"Okay," said Sam. "Why do you think you're still possessed? Come on in out of the cold now."

  Sam ushered Lisa Everson into her office, sat her down in a chair opposite the steel desk. The desk had an ashtray filled with half-smoked cigars. She lit one and leaned back while Lisa began her story.

  "I was walking home," said Lisa, "or from home, rather."

  "Why were you walking so late at night?" asked Sam.

  "I had an argument with my father."

  "What was the argument about?"

  "He doesn't want me to go to school," she replied. "He wants me to find a man and make him some grandbabies. And I have higher ambitions in life than being a baby factory. Now it's time for me to decide what those ambitions may be. And the argument got heated, and I told him I was leaving. Please, this isn't really relevant to what happened."

  "Now hold on, I'll let you know what's relevant," said Sam.

  "Okay, it's just an argument. That's why I was out. That's all. I was walking."

  "Where were you going?"

  "Well," Lisa said, "I don't quite know. I had a mind to go back to the friend's place that I was staying at while my father was possessed, or when he got into one of his tempers. But honestly, I wasn't quite sure. I was just walking off some steam."

  "Okay, sounds pretty normal so far."

  "Well, that's because you won't let me get to the part where the men attacked me and then I passed out and then I woke up to their bodies burnt to a crisp."

  Sam let out a long breath. "Okay, I see why you wanted to get to the end. Why don't you tell me all the details about that?"

  "Well, I heard footsteps behind me. And I thought to turn into a more well-lit block."

  "Where was this?"

  "About two blocks from my house. I hadn't gotten far. You know the neighborhood we live in. It's all right, but it's next to a neighborhood that's not all right."

  Sam nodded. "All right, carry on. You heard footsteps behind you. You tried to shake them. Then what?"

  "Well, then the men started chasing me, grabbed my arm, spun me around. They threatened me and scared me and then they tried to drag me into an alley, and that's when everything went black."

  "Everything went black?" Sam said.

  "Yes, that's right. I passed out. I don't know what happened. When I woke up, the men who attacked me... Oh god! Miss Fontaine, the bodies! I've never seen anything like that before! I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you!"

  "Okay, okay, now tell me about these bodies."

  "Well, they were all charred and burnt up."

  Sam thought back to the name the demon had given her. Haborym, the Firebrand.

  "And these men? You sure they were dead?"

  Lisa's eyes filled with tears. She looked up at Sam, mouth agape. "Oh God. Oh my God. Yes! I'm almost certain that they were dead. I..." She put her head in her hands, this time sobbing.

  "All right, all right, Lisa, calm down. Okay, I'm sorry to ask you so many questions. I just needed to be sure what happened. It does sound like you might be possessed again, but usually under those circumstances you wouldn't be yourself at all. People who are possessed are possessed. You understand? They don't walk around arguing with their father. The enemy takes over. You understand?"

  Lisa looked up. "But I just don't understand. I know I didn't do that to those men. It's cold out. Oh god, I don't even have matches on me."

  "Okay," said Sam. "We'll do the exorcism again. No charge for you. We'll see what happens."

  Sam got out some chalk and started etching the sigil for Phenex. The military had taught her only a handful of sigils, for very specific purposes. She knew only who the binding drew the attention of and how to invoke the bound entity for one purpose. In other words, she was not a sorcerer, but could perform sorcery of a sort that the military thought would be useful for interrogators like her.

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  Sam had resolved to learn more about sorcery. She kept on running into situations in which greater power, more flexibility, or allies would have saved her life sooner. She could have gotten out of more scrapes with fewer scrapes. The problem with her plans was that sorcerers were notoriously tight-lipped about their secrets. They didn't like to share the bindings they wrote, the powers they contacted, or the contracts they used to negotiate. Apprenticeship was notoriously expensive even if she found a sorcerer willing to teach.

  But she did know how to draw the attention of Phenex. She had used this binding to successfully exorcise maybe a dozen victims over the course of her military and private investigation career. Phenex was a Marquis of Hell, a being commanding legions of common demons. The story she'd been told was that Phenex wished to return to Heaven to stand before the throne. So Phenex was sympathetic to the cause of exorcism.

  Hell had a simple hierarchy. Amongst the legions, the rankings were clear. A Marquis could command any lower demon. The Kings ruled Hell, of which there were only seven. Under the Kings were the Dukes, below them the Princes, and below the Princes of Hell were the Marquises. Phenex was one of these.

