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Dervish stares at es away

"Wonder where I get that froraphy

Luckily for us, Lord Loss is a chess addict Chess is the one thing he enjoys alet to play very often None of his demonic buddies know the rules, and huainst him

One of ician (Not a guy who pulls rabbits out of a hat-a full-on, Merlin- and Gandalf-class ured out a way to cash in on Lord Loss' love of chess He challenged the deames

For every match Bartholomeon, Lord Loss would cure a et to torture and kill him

Bartholomeon all their matches, but future ic who made contact with Lord Loss-weren't so fortunate Some triumphed, but most lost The rules altered over the years Now, if a parent wants to challenge Lord Loss, they need a partner The pair face not only the master, but two of his fauy, while the other battles his servants If either loses, both are slaughtered, along with the affected teen If they win, one travels to Lord Loss' realhts him there The other returns home with the cured kid

Time works differently in the universe of the Demonata A year of our time can be a day there, a decade or a century When the partner goes off with Lord Loss to do battle, their body remains in our world-only their soul crosses over They become a mindless zombie And they stay that way unless their soul triumphs If that happens, their mind returns and they resume their normal life If they don't fare so well, they stay a zombie until the day they die

"Are you co down for breakfast?" Dervish yells froiant staircase which links the floors of the mansion where we live

"In a minute!" I yell back "I've just come to the bit when you zombied out on me"

"Stop s and if you're not down in sixty seconds, too bad!"

Damn He knows all my weaknesses

"Co forthe bio aside for later

Dervish does aBest I've ever tasted I finish off a plateful without stopping for breath, then eagerly go for seconds I' side-a mammoth compared to most of my schoolmates-with an appetite to match

Dervish is wearing a pair of tracksuit bottorey hair is frizzled, except on top, where he's bald as a snooker ball Hasn't shaved (he used to have a beard, but got rid of it recently) Doesn't sood-sweaty and stale He's this way most days Has been ever since he came back

"You eating that or not?" I ask He looks over blankly fro out theat the grey autu his food

"Huh?" he says

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day"

He looks down at his plate Ss, stirs thehtmy empty sockets as-"

"Hey," I stop hi this You'll scar me for life with stories like that"

Dervish grins, warmth in it this tirunts, then starts to eat I help raphy, not needing the sheet of paper to finish, able to recall it perfectly

I have a younger half-brother, Bill-E Spleen He doesn't knoe're brothers Thinks Dervish is his father I met him when I ca to save Gret (I spent a while in a loony asylum first)

Bill-E and I becaht he was an oddball, but hared into a olf Dervish explained the situation to me, told me Bill-E was my brother, laid out the family history and our link to Lord Loss

I wasn't keen to get involved, but Dervish thought I had what it takes to kick demon ass I told him he was mad as a moose, but hell, I don't want to come across all heroic but Bill-E was my brother Muured I owed Bill-E the same sort of commitment

So we faced Lord Loss and his faot the better of Lord Loss at chess, more by luck than plan The deot to return to reality along with the cured Bill-E And Dervish won hi double L on his home turf

I'ht, what sort of a h, how time passed for him, the uarded his body, helped by a team of lawyers (my uncle-he mucho reeeech) and Meera Flame, one of Dervish's best friends I went back to school, rebuilt my life and babysat Dervish

Then, without warning, he returned I woke up one , laughing, brain intact We celebrated for days, us, Bill-E and Meera And we all lived happily after The end

Except, of course, it wasn't Life isn't a fairy tale Stories don't end Before she left, Meera took me aside and warned me to be careful She said there was no way to predict Dervish's state of one through the sa time to settle after a one-on-one encounter with Lord Loss Sometimes they never properly recovered

"We don't knohat's going on inside his head," she whispered "He looks fine, but that could change Watch his Try and help Do what you can But don't be afraid to call me for help"

I did call when the nightmares started, when Dervish first attacked me in his sleep, mistook me for a demon and tried to cut my heart out (Luckily, in his delirium, he picked up a spoon instead of a knife) But there was nothing Meera could do, short of cast a few cal spells and recommend he visit a psychiatrist Dervish rejected that idea, but she threatened to take uy who knew about demons, who Dervish could be honest with After the second session, the psychiatrist rang Meera and said he never wanted to see Dervish again-he found their sessions too upsetting

Meera discussed the possibility of having Dervish couards to look after hiainst her wishes, we carried on living by ourselves in this spooky old htrown used to theht to screa disturbed by a baby's cries Really it isn't

And he's not that much of a threat We keep the knives locked away and have bolted the other weapons in the mansion-it's dotted with axes, maces, spears, swords, all sorts of cool stuff-to the walls I usually keep my door locked too, to be safe The only reason it was open last night was that Dervish had thrown a fit both nights before and it's rare for hiht I was safe That's why I didn't bother with the lock It was my fault, not Dervish's

"I will kill him for you, master," Dervish says softly

I lower my fork "What?"

He turns, blank-faced, looking like he did when his soul was fighting Lord Loss My heart rate quickens Then he grins

"Asshole!" I snap Dervish has a sick sense of humour

I get back to wolfing downthat the scra lu, hts when he really frightens me, when I feel like I can't take it any ht and won That should have been the end of it Happily ever after

But stories don't end They continue as long as you're alive You just have to get on with things Turn the page, start a new chapter, find out what's in store for you next, and keep your fingers crossed that it's not too awful Even if you know in your heart and soul that it most probably will be