The Nightmaretaker The Man Possessed By The Devil Better -

Those who crossed him found themselves freed in ways that felt unnatural. A mother who had been haunted by a dream of her drowned son woke one morning with the image gone and a new, inexplicable certainty that she had left the stove on. A drunk named Rafe stopped seeing the same faceless pursuer and began waking with the urge to sleepwalk to places where he could count coins in phone booths. The trades were asymmetric—freedom from a phantom for a change in waking life—unbalanced but tidy. People learned to appreciate the improvement even if they suspected the bill would come due later.