I pushed my glasses up my nose, nervousness skittering through my belly. This was way too much attention. Would the MPD investigate my paperwork and realize it was all a forgery? The Grand Grimoire guild master summoning me didn’t seem like a good thing either. Hopefully he just wanted to congratulate me on a job well done.

Chewing my lower lip, I watched a tall woman in a crisp business suit bark orders at various agents. From what I’d overheard, she was the captain of this MPD precinct. That made her the biggest boss in the city, and I was extra glad I hadn’t had to talk to her. Despite her waves of soft blond hair, she was inexplicably terrifying.

A man broke away from the crowd and strode toward me. I got wearily to my feet, trying to place his thick beard and longish gray hair. He seemed familiar.

“Robin?” He held out his hand. “Girard Canonach, first officer of the Crow and Hammer.”

His guild jogged my memory; he was a teammate of Darius, the Crow and Hammer’s GM. “We met a couple of days ago, didn’t we?”

“Briefly,” he confirmed as he shook my hand. “You did an excellent job on the unbound demon. Are you hurt?”

“Not a scratch. My demon did all the work.”

“Glad to hear it. The entire city owes you a favor—though I believe the bounty for an unbound demon kill should go a long way toward that IOU.”

Right. In return for completing bounty work, the MPD awarded bonuses that increased depending on the difficulty and danger of the job.

“I’m just glad the demon can’t hurt anyone else,” I said quickly.

“As are we all.” He studied me, his gaze bleakly assessing, and I got the feeling he was skirting around something. “You’re a new member of the Grand Grimoire, correct?”

I nodded. He waited to see if I would offer any more information about my recent guild transfer, but I changed the subject. “Did you ever find out what that sorcerer was doing? The one who attacked me?”

“I was going to mention that. Is there any reason someone might be stalking you?”

“N-no,” I replied, startled. “I can’t think of anything.”

He considered me carefully, then shrugged. “We’re still investigating the sorcerer. He wasn’t part of a search team … and he wasn’t alone.”

Gooseflesh prickled my arms.

“Be careful, Robin. The demon is dead, but I’m not sure this is over yet.”

I nodded numbly as he returned to the MPD group. No one was looking my way, so I cautiously backed toward the sidewalk. I was supposed to wait for permission to leave, but I’d been sitting around for an hour. If they needed me, they could call my cell.

Turning on my heel, I hurried away from the park. It was after eleven and darkness lay thick and heavy over the abandoned roads. Streetlamps glowed overhead, holding back the shadows. I should’ve been fearful of walking alone in a poor neighborhood at night, but I wasn’t alone—not with the infernus bouncing lightly against my chest.

My thoughts spun, tangling across too many threads and puzzle pieces.

Tahēsh was dead, but the Crow and Hammer’s first officer was concerned about something else … something more.

A sorcerer had attacked me in the streets, and he hadn’t been alone.

Zylas and I had heard voices in an alley earlier that afternoon. “Where are they? I lost them.”

A mysterious third demon had attacked and injured Tahēsh.

Tahēsh had been stalking the Crow and Hammer guild.

The seven people who’d been battling Tahēsh in the park had fled the scene once the demon was dead.

The mysterious third demon’s scent had vanished with the red sports car.

I rubbed both hands over my face, almost knocking my glasses off. None of this made sense. Where had the third demon come from? Who were those people in the park? Who were the strange men we’d heard in the alley? Who was the sorcerer who’d attacked me?

And how did the Crow and Hammer fit into all this? They kept cropping up. Tahēsh had been watching their guild. Their GM had bumped into me during the search. Their first officer had sought me out a few minutes ago but hadn’t said much of anything.

I didn’t understand any of it, but at least I was alone with my thoughts instead of—

Heat washed through the infernus, followed by a flare of light. Zylas materialized beside me.

“Were you listening inside my head again?” I demanded accusingly.

“What else is there in the infernus?”

“I told you not to do that! I also told you not to pop out whenever you feel like it.” I glanced around, but the street was abandoned. “You’re lucky there’s no one nearby.”

He was unrepentant. “Where are you going?”

