Keep Me Close

by Elizabeth Cole

  “It was a good deal,” Jonas hissed. “Look what it got you!”

  “Vinny’s not the thing you desire most,” Emma said, her voice hot. “Neither am I. I know you, Jonas. The only thing you really love is yourself, your own image. You’d fuck a mirror if you could. After years of marriage, believe me, I’d know.”

  “It doesn’t matter!” Jonas bellowed desperately, trying to drown out Emma’s words. “It’s too late anyway.”

  “No, it’s not.” Dom said. He grabbed Jonas’s shoulders to get his attention again. “It’s not midnight yet. It’s not too late if you let me work.”

  “You’re still going to help?” Jonas asked incredulously. His breathing was shallow, uneven. His eyes were unfocused.

  “That’s what you hired me for.”

  Jonas began to smile, the smile of a gambler who just got the card he needed.

  Then the house began to shake. Piewicket yowled a warning.

  “Oh, my God, what’s happening?” Emma shouted, far too close to Vinny’s ear.

  The electric lights flickered off, leaving only the candles Emma had lit around the first floor to make the birthday dinner festive. Now, the sparse, guttering flames just looked weak.

  The acrid stench of tar and brimstone began to the fill the room.

  Dom said, “Your business partner is here.”

  Vinny smelled the smoke filling the air and wanted to run away. But her feet were nailed to the floor. She remembered the smell from her dream, and the surprise walk into the otherworlds.

  Before she could do anything, the smoke began to take shape.

  The same long, twisted limbs and body. Like a lizard built wrong. Then eyes, huge bloodshot eyes, peering through the smoke. And that smile full of teeth.

  She was going to throw up. Vinny swallowed. She did not want birthday cake vomit to be her last taste of food on earth.

  “You made a bargain with that?” Emma shrieked, terrified.

  Jonas was white-faced. “It didn’t look like that before.”

  “Why are you here?” Dom asked, his voice remarkably calm.

  The demon turned fire-bright eyes to each of them. “Why does a lion find a lamb? I’m hungry. So many kinds of hungry, and this little world offers such delights. The air is sweet, and the sins are sweeter. All these tiny, delectable souls with such tiny desires. Ah, I want to eat them all!”

  Then it sighted Jonas. “There he is! This mortal, Jonas August Belling, made a bargain with me. I granted him fame and material wealth, so that others envied him, and so he could indulge in avarice by spending profligately on whimsical, useless things. And then the lust…I gave him means to seduce whoever he desired, a spell to speak that rendered the listener open to seduction. It was a gift he used again and again and again.”

  “Ew,” Vinny muttered.

  Unfortunately, that comment got the thing’s attention.

  “Ah, the one to whom he gave my symbol. A pretty thing indeed, with a prettier soul.” The demon reached out toward Vinny, a glow suffusing its clawed hand. “He wants you most, so it’s you I take.”

  Vinny couldn’t even scream. She had her crappy little knife out, but the demon only laughed, the sound filled with flames. “Come, my child.”

  “No,” she hissed.

  “Ah. You wear charms against evil. How quaint.” A huge claw sliced at her neck. The necklaces, including the cross and the bottle of salt, fell to the floor.

  Vinny fought back a sob. She could barely breathe against the stench, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into the smallest hole next to the smallest mouse and hide forever.

  “Come. There’s no stopping it, sweet dear. You’re a pawn, a payment. Most deaths are pointless. At least you’ll see the glory of my hell before you die.”

  No. She wasn’t sure if she said it or thought it or screamed it.

  The thing swiped again. Vinny’s stupid, cheap knife clattered against a wall somewhere. She shrank back farther, trying to be a mouse, a flea, anything small enough to ignore. Why did she have to be a thing to be taken? Why didn’t she have a say? Why was nothing fair?

  Hot breath rushed over her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified of seeing this nightmare one more time. What do I have to do to keep living?

  The demon reached, and paused just before grabbing her wrist. “What is this?” it asked, puzzled.

