“Stabbed through the heart,” another vampire gasped, crouching to examine the body. “I’ve never seen wounds like this.”

“What could have …” Stiffening, the third vampire faced something I couldn’t see.

The crouching vamp shot to his full height, going equally rigid as footsteps much quieter than the others drew closer. A long pause.

“Find the intruders.”

The low, dry voice issued the command without inflection, and the vampires leaped to obey. I held my breath as they spread throughout the room, opening office doors and searching amongst the construction supplies. They didn’t react to my and Zylas’s scents, so I was guessing they were only sensitive to the smell of blood. Good thing neither of us was bleeding.

Zylas, I thought, we need to get out of here.

He scanned the darkness, tense and focused. Holding the bundle of papers against my chest, I looked around for the quickest way out of the crawlspace. Not far to my left, two large, round duct lines descended from a square hole in the floor above us. I crawled closer, mentally calling Zylas to follow me. Beside the ducting, I peered up. Was that an unfinished opening above?

As vampire voices and the clatters of their search filled the room below, I cautiously pulled myself up. Ducting and wires ran through the spacious gap—large enough for Zylas to fit easily. I reached up and found the open edge above.

“Drādah,” he hissed.

“I can fit,” I breathed, feet braced on a beam as I pulled myself up one-handed, holding the folders tightly with my other arm. “The wall up here isn’t finished. I can get onto the next floor.”

“Drādah—”

Adrenaline flowing hot in my veins, I clambered onto the edge and squinted into the room of the floor above. A small office, perhaps? The empty doorway across from me was a black rectangle, too dark to make out anything beyond it.

Zylas, hurry up and …

My thoughts fizzled. My mind went blank.

In the doorway, a shape darker than the shadows had appeared. Larger than any human, armor glinting faintly—and crimson eyes burning like seething magma.

The demon entered the room in a silent prowl. I recognized his powerful build, his sharp face, his curving horns and dark hair, his long tail and huge bat-like wings. The last time I’d seen the demon, he’d choked Amalia and Travis unconscious at Claude’s command.

Moving with deadly silence, he crossed the small room. Perched on the edge with the opening behind me, I couldn’t even recoil.

The demon stopped in front of me and a cold, cruel smile curved his dusky lips. He reached out and my lungs locked with terror. His huge hand closed around the bundle of papers I clutched.

He dragged the papers from my grasp with no effort at all. Satisfaction tinged his smile—then his open palm struck my chest.

I pitched over backward, plunged into the gap, and smashed headfirst through a plastic panel in the ceiling below.

Chapter Seventeen

The concrete floor rushed up to meet my face—and I jarred to a painful stop, the crown of my head inches from cracking open like a dropped melon. As pieces of the broken panel rained down, my infernus hit the floor and bounced away.

Zylas clutched my ankles. He hung upside down out of the ceiling, his knees hooked over the steel grid.

A surprised exclamation. Three vampires, spread throughout the room, had frozen in the midst of their search. Dread cut through me and I slapped my palms against the floor so Zylas could release my legs. I toppled over. He dropped headfirst out of the ceiling, landed on his hands, and flipped onto his feet. I clambered up with far less grace, head throbbing from my impact with the ceiling panel, and scoured the area for my infernus.

Hungry grins spread across the vampires’ faces as they closed in on us.

Zylas grabbed my sleeve, swung me behind him, and curled his fingers. Crimson power swept across his arms and solidified into six-inch talons. The vampires didn’t so much as blink at the sight of his forbidden magic. If anything, their ravenous expressions intensified.

Their dark eyes—black sclera, white pupils, and thin red rings—ran over him. I backed away, pulse drumming in my throat. The vampires prowled closer, surrounding Zylas, and his tail lashed as he sized up his enemies.

He had to kill them quickly. I didn’t know how far the other vampires had wandered in their search for intruders, but considering the noise I’d made falling through the ceiling, they would return soon. Zylas sank lower into his defensive stance.

The first vampire sprang—and his movements were a rushing blur.

Zylas darted aside, scarcely evading the man’s grasping hands. Another vampire jumped onto his back. The demon whirled, his powerful motion throwing the vampire off. He cut open the vamp’s shoulder, but the creature didn’t even stumble. Zylas dove away, and his three opponents moved with him, attacking from every side.

And they were fast. Faster than the pair of vampires Zylas had fought in Claude’s townhouse. So fast they matched the demon’s speed.

He broke free of their ensnaring circle, only to be surrounded again an instant later. Crimson light burst off his hand. A female vampire flew backward and he thrust his talons toward the chest of another one. The vampire grabbed his wrist, halting the attack with the demon’s talons scraping his sternum. Blood drenched his shirt.

Zylas pushed into the vampire, and the vampire pushed back. Zylas slid across the concrete, overpowered, then slashed his other hand out, talons ripping across the vampire’s throat and snapping his neck. The vamp collapsed, but the other two charged him.

A door slammed open. A new vampire sprinted across the room and tackled Zylas from behind. His greaves hit the concrete with an earsplitting bang.

With their numbers returned to three, the vampires piled on him. Red power flared, then exploded off Zylas, throwing the vampires back. He sprang up, hands extended, crimson runes flashing over his arms as he prepared a spell.

A vampire kneeling on the floor caught Zylas’s outstretched wrist. Mouth gaping, the vamp wrenched the demon’s arm down and sank curved fangs into his hand.

Zylas’s magic sputtered out. He whipped around, fist swinging, and smashed his knuckles into the vamp’s face. The vampire lurched back, fangs tearing free. Zylas sprang away—and landed with an unsteady stagger.

Darren’s words from last night flashed through my head: A bite will put you down like a shot of horse tranquilizer.

But Zylas was a demon. Surely he wasn’t susceptible to—

His knees buckled.

The vampires were on him before he could fall. One grabbed his arm and bit down on his bicep. Another caught his hand, tore his sleeve out of the way, and latched onto his wrist. The third stepped behind him, a hand gripping his jaw, and pulled Zylas’s head back.

Crazed thirst burning on his face, the vampire licked Zylas’s throat, savoring the moment, then bit into the demon’s smooth skin. Zylas hung in their hold, his legs twitching weakly as he fought to move. His wide eyes stared, breath rushing from his lungs.

Horror rooted me to the spot, then I tore free of my paralysis. Daimon, hesychaze!

Nothing happened. The vampires clung to Zylas, mouths fixed on him, throats working as they swallowed with frenetic intensity. The red rings in their white-and-black eyes glowed brightly.