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Something crunched beneath my boot. I lifted the heel of my shoe. Several sharp, porous shards had embedded themselves into my shoe sole. I picked one between my fingers, brought it to my nose.

Bone.

Only the most residual magic still clung to it. But I could tell the difference between a human bone and an Infernarus. This was the latter. And I knew from my studies that portal masters often used our ancestors in the creation of these gateways. To find the bones smashed to pieces...

I walked over the area where the portal should’ve been. My surroundings did not melt away, and the fusion of magic that came with crossing never washed over me.

Cold dread coiled low in my gut.

The portal had collapsed, doorway irreparably smashed.

I was marooned.

Panicking, I spun back toward the cave exit, just as a blinding light blazed out of the darkness, forcing me to squint and shield my eyes.

“You creatures never learn,” said Jame Asher, his shadowy face hidden behind the glare.

Chapter 4

Asher

The demon dartedbehind the stalagmite, where I caught only the faintest flicker of red in its feral eyes before it shrank into the shadows. Gave me the willies. I’d tracked this one—a female—back down the throat of the cave to the portal chamber, where her gateway now lay in ruin.

The creature had been understandably traumatized to find herself cornered.

“I’ve never seen a demon heal like that.” I pushed myself off the wall, keeping my flashlight trained on her hiding spot. “You’re doing, I assume?”

The echo of my voice faded into silence.

I flared my nostrils to take a slow breath. She’d covered up her ashy scent with cheap bubblegum perfume—probably bought at a toy store; they never knew how to fit in—but her smell was still there. The cave reeked of it.

“Demon, I’m talking to you,” I called. “Show yourself.”

Again, no reply.

I panned the light around the cave, making sure she was alone.

Good.

The other demon had busted my thermal scope, leaving me no way to see them in the dark.

“These yours?” I cast the empty blood sacks I’d found topside into the pool. They floated on the ripples, clouding the milky water red. “From a blood blank, huh? I liked it better when you bled us yourselves... gave us the dignity of knowing why our lives ended up cursed, at least.” Before I came after her, I’d scrubbed all Fidel’s blood off me so she couldn’t use it against me.

Still no answer.

“Demon, I know you’re hoping and praying and crossing your fingers I didn’t see you, but I saw you. I smell you. Isenseyou. I’m not just shining my light at that limestone dick you’re hiding behind because I like the way it looks. So why don’t you come out so we can chat about that little healing power of yours.”

Another flicker of those red eyes. Just a peek. Then she flinched back.

“I don’t have time for games,” I said. “Demon, you listening to me? Demon, I’m talking to you—”

“It’sInfernarus,” she said, breaking her silence. “We areInfernari.”

Her voice surprised me. Higher pitched than I’d expected. Younger. Softer. Even when hardened with fury.

“Very good,” I said. “Now step out where I can see you.”

“We call your species by its chosen name,human,” she spat. “Call us by ours.”