The Good, The Bad, And The Undead

god clenched its hands and took a step forward, halting at the edge of the circle. Its jackal ears pricked and its doggy eyebrows rose.

'You can't do that!' I protested, heart pounding. I looked at Piscary. 'You can't do that. I don't agree.' I turned to Algaliarept. 'He doesn't own my soul. He can't give it to you!'

The demon spared me a glance. 'He has your body. Control the body, control the soul.'

'That's not fair!' I shouted, ignored.

Piscary came close to the circle. He put his hands upon his hips, taking an aggressive stance. 'You will,' he intoned, 'not attempt to kill or touch me in any fashion. And when I say, you will leave and return directly to the ever-after.'

'Agreed,' the jackal head said. A drop of saliva fell from a fang, hissing as it flowed down the ever-after between them.

Never dropping the demon's gaze, Piscary rubbed his big toe over the circle to break it.

Algaliarept lunged out of the circle.

Gasping, I backpedaled. A powerful hand reached out and grasped my throat.

'Stop!' Piscary shouted.

My breath choked and I pried at the golden fingers. It had three rings with blue stones, all pinching my skin. I swung to kick it, and Algaliarept shifted me higher to avoid my strike. A wet sound escaped me.

'Drop her!' Piscary demanded. 'You can't have her until I get what I want!'

'I'll get your information some other way,' the jackal said, the rumble of its words joining the rushing sound of my blood. My head felt as if it was going to explode.

'I called you to get information from her,' Piscary said. 'If you kill her now, you violate your summoning. I want it now, not next week or next year.'

The fingers around my throat dissolved. I dropped to the carpet, gasping. Its sandals were made of leather and thick ribbons. Slowly I pulled my head up, feeling my throat.

'A reprieve only, Rachel Mariana Morgan,' the jackal head said, its tongue moving in fantastic patterns as it spoke. 'You will be warming my bed tonight.'

I knelt before it, sucking in air as I tried not to figure out how I could be warming its bed if I was dead. 'You know,' I wheezed, 'I'm really getting tired of this.' Heart pounding, I got to my feet. It had agreed to a task. It was susceptible to being summoned again. 'Algaliarept,' I said clearly. 'I call you, you dog-faced, murdering son of a bitch.'

Piscary's face went slack in surprise, and I swear Algaliarept winked at me. 'Oh, let me be the one in leather?' the jackal head said. 'Be afraid of him. I like being him.'

'Sure, whatever,' I said, knees shaking.

Black leather driving gloves slit into existence over the amber-skinned hands, and the jackal-headed Egyptian god's stance melted from a ramrod stiffness into a confidant slouch. Kisten took shape, wearing head-to-toe leather and thick-heeled black boots. There was a jingle of chain and a whiff of gasoline. 'This is good,' the demon said, showing a glint of fang as it slicked its blond hair back, its passing hand leaving it shower-wet and smelling of shampoo.

I thought it looked good, too. Unfortunately.

Exhaling slowly, the image of Kist bit its lower lip to make it redden, a tongue slipping out to leave it with a wet shine. A shudder went through me as I recalled how soft Kist's lips were. As if reading my mind, the demon sighed, strong fingers reaching down its leather pants to draw my eyes to it. A scratch melted into existence over its eye, mirroring Kist's new wound.

'Damn vamp pheromones,' I whispered, pushing the memory of the elevator away.

'Not this time,' Algaliarept said, smirking.

Piscary was staring in confusion. 'I summoned you. You do what I say!'

The image of Kisten turned to Piscary, belligerently flipping him off. 'And Rachel Mariana Morgan summoned me, too. The witch and I have a preexisting debt to settle. And if she has enough guile to win a circleless summoning from me, then I will hold to it.'

Piscary's teeth ground together. He lunged at us.

I gasped, lurching back. There was a wrenching sensation, and I stared as Piscary slammed into a wall of everafter, falling in a shocked tangle of arms and legs. I went cold as I realized Algaliarept had put us in a circle of its own construction.

The thick haze of red pulsed and hummed, pressing down against my skin though I was two feet away. As Piscary got to his feet and adjusted his robe, I extended a finger and touched the barrier. A sliver of ice shivered through me as the surface rippled. It was the strongest, thickest sheet of ever-after I'd ever witnessed. Feeling Algaliarept's eyes on me, I pulled my hand back and wiped it on my jeans.

'I didn't know you could do that,' I said, and it chuckled. In hindsight it made sense. It was a demon. It existed in the ever-after. Of course it would know how.

'And I'm willing to teach you how to survive manipulating as much ever-after, too, Rachel Mariana Morgan,' it said as if reading my mind. 'For a price.'

I shook my head.

'Later, perhaps?'

With a cry of frustrated rage, Piscary took a wire-weave chair and slammed it against the barrier. I jumped, my mouth going dry.

Algaliarept gave the incensed vampire a sideways glance as Piscary ripped the leg off the chair and tried to pierce the barrier like a sword. The demon took a belligerent stance at the edge of the circle, showing me its tight butt in leather pants. 'Bugger off, old man,' it mocked in Kist's fake accent, infuriating Piscary all the more. 'The sun will be up soon. You'll have another chance at her in about three minutes.'

My head came up. Three minutes? Was the sun that close to rising?

Furious, Piscary threw the bar, which skittered and rolled across the carpet. His eyes black pits, he began to make slow, sedate circles about us in anticipation.

But for the moment I was safe in Algaliarept's circle. What's wrong with this picture?

Forcing my arms down from the tight grip around myself, I glanced at Piscary's fake window, seeing the glint of sun on the highest buildings. Three minutes. I pushed my finger-tips into my forehead. 'If I ask you to kill Piscary, will you call us even?' I asked as I looked up.

It struck a sideways pose. 'No. Even though killing Ptah Ammon Fineas Horton Madison Parker Piscary is on my to-do list, it is still a request and would cost you, not absolve your debt. Besides, if you send me after him, he will likely summon me again as you did and you'd be right back where you started. The only reason he can't summon me now is because we haven't agreed on anything and we're in summoning limbo, so to speak.'

It grinned, and I looked away. Piscary stood and listened, clearly thinking.

'Can you get me out of here?' I asked, thinking of escape.

'Through a ley line, yes. But this time, it will cost you your soul.' It licked its lips. 'And then, you're mine.'

Happy, happy choices. 'Can you give me something to protect myself from him?' I pleaded, getting desperate.

'Just as expensive…' It tugged its gloves tighter to its fingers. 'And you already have what you need. Tick- tock, Rachel Mariana Morgan. Anything that will save your life will require your soul.'

Piscary was grinning, and my stomach turned as he came to a standstill eight feet away. My eyes darted to my bag with the vial Kist had given me. It was out of reach on the wrong side of the barrier. 'What should I ask for?' I cried desperately.

'If I answer that, you won't have enough left to pay for it, love,' it breathed, bending close and sending my curls drifting. I jerked back as I smelled Brimstone. 'And you're a resourceful witch,' it added. 'Anyone who can ring the city's bells can survive a vampire. Even one as old as Ptah Ammon Fineas Horton Madison Parker Piscary.'

'But I'm three stories down!' I protested. 'I can't reach a ley line through that.'

Leather creaked as it circled me, hands laced behind its back. 'What will you do?'