The Demon Road Trilogy: The Complete Collection: Demon Road; Desolation; American Monsters
you want to play with me?” Fool asked. “I know lots of games. Do you want to play Who Can Scream the Loudest? I’m very good at that. Or maybe Who Can Bleed the Most? I bet you’d win. I’ll give you a head start, if you’d like.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Step out of the circle, Amber.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Sure you can,” said Fool, moving closer. “Step out of the circle.”
Fool smiled. Its teeth were small shards of coloured glass sticking out from bloody gums.
It turned its head suddenly, its eyes narrowing. From one of the corridors came a glow.
“He’s here,” Fool whispered, and without giving Amber another glance it sprinted from the room.
Amber fought the urge to run, even though every instinct in her body was screaming at her. She watched as the glow got brighter, then turned, lowering her head while her hands shielded her eyes. The room was suddenly lit up. From behind her, the light tread of bare feet.
“You seek an audience with me,” came a voice. Male. Hushed.
“Yes,” she croaked out, closing her eyes. “I’m … I …”
“I know who you are, child. I know why you’re here. You seek protection from those who would harm you.”
She nodded. Her mouth was so, so dry. “My parents. And their friends.”
“I know them, too,” the Shining Demon said. “So eager. So ruthless.” His brightness soaked through her eyelids. It hurt. “You are the first to have escaped their platter. The first to find your way to me.”
“I need your help.”
“But of course,” said the Shining Demon, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I am the only one who could possibly help you. I am your only hope, am I not? Come, Amber, let me show you my castle.”
“I … I was told to stay in the circle.”
“Mmmm. Yes. Wise, I suppose.”
“Where are we?” she asked. “Is this hell?”
“Questions, questions,” said the Shining Demon. “Such an inquisitive species, the living. The dead have no need for questions. The dead are quite content in their gentle ignorance.” He was walking now, circling the circle in which she stood. Amber didn’t speak. She had the feeling he wasn’t finished.
“This is his kingdom,” the Shining Demon continued. “The one known by many names. My dark and terrible master.”
“The Blood-dimmed King,” Amber said.
“One of his names, yes,” said the Shining Demon. “This is his kingdom, but we are in my castle. You are my guest, Amber. I assure you, no harm will befall you if you take one simple step …”
She turned away from the sound of his voice. “I’m … I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m just here to make a deal.”
Silence. And then, “Pity.”
She licked the dryness from her lips. “Can you help me? Can you take back the power you gave them?”
The Shining Demon came to a stop somewhere to her left. “Your parents, their friends, they have ideas above their station. Ambitions. Some might say blasphemies. But a deal is a deal – I cannot break my part any more than they can break theirs. I cannot take back their power, or alter the terms of the bargain I made with them. But there may still be a way for me to help you. What are you willing to give in return?”
She swallowed. “There’s someone you made a deal with, years ago. He cheated you.”
“Nobody cheats me, child.”
“This one did. You gave him what he wanted and then he ran. He never held up his end of the bargain. Do you remember him?”
The Shining Demon paused for a moment. “I know the one you speak of.”
“I can find him. I can find him for you.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“No, but I can find out. I think I can find out.”
“Interesting,” he said.
“Do we have a deal?”
“If you do find him, Amber, then we will talk of deals.” Bare feet on stone. He was walking away.
“No,” she said.
A sound, like the sharp intake of breath, whistled through the room.
“No?” he echoed.
She had the feeling she had just committed a serious breach of demonic etiquette, but carried on regardless. “I want your word that we’ll have a deal if I bring him to you.”
“Is that what you want? Truly?”
“Yes,” she said, with what she hoped was steely resolve.
He moved closer. “A time limit, then,” he said. “How long will you need?”
“Uh … six weeks?” she said, doubling what Imelda had suggested.
“You have three,” said the Shining Demon, and Amber did her best not to grimace. “Twenty-one days. Five hundred and four hours.”
“And … and then you’ll protect me from my parents?”
He was standing right in front of her now. “I cannot alter the terms of the deal I struck with them, but, if you bring me this man in the time allotted, I will alter you, Amber. Your blood will be poison. To consume you would mean death.”
“But I’ll be all right, yes?”
That smile, appearing again in his voice. “Your blood will be poison to everyone but you. You have my word. Do I have yours?”
“I … I guess. What’s his name? The man who cheated you?”
“I can give you no more help. I am extending my hand to you – shake it, and we will have a deal.”
“I … I can’t reach out of the circle,” Amber said.
“Come now,” the Shining Demon responded. “Tradition must be upheld or the bargain is not binding.”
“I was told not to leave the circle.”
“You are still standing in it, are you not?”
Amber bit her lip, then slowly reached her hand out.
The Shining Demon grabbed her hand and twisted, and Amber cried out and screwed her eyes shut tighter as he pressed a fingertip into her wrist. It burned.
“Five hundred and four hours,” said the Shining Demon as he moved his finger. “If you fail to bring this man to me in the allotted time, your soul is forfeit.”
“No!” Amber cried, trying to pull away. “I didn’t agree to that!”
“Those are the terms,” the Shining Demon said, and released her so suddenly that she nearly stumbled out of the circle.
She turned away from him, clutching her right hand as she cracked her eyes open. The number 504 was burned into the inside of her wrist, a mark, a brand that was already hardening into a scar. The pain faded quickly. “I didn’t agree to this,” she said. “I didn’t—”
A wind rushed in from all five corridors, a dank wind that brought with it hints of rot and sickly perfume and overripe fruit and human waste, and the wind extinguished the circle of fire and Amber was outside again, in Miami, and Milo was rushing forward to catch her as she fell.