Story (c) 2000-2003 by Hikaru Katayamma/Keith Dickinson. All rights reserved. The character Sheila Vixen (c) Eric W Schwartz. Throckmorton P Ruddygore, Poqua, Lakash (c) Jack L Chalker. Jack (c) David Hopkins. All other characters are (c) Hikaru Katayamma.  This story contains adult situations and language. By reading it the viewer agrees not to hold this or any other person responsible for any content they may find objectionable. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Arden helped Sheila climb down from the buggy, which he'd parked in front of the Sisterhood of the Snake's temple. The large, ebony-bricked structure resembled that of a huge, coiled cobra with its head reared over eighty feet in the air. Each scale of the exterior was actually a handcrafted brick as large as a man's head. Sheila looked up at the towering structure and shivered. "If you think I'm going in there, you're nuts," she commented, taking a firm hold on the buggy. "I do NOT like snakes!" she declared with a wide-eyed shake of her head.

A snort of derision from Arden brought a scowl from the upset vixen. "You won't have to worry about any snakes," he replied, placating her as he gently convinced her hand to release the buggy. "They keep them safely tucked away. Besides, what I need won't involve any reptiles so you don't need to worry about it."

He made his way around to the trunk of the buggy as Sheila stared at the building with a mixture of awe and fear. After removing the protective spell on the trunk, he began to remove a bag of gold, then doubled over in pain. Hearing his cry, Sheila rushed to the rear of the buggy. "Arden! Are you all right?"

She reached out to touch him, but recoiled as he snapped at her, yelling, "Don't touch me!" She took a step back, horrified as the skin on his body rippled and shifted as if unknown shapes were moving underneath. Her hand covered her mouth and stared in horror as she watched the kneeling form clutch at his stomach and growl like some hideous animal.

"Not now," he mumbled under his breath, between spasms of pain. "I will not give in. Not now!" After several minutes of this, the attack faded, leaving him on his hands and knees, panting. After a few moments had passed, he climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. Then he again reached inside the trunk and grabbed two sacks of gold, dropping them on the ground before again sealing the trunk with a spell.

"What the hell was that?" Sheila demanded, stepping closer to the buggy.

"Eh?" he grunted before picking up the bags and holding them up. "Why, they're bags of gold."

"That's not what I meant," she replied, starting to hit him but stopping herself before the blow could land and nervously letting her arm drop back to her side. "What the hell was that…that…fit you just had?"

"Oh. That," he replied, glancing away, not wanting to meet her eyes. "It's nothing that concerns you. Now come on," he directed, herding her towards the door, "I want to get this taken care of and get out of town before it gets too late."

Sheila shoved hard against him, pushing his arm away. "No, God damn it!" she barked, backing away a step. "I'm not moving from this spot until you explain what happened." She crossed her arms and glared at him as he stared back for over a minute. "Well? Are you going to drop this bullshit machismo attitude and tell me what's going on?"

Arden frowned for a moment before simply stating, "No." He then turned and made his way into the building.

Slack jawed, Sheila stared after him for a moment before snapping her mouth shut. "I swear to God," she muttered, starting after him. "One of these days I'm personally going to kill that asshole." She pushed her way past the doors and into the darkness beyond where she got a sudden feeling of closeness, like the walls were pressing near, even though the foyer was quite spacious. On the other side of the room she saw Arden in a heated discussion with a woman behind the counter. Human and with long, strawberry blond hair that hung in a pair of braids, she wore what looked to be a shirt made of snakeskin as well as a headband of the same shimmering material. As Sheila approached she could hear them talking.

"I don't care how much gold you have," the woman replied. "We're not about to rent out our facilities to any asshole that comes wandering in, no matter how rich."

"Obviously, I don't think you have a grasp of the situation," Arden replied with an annoyed snarl. "How about you go and get someone with a clue so I can take care of my business and get out of here."

The witch bristled at the insult. "Listen, asshole. If you don't want to find yourself turned into a toad and fed to one of the snakes, I'd suggest you hold your tongue."

"Take your best shot, witch," he replied, glaring at the young woman behind the counter.

