I choked back a laugh as the sorcerer clenched his teeth.

Robin turned to Aaron. “Fire can burn legally contracted demons, but at least one cult demon is so loosely contracted that he can wield his magic. Fire could make him stronger.”

“Stronger?” Aaron repeated blankly.

“Demons can convert heat into magic. To burn them, you’d have to apply heat faster than the demon can absorb it.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Alistair can do it, but I’m not sure about regular fire.”

I stared at her. Everyone else was also staring or scanning the pub for the volcanomage in question.

“Cold can only kill a badly injured demon.” Robin tucked her hair behind her ear. “Bleeding them out won’t work very well, either. Their blood is thick and clots quickly. Even deep wounds stop bleeding within a couple minutes.”

“How are we supposed to kill them, then?” Darren snapped.

“Hmm.” Robin thought for a moment. “Vampire saliva?”

Several of us exchanged confused looks.

“If you inject demons with a large dose of vampire saliva,” she added, “they collapse.”

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “How much is a ‘large’ dose?”

“Um. About like … a couple of tablespoons?”

Cameron raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “Where are we supposed to get that much vampire saliva?”

“We can barely find one vampire lately.” Darren shook his head. “Their numbers dropped off a cliff after the December surge.”

“We’ll look into vamp spit,” Aaron said, “but as always with demons, our best bet is taking out the contractors, and that’ll be our focus. Thanks for the tips, Robin.”

She smiled, and as Aaron asked who had experience fighting contractors, I inched through the group to Robin’s side.

“Can we talk?” I whispered.

At her nod, I linked our arms and steered her away from the cluster of combat mythics. Everyone else in the pub had grouped up as well, beginning the early preparations for one of the guild’s most perilous operations ever.

My gaze drifted across them as I passed—the alchemists, Sin’s silvery purple hair among them, had joined Ramsey, Lyndon, and Weldon, who were all well-versed in artifacts. Other familiar faces filled the room, and tightness spread through my chest. Was it asking too much to pit this guild of misfits against the Court of the Red Queen?

“Tori?”

I realized I was just standing there with my arm hooked through Robin’s. Refocusing, I veered into a dim, quiet corner and released her arm. “Any updates?”

She didn’t have to ask what I was talking about. “Not yet. We’re working on it.”

An entire week had passed since we’d given her the cult grimoire so she could find a way to save Ezra. How long did it take to read a tome of complex spells written in a dead language?

Okay, maybe my expectations weren’t entirely fair.

“It isn’t a simple process,” she added in a whisper. “I know you’re impatient, Tori, but as far as I can tell, unmaking a demon mage has never been done before.”

“I get that.” I checked once more that no one was anywhere near close enough to overhear us. “It’s just that Ezra doesn’t have much time left.”

Though he seemed stable enough, his new cooperation with Eterran had me worried. We were gambling everything on the cult grimoire, and if Robin couldn’t find answers in time, all our struggles would be for nothing. Our only other option was the demonic amulet, but having witnessed the horrific death of one demon mage while under its influence, none of us were willing to experiment with its mysterious powers.

“We found the demon mage ritual in the grimoire.” Robin fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “It’s a complex set of spells. We thought the host body acted like an infernus, but looking at the rituals, it seems more like a summoning circle. Once a demon is inside a summoning circle, the only way to get him out is to destroy the circle or move him while he’s inside an infernus.”

“So … what? Ezra needs to swallow an infernus?”

Her eyes popped at the suggestion. “Uh, no. The infernus would need to breach Ezra’s essence, not just his body.”

“His soul,” I muttered. “That ex-summoner we talked to said some people believe the demon is inside the human’s soul.”

She nodded. “And that’s the problem. But there must be some way … I’ll keep trying, and Zylas will help too.”

I wanted to ask a thousand more questions—like how her demon was helping and why she was in an illegal contract with him—but this wasn’t the time or place for that discussion.

She adjusted the chain around her neck, the infernus hidden under her sweater. “I don’t know what it will look like yet, but saving Ezra will involve some sort of ritual. We’ll need a private location where we can set up a Demonica circle. Can you find one for us?”

