Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(60)

Zylas shrugged. “Something to hunt?”

I remembered the guild master Darius and his comrades. Did they know the demon was stalking their guild? I hoped they were safe.

“Now what?” I asked again.

Zylas hunkered lower, his tail swishing across the gritty concrete. “Ambush him. I will attack from behind, but I must get close. Any closer than this and he might sense me. If I use vīsh, he will know.”

I watched him, unnerved by the wicked cunning in his face as he plotted his attack.

“He might not come down, so I must go to him …” His stare turned to me and his eyebrows pinched together.

I leaned away from his intense assessment. “What?”

His mouth twisted. “You cannot do it.”

“Do what?”

“Get close enough. If I am inside the infernus, he will not sense me, but you would not get close enough—not while he is up high.”

I couldn’t scale the exterior of buildings, but that wasn’t the only way to reach a rooftop. “I could sneak through the interior.”

He considered that, then whipped back to face the distant building. “He is moving!”

A dark silhouette appeared on the rooftop, then broad wings spread. Tahēsh sprang off the building and glided away—in the opposite direction of our hiding spot.

“Where is he going all the sudden?” I demanded.

“If he goes to the ground, it is my chance,” Zylas growled, grabbing me around the waist.

He leaped. I choked back a scream as we plunged over the edge. He dropped down the side of the building and grabbed a windowsill. For an instant, my white face reflected in the glass, then Zylas let go. I clapped a hand to my eyes, holding my glasses in place as we plummeted another story. He jumped the rest of the way down, hit the pavement, and launched into a sprint.

Struggling for air, I yelped, “Stop! Stop!”

He skidded to a halt and I squirmed out of his arm.

“You’re crushing me,” I panted, massaging my ribs.

His tail snapped impatiently. “If you could go in the infernus, this would be easier.”

I decided to ignore that as I stepped behind him, grasped his shoulders, and jumped. He caught my legs and pulled them around his waist—then he was running again. He whipped around the corner and sprinted up the middle of the street. If there’d been cars on the road, he would’ve matched their speed.

One block flashed by, then a second, then a third. Ahead, the buildings separated to reveal a park, where erratic white light was flickering through the surrounding trees. Zylas dashed toward it. A streetlight glowed across a decorative wooden sign that read, Oppenheimer Park.

He sprang over the sidewalk, landed silently on the grass, and ducked into the shadowy trees. Tahēsh’s savage laugh floated out of the park, followed by the thud of a heavy body hitting the ground. I peered through the barren branches of a shrub.

Two vehicles were parked on the grass: a black van and an old red sports car, their headlights illuminating the scene. I blinked, then blinked again as though the sight might change if I focused my eyes differently.

The park was full of people and demons—three men in a cluster, one holding a heavy broadsword; two demons battling Tahēsh; and three other guys, one on the ground. The first three men were in mythic combat gear, but the others wore street clothes. They didn’t even have coats. Civilians who’d gotten caught in the fight?

Tahēsh had already hammered one demon into the ground and he spun, slamming his tail into the other.

Zylas let out a vicious chuckle. “Tahēsh is slow. I will tear him into pieces.”

“You can’t use any magic,” I warned him. “There are too many people. You have to pretend you’re enslaved.”

He grunted irritably—annoyed by the reminder and the restriction. Contractors couldn’t wield their demon’s magic, so even a single demonic rune would betray our secret.

The two non-combat guys had grabbed their friend—who seemed to be unconscious—and were heaving him toward the red car. The driver’s door flew open and a redhaired woman leaped out.

“What’s the plan?” I whispered.

“Wait,” Zylas crooned. “Wait for the right moment.”

Tahēsh and the upright demon were locked hand to hand, and the winged beast pushed into the other demon with superior strength.

“Get up!” one of the geared men yelled. “Get up, get up!”

The downed demon twitched pathetically, its tall, lean body gouged with wounds. It was contracted, I realized. Two of those men were contractors and the third was their champion.

The other group had loaded their friend in the car. Were they leaving? Good. The fewer witnesses, the better for—

“Demon magic! Get back!”

At the champion’s bellowed warning, the contractor team scrambled backward. Crimson magic spiraled around Tahēsh, a circle of runes spreading across the grass as he summoned a spell—something that would shred his opponent and the surrounding humans, who were far too slow to get clear.

“Zylas!” I gasped.

He shot out of the trees. As Tahēsh’s spell blazed, the magic seconds from detonating, Zylas streaked between the two vehicles and charged straight for Tahēsh. Reaching the glowing circle, he sprang, twisted, and landed in a backward skid.