Before anything else could happen, a strong, matronly voice echoed through the room. "Enough!" The word and the power behind it was enough to get the attention of all three people in the room, though Arden was last to turn and look, making sure it wasn't a ruse. Standing inside an archway, which was decorated in an intricate pattern of runes and symbols, was an elderly lady. Her long, gray hair flowed over her shoulders and down the back of the thick cloak she wore. A long, twisted cane with the head of a snake at the top was gripped in the fingers of an ancient hand, supporting a body that appeared both frail and powerful at the same time. The eyes that looked out from within the wrinkled and weathered face shone with an inner fire.

The young girl behind the counter looked back at Arden with a smug smile that betrayed her contempt for him and her expectations for something nasty to happen. The look faded when the old woman barked a series of foreign words to her that sent the girl scuttling from the room, bowing and scraping as she made a hasty retreat.

"I'm sorry about that," the old woman muttered in a now frail voice. "I'm afraid that Seline has never had much in the way of common sense." The sound of her stick striking the floor echoed as she crabbed over to where the pair stood. An evil sounding cackle floated up as she examined the duo. "So this is the mighty Arden," she said, eyeing the man from top to bottom. Her eyes switched to Sheila, causing the vixen's hackles to rise. "And you must be Sheila," she continued, trailing off with a small cackle at the vixen's reaction. "The two of you weren't unexpected." She looked back over at Arden. "I hope Seline didn't cause you much of a problem."

"Not in the least," the man replied as an evil smile spread across his face. "In fact, she was about to provide me with some stress relief. That is, until you interrupted."

The old woman again gave out a cackle that set Sheila's nerves on edge. "As I suspected," she replied, pounding the floor with her stick. "And as much as I would have enjoyed watching it, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been good for morale." She sighed and shook her head. "I also can't afford to lose apprentices, no matter how stupid or naive they may be. But enough of that! What's this about you wanting to use our facilities?"

"I require a large room, suitable for a class five summoning, preferably with a black granite floor, though onyx will suffice." He paused, and then added as an afterthought, "Oh, I also will require a significant number of unusual reagents for the summoning as well as five members of your coven."

The old woman gave him a look of disbelief before letting out a round of laughter. "You're kidding, right?" she finally asked, getting the laugher under control. "How do you expect to pass through the arch? This is a coven you know. No man may cross through the arch, not even a member of the council."

"Why don't you let me worry about that," he smugly replied. "Just invite me in as is required by the rules, and I'll worry about getting past the arch."

The old woman studied him long and hard for several minutes, examining him with her witch sight. "You may be powerful, but I don't see how you're going to cross the threshold." She shook her head and walked back to the arch. "All right then, you are invited into the Coven of the Sisterhood of the Snake. Enter, if you can."

Arden took Sheila's arm and shepherded her to the arch, directing her through before he himself stepped across. For a moment the old woman stared at the arch in disbelief. "Well I'll be damned," she muttered, stepping across the arch again. "I'm going to have to have a talk with Xef'ans'mladatroy about this. No man will ever cross my ass…"

The room that they had been led to was cavernous. Over forty feet across, the black granite floor was covered in a myriad of designs, the largest of which was a six pointed Star of David. Within each point of the star, there sat a circle with concentric rings containing an intricate pattern of runes within the rings that had been painted on the floor with molten platinum, silver and gold. The star itself consisted of a chalk line that was almost a foot thick. Inside the line had been hand brushed a repeating series of symbols using fresh blood, the source of which Arden hadn't bothered to ask. Lastly, in the center of the hexagon that lay at the heart of the star, Arden kneeled as he finished the lettering on a triple concentric ring. As he inched around the circle, he moved a platter that contained three kettles under which small fires burned, each containing a molten metal: Platinum, gold and silver.

Soon a Nubian woman entered the room pushing a cart with several large bottles on it. "This is all the mercury I could get a hold of. Will it do?" she asked, parking the cart just outside of the star.

Arden looked up at the cart then nodded before returning to his work. "That will do. The preparations will soon be complete. Please summon your sisters and the vixen."

"Yes, my lord," the woman replied, bowing before leaving the room.

With great care, Arden continued to write in a very ornamental yet fluid script until he had linked the last character of the last word to the first word he had drawn in such a way that the script was perfectly spaced and unbroken. He studied his handiwork and nodded. To an outsider, there would be virtually no way to tell where he had started working and where he had stopped. He lifted the tray with the melting pots and carefully made his way to the cart, making sure not to disturb anything as he crossed the complex patterns. The then lifted a large glass container that held almost a gallon of mercury. Going to each of the rings in the outer stars, he poured the mercury onto the inner ring. Rather than simply pooling, as one would expect, the liquid metal instead followed the chalk in a circle, beading slightly. Repeating the process, he was able to complete two more circles before having to get another jar. The last jar he used on the inner ring of the center circle, milking the container for every drop, before returning it to the cart.

