“Incoming,” the Devil whispered.

I looked up, spotting two women headed toward us—incredibly gorgeous women like Eve, who had stashed her wings when we’d come to the human world, magically folding them into her body.

“Are they Fae?” I asked.

“They are.” Eve’s voice had a dark timbre. “Vivia and Elona. I never liked them.”

They entered the protected graveyard in the same way the seer and the sorcerer had, using identical gestures. They were nearly invisible on the other side, but I caught sight of them sweep on their cloaks.

“It looks like someone from every guild is here,” the Devil said. “Almost.”

“Is it a council thing?” I asked.

“No. None of them are high ranking,” Quinn said. “I wonder how many more are coming.”

“It’s close to midnight.” I frowned. “Maybe not many more will show.”

“It’s a small church,” the Devil said. “I’m not sure all of us will be able to sneak in unnoticed.”

“You and I will go.” I didn’t mind risking him as much as my new friends…right? The idea made me uncomfortable, but there was no disputing the value of his abilities. And somehow, I knew he wouldn’t let me go in there without him. I looked at Quinn, Eve, and Mac, who were scowling at me. “You guys can be backup if a fight starts.”

“How will we know if a fight starts?” Mac said.

“I’ll call you.” If I had time.

“Bad idea.” Mac shook her head and yanked off the necklace she wore, handing it to me. “Take my comms charm. When it gets dicey in there, tap it and call us. It’s connected to Quinn’s and Eve’s charms, so we’ll hear you.”

“I can call my security force as backup as well,” the Devil said.

“Okay. We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be, then.” I studied the street around us. “Let’s slip into the graveyard and try to ambush the next people to arrive. We can use their cloaks to sneak in.”

The Devil nodded. I gave my friends a goodbye look, then hurried after him toward the graveyard. When we reached the magical barrier, I could feel it prickle against my skin.

“Do you remember the symbol?” the Devil asked.

“I do.” Raising my hand, I mimicked the circular gesture that I’d seen people make. The magic in the air changed slightly, and I held my breath as I stepped through the barrier. At first, it resisted. I had to force my foot through air that felt like jelly, but finally, I was inside the protected space.

The Devil entered with seeming ease and pointed to a massive headstone. “Let’s hide there. We’ll be covered and have a view of the church.”

Together, we knelt behind the gravestone. The Devil had changed into the same simple black tactical wear that his security force wore, and somehow, he was even more handsome in casual clothing. My shoulder pressed against his thin jumper, and it was impossible not to feel the heat of his skin. Every inch of me was impossibly aware of him.

He was so still that I couldn’t help but wonder if he was just as focused on me. I stole a look at him, and tension fizzed in the air between us. It took everything I had to direct my attention toward the path.

A third pair of people approached, though it was hard to make out their forms through the magical barrier. Fortunately, the barrier worked in both directions, blurring the figures within and without.

A moment later, they’d crossed through the barrier, and I got a good look at them. They were a man and a woman, each with average features but of similar height to the Devil and me, respectively.

They stopped and withdrew two red cloaks from their bags. I was bracing myself to lunge from our hiding space when the Devil moved. He was beside them in a blur and smashed their heads together.

They dropped to the ground, unconscious, and he dragged them by their feet to our hiding space.

I gaped at him. “Holy crap, you’re fast.”

His gaze flicked up to me, and something darkened in his eyes. “Being a monster has its benefits.”

Like super speed and super strength. But it was his use of the word monster that caught my ear. There was an edge to it that I didn’t understand. Not that I had time to be mulling over such things.

The Devil quickly bound the two figures with their belts and shoelaces, then tore strips from their shirts and gagged them. Last, he raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into his comms charm. “Rafe? Cleanup in the graveyard, two bodies. We’ll put them in the cells before turning them over to the guild.”

“Cells?” I grabbed one of the cloaks and tugged it on.

“Another perk of being a monster.”

He owned cells.

I pushed the thought aside. The tall, dark figure of Rafe appeared a moment later, along with his partner, both moving with leonine grace. As the Devil put on his red cloak, they disappeared with the two bodies.

His face was shadowed as he met my gaze. “Ready to wing it?”

“Ready.” My heart raced.

