The Devil Eats Here (Multi-Author Short Story Collection) by Alice Gaines, Tara Maya, Rayne Hall, Jonathan Broughton, Siewleng Torossian, John Hoddy, John Blackport, Douglas Kolacki, April Grey
Authors: Alice Gaines, Tara Maya, Rayne Hall, Jonathan Broughton, Siewleng Torossian, John Hoddy, John Blackport, Douglas Kolacki, April Grey
Ads: Link
this?”
“Your sources can foul things up, they’re mortal ain’t they? Well, between me marching with the demons and me joining the army? I ran with the church of Ullon, Lord of Secrets and Deception.”
“But Ullonites never sign contracts with devils! Their rules forbid it!”
“Tell me about it. That’s why I left the Ullon church, same way I left the Unmaker church. Too many damn rules! Gods’re all like that. Bunch of whiny pissers.”
“No one leaves the Ullon church voluntarily. They’d have marked you for death!”
“Well, not all my deals went bad. I bought them off with my next big score. Then I signed my military pension over to ’em, so they know when I die the money stops. I also did some favors, like lying under oath. Got an innocent guy hanged - the guilty bastard went free!” Dick indulged himself with another laugh. “Yeah, no one knows bad like Mean Dick Skyler.”
“So you left two churches of darkness and lived to tell about it?”
Dick scowled. “I thought you said you’d seen it all. You may have seen it all, but ya don’t really know nothing because you’ve never felt it. Ya succeed here and there in your silly chess game, and maybe ya win more than ya lose. What good’s it do ya?
“Real triumph is this: when you’re mortal, and you kill another mortal. You win yourself another precious few years, drippin’ out your heart, out your lungs and out your ass, ’cause that’s all you have anyway. Real triumph belongs to us, who take real risks! Stop jawing and get some dirt under your fingernails: it’ll do ya good.”
Dick pulled on the insubstantial reins, to make the smokemare rear. He regretted that it would never whinny, and he couldn’t make it piss or shit on command.
“Now suppose I go back to enjoying myself. I’d have, oh, maybe a week before you set up some other deal for me. With every loose end tied up tighter than a rat’s ball-sack. Dick do this, Dick do that, or you’ll arrange some awful fate for Becky, am I right? I’m the only one who loves her. So as far as you’re concerned, she’s my biggest weakness, and I’m hers. So fuck you, devil. Take your forty years of youth and shove it up your fart chimney.”
The devil threw up his hands. “Where do you think you’ll end up, Dick? Even if your soul won’t be mine, you still have much to answer for! You’ll be one more faceless sufferer among the legions of the damned.”
“Aye, but you’ll gain nothing by it. And faceless or not, you’ll know me right enough. I’ll be the one laughing at you.”
Mean Dick Skyler spurred the smokemare to a gallop. He rode it far, far out from the cliff’s edge, for one last lunge at the sunshine.
THE DEVIL, YOU SAY
by Alice Gaines
Chapter One
Ms Carole McHenry looked like an escapee from a fashion runway in hell: draped in an expensive cashmere suit with a skirt that barely reached mid-thigh, with every blonde hair coifed into submission and a body thin enough to bend in ways humans weren't meant to bend. She oozed a cloying quantity of Coco Mademoiselle. Worse, she was going to be Cyn's new boss.
Cyn had worked her tuchus off for months to get this promotion. Stewart had all but promised the job of customer accounts manager to her - but then had hired someone from the outside after all. Now, he sat leering at his newest acquisition as if he’d already figured out a way to get into her pants. Maybe he had. Who knew? Maybe he’d hired her as payment for services rendered.
“Carole will be transitioning into her new management role on Monday,” Stew announced.
“That’s Carole with an ‘e,’” the new boss added.
Cyn nodded. Both of them had told her that. Maybe the extra vowel got Carole a few thou more in salary.
Stew leaned back in his faux leather executive chair. “I’d like you to prioritize your calendar so that you can show Carole the scope of her new duties.”
“I have to train her?” Holy excrement. The
“Your sources can foul things up, they’re mortal ain’t they? Well, between me marching with the demons and me joining the army? I ran with the church of Ullon, Lord of Secrets and Deception.”
“But Ullonites never sign contracts with devils! Their rules forbid it!”
“Tell me about it. That’s why I left the Ullon church, same way I left the Unmaker church. Too many damn rules! Gods’re all like that. Bunch of whiny pissers.”
“No one leaves the Ullon church voluntarily. They’d have marked you for death!”
“Well, not all my deals went bad. I bought them off with my next big score. Then I signed my military pension over to ’em, so they know when I die the money stops. I also did some favors, like lying under oath. Got an innocent guy hanged - the guilty bastard went free!” Dick indulged himself with another laugh. “Yeah, no one knows bad like Mean Dick Skyler.”
“So you left two churches of darkness and lived to tell about it?”
Dick scowled. “I thought you said you’d seen it all. You may have seen it all, but ya don’t really know nothing because you’ve never felt it. Ya succeed here and there in your silly chess game, and maybe ya win more than ya lose. What good’s it do ya?
“Real triumph is this: when you’re mortal, and you kill another mortal. You win yourself another precious few years, drippin’ out your heart, out your lungs and out your ass, ’cause that’s all you have anyway. Real triumph belongs to us, who take real risks! Stop jawing and get some dirt under your fingernails: it’ll do ya good.”
Dick pulled on the insubstantial reins, to make the smokemare rear. He regretted that it would never whinny, and he couldn’t make it piss or shit on command.
“Now suppose I go back to enjoying myself. I’d have, oh, maybe a week before you set up some other deal for me. With every loose end tied up tighter than a rat’s ball-sack. Dick do this, Dick do that, or you’ll arrange some awful fate for Becky, am I right? I’m the only one who loves her. So as far as you’re concerned, she’s my biggest weakness, and I’m hers. So fuck you, devil. Take your forty years of youth and shove it up your fart chimney.”
The devil threw up his hands. “Where do you think you’ll end up, Dick? Even if your soul won’t be mine, you still have much to answer for! You’ll be one more faceless sufferer among the legions of the damned.”
“Aye, but you’ll gain nothing by it. And faceless or not, you’ll know me right enough. I’ll be the one laughing at you.”
Mean Dick Skyler spurred the smokemare to a gallop. He rode it far, far out from the cliff’s edge, for one last lunge at the sunshine.
THE DEVIL, YOU SAY
by Alice Gaines
Chapter One
Ms Carole McHenry looked like an escapee from a fashion runway in hell: draped in an expensive cashmere suit with a skirt that barely reached mid-thigh, with every blonde hair coifed into submission and a body thin enough to bend in ways humans weren't meant to bend. She oozed a cloying quantity of Coco Mademoiselle. Worse, she was going to be Cyn's new boss.
Cyn had worked her tuchus off for months to get this promotion. Stewart had all but promised the job of customer accounts manager to her - but then had hired someone from the outside after all. Now, he sat leering at his newest acquisition as if he’d already figured out a way to get into her pants. Maybe he had. Who knew? Maybe he’d hired her as payment for services rendered.
“Carole will be transitioning into her new management role on Monday,” Stew announced.
“That’s Carole with an ‘e,’” the new boss added.
Cyn nodded. Both of them had told her that. Maybe the extra vowel got Carole a few thou more in salary.
Stew leaned back in his faux leather executive chair. “I’d like you to prioritize your calendar so that you can show Carole the scope of her new duties.”
“I have to train her?” Holy excrement. The
Similar Books