The original witch that he had argued with in the foyer had appeared and started to push the cart back when he stopped her. Taking the kettle with the molten gold, he put it to his lips and chugged the contents down the same way a redneck in a bar would chug a pitcher of beer. "Yeouch!" The yell echoed around the room, as he put the kettle back on the cart and began to fan his mouth while hyperventilating. Beads of sweat broke out on his skin as he smiled towards the girl who stood in shock, staring at him. "Oh, man! What a rush!" He let out a laugh as his gold colored tongue scraped a rapidly cooling drip of gold from the corner of his mouth, enjoying the stunned look on the girls face. "That's a bit hotter than I expected, but it definitely hit the spot." He snapped his fingers in front of her face, breaking the shock. "You can get rid of that stuff now."

"Y...Y…Yes, my lord," she stuttered before racing out of the room with the cart.

"Now I understand," came the rickety voice of the old woman from behind him. Turning, he saw the old lady standing next to the tip of the star. "You hid your aura quite nicely earlier, but you couldn't hide the flare when you drank the gold." She ambled towards him, making sure not to touch the pattern on the floor. "You are a wyrm. That's how you got by my gate. Somehow you've conscripted the body of a wyrm and are hiding it under that shell of humanity."

Arden smiled and gave her a deep, court bow. "Guilty as charged."

"This is a very interesting pattern you have," the old woman said, waving her stick in the general area of the star. "I recognize some of the runes and symbology, but I've never seen them combined in this way."

"Don't kid a kidder," he snorted in reply. "You recognize all but the inner circle of runes and how I'm intending to use them. By the same token, you know that I'm not just some adept who's out to try something stupid, either."

The old woman grunted while nodding. "So the rumors are true. You've been trained by one of the celestial host." She squinted up at him as she stepped forward, to stand just inches from his chest. "There are also rumors that you're going to trigger the apocalypse. Is that true?"

"And what if it is true?" he shot back, crossing his arms.

"Don't get cheeky with me, boy," She replied, shaking the head of the stick at him. "You may be some celestial's favorite plaything, but your powers are nothing compared to mine."

Arden's expression hardened as he looked down at the old lady. His eyes shifted and changed, showing the red and yellow eyes as he slowly released his full powers. The old woman staggered back a step as she watched the transformation in his eyes, posture and the very aura of his soul. "You have no idea what powers I can call upon," As quickly as the power had gathered, it faded with is eyes returning to normal, though the hard expression remained, framing a wicked grin. "If you wish to observe, find a corner and don't interrupt, otherwise leave." He then turned and began to direct the five young women who stood by the door to various circles, ignoring the old woman who, after taking a few moments to recover her composure made her way over to a chair in the corner and sat down.

Once all the women were in place, Arden led Sheila over to the last circle in star tip that pointed to the north. "Remove your armor and swords, then give them all to me."

"What?" Sheila demanded, looking around. "You want me to strip down in here? Now?"

"Yah. Just think of it as if you were shooting some weird scene for one of Zig Zag's movies." He took the armor and swords, tucking the swords into his belt before helping Sheila into the circle.

Setting the clothes outside the star, he went to each small ring and touched the circle of mercury. There was a small flash as the mercury became a razor thin wall that stood maybe five or six inches in height around each person, its sides covered in a mirror image of the runes that had been drawn outside the ring. Finally, he stepped inside the center of the main circle and for the last time, surveyed his work. Satisfied that there were no errors, he took the large, black sword from his back and stabbed it tip-first into the granite, sinking it almost half a meter into the rock.

The old witch in the corner cried out in shock at the damage, but stifled any objection. "Considering how much he's paid for this, I can afford to replace the damn floor," she rationalized.

Stepping over the two inner rings of the central circle, Arden stood in the largest circle of them all that almost touched the insides of the hexagram. He reached out and touched the inner ring of mercury, again muttering a spell that caused the mercury to change, this time into a hard, squared-off ring rather than the tall, thin wall the others had. He then took a moment's pause to breathe, centering himself before surveying everyone in the room. "Now listen closely," he said, glancing at each member of the coven. "If anyone of you speaks, or tries to break their circle, I will kill you." The five women glanced about, looking eventually towards the mistress of the coven who only gave a small nod. Seeing that all the women understood, Arden nodded. "Then let us begin."

