“A demon won’t go out of his way to track you down when there’s easy prey all around him. It’s the Duskoff you need to be concerned with.”

“Great.”

Together they mounted the stairs to her apartment. When they reached the top, Sarafina stilled, staring at the door. Theo followed her gaze, saw that it was ajar.

“Stay back,” he ordered her. “And keep the dog quiet.” He approached the door carefully, wincing every time the old floorboards beneath his feet squeaked. With his metaphysical grasp, he loosely fisted a couple of defensive charms from his stores of magick and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

Sunlight streamed in from huge windows in the living room and small kitchen, bathing brightly patterned furniture and throw pillows in buttery light and nourishing the five hundred houseplants in her apartment. Nothing seemed out of place in the small, comfortable-looking place. Her apartment was a lot like her: friendly and beautiful.

But someone was in here; Theo could sense their presence.

Behind him, out in the corridor, Grosset yapped.

A brunette stepped out of the kitchen at the sound, took one look at him, and let out a scream so loud Theo swore his eardrums popped.

Sarafina raced past him and threw herself into the woman’s arms, who only then ceased her ear-piercing shriek of terror. Grosset danced around the woman’s feet.

“Maria, it’s okay! I’m okay,” Sarafina said.

Maria held her at arm’s length, letting out a stream of Spanish before switching to English. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been so worried about you.” She glanced at Theo, then at Sarafina’s clothes. “Don’t tell me that you . . . you . . .” She waved her hands.

“Uh, Maria, this is Theo,” Sarafina interrupted, blushing. “Theo, Maria. She’s a good friend of mine. Theo is . . . he’s . . .” Sarafina’s blush deepened.

Maria gave him a slow once-over, female appreciation on her face. He was familiar with it, even though he almost never welcomed it.

Theo shifted and looked out the living room window, clearing his throat.

“So, what’s going on, sweetie?” Maria asked. “Everyone expected you home from Kentucky three days ago. When you didn’t show up for work, Daniel was really concerned. You need to call him. Even Alex has been beside himself.”

“I’m sorry, I—” Sarafina broke off. Clearly, she was looking for a way to explain her absence without revealing the truth and was at an uncharacteristic loss for words.