Bone Gods

bastard on the block, until the rest of you decided to take him down a peg. The Morrigan’s after his child. She’s aiming high.”
    Belial’s grin was unconscious this time, pure sadistic joy spreading across his features. “Oh, delicious . The Hag was always the worst of them. Old gods. Old farts, you ask me. Barking over table scraps, what was left over when the daylight world moved on. But this—this actually shows some spine. Well done .”
    “Have we a bargain or not?” Pete demanded. Belial hadn’t been wrong when he’d hissed at her that she was scared. She was terrified—anyone with sense was terrified of demons. Pete rather thought that if she were throwing her weight around with no trepidation whatsoever, she’d be a fucking idiot.
    “Depends.” Belial shrugged. “What wonders have you to entice me with, Petunia?”
    “I don’t have anything,” Pete said softly. “Just myself.”
    “Mmhmm,” Belial said. He tapped a forefinger against his own nose, once. “Tempting as that is, I think I’d rather have you in one piece, and willing to do something for me.”
    “I don’t have a talent like Jack’s,” Pete said. “So unless you want me to go and fetch you takeaway…”
    “I enjoy your sarcasm, Petunia, I really do,” Belial told her. “But unless you want me to tear your throat out and paint myself in your entrails, shut the fuck up and let me finish.”
    Pete wondered if it was a measure of some kind of madness to want to kick a demon square between the legs. A particularly smug and annoying bastard of a demon, but a demon all the same.
    “Good girl,” Belial said. “I don’t want you used up and spent like a fiver at a strip club. I want you alive and vital, and ready to turn that quick mind and that pert little body of yours to my ends.” He winked. “Having a favor with a Weir is never a poor life choice.”
    “You think I’m stupid?” Pete said. “An unspecified favor. For you. Sure, I was born fucking yesterday. Let’s do it up.”
    “I think you wouldn’t have called me if you were in a position to sass me,” Belial said. “I’ll help you smush your little plague lizard, and make the world safe for puppies, rainbows, and small children cavorting and licking lollipops, and in exchange, when I say it, you’ll do me one favor. It’s a very good deal, Petunia.” His fingers slipped into her hair, smoothed it back from her face. “You don’t even have to touch me.”
    Pete stared at the demon, and Belial stared back, that infuriating smile playing at the corners of his narrow lips. He had her backed against a wall, and he knew it.
    “Right,” she said. “If we’re walking that road, I want something just as vague and abusive from you.”
    His nostrils flared. “I’d jump at the chance to abuse you, Petunia. Say what it is you want.”
    “You want a favor from me, you do what I ask to help me, until such a time as we’ve put the Morrigan’s nasty little plan to rest or I’m dead,” Petunia said. “In which case you’ll drag me to Hell anyway, so it won’t matter.”
    Belial shook his head at her. “Look at you, brokering deals like any streetwise black magic hustler. I think Winter’s taught you a thing or two about the dark side, Petunia.”
    “And another thing,” Pete told him. “My name’s not fucking Petunia.”
    “Duly noted,” the demon purred. “I’ll be your obedient pet monster, and you’ll be my card up the sleeve.” He stepped forward and extended his hand in a businesslike fashion. “I’ve made a deal, Petunia Grace Caldecott, of my own will and you of yours. And you, Petunia Grace Caldecott, of London, child of Connor Caldecott of Galway and Juniper Morrow of Salisbury, freely bargain with me, Belial, a Named demon of Hell and Prince therein. So be it.”
    Pete grabbed the demon’s hand before she could hesitate, lose her nerve, and run screaming for the hills. Belial might as well have been reciting daily specials in a café for all the effort he put into the phrase, but the enormous power it carried landed on Pete like a sack of sand.
    This was a deal with a demon. This was the point she couldn’t turn back from. No turning back. Only through.
    “So be it, Belial.”
    He held her hand fast, and with his free digit tilted her head to stare into her eyes. “This is one of the sweetest days of my long and varied life, make no mistake. Getting the crow-mage, that was fantastic, don’t get me wrong. Like having