But for the moment I was safe in Algaliarept’s circle. What’s wrong with this picture?

Forcing my arms down from the tight grip around myself, I glanced at Piscary’s fake window, seeing the glint of sun on the highest buildings. Three minutes. I pushed my finger-tips into my forehead. “If I ask you to kill Piscary, will you call us even?” I asked as I looked up.

It struck a sideways pose. “No. Even though killing Ptah Ammon Fineas Horton Madison Parker Piscary is on my to-do list, it is still a request and would cost you, not absolve your debt. Besides, if you send me after him, he will likely summon me again as you did and you’d be right back where you started. The only reason he can’t summon me now is because we haven’t agreed on anything and we’re in summoning limbo, so to speak.”

It grinned, and I looked away. Piscary stood and listened, clearly thinking.

“Can you get me out of here?” I asked, thinking of escape.

“Through a ley line, yes. But this time, it will cost you your soul.” It licked its lips. “And then, you’re mine.”

Happy, happy choices. “Can you give me something to protect myself from him?” I pleaded, getting desperate.

“Just as expensive…” It tugged its gloves tighter to its fingers. “And you already have what you need. Tick-tock, Rachel Mariana Morgan. Anything that will save your life will require your soul.”

Piscary was grinning, and my stomach turned as he came to a standstill eight feet away. My eyes darted to my bag with the vial Kist had given me. It was out of reach on the wrong side of the barrier. “What should I ask for?” I cried desperately.

“If I answer that, you won’t have enough left to pay for it, love,” it breathed, bending close and sending my curls drifting. I jerked back as I smelled Brimstone. “And you’re a resourceful witch,” it added. “Anyone who can ring the city’s bells can survive a vampire. Even one as old as Ptah Ammon Fineas Horton Madison Parker Piscary.”

“But I’m three stories down!” I protested. “I can’t reach a ley line through that.”

Leather creaked as it circled me, hands laced behind its back. “What will you do?”

I swore under my breath. Past our circle, Piscary waited. Even if I managed to escape, Piscary would walk. It wasn’t as if I could ask Algaliarept to testify.

Eyes widening, I looked up. “Time?” I asked.

The vision of Kist looked at its wrist, and a watch twin to the one I had smashed with my meat tenderizer appeared about it. “One minute, thirty.”

My face went cold. “What do you want for you to testify in an I.S. or FIB courtroom that Piscary is the witch serial killer?”

Algaliarept grinned. “I like the way you think, Rachel Mariana Morgan.”