I raised my eyebrows at that and she smiled. “If there’s one thing I was born to do, it’s break through wards. They so often contain the things that I want.”

“Alrighty then.”

She poured her potion into two mugs, handing one to me and one to Vas. Mine tasted like lemon and ginger. From the look of disgust on Vas’s face, his tasted like a potion from a black witch. I gave Hannah a look and she smiled at me.

“I have to get my pleasures where I can find them, and the young demon has been mean to me.”

Vas gulped his potion down. “I don’t like black witches.”

Hannah shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “I don’t like bigoted demons.”

Vas bared his teeth, and I shook my head at him. I’d never seen him act this way with anyone. Something was going on.

“You prey on the weak, witch. It’s not bigotry.”

Hannah’s face turned hard, the wrinkles around her mouth deepening as she narrowed her eyes at him. Her hand clenched on the wooden spoon she was holding, and I prepared to jump between them. Something was going on with Vas’s power, and I didn’t know if he could take down a black witch of Hannah’s power level.

I cleared my throat. “Cash or Venmo, Hannah?”

She finally pulled her gaze away from the demon. “Cash. I don’t need any transactions connecting us. You know how it is.”

Yeah, I knew how it was. If I was caught, anyone who helped me was at risk. Hannah was covering her ass.

She opened her mouth and muttered a word I couldn’t catch. A dull pop sounded, and I felt the spell smooth over my skin. Vas shot me a questioning look and I nodded. We were now invisible to everyone but each other.

Vas stalked behind us as Hannah led us out of her home. I turned to her once we were on the porch. “Thank you.”

She nodded in the direction of my voice. “You’re welcome, halfling. Happy hunting.” She turned, walking slowly back into her house. I glanced at Vas as she closed the door. When they’d first met, Hannah had teased the demon. Now, she seemed almost lost.

“I think you hurt her feelings.”

He cursed and prowled down the porch steps, holding out his arms. “Let’s go.”

I gave up. I had enough problems of my own. If he wanted to be pissy because we were working with a black witch, that was his prerogative. In the meantime, we needed to get to the auction.

* * *

Danica

The problem with being invisible was that you forgot how many tiny sounds you made without even noticing. Well, I did, anyway. Vas moved soundlessly through the night, shooting me the occasional dirty look as I scuffed my foot, breathed too loudly, or brushed up against a wall.