Hell To Pay Read Online Free Page A

tried to regain some authority. “Whatever you look like, it can’t pass the circle. Show me.”
     
    She disappeared.
     
    His jaw dropped again. No she can’t I can’t lose her I’ll never have the nerve again... He got his mouth working.
    “No! Don’t go! Come back!” She reappeared, still smiling wickedly. “Where did you go? How did you get out of the circle?”
    “I didn’t go anywhere. I can’t get out, you know that... don’t you?”
    “I thi... I mean, of course I do. But what just happened? Tell me the truth.”
    “I did what you said.” She almost managed an innocent look. She’d never been innocent but she’d had a lot of time to practice.
    “I told you to show me what you look like. You vanished. Explain.”
    She pouted. “You’re no fun. I showed you what I look like, just like you wanted. I don’t have a physical body. Not a real one. Although if you’d reach in and touch me, you’d never know the diiiif-errrr-ence ...” She said this last in a singsong tone and reached to him. His hand started to come up without conscious thought, but he stopped it with an effort.
    “So you vanished because you don’t look like anything? ” That almost made sense. She nodded.
    “If I’m not projecting an image, I don’t have a form your senses can detect. You humans are practically blind and deaf. Pathetic.” The sneer was back. She couldn’t keep her contempt hidden all the time.
    “Anyway, here I am. What would you have of me, mortal? Some woman you love just can’t stand you? One of your enemies to be brought low by a scandalous affair?” She sniffed and the look of contempt intensified. “Or can you just not get a girl and want me to take your virginity for you? That one never gets old.” The succubus had had a long time to develop her sarcastic voice. It was a work of dark art.
    Despite himself Simon laughed. He stopped at a withering glare from the demon. “I can get my own girls, thank you. Mostly I just wanted to have a look at you. To talk to you.”
    This got a full-blown snort of derision. “Sure you did. You damned your soul to peek at a succubus. Brilliant.” She looked at him hungrily. “Easiest soul I ever took.”
    Inside, Simon felt a bolt of terror hit his stomach. No! Not just for summoning! I have to give it to her! That’s what the book says! But he swallowed and managed to hold his voice steady. “I haven’t damned my soul for anything. You haven’t got any claim on it unless I give you one.”
    She laughed viciously. “You sure?”
    Fighting for control, he said, “You are bound to obey me by the spell of summoning until I release you or the circle is broken. Tell me the truth: can you claim my soul just for summoning you?”
    A look of utter disgust crossed her face. “I hate the smart ones. No, I can’t. Upstairs doesn’t like people doing anything with demons but just this won’t get you sent Down Below.”
    “Upstairs? You mean... God? ” Even seeing her standing in the middle of the circle, it was hard to reconcile that what looked like a beautiful woman was a supernatural and immortal being who had knowledge of Things Beyond.
    She winced and glared at him. “Yes. Don’t say that name.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t like it.” Her mouth clamped shut in anger.
    “Does it hurt you?”
    “No.”
    “Then why don’t you want me to say it?”
    “I said I don’t like it, moron.”
    “Tell me the truth. Why does that word bother you so much?”
    Somehow, it felt like the force of her glare made the circle ripple a little bit and he winced himself, but it held. “Because drawing too much attention from the Other Side is fatal for a demon. If I say the name, I’ll be struck down.”
    “What would you do if I told you to say it? I’m not!” He blurted out this last as an image of her exploding in the middle of the floor flashed in his head.
    “I’d tell you to go fuck yourself. You have the right to command me within reason, not to make me