  If Lisa was again possessed by this Haborym, it would be the first case Sam knew of that a person had been possessed by the same entity twice. It would also be the first time, as far as Sam knew, that a person had been possessed twice, regardless of the entity.

  Sam had Lisa sit in the center of the circle and took out her own silver coin. Sam was many things, but her professional pride and sheer curiosity about the situation prevented her from requesting the price from Lisa. If she wasn't possessed, the coin would not be taken. If she was, Sam would have failed and wanted to know why. So she paid herself.

  Phenex would accept coin, being sympathetic to the problem. She could, in a pinch, use any type of blood, either hers or the victim's. Or, she supposed, animal blood, although the demons required more of that than human blood.

  The price a sorcerer paid for a contract depended on the relation between the entity contacted and the problem at hand. The fee could be astronomical if you were asking for a great effect or asking an unwilling entity. Phenex was compatible with exorcism given that such a goal lined up with the Marquis's own interests.

  Sam began her invocation. Lisa's head slumped forward. The temperature in the room rose so much Sam broke out in sweat. The night was cold and Sam’s office wasn’t well heated. That meant the sudden heat was supernatural.

  "Oh, Samantha, we meet again." The voice coming from Lisa Everson was no longer hers.

  Sam regarded the young blonde woman sitting in the chair before her. The invocation was incomplete. The coin had not been accepted. Lisa was unrestrained. Sam cursed her own stupidity. She should have tied the girl up. If the entity was hostile, Sam would be in incredible danger. The fact that it had spoken rather than attacked her meant it might be willing to negotiate.

  "Are you Haborym, the Firebrand?" Sam asked.

  "Why, yes! I am pleased you remember me!" replied the demon.

  "How have you come to possess this woman again?" Sam asked slowly.

  The invocation, the contract, requested that the entity being exorcised be banished forevermore to the realm of Hell. Once an entity had been banished, the power of Phenex would prevent it from returning to the mortal world until, Sam supposed, the end of time.

  "What a lovely question with so many assumptions." The demon's rough voice sounded like a being from Hell. It was smoky and coarse.

  The room remained uncomfortably warm. Lisa's skin started to redden.

  "I do not wish to engage in the silly show I've been giving you. I had hoped you would find me in some record or through some research. You would find who I am. But I suppose your ignorance rivals your persistence."

  Sam shrugged and said, "Sorry. I did intend to. However, I've been a bit busy of late."

  "Why, yes. You do have the stink of Agares about you. I suppose you've met one of his little unholy creations, then. Your blood is also positively filthy. I can't smell what entity that is, which means it's higher than me."

  "Spirit, may I ask what rank you hold in Hell, so I know how to properly address you?" asked Sam, as respectfully as she was able.

  "Another good question. And I know you ask not to address me properly but to know how fucked you are. I will tell you for no price. Know my patience for free questions and answers wears thin. Haborym, the Firebrand, is a Duke of Hell."

  "Oh, shit," said Sam. She knew not to bother restraining her speech because a Duke of Hell would obliterate her if it so wished. Haborym had kindly explained why her exorcism had failed. He was far more powerful than Phenex. The workings of Phenex, the contracts she had negotiated, the price she had paid - all failed because Phenex had no power over the entity inside Lisa.

  "Haborym. Paltry as it is, I offer you the silver coin I would have paid to Phenex in exchange for answering a few more of my questions."

  Haborym opened Lisa's eyes. They were black as night. Not a hint of white in them. They no longer reflected light. Just pits of darkness in the sockets where the eyes should have been. Her skin took on a deeper shade of red.

  Haborym regarded the coin Sam offered. He smiled wide with Lisa's mouth, and showed that her teeth had also transformed. Every one now pointed like a needle.

  "I don't want your fucking money," he said. "We're going to talk, Samantha Fontaine. You can ask me questions as you please. We can consider this a meeting of the minds. At the end of our conversation, I will reveal my price to you, and you will pay it or you will burn."

  "Okay," replied Sam. "I suppose the most important question I have is why you are here?"

  "Because," Haborym said, his mouth curling into a wide grin. He leaned back in the chair. Lisa's long blonde hair fell back behind him. He spread his hands wide and said, "I am in love with this woman."