“What do you want, Harry?” said Molly.

“You are our only means of getting to Eddie,” said Roger. “If we could win you over to our cause, that is, Harry’s reclaiming of the family leadership; we feel there’s a very good chance Eddie would just fall apart without you.”

Molly smiled suddenly. “You really don’t know Eddie at all. He’s always been stronger than people think. He’s had to be. He doesn’t rely on me. He doesn’t need me. And he’ll carry on just fine when I’m gone.”

Harry and Roger glanced quickly at each other. “Are you . . . planning on leaving us, Molly?” said Harry.

“Don’t say you’ve finally had enough of Eddie’s goody-goody ways,” said Roger. “Well, it’s about time. You and I were close once, but I never did understand what you saw in him.”

“You and I were never that close,” said Molly.

“How can you say that?” said Roger, pouting playfully. “I took it ever so badly when you walked out on me. Took me weeks to get over you.”

“I walked out on you because you tried to sacrifice my soul to Hell!”

“Details, details. We all have our little family obligations.”

Molly sniffed. “So, you’re with Harry now. Bit of a surprise; you were always such a major tit man. Am I to take it you’re gay now?”

Roger shrugged. “I’m half demon. I don’t accept any human limitations, least of all in my sexuality. I want to try it all . . . and mostly I do.”

Molly looked at Harry. “And you’re not in the least jealous of what Roger and I used to have?”

“All you ever had in common was a bed,” said Harry. “Roger and I are in love.”

“Love?” Molly said incredulously. “He’s a hellspawn! A thing of the Pit, dedicated to dragging all humanity down into eternal damnation!”

“Criticism?” said Roger. “From the infamous Molly Metcalf? The woman who once lay down with demons in the Courts of Hell, to buy power she couldn’t acquire any other way? Does Eddie know about that? Have you told him all the things you used to do, oh wild and wicked witch of the woods? Do you really think he’d feel the same way about you if he did know?”

Molly met his gaze squarely, chin slightly lifted. “I was a different person, then. I had sworn vendetta against the Droods for the murder of my parents. I needed all the power I could get, to take them on. But . . . that was then, and this is now, time changes all things . . . pick whichever cliché you prefer. I’m not at all the person I used to be.”

“You think Eddie will care about that?” said Roger. “I think you’ll find he’s still very traditional, very old-fashioned, about certain things.”

“He doesn’t have to know what we know about you,” said Harry. “We don’t have to tell him. Not if you could find it in your heart to help us out, just a little.”