“Is she better than Taye?” I asked curiously as Blair turned in another slow circle.

“We call in Blair when Taye can’t find a trail. She never fails to find someone, even if it takes her weeks.”

“Wow,” I whispered, reassessing the Goth woman.

“Taye thinks she has a touch of clairvoyance, but she’s never—”

He broke off as Blair picked a direction and began to walk. We hurried after her, but Ezra slowed while we were still ten feet back.

“We don’t want to distract her,” he murmured.

“Didn’t the sorcerers escape in a car?” I peered down the street. “Will that be a problem?”

“Not for a telethesian. The only way to obscure a psychic trail is to cross moving water or take to the air. We might have a long walk ahead of us, though, depending on how far they drove.”

We traipsed along for a block, passing graffitied fences and concrete walls, before I spoke again.

“Why are the sorcerers kidnapping women and making them look like female demons before killing them?”

“Because they’re insane.” His shoulders tautened and a chill grew in the air around him. “Demon worship isn’t a new concept. It exists in the mythic community too, and in any fringe group, you’ll find obsessed, delusional fetishists.”

I tucked my cold, shaky fingers in my pockets. “That’s messed up.”

“Extremely.”

“We need a plan for beating these guys.”

He shrugged. “I think we’ll have to wing it. But Robin”—his stare took on that viper-like intensity again, but this time, I could see concern behind it—“you need to be careful. The one sorcerer was already calling you payashē.”

A shudder quaked through my limbs.

Blair led us off the back streets and into the middle of Clark Drive. The six-lane thoroughfare delineated Strathcona’s commercial district and the residential neighborhoods that stretched east until they merged with Vancouver’s suburbs. Even this late, a steady stream of traffic whizzed by.

Ezra caught Blair’s arm and pulled her onto the sidewalk. We waited for a red light to create a break in traffic, then accompanied Blair into the middle of the road. She turned in several circles before we pulled her back to the safety of the sidewalk.

We retraced our steps three times before Blair chose a direction, but we couldn’t let her walk in the middle of the road. We headed up the sidewalk, and whenever there was a lull in traffic, she returned to the pavement to check for the sorcerers’ trail.

It was slow going. We passed dingy businesses and a disreputable grocery mart before Blair led us into an alley. It sloped steeply up the side of a hill, and I puffed as we followed the pale psychic. She trekked along the cracked pavement, then slowed. Clutching the broken armband, she rotated on the spot and came to a halt, facing a building.

The small structure, shingles peeling off its roof, had once been a detached single-car garage. Someone had converted it, replacing the overhead door with a flimsy steel wall and a door. The back of the grocery store and neighboring trees shadowed the garage on both sides.

Blair minced to the door and touched her fingers to it. Shivering, she stepped back and gestured to Ezra.

He took her place, listened for a moment, then tried the handle. When it didn’t turn, he shifted back and unleashed a powerful front kick. The jamb splintered and the door swung inward, revealing a dark interior.

Apprehension tightened my chest. Pulling out my phone, I activated flashlight mode and followed Ezra inside.

Tangled blankets covered a futon bed, and a flimsy cot had been set up beside it. A rickety table sat against the opposite wall, three folding chairs arranged around it, and a black trash can, the kind seen on every curb on garbage day, overflowed with fast-food bags. A plastic curtain with yellow and white stripes hid the remaining corner.

Ezra pulled the curtain aside, revealing a toilet and a showerhead, the cracked concrete floor around the drain stained white. There wasn’t even a sink.

Blair waited in the doorway as Ezra and I scoured the dingy apartment, but though the sorcerers might be sleeping here, the only personal belonging we found was a duffle bag stuffed with t-shirts, jeans, and boxer shorts. Ezra dumped it onto the futon bed and we sorted through each garment.

“Nothing,” I muttered. “How could there be nothing?”

Ezra threw a pair of jeans on the mattress, the pockets turned out. “They’ve been kidnapping and murdering women for years. They know how to operate.”

I glanced at the garbage can, less than eager to look through their trash, then whispered to the mage, “Maybe a better sense of smell could find something.”

His gaze flicked to Blair. “You and I can come back later.”

“Or you can take Blair around the neighborhood to see if the sorcerers have a second hideout nearby, and I’ll catch up to you.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“There’s no one here,” I insisted, “and I don’t want to waste time. They could already be scoping out their next victim.”

“I doubt that.” He pinned me with a hard stare. “They’ve already chosen their next victim.”

Gooseflesh ran over my skin.

“Blair.” He turned to her. “Were the sorcerers here last night?”

She nodded and held up three fingers.

“Three of them? And they left together?”

Another nod.

“Can you follow their most recent trail?”

She pointed confidently toward the alley.

He leaned toward me. “I’ll take Blair and follow their trail. You give this place one more pass, then take a cab back to the guild. I’ll meet you there when Blair is done. Don’t hang around here. Got it?”

“Got it. And you don’t try to take those three on by yourself,” I warned.

A faint smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Be careful.”

“You too.”

He joined Blair at the door, asking her in a gentle tone if she was doing okay. She patted his arm reassuringly as they exited the small garage, and only as Ezra’s voice trailed away outside did I realize Blair hadn’t spoken a single word.

I waited two full minutes before placing a hand on my chest. Okay, Zylas.

With a flare of crimson, he appeared beside me. His nose wrinkled, upper lip curling in a disgusted sneer.