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“Oh, shit,” he breathed. “The wards kept stuff in as well as keeping things out.”
“Yeah,” I said with a groan. “There were wards all throughout the library, which I couldn’t understand. And when I had Kehlirik take down all the wards, that left that portal wide open, so to speak.”
Jill leaned against the wall, thumbs hooked into her jeans. “So why didn’t Kehlirik see that portal thingy?”
An unpleasant feeling settled in my stomach as I looked back at it. “I’m not sure. He was exhausted after clearing the wards, and with the books and other stuff piled all over, I guess he could have missed it.” I rubbed my arms. “Heck, it wasn’t until you moved all the stuff that we knew it was here.” But surely a demon of Kehlirik’s level would have been able to feel it. So why didn’t he say anything about it? Maybe because he had more reason not to? He’d wanted to speak to me—about Ryan. But after he cleared the library wards, suddenly it wasn’t as important. Because he’d found the portal? Now that I was close to it, I could feel a sickeningly familiar resonance about it. It’s probably big enough for that dog to have come through.
Could this portal also have something to do with the consumed essences? I considered it but then dismissed the idea. The portal had still been warded when Brian’s essence was eaten, so whatever was doing it couldn’t have come from this.
Ryan voiced the question that we were all thinking. “Can it be closed?”
I sighed. “I have no idea. I don’t even know if it should be closed.”
Ryan frowned, but Jill angled her head to the side. “Oh, like maybe this is a pressure valve or something?”
“Yeah. And that’s putting it a lot more clearly than I ever could have.” I eased my back into a more comfortable position. “I … have to see if my aunt comes back, and ask her.”
Jill shifted uncomfortably.
“And if she doesn’t come back,” I continued, throat tightening, “I’m going to have to ask, um, someone else.”
I swore I could hear Ryan’s teeth grind together. He muttered something under his breath and then spun away and strode down the hall. I clenched my hands and counted slowly to ten, then counted another ten for good measure.
Jill leaned her head out of the doorway to watch the retreating Ryan, then looked back at me, eyebrow raised questioningly.
“He and I had a bit of a discussion the other night wherein he stated that he was worried about me throwing myself at Rhyzkahl and falling for that pretty face and forgetting he’s a demon.”
She pursed her lips. “Hmm. And he doesn’t know that you and ole demon lord have already bumped uglies?”
“No, he does not,” I said. “And it’s going to stay that way, now that I know he considers it akin to selling my soul.”
A flicker of doubt passed over her face, and I sighed. “It’s not,” I assured her. “He’s not a ‘demon from hell’ kind of demon.”
“Then why are they called demons?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“The same reason that midwives were called witches a few centuries ago. Fear of what is not understood.” I could hear the defensive tone in my voice, and it made me take a mental step back. I did fear Rhyzkahl. And I sure as hell didn’t understand him.
She pondered this for several heartbeats, then shrugged and lowered herself to sit cross-legged on the floor. “Okay, so you can summon demons. And can work magic or whatever—”
“I can shape arcane energy,” I explained.
“Uh-huh. Magic to me,” she said, nose wrinkling as she smiled. “But then again, electricity is magic to me too. Flip switch, light comes on. So what about other supernatural stuff?”
“Like what?”
“Like vampires and werewolves and witches and that sort of thing.”
I had to shrug. “I’ve never met any of those, as far as I know.” I shook my head. “I take that back. I’ve met witches, but they’re not the ride-the-broom, cast-spells kind of witches. But vampires and werewolves?” I shrugged again, but I thought instantly of the missing essences. Was that some form of vampirism? And what about that dog-thing? “I’m not going to say that they don’t exist, because who am I to say that, but I’ve never met a werewolf or vampire that I know of.”
She laughed. “Well, I don’t know much about your magic woowoo stuff, but, man, Ryan sure has a raging case of the jealous going on over your demon lord, doesn’t he?”
I made a sour face. “He’s not jealous, trust me. He just thinks I’ll forget who I am if I even look at Rhyzkahl.”
Jill gave me a measuring look, then sighed and rolled her eyes. “Y’know, for a smart chick, you can be seriously fucking clueless.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes right back at her. She was the clueless one if she thought Ryan’s grouchiness meant anything.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to feel like arguing her point. “So do you think your aunt knew about that being there?” she asked, lifting her chin toward the corner of the library.
