Sympathy for the Devil by Tim Pratt; Kelly Link Read Free Book Online Page A

peered into the back seat of the car, staring the Devil in the eye.
    "Not really. You should see the tattoos my Amy got the minute she went off to the college. I won't even get into the piercings."
    "Kids these days..." said the Devil.
    "Yep. What are you gonna do?" The trooper pushed his sunglasses back up on his nose and straightened up. "Well, anyway, here's your paperwork. Try to watch your speed out there, now." He smiled and handed the cards back to Secrest.
    They stopped for gas near Morganton. There was a Phillips 66 there.
    "The mother road," Secrest said.
    "Last section decommissioned in 1984, and now all we have are these lousy gas stations," said the Devil.
    "Ooh, 1984. Doubleplusungood," Secrest said.
    "I'll pump," the Devil said. "Premium or regular?"
    "Doubleplusregular."
    Inside, Secrest got a large bottle of spring water, another packet of travel-size tissues, and breath mints. She stared at the array of snacks and the jeweled colors of the bottles of soda, trying to decide. Behind the counter, a teenage boy tuned a banjo, twanging away on the strings while fiddling with the tuning pegs.
    It took her a long time to decide to forgo snacks altogether, and it took the teenager a long time to tune the banjo. She tried to think of a joke about Deliverance , but couldn't. Secrest went up to pay, and she headed for the door.
    She went around to the side of the building to the ladies' room. The lock was busted. She sat to pee, carefully maintaining the position of the payload in her underwear. The door swung open and the Devil walked in.
    "You know, I've been wanting to get into your panties ever since we met."
    "Get the hell out of here, or I'll start screaming," she said.
    "Oh, that's a funny one," the Devil said. "But I'm staying right here. You owe me."
    "I don't owe you anything." She was trying to remember if she had anything sharp in her purse.
    "Of course you do. Why do you think that cop didn't haul your ass out of the car? You have me to thank for that, for the fact that all that shit in your panties is intact, and for the fact that you're not rotting in one of their cages right about now."
    "OK, for one thing, I don't know what you're talking about. For another, get out of here or the screaming really starts."
    "What I'm talking about is all that smack you've got taped inside your underwear. The dope. Las drogas . I want you to give it to me, all of it, right now. That stuff is bad for you, in case you hadn't heard, and it can get you in a world of trouble."
    "Screw you. You're not getting any of it. I was serious about the screaming part."
    But then it didn't matter, because Secrest came in right behind the Devil. He spun the Devil around by the shoulder and kneed him in the crotch. It was the first time she'd ever seen him do anything remotely resembling violence. The Devil crumpled to the concrete floor.
    "Screw you both," the Devil gasped. "I'll take the Greyhound bus anywhere I want to ride."
    They checked in at the Economy Lodge in Asheville. Secrest checked the film in his camera and folded up an AAA map of downtown into his pocket and set out to see the sights.
    "The historic district is a perfect square," he declared, as if he'd made a scientific discovery. "So I'd like to walk every street in the grid. I figure I'll get started today with the up and down and finish up tomorrow on the back and forth while you're at the university. Want to come with?"
    She told him she was tired and crashed out on top of the musty comforter with all of her clothes on while the overworked air-conditioner chugged away.
    She met Rusty at the Maple Leaf Bar. It had been less than two years since she'd seen him, but he had to have lost close to fifty pounds, and his hair, once a luxurious mass, was now thinning and stringy. He still got that same giddy smile when he caught sight of her, though, and he rocked back and forth with inaudible laughter. They walked back to his place on McDowell Street, where he gave her the