Chapter Three

New Florida

Settle yourself, demon. There’s no getting out of there, so quit trying.” Aliza sighed, shoving a loose dread out of her face. Securing an all-powerful demon in a pentagram was a grand feat, the kind of thing that took noble vampire blood, earth from the Potter’s Field, salt from Lot’s wife… the rarest ingredients she’d ever gathered. But having that demon secured in that pentagram when it was located in your living room was a real pain in the keister. Really made it hard to watch her stories with all that noise and smoke.

Samael raged against the invisible barrier keeping him prisoner. “Let me out, witch. I am being summoned.”

She took a slug of cold beer and hit pause on the TV, stopping Dr. Lassiter just as he was about to revive the woman he was in love with from a coma. Poor man had no idea she was actually his long-lost sister. Damn, this was gonna be good. She glanced over at the unholy creature. “You’ve already been summoned. To here. One more word out of you and I’m going to put the lid on that aquarium.”

She and Evie had figured it was best to keep him indoors after they called him the first time outside on the porch picnic table. Too wide open out there. No need to let the rest of the coven know what she was up to. Besides, a good breeze and half the pentagram would be gone and then what would they have? No demon, that’s what. And without that demon, there was no way they were going to get that ring the vampires were after. Trouble was, the demon was getting antsy.

Inside an old hexagon aquarium Evie had once bred Chewie’s feeder goldfish in, they’d remade the calling pentagram. Evie had glued the lines of salt and earth down onto a piece of cardboard, just to be sure there was no breaking it. Then they’d lit the candle, written the name in blood, and brought the demon back to them. It was better this way, with the pentagram safe inside the glass. Popping the lid on and throwing an afghan over the whole contraption was easy enough if they needed to hide him. So far, they hadn’t had to.

Right now, he spiraled out of the twenty-five-gallon container like a tornado, all smoke and hooves and hard red eyes. Mean-looking thing. But you couldn’t expect a demon to be soft and cuddly. Not the granddaddy of the whole entire race anyway. She rubbed a pale hand over her brow.

“Look, I know you’re in charge of other things, but we need that ring. You locate that for us and we’ll set you free.” Like hell. They’d track down the ring, then as soon as they had it, they’d contain the demon permanently. She wasn’t a fool. The instant they let him go, he’d take back the ring and strip the meat from their bones.

He scowled and bared his teeth. “I told you, I can’t locate it. It’s being protected. Hidden.”

“Well, you just keep trying, then.” She hit the PLAY button and went back to Mercy Hospital.

The demon wailed in anger.

She turned up the volume. Out here in the Glades, the closest neighbors were members of her coven, and they knew better than to complain about noises they heard coming from her house. There was good reason they lived out here—privacy. Who were they going to complain to anyway? She was the one in charge, the one with the most power. Power the rest of them didn’t even know about. Like the power she’d built this coven on, which is how she’d come to be its leader. Wasn’t like the lot of them had half the skills she did in any case.

Evie came round the corner from the kitchen. “Ma, it’s loud as blazes in here.”

Aliza hit the PAUSE button again as she pointed the remote at the demon. “That thing’s acting up again.”

Evie’s shoulder jerked forward of its own accord. Ever since being released from her stone prison a week ago, she’d been twitching more and more. Aliza had tried to ignore it, hoping it would just go away, but it was happening more frequently now. Too bad Dr. Lassiter wasn’t real. He’d know how to fix it. “We should give him something to do.”

“Release me,” the demon growled.

Evie ignored the creature. “Let’s send him out to check on the shifter and the ghost.”

“I don’t have a use for them yet. I need that ring.”

Evie rolled her eyes and flopped down on the worn sofa. “You said this thing was going to make us rich.” She stuck her finger through a threadbare spot. “When does that start?” She dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling, sighing loudly.

“Patience, child. These things take—”

“Patience?” Evie’s head came up, her eyes glinting with raw emotion. Her right arm convulsed like it had been hit with a live wire. “I had enough of being patient trapped in that stone tomb. I’m done with it. I’m tired of waiting.” She jumped off the couch and paced to the other side of the room. “I want something to happen now.”

Aliza nodded, hoping to calm her daughter down. Evie had been gone for so long, having her back, alive and safe, made every day a gift. “What do you want to do?”

She stopped her pacing to study the demon. “We should send him out to do some little thing.” She took a few steps toward him. “Make sure it goes right.”

The demon snarled. “You think I am capable of failing?”

“You haven’t gotten us the ring.”

He grimaced and spun like a dervish, coming to a stop a moment later. “Ask me for what can be obtained and I shall bring it to you.”

Evie rested her fingers on her chin for a moment. “I want a house. Bigger than this one. Everything in it new and beautiful.”