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E steban,” Ez says, leaning imploringly over the counter of Tacos Near Me. “Love of my life. Star of my heart. Please tell me your fish tacos are back in stock.”

Esteban looks devastated. “Esmeralda, mi amor, I wish it were true, but alas. Supply chain disruptions continue to plague us.”

Ez groans, burying her face in her hands. “You’re killing me, man.”

He pats her shoulder sympathetically. “Lo siento, amiga. You want chicken tacos, instead? Lucia makes great chicken tacos!”

“I suppose,” Ez says grudgingly, and she hands over her credit card. “Besides the unfortunate situation with the seafood, how’s business?”

“You know us, Esmeraldita. Never a dull moment.” He hesitates, lowering his voice. “And, ah. Speaking of which, I have a question for you. About what happened at Lakeside the other day.”

Ez’s heart stutters. It’s been exactly one week since she and her friends responded to the rift in the middle of Lakeside, and frankly, she was hoping most civilians would’ve forgotten her role in it by now.

She should’ve known better, though. The Redwater Food Truck Association has a long memory, and they’re also notorious busybodies. Ez shudders to imagine the scandals that probably erupt in their group chat daily. “Sure,” she says cautiously. “What’s up?”

“It is about your friends, Cassius and Julian,” Esteban says. “When are they getting married?”

Ez gapes at him, appalled. “Seriously? A rift to another dimension opened right next to Currywurst To Go, and you’re concerned about Cass and JJ’s love life?”

“But they are such a lovely couple! And their daughter is precious.” His eyebrows knit together. “Where did they find Desi, anyway? Did they adopt her? Kidnap her?”

“A little bit of both,” Ez says. “And, despite appearances to the contrary, they’ve only actually been dating for, like, three weeks. I don’t think marriage is even on their radar yet.”

Lucia’s voice floats out from the depths of the food truck. “Two months of fake dating equals at least one month of real dating.”

Esteban jabs a finger in his sister’s direction, triumphant. “Precisely! It’s basic mathematics!”

“Oh?” Ez says innocently, smirking at him. “And what’s the equivalent of flirting with someone without making a move for six months?”

Esteban blusters indignantly. It’s only recently that Cass and JJ’s love affair usurped the “will they or won’t they?” drama of Nick from Falafel Express constantly batting his eyes at Esteban, as Ez thoroughly enjoys reminding him at every opportunity. “That’s not??—?!”

Lucia appears in the window with Ez’s tacos. “It’s the equivalent of ten years off my life, is what it is,” she says flatly, and she pushes the paper carton across the counter. “Here. I gave you extra guac as compensation for the lack of fish tacos.”

“A reasonable exchange,” Ez agrees solemnly, and she waves as she steps away with her food. “Gracias por la comida.”

“Buen provecho!”

Ez strolls over to an unoccupied table to sit down, letting the usual hustle and bustle of the Courtyard move along around her. Chicken might not be her favorite variety of taco, but Lucia’s cooking is always amazing, and for a few minutes, she relaxes into the delicious lunch and the warm sun at her back, just enjoying the moment.

But not for long, though. She’s barely finished her first taco before she casts a surreptitious glance around, snaps open the pocket dimension that houses her spell books, and dives back into her current spellcasting obsession: soul bonds.

Before a few weeks ago, soul magic in general was hardly on her radar. It’s dangerous, finicky, and just plain weird, with stringent rules and bizarre side effects that can sometimes break the laws of spacetime themselves.

In one especially notable case, a spellcaster unintentionally gave himself soul damage and performed a reset spell to go back in time to a week before the accident?—only to find that the soul damage inexplicably traveled back with him. It’s exactly the kind of magic that Ez loves in a theoretical sense and utterly despises in real life.

Accordingly, her soul magic résumé was depressingly short when she, Obie, and JJ broke into the Sanctum’s prison last month to find Cass’s soul in tatters. Suggesting a soul bond between him and JJ wasn’t her preferred choice?—actually, it didn’t even make the top twenty?—but it was clearly the only way to save Cass’s life.

Even if it snuffed out JJ’s life in the process. In the past, Ez had only performed soul bonds between participants who had a minimal chance of dying?—namely, two humans or two demons. Never a human with a demon. Hypothetically, a human’s high-energy soul can lose almost three-fourths of that energy before sustaining damage, but with the age-old power inherent in a demon’s soul??—

Well. Usually, the demon unwittingly drains the human’s soul dry within seconds. In Cass’s weakened state, they ran the risk of his soul devouring JJ’s even faster in an effort to heal itself.

