Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for battle with the demon. And now he waited... "Aren't you scared?" a voice asked, and Quiggly recognized it as his own, since he was technically talking to himself. "Nope," he said aloud, but the voice in his head replied, "Why not?" That wasn't a smart question to ask yourself, Quiggly answered internally. That's why you're here, isn't it? Quiggly froze. That question was a stupid question to be asked by him, the only one here, in the presence of the only other thing in this world. A black figure stepped into the dark, and Quiggly was suddenly aware that this demon was a lot taller than he was. "Hello there," the demon said. "I am a vampire, and it is I whom you met last night. I am not a friend, but in my fashion I am a good man. "Well now, I know you, if the voice is not a lie," the demon began, his voice even-tempered, but there was no doubt he was not happy to see Quiggly. "So. You are a wizard? A mage? A wizard of some kind, yes?" "Sort of," Quiggly said, not wanting to tell the demon who he was in case it wasn't a lie. "I thought so," said the demon. "So do you know anything about my plight?" "What plight?" Quiggly asked, but the demon cut him off. "I was bitten by a mosquito and am cursed to rise in the spring. It cannot last for more than a few years, and I have no cure, but since you know about magic, I am hoping you might know something that can help me." "I don't know about all of that, but I do know something," Quiggly said, wishing he didn't know anything about this subject. "It is bad for a man to think only of himself. There's more to you than a curse, and if you think only of your self, you will only find more curses. Always be thinking of others and you will find yourself and be free of the curse." That's a quote, and I found it in a book of wisdom passed down from a long line of wise men, Quiggly thought, and then realized he couldn't say that, as it would be a lie. "You can't trust yourself because of the curse?" the demon said. "I am cursed? What sort of curse?" "The curse of wishing to be left alone," Quiggly said. "The curse of forgetting about yourself." "The curse of forgetting?" the demon said. "But that is the curse of those who have only read a few books, those who know nothing about nature and its laws." "If your hand is too big to pick a door lock, then it's time to turn to others for help," Quiggly said. "I don't understand," said the demon. "I wouldn't want to forget about myself. It would be terrible if I forgot who I am and ended up wandering alone in the dark." Quiggly, still standing at the entrance of the alley, felt a shiver go through him. He was getting more and more nervous. "How do I get rid of the curse?" the demon asked. "I do not know," Quiggly said, almost wishing he did. "Then I won't find any help from you," the demon said. "Wait!" Quiggly said. "The curse will end. A curse can never last. There is only one way to break a curse, and that is the way of a third party. There are no second, third or fourth parties; the first is always the last. You are at the beginning of the curse, so if you work your way to the end of it, the curse will end." "I do not understand," said the demon. "Would you explain?" "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," Quiggly said. "Or a head for a head. This is what all curses lack: a sense of humor. The only way you can escape this curse is to pass it on to someone else." "I'm confused. What does a head for a head have to do with anything?" "My head," said Quiggly. "Give me your head, and I'll break the curse." Quiggly's mind went to every curse he knew. Had the demon been infected with a spell, as his head was still standing? Quiggly decided to make it up as he went along. "If you can find a spell, you could release it from his head, and he would be cured," Quiggly said. "A spell for a spell," said the demon. "How does this work?" "What do you have against him?" Quiggly asked. "He's a nuisance," said the demon. "He's gone about giving me curses before, but this time it will be much worse. I'll have to watch him." "Give him a curse," said Quiggly. "A good curse to break the curse." "Oh, the perfect solution," said the demon. Quiggly hesitated. There was no question he was a good person, and he knew he was a good person, but was it proper for him to do this? This had been a good man before the curse, and yet he was no longer a good man. "I can't be a god," the demon said, "or a demon." "How about a demon, then?" Quiggly asked. "It will have to be a powerful curse. You have to break the curse, and you have to have a bigger curse." "And it will be perfect," the demon said. "Let's try to find one," the demon said. "We shall have to speak to a higher being." The three men looked into each other's eyes, each thinking that what he had thought was the right thing to do was the right thing, but also realizing that he would do it. The demon raised his hand to strike the wizard, and Quiggly, realizing this was as much chance as he'd get to not get attacked, ducked into the shadows. The demon missed Quiggly as he moved quickly through the shadows, thinking Quiggly was still there, so he didn't see the third figure emerging from the darkness. When the demon turned around, he met the demon's sword. "Hey!" shouted the demon, surprised. "What are you doing there?" The man who had followed Quiggly to the alley stepped out of the shadows and placed a foot of Quiggly's severed head on the ground. "What the...?" the demon said, as Quiggly's severed head spoke in his general direction. "You have tried to break the curse, and found only more curses," Quiggly said. "You were doomed from the start, but you still turned to him, and turned to each other. And now, your curse will be broken. You'll die an honorable man, just like the other." The demon dropped his sword, and his hands came up to his face. He fell down to the ground and wept bitterly. Quiggly, happy he had been able to help the demon, returned to his body. "Your curse," he said to the demon. "He tried to find it," said the demon. "He was good and kind. I wanted to help. He told me how to stop the curse, but the curse was already in me. He knew what to do, but he also knew how to break it. His curse was one I didn't break and yet he was good and so did good. What a wonderful man." Quiggly was happy he had helped the demon, and sad at the same time. But that's what a curse does, he thought. It's not always bad. "That's great," Quiggly said to the demon. "That's great." "What a curse," said Quiggly to himself. "The curse of looking to him, the curse of breaking curses." "What are you doing, then?" asked the demon. "I don't know," said Quiggly. "But I like that you can talk. That you're cursed, not a man made of stone or a cat or a book or a mirror." "I have a name," said the demon. "I know," Quiggly said, "but I never knew yours." "The name is Kry," said the demon. "Now if you please, I'd like to get out of the street and to my front door. It has been a long time since I have been on my own in the street." Quiggly nodded, and he turned to see his body lying in the street. Quiggly lifted his leg off the body, and he looked at his shoe. "I want to break that curse too," he said to his body, and walked away. * * * "You didn't have