I fumbled in the dark, my hand clearing off the edge of my nightstand as I searched for my phone. The shrill ringtone made me hate the cursed thing even more than usual. It was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the world when it sat in the palm of our hands. I inched my eyes open and had to blink several times before they’d focus on my clock. Three in the morning was not a favorable hour to call me, especially not when I had been awake until well after midnight, pacing, scared of my nightmares. I usually slept with the ringer off on my landline and cell phone, but lately, I had kept them on. I didn’t like missing a call from Miguel. He and I talked every night, me when I was going to bed and him when he was getting up for the day. The time difference worked for us. It was the distance that killed me. Mexico was a five-hour flight from home, but it felt like a world away.

Thinking it could be Miguel on the other end of the line, I reached for my phone with a smile. The call display showed an unprogrammed number. The only people who called in the middle of the night were people who wanted help moving a body and strangers who needed worse things than an alibi. In my world, it was a coin toss. Would I be digging holes for a friend or finding myself in one? That was the question of the night. Hell, that was the question of my life on a daily basis.

“Who is dead or dying?” I asked, my voice still half-asleep. I envied people who could sound pleasant and professional no matter the day or time. My assistant, Philip, was like that. But, to the chagrin of everyone lucky enough to call in the middle of the night, I wasn’t that person. I was a goblin when I woke up and sounded every bit the part.

“Dr. Kyteler?” a man asked.

“This is she,” I replied. “And who am I speaking to?”

“This is Father Michael from the Holy Rosary Cathedral.”

“What can I do for you, Father Michael?” I asked and sat up with a groan. Churches didn’t ring anyone’s bell in the wee hours without a hellish reason. My money was on a loose demon or a possessed person that the church had tried and failed to exorcise. I knew the route to most churches by heart for both reasons.

“We need you to come down here,” he answered.

“Right now? Do you know what time it is?” I yawned around my words. “Unless someone is dying, call my office during business hours and schedule an appointment with my assistant, Philip. If it is demon-related, there are plenty of agencies with people on shift right now, just waiting for calls like this. Hell, call the cops. They have licensed witch practitioners currently on the clock and only five minutes from you.”

“Ah, yes, your assistant, Philip. He is already here,” he replied. “One of your students, Ruby, I believe her name is, is at our church. She called Philip when her circle was damaged. He told her to get onto holy ground. He’s mentioned a demon may be near.”

“Come again?” I jerked, a jolt of panic starting and pulled back my covers. “Where is Philip?”

“Talking to the police,” Father Michael replied. “We contacted them when Philip became hostile.”

“Hostile?” I questioned. Philip was the last person to become aggressive. He might be built like a brick house and could probably bench press one, but hostile? That would be the last word I would use to describe him. “What exactly did he say to you that made you feel like you needed police assistance?”

“He began yelling at us and manhandled several of my staff, attempting to pull people into the church,” Father Michael replied. “He is locking people inside.”

“Shit. He wasn’t being hostile, Father. He’s trying to save your life.” I got out of bed, swallowing my urge to yell at the poor man. “I’m getting dressed. Tell me what happened and what’s going on so I know how to prepare.” I put my phone on speaker and changed out of my pajamas. I pulled on my usual black outfit. It hid the blood better. I didn’t own a lot of color for that reason. Between my pitiful idea of fashion and being covered in blood at the end of most days, black was my go-to.

“Ruby summoned a demon and, from what I’ve overheard from your assistant, the demon was too strong for her. She contacted Philip for help. He told her to get to holy ground, and Holy Rosary was the nearest church. That is all I know.”

“Fuck,” I whispered, checking my phone and seeing three missed texts from Philip, telling me about Ruby. He’d call me if things went south. This had gone so far south that it scraped the gates of hell.

“Do you know where she summoned the demon?” I asked.

“Cathedral Square, across the road,” he replied.

“Is that ground not consecrated?” I asked.

“We try, but no, not all of it,” he answered. “The kids today make it difficult for us to maintain.”

“Is the demon still there?” I asked as I put on my shoes.

