“A halfling? Give the child to me,” the demon howled, straining against the invisible barriers keeping it in the aquarium.

“No!” Evie lunged for the backpack, dropping the ball of smoke. “It’s mine.”

The compulsion disappeared. Doc gasped at the sensation of it leaving his body but recovered in time to snatch the baby away from her. “Like hell.”

Evie called up fire, juggling it over one palm. “Give me the baby.”

Doc lifted the backpack over his head. The kid was wailing like its lungs were police sirens. “Touch me and I drop the backpack.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.” He wouldn’t. Vampire, comarré, or whatever the kid was, it was still the innocent here.

The fire vanished from her hand. “I’ll just recall the compulsion then and make you turn the baby over.”

“Try it and I’ll kill you.”

Her shoulder twitched, jumping toward her ear. “Kill me and the spell that keeps the demon bound will disappear. And if you think he won’t kill you for the child, you’re a fool.”

The demon was practically drooling at the child. “She lies!” it howled. “I will spare you. The varcolai are as much my children as the vampires.”

Evie snorted. “When my mother gets back, you’re in big trouble, demon.”

“I wouldn’t count on that. Your mother’s dead.”

Evie’s face went blank, then morphed into a mask of rage. “She’s not dead.”

Sensing a nerve, Doc pushed, hoping to throw her off balance. “You don’t believe me, ask Preacher, the vampire who fathered this child. He killed Aliza when she tried to abduct the kid. Or didn’t she bother telling you she was headed out there?”

With a scream, Evie whipped her hand up and shot a bolt of fire at him. Doc dodged it, almost dropping the child. He slid the bag across the floor and into the safety of the kitchen, then grabbed her around the waist and brought her down. He straddled her, holding her arms down. She twitched like crazy beneath him. “Get off me!”

“Not until you’re tied up.” He looked around for something to secure her with.

The demon hissed. “Fire!”

Doc glanced back down in time to see both of Evie’s palms lit with blue flame, her fingers pointed in his direction. He lurched back and rolled away, grabbing a metal tray off the ottoman and holding it up as a shield.

The fire struck instantly, exploding like fireworks and heating the tray until his skin sizzled. A snarl of pain echoed over the sound of the baby’s wailing, the demon’s howling, and the crackle of flames. Doc tossed the tray, shaking his burning fingers.

Evie lay where he’d left her, a dark hole scorched in her chest. Small flames and wisps of smoke danced off her clothing. Her open eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling.

Doc felt for a pulse. Nothing. The aquarium shattered behind him. He jerked around in time to see a red blur streak past. The baby. He scrambled to his feet, making the kitchen a split second later. The Castus had the infant in its massive hands. The smell of sulfur was unbearable.

It took one look at Doc and smiled. “No one else can know about this child. You must die.” He cradled the child in one arm, his other shooting out toward Doc.

Doc tried to move, but the tip of the Castus’s razor-sharp nail caught his forearm. A white-hot streak of pain flared with the line of blood.

The Castus reared back again. Suddenly his face contorted and his hard red eyes rolled into his head. “Not now!” he bellowed. A second later, he disappeared in a flash of smoke and fire.

Chapter Seventeen

What exactly are we looking for again?” Creek asked Lola. Havoc hung near the opening of the alley, but they stood in almost the exact spot where Creek had found Julia. Police Chief Vernadetto studied something on his e-tablet, notes from her homicide report, or maybe the new homicide report. A second dead comarré had been found, this one on the opposite side of Seven.

Lola’s gaze never left the pavement and the circle of light thrown from her flashlight. “Anything that might have been missed by the police.”

Vernadetto sighed. “Ma’am, we’ve been over this ground thoroughly. I assure you we’ve picked up every bit of evidence.”

She turned on him. “Then why haven’t you found any leads?”

“These things take time. This case is our number-one priority.” His gaze shifted to Creek for a long moment before he answered her. “Especially now that we have a second victim.”

“You’ve had two days.” She leaned in, her face hardening in anger. “I will not have a serial killer terrorizing my city. I want new information on my desk by morning or you’re going to have the city auditor breathing down your neck.”

Vernadetto scowled right back. “I know this is difficult for you, but threats aren’t going to make the forensics come through any faster. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” He walked away from them.

“By morning,” she called after him.

“No wonder her husband left,” Vernadetto muttered as he got into his car, slammed the door, and drove off.

Creek looked at Havoc. The varcolai had to have heard that, although the mayor wouldn’t have. Havoc shook his head as if warning Creek not to say anything. Behind the mayor’s back, Creek held up his hands to indicate that wasn’t something he was considering. Did that dumb shifter think he was some kind of idiot? He turned back to what the mayor was doing, but his mind drifted to Chrysabelle and New Orleans and what might be going on there. If Mal hadn’t made it in, she’d have only her skills and Mortalis to keep her safe. That worried him. Not that she wasn’t skilled, but—