Wrestling with insomnia leaves Harry desperate enough to do the unthinkable: summon a demon for assistance.
Naturally he gets more than he bargained for in this two-for-one deal that leaves him fighting for an unexpected ally’s life.
Of course, unexpected allies sometimes bring unexpected gifts, as well…
A quirky urban fantasy tale about making friends in surprising places, for readers who appreciate moral shades of grey.
Curses with Benefits
Streetlights filtered in past the edges of the master bedroom’s blinds, casting silvered bands up the wardrobe door in the dark. The air carried humidity from the shower, and the faint scent of mint soap lingered in the air. Harry lay drowsy and warm beneath the heavy covers on the bed, completely comfortable, and completely awake, even though the digital clock on the other side of the room said 2:00AM.
Unaccustomed to needing help falling asleep, Harry let his left hand dangle over the edge of the bed. “Seagal,” he murmured. He inhaled, ready to name the big, black, Great Dane-shaped demon twice more to summon it—demon it may be, but its fur felt convincingly soft and sleek, and since he’d demonstrated to it quite convincingly that he had the ability to freeze its ears off if it set a toe out of line—
A skin-splintering shriek pierced the dark stillness of Harry’s bedroom.
Seagal had appeared alright: on the floor to Harry’s left, in the middle of a pitched, fervoured, violent battle with… something.
Claws flashed in the darkness.
Seagal’s eyes glimmered like fire-light. He shrieked again, an awful, bone-rattling cry, terror shaped into sound.
The thing attacking him snarled, sending fear pulsing out into the night.
Heart pounding, hardly daring to move for fear of drawing attention to himself, Harry whispered, “Begone.”
Seagal vanished, and the other creature—and the fearful, agonised shrieks.
Goosebumps pressed against Harry’s fingertips where his right hand lay on his chest; the hair all up and down his arms had raised, and his heart pounded like he’d just finished running a hundred-metre sprint for his life.
Deep breaths. They’re gone now. Deep breaths.
He inhaled through his nose, ex-haled slowly through pursed lips, willing his muscles to relax just as when he woke from his occasional night-mares. (When you made a living hunting down the nastier of the super-natural entities in the world, occasional nightmares were the least you could expect.)
Nothing’s hurting you.
The hairs on his arms and legs slowly settled, and the goosebumps diminished back to normal skin.
What was that thing?
And how powerful was it, that it could harm Seagal?
Adrenalin flashed through Harry’s body for the second time as it occurred to him that actually, all he’d done in banishing Seagal was condemn him to fight alone.
Yes, alright, the demon dog with its cropped, pricked ears that trailed off into scribbles of coal black smoke and long, whip-like tail with the tuft of hair at the tip and elbow joints just a little too spiky, too angular was a demon dog…
But that didn’t mean Harry had to abandon it. After all, the demon dog had never abandoned him.