And, as Ez found out later, that’s exactly what happened. One of the unique perks of Obie’s memoryscapes is the ability to manipulate them like a physical environment, so a few days after the fact, she asked him to display his memories of the scene and ran a few diagnostic spells.

According to her calculations, Cass drained ninety-eight percent of JJ’s soul energy in approximately half a second. Ez might be the most talented spellcaster on the East Coast, but there’s no way she could’ve broken that connection in time.

In other words, JJ has no business being alive right now.

Except for the fact that Cass?—with a little help from Desi?—managed to somehow reverse the soul bond, pushing a piece of his soul back into JJ. Now, Cass and JJ each have half of the other’s soul, an apparently unprecedented anomaly that they’re referring to as a soul exchange. And until they find another documented case?— any other documented case?—they’re going to be in the dark about that exchange’s long-term effects on Cass’s and JJ’s health and general well-being.

Hence Ez’s current obsession. But it doesn’t look like this spell book is going to tell her anything she doesn’t already know. Sighing, she starts on her second taco, letting her gaze wander around the Courtyard. It’s a Tuesday just before the usual lunch rush, but the crowd is already starting to swell: a handful of college students working on a group project near the fountain, a smattering of businesspeople grabbing an early lunch from Cachapa Castle??—

Ez sees a familiar figure sitting on the other end of the Courtyard and stops dead.

Roma Gutierrez. The supposedly “good” hunter who faked a defection from the Sanctum a few months ago, tricked JJ into compromising Cass’s location, and was directly responsible for Cass’s kidnapping?—and everything that came afterward?—is sitting right over there, enjoying her pad thai without a care in the world.

Ez’s blood boils. She hasn’t seen Roma since that situation with the summoner last week, but the hunter has done precisely nothing to endear herself to Ez. In fact, Roma’s willingness to kidnap those scared neophytes for the Sanctum’s sadistic “testing” left Ez more ready than ever to break her neck at the earliest opportunity.

Not that she’s going to do it without provocation, of course. Not with all these potential witnesses around. And even if they were in a genuine fight, she thinks JJ would be sad if Roma died. Much as Ez has mixed feelings about Cass’s new priorities in life, she can readily admit that JJ is like a lost puppy that follows them around. She doesn’t want to hurt the puppy.

Ez takes a vicious bite of her taco, eyes narrowed. Maybe she would settle for some light maiming. Kneecapping sounds particularly nice. The Sanctum can fix broken bones, right? Their spellcasters are at least competent enough for healing spells?

Ages upon ages? ? —

Ez’s mood sours even further. The fact that Roma’s idea to use her rift-blocking spell in tandem with Ez’s disconnecting spell actually worked just adds insult to the injury of the entire situation. She can reluctantly acknowledge that Roma seems to be a capable spellcaster?—after all, not many people know that demon magic and human magic can make each other stronger?—but in Ez’s opinion, that just makes her more of a threat.

Knowing her way around both an ax and a spell book is a dangerous combination.

Still, it’s not like they’re ever going to have cause to interact again. In fact, Ez is planning on staying as far away from Roma as possible, starting right now. Scowling, she pushes herself to her feet, crumples up her to-go container, tosses it into a nearby garbage can??—

And is instantly hit with a familiar rush of power. Swearing, she whirls around to see the purple-gold of an interdimensional rift churning to life in the middle of the Courtyard, looming large and imperious against the backdrop of panicking civilians and cowering shopkeepers.

The only human who isn’t panicking or cowering, actually, is Roma, who just looks annoyed at the interruption to her lunch.

Ez doesn’t want to admit that she can relate.

Roma is pleasantly surprised that everything is going according to plan so far.

At first, she was fully prepared to call off the mission when she, Bryant, and Chester realized that Ez is the only demon in the Courtyard today. While the Council miraculously greenlit her plan, they specifically emphasized that JJ is the primary target?—any information Roma gathers about the other demons would purely be a bonus.

And, above all, she knows perfectly well how little Ez trusted her even during her last fake defection.

But Bryant convinced Roma to run the operation anyway, at least as a trial run. Now, Chester and Bryant are both wrapped in cloaking spells to keep them hidden from wandering eyes, but because Roma knows where to look, she can occasionally see glimmers of them: Chester, trembling with exertion as he maintains an open rift to Tamaros at a respectable distance of fifteen feet away; Bryant, ready and waiting to provide backup from a few tables down??—

And Esmeralda Laguerre herself, racing towards the rift more quickly than Roma expected. Cursing, Roma scrambles to her feet, leaves her lunch behind once again, and sprints over.

“Why is it always you?” Ez snaps the moment Roma is in earshot.

