Then he pulled the demon from its shell and threw it up to Kirby, who hovered in place for four massive wing flaps before disappearing.

“We are the only ones who do this. Those things could have decimated this city. This one was likely headed to the water plant to poison the drinking supply. All three are stopped. And in just…”

“Fourteen minutes, Chris.”

“It’s just that you’ve been baiting these things with that kid, who is the only reason it’s even here,” Schulz said.

“It’s here to scout a way forward for the legions of Hell. Does that involve Declan? Yes. But the important thing is that it is here—on Earth, and therefore a danger to the entire planet. How do you catch a demon incarnate, Detective Schulz?”

“I don’t know. That’s your job.”

“Yes, it is. You ever work a case where you had to wait for a criminal to show himself? Where you had to trap him because he was too well-hidden to hunt?” Chris asked. Schulz gave a slow, reluctant nod. “It came with risks, didn’t it?”

The detective looked away for a second, then turned back and changed the subject. “What do we do with that?”

“Bag it, tag it, identify, and notify next of kin. In all honesty, you won’t likely even get that far. One of the fed agencies will likely seize it. Won’t be your problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got a demon to hunt,” Chris said, moving back to the car. Somehow, he didn’t think any of his comments had done a damn thing to change Schulz’s mind.

Chapter 31

“Yo bud, where’s your girl?” Mack asked, standing in the doorway of Declan’s room.

“Checking up on the twins and overall security. We’re locking down this place. All kinds of shit went down up on campus,” the witch said, glancing up.

Mack looked up and down the hallway before stepping into his buddy’s single room. “Yeah? Like what?” he asked, giving the door a shove before pulling the desk chair near to Declan, who was sitting on the bed.

“My new professor? The one you met yesterday when you almost wrecked her office? She was the effing demoness! Her name is Lilith. Tried to abduct me right in class.”

“What? How? It would have been full of students!” Mack said, sitting down in the chair. He seemed a bit distracted as he rummaged with his right hand in the pocket of his front-zip hoodie.

Declan held out his right wrist, shook his head at the round brown bracelet with an obsidian stone woven into the strands of braided leather. He pulled that hand back and held out the other wrist, which was bare. “She put these bracelets on most of the students’ left wrists.”