Damned Souls and a Sangria

also staring or scanning the pub for the volcanomage in question.
“Cold can only kill a badly injured demon.” Robin tucked her hair behind her ear. “Bleeding them out won’t work very well, either. Their blood is thick and clots quickly. Even deep wounds stop bleeding within a couple minutes.”
“How are we supposed to kill them, then?” Darren snapped.
“Hmm.” Robin thought for a moment. “Vampire saliva?”
Several of us exchanged confused looks.
“If you inject demons with a large dose of vampire saliva,” she added, “they collapse.”
Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “How much is a ‘large’ dose?”
“Um. About like … a couple of tablespoons?”
Cameron raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “Where are we supposed to get that much vampire saliva?”
“We can barely find one vampire lately.” Darren shook his head. “Their numbers dropped off a cliff after the December surge.”
“We’ll look into vamp spit,” Aaron said, “but as always with demons, our best bet is taking out the contractors, and that’ll be our focus. Thanks for the tips, Robin.”
She smiled, and as Aaron asked who had experience fighting contractors, I inched through the group to Robin’s side.
“Can we talk?” I whispered.
At her nod, I linked our arms and steered her away from the cluster of combat mythics. Everyone else in the pub had grouped up as well, beginning the early preparations for one of the guild’s most perilous operations ever.
My gaze drifted across them as I passed—the alchemists, Sin’s silvery purple hair among them, had joined Ramsey, Lyndon, and Weldon, who were all well-versed in artifacts. Other familiar faces filled the room, and tightness spread through my chest. Was it asking too much to pit this guild of misfits against the Court of the Red Queen?
“Tori?”
I realized I was just standing there with my arm hooked through Robin’s. Refocusing, I veered into a dim, quiet corner and released her arm. “Any updates?”
She didn’t have to ask what I was talking about. “Not yet. We’re working on it.”
An entire week had passed since we’d given her the cult grimoire so she could find a way to save Ezra. How long did it take to read a tome of complex spells written in a dead language?
Okay, maybe my expectations weren’t entirely fair.
“It isn’t a simple process,” she added in a whisper. “I know you’re impatient, Tori, but as far as I can tell, unmaking a demon mage has never been done before.”
“I get that.” I checked once more that no one was anywhere near close enough to overhear us. “It’s just that Ezra doesn’t have much time left.”
Though he seemed stable enough, his new cooperation with Eterran had me worried. We were gambling everything on the cult grimoire, and if Robin couldn’t find answers in time, all our struggles would be for nothing. Our only other option was the demonic amulet, but having witnessed the horrific death of one demon mage while under its influence, none of us were willing to experiment with its mysterious powers.
“We found the demon mage ritual in the grimoire.” Robin fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “It’s a complex set of spells. We thought the host body acted like an infernus, but looking at the rituals, it seems more like a summoning circle. Once a demon is inside a summoning circle, the only way to get him out is to destroy the circle or move him while he’s inside an infernus.”
“So … what? Ezra needs to swallow an infernus?”
Her eyes popped at the suggestion. “Uh, no. The infernus would need to breach Ezra’s essence, not just his body.”
“His soul,” I muttered. “That ex-summoner we talked to said some people believe the demon is inside the human’s soul.”
She nodded. “And that’s the problem. But there must be some way … I’ll keep trying, and Zylas will help too.”
I wanted to ask a thousand more questions—like how her demon was helping and why she was in an illegal contract with him—but this wasn’t the time or place for that discussion.
She adjusted the chain around her neck, the infernus hidden under her sweater. “I don’t know what it will look like yet, but saving Ezra will involve some sort of ritual. We’ll need a private location where we can set up a Demonica circle. Can you find one for us?”
I straightened my spine. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“If it has an existing circle, that would save us some time.”
“Leave it to me.”
With a quick farewell, she hurried off to find Amalia, leaving me alone in the dim corner of the pub with my mind spinning. I couldn’t help with the grimoire, but now I had a job: to secure a secret location to perform the ritual that would unmake a demon mage, and all the better if it included a premade Demonica circle.
If only I had the slightest clue where to start looking.

Chapter Two
Smacking my fist into my palm with determination, I turned around, intending to rejoin Ezra and Aaron at the bar—and walked right into someone. I bounced off and caught myself on the back of a chair. My collision victim recovered with a slightly more graceful bobble.
I blinked at her. “Hey, Sabrina. Where’d you come from?”
“Just over there?” She canted her head toward Felix’s team, smiling wanly.
My spine-tingling diviner radar pinged. Sabrina’s pale blond hair was pinned back in a messy ponytail, and her makeup consisted of eyeliner, mascara, and maybe lip gloss—which, since she usually looked ready for a photoshoot, suggested something was off. Combine that with her pale complexion and the way her eyebrows were scrunched worriedly even as she smiled, and I was instantly concerned.
The last time I’d seen her looking this distraught, she’d snuck into the guild during an unbound-demon lockdown to tell my fortune. Not only had she predicted that Ezra, Aaron, and Kai would leave me—and possibly die—but she’d also predicted that I could change their fates with one crucial decision.
“How are you doing?” she began, her attempt at a conversational tone ruined by the intent way she stared into my face.