Come Midnight Read Online Free PDF Page B

too stunned to ascribe a name to it.
    Appleby seemed to rise from his chair. It took Adam a second to realize he wasn't really rising. He was ... growing. Growing and—blood and ashes! With a hoarse cry, Adam leapt from his chair, knocking it over. Appleby was—
    Changing. All at once, a creature of gargantuan proportions filled the space where his visitor had sat. Reaching to the very top of the high ceiling, dwarfing everything in the chamber. The breath left Adam's lungs. He wanted to cry out, but couldn't. The very blood seemed to freeze in his veins. He gaped, mindless with dread, at the thing that hovered over him in Appleby's place.
    "Now do you believe, mortal?" The inflection was the dandy's, but with voice greatly enhanced ... embellished ten times over. Booming. Echoing, as if from a vast chamber. Adam jammed his hands over his ears, trying to shut it out.
    The beast moved. A great pair of appendages spread outward, as if it were trying to measure the breadth of the chamber with those vast, membranous wings. Its hands were—not hands! Scaled claws, with razor-sharp talons!
    Adam felt his own weight upon him ... a mountain of dread, and he dropped to his knees under it. His gaze fell on the creature's feet. Which were not feet at all, but cloven hooves. Blood and ashes! All the stories ... the legends and myths—they were all true!
    "Mortal!" The creature—fiend, whatever it was— seemed suddenly impatient. As if it were done toying with him. It loomed closer ... as if it would rather rend him to pieces on the spot.
    Adam whipped his gaze to the bed. Andrew! He must not let it near his son! He staggered to his feet, just as the creature flapped those enormous wings. A howling wind struck him in the face.
    "Your answer, mortal—now!"
    Adam flung himself against the bed, never taking his eyes off the spectacle. "Yes, yes! Anything—only, take it away! Away, I say!"
    There was a pleased echo in the terrible laughter that boomed in his ears before it faded. Just as the monster itself disappeared. Yet an unmistakable scent fingered in the air; he could identify it now: brimstone.
    And then it was gone. The lamps in the room resumed burning. Everything seemed back to normal. Even Appleby, sitting in the chair, calmly munching his apple.
    "I do really dislike coming it so dramatic, old boy," the dandy said around a bite of the fruit. "But the time's glowing short, and I've other calls to make. Are you ready to deal?"
    Casting a fleeting glance at the bed, Adam picked up his chair and lowered himself into it on shaking limbs. He reached for the brandy, poured an entire snifter of the liquid with hands that were none too steady. It wasn't until he'd downed it that he met the visitor's gaze. "I'll deal," he said tersely.
    "Excellent!" The apple vanished from Appleby's hand. In its place appeared a sheet of foolscap, which he thrust at his host. "Now, if you'll just sign—"
    "What the devil is it?" Adam stared at the paper as if it might attack him. Every nerve in his body was ajangled, his muscles taut as bowstrings.
    "Why, a contract, of course. This is a business arrangement, my friend, and we want no questions regarding what it entails."
    Eyeing him warily, Adam took the paper and began to read. It took him only seconds. He looked up from it with a frown. "This is hardly a proper contract. It's merely the bare bones of what we discussed: my soul in exchange for my son's life. What of the details?"
    "Details?" Appleby clearly didn't care for this question. "The simpler, the better, I should think! No chance for misunderstanding, that way."
    But Adam was recalling a name for the devil that Appleby hadn't included among those he'd given earlier: the Father of Lies. No chance for misunderstanding? He wouldn't wager on it. Certainly not if Appleby had his way. And any misunderstanding would be at the human's expense! He must be awake upon every suit.
    "Afraid I'll need to know more," he told the dandy. "How many years,