Algaliarept snickered as he turned to look behind him at Kal and the Weres. “Black suits you, my dear. Suits you so very well. Giving me the worm beside you will make you halfway again to being mine, soul included. Think of it as me letting the fruit mature on the vine. And in the meantime, I can pay my rent.”
“Dr. Cambri,” Professor Thole whispered in horror, and Trisk’s face warmed even as she denied the jolt of knowing he might think she could do such a thing. To do such evil was a power in itself.
“So . . . do we have a deal?” Algaliarept gave Piscary a sideways glance to make sure the vampire was unmoving before turning back to her, his goat-slitted red eyes eager. Orchid was with Piscary, whispering in the old vampire’s ear. “Tick-tock.” Algaliarept brushed the lace at his throat. His gaze landed on his gloved hand and the dull gold ring on it. “The sun waits for neither vampire nor demon.”
“Don’t you dare,” Ulbrine said, sweating.
“Why not?” she snapped, and Algaliarept smiled. “You tried to choke me to death so no one could stop you from blaming Daniel for the plague Kal started. How is giving you to a demon less horrific than you two killing a quarter of the world’s population?”
Ulbrine brought his darting gaze back from Kal. “They’re just humans!” he said, truly mystified.
“What the hell?” Daniel said indignantly, red spots of anger showing on his pale face.
Algaliarept winked at Trisk’s outrage, then spun, the clatter of pixy wings giving him warning. Piscary and Rynn Cormel attacked together, their savage rage tempered with a plan.
“Now, Thole!” Piscary shouted, and the professor stepped from his circle, a globe of green-tinted power in his hand.
“Abrie!” the high-magic user shouted, and Algaliarept bellowed, flinging Cormel at the witch. But the spell was away, and it hit Algaliarept square in the chest. The demon rocked back, laughing gleefully, head shaking to make his hair fly out as he absorbed what would probably kill anyone else.
“You, little witch, have potential. I will put in a library with your sale,” Algaliarept said even as he swung a thick fist at Rynn Cormel, now on his feet and lunging across the bar. The living vampire saw it coming, dropping to the floor so it skimmed harmlessly overhead as Orchid shrilled a battle call from the ceiling. Cormel flipped to his feet, but Algaliarept was gone, having vaulted over the bar for Professor Thole.
“Back!” Thole shoved Daniel behind him and out of the way. “Rhombus!” the witch shouted, and Algaliarept bellowed in frustrated anger as Thole’s circle sprang up anew, this time with Algaliarept inside it.
“No!” Algaliarept shouted in frustration, a red mist sweeping the floor for any crack, any conduit out. The circle had been drawn in haste, but it had been drawn by a master, and as Algaliarept gave up and coalesced down to a sullen, angry demon, Thole collapsed to lean against the bar, his hand trembling.
“Save me from fools,” the witch said as his eyes found Trisk’s.
Algaliarept wasn’t fighting the barrier, but she’d never seen him so angry. “You shouldn’t have tried to kill me . . . Sa’han,” she said bitterly, then shoved Ulbrine into his circle.
The barrier dropped and Ulbrine moved away from her, unknown thoughts circling behind his furrowed brow. Trisk’s nose wrinkled. The room reeked of burnt amber, and pixy dust hazed the lights. Daniel rose up from behind the bar, fumbling backward until he found his way out. White-faced, he took Trisk’s arm, pulling her farther away from Algaliarept, who was fuming in a silent rage. “Thanks, Orchid,” he whispered, and the tired pixy dropped down onto his shoulder.
“You all just needed someone to take charge,” she said, her dust a pale orange.
“Banish him,” Professor Thole said wearily, his lips twisted into a wry grimace. “Unless you intend to give all of us to him.”
“That’s not why I summoned him,” Trisk said. Turning to Algaliarept, she took a shaky breath. The demon’s silence held more threat than his gleeful raging. “Demon,” she said, not wanting to say his name aloud again, “I banish you to the ever-after.”
“Indeed,” Algaliarept said dryly. “I will be back for you, Felecia Eloytrisk Cambri.”
With an inrushing pop of air, he vanished. Trisk shuddered at his last words, but as she looked at the shaken, relieved faces around her, it seemed only she heard them. Even the Weres coming out from behind the couch seemed oblivious. “It was never my intent to give Ulbrine to him,” she said as she stumbled to the nearest chair and collapsed into it. Her gut hurt, and her neck still felt the grip of fingers around it. “I’m not a practitioner.”
“You are a foul guest,” Piscary intoned, and she looked up, eyes widening as the master vampire rose from beside a dazed Rynn Cormel.