Together, we approached the main door of the church. It was nearly midnight now, and anxiety flooded my veins. The massive wooden doors gave way with smooth ease beneath our touch, and we stepped inside the church. It echoed with a silence that seemed to scream through the space.

I took it all in as quickly as I could, not wanting to hesitate too long. Hesitation might reveal that I had no idea what I was doing.

That I wasn’t one of them.

Unfortunately, the main doors led directly into the circular, domed space—right where everyone else was standing. Nearly three dozen cloaked figures stood around the perimeter of the room, staring silently at the empty altar in the middle.

There were so many.

Fear pierced me, and I nearly clutched the Devil’s hand for support. I didn’t, of course. This was not the place for hand-holding, no matter how much I wanted to cling to him for safety. No matter what, I couldn’t break character and give us away.

I couldn’t find the victim amongst the crowd, and no one stood out as the leader. Everyone was identical in their red cloaks, hidden by their cowardice and evil.

I was deeply grateful Beatrix hadn’t seen any of this. We’d found her body intact, and she hadn’t suffered long.

I kept my head tilted down as I walked alongside the Devil. If everyone was meant to stand equidistant, that meant that there were two spaces empty across the room. We were possibly the last to arrive.

Together, we strode toward the empty spaces in the lineup. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as we walked, and I prayed that no one was watching too closely. The cloaks covered our faces, but if someone looked from the right angle, they might penetrate our disguises.

Once we were in place, I surreptitiously looked around. It was nearly impossible to make out anyone’s features, and no one looked like the leader. Was the necromancer with the victim now?

Would he bring her out?

The ground began to vibrate, and I stiffened.

Magical signatures filled the air, sparking through the space. There were all sorts of scents and sounds, tastes and feelings. Most of them were bad—the smell of burning rubber, the taste of rotten fruit, the smell of sewage. It felt prickly and evil, like a million ants crawling along my skin.

But it was the smell of death that made my skin grow cold.

The necromancer was coming.

19

Carrow

Temple Church vibrated with power. All around, people raised their hands. Immediately, I mimicked the gesture. The magic flared even stronger, and I realized that these people were feeding their power into the air.

I shared the briefest glance with the Devil, and he shook his head faintly.

Did he mean that I shouldn’t try to mimic what they were doing? I wasn’t even sure if I could push my magic into the air. And if I did, would they be able to sense that I wasn’t the person I was supposed to be?

A low chant began, each person in the room humming notes that made the hair raise on my arms. Magic surged toward the altar, swirling around the great stone platform. Their voices rolled like thunder, vibrating in my chest.

The air shimmered, and a woman appeared, lying still on the dais. She appeared unconscious—please don’t be dead—and her hands and legs were bound. Next to her, a man’s form fizzled into existence.

Unlike the others’ cloaks, his was black. The magic rolling off him made the other participants seem almost nice in comparison.

The necromancer.

Rage seethed through me at the sight of him. He was the real reason Beatrix had been murdered. The reason this other poor woman was on the slab. He raised his hands and began to chant in a rumbling voice. His magic rolled over me, and my stomach pitched. I felt like I was suddenly swimming in acid.

How the hell were we going to fight all these people? We were drastically outnumbered.

But that woman…

I couldn’t look away from her.

She didn’t stand a chance unless we intervened, and it was only going to get more difficult as time went on.

I drew an unsteady breath, trying to brace myself, and murmured to the Devil, “We need to attack. Now.”

Quick as a snake, he raised his wrist to his lips and whispered a command. I caught the word now. The shifters were coming. I pressed my hand to my comms charm and repeated the word, alerting my friends.

The Devil attacked without warning. He slammed his fist into the stone slabs that made up the floor, sending a reverberation of power through the tiles. Somehow, it avoided me, but every other person in the room lost their balance and collapsed to the ground.

Only the necromancer remained standing, and his chants grew louder.

His followers scrambled to right themselves, but the Devil was in motion. He charged the nearest one, landing a devastating punch that slammed the cloaked figure against the wall. His speed was incredible, and he was already moving to the next.

I plunged my hand into the bag at my side, drawing out a potion bomb. I had no idea which one it was, but they were all designed for this kind of fight. I hurled the glass orb at the necromancer. It flew through the air, smashed into an unseen barrier, and disintegrated.