Wow, I had another happy fluff chapter all written, and suddenly Ash kicked me and told me what was really on his mind. And that he's rather tired of being pushed around...

In Which Ash Gives Evie a Cruel Ultimatum

"All right, Ash, what gives?" I asked finally, having had it with his sniping at me. "You've been pissed off with me all day. What'd I do this time?"

Ash didn't answer, just scowled and shook his head. I hadn't seen him so moody before.

"I'm not psychic, you know," I said. "I'm a big girl, too. Out with it. This silent treatment thing is beneath you. You're not twelve."

Ash vanished abruptly, and I looked at Solange in alarm. She shrugged. "He's upset about something, really upset. His thoughts are all jagged and angry. And desperate. But that's all I can tell you."

I felt my brows furrow, and realized I was not just envious of the bond Solange had with Ash, but a little jealous. I blinked and shook my head to clear it, not believing I would ever envy a familiar any aspect of their grim existence. It would make dealing with Ash a hell of a lot easier if I knew what was going on in his head. But Solange couldn't escape the knowledge- she had to live with it all the time. She had his aura all over her. That would certainly have to be even more annoying than just not knowing.

"If he feels trapped by his situation, it's his own damned fault," I muttered angrily. "He could've bargained with me and this would all go away."

Solange looked at me in concern. "But it wouldn't," she said sadly. "He's right about one thing. If you give him his status back and leave his side, you'll be hunted and chased all over creation until someone else catches you and keeps you. You know how desperate they all are."

"I feel like a fucking brood mare," I growled. "I'm so fucking tempted to carve out my ovaries and serve them to Newt on a fucking platter with some fava beans. Maybe then they'd all leave me the hell alone. What can they be thinking, anyway? Is this any kind of place to raise a new generation of demons?"

Not that I was even considering the idea for a moment. The thought of raising a demon child was horrifying enough without contemplating doing it here in the Ever After. Good grief. The thought of raising any child was pretty nerve-wracking for a screw-up like me to begin with, as I'd have to do it as a single mom. Nope.

Solange winced. "No, but they might not…well, they probably won't give you a choice," she said gently. "They're not big on female autonomy here, if you haven't noticed."

I laughed without humor. "Uh, yeah. I'd noticed. Though I think the rules might be a little different for me, based on what Ash told me. Apparently I can be pretty fucking dangerous when riled up. I mean, I've been here for nearly two weeks now, and I've only been really hurt once." I smiled at the thought. Yeah, it had hurt more than anything I've felt since I was a kid, but now that the pain was over, the memory of the look on Al's face was soooo worth it.

Solange looked skeptical. "It just means they'll have to be more subtle about controlling you. Unless we're talking about Newt, here."

"Yeah. Newt scares the crap out of me," I agreed. "Either she forgot about the trial, or she's planning something, but I didn't get the impression at the trial that she was happy about my existence." I paused, shivering a little. "She laughed."

I'd been watching for Newt like a mouse searches the sky for the hawk it knows is there, but just can't see. Ash had dragged me to one of the dull-as-dirt dances, where I'd had a lovely time. If you can call getting indecent proposals left and right, and having a jealous demon attached to my hip picking fights a "lovely time." Newt hadn't been there, thank God, but the rumors about she and myself and the aftermath of our courtroom showdown were flying.

Ash had been in a foul mood ever since, though I couldn't detect anything that I'd done wrong. Not after the thorough grounding in etiquette he and Solange had drilled into me the day before. Nor could I figure out what the point of going had been. If he'd been trying to dampen the curiosity about me, he'd blundered terribly- the interest was higher than ever, if the sheer number of messages that were pouring in were to be believed.

Maybe he was just pissed at me for giving the stuff he'd appropriated from Al back to the smug demon. Al had been wildly, triumphantly inappropriate during his visit, and Ash had tried to zap him twice. But it was done now, and for crying out loud, it wasn't like he had lost more than a few percentage points of his considerable "estate."

Whatever the cause, I felt uneasy having him angry at me. He and Solange were the only allies I had here. I counted Ash as an ally only because my interests where currently his interests, given that if I disappeared suddenly he'd not only lose everything, but would also probably be blamed for it. It was definitely in his best interest to keep me here, and alive. Happy and running around free from his control were not, and perhaps he was getting frustrated about not coming up with a scheme to put me back under his thumb. But demons were nothing if not patient. They were immortal, after all.

Ash reappeared as abruptly as he'd left, throwing yet another sheet of parchment into my lap. It was a brief list of four names. "The demons who keep your friends as familiars," he said shortly.

My heart gave a hopeful thump. "You found them!" My brief elation faded when I saw the barely-contained anger on his face. "What?" I asked again, all of my own irritation flooding back.

