“I actually have no idea who you are.”

Mauk laughed. “Bullshit.”

“I’m serious,” said Milo. “Should I remember you? I feel like I should, but …”

“Okay, I’m confused,” Mauk responded. “Are you lying to delay the inevitable, or are you just determined to be an asshole about this?”

Milo shrugged, which only pissed Mauk off even more.

With the hammer raised and ready for a swing, Mauk said, “You wanna try remembering me, or should I just get to cracking open your skull? All the same to me, buddy boy. All of a sudden, my curiosity over how you found yourself on that side of the line has faded to the square root of nothing.”

“Have you always talked so much?” Milo asked. “I think I’d have remembered someone who talks so much.”

Mauk’s lip curled. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”

Amber gritted her teeth, then twisted and rammed a shoulder into the dead waitress. The jolt to her hands made her cry out, but she used that pain to stomp on the corpse’s knee. The waitress toppled away from Amber.

“Somebody grab her!” yelled Mauk, but Amber was already closing her hands around the lighter, feeling the flames lick her palms, and as the corpses reached for her she dropped, sending the Zippo spinning across the floor.

It met the circle and the powder went up in blue flames, and before Mauk had even looked down the circle was complete.

“Oh goddamn—” was all he had time to say before he vanished.

Free of his influence, the dead bodies crumpled to the floor. Milo stood, scuffing the circle with his boot, and the flames went out.

He hurried over to Amber and helped her stand. He stared at her bloody, twisted fingers.

“Jesus,” he whispered.

She sagged against him and he held her weight. “I don’t feel well,” she mumbled.

“I’ll get you to a doctor,” he said. “But first you’re going to have to change back.”

“No. No, it’ll hurt too much.”

“We don’t have a choice. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll heal. I’ll heal by myself.”

“Your fingers need to be reset. If we leave them, they’ll heal wrong. We need a doctor to do it right. I’m sorry. You have to do this.”

She tried arguing, but no words would come. Milo was right. She knew he was.

She reverted. The transformation itself, the shortening of all the bones in her body, both broken and intact, made her cry out.

But now the true pain came at her. No longer blocked by her demon form, it rushed at her all at once and burst behind her eyes. Her vision swam and the world tilted, but instead of falling to the ground she was lifted off her feet. The last thing she was aware of was Milo carrying her to the door, and then she blacked out.

Chapter 3