“I have six brothers. You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Don’t you know who’s here?”

His attention subtly dropped to my hip before he jerked his gaze back up. “Have you come crawling back to beg for help? I’m not feeling very charitable today. Captivity doesn’t suit me.”

Demons invading my city, attacking my grandmother, stealing my cornicello, and murdering my sister didn’t suit me, either. Instead of arguing, I pulled a cannoli from the brown paper bag I’d tucked into my satchel. Nonna said you could catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I figured a cannoli would help me catch a prince of Hell just fine.

He looked startled when I handed it to him. “What is that?”

“Food. Unless you’ve been catching vermin, I doubt you’ve eaten.”

“I neither need human food, nor do I wish to taint my body with the foulness of it.”

I stared at him, horrified. After all the terrible things that had happened, this was putting me over the edge. “You really are a monster, aren’t you?”

“That doesn’t even look edible.” He took the cannoli between his two fingers and held it closer to inspect it. “What do you expect me to do with it?”

“Engage your enemies.”

He poked at the ricotta filling. “Is it poisoned?”

I sighed. “Just eat it, oh, mighty warrior. It’s for pleasure, not pain. I made them myself. I swear they’re not poisoned. This time.”

He looked skeptical, but took a bite. His attention flicked to mine as he chewed. I couldn’t help but grin as he took a larger mouthful, then grabbed a second cannoli from the bag. He was halfway through it when he noticed me still watching and scowled. “What?”

“I do not wish to taint my body with the foulness of human food,” I mocked. “But desserts are acceptable.”

He didn’t deign to respond. Instead he rummaged in the bag, frowning at the emptiness. He set it aside and looked me over again. “I imagine these delicacies were part of a larger scheme to infiltrate my defenses. You smell like blood that isn’t your own, your hair is tangled like some wild creature built a nest in it and invited its kin. My blade is missing from your hip. And you look ready to curse the world. What is it you desire to know, witch? What scared you?”

My hand moved to the place I’d been strapping his dagger. After the damage it had inflicted on my grandmother, I couldn’t stand the thought of holding it. Now I felt its absence almost as much as I missed my cornicello. “How would someone summon a Viperidae?”

“Someone with a sense of survival wouldn’t.”

“Maybe someone immortal and arrogant already did.”