It was several nervous hours before the demons returned. Though he noticed that one of them stayed nearby, probably keeping an eye on him, when the others left.

The swarm that approached now was even larger, and more chaotic. It swirled across the ground to settle in front of him, and one shadow figure was shoved forward, amid a chorus of hisses and clicks and snarls from the rest. It hissed back at them, then turned to Aidan.

“You! Go away! I give up, I will leave you alone, I renounce my curse, live in peace!”

“No,” said Aidan. “You had your chance to leave me be. I can't trust you to not try again. And you've gone after my family. I could never trust you after that. I will only trust you when you're dead.”

The demon hissed at him, and struck at him with tentacles of shadow, flailing in frustration. Aidan dodged them easily, the enraged demon was apparently too incoherent with anger to aim his blows well. Then with a howl of frustration the demon took human form. There was a sudden surge of hissing sounds from the circled demons. Asmodeus turned to them and said something that was probably very rude. Aidan laughed and drew his daggers. The prick of pain in his left palm was familiar by now, and almost comforting. The demons formed a wide circle with Aidan, Asmodeus, and the portal in the center.

For a long time the demon simply dodged, trying to evade and avoid Aidan. “You will tire eventually,” Asmodeus said as Aidan pursued him.

“Perhaps,” said Aidan, “but I am not a human being. It will be days before I tire too much to pursue. Face me. I know the sword you have can hurt me. Use it! You've told me often enough how much better demons are than mortals like me. Surely you're so superior that you can strike me down easily enough.”

Asmodeus snarled at him and suddenly threw a dart of shadow-made-solid. It cut a line of painful fire along the top of Aidan's shoulder as he dodged. He hissed in pain and the demon laughed.

Well, two can play at that game, thought Aidan. Though I may only get the one chance if I miss... So he waited, looking for his opportunity. The demon threw more darts at him, and he managed to dodge most of them, though some hit painfully, passing through him like bullets. He wasn't sure if getting one in something normally vital would be fatal to his undead self, but he wasn't sure he wanted to risk it either. After what seemed like an eternity of dodging and weaving he finally got close enough to be confident of his aim. He hefted the blessed dagger, and shot a mental prayer to any deity that might be looking on. Please let this work!

And then he threw it as hard as he could, aimed directly at the center of the demon's chest. It sank home with an audible thunk and Asmodeus screamed, a horrible screeching sound. Aidan wasn't sure what to expect. He'd seen the demon explode once, but now it seemed to be dissolving. The human shape dissolved first into shadows, but the shadows themselves were dissolving, the knife embedded in the center of them radiating a soft golden glow that was slowly melting them away. The screech faded as the shadows vanished and then there was silence and the sound of the knife falling to the dirt with a thud.

Aidan stared. It was over? Just like that? How could it possibly be over so easily? But then... Easily! Ha! More than a decade I've been haunted and hounded. Four times we've stood face to face and fought. And only now, finally, is it dead. No, it wasn't over easily at all, but it is over. Over at last.

He walked over and picked up the dagger. The demons nearest him shied back even further, though all were really too far for him to hit. One cautiously crept a few feet closer. “Do you go now? Please go. Please take that horrible thing with you.”

“I'm going,” said Aidan. “Thank you.” He turned and walked to the portal. He sheathed the dagger and stepped through with a relieved sigh. It was over!

“Aidan!” Flame Song flung herself at him as he emerged from the portal in Jordanis's workroom. He hugged her back, holding her tightly against him. “Did you... is he...?”

“Yes. He's dead. Finally. We can have peace at last,” he said, and hugged her again. She hugged him back, then turned and hugged Jordanis too.

“Thank you!”

The somewhat startled were-jackal hugged her back. “It was my pleasure, really.”

Aidan chuckled, and took Flame's hand once she had released Jordanis. He squeezed gently, and she squeezed back. “And now, finally, we can go home.”