Practical Demonkeeping

me!” The demonkeeper struggled against his bonds. Brine picked up his pipe and lit it, affecting a bored nonchalance. After a moment the demonkeeper settled down.
    Brine blew a thin stream of smoke into the air between them. “Catch isn’t here. You’re on your own.”
    Travis seemed to forget that he had been beaten, kidnapped, and tied up. His concentration was focused on Brine’s last statement. “What do you mean, Catch isn’t here? You know about Catch?”
    Brine considered giving him the I ’m-asking-the-questions-here line that he had heard so many times in detective movies, but upon reflection, it seemed silly. He wasn’t a hardass ; why play the role? “Yes, I know about the demon. I know that he eats people, and I know you are his master.”
    “How do you know all that?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Brine said. “I also know that you’ve lost control of Catch.”
    “I have?” Travis seemed genuinely shaken by this. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but you can’t keep me here. If Catch is out of control again, I’m the only one that can stop him. I’m really close to ending all this; you can’t stop me now.”
    “Why should you care?”
    “What do you mean, why should I care? You might know about Catch, but you can’t imagine what he’s like when he’s out of control.”
    “What I mean,” Brine said, “is why should you care about the damage he causes? You called him up, didn’t you? You send him out to kill, don’t you?”
    Travis shook his head violently. “You don’t understand. I’m not what you think. I never wanted this, and now I have a chance to stop it. Let me go. I can end it.”
    “Why should I trust you? You’re a murderer.”
    “No. Catch is.”
    “What’s the difference? If I do let you go, it will be because you will have told me what I want to know, and how I can use that information. Now I’ll listen and you’ll talk.”
    “I can’t tell you anything. And you don’t want to know anyway, I promise you.”
    “I want to know where the Seal of Solomon is. And I want to know the incantation that sends Catch back. Until I know, you’re not going anywhere.”
    “Seal of Solomon? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Look—what is your name, anyway?”
    “Travis.”
    “Look, Travis,” Brine said, “my associate wants to use torture. I don’t like the idea, but if you jerk me around, torture might be the only way to go.”
    “Don’t you have to have two guys to play good cop, bad cop?”
    “My associate is taking a bath. I wanted to see if I could reason with you before I let him near you. I really don’t know what he’s capable of…I’m not even sure what he is. So if we could get on with this, it would be better for the both of us.”
    “Where’s Jenny?” Travis asked.
    “She’s fine. She’s at work.”
    “You won’t hurt her?”
    “I’m not some kind of terrorist, Travis. I didn’t ask to be involved in this, but I am. I don’t want to hurt you, and I would never hurt Jenny. She’s a friend of mine.”
    “So if I tell you what I know, you’ll let me go?”
    “That’s the deal. But I’ll have to make sure that what you tell me is true.” Brine relaxed. This young man didn’t seem to have any of the qualities of a mass murderer. If anything, he seemed a little naive.
    “Okay, I’ll tell you everything I know about Catch and the incantations, but I swear to you, I don’t know anything about any Seal of Solomon. It’s a pretty strange story.”
    “I guessed that,” Brine said. “Shoot.” He poured himself a glass of wine, relit his pipe, and sat back, propping his feet up on the hearth.
    “Like I said, it’s a pretty strange story.”
    “Strange is my middle name,” Brine said.
    “That must have been difficult for you as a child,” Travis said.
    “Would you get on with it. ”
    “You asked for it.” Travis took a deep breath. “I was born in Clarion,
Pennsylvania
, in the year nineteen hundred.”
    “Bullshit,” Brine interrupted. “You’re not a day over twenty-five.”
    “This is going to take a lot more time if I have to keep stopping. Just listen—it’ll all fall into place.”
    Brine grumbled and nodded for Travis to continue.
    “I was born on a farm. My parents were Irish immigrants, black Irish. I was the oldest of six children, two boys and four girls. My parents were staunch Catholics. My mother wanted me to be a priest. She pushed me to study so I could get into