Eyes creased hard, Lon let go of me and took two quick strides to grasp Spooner. “Hey, it wasn’t her. She doesn’t even have a proper knack. She’s nothing. It must have been something else. Maybe the binding beds in the other rooms are affected too. I’m sure someone can fix them. No big deal.”

Lon smiled at Spooner, who calmed down immediately. “You’re probably right. It’s no big deal.”

“Glad you finished up before it happened, right?” Lon said.

Spooner laughed. “Yeah, yeah. You’re so right. Night’s still young. Plenty to do.”

“All right, buddy. We’re going to step out now. Take care.”

“Right, yep. Well, it was good talking to you, Lon.”

Lon clapped him once on the shoulder, then turned to me, green eyes wide with panic.

Herding me out the curtained doorway, he whispered in my ear, “We need to get out of here, now. Move.”

I was too shocked to do anything but comply. Clearly there were more succubi trapped in other rooms, and for a brief moment, I wondered if I’d be able to repeat the unexpected banishment I’d just performed.

“Unh-unh,” Lon whispered, reading my thoughts. “These people are not going to take this lightly. We’ve got to get out of here before they realize what you’ve done.”

Or what? He didn’t answer, just forced me to walk as fast as I could without breaking into a full-on run. We breezed through the narrow passageways, back through the red velvet curtains, and into the din of the ballroom, where Lon wove us in and out among the people, a few protests and murmurs rising as he barged through.

We’d almost made it out when David stepped in front of us. “Hey kids! Where ya headed? It’s not even midnight yet. Aren’t you going to stay for the entertainment?”

“Just getting some air,” Lon said. “Be right back.”

His head turned and I followed his gaze to the back of the ballroom. Spooner was emerging from the velvet curtains. He didn’t look happy; just how long did Lon’s suggestive influence last? Flagging down a bald man with horns and a flaming golden halo, Spooner began speaking to him in a whisper, then he pointed right at us.

28

“Where have you taken Lon?” I demanded, glaring at David as two demons held me by my forearms. They’d separated us, guiding me one way down the blue corridor, Lon down the other, dragged away by three large demons who pulled him by a long length of rope tied around his hands. One of them kept a gun trained on him. They stayed several feet ahead, I assumed to avoid Lon’s emotional manipulation.

David smiled as he paced in front of me. “We’ve been experimenting with some interesting summonings. Succubi and incubi are our bread-and-butter, but it’s good to change things up to avoid boredom. Lon is going to be our volunteer for tonight’s entertainment. Our last volunteer isn’t ready to get in the ring again just yet.”

“Ring? What ring? What the hell are you doing with him?”

A man stepped in the door and nodded at David before retreating.

“Wonderful!” David said while clapping his hands once. “Let’s go see, shall we? Maybe you’ll be more inclined to tell us how you pulled that little stunt in front of Spooner. I’m bored with trying to guess your origins. Oh, wait … what’s this?” He fingered the deflector charm around my neck, then snatched it, breaking the chain. “I don’t know what kind of ward this is, but I don’t think you’ll be needing it tonight.”

Protesting, I stumbled as they dragged me back down the passage. Several half-dressed people stood as witnesses in the doorways of the small caves that lined the blue corridor. Quite drunk, they cheered us on, laughing and making crude remarks as I passed.

The men at my side shoved me into a larger cave where dozens of demons congregated around something in the center of the room. The crowd was boisterous and more than a little excited. Small red spotlights flooded the wet stone walls around them. Water dripped from the ceiling into small pools on the rocky floor.

A clicking sound ticked from within the throng. The buzzing spectators murmured in response before breaking out into sloppy applause.

“Step aside,” David said to the people around the edge. He plowed his way through, my chaperones and I trailing him until we made it to the center. I bleated a small cry when I discovered what was inciting the horde.

Another glass vermilion circle was embedded in the floor, maybe twenty feet in diameter. Captured inside, a willowy gray demon defended one side of the containment space. Its skin was darker around the elbows, neck, and navel. Genitals on the outside of its body initially led me to believe it might be male, until I got a closer look at several additional unrecognizable fleshy components. Sex … indeterminable.

The gray demon lacked horns or wings, but possessed something much nastier: shiny black nails with narrow fishhook endings that doubled back at the tips. The source of the clicking noise. It clacked them together in anticipation.

Crouched on the opposite side of the circle, Lon moved clockwise around the inner edge as the gray demon stalked him. A red mark was painted on Lon’s forehead; upon closer inspection, I recognized it to be a sigil that allowed him to enter the circle without breaking it, but prevented him from leaving.

My stomach balled up into a knot.

This was the ring that David was talking about; instead of pit bulls, it was Æthyric demon versus Earthbound. I had no idea what had happened to the first volunteer that David mentioned, but a sneaking suspicion told me it wasn’t good.