Thicker Than Water

You’re as safe as if God himself had gathered you into His embrace, my little doves. And Castor - Castor has even less to worry about. Like he said, we’ve got a deal. Even the meanest little lick-spittle in Hell will tell you that Asmodeus keeps his word.’

Finally his head swivelled round to bring me into his field of vision. ‘How did it go again, Felix?’

Meeting that pitch-black gaze was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but there was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of blinking or looking away.

‘You said if I gave you a taste of the thing that’s haunting the Salisbury, you’d tell me how to fight it,’ I said.

Asmodeus nodded, scratching absently at his chin - at Rafi’s chin - and leaving blood-red runnels in his wake - because his fingernails had extended into two-inch talons. ‘That’s what I said,’ he agreed. ‘So. Is it Christmas?’

I nodded towards Bic, who was curled up in a foetal position at the pentacle’s nadir. Ever since Asmodeus had made his eerie appearance the boy had fallen still, all his mumblings and muscular tics abruptly stopped.

He was like a statue now: a study for the starring role in a pietà.

‘There,’ I said.

‘That little morsel?’ Asmodeus snickered nastily. ‘I need enough to get the taste of it on my tongue, Castor. You want to take advantage of my judgement; my fine discrimination. I can’t make up my mind on the first bite, can I?’

‘The demon at the Salisbury touched this boy first,’ I said, cutting through the bullshit.

‘And it put its hand more heavily on him than on anyone else. Trust me, there’s enough there for you to work with. What I need from you is a promise - a binding promise - that the boy won’t be harmed.’

‘Ah.’ The demon’s gaze flicked back to me, an ironic smile tweaking the corners of his lips. ‘We might have a problem there.’

‘Oh yes?’

‘Oh yes indeed. A binding promise? What in all Creation could bind me against my will?’

‘Then the deal,’ I said, climbing to my feet, ‘is off.

’ I unshipped my whistle and put it to my lips, sounding a chord tha»ingm"" t Asmodeus would easily recognise: the same tune I always played when my goal was to push him back down into the depths and give Rafi a little respite: a little time alone inside his own head.

‘No.’ Asmodeus and Trudie Pax said the word at the same time. I watched him and I put out a warning hand to tell Trudie to keep out of this.