Page 17 of Cookbooks and Demons

“Okay, I suppose I needed to do the things in the poem, too? I think I did bite my tongue the first time…” she said, looking down at the pages.

The smell hit her first, then a crackling sound called her attention back to the floor. To her amazement, the blackened lines of the circle re-emerged from the floor, burning upward as if someone was holding a million cigarettes to a piece of paper all at once, reburning a pentagram and other symbols into her tile. Soft, eerie whispers seemed to dance among the hissing crackle and then the whole thing flared. Helena wasn’t sure what happened next because she had to close her eyes and look away, but then the overwhelming burning was gone. Slowly, she lifted her face from the crook of her arm where she had shielded her eyes and looked at the uncanny form kneeling in the circle.

Oh crap. She didit again.

Immediately, she felt revulsion for the thing there. Everything about it felt wrong, but she ignored the feelings. She knew what she was doing, and it was too late for regrets now.

Slowly, the creature lifted his head. His eyes seemed to struggle to focus on her at first, but then they narrowed to hardness before closing entirely. The creature sighed and flexed his wings in a show of irritation. “How can I serve you,mistress?”

“I’m so sorry about this. I know what you toldme, but—”

“How can I serve you, mistress?” he growled out, his eyes flashing hot with anger. Then he closed them, his face going still, as if he were mastering himself. “How may I serve you, my mistress? State what you desire me to do, and I will state the price for thatservice.”

“I… I don’t want anything from you,” Helena said.

He wafted his wings in irritation. “It is pointless to demur now. Just state whatyou want.”

“I… Well, I wanted to thank you.”

“You would have thanked me best by never summoningme again.”

“I know that’s what you said, but I mean, just hear me out, okay? I was just sitting here, and I’m supposed to call all these caterers for this new job I have, and I keptthinking—”

“That you want me to cater this big important event for you. Yes, I see,” Rafferty said, clearly exasperated.

“No!” Helena held up her hands. “No, I don’t want you to do that. I can hire another caterer. It’ll be fine, seriously. But I just… I just kept thinking about you still in hell, and here I’m sitting with everything I’ve ever wanted in the world—all because of you. What you did for me was amiracle.”

He stood there stunned a moment, his hands loose at his sides and his face relaxed as he took in what she was saying. “I’m not a good … being, Helena. I deserve to be where I am.”

“Yeah, but … can’t you take a vacation?”

The sound that came out of him alarmed Helena at first; it sounded like gravel grinding in a blender. Then she realized it was laughter. He lifted his great hands tipped with black nails and covered his face as if he couldn’t bear the humor of it.

She chuckled herself a little bit.

Finally, the noise died down as he dropped to sit on the ground, his wrists resting on his upturned knees, his apron covering exactly enough. “A vacation? From hell?”

“Yes,” she said, latching on to his opening. She sat down on the floor as well, crisscrossing her legs. It was only when she settled that she realized that she had dropped just outside his circle. She didn’t know if that meant anything, but she ignored it.

He leaned forward to fold his thin, long legs underneath himself, mirroring her. “I can’t stay here. Even just being summoned comes with a cost. It’s just often baked into our final price ofservice.”

“Well, okay, how much does it cost to have you here?” Helena asked. “We can workthis out.”

He leaned forward and dropped his face into his hand. “Why are humans always such idiots? You always think you can just trick the system. The system is designed for your tricks. It counts on you believing you are smarterthan it.”

“Will you just answer the question?” Helena was getting exasperated.

He reached his opposite finger and tapped his nail against his head. “This takes energy tomaintain.”

“What does?” she asked, getting frustrated.

“My body!” he growled. “This body on this plane–”

She held up her hand. “Wait, slow down. Your body… why would your body cost anything tobe here?”

“I’m trying totell you!”

“You’re not explaining it very well!”

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