Free Devil's Punch by Ann Aguirre Page B

suspected, from the tightness of my mouth and the set of my jaw. “Intentions seldom match results.”
    â€œMaybe not. What is that thing?”
    â€œAronesti.” It spat the word like a curse. “They are the snatchers, and they have no honor.”
    The snatchers. Of what?
    Chance asked, so I didn’t have to.
    â€œFlesh. They crave it from the dead. Carrion feeders, the lot of them.”
    â€œDo they ever cross over? I mean, obviously this one did…” But we killed it before it could go out and swoop around the battlefields in a ghastly feast.
    Greydusk nodded. “From time to time. It is my understanding that the Nephilim hunt them down.”
    Among other things. So Kel might be out there right now, hunting demons, along with killing people he was told would start the apocalypse. How the hell did you trust in orders like that? I wanted to see him, talk to him,
shake
him. Everything I learned about his world made me understand him less.
    â€œCan they be summoned?” Chance asked.
    â€œMost demons can be called by a practitioner of sufficient skill and power. Aronesti are sometimes found in the bodies of cannibal killers.”
    What a horrible thought, but also better, if I could believe many of the ghastly things humans did came from demons. Unfortunately, I didn’t think so. People could be evil without any help at all.
    Chance sounded thoughtful. “Is that because they sense a sympathetic hunger in the host or because the demon drives the person to it?”
    A shrug. “That I do not know.”
    This frank discussion of flesh-feasting demons and cannibal killers in a scary cave with a dead thing at my feet? Not. Helping. I decided to get us back on track, stepping over the monster and moving farther down the passage.
    â€œBut you’re contracted to make sure I reach Xibalba in one piece.” It was my way of saying
let’s go already
, but without meaning to, my word choice apparently questioned its integrity.
    Its eyes gleamed like onyx. “I will ignore the affront, this one time, but ignorance of our ways does
not
excuse your discourtesy.”
    â€œExplain,” Chance said.
    â€œVery well,” the demon replied. Stiffly. Its movements were jerkier than they had been. Anger? I guessed so. “As we move, I shall.”
    Good going. You pissed off your protection
. Given how I’d needled Kel while he guarded me, it appeared I had a knack for it. We started down the passage, leaving the corpse behind us. It was more than a little creepy that everything that had been in the demon’s head, Greydusk now knew. How powerful did that make it, exactly? Not something I cared to fight, if it could unmake me with a touch.
    â€œI am Imaron,” Greydusk said, like I should know what that meant. At my obvious confusion, it added, “That is my caste.”
    Ah. It had mentioned castes earlier, how I could break the whole social structure of Sheol. That wasn’t on my to-do list.
    â€œWould you tell us about the castes?” Chance was still looking to increase his knowledge base, and he would use everything he gleaned from Greydusk to prepare for whatever we’d face in Xibalba.
    â€œThere is no reason I cannot,” the demon replied. “It is information freely available in the archives.”
    Booke would love the sound of that. He was a friend and a research specialist in the UK. I’d never met him in person, but maybe one day that would change. And if we didn’t get back soon, he’d worry when I missed our weekly chat. Then he might call Chuch and Eva. Maybe I should have e-mailed them, but a message like
Going to play demon bait, back soon
, would only make the situation worse.
    â€œThanks,” Chance said. “Start with your caste?”
    â€œThe Imaron are known as the soul-stealers, but we abide by our contracts. It is death to act otherwise.”
    Soul-stealers. Awesome. But at least they