“Try it,” I threatened, reaching behind me to find the meat-tenderizing hammer hanging on the overhead rack. “You can’t touch me unless you go solid, and it’s going to hurt, red man.”

Brow furrowed in concern, Al hesitated. The thought flitted through me that it must be like swatting at a wasp. Timing is everything.

Ceri was wearing a smile I didn’t understand. “Algaliarept,” she said softly. “You made a mistake. She found a loophole in your contract, and now you’ll accept it and leave Rachel Mariana Morgan alone. If you don’t, I’m going to start a school on holding line energy.”

The demon’s face went blank. “Ah, Ceri? Wait a moment, love.”

Hammer in hand, I backed up until her bubble was cold at my back. Her hand reached out, and I jumped when she pulled me in, her circle flashing up almost before I knew it had fallen. My shoulders eased at the shimmer of black between us and Al. There was only the faintest glimmer of pale blue from her damaged aura visible through the smutAl had left on her. I patted her hand as she gave me a relieved, sideways hug. “Is that a problem?” I asked, not understanding why Al was so upset.

Ceri was positively smug. “I escaped him knowing how. He’ll get in trouble for it. Big trouble. I’m surprised he hasn’t been called up on it yet. But then, no one knows.” She turned her mocking green eyes on Al. “Yet.”

I felt an odd stab of alarm as I took in the savage satisfaction on her. She had known this all along, simply waiting until the information could best be used. The woman was more contriving than Trent, and she didn’t seem to have a problem gambling with people’s lives, either, mine included. Thank God she was on my side. She was, wasn’t she?

Al raised a protesting hand. “Ceri, we can talk about this.”

“In a week,” she said confidently, “there won’t be a ley line witch in Cincinnati that won’t know how to be their own familiar. In a year, the world will be closed to you and your kind, and you will have to answer for it.”

“Is it that big of a deal?” I asked as Al adjusted his glasses and shifted from foot to foot. It was cold away from the vent, and I shivered in my damp clothes.

“It’s harder to lull a person into foolish choices if they can fight back,” Ceri said. “If it gets out, their pool of potential familiars will be weak and undesirable in a matter of years.”

My mouth dropped open. “Oh.”

“I’m listening,” Al said, sitting with an uncomfortable stiffness.

Hope so strong it was almost painful raced through me. “Take your demon mark off me, break the familiar bond, agree to leave me alone, and I won’t tell.”