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Victor broke from his invisible restraints, dashed across the room and bent Zee almost backwards in his arms as he landed a kiss designed to carve out his soul. Zee’s wings flared, burning so brightly with that cool purple flame that I couldn’t make out who was who, and then Victor backed off. “I will make it up to you . . . personally.”

Zee wiped a thumb across his own bottom lip. “You’d better, vampire.”

“Adam, while we wait for this spontaneous chaos Zodiac has created to subside, it might be a good time to further investigate the hotel and see if we can decipher the clue found on the key.”

“We have news on that.” I told Victor everything Tom had said during his brief visit, and Victor agreed, the chandelier was a great place to start. “Zee, you’re staying here?” I checked.

“Yes. Fine. Ugh. Have fun without me, I guess.” He flopped back, and without looking, stuck his middle finger up at Victor. “You suck.”

We stepped out into the hall and locked the door behind us—to keep others out, not Zee in. Zee could just poof out if he wanted to.

“He’s truly very powerful, Adam. His allure is overwhelming. I have confidence that he could in this moment bring your brother to his knees.”

“Maybe.” It was worth noting for when—if Syros caught up with us.

The lobby was a hive of activity, with guests crowding out Larimer’s desk, keeping him more than occupied. Victor and I carved a path through the mingling people and came to a stop beneath the enormous sparkling glass chandelier. The truth was under it, so . . . I stepped back and looked down at the patterned tiled floor and immediately spotted something odd. The repeating tiles all mapped out the same geometric design of tiny squares and triangles, but the tile beneath the chandelier was a different color to the others.

This had to be it.

Victor saw it too, and knelt to tie his shoelace.

There were enough people in the foyer that nobody paid attention to us, but I kept an eye out for anyone nearby, readying an excuse.

Victor used a nail to pick at the tile’s edges, but it wasn’t budging.

I could do it. With a snick, I freed the claws on my right hand and switched places with him. Now it was my turn to tie my shoelace. Digging around the tile’s edge, I managed to sink a claw beneath it and pop it out. Inside, covered in decades if dust and old cobwebs, sat a small wooden box no larger than my hand. I lifted it out, popped it into my pocket, and replaced the tile.

My grin met Victor’s slanted smile.

We had our prize.

And that should have been it, until a smooth, gorgeous, playful voice sailed from behind the bar door . . .

“You can stand under my umbrella.”

I knew that voice. I checked Victor’s face. He closed his eyes and gave his head a single exasperated shake. “I believe he’s singing ‘Umbrella,’” Victor said. “By Rihanna.”

Of course he was. Because the one place Zee shouldn’t be while brimming with incubus allure was the hotel bar singing “Umbrella.”

The groups of people in the lobby began to file into the bar, like moths to a flame, and by the time we managed to squeeze into the room, Zee’s epic performance was reaching its climax. There was no hiding who he was, not when his every step shook glitter from his wings and he owned that bartop as though he were performing in Vegas. Or like Tom Holland’s “Umbrella” Lip Sync battle video that Zee demanded I watch on repeat.

“I fear this is the end of our attempt to hide,” Victor confirmed, eyes glued to Zee’s sensual dancing.

The demon cat was well and truly out of the bag and grinding someone’s umbrella. To be fair to Zee, asking him to sit this one out while he was high on power was probably always going to be a long shot.

Most of the crowd were filming him, and probably trying to live stream it too. Hopefully, the storm would keep them from posting on social media.

“He did pretty well to last this long.”

“Indeed, but the last thing he needs is more power.”

The crowd were enthralled. He really did need to be careful. There were humans here, and we’d seen what his allure could do to a susceptible human mind. It didn’t end well for them.

But he did appear to have the crowd under control. Nobody was trying to rush him, and they were all having a great time.

While Zee gave it his all, making the most of his wings and tail, scattering brilliant sparks over his audience, I dug the old wooden box from my pocket and moved to the back wall. Nobody was going to pay us any attention with Zee in his prime. They were all dancing and jumping along to the energetic song anyway.

Victor leaned against my arm, and as he watched I dug out the riddle key, slotted it into the keyhole, and popped the box’s lid. An old moth-eaten bit of rag concealed something inside.