“And it smells down here, too,” I added, wanting to make sure she called her friend the demon summoner and not the I.S. Pretending surprise, I brought out the high-magic charm. It was a bright red, and my fingers glowed from it. “Oh, yes, yes!” I exclaimed, looking at the crack and bobbing my head. “I will definitely have to report this to the demon manifestation department. Big magic within the last few days.”

David had his head down and was rubbing his forehead as Betty stared at me with wide, frightened eyes, tense and ready to run. Almost enough. Just one more nail.

“Next time you’re going to try to pass off demon damage as something else, Betty, you should wait until after the new moon for the accumulated smut they leave behind to be wiped off. Now you go toddle off and call your grand pooh-bah.”

Hand to her mouth, Betty fled. I tensed, not surprised when she slammed the door shut. The sound of the lock was ominous and the patter of her heels on the stairs entirely expected.

“Rachel…,” David complained.

“Hey!” I shouted when the lights went out. “Oh, nice,” I said, fists on my hips and frowning at the ceiling.

“This wasn’t the plan,” David said, and I heard his briefcase snap shut. Being a Were, his eyes had probably already adjusted to the thin glow coming in the sparse windows, but his approaching shadow was ominous-looking and creepy.

“Yes it was,” I said. “You wanted to know if the damage was demonic in origin, and I gave you my opinion.”

“I didn’t expect you to give it to me in front of her!” he exclaimed, then sighed, sitting back on the table with his case in front of him like a fig leaf.

“Sorry,” I said, and I jumped when his hand hit my shoulder. “I know these kind of people, and the head guy won’t show unless I call him out. She’s phoning him right now. We’ll have our chat, and we can all go home and enjoy trick-or-treats tonight.”

“Or they’ll keep us here until they summon your demon again.”

I laughed. “They wouldn’t dare. Jenks is outside, and I’m under Rynn Cormel’s protection. He’d wipe them out.” I hesitated. “Would you be more comfortable waiting aboveground?”

David moved to the window, a dark shadow that ghosted like a wisp of fog. “Yes. How do you plan on getting out of here? Blow the door off the hinges? My company won’t pay for that.”

“I’ve got Jenks,” I said, surprised he hadn’t shown up yet. If all else failed, David could boost me out a window. Betty was a boob if she thought we were going to stay here until they chose to deal with us.