And the first thing I needed her to do was to release that corporeal Aspect, currently suffering torment in a cave by the River Dream. So I took what she offered me, without reading much of the small print. And awakening now from the dream state from which she had recruited me, I was so relieved to find myself free of Snakey, the mixing bowl, the chaise-longue rock and my rune-inscribed chains that I never thought to ask her for specific details of – for instance – just what had happened to Sigyn, or how I was to be reintroduced into Chaos’s fiery fold. Turns out that wasn’t the plan at all, but I imagine you’ve already guessed that. Used and betrayed by one set of friends, I was soon to find myself in virtually the same position with my shiny new demon companions.

In my defence, however, I was experiencing a number of exhilarating new sensations that had temporarily robbed me of my suspicion. Overwhelming gratitude; relief; release; the ecstasy of rubbing my eyes; the joy of drinking water without getting a faceful of venom; my reintroduction to food and drink (though I suspected cake would be off the menu for ever); the astonishing pleasures of bathing – first in cold water, then in warm, then in a multitude of different soaps, oils and various bath products.

Then there was Heidi – alluring, and with a demon’s ability to take on any Aspect she (or I) most desired. Now she was golden from head to foot; a ring on every finger; eyes like those of a lynx and hair like waterfalls and rainbows. Tattooed all over in runes of gold, from her fingertips to the soles of her feet, sleek and lithe and wild and perverse and, like Angie of Iron-wood, curiously attracted to men with red hair.

So shoot me. I took advantage. Not the wisest move, I’ll admit, especially after what happened with Angie, but I’d been underground too long to deny myself the pleasure of a little harmless dalliance. Demon sex was a pleasure I hadn’t had for a long time, and now I revelled in it again, as Order and Chaos prepared for war, burning up the winter nights in the fires of our passion.