Page 97 of Cookbooks and Demons

“Helena! Get out of here! Go get help!” Scarlet cried from the opposite side of the circle. To Helena’s shock, her boss and mentor stood on the other side, held there by Yosef. Madness had filled Yosef’s eyes.

“That’s right, Helena. You should turn around and just walk away,” he warned.

“Oh, no need to worry. No need at all. You’re not the only one selling your soul for a miracle. Look what the cat dragged in, asthey say.”

The wrong feeling returned, and Helena knew that Rafferty had shifted again without her even needingto look.

“Ah now there’s a beautiful face, isn’t it?” Vassago laughed as Scarlet and Yosef’s eyes went wide. And she knew whatthey saw.

“Oh, Helena, not you too,” Scarlet moaned.

“It’s not what you think,” Helena tried to say.

Vassago gestured at the door, and it slammed shut behind Helena and Rafferty, plunging them all into the unholy light that held them all enthralled.

Chapter 50

IJust Fell

for Him

In the glow of the summoning circle, all wasrevealed.

Vassago’s true body was hideous. He stood taller than even Rafferty with two sets of horns fanning out of his head at odd angles. Below those horns, an emaciated lion-like face split open as he talked. Within were two rows of wicked-looking, shark-like teeth. His body had a reddish shininess to it, like he had been skinned alive. His feet ended with two enormous hooves that he clomped every few words as if he couldn’t keep them still. Each foot made an irritating, crunching sound on the concrete beneath him. Behind him, his twin tails twitched and flicked as if each had a mind of its own. One seemed like a scorpion tail, flicking out over his shoulder as if at any moment it wanted nothing more than to sink into one of their bodies. The other was closer to Rafferty’s tail, a triangle that had been split into two triangles and very violently by the look of it with a horrible jagged scar. The demon tail twitched wrongly and looked painful when it didn’t, though nothing showed on Vassago’s face.

Helena looked from Vassago to Yosef. “Listen to me—you can’t trust him. Whatever you think you’ll get out of this won’t be worth it. I promise you.”

Scarlet tried again to pull away, but Yosef tightened his arm onher waist.

“If you’ve done this, then it must work,” he growled as he fought against Scarlet’s thrashing. “Just stop it! I’m trying tosave you.”

“Yosef, you can’t!” Helena said, realizing what was happening. “You can’t save her life this way. The cost is too high—!”

“Don’t listen to her. Of course it can be done. She just wants all that power for herself and her own demon, but it is not at all impossible to gain what you most desire,” Vassago said, cuttingher off.

“I just want to save her life,” Yosefpleaded.

“Then stop dilly-dallying,” Vassago said, gesturing toward the circle. “You said you were willing to do whatever it takes to get whatyou want.”

“Yosef, no, don’t!” Scarlet screamed, but her thrashing did no good as the younger, stronger man walked them both into the circle.

Immediately, the lines crackled and popped with purple electricity. Unearthly whispers filled the air, making the hairs on Helena’s arms and neck rise. Then Vassago stepped into the circle with them. He bent forward at the waist, like he was offering them both a gallant, courtly bow when his tails snapped out. The forked devil’s tail grabbed Yosef, pulling him toward the demon, heedless of how hard he fought while the scorpion tail stabbed Scarlet in the middle of her chest.

“No!” Helena shouted and tried to surge forward to intervene, but Rafferty wrapped his arms around her and heldher back.

“Don’t,” was all he could say because what happened next went by too fast. The scorpion tail seemed to pump and throb as Scarlet dropped to her knees. Underneath Vassago’s skin, lumps skittered up and down, like his whole form was shifting and changing as he violated the young man. Meanwhile, his mouth opened inches from Yosef’s face. While he twisted and fought, the demon grasped the back of his head and forced him toward his mouth. The creature’s tongue lolled out as he stuck Yosef’s head into his maw. The stink of his breath made Helena gag, even from several feet away.

Then Rafferty covered her face with his hands, and all she could hear was the crunch as Vassagobit down.

She thought she was going to throw up at the sound. Then it was over as two bodies slumped to the ground.

“Ah yes, most satisfying. Oldish soul, not as old as the one you got there, but he had a nice tang to him,” Vassago crowed gleefully. Helena could feel Rafferty shudder, and she pushed away his hand so she could see.

On the ground were two bodies, but their forms were covering the glow of the circle’s light, making it even darker in the room than before. But when she looked back at the horrible demon still standing there, his whirlpool eyes were clear to see inthe dark.

“You lied to them!” Helena cried.

“Shitty bargainers. Why give something away when you can just take it? Survival of the fittest; you know the platitudes. Might make right, that sort of thing. There is only so much finite power in the world, old soul, and I intend to havemy share.”

---