Demon Bound

learned to control it; yours will become easier, as well.”
    “Gee, thanks.” Jake took a step back, then another.
    With a sigh, Alice followed him. How patronizing she’d sounded—and dismissive. Whatever her troubles, her Gift had never landed someone in Hell.
    Yet he hadn’t teleported at the worst of moments, when his wings had been severed—and he had done very well teleporting them around within the realm.
    Frowning, she lightly touched her opposite wrist. “Why did you bite me?”
    “Because of Drifter and Charlie. She says his Gift feels different when she bites him. Like it’s pure psychic energy through the blood. That’s how they get through the shielding spell. So I thought it wouldn’t hurt.”
    “Do you think it helped?”
    “Dunno.” His half smile softened the hard cast of his features. “Maybe it’s just a mental thing. You know, giving me something more tangible than a psychic image. It didn’t taste any different.”
    She contained her grimace. “Did you swallow it?”
    “Well, yeah. Spitters are quitters,” he said, and held out a five-dollar bill. When Alice realized what he meant, she snatched it. His smile broadened into a grin, and her heart rolled over. “Nah, I’m kidding. I didn’t drink it—I put it into my hammerspace. I can use blood as a strong anchor to you. That is, I could if those symbols weren’t there. Do they still hurt?”
    “They ache,” she admitted.
    “Want me to take a look?”
    “What would be the point? Nothing can be done.”
    “I could kiss it better,” he said, and she smiled.
    “Another mental thing?” Like nerve-settling.
    “Or practice for being a great-granddad.”
    “I—” Her gaze locked onto his face. He was looking to his left, his expression distracted again. Alice saw nothing but rocks and sand. “Forgive me, Jake. Did you say you were a grandfather?”
    “ Great .”
    How incredible. Alice recalled him saying he’d written to his girl before he’d gone out to meet the nosferatu. It apparently hadn’t been the girl she’d assumed. “And your . . . daughter? Have you spoken with her?”
    “Not yet. I intend to when we get back.” He met her eyes briefly, and she saw the hope and hesitation there. “I’m not sure how it’ll go. But the four-year-old girl is a whippersnapper. Cute as hell. You saw her.”
    “The one who called me a witch?” At his nod, she said wonderingly, “And you will meet them? You are a lucky man, Jake. A very, very lucky man.”
    “Yeah. You wanted kids?” He’d been looking to his left again, but at that, his gaze snapped back to hers. “Ah, shit. What a stupid—”
    “No, it’s all right. And, yes, I did. But now I’d have to Fall before I could, and I’m in no hurry to be human again. I enjoy this life—and I would rather not add children to the list of things I’ll never have if I don’t escape my bargain.”
    “This is the place for lists,” Jake said, then stopped walking. “Do you want to run or to fly?”
    “What?”
    “Both get us there faster than walking.” He pointed to his left. “Take a look. The rock all the way out.”
    Alice studied it, trying to make out the distant shape. With no idea of how far it was, she couldn’t determine its height. But it was solid, with a rounded—
    She flattened her hand against her chest, felt her heart leaping. “It’s the missing statue—from the temple in Tunisia?”
    “Looks like.”
    “Oh, dear God.” She formed her wings, ran to lift him up. “We’ll fly.”

    Alice’s wings moved like a bellows, each beat puffing her full of excitement and trepidation. The statue sat amid a large collection of jagged, monolithic black marble stones, as if someone had tipped out sharp pebbles from a shoe, and not noticed the granite statue among them.
    She could make out the statue’s wings now, folded against its back, the long tips sweeping out behind it. Its head was bowed; the figure had gone down on one knee. His sword lay on the ground in front of him, his right hand gripping the handle, his left wrapped around the blade. There was submission in the pose, but it wasn’t complete. Alice could see the tension carved in his arms, his hands—as if he was deciding whether to place the sword at her feet, or to stand up and use it on her.
    “The puppies are chasing us.”
    Alice spared them a glance. “We can remain in the air for now.” It would be easier to study the figure anyway. Given its size, it was best taken