Demon Fare

Chapter Five

Chapter Five 

It was like someone blew out a candle.

The flames died and the kitchen went dark again. A glowing blue mist swirled out the oven door and drifted toward Henry.

Wanda shoved the basket at him. “Now catch it.”

Henry stared down at the basket, reluctant to capture the demon. It had made it clear it didn’t want to return to Hell. What if it was an old one from The Healing? Those were valuable because they hardly had to be trained. They already understood the human world and its ways.

“If you don’t scoop it up, it’ll escape,” Wanda whispered, a frantic edge to her voice. “I thought we had a deal.”

“It won’t escape.” The mist twirled around his legs and rubbed up against him like a contented cat. It just needed a companion, a master. It wasn’t a bad demon, just a desperate one.

“Mr. Paine, if you want your Vox—"

“Shut up.” He held out the basket and the rogue demon coiled itself inside. He shut the lid and shoved the basket at Wanda. “Happy now?”

“As a pig in mud.” She grabbed the basket and stuffed it in her coat pocket. “You’ll thank me for this someday.”

Henry’s mood took a dive. “I don’t think so.”

She tugged on his sleeve and turned to leave. “Come on. Our dealin’ ain’t done yet. I got myself a promise to keep.”

* * *

Wanda held the basket in her lap, her fingers wrapped around the braided rows of willow bark. She tried to get a sense of what the demon could be feeling, but there was nothing there. How could there be? You wouldn’t expect your lamp to be sad, or your vacuum cleaner to be lonely, or your lawn mower to be scared. They were machines, and a demon just helped them work better.

“How come you’re not talkin’?” Wanda asked Henry.

His eyes stared at the road straight ahead, his big hands making Mystic’s steering wheel look like a child’s toy. “Because I have nothing to say.”

He left off the last part, to you, but she still heard it in his tone. Not that it should matter. Henry Paine was only a means to an end, and if he didn’t like her, so what? She’d have to figure out a way to make him believe Grandma Lacy’s prophecy. Wanda couldn’t stop the city’s destruction if he didn’t join in the fray.

He pulled up to the curb in front of her aunt’s Brooklyn apartment building. “I’ll wait here.”

“Ah, come on, Mr. Paine. Won’t you come inside? My Aunt Alva is a fantastic cook, and she knows how to cook for Spawnsters since half our family is Hellspawn.” She’d rather him not come in, but how else would she win him over? “You ain’t even hungry?”

“I’m fine. Just get me my demon boxes and I’ll leave.”

“You sure? My belly’s so empty I’m fartin’ cobwebs.”

He gave her a horrified look. “You eat with that mouth?”

She rolled her eyes. No sense of humor. “I’m gonna have my supper before I fetch your boxes, so come in or stay out in the cold. Up to you.”

He shivered and switched off the engine.

“Great!” Wanda smiled and pushed at the cab’s door, which opened so fast it swung her out onto the sidewalk with her still holding the handle. She landed flat on her ass.