Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(33)

The sounds blurred too, mashing together until I couldn’t hear anything but the roaring blood in my ears. My body had gone numb. Was I shivering? Was I trembling? Was I still breathing?

“Do not die, payilas.”

I was lying on my back.

A hand was pressed to my chest and heat was flowing into me.

Another hand was pushing my bleeding arm into the floor as power crackled against my skin. My eyelids fluttered.

Zylas was crouched over me. Crimson light veined his right hand and crawled across my chest, sinking into my body like water into sand. Under his other hand, the one crushing my arm, a two-foot-wide red circle glowed across the floor, its interior filled with shifting runes.

At the edge of my vision, beyond the fallen podium, Hulk lay face down in a puddle of blood. Vince was slumped spread-eagle against a broken bookshelf, surrounded by scattered leather tomes and his head resting unnaturally on his shoulder. His dead eyes stared at the empty summoning circle.

Red magic blazed around me. Concentration tightening his face, Zylas murmured rapidly, the words flowing in the rhythm of an incantation. Power coursed down his arm and flooded the spell. Luminous magic gathered in my bleeding wounds.

His eyes, bright with power, caught on mine. Then he snarled a final command, electric heat exploded through his spell, and heart-stopping agony cleaved through my arm.





Chapter Fourteen





“Robin,” Mom sighed as she dabbed ointment on my hand, “what have I told you about getting Daddy or me to help when you want to try something new?”

I stared glumly at my sliced finger, tears brimming in my eyes. On the table beside me, an old book with its cover removed was splattered in scarlet droplets. A box knife lay beside it, abandoned when I’d cut myself.

“I’ll teach you all about restoring books when you’re older,” Mom promised as she wrapped a bandage around my finger. “Let’s clean this up, all right?”

I helped her gather the tools, and we carried them from the kitchen into her home office. Her dark ponytail bobbed with her lively steps, dark-rimmed glasses sliding down her small nose. Her blue eyes were just like mine.

She opened the cabinet in the corner and set her tools in the bin—the same bin I’d “borrowed” them from. I added my armful, feeling guilty.

She reached for the top shelf and lifted down a small object wrapped in crisp brown paper. “When you’ve mastered book restoration, you can help me with this.”

She opened the wrapping. Inside was a thick journal-sized book. A tarnished buckle held the ancient leather cover closed, and sheets of white paper stuck out the top, revealing glimpses of my mom’s loopy scrawl.

“This book is very special, and someday, it’ll be yours. Before you inherit it, we’ll finish restoring and translating it.” She beamed at my awed expression. “It’ll be a mother-daughter project, just for us, and when you have a daughter of your own, you’ll pass this book on to her.”

I frowned. “What if I don’t have a daughter?”

She tweaked my nose playfully. “A worry for another day, Little Bird. Shall we find Daddy? He’s lost in yardwork again.”

As she ambled out of the office, I blinked up at the cabinet, the secret, special book hidden on the top shelf.

“Robin!”

My cut finger twinged painfully. I held it up—and terror flooded me as red liquid spurted through the Band-Aid.

“Robin!”

Cuts opened on my thin arm, the three gashes pouring blood over the hardwood floor. I screamed—

“Robin!”

Hands shook my shoulders roughly. My eyes flew open.

Amalia leaned over me, her face pale. The library lights blazed, illuminating the horrific scene. The empty summoning circle. Blood everywhere. Two bodies. I gagged on the stench of death.

“Is she awake?” Uncle Jack’s shout made me jump. He appeared beside Amalia, his face splotched with pink and a vein throbbing on his bald head. “What happened?”

I cringed back from his furious holler.

He stooped, grabbed the front of my t-shirt, and yanked my torso off the floor. “Robin, where’s the demon?”

“That’s your first question?” Amalia yelled. She shoved his hands away and put her arm around my shoulders, helping me sit up. “If you won’t ask if she’s okay, at least ask about Travis before the goddamn demon!”

“Someone stole it,” Uncle Jack spat. “I want answers! Robin, tell me what happened!”

“I—I heard noises in the basement, so I came to see and I saw … I saw the bodies.” My gaze darted to Vince and Hulk. “I don’t remember anything else. I think I fainted.”

“What about the demon?”

“What about Travis?” Amalia burst out, glaring at her father.

I swallowed painfully. “I d-don’t know. I … I never saw Travis. The circle was empty when I came in.”

Swearing, Uncle Jack stormed across the room. “Those backstabbing bastards! They stole my demon! How did they get it to agree to a contract? Travis is in league with them, I know it.”

“Or he’s missing because he’s in danger!” Amalia cut in loudly. She lifted her arm off me, her nose wrinkling. “You’re drenched in blood, Robin. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”