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A high-pitched giggle parted the crowd before a small demon with pale green skin ran after the demon dog. Air whooshed out of my lungs as the child ran down the street with his apparent pet, chuckling and waving. I’d never seen a demon child, not that I knew of. Obviously, they existed since their kind procreated. They couldn’t be made. Rumors floated around about the demon queen in Chicago turning humans once with a special dagger, but it had been destroyed years ago.
The young demon acted like any kid playing through a neighborhood. I always imagined them as tiny terrors like something out of a horror movie.
I turned a corner and headed to the demon lord’s house. Before going through the Underworld door hidden in Bonaventure Cemetery, I memorized a map to Karn’s mansion. After traveling through a dense forest, the eerie, twisting trees had opened to a city with stone walls and an iron gate rising toward the sky.
Vlehull.
Coltrane obtained intel that Lord Karn was hosting a party tonight, which would present the perfect opportunity to slink through his home and steal the Infernal Sol.
Karn’s mansion stood in the heart of the city like a mini gothic castle among the oddly shaped buildings. A line of demons—some dressed in clothes like mine while others donned fancier attire—meandered around, awaiting entrance into the manor. The high demons appeared as human as me, and some dux demons kept their glamours up even in the Underworld. Others preferred their nightmarish natural form with horns, sharp teeth, colorful flesh, scales, or all of the above.
“If you’re not on the list, your entrance will be denied.” A massive dux demon—sans his glamour—guarded a fence and held a leather-bound book. “Later, if the lord feels generous, he may allow some of you inside.”
I slinked behind a group of well-dressed demons as they approached the security guy, their heads held high and noses upturned. They reeked of arrogance and superiority.
They were definitely invited.
“Stacia Morenz and guests,” the woman said, tapping her black stiletto and waving the hem of her nearly sheer dress.
The demon checked his book and nodded before opening a bone gate into Karn’s small yard. “Have a delicious time.”
My heart slammed against my rib cage as I tailed them through the skull-topped poles framing the entrance, my hand going to one of the knives strapped to my thigh. Plenty of demons carried weapons. None of them had a dagger with a secret compartment full of Demise, though.
The guard’s sharp blue gaze skimmed over me as I followed the group, but he didn’t stop me from entering the large, scarlet front doors. Now, I was locked in and surrounded by the enemy.
Black and white tiles stretched across the foyer, and eerie music played in the mansion, growing louder the farther I traveled. After passing through a decorative archway, a grand room in gothic decor unfurled, boasting a collection of black, white, and blood-red accents mixed with muted silvers.
Demons swayed in the middle of the room to the unusual melodies while others lounged on chairs and couches, drinking from gold and silver chalices. Chills scuttled down my back as Karn’s presence throbbed on the left like a signal of terror.
The dux demon relaxed in a throne of bone, metal, and crushed red velvet, a jewel-incrusted silver cup dangling from his lazy grip. Golden hair curled around his sharp jaw, and his rosebud lips melted into a careless smile as the woman on his left leaned toward him. His long fingers clutched her chin, and I expected him to kiss her, but his mouth opened to suck a fine gossamer strand of light out of her.
Her soul.
Frost crawled over my veins as I studied the woman, her cheeks pale and eyes sunken in. She was human.
Instincts had my hand reaching for a dagger on my belt, and the urge to jab the blade into Karn’s chest screamed through my muscles. The whole point of becoming a raven was to protect the innocent.
But saving her would mean outing myself, and according to Coltrane, getting the Infernal Sol out of Karn’s possession took precedence over anything else.
The demon lord released her, and she staggered back into the seat next to him, a sleepy smile melting over her face. Some of the humans in that back room at Wrath & Ruin had the same look. She must have been high on Rapture. She’d probably fight me if I tried to pry her away from Karn.
With gritted teeth, I lowered my hand from the dagger’s hilt. I concentrated and glimpsed past the glamour around the demon lord, ghostly nails raking my shoulders. His blue eyes transformed to red orbs with thin black diamond pupils, and midnight horns curled from his head, parting his stringy, blond hair. Leathery bat wings moved behind his back, protruding from his scarlet blazer. Razor-sharp talons tipped the edges near his shoulders where a row of small horns spread out. Instead of flawless alabaster, his wrinkled, withered skin held a grayish hue.
The real Karn was a monster behind the young, pretty guise he used to lure victims in like the human at his side. She probably didn’t even realize she’d left Earth.
Chances were, she’d never make it back.
I rolled my shoulders and pressed into the room, determined to successfully complete this mission. I couldn’t disappoint Coltrane.
A staircase with crimson carpet and a silver railing split in the center and curled up to the second-story balcony overlooking the room. A few demons loitered around the edges, watching the party while they mingled and drank.
During debriefing, Coltrane explained that a witch had scried for the Infernal Sol and located it somewhere in the upper levels of Karn’s mansion. She also gave me Venari dust enchanted to find a trail to the powerful talisman.
I’d never used any magic potion or dust except Whither for dissolving bodies. Coltrane didn’t push for the ravens to be more involved with magic and supernatural defenses like some cities, but she’d made it clear how important getting the Infernal Sol was.
I pushed through the meandering demons, heading for the stairs when fingers curled around my arm.
My pulse soared as I twisted around, facing a male demon who towered over my petite frame. Lean muscles wrapped his body beneath his black shirt and jeans, and piercings ran down one ear. A half-smile cocked his lips.