Positioning himself next to where Sheila stood, he used his hands to draw a pattern in the air while chanting and at the same time he taking a step. With each step, he drew a new symbol, chanting a different word, keeping a very precise tempo to his work. Every six steps took him to a point adjacent of one of the circles. Barely pausing for a breath, he'd continue to chant as he walked the outer circle over and over, repeating the chant. As he worked, the torches in the room fluttered and died. At the same time, the inner ring of metal began to glow brighter and brighter with a hellish light that flung bent, macabre shadows against the walls.

After close to an hour of this Arden stopped and turned towards the center of the circle. "God damn it! Quit fucking around already," he shouted, his words echoing from the walls of the room as well as eerily from the circle in the center. "I don't have all day to waste on this. I know you've heard the summons. The portal is open. Now get off your lazy ass before I do something you won't like."

Around the circle, the members of the coven glanced nervously at each other, unsure about what was happening. Sheila, who had long ago sat down to take a load off of her feet simply rolled her eyes at the man.

"Fine," Arden spat, taking up his position again. This time, his chant changed. There were no gestures, simply one syllable for each step. "Coh-tah-meh-chi-vel-loh…" By the tenth syllable, the ring erupted in a fountain of flame, which was contained by the ring of mercury.

"All right, damn it!" a very annoyed voice came from the pillar of flame which vanished to leave a small, well dressed man with a ruddy complexion, dark hair, a black suite, ebony walking cane and dark gray fedora on his head. "Just what's so God damned important?"

"Lucifer!" The word echoed as an almost unanimous whisper from the women in the circle. The old witch in the corner stood in shock and stared in shock at the last thing she ever expected to see show up.

"You know damn good and well what's so important," Arden replied angrily, scowling down at the small man. "You made this mess, so don't act all innocent just because I'm making you clean it up."

The handsome and dapper visage cracked as the Prince of Darkness got angry. "Bullshit! Who do you think you are, using that name, especially where others can hear?" He stepped up to the ring, but stopped just short of the metal band, frowning. "And where the hell did you hear that name anyway? I'm going to kill whoever let that out."

Arden gave the small man a smug grin. "Nobody actually told me," he replied, crossing his arm. "You see, after you-know-who had Rathsmon stick me in the gem, I had a lot of time on my hands. He couldn't keep my soul from dropping down to you without rebuilding our link, tenuous though it may have been. Lots of time and access to his memories gave your name." He leaned forwards slightly, careful not to break the plane of the circle of mercury. "Yours and everyone else's."

"Son of a bitch," the small, swarthy man, grumbled. "I don't give a fuck about you or your problems. I've got business to attend to and right now you aren't a priority. And if you even think of spreading my name around, I'll kill you personally, rules or no rules!" With that, he slammed his cane down on the floor, causing another ball of flame to appear which rapidly faded to reveal the small man still standing in the circle with a confused look on his face. 'What the fuck?"

"Take a close look," Arden replied with a large, shit-eating grin. "Names aren't all I picked out of his memories. That gate's a one-way door. You're not going anywhere until I say so."

Lucifer looked up, glaring at the tall man, his eyes a pair of red, burning embers. "And just how long do you think this chickenshit circle can hold me?"

"It doesn't have to hold you long," the tall man replied confidently. "I'd say it's good for an hour, twenty minutes easily, though I won't need more than fifteen." He drew his katana and began to walk casually around the circle. "Take a good look at the star. It's the Seal of Solomon, though somewhat modified."

The small man quickly walked around the inner circle, studying the star and all the inscriptions before he stopped and smiled. "You sorry son of a bitch. Don't you know it takes six virgins for that to work?"

Arden propped the back of his blade on his shoulder as he continued to walk. "Are you kidding? Why do you think I drew it?" He stopped and put the tip of the sword on the floor, then leaned on it with both hands, using it like a cane. "Imagine how I felt, going into a black coven and discovering that they were all virgins? I mean, talk about falling into the shit and coming up smelling roses. What were the odds? But then again, you like your wives to be virgins, don't you?" He glanced over at the old lady who sat in the corner. "Interesting concept. Nuns are married to Jesus." He turned back to Lucifer with a large grin. "Who would have expected the head of each coven to be married to you."