  She opened her eyes a slit. The demon made another grab, but its claws seemed unable to actually take hold of Vinny. “What surrounds you?”

  “Cheese and crackers,” she whispered, a wild laugh starting to well up inside her. “That spell totally worked.”

  “You’re protected?” The demon winced, then whirled around. Vinny gasped in relief, no longer in its crosshairs.

  It found Jonas, and stooped low. “What is this game? You seek to play with me? Putting a lock on my prize?”

  Jonas said in a panic, “I don’t know anything about a lock. I’m sorry!”

  “Sorry, mortal? Sorry?”

  Dom stepped forward. He looked totally unintimidated, despite the fact that the demon was twice as tall as him, and oh, yeah, a demon. He said, “The protection spell is mine.”

  Chapter 26

  Dom faced the demon he knew was Azthaanethmaoul, and took a breath, trying to not inhale too much of the nasty brimstone stench. “I cast the spell on her.”

  The demon turned its full attention to him, which was never a place he wanted a demon’s attention to be. It hissed, “Who are you? Some dabbling mage?”

  “I’m Dominic Salem.”

  “That name means nothing to me.” The demon sneered at him.

  He slowly, deliberately recited the names of a few other demons. “Heochxiomon. Zaeasbathcaiphon. Zaphelal, Erosorsacer.”

  The creature in front of him considered the names. Then it said dismissively, “Those ones are all destroyed.”

  “I know. My brothers and I killed them all.”

  The demon paused, reassessing Dom. “Or you are lying.”

  Dom shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t care if you believe me.”

  “Just as well, since you’ll be too dead to care about anything in a moment. And then your little spell on her will die too.”

  It lunged toward Dom, but then stopped, pushed back by some invisible force. “What now?” it roared.

  “Oh, you missed it, with all the smoke and confusion and threatening mortals’ souls. But that cat just ran around you in a circle—she’s great at circles. And I fired up a ward, because I’m great at wards. So now you’re stuck inside.”

  “You can’t cast without a ritual!”

  “Just did.” Dom kept his voice as steady as he could, partly to piss off the demon, and partly because he’d freak out if his concentration slipped even a little. And that would shatter the ward.

  “I don’t believe you!” the demon screeched.

  Piewicket hissed and spat at the demon. You will remain confined within this circle. I have eaten fiercer creatures than you before my morning nap, and I will eat you if you pass the border.

  The demon snorted fire, but didn’t try to cross the line Piewicket had created. Still, it laughed. “You may confine me for a few moments. But no more than that. You’re still a mortal, Dominic Salem.” It intoned the syllables of his name precisely, lovingly, hoping to use his name against him if it could. “Such power in a mortal, though. Fascinating. What is your full name?”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  The demon hissed out a laugh. “Power doesn’t equal wisdom. I have tricked greater mages than you into giving me every…last…bite…of their souls.” It made a gross, smacking sound. “Let me eat a soul. Choose one you like the least, put the necklace on them and send them to me. Then I’ll go.”

  “No.” Dom resisted, because the offer was tempting. Jonas would be so easy to give over.

  “You want more?” the demon asked. “Then say it. Say your desire. More power? I can offer you a deeper look into the well of magic
. You’ll gain knowledge others would weep over.”

  “No.” He didn’t need power. Power couldn’t give back what he lost.

  “Oh…” The demon’s voice changed. It became gentle. “What you’ve lost. What your family lost. Do you want to see them again? Speak to them, the ones who gave you life and then gave their lives to keep all of you safe? My symbol back, and a promise to give me your soul when it’s all used up and old…”

  “No!” Dom burst out. Hate filled him like a flash flood. How dare this thing look into his memories, his mind. He should just give Jonas to it. That’s what the asshole deserved.

  Keep silence! Offer nothing! Piewicket’s voice echoed through his mind. It’s scared.

  “Of what?” he breathed.

  Something you have.

  Dom wasn’t that powerful. What did he have that could scare a demon? He held his knife in his right hand. It was more magical than most knives, but nothing against a millennia-old creature of flame and smoke. He had a cat, also more magical than most. He had…the necklace.