“To the Grand Grimoire.” I resumed walking. “The guild is a few blocks down this street. I’m supposed to see the GM.”

I drew several steps ahead before Zylas caught up and matched my pace. Noticing the undemonlike bounce in his step, I had to suppress a laugh. “Still feeling good about defeating Tahēsh?”

He smirked down at me. “You do not understand. He is First House. I am Twelfth House. The best I have killed before is Fifth House.”

“Is that what demons do all day? Plot how to kill each other?”

His nose scrunched in thought. “Hnn. Yes, mostly. Males do.”

“What do female demons do?”

“They eat and drink and lounge and raise young. And kill males.”

I laughed and shook my head, unsure how to react. “The females kill males? Do males kill them too?”

“No.” He widened his eyes. “I have never tried to kill a female. I would die.”

I blinked. “You would?”

“Females are stronger,” he said bluntly. “Their magic is …” He spread his hands wide as though measuring the size of something. “Much greater. We do not fight them. We fight each other.”

“Wait, wait. Female demons are stronger than male demons?”

“In vīsh. We are bigger, though.”

“Even you?”

His upper lip curled in a silent, offended snarl. “Now that Tahēsh is dead, you will find the way I can return home?”

“Yes,” I agreed, disappointed by the change in subject. “I’ll start first thing tomorrow. I already made a list of sources. But this won’t be quick. I can’t find answers in a few days.”

“If you are searching, I will wait.”

I nodded, understanding. As long as I was making progress, he could be patient. “I’ve been thinking. My mother had a special grimoire about demon summoning—or I think it’s about Demonica. She protected it for years, but now Uncle Jack has it. I’m pretty sure he used it to summon you and Tahēsh.”

“Na?” He walked in silence for a moment. “All Dīnen fear being taken by the hh’ainun. Any moment they can turn to light and vanish. Some come back after a short time, some after a long time. Many never return. All Houses fear this … except the First House and the Twelfth House.”

My steps slowed. “What do you mean?”

“In some Houses, each Dīnen is taken almost as soon as he claims his title. In others, not as fast. In the First House, almost never. In my House, we are never taken. The others hate us because we are safe from hh’ainun.” He slowed to a stop, his crimson eyes unreadable. “Until me. I was taken, but I do not know why.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s because Uncle Jack got my mother’s grimoire. It had your House name in it. Humans can’t summon demons from a House without its name.”

His brow furrowed. “Why did your mother have my House name?”

“I don’t know.” My nerves prickled and I hurriedly resumed walking. The Grand Grimoire building was just around the corner.

Why had my mother protected that grimoire? Had she concealed it because it had Zylas’s House name? Or because it had the name of the First House? Or some other reason?

“Anyway,” I muttered, “I think the grimoire has important information about summoning that could help send you home. We need to get it back from my uncle.”

He trailed after me. “Is it something you need? Or do you want it because it is yours and not his?”

I inhaled sharply. Zylas was easy to underestimate, but he saw and understood more than I cared to guess—including this.

“I want it because it’s mine,” I said, staring at the ground. “But it might also help with my research.”

He walked beside me, his tail swishing against the sidewalk. “I will help you.”

My head snapped up. “You will?”

“If he used this grimoire to take me, I will help you get it back—and you will purge my name from it so my House cannot be taken again.”

“Oh.” I sighed. “I thought you were offering just to be nice.”

“Nice? Ch. ‘Nice’ is for stupid hh’ainun.”

Annoyed, I marched toward the corner. “There are benefits to doing nice things for people, you know.”

“Zh’ūltis.”

“There are! They’ll do nice things for you in return, things you might not think to ask for. It builds trust and comradery and—”

“How is that useful?”

As we turned the corner, I glared at him. “You, selfish demon, are completely ignorant about a whole lot of ‘stupid human’ things.”

“If they’re stupid things,” he mocked, “why do I need to know them?”

“I mean you think they’re stupid when they’re actually—”

He planted his hand on top of my head and pushed downward as though trying to shrink me. “Small and weak and stupid, payilas.”

“Stop calling me stupid!” I whacked his hand. “And let me go!”