"And what am I to do with this information?" he asked, his eyes fixed intently on mine.

"I thought…you were going to buy them for me?" I said, clearly uncertain where he was going with this. He'd given me his price before, and I still hadn't decided if it was worth it.

"And what will you give me if I do this for you?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

"You named your price," I started, but he cut me off.

"It just went up," he snapped.

I just stared at him in astonished confusion. "By how much?" I asked doubtfully. Beside me, Solange was looking a combination of uncomfortable and pissed, feeling his emotions as strongly as if they were her own.

"Your soul," he said. "If you persist in this, it will cost you your soul. You'll give it to me willingly, and I'll do this for you."

I gasped, and Solange said, "No, Evie, don't!"

"Not a chance, Ash!" I replied angrily. "No fucking way. I'm not even considering it."

I couldn't believe it but he actually relaxed a bare fraction. But he was still not happy, not in the least. "If you don't," he said, and the hint of a cruel smile played over his lips, "I will buy them anyway. And I will finish this little obsession, Evie. I'll destroy them."

"Why the hell would you do that?" I demanded, standing to face him. He didn't retreat, and his smile grew with my outrage.

"I told you. To end this quest of yours. You will never free them, Evie. They're already damned. And unless you give me your soul, they'll be lost forever even to the afterlife, mindless and irredeemable."

I thought of Ash's own mindless slaves, forever shackled to the Ever After and animated only by his will, their own souls long since degraded beyond repair. And Ash was saying he'd do this to my friends?

"What the hell, Ash? Where's this coming from, all the sudden?" I asked, angry and confused. "You don't give a damn about them!"

"And why do you? Why do you still care, after all this time- especially given that they betrayed you?"

"Jesus, Ash, we were just kids!" I said. "Who knows what I'd have done, if someone screwed up the summoning like I did? I might have been just as mad. None of us considered the consequences!"

"And you still aren't, Evie! You still give no thought to the consequences of anything you've done. Or continue to do!"

"Yes, I do!" I protested, but Ash shocked the hell out of me when he put a hand to my chest and shoved me back into my seat.

"You don't, and you won't. You let your weaknesses drive you, and it will cost you everything. Why the hell are you even here, anyway? Did you ever stop to consider that? You agreed to stay here- three days a week in the Ever After, with me!- for mere information about your precious friends. The chance to speak to them, to let them punish you for a single mistake years ago. You got yourself tangled in demon affairs the moment you gave in to that stupid kid who wanted to find out about his treacherous grandfather."

I stared at Ash in growing rage and fear, unsure which emotion would come out on top.

"So it's come to this, Evie. You've had almost forty years to get over your guilt. Either you are damned by your mistake long ago, or you aren't. If you are, then turn your soul over to me and be done with it. Else I will destroy them. Either way, it ends here, Evie!"

I was trembling, absolutely shocked at what he was saying, both the choice he was giving me, and the realization that he was right. I'd let my guilt manipulate me into poor choices for years, even as I pretended to be smart about it. "Why?" I demanded anyway, not willing to concede his point. "It's not a fucking weakness, Ash, to be concerned about the lives of kids you kidnapped!"

"They're not kids anymore. They've spent most of their lives here. Even Lethe wouldn't fix them now. They're lost, Evie, and if you can't accept it, I will finish the job."

I fell silent, gritting my teeth as I stared helplessly at Ash. His smile widened as he watched me struggle, enjoying the effect his ultimatum was having on me.

"Plead with me, Evie," he said, and his voice was almost sensual in his confidence. "Beg me to spare them. Or beg me to spare you. Perhaps I'll listen."

"If you kill them, I'll kill you," I said, voice low and furious.

"Mmmm. I'd love to see you try," he said tauntingly. "It's not so bad, losing your soul to me. Just ask Solange," he said.

"Don't do it, Evie," Solange replied stonily.

I felt like I was fucking sixteen again. I was in my circle, and Ash was torturing Greg in front of me. This time he had all of my friends in his grasp, and again, there was nothing I could do. I hadn't given in then, and I wouldn't do it now. Was I hard-hearted? Maybe I had a bit of demon in me, to be so unmoved. It wasn't that I didn't want to save them- obviously I did. But not at the expense of my own soul.

"No. I'm not going to give you the satisfaction, you asshole," I said. "And if I knew how, I'd blow you to kingdom come for this. I won't forget that you did this to me, Ash. Not if I have to wait a hundred years myself. If not sacrificing myself damns my soul in the eyes of anyone, then so be it. But I won't give my soul to you, ever. And if you kill them, I will never, ever forgive you."

"So be it," he said, and with a pop of displaced air, he was gone.