Roma glares back. “I’m just here to eat, Laguerre. I’m just??—?”

“Don’t care,” Ez interrupts, and she launches into her disconnecting spell. Roma holds her breath as the rift shudders, starting to fold in on itself??—

Out of the corner of her eye, she catches a glimpse of Bryant lifting a hand, her lips moving around an incantation. Immediately, the rift snaps back open, even larger than before.

Ez’s eyes widen. “What?”

Hastily, Roma jumps into her own spell?—jumps into it for real, just in case Ez would know if she faked it. Magic snakes through her veins, surges down her arms, makes her hands glow with an otherworldly light??—

The rift only shivers once before stabilizing. Roma fights back a sigh of relief. She’s honestly impressed with Chester and Bryant for holding their own against two skilled spellcasters, especially since she’s pretty sure they both slept through magic class.

And their cloaking spells are clearly good enough to make Ez’s gaze slide right over them, not even registering their existence. “Where the hell is the summoner?” she mumbles, her eyes narrowing. “Did someone just open a rift without summoning anything?”

Roma’s stomach lurches. “Why would they do that?” she demands, trying to keep her voice as scathing as possible.

“I don’t know, Gutierrez. Because humans are idiots?” Scowling, Ez turns back to her. “Together this time?”

For some reason, the words make a different kind of adrenaline spike through Roma’s blood. “Together this time,” she agrees, and before Ez can cut in, she adds, “One, two, three?—ages upon ages??—?”

She launches into her rift-closing spell without even pausing for breath, and Ez hastens to join her, only half a step behind. They work through their incantations together, finish at approximately the same time??—

The rift collapses inward with a groan, vanishing in a sheen of purple-gold. Ez lets out a disgruntled huff, her eyes sweeping around. “No one is attacking us,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why would someone go to all the trouble of opening a rift without a backup plan?”

Roma scrambles for a theory that’ll attract the least amount of suspicion. “Could’ve been someone with an incomplete understanding of an old spell book,” she suggests carefully. “Or maybe this was, uh, a trial run for something bigger.”

Ez’s jaw tightens. “In the forest, maybe. But in a densely populated civilian area?” Her eyes narrow as the Courtyard’s usual crowd starts slinking out of their hiding places, and Roma surreptitiously glances over her shoulder. No sign of Chester or Bryant. Hopefully, they slipped away just after Roma and Ez closed the rift. “This reeks of something. I just can’t put my finger on what.”

Roma’s throat feels dry. “Maybe,” she says neutrally. “I’ll have my people check it out, and you?—you can have your people check it out, too?”

Ez doesn’t look at her. “Hm.”

Roma chooses to take that as a sign of agreement. Deliberately, she presses her luck the slightest bit. “Looks like we make a pretty good team, huh?”

She knows she miscalculated the moment Ez stiffens. “We’re not a team, Gutierrez,” she snaps, jerking around to face her. “I’m not making nice with the sociopaths who tortured my best friend and his boyfriend, thanks.”

Roma’s temper spikes. “Demons have been killing humans for millennia, Laguerre. We’re here to defend humankind, and??—?”

“Cass never hurt any of you!” Ez snarls. “Every time he’s gone off to war, it’s been to fight for humans. If anything, he should be getting a medal.” She leans forward, her lip curled in a sneer. “And how about JJ, huh? What did he do?”

Roma’s face feels hot and her body feels cold and her skin feels numb. To her horror, she realizes that her hands are shaking. “He betrayed us,” she says, cursing internally when her voice has the slightest hint of a tremor to it. “He betrayed the Sanctum and humanity and??—?”

“No, he just fell in love with someone your lot disapproved of,” Ez bites out. “He just saw a vulnerable little demon girl and decided to save her instead of killing her.” Her eyes glint dangerously. “So ask yourself this, Gutierrez: between the two of us, who’s the real monster here?”

Roma’s hands ball into fists. “We’re not monsters. We’re protectors.”

Ez scoffs. “Please. The only people you protect are yourselves, and you’re barely even good at that.” Unexpectedly, her gaze fixes on a point over Roma’s shoulder, and Roma’s tunnel vision fades just enough for her to notice a few civilians cautiously creeping in their direction. “I’m out. You can handle the PR. Stay out of my way, hunter.”

“Gladly,” Roma snaps.

Without another word, Ez slices open a rift and vanishes from sight. Blood boiling, Roma stalks past the worried civilians and heads back towards her table. Her pad thai is cold and unappetizing by now, and she glares down at it for a long moment before chucking it into the nearest trash can.

Looks like Day One of her trust-earning mission was a resounding failure.