"I will drive around the block. You will wait for me here, yes?" Rene asked as he pulled up at the end of the alley. We both peered around. No one was visible.

"Yes." I got out of the car, leaning in through the open window to give him instructions. "Five minutes. If I don't come out… go home. You won't be able to help me."

Rene gunned the engine. I pulled back as he waved. "Me, I do not abandon my friends, just like you, eh?"

He was off before I could warn him not to hang around. I slunk down the alley to Amelie's door and used my trusty credit card to get in the locked door, making my way silently through the back room to the curtain of beads.

Amelie stood at the open front door, looking out. There was no one else in die shop. She turned when I whispered her name.

"Aisling!" she gasped, closing the door quickly.

I slid through the beads. "Where's Jim? Did Drake take it? What did he do to it? Oh, lord, I never should have left Jim alone with him."

"Calm yourself—your demon was not injured," Amelie said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "You

must leave. It is not safe for you here. Drake and two of the green dragons are just outside. Inspector Proust is out there, too, although he appears to be in some sort of a daze."

"Oy," I said, backing through the bead curtain. "Where's Jim?"

"It ran off. Where, I do not know. I assumed it would follow you. Here—you will need this. Drake left it for you."

"Thanks," I said, snatching the dragon talisman she tossed to me, quickly making my way around the boxes to die back door. "If you happen to see Jim, would you tell it to come home? It knows where we live. And thanks for everything else, too."

I didn't wait around to hear anything else. I was at the end of the alley just as Rene came roaring around the cor-ner.

"M. Drake, he is in the street, speaking to two men in suits," Rene said as soon as I opened the car door. I got in, Rene taking off even before I could close the door properly. "They are the police. I know they are—they have the look of police. We must get you out of here im-mediately."

I slumped back in the seat, worried, depressed, angry, and irritated at the sense of loss that I connected with Drake's sudden appearance. I stared out at the streets, watching for any sign of a big, lost Newfoundland. Rene shot me a questioning look when I didn't respond to a comment about Jim, finally settling back to drive me to Ophelia and Perdita's apartment without further demands for conversation.

I sent up a little prayer that Jim would have the com-mon sense to return to the apartment as well. If it didn't… I shook my head wearily. I didn't want to think of what trouble my demon could get into without me to keep an eye on it.

Call me stupid, but I missed the big galoot.

"I'm so sorry you lost your dog, Aisling. Would you like me to ring up the animal-control people? They will let you know if they find Jim."

"No, it's OK," I told a sympathetic Ophelia. I had re-turned home to find that Jim hadn't found its way back yet, but that was no surprise. I was in a taxi, and poor Jim was hoofing it.

Three hours later, however, I had paced every square inch of the apartment, no doubt driving both Ophelia and Perdita nuts, although both were too polite to tell me. I felt awful, not just guilty about leaving Jim to fend for it-self, but physically drained and depressed, as if a horrible black cloud hanging over my head was leeching into my body. The apartment, at first so bright and lovely, was now oppressive and bleak, a prison rather than a haven. Perdita and Ophelia had offered to search the streets for Jim, but I knew that wasn't necessary. Jim was a smart demon; if it was at all possible for it to make its way home, it would.

"I just feel so helpless," I said, stopping before Ophe-lia to fret, trying to push down the rising sense of panic-laden despair. "Poor Jim is out there all by its … himself, facing who knows what horrors. Maybe he's been picked up by vivisectionists! Maybe someone will do aHundred and One Dalmatians on him!" I paced past Perdita as she chopped up mushrooms for dinner.

"A hundred and one Dalmatians?" Ophelia asked her in a quiet voice.

"Skins," Perdita answered succinctly.

I waved my hands around, dread filling my mind at the horrible things that could be happening to Jim at that very moment. "Exactly! Jim has a lovely coat! Someone might want him for it. Or for … for … oh, I don't know, some-thing awful. Someone might want to use him as a stud dog, ruthlessly breeding him again and again and again. Although to be honest, he probably wouldn't object to that too much, but dammit! He'smy dog! He doesn't get to have fun unless I say he does!"

Ophelia set some apples in cinnamon to simmer, com-ing around the long marble counter that separated the din-ing area from the kitchen. She patted my hand, but it didn't make me feel any better. In fact, I felt worse, almost sick to my stomach with worry. "Aisling, if there is anything Perdy or I can do, any spell we could perform, you have but to ask."

I swallowed back a lump of unshed tears and tried for a smile. "Thank you, Ophelia. That's very generous of you, but I'm afraid spells… well, just they would be a waste of time." I had a feeling that if Perdita's dill was such a failure as an anti-demon protection, their herb-based spells would be ineffective, as well. "I'll just have to hope that he's lying low for a while until it's safe to come home."

She patted my arm. "You're distraught. Perhaps it would be best if you didn't conduct your demon ritual tonight. You can't focus if you're so upset. And didn't you say you needed a special book?"

"Oh, that's all right. I'll use Perdita's. It's a bit differ-ent from the one I'm familiar with, but I'm sure it will be OK. You don't mind if I use your book, do you?" I asked, desperately trying to distract myself with trivialities.

Perdita opened her mouth to say something, but a quick look at Ophelia left her shaking her head. "No, please use the book. I don't mind at all."

I squashed down all the worry, and sick fear, and a horrible sense of dread, and ordered my mind to focus on what was important. 'There's no time like the present. If you both are free, I'll just go in and raise my demon, ask it a few questions, and send it back. Do either of you have a tape recorder?"