I straightened my spine. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“If it has an existing circle, that would save us some time.”

“Leave it to me.”

With a quick farewell, she hurried off to find Amalia, leaving me alone in the dim corner of the pub with my mind spinning. I couldn’t help with the grimoire, but now I had a job: to secure a secret location to perform the ritual that would unmake a demon mage, and all the better if it included a premade Demonica circle.

If only I had the slightest clue where to start looking.

Chapter Two

Smacking my fist into my palm with determination, I turned around, intending to rejoin Ezra and Aaron at the bar—and walked right into someone. I bounced off and caught myself on the back of a chair. My collision victim recovered with a slightly more graceful bobble.

I blinked at her. “Hey, Sabrina. Where’d you come from?”

“Just over there?” She canted her head toward Felix’s team, smiling wanly.

My spine-tingling diviner radar pinged. Sabrina’s pale blond hair was pinned back in a messy ponytail, and her makeup consisted of eyeliner, mascara, and maybe lip gloss—which, since she usually looked ready for a photoshoot, suggested something was off. Combine that with her pale complexion and the way her eyebrows were scrunched worriedly even as she smiled, and I was instantly concerned.

The last time I’d seen her looking this distraught, she’d snuck into the guild during an unbound-demon lockdown to tell my fortune. Not only had she predicted that Ezra, Aaron, and Kai would leave me—and possibly die—but she’d also predicted that I could change their fates with one crucial decision.

“How are you doing?” she began, her attempt at a conversational tone ruined by the intent way she stared into my face. “Have you talked to Ezra?”

Her question sounded innocuous, but it was a topic I avoided at all costs—i.e., feelings. The last time we’d had a serious chat, she’d warned me to open up to Ezra before it was too late.

“Yeah,” I admitted reluctantly. “I told him I love him. Er … well, I texted him.”

“You texted him?”

“What’s with the scandalized tone? He didn’t seem to mind. And we talked on the phone too.”

“So are you two a couple now?”

“Uh … no. Not … um … it’s complicated. There’s this … uh …” As I trailed off, something about her expression sent a new prickle down my spine. “Sabrina, do you know something?”

Her face paled more than the unhealthy pallor she already had going on. “No! I mean, I—the cards are … never specific, but … sometimes I can see … things,” she finished uncertainly.

What “things” had she “seen,” exactly? I didn’t want to fish for information in case I gave her answers she didn’t have.

“I was thinking … maybe …” She twisted her hands together. “I could do a reading for you?”

She’d just given me a way better reason than usual to say no. I couldn’t have her guessing Ezra’s secrets. “Uh, maybe another time, Sabrina.”

“Oh.” She wilted. “Okay. I understand. I’ll … I’ll get back to my team.”

Guilt poked holes in my gut as she turned away, and I was almost too distracted by my own worries to notice her reach up to her face. I rushed after her and caught her wrist, tugging her toward me.

The tear she’d been about to wipe away ran down her cheek.

“Shit, Sabrina.” I searched her face more closely. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” When I didn’t budge, waiting for a real answer, she squirmed. “It’s just the cards … I know you don’t like fortune-telling, so I’ve been trying to ignore it, but I’ve been having these dreams and I just—but it’s fine! You don’t have to do a reading with me.”

She forced a smile, her brave face weakened by her quivering lips.

Damn it.

I tended to think of magic as something mythics could control—mages and their elemental powers, sorcerers and their carefully constructed spells, alchemists and their purpose-built potions—but I’d seen enough to realize that not all magic was like that. Whatever mysterious force powered Sabrina’s divination magic existed outside her, and she was merely the conduit.

I snugged my arm around her narrow shoulders, pulled her to the far corner of the bar, and guided her to a stool.

“Do your cards have another message for me?” I slid onto the seat beside her. “It’s not your fault, but I hate how it’s always bad news.”

“Whatever is coming will happen anyway, though,” she pointed out. “The cards might help you prepare. That’s what they’re for—to bring understanding so when the challenges reach you, you’re ready for them.”

She was right. The cards weren’t the cause of the trouble. They were an early warning, and I’d be a fool to ignore anything that might help me—and everyone else—survive whatever was coming.