Running with the Demon Read Free Page A

into the light. The feeders saw her coming and their lantern eyes narrowed. She ignored them, focusing her attention on the little girl.
    “Hey, tiny Ben Ben!” She kept her voice casual, relaxed. “It’s me, Nest.”
    Bennett Scott’s tear-filled eyes blinked rapidly. “I know.”
    “What are you doing out here, Ben Ben?”
    “Looking for my mommy.”
    “Well, I don’t think she’s out here, sweetie.” Nest moved a few steps closer, glancing about as if looking for Enid.
    “She’s lost,” Bennett sobbed.
    A few of the feeders edged menacingly toward Nest, but she ignored them. They knew better than to mess with her whileWraith was around—which she fervently hoped he was. A lot of them were gathered here, though. Flat-faced and featureless, squat caricatures of humans, they were as much a mystery to her now as ever, even after all she had learned about them from Pick. She didn’t really even know what they were made of. When she had asked Pick about it once, he had told her with a sardonic grin that as a rule you are mostly what you eat, so the feeders could be almost anything.
    “I’ll bet your mommy is back home by now, Ben Ben,” she offered, infusing her voice with enthusiasm. “Why don’t we go have a look?”
    The little girl sniffled. “I don’t want to go home. I don’t like it there anymore.”
    “Sure you do. I’ll bet Jared wonders where you are.”
    “Jared’s sick. He had an attack.”
    “Well, he’ll be better by now. The attacks don’t last long, sweetie. You know that. Come on, let’s go see.”
    Bennett’s head lowered into shadow. She hugged herself, her head shaking. “George doesn’t like me. He told me so.”
    George Paulsen, Enid’s latest mistake in the man department. Even though she was only fourteen, Nest knew a loser when she saw one. George Paulsen was a scary loser, though. She came a step closer, looking for a way to make physical contact with Bennett so that she could draw the little girl away from the cliff. The river was a dark, silver shimmer far below the cliffs, flat and still within the confines of the bayou, where the railroad tracks were elevated on the levy, wilder and swifter beyond where the main channel flowed. The darkness made the drop seem even longer than it was, and Bennett was only a step or two away.
    “George needs to get an attitude adjustment,” Nest offered. “Everybody likes you, Ben Ben. Come on, let’s go find your mommy and talk to her about it. I’ll go with you. Hey, what about Spook? I’ll bet your kitty misses you.”
    Bennett Scott’s moppet head shook quickly, scattering her lank, dark hair in tangles. “George took Spook away. He doesn’t like cats.”
    Nest wanted to spit. That worthless creep! Spook was justabout the only thing Bennett Scott had. She felt her grip on the situation beginning to loosen. The feeders were weaving about Bennett like snakes, and the little girl was cringing and hugging herself in fear. Bennett couldn’t see them, of course. She wouldn’t see them until it was too late. But she could hear them somewhere in the back of her mind, an invisible presence, insidious voices, taunting and teasing. They were hungry for her, and the balance was beginning to shift in their favor.
    “I’ll help you find Spook,” Nest said quickly. “And I’ll make sure that George doesn’t take him away again either. What do you say to that?”
    Bennett Scott hugged herself some more and looked fixedly at her feet, thinking it over. Her thin body went still. “Do you promise, Nest? Really?”
    Nest Freemark gave her a reassuring smile. “I do, sweetie. Now walk over here and take my hand so we can go home.”
    The feeders moved to intervene, but Nest glared at them and they flinched away. They wouldn’t meet her gaze, of course. They knew what would happen if they did. Nevertheless, they were bolder than usual tonight, more ready to challenge her. That was not a good sign.
    “Bennett,” she said quietly.