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He refuses to obey and vehemently shakes his head. I dip the spoon into the dishes and make Jacques drink some syrup. Then I run to the wall.

They are here indeed. Myriads. They have invaded Grand-rue. All the houses are lit up. Movement behind Cécile’s curtains. Their helmets glowing. Red boots kicking up dust on the road. They’ve set ladders against the balconies and are climbing up. The hour of battle tolls. I can’t back out anymore.

“What’s going on?” André asks me.

“They’re here!”

“Ah!”

He’s trembling, his teeth knocking together.

“I want to get out of here,” Jacques yells.

He frees himself from André’s grip and twists and twitches as if he were possessed.

“It’s the syrup,” André says, frightened.

Jacques suddenly vomits and hits his head against the floor.

“I want to get out of here. I want to get out of here,” he begs.

Red! Black! Gold! Are they going to climb up Cécile’s balcony? Flames rise up several houses away from hers. Immense flames crackling up and falling down in sparks. The cries and screams begin again. Jacques is still writhing at my feet, hitting his head against the floor. I see Marcia, Cécile’s maid, come out. She runs to the side street and then throws herself to the ground and crawls. Is she going to crawl to my house with a note from Cécile? I just lost sight of her. Cécile is calling me to her rescue! That must be it.

I’m waiting, all my senses wide awake. Dawn has drunk up the night in one gulp and the sun is pointing its head, very slowly, very discreetly, as it turns its eyes toward the burning house. The devils are scurrying back down the ladders, fleeing at the sight of it now. Ah! Ah! Ah!

“They’re backing off! They’re backing off!”

Cowering Jacques suddenly goes slack.

“I feel sick,” he says in a weak voice.

“It’s the syrup,” André repeats.

“Let’s give him a sip of damn”

We lift his head and pour some clairin in his mouth.

“I’m feeling better,” he says.

I return to the wall. The trees are standing again. The lake with the corpse swimming in it has disappeared. All that’s left is a little smoke coming from the house next to Cécile’s.

“What are they doing?” André asks me.

“Who?”

“The devils.”

“They’ve disappeared. Everything is calm. Too calm even. They went to dig themselves in somewhere but they’ll be back, that’s for sure. Their attack is always unexpected.”

“We’re going to stay locked up?” Jacques asks.

“We have no choice. The streets are deserted. Listen to how quiet it is! … In any case, last night I discovered their weakness: they are afraid of the sun. The execution in broad daylight was just a ruse. They will only attack us at night.”

“I always knew it,” André says. “My mother used to say devils only leave hell at night.”

We hear a knock at the door, startling all three of us at the same time.

“God almighty God almighty God!” a voice thunders, “are you going to open this door or not?”

“It’s Simon,” Jacques exclaims.

We pull away the barricade and Simon enters.

“Hell and damnation!” he yells. “What were you waiting for to open the door, you bloody bastards?”

He slaps us heartily on the back, practically toppling us over. Tall and bearded, he fills up the entire room.

“So, you’ve locked yourselves up to drink without me? You abandoned your buddy Simon in the claws of his black vampire woman?”

He hugs us and helps put back the barricade. He gets tangled up in the furniture like a disjointed marionette.

“All right, wise guys! Where’s the bottle?”

“You’ve managed to make it here in one piece?” Jacques asks.

“It took some doing my friend, let me tell you. I basically ran here from home.”

“Shh!” André motions cautiously.

“You’re right. They’ll track us down. Bugger me!”

He grabs the bottle again and drinks.

“Jungle-juice,” he says, “but it lights a fire in your ass.”

Jacques wrings his hands and plugs his ears.

“Shh!” I whisper. “He’s just had an episode. We need to take it easy with him.”

He looks at Jacques and says:

“Son, you look as sick as a dog. You got to eat, I’ve said so before.”

“We got no grub.”

“You’re imitating Simon,”