“Excuse me?”

“Father Michael, is the demon loose, still held in the circle, or on the part of Cathedral Square that’s blessed?” I sighed through my nose, trying to calm down. When he didn’t answer, my temper flared. “Do you see the goddamn demon or not? He won’t be hard to miss.”

“Um, I don’t know,” he replied. “I can go find out.”

“No, don’t go looking for it,” I replied and shook my head. Who in their right mind would go poking around with a demon potentially running around? “Did you listen to Philip? Are you inside the church or outside?”

“Outside.”

“Idiot,” I muttered. A man of the cloth should know better, but they rarely did. Until they came face-to-face with a demon, they never truly believed. But by then, it would be too late, and now his ignorance would make him a tasty snack for the cursed. “Get back inside and tell the others to do the same, including the police you called. You need to ask Philip if the demon is secure or…” I was cut off by screaming in the background. The sound raised goosebumps over my entire body and answered my question. The demon wasn’t contained. “Get into the church. Get back on holy ground! Run, Father Michael!”

I bolted for my front door, grabbing my black duffle bag along the way. Inside was my usual gear for exorcisms, demon cleanup and witch gear. It was nothing more than a bag of hope and prayers that I wasn’t too late. From the screaming on the phone, I’d be later than I’d want to be. When it came to demons and devils, I was always too late. People were always dead before I was called.

I jumped in my car and fired it to life. The moment it started, my Bluetooth connected. The screaming played from all speakers as I drove downtown. It would be a twenty-minute drive with my hazard lights on. Aside from emergency vehicles and the odd car from shift change, the roads were dead at this hour. It being the witching hour was the only saving grace. Fewer people on the sidewalks would mean fewer people would kiss death’s lips this morning when the demon did as demons do—kill everything with a soul.

I hit the Number One and gunned it. I knew the highway like the back of my hand, having traveled it daily for years. I kept eyeballing my GPS to route around any overnight road construction and emergencies. When the phone disconnected, I called Philip. I hit redial twice before he picked up. Screaming ate up the start of the conversation, not his, but everyone else’s. Philip was in the middle of chaos but maintained his cool. Not much scared the guy, which is probably why he was the only assistant I’ve had who hadn’t quit within weeks. My last assistant had put in their notice before they’d even been in the system. She had said it was uncomfortable to be alone in the same room as me. My soul made her feel sick to her stomach. Judgmental much? To be fair, my soul made me sick, as well. Slicing it to bits in hell had left a few scars and tainted the air with the smell of brimstone and matchsticks.

“What the hell is going on, Philip?”

“Ailis!” Philip yelled into the phone and didn’t bother with niceties. “There’s a demon loose. I don’t know where it is. There are people dead in the streets and screaming coming from everywhere. Dear God, it’s bad. Father Michael is dead. He wouldn’t come inside.” More screams filled my ears. “Oh, Jesus. Where are you?”

I liked that he didn’t bother with a long explanation. “Ten minutes out. What am I walking into?”

“I don’t know. I’m in the church, and I’m not sticking my head outside to find out,” he answered. “When I got the call, I came straight into the church. I only went outside to get everyone else to come in. They wouldn’t believe me when I told them all hell was about to break loose. The church wouldn’t send anyone to check the circle. They didn’t believe me. They called the cops, thinking I was a nut job. Most of them are still outside, Ailis, along with a few squad cars of cops. They don’t have a witch practitioner with them.” Philip paused, screaming for someone to step away from the door and finally cursed when they left the church.

“No one will listen to me, Doc. People are coming and going as if they won’t die out there. They think they can run faster than a fucking demon.” Philip yelled again at someone else about it being their funeral. The phone rustled, screaming about lawyers and lawsuits, and a door slammed shut. “Get the fuck in the corner, you idiot. You can’t sue me if you don’t have a head in the morning. You can’t outrun a demon, for Christ’s sake. If you open that door again, I’ll let you go.” Philip pulled the phone back to his mouth. “I left Mannix a voicemail, hoping he was on duty and could help, but he hasn’t called me back.”

