Hollywood Demon (The Collegium Book 6) by Jenny Schwartz

want to talk about?” Mark brought the demon’s focus back to him.
    Clancy inhaled raggedly as the weight of Faust’s attention lifted. Rivera had been totally wrong, but so had Mark. Faust wasn’t some minor demon.
    “Old memories,” Faust said softly. “Do you remember Phoebe?”
    “You took her soul.”
    “I did.” A chair appeared inside the circle with the demon, and Faust sat on it, big and male, legs sprawling. Sprawling but staying within the circle. Was he contained or wasn’t he? “But her soul was so much less than I wanted from Phoebe. If only she hadn’t driven so recklessly. I had such plans.”
    “As I’m sure you still do.” Mark matched Faust’s suave tone with his own sardonic one.
    “And my plan fascinates you, doesn’t it?” The demon smiled at him. “Such earnest endeavors to chronicle my manifestations, to plot and predict. You’ve come so close, and then, you wouldn’t believe your own deductions.”
    Clancy glanced at Mark.
    “It’s a ridiculous idea,” he said.
    Faust laughed. “Which is why the Collegium would never believe you. They’re not alone. My colleagues didn’t think I could pull it off either. But, here I am, on the verge of becoming the premier tourist operator to Earth.”
    Clancy ceased inching toward the cupboard in search of silver. “The what?”
    Mark signaled by a quick shake of his head, that she shut up.
    But Faust smiled. “I shall open a gate for other demons. Demon lords, such as my humble self, are generally the only demons summoned to Earth or powerful enough to remain and move around it freely after we’ve consumed the soul of our summoner.”
    Rivera’s low-voiced chanting rose shrilly.
    Clancy wished she’d shut up. The noise was distracting, and from the lack of effect on Faust, she might as well save her voice. Rivera’s chants and magic weren’t doing anything.
    Faust stood and the chair vanished. “However, many lesser demons want to visit Earth to drink despair and riot in violence. And why shouldn’t they?”
    “Because they don’t belong here,” Mark said.
    “If we’re invited, we belong.” Faust’s teeth lengthened till his incisors resembled a vampire’s—and vampires were meant to be mythical. Perhaps demons were the source of those legends? “And humans will invite us. I have written the lure into the code. Not into the image-capture software. So dull. But where humans are more vulnerable.”
    Clancy’s mind spun over a thousand possibilities.
    “Our vanity,” Mark said flatly.
    “And that is why I adore you.” Faust praised him. “You think like a demon.”
    “God forbid.”
    Faust ignored the heart-felt repudiation. “As humans are manipulating their images, updating their photos to lie about themselves and their lives, they’ll be offered a linked contract. Don’t simply doctor one image. Instead, enhance your entire life. Appear more beautiful. Have your life seem more enviable—”
    “And all you have to do is sign over your soul,” Mark finished.
    “No, no, no. Souls are delightful, but it is bodies I am after. Just a short possession.”
    Clancy’s stomach roiled and she fought not to retch. The demon was diabolically clever. Human flesh could hide a demon’s presence from the Collegium. From Faust’s own boasting, such possession was only achieved by demon lords, but he intended to open the gate to ordinary demons. Humans possessed by demons on holiday…the world would become hell.
    “A simple contract. Three scratches on their left palm.” Faust held up his hand. “Deep enough to scar, and press to the screen.”
    A blood oath.
    Mark shook his head. “It won’t work.”
    “You’re thinking of your great-grandfather’s spell.” Faust flicked a hand and Rivera landed on the floor, almost gently. But then she seemed stuck to it. “Such an annoying man. You’re much more charming, Mark. It’s your lack of magic I appreciate.”
    It was a wicked insult. Clancy flinched, but Mark