“Forget that, dogface,” the demon said. “I have my rights, and I know what I can—”
The hell hound padded softly to the edge of the largest circle in which he and Helena were protected, and he blew out one of the seven black candles, leaving six black and seven white, disturbing the delicate balance between the spheres of magical influence.
Kanastorous jerked as if he had been struck by a whip, tottered back until his spurred heels came up against the chalk circle, then leaned forward, swaying dizzily.
“Is he in pain?” Helena asked.
“Some,” Brutus admitted.
“Good,” the woman said. “If he hurt Blakesy in any way, he deserves every bit of it.”
“I’m an innocent pawn in all of this,” Zeke Kanastorous moaned, staring across the remaining candles at the hound.
“Ah, you’ve recovered sufficiently to talk,” Brutus said.
“You can’t take your anger out on me. What could I do?” the demon asked. “How could I stop them?”
“Stop who?” Brutus asked. “Who has kidnapped Jessie Blake?”
“He hasn’t been kidnapped,” Kanastorous said. He was holding his round, green stomach as if it hurt.
“You mean he’s been killed and disposed of?” Helena asked, tense, her neck stiff, her jaw tight and fierce.
“No, no!” Kanastorous said. “He’s just been—well, put on ice.”
“Why?”
“To keep him out of the Tesserax affair.”
“What is the Tesserax affair?” Brutus asked.
“Oh, how should I know?” Kanastorous cried, still clutching his round gut with both hands, doubled over, blinking stupidly. “Would you please light that candle again?”
“I’m out of matches,” Brutus said.
“That’s a lie.”
Brutus did not reply.
“I’ll have your supernatural neck for this!” the demon roared, his tongue flickering in and out, in and out like a snake that lived in his mouth.
“I doubt that. Now, let’s get back to the matter at hand. You were trying to convince us that you know nothing whatsoever about this Tesserax business.”
“But I really don’t!” the demon wailed. “That’s the truth, my old canine buddyboy, the bitter truth. I was approached by Mr. Willard Aimes and Mr. Holagosta Mur, the chief of the maseni embassy in Los Angeles; they solicited my aid in waylaying Mr. Blake.”
“They didn’t tell you why they wanted this done?”
“No, they didn’t. I assumed that it had to do with the Tesserax affair, considering what they had already done to Gayla.”
“She really was transferred to Japan?”
“Yes.”
Brutus thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, I’ll believe you, so far as the Tesserax business is concerned. I doubt they did tell you anything. But you must know what they’ve done to Jessie, since you helped to engineer it.”
“My job was to get him into the bathroom,” the demon said. “I arranged that by buying the first bottle of wine at dinner and by being sure that, beforehand, it was doctored with a bladder exciter.”
“Who was waiting for him in the men’s room?” Brutus asked.
Kanastorous hesitated, then said, “I don’t know, Brutus. They didn’t tell me about that; they only wanted me to be sure he went in there.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear I’m not!”
“A demon’s word…”
“My part was to serve the doctored wine, which would not affect me or you, but which would send Jessie to the urinal.”
The hound walked across the large circle again and blew out a second candle, watched as the demon jerked back and forth, clutched his head and chest and stomach…
“I’m glad you did that,” Helena said. “I was about to take the initiative myself.”
Kanastorous went to his knees inside the smaller circle and, in a few minutes, had recovered sufficiently to speak, though he could not regain his feet. “This is despicable,” he hissed. “This is the most barbaric thing I can imagine.”
“Come, come, Zeke,” Brutus said. “We worked together in Hell for fifty years, remember? I’ve seen you perform more barbaric acts a thousand times—and usually on defenseless virgins.”
“That was before the laws!” the demon groaned.
“Five black candles and seven white,” Brutus said. “Now, if you don’t tell me what I want to know inside the next minute, I’ll blow out a third black taper.” He paused for dramatic effect and said, “Who was waiting in the men’s room for Jessie?”