"That may be true," Lucifer replied as he hooked a thumb towards Sheila, "but the bitch isn't a virgin. Or have you forgotten about the bald fuck that Rathsmon offed?"

"True, true. She may not be a virgin," he said, strolling over to where the vixen now stood. "However, the unborn child she carries is." He turned and glared at the small man, his expression now a hard mask. "How hard do you think it would be for me to force the kid out without killing her?"

"No!" Sheila yelled, as she stumbled backwards, trying to get away only to find that she was trapped within the circle.

The small man laughed. "There's no way you'd do that." He crossed his arms and smiled. "I know you. You're too much of a goody two shoes for that. That's why Nanuk chose you."

"Nanuk?" The tall man shouted angrily. "You think I give a fuck about her any more?" His face twisted into a snarl as he shook his fist at the small man. "All you people have managed to do is destroy my life. You've taken every God damned thing I've loved and managed to destroy it or twist it around so much that I can't stand it any more." He dropped his arm and glared at Lucifer. "No more. I'm tired of being everyone's puppet. I want my life back, and to hell with all of you."

"I don't think you'd do it," the dapper devil replied, calling what he believed to be Arden's bluff.

"Take a good look, Luci," the tall man replied with a snear. "Look at my soul. Go beyond the masks and barriers and look at it!" He slammed the tip of the sword down onto the rock, striking sparks. "It's split, right down the middle. Two halves, light and dark, orbiting each other, connected but separate, just like you fucking wanted!" The mask shattered as rage exploded from his face. "You did this to me! You and Nanuk! You wanted your fucking tool! You wanted someone who could be as evil and nasty as the situation called for and yet still have a conscience that would prevent him from running amok! Well congratulations. You helped to make me a monster, and by God I'm going to make you pay in return. If that means sacrificing one innocent life to accomplish it, then so be it!"

Lucifer's expression slowly gave way to a smile. "You know, I think you actually would do that, wouldn't you." He nodded. "I've spent a lot of time, tweaking people like you, but you're the first one who's actually managed to survive the process."

Arden sheathed the katana before looking back down at the devil. "Don't be too proud of yourself. You may have helped to create this monster, but you don't by any means control it."

The small man nodded. "Fine, I conceed to your increadible master plan. Now can we get down to specifics here, please? I have an appointment with someone who wants to become a US senator and is very interested in my backing." He checked his watch and sighed. "You've got fifteen minutes, then I've got to go, but first get rid of the sisters. I won't have your threat hanging over my head."

"I have three tasks for you. If you give me your word that you'll do them, then I'll get rid of the sisters," the tall man replied, again drawing the katana.

A sigh of exasperation burst from Lucifer's lips. "Fine. You have my word that I will fulfil three tasks for you. Now can we get to it?" Arden walked over to the nearest sister and raised his sword over his head in both hands to strike but before he could do so, Lucifer stopped him. "I meant to send them out of the room, damn it. Not to kill them."

"Just like I meant for you to remove the spell on Sheila eight months ago, not just break it?" Arden asked in return, still holding the sword over his head, ready to strike.

"All right, all right," the small man replied, throwing his hands up. "Point taken. No need to go whacking perfectly good minions just because you're annoyed with me."

Arden's gaze shifted from the devil to the witch who had her back pressed against the invisible inner circle of the ring she was trapped in, trying to avoid the reach of his blade. Arden lowered the sword and touched the tip against the wall of mercury, which silently collapsed, spilling the woman on her back. He walked around the circle repeating the process for each circle, except for the one with Sheila in it. He paused in front of her circle, to gaze emotionless at her, taking in the look of utter hatred that was on her face. He then turned to verify that the five Sisters of the Snake had left the room before breaking the master circle. "First, I want you to remove all magical spells from Sheila, staring with the curse."

"Huh?" Lucifer looked confused for a moment. "Why do you need me to do that? You should be able to handle that. It's almost kids stuff."

"Don't you think I've tried?" the large man replied angrily, stepping up so his face was next to the devil. "Every time I start working on the spells the damn patterns shift. Strands fade and new ones appear. I haven't a fucking clue what's going on!"

"Strands fade?" the small man replied looking confused as he studied the spell. "Fuck me," he replied, smacking his palm against his face and causing Arden to back up in confusions. "Didn't Lakash teach you anything?"

