The only wild card was Bai, whether or not he’d pop back in.

The interior of the building was dark and oddly bare, yet the dry, bitter scent of myriad herbs hung in the air.

“They’re spell-casting,” Theo muttered to himself. “This is earth magick, but there’s another note in the air.”

Darren inhaled deeply. “Demon magick.”

Theo took a step forward, his hand securely in Sarafina’s. Damn, he did not like her in here. “What the hell—”

Something exploded at the back of the building, down a set of stairs leading into the darkness. Jack and Adam, both fire witches, stepped in front of him, blue flame licking eerily along their arms and torsos to light the way.

Theo had a charm of his own to use. He lit a small white orb that floated in front of him to illuminate the darkness. Then he gestured to Sarafina, who held fire in her hand to light her way, and they progressed down the stairs.

He didn’t want Sarafina to be a part of this confrontation. It would be her first as a Coven witch and she was still so new to her power. It was true that after a few hard bumps in the road of her training, she’d finally gotten the hang of defensive magick, but she lacked experience. Tension sat in his shoulders and back at the thought of her in a battle.

Yet in a battle with Stefan Faucheux, as much as the protector in him might want to shelter her, he couldn’t hold her back. He couldn’t stifle her and make decisions for her. Anyway, Sarafina had proved time and again that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

None of that was going to stop him from watching her back like a hawk in here, though.

The stairs let out into a long corridor that fed into a circular area with many more hallways. The smell of the herbs was growing more pronounced the farther they went into the structure. It seemed like they were headed in a downward direction, too, down into the earth. Theo could feel the resonance of it, thrumming through his blood and making his tats tingle.

“Shit,” said Adam, turning around. “This place is like the haunted house at the state fair.”

“What is Stefan doing in here?” Jack muttered.

“It’s dark, in the ground, and smells of earth magick with a twist. Smells like daaeman magick.” Theo paused. “He’s spell-casting with Bai in this place.”

The sound of something slamming to the floor and shouting came from their right. The scent of combined elemental magick rose, drowning out everything else. Apparently, the group Thomas led had found pay dirt.

Theo and the others ran toward the commotion. Light glimmered at the end of the corridor they’d turned down. Another flight of stairs.

Farther down into the earth.