I got up, shaking. My breath caught, and I stared at the frustrated demon.

"Ceri!" the demon demanded, and the scent of burnt amber rose when it set its foot across the unseen barrier and jerked it back. "Push her at me! Or I'll blacken your soul so badly that your precious god won't let you in no matter how you beg it!"

Ceri moaned, clutching my leg as she huddled, hiding her face, trying to overcome a thousand years of conditioning. My face grew tight from anger. This would have been me. This still could be me. "I won't let it hurt you anymore," I said, one hand dropping to touch her shoulder. "If I can stop it from hurting you, I will."

Her grip on me shook, and I thought she seemed like a beaten child.

"You're my familiar!" the demon shouted, spittle flying from it. "Rachel, come here!"

I shook my head, colder than the snow warranted. "No," I said simply. "I'm not going into the ever-after. You can't make me."

Algaliarept choked in disbelief. "You will!" it thundered, and Ceri clutched my leg tighter. "I own you! You're my bloody familiar. I gave you my aura. Your will is mine!"

"No, it isn't," I said, shaking inside. It was working. God save me, it was working. My eyes warmed, and I realized I was almost crying from relief. It couldn't take me. I might be its familiar, but it didn't have my soul. I could say no.

"You're my familiar!" it raged, and Ceri and I both cried out as it tried to cross into holy ground and yanked itself back again.

"I'm your familiar!" I yelled back, frightened. "And I say no! I said I'd be your familiar and I am, but I'm not going into the ever-after with you, and you can't make me!"

Algaliarept's goat-slitted eyes narrowed. It stepped back, and I stiffened as its anger chilled. "You agreed to be my familiar," it said softly, smoke curling up from its shiny, buckled boots as they edged the circle of blasphemed ground. "Come here now, or I'll call our agreement breached and your soul will be mine by default."