  Now he knew what he had to do. He had to break the necklace. The necklace served as the representation of the contract in the real world. In one way, it was the contract. But Dom had to be sure the contract was severed before he could try to destroy both the physical object and the magic within it.

  “I’m going to pull the contract from this symbol,” he said.

  The demon’s eyes flared. “You may try, you stupid mortal. But such a ritual would take you weeks. Months! Gather your ingredients and map your sky. I’ll have a soul by midnight.”

  “Or I’ll just break it.” Dom raised his knife, preparing to bring the blade down onto the symbol. Now that he had the demon’s true name, he could mangle this thing like tinfoil.

  “NO!!” the demon shrieked, the sound echoing in many worlds. “You cannot! Please, I beg you, stop!”

  He stopped, and smiled.

  “You can’t make more symbols,” Dom said, enlightened. “Something went wrong, sometime, a long time ago, and now you’re bound by the ones you still have. You need each one back, whole and unharmed, or you lose the chance to get another soul from it. It’s why you’re so hungry. You have to wait for your meals, and you don’t have as many coming as you used to.”

  “I’ll tear your soul from your veins,” it hissed. “You’re nothing! A speck. I hold multitudes! My domain is vast, with oceans of black flame.”

  “Empty oceans.” Dom held the necklace tight in his fist. “You want this back to get more? You agree to my offer.”

  The demon’s head ducked low, a bull waiting to charge. “An offer?”

  It thinks it can outwit you, Piewicket warned. Be simple.

  “Here’s the deal.” Dom thought a minute, his eyes flicking toward Piewicket, getting her read. “If you release Jonas August Belling from his contract, and forgo all claim to the humans and cats in this house, I’ll toss the necklace back to you, and without offering further harm or bargains, you will leave the real world for your own place in the otherworlds.”

  “Surely I can bring something to this offer,” the demon countered slyly.

  “Shut up,” Dom warned. “There’s one bargain on the table. Mine. Listen. You can say yes or say no. Or I’ll use your true name to destroy your necklace, and you’ll get one measly, shitty soul for it, and lose all hope of more.”

  The demon hissed. “Not that, I pray you.”

  “Then what’s your answer to my offer?”

  “You could get so much more. No negotiating? No haggling? No sweeteners?”

  “Try no fucking patience.” Dom twirled the knife.

  The demon hemmed and hawed, but couldn’t find a way to wiggle past the very basic parameters of Dom’s offer. Every time it tried to speak, Dom just ran the tip of the blade across the metal of the symbol.

  “Very well!” it screamed, minutes to midnight. “I accept your offer.”

  “Then pronounce the contract with Jonas August Belling null and void. Say it!”

  The demon ground out the statement.

  “Pronounce all people and cats and living creatures in this house safe. Pronounce that you will leave the moment this necklace crosses the border of the circle.”

  The demon did so, ending with “So I say it. Done and done! Now uphold your side, Dominic Salem.”

  Dom bunched the necklace in his hand, then threw it in an easy arc toward the demon, who outstretched massive, reptilian hands to receive it.

  But just when the necklace glittered in the fey light of the circle’s edge, a swift shadow flew past, capturing the necklace, eclipsing the shine in a dark shape.

  And then Piewicket landed lightly, on four paws, the necklace secure in her jaws.

  Mine.

  Dom probably could have reminded the demon that cats can cross borders. But then, the demon should already know that. It was an old timer, after all.

  The demon started to shriek at an unbelievable, unholy volume. Vinny and Emma both clapped their hands over their ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound.

  “Lies! Cheating! Abomination and trickery!” the demon wailed.

  “No,” Dom said firmly. “I held up my end of the bargain. I tossed the necklace across the border. The cat was not a party to the contract, and you have no grievance.”

  “I want it, I want it! Give it! Pretty kitty, please bring me my toy.”

  Pie’s ears were flattened, and she bit down on the charm. The snapping sound was absurdly loud.

  The demon wailed again. “I will destroy you!”