“Jesus. If they want to dig their own graves, it’s on them. It’s your job to keep yourself out of hell, not to make sure everyone else sees tomorrow,” I replied and tried to think through the problem. “I’m almost there, Philip. I can see the police lights. Stay inside. Get to the head of the church and hunker down. Do not step outside until it’s over. I don’t care what you hear, if someone tries to leave or if the demon makes promises, do not inch a single toe out of that church.”

“Same drill, different monster,” he replied. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you sooner. I didn’t know Ruby actually summoned anything until I was already here.”

“It’s okay, Philip. Who would have known this would happen?” I replied. I would have known the minute she called me, but I assume the worst in people. People make bad decisions every day, including myself. But telling him he missed something wasn’t going to help the situation. “Did Ruby tell you who she summoned? Higher level or lower? We may need backup.”

“Yes, a lower-level demon, some murderer from a couple decades ago. She said she called him to ask questions for a paper she’s writing for her sociology class.”

“What?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice.

“She wanted a better grade, she said,” he replied. “She thought if she had a few quotes from the main man, in his words, it would increase her grade percentage. She was showing off, and now we all get to hear and see the psycho firsthand.”

“I hope it was worth it.”

“She’s dead, Ailis. The thing came up the church steps and took her. She thought she’d be safe as long as she was on the property. I tried to pull her inside, but the thing yanked her right out of my hands,” Philip answered. “So, no, it wasn’t worth it.”

“She knew the rules, Philip. All my students do. This isn’t your fault. She called on hell, and hell answered as it always does,” I replied and slammed my brakes, squealing to a halt. “Do you have his name?”

“Theodor Black,” Philip replied. “That is the name on the top of her notes.”

“Fingers crossed, that’s his real name. Hey you, doesn’t have the same quelling power,” I replied. “I’m here.”

“I’m sorry, Doc. Be careful. I’ll clean you off the road when it’s over,” he said, and I disconnected the call.

I parked a block from the church and grabbed my duffle from the backseat. I pulled out my bible, holy water and bags of herbs to have in my pocket for quick reach. I hung a hex bag around my neck and climbed out of my car on wobbly legs. Even if the demon was lower-level, I didn’t like touching hell in any way. When you dipped your fingers into the pits, they always reached back. I cursed out loud. My aura had just fully healed from Mexico, and I was about to skin off a chunk because someone wanted a better grade. I once said mankind would be the doom of us all, and tonight was an excellent example of how quickly we were nose-diving into the end of days.

Up the road from my car bodies were sprawled on the ground, staining the slushy end of winter. The blood was brilliant under the street lights. It looked like the church had just gotten out with the number of people in the streets. People were strewn like trash, dead and twisted. I blinked away fresh tears and said a quick prayer for their souls. I scanned the area and cursed at how wide of an impact the demon had made so far. Demons were like bombs, killing everything for blocks wherever they first landed.

I pulled my bag on like a backpack and jogged up the road, feet already wet from melting snow, while I sliced the palm of my hand. It wouldn’t take a lot of blood, just enough to drip a circle. At the intersection between the church and their small park, I stopped in my tracks. Ahead, in front of the church, stood the demon in question. I swallowed my scream. I might have the ability to send him back, but I was terrified.

The demon in question, Theodor Black, was somewhat clothed. Bits of old and stained fabric hung from his burned body. When he died, he had been burned, going into hell blistered and melted. He turned his scarred face to me and smiled. His nose was gone, leaving behind a raw hole. His lips, what remained of them, were thin and scorched. A shiver ran from my head to my toes. I swallowed my gag.

A thunder in the clouds rolled down the corridor, followed by a deafening silence. The nauseating stench of cooked flesh, decay and sin hung in the air like smog. The scent of burnt meat soured my stomach. With twenty feet between us, I was the only soul standing between his heaven and hell. His massive pupilless eyes stared at me with agonizing spite that made my throat flex, trapping a scream before it could break loose. I whispered a prayer that if I died in an intersection of downtown Vancouver, I’d take this beast of hatred and hell with me.

