I peeled off some bills. “You clearly know that I am magical in nature.” I said the last out of the side of my mouth. Her eyes darted deeper into the restaurant, then to the door Darius had used to make his exit. “I’m not here on vampire business. Not even remotely. He just doesn’t take a hint, like I told you earlier. But I am in town on business. You haven’t heard of anything weird going on in this town, have you? Anything that doesn’t seem right?”

Her eyes hardened and her jaw set. That was the first sign that she didn’t want to get a narc sign hung around her neck.

Which meant she knew something, just like the mermaid.

I half lifted my hands and took a step back, quickly turning the gesture into playing with my ponytail so the patrons in the restaurant didn’t read anything into it. “I totally get you not wanting to stick your neck out, but I’m not here to bring trouble to anyone who doesn’t deserve it. I’m just helping your town out, that’s all. I have no affiliations here.”

“The Magical Law Enforcement office has been asking about mages for months. They haven’t found squat.”

“Clearly they are idiots.”

“You an idiot, too?”

“So far, yes, I am. Here’s the thing—”

“No, let me give you the thing. The Mages’ Guild has a big presence here, and despite the MLE office trying to keep their investigation quiet, the guild has caught wind of it. They like to deal with problems concerning mages themselves. They don’t like outsiders in their affairs. So their response was to lean on the MLE office so the office would clam up.” She met and held my eyes. “There’s a reason it worked.”

“And has the guild sent someone to check into it?”

“Not as far as I know. But it doesn’t matter when, or if, they ever get to it. When the guild says something is off-limits, it’s off-limits or people get hurt. Do you get what I’m saying? Something about whatever is happening stinks, and it’s not a stench I want coming near me.”

“I know exactly what you’re saying, but here’s the thing. Scare tactics don’t work on me. So you just waft that stench in my direction. If those mages want to see who really sits at the top of the power pyramid, they are free to get in my way. My friends and I have been through types like them before, and we don’t mind charging through them again.”

Adrenaline pumped fire through my veins. I tried to calm down, but an issued challenge, even an indirect one, always fired me up. I continued, “In the meantime, I need to find the moron who’s skinning people and harnessing their energy to call demons. Calling demons is a no-no where I’m from. I mean, so is the skinning, but—” I shook my head at my slip-up and charged on. “I need to bring him in, and by bring him in, I really mean battle him and accidentally kill him, because that’s how it always seems to go down. So can you help me if I promise your name will never come up? Which is an assurance I can make, because I don’t even know your name—”

“Lily.”

“Oh. As in, the owner of Lily’s, which serves the best breakfast ever?” She nodded. “That’s okay, I’ll forget your name as soon as I leave. Names never stick. But I need your help. Please. I usually wouldn’t resort to begging, but if I don’t wrap this up and get out of town quickly, I’ll have to fulfill a promise to a shifter—one that concerns a vampire—and I don’t want to deal with either of those magical species any more than need be. Which up until two months ago was not at all. You can see my predicament.”

She looked at me for a moment, clearly indecisive. “Satisfy my curiosity on the deal and I’ll tell you what I know.”

Chapter Sixteen

Agnon once again forced the lesser demon back down below, taking the magical summons for itself. It materialized in the same place as before, within a blood-spattered chalk circle. The same black-robed humans encircled it, trusting their magic to contain Agnon.

“What news?” the being asked, hearing the echoes of their thoughts and picking up nothing of note.

“She is in town,” the human leader said. “A vampire shadows her. A powerful elder.”

“The vampire is nothing. Has the girl shown her power?”

“No. She’s had no reason to. She met with the human detective and checked out one of our dumping sites. They found nothing, of course. She is asking around, trying to find something to point her in our direction. I have advised my associates at the guild to allow her to continue investigating until you say otherwise.”

Anger simmered within the being, but it held its impatience in check. It still needed these ridiculous humans. They needed to run interference until the being had the answer it sought about the heir. It couldn’t risk being banished from this world until then. A knowledgeable mage could make it nearly impossible for Agnon to come back on its own, which would result in its superiors stripping away its boons. If that came to pass, it would never rise in ranking. That was unacceptable.

It was time for Agnon to take a more active role. It needed the humans, but it could no longer solely rely on them.

It stepped forward until its webbed toes were barely touching the magical wall rising up from the drawn circle. A spicy blend of magic burned its leathery skin, more intricate than Agnon had expected. A level-four demon would assuredly be trapped by such a setup, forced to do its master’s bidding. What a disgraceful fate.

The being pushed forward slowly, pierced with the artful mix of spells. Three, he counted, adding security to a fundamental circle. Fire licked at the being’s power, threatening to tear the fabric of its essence. Bits of itself unraveled, tugging at its foundation. The mages backed away with wide eyes.

The being would need to take one of their bodies after it was through. Breaking through the circle would take too much energy for it to then create a form and exist on its own. Luckily, the one Agnon had identified as the most expendable of the group wasn’t running. Stupid human.

Fire filled the cracks within its being as it kept moving through the wall. Its power throbbed like a cold, deadened thing. Energy drained from its body.

“No,” the lead mage whispered. He dug into a bag at his side and extracted a cluster of herbs. The circle of mages began chanting with him, the air swirling with more spells intended to lock Agnon into their magical prison.

The being’s dry laugh rattled from its throat as it kept going, feeling the magic eat away its flesh without cutting it down. The humans should’ve done their homework. If they had, they would’ve known not to use their summons again. At least not until the being had returned to the underworld, where it could no longer intercept the spell.

Fire scored its face. The fabric of its self unraveled a bit more, tearing at its center. A moment later, the pain drifted away. Agnon was through.

“That’s impossible,” the leading mage shrieked, throwing a spell.

The being felt the magic wash over it. It shuddered, shedding the uncomfortable feeling. Its oily black features puffed out for a moment before settling. It twisted its hawklike head, focusing on the expendable human. With a burst of power, the little it had left after breaking the circle, it speared the center of the human and filled the living shell. The human’s screams cut off as the being took control. Fingers wiggled as it learned how the body worked. Feet danced. The head rolled, followed by the shoulders.

The being assumed control faster this time. It hadn’t been very long since Agnon had done it before.

“Jimmy!” one of the mages shouted.

“Jimmy is dead. You may call me Agnon.”

“How did you get through the circle? It was reinforced with the blood of the damned,” the leader sputtered.

“It was reinforced with the blood of a human. The tortured sacrifice gave you more power, but it did not compensate for the type of offering you made. A vampire would be needed for the blood of the damned. A highly powerful magical creature might’ve worked as well. You know little of our kind, insect.” Agnon pulled at its power in order to rise from the ground in a display of might, but the circle had too greatly weakened it. Instead, it bent back the fingers on its right hand, breaking the bones with loud cracks.