The Year's Best Horror Stories 2 (1974) edited by Richard Davis

“The agony of a crossroads at midnight”

Readers unfamiliar with The Year's Best Horror Stories 2 may prefer to read these notes only after reading the anthology.

---

      Aurelia Cord turned the book over slowly in her hands. "Where did Claire get this?" 

      "She said she found it in a book store somewhere off Ventura.". 

      The woman shook her head slowly, making the dark red hair sway. "I thought all of these had been destroyed long ago." She looked up at Paul. "Mr. Fielding, as certain people do, your wife has an intense affinity for the supernatural. I sensed it when she first came here. Were she to apply herself, she could very likely function as a medium or become most proficient in one or more forms of ESP. Her interest in the subject was, however, merely superficial. There is nothing wrong with that, you understand. In fact, it is probably better that way for her peace of mind. To devote your life to the practice of the occult calls for many sacrifices. Few women are willing to make them. But my little class is quite harmless. I teach bored housewives a little bit about love philtres, a little bit about charms, and a little of the history of witchcraft. Then they can go home and call their bridge club a coven and really feel that they are doing something, well, 'kinky' was your word. This book, though, is something else again. It con-, tains black knowledge that should never have been made available to people like your wife. It was written and printed by an unspeakably foul man. Fewer than two hundred copies were ever released, and they were hunted down and destroyed by those of my kind who knew the horror they contained. Somehow, this copy survived and your wife found it, probably not coincidentally. She may have been drawn to it." 

      "Then the book is for real," Paul said. 

      "As real as the teeth marks on her flesh. Apparently she followed the instructions given here and summoned this monster into being. That is when it stopped being a kinky game." Aurelia Cord passed a slender hand across her eyes. "What people cannot seem to realize is that there is always a price. Given the proper circumstances, it isn't terribly difficult to summon a demon. But for every demon there is a price. Your wife is paying hers now." 

“The Price of a Demon” by Gary Brandner

---

“Thirst” by Gerald W. Page

            The boy's grandfather stopped eating and looked up at his daughter, the fork poised in mid air above the beans that were his supper. "He ought to know. A boy lives this close to Overhill Mountain ought to know about the things that go on up there.”