Nick shoved the big book of demon spells in my bag. His bloody handprints were all over both of them. “No. And when the sun rises, poof, it’s gone. You’re safe. Hush.” He tucked my knife in my bag and stretched for my coat.

“We’re in a basement,” I protested. “There’s no sun down here.”

Nick ripped the lining from my coat and pressed it against my neck. I cried out as a pulse of ecstasy shot through me from the lingering effects of the vampire saliva. The bleeding had slowed, and I wondered if it was from Jenks’s pixy dust. Apparently it could do more than make people itch.

“It’s not sunlight that pulls a demon back to the ever-after,” Nick said, clearly thinking he had hurt me. “It’s something about gamma rays or protons. … Damn it, Rachel. Stop asking me so many questions. It was taught as an aid to understand language development, not to learn how to control demons.”

The demon was Ivy again, and I shuddered as it licked its red lips with a bloodstained tongue, taunting me. “What grade did you get, Nick?” I asked. “Please tell me it was an A.”

“Uh …” he stammered as he covered me with my coat. Looking frantic, he gathered me up in his arms, almost rocking me. My breath hissed in as my wrist throbbed in time with the pulses from my neck. “Easy,” he shushed. “You’ll be all right.”

“Are you sure?” came a cultured voice from the corner.

Nick’s head came up. Cradled in Nick’s arms, I stared at the demon. It was back to wearing a gentleman’s frock. “Let me out. I can help you,” the demon said, all congeniality.

Nick hesitated. “Nick?” I said, suddenly frightened. “Don’t listen to it. Don’t!”

The demon smiled over its smoked glasses, showing flat, even teeth. “Break the circle and I’ll take you to her Ivy. Otherwise …” The demon’s brow furrowed as if it was worried. “It almost looks as if there’s more blood outside of her than in.”

Nick’s gaze darted over the blood splattered on the walls and books. His grip on me tightened. “You were trying to kill her,” he said, his voice cracking.

It shrugged. “I was compelled to. By binding me in your circle, you rubbed out the one that was used to summon me. With it went any compulsion to do his bidding. I’m all yours, little wizard.” It grinned, and my breath came in a quick, fear-laced pant.

“Nicky …” I whispered as my blood-loss induced stupor was stripped away. This was bad. I knew this was bad. The remembered terror as it savaged me rose high. My pulse faltered as my heart tried to beat faster.

“Can you get us back to her church?” Nick asked.

“The one by the small ley line?” The demon’s outline wavered as its expression turned startled. “Someone closed a circle with it six nights ago. The ripple it sent through the ever-after shook the cups on my saucers, so to speak.” It tilted its head in speculation. “That was you?”