I dripped my circle of protection. Tutela, I thought, feeling my magic take root and flare my circle to life. I breathed in through my nose and out my mouth, clearing myself of the nausea that rolled through my gut when I pulled energy from my aura. My vision pulsed with my newfound headache. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants, cleaning away the stickiness of blood and power that coated my hands. The air in my circle carried the smell of my mother, ozone and matchsticks. The scent grounded me. I opened my bible to a random page and began to read out loud. It didn’t really matter what I read as long as it came from the one book they hated the most. When I read from the bible, it caused the demon pain. When Miguel read from his worn bible, his absolute and unwavering faith could send a lower-level demon back to hell without the need for all the blood and pain I was soon to experience. I was a work in progress when it came to faith. Miguel was born into the arms of grace and had never once faltered from his beliefs.

My words carried on the breeze like whisps of a flame, starling the demon. A shriek escaped from his scarred mouth in unfathomable agony. Holy words were another fire for the creature to burn in. He turned his body fully toward me. His jerking steps gave me enough warning to know I’d be leaving pieces of my skin on the concrete. He wasn’t just contained violence. He was hurried energy and death, waiting to pounce. He was on a clock, and he knew it. The demon became more and more menacing with every tick on that clock. He gave me his back and took two more steps toward me.

“Stop!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and held out my hand toward him.

The demon tried to move again and failed. I frowned. I should not have been able to control him without using his name unless I had been the one to summon it. I released tendrils of my aura, tasting the world around me. I could sense an imprint of myself in the air, following it back to a ruined blood circle in Cathedral Square. Someone had used something of mine to help invoke the summoning circle. I pulled my aura back in, along with the whisps of power rolling off the demon. Why borrow energy from hell when it was free for the taking?

I would have one chance at this, and it would be painful. I dripped more blood into the circle around me as the demon walked toward me. His hairless head jerked and twitched as if the movements had caused him pain. The skin on his neck stretched until even I winced at the strain. He tilted his head to the side as if surprised I wasn’t running like the others had. My feet shuffled as I forced myself to remain in one place.

“Ailis Petronilla Kyteler.” His words hurt my ears. It was like nails on a chalkboard and raked down my nerves. “There is a clock on your back. Tick-tock, bitch. We will never stop coming for you. You have something of ours, and we want it back.”

“But your time is up today. Mine is not,” I replied. “If you all didn’t want me to learn the secrets of hell, you shouldn’t have spoken them so loudly near a witch not fated to be caged just yet.”

“Your time will come, and next time, you won’t walk out,” he answered.

“Same song you all sing,” I answered. “Now, we can do this the easy way or the painful way. You can leave willingly or with force. You’ve had your fun, got your pound of flesh, and now it’s time to go.”

His laughter was all the answer I’d need.

“Theodor Black,” I called his name, and the first flicker of fear flashed across his melted face. I braced myself for what would come next. “Propello, Theodor Black. I command you back to hell, to never return again.”

Energy burst from my soul, and I was thrown across the pavement on my back. I was thankful I had left my duffle on, or I’d have left chunks of flesh on the road. The demon was on me before I had even seen him move. He was ready for the fight, but I was prepared for the attack. Demons did nothing the easy way, and the lower-level ones always kicked up a storm on their way home. His nails dug into my arms as we struggled. He sat up and raised both hands, bloody claws waiting to come back down, slashed through the air. I smashed the bottle of holy water into his side, the glass cutting us both. I flipped him off and watched him twist on the ground like an eel in a pan. The smell filled my nose, and I vomited on top of him. Burned flesh, demon or not, smelled the same to me—absolutely disgusting. With fresh blood dripping down my arms, I rolled to my feet and stepped around the screaming demon, dripping my blood on the ground. With a final drop of blood, I closed the circle, holding him inside.

“Dominus reget me,” I started my prayer in Latin. “The Lord is my shepherd.”

“I will see you soon,” he said, getting to his knees. “You’re cursed, just like the rest of us.”

