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Best to play it safe. “No visitors,” I said. “I just try to make a point of cleaning up at least once a month. You caught me on a good day.”
“Ah,” he said. “I thought that maybe …” He trailed off, looking oddly discomfited.
“Maybe what?”
He shrugged. “Well, you seemed to be pretty familiar with the concept of demons, and Demonic Lords. I thought that you might be, well …” He gave a self-conscious laugh. “I thought that maybe you were a summoner.”
Holy shit. He does know! “Umm.” Oh, what the hell. “Okay, I am,” I said, before I could change my mind. “I’m a summoner. And … I was going to try to summon tonight.”
His face lit up and he pushed off the doorway. “Seriously? You are? You’re a summoner? Of demons? That’s too cool!” Then he grimaced deeply, shaking his head. “Shit. I can’t believe I just said that. Sorry. I sound like a teenager.”
I blinked, then grinned. “No, it’s okay. I’m pretty surprised you even know about summoners.”
He smiled ruefully. “I can understand that. It’s not a very common skill, or so I’ve heard. But with the kind of work I do and the cases I’ve seen, I’ve learned a bit about it.” Then his smile turned boyish. “And of course my grandmother used to tell me stories.”
“Was she a summoner?”
“No. At least, I don’t think so. I have a private theory that one of her parents was, and that’s where she got some of her ability to sense the arcane. But however she got it, by the time the ability trickled down to me it was pretty well watered down.” He shrugged, not seeming to be at all upset by the admission. “So you’re really going to summon a demon tonight?”
It was my turn to shrug. I busied myself with pouring coffee and setting out mugs. “I was thinking about it. I was going to see if I could get those runes identified. Cream and sugar?”
“One Equal, if you have it. I thought you could summon only on full moons.”
I handed him his mug. He knew more than I’d given him credit for. “Traditionally, yes. And the reason is that there’s just more arcane energy available. But if the convergence is high—as it is right now—summoning on the dark is possible if you’re only trying to hold a minor creature. And even though it’s not as potent, there’s more stability.”
He held his mug in both hands. “That’s what you’re going to summon? A minor demon?” He was trying to be calm and cool, but I could see the tightening of his hands on the mug and hear the edge of excitement in his voice.
“Yes … but I don’t think I’m going to now.”
His disappointment was palpable. “Oh. Why not?”
I couldn’t help but smile. He was being so very un-Fedlike—a radical departure from his demeanor when we first met. “Summonings require a great deal of preparation, even for a minor demon. And a lot of that preparation is mental.”
He winced. “And I’ve totally blown that out of the water. I’m very sorry. Now I understand why you discourage visitors.”
“It’s all right,” I said as I sat down at the table. “I can still summon tomorrow night. I had a … strange experience during my last summoning, so I’d rather not take any chances this time.”
He sat down opposite me. “What happened?”
I propped my chin on my hand and regarded him. “Is this Special Agent Kristoff asking?”
He laughed. “No. No, this is Ryan asking.”
Damn, but he did have some really nice eyes. And he was a lot cuter when he wasn’t being all FBI-ish. “I was attempting a summoning of a fairly ‘popular’ demon. He’s a lower demon, he’s summoned quite often, rarely if ever causes any trouble, and is pretty easy to bring through.”
“And he decided to act up this time?” he asked.
“Nope. He didn’t come through at all. Something else came through. Something incredibly powerful and a thousand times more dangerous. He destroyed my bindings and protections with a gesture.” I rubbed my arms, still chilled at the memory of that moment of terror. “And I still don’t know why he came through instead of Rysehl.”
He was quiet for a moment, brow slightly furrowed. “But you’re still alive,” he said finally. “How did you defeat him?”
I leaned back in the chair, rubbing my eyes. “I didn’t. It’s complicated, but he left without … um, harming me.” I certainly couldn’t say without touching me.
He ran a finger around the top of his mug, watching me. “What was it?”
“A Demonic Lord.”
His eyes narrowed. “I thought you said that they couldn’t be summoned.”
