“I’m listening,” I said tonelessly.
The demon inclined its head. The gesture unnerved me, and I hid a flinch—it was Finn’s face with none of his expressions, his mannerisms. “There’s a witch outside,” it said. “Allow her to finish the ritual Belanor started with that brand, and you’ll have your pet back, safe and sound.”
I should’ve been expecting it. After all, the spell was all Belanor cared about. He’d gone so far as to put a contingency plan in place, not knowing if he’d ever need to use the brand on Finn, but doing it anyway. This was why Belanor had walked away on the night of the opera, I realized, clenching my hands into fists. He’d hoped to complete his spell then, no muss, no fuss. Demonic possession was a last resort, which I had pushed Belanor to by repeatedly thwarting him.
The demon waited for my response, and its silence said more than the words coming out of its mouth. With faeries and demons, I’d learned, the trick to their games was to ask oneself, What are you not telling me? They liked to use diversions or create nets from their honeyed remarks.
So I gave the demon a hard stare and asked the question. What are you not telling me?
For once, the answer was obvious. Although Belanor had never specified what my fate would be after the spell’s completion, I’d always suspected I wouldn’t have one. Powerful magic usually required sacrifice.
It meant that agreeing to the demon’s proposal would result in my death. That’s what it was withholding from me, I thought, and I suppressed an urge to laugh. If this demon truly believed I hadn’t put it together by now—that it had never occurred to me I might die from Belanor’s black magic—it was severely underestimating me. Maybe I could use that.
Before I could say anything, though, Laurie and Collith materialized.
“I’m afraid your witch has a broken neck,” Laurie said casually, examining his nails. His rings glittered. “We were stopping by to speak with our queen, and you can imagine my surprise when I discovered an intruder on the grounds. She probably won’t be doing any rituals tonight. Or ever, really.”
Tucking its hands behind its back, the demon shrugged. The confident stance was at odds with the drool still clinging to Finn’s chin. “We’ll just send another one,” it said. “Fortuna Sworn, what is your answer?”
“Her answer is no,” Collith said softly.
I shot a glare at him. “I can speak for myself, thanks.”
“Of course you can, but there’s nothing wrong with accepting help from friends, Fortuna,” Laurie interjected. He refocused on the demon, one side of his mouth tilting up into a crooked smile. “Go ahead and send a new witch. I shall make a game of finding creative ways to kill each one.”
The demon opened its mouth to reply, but then its body jerked. The movements didn’t look like a seizure this time, but it was as if someone was striking at the demon from inside. It jerked twice more before collapsing.
Blurting Finn’s name, I started to rush over to him, but Collith seized my arm and held me back. I almost wrenched free when he said, his voice low in my ear, “Look at his hands, Fortuna. He could rip you open in a heartbeat.”
He was right. My gaze fell onto Finn’s fingers, where his claws had split skin and nail, poking out from the torn flesh like small blades. “We need to move him,” I said shakily. “Oh, and Nym, I should make sure he’s okay. I should text Emma and Cyrus, too. My phone, where is my phone—”
“They already know, Fortuna,” Laurie said. Hearing his soft tone reached me through the dull roar of fear. It was the same voice he had used during our conversation outside the garage, soft snow falling all around. You are beautiful, Fortuna Sworn. My vision cleared, and I looked up at Laurie, listening to my own heartbeat slow. He waited until I was calmer, and then he asked, “Where should we move him?”
I felt Collith watching the two of us, and after a moment, I blinked and averted my gaze. “Cyrus has a basement. It’s all concrete, and there’s only one way in and out.”
I started toward Finn. Laurie put a hand on my waist, stopping me. “Best let someone with a supernatural healing ability do this part,” he advised.
“We finally agree on something,” Collith said, moving to grasp Finn’s shoulders. He raised his head and looked at Laurie, brackets of tension appearing on either side of his mouth. “I can carry his legs, if you’d rather be on this side,” he added pointedly.
Laurie’s eyes flicked down to his sweater. “This is cashmere,” he began.
“Laurelis, if you don’t get over here and help me, I will finish what we started the day you cut my face open.”
At that moment, Lyari appeared on the other side of Finn, and she spoke before Laurie could. “I went to the loft first, because that’s where I was summoned,” my Right Hand said. She gave the males a scathing look. “Then I heard the sound of two squabbling faerie kings, and I followed that. I knew wherever I found them, I would find you, Your Majesty.”
She nodded at me before turning back to Collith. They lifted Finn in unison, making it look effortless. I had enough sense left to think of my phone, and that I might need it if something else happened. I darted into my room to get it. Once I returned, the five of us—four of us, I corrected silently, noting that Laurie had sifted again—made our way down the stairwell, through the barn, across the yard, and into Cyrus’s house. Stanley immediately ran to greet us, his nails clicking on the hardwood. He shoved his nose against our legs as I led everyone to the basement door and flipped the light switch. When he got to Finn, pressing his wet nose against the werewolf’s hand, he let out a long whine and slinked away. I made a mental note to shower him with treats.
A few seconds later, we all stood in the dim, dry space, looking down at Finn’s prone form. He rested on a sleeping bag I’d thrown onto the ground. Laurie blinked back into sight on the other side of us. He followed a stream of sunlight to the small window over the dryer. It was so small that only someone Matthew’s size would fit through it.
“There must be a way to help him,” I said quietly, staring at Finn’s pain-twisted face. There were beads of sweat on his forehead and his eyes moved beneath the lids.
Laurie turned away from the window. His voice was distracted as he asked, “Why on earth would we want to help Belanor?”
“She means,” Collith growled, “a way to help the wolf.”
“Oh, right.” Laurie fell silent for a beat. “Is that important?”
“Laurelis.” Though Collith didn’t move, his voice sounded like he should’ve been pinching the bridge of his nose in a gesture of long-suffering.
“Well, how important is the werewolf, really? We could just kill the poor thing and put him out of his—”
“If you finish that sentence, I will gut you,” I said calmly.
Laurie heaved a sigh, managing to look annoyed and resigned at the same time. “Fine. Exorcism it is, then. Between the three of us, there must be a witch who owes a favor,” he said.
“An exorcism?” I repeated. “Will that be—”
Finn lurched upright, and I was so startled that I took a step back. His glowing eyes latched on me. In an instant, Lyari was holding him down, her mouth set in a grim slash. Collith moved in a blur and pinned Finn’s arms. The werewolf snapped his teeth in my direction, his jaw slightly jutted and unnatural.