“Until then, go to hell,” I replied. I gave him the middle finger while I sent him back to hell. “Don’t forget your party bag on your way out.” I held a ball of taint in my hand and blew it over him, sending him away. “Discedite!”

“You bitch!” The demon screamed as my taint coated him.

“Just returning a gift,” I said and closed my eyes for what was yet to come. I loved and hated this moment. Sending him home would kick my ass all over again.

The energy of sending a demon back to the pits hit me in the chest like an invisible punch. Blurring my vision, seeing through my aura, I watched the ground open up and dozens of hands pulling the demon back down to where he belonged. The earth closed up as if all was right in the world, with a burst of energy that sent me flying. I was tossed a few feet away as the circle holding him came down, and the air filled with the stench of hell. The moment my body hit the ground, I was thankful I couldn’t breathe. I stared up at the morning sky with little sparkles dancing in my vision. The sounds of the surrounding screams finally faded, replaced with ringing.

Philip was the first to lean over me. “Relax, take a few breaths, and you’ll be right as rain.”

I closed my eyes and calmed my body. This wasn’t my first rodeo, but I still fought the panic as if it were. Slowly, I breathed in a few gulps of air and rolled onto my side, groaning. Around me, paramedics were checking on the dead. The only wounded person was me. Anyone else stupid enough to be outside the church was meat for the critters. Philip helped me to my feet and to the first ambulance. I tried to wave them off when they began cleaning my wounds.

“Don’t bother closing them up,” I said to the woman looking over my hand. “I’m going to have to open the wounds to clean them with holy water when I get home.”

“Holy water?” she asked.

“Demon blood mixed with mine,” I answered. “Between his cursed scratches and the wound on my hand, I’m in for a special bath this morning.”

“Does it work?”

I crossed my fingers. “Most times, yes. The odd time, the victim waits too long, and the curse takes hold. It opens a door between the victim and the demon who infected them. After that, they need a full exorcism and a few weeks living on holy ground, drinking holy water like Gatorade.”

“I got you, Doc,” Philip said, helping me off the rear bumper. “I’ll give you a ride home for your special bath.”

I took his arm, but before we were inside my car, my skin crawled like ants dancing across my flesh. I turned and scanned the crowd of onlookers who had arrived just in time to see the bodies but not become one of them. Most people were wearing work clothes and holding briefcases and handbags. Others were hitting the gym or heading to the seawall for their morning jog. But in the back, there were three people who stood out like sore thumbs. Two men and one woman, and they had my full attention. For one, their outfits said they didn’t walk to work. For two, they didn’t care about the bodies on the ground, like everyone else. Their eyes were on me and not the excitement of the morning. Before I could point them out to Philip, they walked to the black town car at the end of the block and pulled away. Something told me I’d hear from them again. They would either try to hire me or would ship me Bibles for my damned soul. I had received enough holy books in the mail that I could set up my own shop. Philip had used them to make a throne in the front room of my office and propped plants up with the rest. It gave our demon wing the kind of flare it needed.

Philip sat me in the passenger side while he took the driver’s seat. He cranked my seat all the way back and pulled away from the nightmare that had been our early morning. Philip rambled about Ruby while I tuned him out. I cared about the reasons, but not while my body throbbed because of them. It bothered me that Ruby was dead, along with two dozen other people, but I wouldn’t allow myself to think too long about it. This is what happened when inexperienced people dabbled in dark arts. Rule number one, when summoning demons, never call something you cannot put down on your own. If it takes more than you to call it, leave the cursed thing alone. And it was clear Ruby hadn’t been able to summon on her own, given the carnage left on the streets. I was sad and angry. Ruby had paid for that lesson with her life and caused the deaths of innocents while making that choice. She would wake up in a cage for that. And as angry as I was with her, my heart hurt knowing exactly where she’d end up. I pushed the image of hell, the cages and the intersection on Richards Street from my mind and stared at my hands instead. The cuts weren’t severe or life-threatening, but they did leave me with the risk of demon blood in my veins.