Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(23)

I stared at the silver pendant.

“Allow the demon any free will, and it’ll find a way to kill its contractor.”

“Why would a demon ever agree to that?” I whispered.

“Because of the slim chance they’ll outlive their contractor and make it back home.”

“How do they—”

“Amalia!” Kathy’s buzzard call echoed up the stairs. “Travis! Dinner is ready.”

Amalia plucked the infernus out of my hands and chucked it onto her desk. “Let’s go eat.”

I followed her out of the room, feeling numb. Zylas’s vicious snarl replayed in my head. Tell them my bones will turn to dust in this cage, because I will never submit.

No wonder he refused to so much as speak to his summoners. I was surprised he’d spoken to me; I was a human, just like the ones who’d torn him from his home and were forcing him to choose between enslavement and death.





Standing on my tiptoes, I watched the car’s taillights retreat up the long drive to the front gate. Uncle Jack, Claude, and Travis had loaded into the car before it set out. They probably wouldn’t be gone long—Uncle Jack wouldn’t want to miss Zylas’s “breaking point”—but it would be long enough. I hoped.

I backed away from the window, scooted across the luxurious bathroom, and peeked out the door. On the main level, a TV talk show echoed from the family room. Kathy commented on something, and Amalia’s softer voice replied. Good.

I snuck the long way around—sometimes the sheer size of this house was a blessing—and trotted down the basement stairs. Turning the lights up enough to see, I entered the library.

The usual pitch darkness filled Zylas’s circle, and the room hadn’t changed in the five days since my last visit. I zipped around the silent dome and was already crouching in front of the bookshelf when I realized what I was seeing.

The lowest shelves, where all the Demonica books had been stacked, were empty. Frantically, I pawed through the other titles. Arcana, Spiritalis, Psychica, Elementaria. That was it. Not a single book related to Demonica remained.

My hands tightened into fists. Damn it! Uncle Jack must have moved them! What was I supposed to do now?

I growled under my breath. All this time wasted planning and waiting for a chance to sneak down here, and my uncle was way ahead of me. I should’ve realized he wouldn’t leave the books lying around. He’d beat me to this just as he’d beaten me to the grimoire.

Dropping onto my butt, I reluctantly scooted one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to face the black circle. “Zylas?”

As usual, he ignored me. In his mind, I was an enemy now.

“I have a question,” I said, tugging the sleeves of my sweater over my hands. It was always so cold in here. “If you answer, I’ll bring you something tomorrow night.”

Silence.

“Did you see who moved the books from this shelf and where they took them?”

I was hoping Uncle Jack had hidden the books somewhere else in the library. He was lazy enough to half-ass it like that, and if he had, Zylas would’ve witnessed it.

The demon continued to give me the silent treatment. He must really hate me now that he suspected I was in cahoots with Uncle Jack.

“I know you don’t trust me,” I tried, feeling like I was talking to a wall. “I just need this one answer. I won’t ask for anything else.”

Again, nothing. I heaved a frustrated sigh, but beneath my irritation, concern sparked. Demons got weaker the longer they were in the circle, and Zylas had just hit ten weeks. Five days ago, when I’d last seen him, he’d seemed tired and his eyes had been dull. Had he reached his breaking point?

“Are you still there?” I inched closer to the silver inlay, my heart picking up speed. “I’m not leaving until you acknowledge me,” I threatened. He didn’t know I had to get back upstairs before Uncle Jack returned. “I’ll sit here all night and annoy you.”

Folding my arms, I counted to thirty, then opened my mouth to berate him again.

“Go away.”

My breath caught. His voice was a dry whisper. I couldn’t even hear his usual irritation.

“Zylas? Are you okay?”

He ignored me again.

“Let me see you.” I scooted closer, my knees inches from the circle’s edge. “Come on. If you do, I’ll bring you something extra good next time I can sneak down here.” I counted to thirty again. “If you don’t reveal yourself, I’ll throw a bucket of cold water on you.”

To my surprise, the darkness in the circle swirled away, and my heart lurched again. Zylas lay on his side, arms wrapped around his middle, legs pulled up. He made no attempt to straighten as the last of the shadows faded. He didn’t even open his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I gasped. “Are you …”

I couldn’t finish the question, since the answer seemed obvious. The demon in the circle grew weaker and weaker, then …

His eyes cracked open. No longer crimson and glowing, they were dark, empty pits. “Come to watch me die, payilas?”

“No. No, I …” Demon or not, I didn’t want to watch him die. I didn’t want to see anyone die.

He hadn’t asked for this. Human magic had dragged him out of his world and chained him to this room to perish slowly. He was dying … because Uncle Jack had gotten his filthy hands on my mother’s grimoire. Without it, he could never have summoned Zylas.