demon.

“And if I refuse?”

“I consider our bargain broken and you will die.”

Kel could not have foreseen this. He wouldn’t have left me to face this if he’d known it was coming. In a horrible way, that knowledge gladdened me. He had no dominion over the dark spaces, whereas I lived there. Shit. I didn’t want to do this, but I could, if Maury told me the particulars. If I did this, everything would change. From tales told at my mother’s knee, I understood that no white witch would help a dark practitioner; therefore I could find only training in the dark arts henceforth. And this act would leave a scar in the astral, so anyone who viewed me there would know I summoned demons.

“That’s not a cake-or-death choice,” Shan said softly. “It’s more of a disembowelment-or-death choice.”

Was I prepared to dwell in darkness in exchange for my life? Yet the alternative was worse—fall now and spend my afterlife in the demon realm. A bad choice and worse coming: At this point, that seemed like a too- familiar tune. Maybe this choice didn’t mean I was damned; perhaps I could do enough good, somehow, to make it up, no matter what other practitioners thought of me. Really, there was only one call; otherwise Shannon must watch me die. I couldn’t do that to her. Couldn’t.

“Before I give my answer, can I ask a question?” It was best to make sure of such things, though I knew the outcome was inevitable.

“Indeed,” Maury said. “But let that be the only one, lest I accuse you of, as you put it, stalling.”

“Recently I ran into a Knight of Hell.” Out of respect for the demon I’d bested, I didn’t name him. No telling what Maury could do with such information. “He’d been summoned by a sorcerer, but not in spirit. He crossed over fully. Is that what you want me to do for your mate?”

I read real surprise in the old woman’s face. “Truly, a corporeal manifestation? It takes an incredible amount of energy to create such a gate.”

“I figured.” Binding and banishing were different because when you returned a summoned creature to its natural place, the universe wanted to help restore order. Pulling things where they didn’t belong—that took juice.

“No, of course that’s not what I require. I merely want her here, as I am. It will be great fun for us to find a couple of hosts and . . . play for a while.”

I shuddered to envision what Maury considered “play.” “Like a vacation.”

“Precisely.”

“If I consent to this, we’re square. No more favors. No more debt.” A glorious new life, down a very dark road. I suspected I couldn’t see how bad it would get from here, and that was probably best.

“Agreed.”

I couldn’t help but haggle, though he held all the cards. It was the pawnshop owner in me. “I’ll do it under one condition.”

“You’re hardly in a bargaining position, but I’m willing to listen.”

“You promise not to take unwilling hosts. Find a couple of coma victims or something. Stage a miraculous recovery and go about your business.”

Whatever that might be. Don’t think about it. Don’t.

“Done. Such hosts are typically easier to control anyway. Most of them have no brain function to interfere with my driving.”

Gross.

“Will she remember what we’ve talked about?” I nodded at the old lady. Her skin had turned a sickly shade, as if his presence made her queasy.

“No. They never do.”

“Good.” Before I could change my mind, I recited the address where we could be found. “Find a proper body and then come to us tonight. I’ll need some time to study my grimoires. I want to make sure I do this right.”

Because I’m sure as hell not doing it again, no matter what other witches think. One scar doesn’t mean I’m evil. It doesn’t.

“Until tonight, my darling child.”

The old woman slumped to the counter, and it took a couple of minutes for her to rouse. We stuck around to make sure Maury hadn’t cooked her brain. Other than being groggy, the witch didn’t seem to have taken permanent harm.

“Are we finished here?” she asked in bewilderment. “I seem to have lost track of time.”

“Yeah, we paid up. But we’re still waiting for you to get that starter pack of herbs you mentioned.”

“Oh, yes, of course. I’ ll be right back.”

She gave me a pretty wooden box with ten compartments inside. Each one held a different herb, wrapped in fabric. I didn’t know what any of this stuff did, but my mother could tell me, through the grimoires. I waved as we went past the curtain and out the front door.

Shannon broke the silence halfway to the SUV. “What didn’t you tell me about what happened in those woods?”

Remembered pain rendered my words staccato, choppy. “Cooper killed me. Or the wound would have. The demon plugged the hole.” Knowing it sounded incredible, I took her hand and pressed it to my side. Since I was thinner, the metal felt more obvious, a hard spot where the blade went in.

“I can feel it. That used to be a knife?”

I nodded, leading the way to the SUV. My gaze cut back and forth and over our shoulders. Nobody seemed to be paying us any particular attention, but I wouldn’t feel safe until I had Shannon behind locked doors again.

“I have a murderer’s weapon inside me,” I said, hearing the despair in my voice. “It’s no wonder I can give such orders. I’m afraid of what I’m becoming.”

That was the first time I’d articulated the fear aloud: that I was filthy and demon touched. I had allowed