And sprawled on the carpet was a teenage boy with a bullet between his eyes.

Telly.

I glanced at Evan. “You killed him?’

“I found him like this,” Evan argued. “Lon, you’ve got to believe me. Isn’t that how your knack works? Can’t you tell? I wouldn’t kill my own stepson.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Telly’s your stepson?”

“His mother and I are separated,” Evan mumbled, slumping against the wall as he looked down at the body. “He’s been nothing but trouble since the day I met him. But now this . . .”

“He originally stole the bionic elixir from you?” I said, remembering Telly’s words from the camp under the bridge.

Evan looked surprised. “You know what it does?”

“Your kid nearly killed us with his knack after using it. He robbed my bar in Morella. He’s killed other people.”

“Oh, God. That elixir . . . I wish I’d never laid eyes on it.”

I glanced at Lon. Go on, I encouraged without speaking. Use your transmutated knack and get him to talk to you. If he resists, I’ll bind him.

Lon clamped a hand around Evan’s shoulder, causing the man to jump. “We need to know everything about the elixir, and you want to tell us.” He’d tapped down his anger and now sounded patient and coaxing. “Why don’t you start from the beginning, yeah?”

Whether or not Evan knew about Lon’s latent persuasive abilities, he didn’t resist. “It started at Thanksgiving. I’d just signed the separation papers. I hadn’t been to a meeting down at the Hellfire caves in months, but I didn’t have anything else to do. I somehow ended up in one of the Succubi rooms with David and whatever woman he was attempting to seduce that night.”

I stilled. “David Merrimoth?”

“Yeah. He normally wouldn’t give me the time of day, but we were all loaded, you know. Anyway, that’s where I first heard it mentioned. He was telling us about this rare elixir that amped up your knack. I didn’t see any that night. It was just a story, and I probably wouldn’t have thought about it again.”

“Keep going,” Lon encouraged. “When did you hear about it again?”

“Before we left the Succubus cavern, Merrimoth invited us to a party at his house. A private party—we were the only Hellfire members invited.” Evan wiped away blood trickling from his nose. “He’d never even spoken to me before that night. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. But when I showed up for the party, he couldn’t remember my name. He thought I was from the catering company. It was humiliating. I was going to leave, but he was showing off, making it snow inside his house. When he wasn’t looking, I sneaked upstairs and looked around. Found the elixir stash in his closet. Ten vials. I took five.”

“Out of revenge?” I asked.

“Not really. I thought if the elixir could do that for Merrimoth, maybe it could help me. Everyone in my family has knacks—I’m the only one without one. I thought maybe if I took the elixir, it would bring out something in me.”

“Did it?” Lon asked.

Evan shook his head. “I took a whole bottle. Nothing happened. My wife came over to get some things from the attic and caught me with it, so I told her what it was. Telly was with her. He must’ve overheard us arguing, because the following night he broke into my house and stole three bottles. Next thing I know, I’m hearing about all these crazy knacks being used to commit crimes in Morella. I knew it was Telly. He’s been in and out of juvie. Runs away from his mom’s house for days at a time. Kicked out of school twice.” He stared at Telly’s body, a look of pity on his face. “Stupid kid. If he would’ve just minded his own business . . .”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “If Telly stole it from you, and we heard him talking about going straight to the source to steal it, he couldn’t have been talking about Merrimoth. He’s dead.”

“No,” Evan said softly. “Merrimoth wasn’t the source.”

Lon groaned. He was seeing the answers inside Evan’s head before the man could get them out. And the way Lon looked at me, I knew it wasn’t good.

I looked at Evan. “Who’s the source?”

The question hung between us for a moment before he answered. “Dare.”

My world shrank. Hair on my arms stood on end. “Dare? How?”

Evan swallowed. “Merrimoth claimed Dare had some magician cook it up a few years ago. Merrimoth had the idea to stop administering the Transmutation Spell to new initiates of the Body.”

The transmutated higher-ups in the Hellfire Club formed the Body. Only thirteen seats, and Lon held one of them. At least he used to. He hadn’t been active in the club for years, and hadn’t attended a monthly full moon “meeting” since he took me along several months back. I don’t think either of us knew where he stood in the club now that I’d told Dare to screw himself.

Evan’s thin, rough voice sounded even wearier than he looked. “It was a way to be transmutated in public. No horns, you know.” He glanced at Lon’s, shrugging. “Merrimoth was complaining that Dare hoarded it, and it wasn’t fair, because it was Merrimoth’s idea. They’ve been on the outs since Dare punished him for . . .” Evan’s attention turned to me, realization widening his eyes. “You’re the girl who broke the summoning circles in the caves. The reason Merrimoth got punished.”