"He spent a lot of time teaching me magic," the big man replied looking somewhat uncomfortable. "There're techniques that I know he left out because I studied them while I was in the stone, but nothing that covers this."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Lucifer said, rubbing his temples. "He didn't even teach you how to look at magic."

"Of course he did!" the tall man declared, looking around. "I can shift my sight and see magic whenever I want."

"This is not my job," the small man muttered waving his hands in a pattern. As Arden watched, he saw a rainbow of magical color appeared in the air. "All right. You see the pattern?" He glanced at the tall man who nodded. "Ok… Show me the range of colors that you can see."

Confused for a moment, Arden concentrated then pointed to both ends of the pattern that denoted the low and high end of the scale that he could see. "There, and there."

Lucifer muttered under his breath for the better part of a minute before taking a deep breath and shaking his head. "All right, time for advanced magic one-oh-one. What you're seeing is just the middle of the spectrum. That's crap that most any fairy or mortal can see. You, however, are directly connected to a celestial and thus should be able to see way beyond those bounds. Just relax, let yourself go and try to see beyond the colors."

Arden gave the small man a dubious look before closing his eyes and breathing to re-center himself. He then opened his eyes and gazed at the pattern, both concentrating and relaxing at the same time.

"That's right," the small man directed, walking around Arden, studying him. "Let yourself go. Follow the pattern of the strands. Go beyond the visible and into the invisible. Reach out not with your eyes or your mind, but with your very soul."

Arden's eyes got wide as he began to see more and more of the pattern. Parts that he had been unable to perceive before began glowing with a vibrancy he'd never experienced before. "I see it! Holy shit! I can see it!"

"Good," Lucifer replied with an honest smile. "Now, look over at Sheila and remove the spells." The tall man shifted his gaze to look at Sheila. As she watched his eyes darted back and forth over her body as if following some invisible series of dots. After a few seconds though, his pupils dilated and the sword dropped from his hand to clatter against the floor. Lucifer chuckled as he watched Arden begin to drool.

"What did you do to him?" Sheila demanded, now afraid for what might happen to her.

"Oh, I didn't do anything," the small man replied, wandering over to her. Absentmindedly, he reached out with a shod foot and touched the mercury barrier, which collapsed. "He's just in information overload right now." He looked back over at Arden and smiled. "You know, you're lucky you have a guy that loves you the way he does."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Sheila demanded, stepping back from the small man. "He threatened to kill our kid! What kind of psycho does that?"

"Bah," the small grunted, dismissing her accusation with a wave. "That was an idle threat. If he'd tried to do that, he'd wind up destroying himself."

"But," Sheila paused glancing back and forth between the two men, "you said that you believed he would."

The devil laughed. "There's a reason they call me the Prince of Lies, sweetheart." He looked back over at Arden and got a very contented smile. "Nope. He's capable of some really nasty shit," arched his eyebrows a couple of times and gave the vixen a toothy smile before continuing, "but doing that would violate his personal principles. His spirit may be divided into the perfect ying and yang, but such an action would tear them apart completely and destroy him in the process." He glanced back over at Sheila, looking not unlike a proud father. "No. He's becoming the perfect tool to accomplish what we need. He still needs a little work around the edges still, but it won't be long now."

"And what kind of tool is that?" the vixen growled. "What kind of sadistic plan are you working on now?"

Lucifer waved a finger at the vixen. "Now, now. That would be telling. However I will say that although I approve of it, he won't be my tool" He turned back to Arden for a minute and watched a long strand of drool drip to the floor where it began to eat away at the stone surface. "Well, much as I'd love to hang around here, I'm afraid I have to go. When he snaps out of it, tell him he knows how to get a hold of me."

"Hey! What about the spells?" Sheila crossed her arms and frowned at the small man. "You said that you would take care of it. You gave your word."

"Aw, come on, lady," he whined, glancing at his watch. "He can see the patterns now. It's kids stuff. He'll be able to get rid of them."

Sheila walked over to where the katana lay and picked it up then leveled the tip an inch away from Lucifer's nose. "No go. You promised, now keep your promise."

The small man smiled. "A promise is a promise." He reached out with a single finger and pointed it at her.

The vixen reeled, feeling dizzy then slowly dropped to her hands and knees, where she retched the remains of her breakfast on the floor. The last thing she heard before she passed out was the sinister chuckle of the devil as he faded into the shadows.