  “Nope.” Dom held the knife out, blade down. “You have to leave now. Rules are rules.” He shifted his tone to the more formal language of the banishment spell. In Latin, he said, “I abjure thee. Go.”

  The demon hissed and flailed. Plumes of black smoke gushed forth.

  “Azthaanethmaoul.” Dom spoke the demon’s true name, carefully, clearly, then stooped down, plunging the tip of the blade into the floor. “Be gone.”

  There was a flash, and the smoke in the room ungushed, falling back into the circle, into a pinpoint. The demon vanished from the same rift it entered, and the last thing it left was a scream on the air.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Jonas yelled, panicked.

  “Show’s over,” said Dom.

  “What?” Emma said, taking her hands off her ears.

  “The contract is severed. The charm held it, and we’ve destroyed it. And then, since the demon had no claims on anyone’s soul, I sent it back to hell. It’s all good.”

  Or maybe it wasn’t.

  Piewicket mewed, and dashed over to Vinny, who was huddled on the floor in a tight ball, not responding to anything.

  Chapter 27

  Vinny moaned in pain, her body overwhelmed by the deep, soul-scorching reality of what just happened. A tiny lick on her cheek made her jerk sideways. Then she realized it was just Pie. The cat looked at her with what Vinny could swear was concern.

  Then Dom was there, pulling her up, holding her tight. “You okay?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “There was a demon that tried to eat my soul,” she mumbled. “Don’t know if you caught that.”

  “Yeah. It’s gone now.”

  “Thanks.” Thanks was so inadequate a word. Vinny wrapped her arms around him to let him know how she felt. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.

  Then a sob broke through her thoughts. Vinny looked over to find Emma standing over Jonas, who was literally on his knees. The sob came from him.

  “Don’t, babe,” he was saying. “I’m so sorry about everything, but it’s over now. We can move on.”

  “You can move on,” she said. “You can move on tonight, out of my house.”

  “Your house?”

  “Yeah. I’m keeping the house. And half of everything. That’s what my divorce lawyer will send over to your lawyer. If you fight it, I will spill so much shit to the public, you won’t get a gig for an infomercial.”
/>   “Emma, please. Give me another chance.”

  “You’ve had a whole marriage worth of chances. Pack a bag. Pick a car. Movers can take care of the rest.”

  Vinny saw resolve in Emma’s eyes, something she hadn’t seen in a long while. Jonas must have seen it too, because he got up off the floor without trying to convince her again.

  But then he looked over to her.

  “Vin…”

  She turned away from Jonas, toward Dom, who didn’t say a word. He just held her, and that was all Vin wanted.

  What seemed like mere moments later, Jonas drove off. He had a bag full of clothes, and his soul. But he’d lost everything else. Emma locked the gate behind him, and then changed the code. “That’s good for tonight,” she murmured.

  She turned to Dom, who still had an arm around Vinny. “Did you trick a demon? Was that a thing that happened?”

  He said, “The offer was real. I did everything I said I would. I just left out the part where Piewicket has her own agenda. And besides, I couldn’t just give that necklace back knowing more souls would get taken with it. That would make me a pretty bad demon hunter.”

  Emma nodded slowly. “I guess you’re the real deal. What’s the etiquette on tipping?”

  “Pro.”

  She smiled. “Can I take care of it tomorrow? I’m about to collapse.”

  “I’ll tuck you in,” Vinny said suddenly. She could see the loneliness in her friend right then.

  Emma looked like she might burst into tears. “That’d be great.”

  Vinny took care of Emma, then returned to the great room, which was a hot mess. Dom was attempting to clean up, but it was beyond one tired human.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  Vinny rubbed at her ears, trying to knock out the ringing. “Say what you will about club sound systems,” she muttered. “That demon screeching just made my tinnitus ten times worse than touring ever did.”

  “How’s Emma?”

  “Emma’s out of it. She took something to help her sleep, and I put her to bed and stayed until she drifted off. She can’t deal with anything more now.”

  “It’s really late,” he said. “You should get some sleep too.”