She nuzzled his throat and gave a kiss to the sleep-warmed skin. “It’s not like I had a lot of choice.”

“True.”

“But I’m glad I’m here, too.” She sighed and tried not to think about the demon and failed. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“The usual. Later, once the sun goes down, we’ll hunt him. Take all our collective leads and search the locations where he’s known to hang out. At this point it’s the only thing we can do.”

“I hate just waiting around.”

“We’re doing all we can. I’ve got the few air witches in the Coven scanning for any whisper of his presence, all the water witches and earth witches using their skills to locate him. Until we get a break, that’s our best plan of action since we have no way to predict which witch he might target next.”

“Did Micah find anything else in the texts?”

Thomas sat up abruptly.

Isabelle pushed up onto her elbows. “What is it?”

He pushed a hand through his hair, his bicep flexing. Dark strands caught between his fingers. Thomas turned toward her. “I forgot to tell you last night. Once we got to my room—”

“We were occupied. What did he find?”

“Micah’s been scouring the texts for any hint of demon spells that open doorways. While you were out with Adam, he finally found something. There are several ways to do it, all requiring the type of blood magick Boyle is using. The spells work like combination locks. The demon consumes and stores the energetic magicks of the witches, much in the same way an earth witch consumes and stores spells. Each witch must have a certain magickal makeup and they must be killed in a certain order and at certain times. If the demon takes the right witches at the right times, it unlocks a doorway.”

Isabelle sat up straighter, pulling the sheet around her. “Magickal makeup?”

“As far as Micah can tell that means the witches must possess a certain kind of magick and a certain level of power. The power patterns of all the witches registered with the Coven have been documented.”

She pushed a hand through her sleep-tangled hair, thinking. “Can you get all the files on the witches the demon has killed?”

“Yes…why?”

I have work to do before you. That’s what Boyle had said in the library. Did that mean other witches to kill before he came for her?

“I want to see if there’s a pattern.”

He shook his head. “Even if we could find a pattern, I doubt we could predict the next witch he might go after. There are too many witches with similar power patterns for the information to be relevant. Micah has already thought about this. We wouldn’t be able to narrow it down enough for it to be useful.”