Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(66)

I reclaimed my phone and called her number. It clicked straight to voicemail.

“Hey, it’s Robin,” I said. “Where are you? Please call or text me right away so I know you’re all right. I’m heading over to the guild, but I’ll have my phone.”

I ended the call, then sent her a text saying the same thing. Worrying my bottom lip, I used the bathroom, brushed my hair, and mourned my wrinkled outfit. But without a change of clothes, my bookworm look would have to do.

As ready as I would get, I stared at the bedside table. Creeping over as though I might disturb a sleeping beast, I slid the drawer open and peeked inside. The infernus lay where I had left it. If I didn’t wear it, could Zylas still hear my thoughts? Was he waiting for me to call him out?

My throat worked, my innards twisting. I slowly closed the drawer again. With a final glance back, I left the motel room.

I couldn’t control Zylas. If I brought him with me, he could kill again. For all I knew, I might be heading toward my own arrest—and I would not let him kill the MPD agents who were rightfully protecting people from out-of-control demons and their selfish contractors.

Achingly aware of how alone I was, I walked away from the motel and the infernus.





The cab dropped me off a block from the guild. I could’ve walked the entire distance, but that would’ve meant thirty minutes alone with my thoughts.

As I turned the corner and faced the guild’s green awning, I cringed in anxious anticipation—but the street looked exactly as it had three days ago. I cautiously approached the door, unsure what I’d expected. Lines of police tape? A white outline of Todd’s body on the sidewalk? The only sign that a man had died here last night was a dark patch on the dirty concrete. Had it rained, or had someone washed the blood away?

My nerves prickled again. I circled the building and used the side entrance as Tae-min had instructed, punching a six-digit code into the panel beside the door. Ascending to the second level, I peeked into the common room. It was empty. Like Tae-min, the guild’s exhausted members had gone home to sleep and recuperate after spending three straight days hunting Tahēsh.

I continued to the third floor. Tae-min had said the GM’s office was at the end of the hallway. Six doors lined the bland corridor, all closed, but the one directly ahead was open, revealing the corner of a steel desk.

Deep breaths. I tried to remember the advice of my current self-help book, but it felt like months, rather than a week, since I’d last picked it up. I couldn’t even think of a famous mythic from history to inspire me, my mind stubbornly blank.

Raising my chin, I strode to the open door and peered inside. A man sat at the desk, his attention on his computer monitor and his back to a large window with a drab view of the street below. He looked like a Viking in a business suit—bulky, blond, thick beard, deep-set eyes, and a hooked nose.

I raised my hand to knock on the open door, but he looked up first. Surprise splashed over his face, then vanished so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined it.

“Robin Page, I assume,” he barked in a deep, gravelly voice. “About time. You were supposed to come last night.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” I muttered, racking my brain in panic. What was his name? Tae-min had mentioned it, but I couldn’t remember. Crap crap crap.

“Sit down,” he ordered, thrusting his beard toward the plain office chair waiting in front of his desk. As I sank into the seat, he picked up the cellphone beside his elbow, tapped at the screen, then set it down. He returned to squinting at his monitor.

I waited another few seconds, then cleared my throat. “Um, sir?”

“Impressive work last night, Page,” he grunted. “The MPD just issued the paperwork for your bonus.”

“My bonus?”

“For the demon kill. Two hundred grand, split seventy-thirty between you and the guild.” He drummed his fingers on the desktop. “They’re generous with bonuses for unbound demons. Want to ensure everyone is as motivated as possible to take it out fast.”

“Oh,” I said faintly, struggling to appear calm. Any minute now, he would ask about Todd. Someone had found the body and moved it. The GM must know Todd had been murdered. The MPD had to know. The investigation would’ve begun hours ago. “Is … is that what you wanted to see me about?”

He glanced at his phone, its screen black. “Your demon is a new House, is that correct?”

“Um … well, it’s rare,” I hedged.

“Who’s the summoner?”

I kept my expression as neutral as I could. “I’m sorry, but that’s confidential.”

“What about the unbound demon? What do you know about it?”

Fresh alarm blared through me. “What do you mean?”

His cold eyes fixed on me. “I’ve done a lot of research into the Houses. The unbound demon matched the descriptions I’ve found of the First House, but that lineage has been lost since the Athanas summoners disappeared at the turn of the last century.”

I froze, unable to breathe.

“They’re said to be the only summoner line to have possessed all twelve names. And your demon matches no description I’ve ever read.” He leaned forward. “Didn’t your champion mention family secrets?”

My mouth hung open, horror rooting me to the spot. The Athanas summoners. I knew that name, but not because I’d ever read about famous Demonica mythics of the past. Athanas was my grandmother’s maiden name. My mother once told me how all the women in our family had kept the Athanas name until my great-grandmother, who’d abandoned it before emigrating from Albania. I’d never thought to question my mom about the story.