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It carried with it the faint scent of decay and decoent, but not revolting I breathed it in, feeling dizzy I forced ht I did--but I couldn’t seeh me like an Olympic event The heaviness all around us increased

Shit, we hadn’t acco It would devour the bones and this tied ht If anything happened to him because he’d wanted to protect o with the others He was helpless without his luck, and I should have thought of that

"What do you want?" I ed to push the words past numb lips

Tendrils so cold they burnt brushed my lips and cheeks in an unholy caress I couldn’t senseto death It was possible er functioned at peak efficiency

"This ischild"

With an inward shudder, I recognized the voice from the last tiined a certain cloying fondness in the endear had clairanted this territory in a pact I have honored even when others have not So what do I want? I want redress"

Pact The word resonated, lending unnificance It confirmed what I half suspected when first we discovered Chance’s luck didn’t work here

"Who rew easier to speak I even ed to turn my head, but Chance seemed to be asleep I told ht take pleasure in talking tome limb from limb Best not to provoke it

"The twelve," it said, "long since gone to dust"

If they’d long since gone to dust, how did they e to burn down our house? I wouldn’t start with that, though Part of , but I didn’t have h I could speak and turn et up Certainly I couldn’t run, not with Chance comatose

Since it see that would last--I asked the obvious question "Why did you have ered atthe curls and curves of the flower pentacle and tried to suppress a shiver

"I was fond of her," it answered at length "I had a forest creature bring it tochild She asked me to keep you safe"

She asked It could only mean Cherie Solomon, my mother

Demons lied It hat they did So I don’t knohy the words rocked me so much I should have been able to shake them off, dismiss them as false Instead, they ate into my psyche Perhaps it was because I’d recently seen how little Chance knew his own mother No matter how much we loved, how could we ever truly know anyone else’s heart?

"How" I cleared ain "How did you know her?"

"She left gifts sometimes She kneas lonely" The earth itself shivered a little with the last word

Could that be true? Had h even to take pity on an exiled deranted these woods as its territory, but in exchange for what? What were the terht it would answer honestly, Ithat had been buggingchild, I would never harm you"

Huh? "Why not?"

Its auessed? Hadn’t you noticed the hell fire that powers your rather unusual gift?"

Oh, Jesus I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this

"CorineI aht not remember much about Albie Solomon, but I was sure he hadn’t been a de tied down or my mother’s eccentricities, but he hadn’t possessed a drop of infernal blood I’d stake my soul on it

Well,I alanted to say that" To my astonishment, the dark mist coalesced into the shape of a small man, not much taller than ood or bad "Between you and et tired of the whole I-will-devour-your-soul routine Sure, I feed off the visceral terror, but where’s the spontaneity, you know?"

"Uh, right," I said "So what’s your name?"

He answered scornfully, "Do you think I was su and having a good tiet it You can call h "Okay then, Maury Did you kill this kid?"

The demon seemed affronted "Certainly not"

I raised a broaiting Maybe that was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth I knew enough about deht you wanted to hear

"Hefrothy pause, "but the fall killed hiot along so well

In quasi-human form, the bane of my existence was short and dumpy, a little round about the middle He had bushy salt-and-pepper hair and robust sideburns The demon could’ve easily been someone’s uncle And I realized I wasn’t scared anymore, not even a little bit That could’ve been a failure of some self-preservation instinct, but I was inclined to believe the thing didn’t mean me any harm

I just didn’t knohy