“Lame-ass witch?” Al looked at me over his glasses. “This here is coven quality, grade-A witch ass.” He hesitated, and Brooke took a clean breath as his fingers eased. “You want my help, you say?”

“Demon spawn!” Brooke rasped.

Al’s fingers tightened, and he shoved her head against the stone wall again with a thunk. “You say that like it’s an insult,” he murmured as she whimpered. Leaning toward her, he whispered something in her ear that made her eyes close in horror.

Vivian was inching closer, and I impatiently gestured for her to give me just one more minute. “Al, do this for me, okay? Can’t you just take someone I don’t know for once? I’m going to get blamed for this.”

Al leaned back from licking Brooke’s neck, tightening his grip on her until she started to claw at his hands around her throat. “You don’t belong here, Rachel. You belong with the demons in the ever-after.”

“Yeah, okay,” I admitted, and Vivian gasped. “I might belong with demons, but I belong here, too, as a member of society, not an outcast on the run, and this isn’t helping.” Moving closer, I put a hand on his arm. Brooke’s breath rasped, sounding pained. “I need your help. Please. I know how I can fix this, and I need to borrow a demon locator charm from you. I don’t have time to make a witch charm that I can’t invoke anyway.”

Al turned to me. He let Brooke breathe, and she took a gulp of air, her hands scrabbling at his grip on her neck. Behind me, Vivian’s foot scraped as she moved a step closer. Bis landed between us, and I felt better at his warning hiss. I didn’t dare turn to look.

“You’d rather use a demon curse? One I made?” Al asked, and I nodded, my face warm.

Brooke rasped, “Filthy demon sexpot.”

“Sexpot!” I exclaimed, affronted. “I have never had sex with Al!”

Al sighed. “More’s the pity,” he said, eying me. “You’d really enjoy yourself.”

I took a step back, wiping my hand on my jeans. “Not happening.”

Brooke suddenly screamed, and I winced, knowing Al was done messing around. “You, though,” he said as he flooded her with ever-after, “couldn’t survive sex with me, Brooke Sondra Stanton. I’d burn you out like dandelion fluff.”

Vivian was threatening to test Bis’s resolve, and I grabbed Brooke’s arm, taking the ever-after coursing through her into myself and leaving her untouched. It was a lot, and I winced as she sagged, gasping for air with little whimpers. Al frowned at me from under pinched brows, redoubling the force running through her.