Page 88 of Cookbooks and Demons

“You can’t make a call in there. You’re better off going outside.” He indicated the way she had come. “You take a left at the junction, that will take you outside,”he said.

“Oh, okay, thank you,” she said and turned to go the way he indicated.

Walking slowly, she could feel him watching her until she was just about to the corner where she was supposed to turn. Satisfied, the janitor went on with whatever he had been doing, assured that he had done his duty. As soon as he was gone, and she was confident no one else was around, she scurried back to the forbidden room.

She shut the heavy door behind her and was immediately plunged into absolute darkness. Wherever she was, the room was small; she could hear her own breath gasping. The wrong feeling had grownstronger.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she whispered to herself as she fumbled with her phone until she got the flashlight feature tocome on.

Sure enough, she was inside a small, concrete room. There was no real sign of what it could have been used for at one time, but the gray concrete of the floor sank in the middle toward a single, dinner plate-sized drain. Beside the door was an old yellow janitorial bucket on wheels with a mop sticking out of it, along with a rusted canister with “Purifiy!” written across it and a small bag of something white spilling out. With the toe of her shoe, Helena pushed the bag up toread it.

“Sidewalk Salt?” she read. Furrowing her eyebrows, she cast the light from her phone onto the concrete floor. At first she didn’t see anything except the tiny shadows leaping up from the roughness of the surface. Then almost to the drain, she stopped and backed up. Faintly imprinted in the concrete was a small symbol. She didn’t know what it meant, but she recognized it. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she backed up and let the light shine down on the rest of the floor.

“A summoning circle,” she breathed. While it seemed like a crazy coincidence, she imagined that yes, a place like this where a lot of high stakes events took place, she could believe someone else would also be desperate enough to summon a demon for help. “Why the door is unlocked though beats the hell out of me. That definitely doesn’t make me feel comfortable.” But she really didn’t have time to focus or debate that clear OSHA violation. It was working to her advantage now.

She moved to the edge of the circle and sucked a breath in to hold it a moment. Am I really going to do this? she thought, doubt making her hesitate. But she didn’t have any other options, not evenfailure.

“Lares, I need you,” she whispered.

Instantly, the faded summoning circle flashed to life, the lines of fire whipping over the concrete. In its center a kneeling creature with wings and horns flashed like a shadow, only to be replaced by a man in a blue chef’s shirt and black pants with a cook’s toque set on top of his head. Then the circle died, leaving the figure in the circle of her phone’s flashlight.

Slowly, he raised his head. “What would you command, my mistress?”he asked.

She regarded her friend, her lover … her demon before her. She knew what she was going to ask, but facing him now, it was like she had never seen him before.

“I just want…” she started, hesitating again. “I just want to know what can I do? How do I solve this?”

Rafferty stood up in one smooth motion, then braced his feet in a sort of parade rest, bringing his hands to clasp behind his back. “You ask me to cook for you,” he said simply, his expressiondetached.

She furrowed her brows, then shook her head. “No, no I can’t do that. I know that to ask for such a thing… I have an idea what it will cost.”

“If you thought you had another option, you wouldn’t have come to me,” he said coldly.

“No, I’m sorry this was a mistake,” she said, backing up to the door and turning away. What was going on? Why did she feel so unsettled facing someone she cared so much about? It had been a couple of weeks since she saw his face. She thought she should feel elated to see him again, but dread sat in her heart instead. She needed to get out of the room, where it was easierto think.

Suddenly, he was behind her, his hand pressing into the door before she could open it. The speed of the move startled her so much that she dropped her phone, plunging them back intodarkness.

“Just ask me,” he whispered into her ear, making her shiver, but also frightening her at the same time.

“Rafferty?”

“You didn’t ask for Rafferty. You asked for Lares. Lares is here,” he said. “And if you command it, I can cookfor you.”

His fingers came around her face in the near dark to grasp her chin and turn her to face him. His starburst eyes flashed in the darkness, glowing eerily. “Just ask me,” hebreathed.

This is how they do it, she thought, remembering everything he had told. They make you trust them and then when you are vulnerableand weak…

“You said you trust me,” he said, cutting off her thoughts. “Do youtrust me?”

He isn’t a monster. He isn’t a demon. He’s my…

“Yes, I trust you,” she breathed, wishing she was as sure about that as the first time she hadsaid it.

“Then ask me.”

She cupped his cheek and her demon went still, looking deep into those starburst eyes, she leaned forward. Closing her eyes, she kissed him. “Rafferty, will you help me?” she asked.

“As you wish, my mistress.”

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