Page 120 of What Happens at Nightfall

“Can you move the demon so I can put down the pizza?” Melinda came in, carrying a plate of reheated pizza, cut into narrow strips like a toddler birthday party.

Cindy hastily caught up the pendant, which twitched and wiggled in her hand.

Melinda plunked down the pizza. “I still can’t believe I missed it all.”

“Be grateful you did,” said Jess.

“Hey, I let you play with the drone,” said Adam.

“Thanks, Dad.” Melinda looked at her brother with mingled affection, pity, and scorn. “So you’ve been hanging around with this demon for weeks?”

“He never told me he was a demon. I thought he was a genie, like in Aladdin.” Ben’s voice wandered between registers. “You know, with wishes.”

“That explains the harem pants,” Jess said wryly.

“You might have told me about supernatural beings offering you wishes,” Adam said gruffly to Ben.

Ben burrowed in deeper against Adam’s side. “It sounded crazy. My Cookie Monster stuffy started talking to me—telling me things.”

Adam wondered if Jess was remembering, as he was, Cookie Monster on the TV screen of the diner, bellowing about eating souls.

“What happened next?” he asked Ben.

Ben hesitated for a moment. “He told me she—”

“Jess,” Adam supplied. “Her name is Jess.”

“He told me Jess was trying to weasel her way in and break up the family and take you away from me. He told me the only one who really loved me was Mom and if I wanted he could bring me to her. He told me he couldn’t bring Mom back, but he could bring me to Mom.”

“With heart’s blood.” Adam’s lips were stiff.

When Belfagor had said he’d bring Ben to his mother, he’d meant it.

Jess stood up abruptly. “Who wants pizza? Ben, do you want pizza?”

For a moment, Ben pulled into himself like a turtle. Then he slowly uncurled his shoulders and looked at Jess. “Actually, yeah. I’m kind of hungry.”

Hungry was good. Hungry meant he wasn’t dead.

“Here.” Jess handed him a paper plate with two narrow slivers of pizza. Ryder from the Paw Patrol gave Ben a thumbs-up from under a trail of semi-melted mozzarella.

Cindy, Adam noticed, was eating her pizza off the cast of Descendants 2. Melinda must have raided the cupboard for the dregs of old birthday parties.

“Have you had some?” Adam asked Jess quietly.

Jess shook her head. “I’m okay.”

“Can I make you some coffee?” Whatever she had done in there, it had taken a lot out of her. “Juice? Gatorade? Ovaltine?”

Jess regarded him skeptically. “Do they even make Ovaltine anymore? What would you do if I took you up on that?”

“Make instant cocoa and hope you wouldn’t know the difference?”

“I used to give you Yoo-hoo when you were little,” said Cindy. She tilted her head to one side, her long earrings jangling. “I’m not sure they make that anymore either.”

Jess yanked at the elastic holding her ponytail. “Really, I’m fine. I can’t believe that thing in there tried to bribe me with unlimited coffee.”

“I’ve seen how you drink coffee,” said Adam tenderly. He still had erotic dreams about that coffee splotch on her skirt, but that was a whole other story. “He wasn’t wrong.”