The Demon's Lexicon Read Online Free Page B

in.”
    â€œA succubus,” Mae put in helpfully. Nick raised his eyebrows at the word and made sure she saw him do so. She frowned at him and continued, “Or an incubus, that’s the word for the men, isn’t it? I’ve read about them, they’re demons who come in the night and basically have their wicked way with you.”
    â€œTheir wicked way?” Nick repeated. “My, my. What kind of books have you been reading, and does your mother know?”
    Mae glared, and Jamie’s face went scarlet. So did Alan’s. Apparently he’d never heard that there was such a thing as being too sympathetic.
    â€œWhat happened?” Alan asked quietly.
    Jamie looked up from the floor and found something in Alan’s eyes that made him square his shoulders and say, in a steadier voice, “I let him in. And then, in the morning, it was real. I mean, someone had really been there. There was—”
    â€œAll you need to do is answer the question,” Nick interrupted. “We don’t need details.”
    Mae’s glare intensified, and Nick smiled, feeling pleased and vicious at once. These people shouldn’t have come here. School and home should not overlap. Nick was meant to be normal at school, and this was his place, his brother, his home, even his mad mother rocking upstairs. He did not care about their problems. He only wanted them to leave.
    He leaned forward to say something else.
    â€œNick,” Alan said, and Nick reluctantly closed his mouth. Alan nodded at Jamie to go on.
    â€œThe next day there was a weird mark on me. When I told Mae, she started asking some people questions.”
    â€œWhen I was asking about magic, I started hanging out with people who have unusual interests,” said Mae. “There isn’t much of a Goth or Wicca scene in Exeter, but I went to a few places I know and asked around. A lot of people wouldn’t talk to me because the Goths think I’m a bit of a baby bat, and the Wiccans think I’m a playgan.”
    â€œPeople think you’re—a bat,” Nick said slowly. “Well, of course. Many people think I’m a blueberry scone.”
    She grinned a sudden, unexpected grin, and he almost smiled back at her, but then he recalled that she was invading his home and looked right through her until her smile melted away.
    Unfortunately, the rest of her stayed put.
    â€œIt means they think I’m just playing around and not serious,” she continued in an even cooler tone. “Some of them listened to me, though, and there was one guy—a stranger—who told me that if I had a weird problem, I should come here.”
    â€œConsiderate of him,” Nick murmured.
    He was icily furious. Forget the black arts, any magician could find them by asking a few questions down at the local, because the Goblin Market felt the need to spread the word. They said that it was their responsibility to protect normal people from the magicians. Nick thought it was their responsibility to remember that the magicians could be listening anywhere, at any time, and careless words could get them all killed.
    Nick gave Alan a dark look, but Alan was not looking at him. His gaze was fixed on Mae.
    â€œ Was it an incubus?” Mae asked. Nick snorted.
    Alan said, “There’s no such thing as an incubus. Not exactly. There are just demons, and demons will take any shape and offer anything to get what they want.”
    A question broke from Jamie. “What did he want?”
    Nick shifted his sword, laying it flat against his knees, and smiled when Mae’s and Jamie’s gazes were caught by the gleam and slid along the blade.
    â€œHe wanted what all demons want,” Nick said softly. “He wanted to come in out of the cold.”
    â€œThe demons live in another world,” Alan explained. “All the writings I’ve been able to get my hands on stress how different the worlds are. There are old