I jumped when Jenks landed on my shoulder. Beside me was Trent, and I grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the kitchen. There had to be a back door. Vivian and Pierce could take care of themselves. My phone was ringing again, and I ignored it.

“Nice going, Trent,” I said as I yanked us to a halt to avoid a panicked waitress, her eyes black in fear. “I had this under control until you called in Ku’Sox.”

“Yeah, you stupid cookie maker,” Jenks snarled, resting on my shoulder. “Quit trying to help, okay?”

“I didn’t call him. He just showed up,” Trent said indignantly, and I would have laughed but it sounded too familiar. “Why don’t you just hit him with some magic?” he said, and I stopped in the hallway, just outside the kitchen doors. People were screaming, trying to get out, but no one was coming this way.

“What, and end up dead?” I said, not having a problem admitting that there were people stronger than me. “Ku’Sox almost killed Al,” I said, my pointing arm dropping when I realized Ku’Sox was eying the frantic people as if mentally culling the herd. “I can’t beat that! You freed a serial killer!”

Trent flinched, but I think it was from the explosion behind me more than from what I’d said. I spun to the wave of heat at my back, and by the familiar green tint to the fading aura, I’d guess that Ku’Sox had deflected one of Pierce’s curses. A table was burning with a green flame, and the fire licking the nets was beginning to crawl along the ceiling. A drop of it fell to the floor, and I felt myself pale when someone collapsed with an ugly scream, writhing in pain and clutching his leg. In three seconds, the man was engulfed, creating a second panic as people trampled one another to get away.

Okay. Safety note. Don’t step in the green fire.

“Pierce!” I shouted. The choking air smelling like burned limes. “You’re hurting people!”

His long coat furling, he spun to me. My face went cold. There was no remorse in him, no softness. Only the demands of the fight. “He needs to die in flame!” Pierce shouted angrily. “Demons die in flame!”

True, but so do people.

I strengthened my hold on the ley line when Ku’Sox started for Ivy, but the shrill sound of the man burning pulled Ku’Sox’s attention like a siren’s song. He shifted his focus and started for the screaming man instead, flinging people aside if they didn’t move fast enough. Standing before the writhing man, Ku’Sox hesitated for a blissful second, soaking in the sound of the alarm and the fleeing people as the man gurgled his last. The demon’s eyes widened in anticipation, and he flushed before plunging his hands into the slumped, still-burning form. Ku’Sox shuddered in pleasure, his expression one of gleeful enthusiasm. Pulling back, his two-handed grip was holding something hazed with a soft glow. Holding it over his head, Ku’Sox squeezed his hands and a black, viscous substance oozed from his fingers to fall into his mouth. His soul? Was it the man’s soul, burnt and burning?