The Demon Road Trilogy: The Complete Collection: Demon Road; Desolation; American Monsters

“She doesn’t want to kill her parents,” Milo said. “So we’re not killing her parents.”

“I figured as much,” said Edgar. “I’m a pretty smart guy, remember? You may have thought I was sitting here looking pretty, but what I was actually doing was going through all the options and throwing out those that were a no-go. I threw out everything except the one I started with – Amber here summoning the Shining Demon, sitting him down and having a chat.”

Amber glanced at Milo. He wasn’t saying anything, but he didn’t look happy.

“So that’s my idea,” said Edgar, talking straight to Amber now. “You explain how unfair all of this is. You didn’t ask for it, after all. You are an innocent party, caught up in your parents’ diabolical machinations.”

“Why would he care?” she asked.

Edgar chuckled. “Good question. And of course you’re right. The Shining Demon isn’t going to give one whit about any of that. He’s a capital D Demon, after all. He likes it when innocent people suffer. That’s kind of his thing.” Edgar sat forward. “But you, my dear girl, hold a special appeal. The Shining Demon is notoriously picky about who he appears to. He’ll only do a deal with someone if they pique his curiosity. But here’s the thing. You, Amber, are enough to pique anyone’s curiosity.”

She suddenly felt uncomfortable. “Why?”

“You’re the demon offspring of demon parents,” Edgar said. “But whereas your folks are demons by circumstance, you are demon by birth. That makes you, technically, a purer form of monster – if you’ll forgive the description. You have also, by virtue of being alive right now, potentially compromised their original deal, which will certainly have got his attention.”

“So summon the Shining Demon and say what?” Amber asked. “‘Hey there, please could you change the terms of my parents’ deal?’”

Edgar shook his head. “The terms are unbreakable, there’s no getting around that. But he could make it so that your parents and their friends never find you. He could make it impossible for them to hurt you. He could do a hundred things that would ruin your parents’ plans and make eating you redundant.”

“What would I have to do in return?”

Edgar shrugged. “Seeing as how your parents and their friends were going to eat you and then give him their supercharged blood, it stands to reason that he’d want to get that same energy some other way. Sending you out to harvest souls is a very common method of payment.”

“I’m not killing anyone. I’m not doing that.”

“Very well. If those are the terms of the deal he offers, you just say no. No harm, no foul. But he might not want you to kill. There might be something else.”

Amber raised her eyebrows. “Could I offer him my demon side? Is that possible?”

“Even if it were, I doubt that would entice him.”

“I’m not going to give him my soul,” she said, a little sharply. “It’s mine and he’s not getting it.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Edgar. “Not to worry, however – I do have a suggestion of my own. You’re unique enough to summon him and, if you offer him something equally as unique, you might just find yourself with a deal.”

“What do you have in mind?” Milo asked.

“The one that got away,” Edgar said. “It’s a story I was told by a very dangerous man, name of Dacre Shanks. You heard of him?”

Milo shook his head. Amber didn’t bother.

“Dacre Shanks was a particularly nasty serial killer back in the late sixties, early seventies. This small-town Sheriff’s Department eventually tracked him down, in 1974 I think, and went in all guns blazing. Shanks fell in a hail of bullets. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Anyway, I met him a few years ago, and he told—”

“Wait,” said Amber. “You just said he died in 1974.”

“He did,” Edgar said, nodding. “But before the cops closed in on him, he’d already made his deal with the Shining Demon.”

“He’s still alive?”

“Technically? No. But he’s still around. Last I heard he was in his hometown of Springton, Wisconsin, happily killing a bunch of teenagers, but that was fifteen or so years ago. If you can find him, he might be able to help you.”

“You want us to ask a serial killer for help?”

Edgar shrugged. “It’s a scary world – you got to be prepared to meet scary people. Dacre Shanks qualifies as a scary person. He’s up there with Elias Mauk and Leighton Utt … maybe even the Narrow Man. Outwardly, charming as all heck, but … well. Serial killer, you know? I met him through a mutual acquaintance and arranged an interview of sorts. The man just wanted someone to talk to, and he talked a lot. I got some very graphic descriptions of what he’d done to his victims, some very disturbing insights into his mind … We talked about death, about how it felt when those bullets riddled his body, about what happened after. Milo knows what I’m talking about, right?”

Milo said nothing, and Amber frowned.

“And we talked about the deal he’d made with the Shining Demon,” Edgar continued. “How he summoned him, what the terms were, how he found out about him in the first place. And he told me a story I’d never heard before, and I thought I’d heard all the stories about our shining friend. He told me about a man who’d made a deal – I don’t know the circumstances surrounding it, but it was a deal like any other – and then welched on it. The Shining Demon granted him whatever he wanted, but, instead of paying him back in the agreed-upon fashion, this guy skips town, and the Shining Demon loses him. And the Shining Demon never loses a mark.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Amber asked.

Edgar smiled. “If you can find this guy, you can offer his location to the Shining Demon in exchange for getting your parents off your back.”

“You know where he is?”

“Haven’t a clue,” Edgar said, almost happily. “Shanks wanted to talk, sure, but he was pretty cagey with the things he had to say. You’d have to ask him yourself. You might like him. He’s got some pretty funny stories. They’ll give you nightmares, but they’re still pretty funny.”

“Uh,” said Amber, “I don’t really want to talk to a serial killer.”

Edgar chuckled. “You’ll be perfectly safe. Milo here will look after you.”

Amber glanced at Milo. Just how dangerous was this guy?

“Why don’t you come with us?” Milo asked. “You know him, he knows you, you can make the introductions.”

“I’d love to,” said Edgar, “but he said he’d kill me if he ever saw me again.”

“Why?”

Edgar shrugged. “The conversation turned sour – what can I say? Serial killer, you know?”

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EDGAR WENT TO FETCH the paraphernalia Amber would need to summon the Shining Demon, and the moment he was out of the room Amber looked over at Milo.

“I’m doing it now?”

Milo shrugged.

“Imelda said it took days of fasting and loads of preparation.”

“There’s more than one way to summon the Shining Demon,” said Milo. “Sometimes you don’t even have to summon him – he’ll appear right when you’re at your most vulnerable.”

“Milo, I don’t know …”

“If you don’t want to do this, say so. We’ll find some other way.”

“Is there another way?”