Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            I closed the door by leaning against it, unmoving for a moment as I stared at a slice of dimly lit sanctuary. Grab my bug-out bag, a few more books, detangler charms, leave a note for Bis. If Trent was in hiding, we might end up in the ever-after. Perhaps we could grab something to eat and the news at Dalliance.

            I pushed away from the door, already tired as I headed for the belfry stairway. Everything I needed apart from the detangler charms was up there. But then I hesitated, my nose wrinkling at the scent of burnt amber and redwood.

            “Al?” I questioned as I toe-heeled back to look into the sanctuary. My ley line was nearby in the graveyard. He might have popped over to tell me to stay out of the vault—now that I had access to it.

            But I stopped short at the open archway, my knees becoming watery. There was a new yellow-wax pentagram traced on the old oak timbers. It was huge, using the circular outline of the decorative replaced floor as its center. Burnt-out candles were little more than empty shells at the six corners. Half-charred satchels rested at each point, each a different chakra color. An ominous mound of greasy black ash spilled atop the floor beside it, and my largest copper spell pot lay in the corner, discolored as if from flame.

            “Jenks?” I called, a sick feeling trickling through me. Someone had done some major spelling in my sanctuary. It could have been Stef, but she would have cleaned up. Not to mention it smelled like burnt amber. That meant illicit magic. Someone twisted a dark curse in my church.

            But Jenks never showed, and I stared at the glyphs, sure they were the ones we had seen in Hodin’s room.

            Son of a bastard, Lee had twisted the chakra curse in my church. Hand over my mouth, I stared at the pile of sticky ash beside the circle, knowing it had once been a person. Bile rose, and I forced it down. The scent of ozone was long faded, but it was obvious that someone had died there.

            “When . . .” I whispered, books held tight to me as I inched forward. But the answer was obvious. He’d made it last night when I’d been at Trent’s apartment. Lee had killed someone in my church to make a spell, then coolly gone to the festival the next morning. He must have been surprised to find me there.

            “Stef?” I whispered. I reached for my phone to call her, fingers trembling. She was okay, seeing as she’d been at the hospital all night, but I didn’t want her to walk in on this.

            The stairs behind me squeaked, and I spun. “Stef, is that you?” I called, and then froze, expression empty. It wasn’t Stef. It was Lee. And he had a stack of books in his arms. My books.

            “Rachel,” he said, his smile as pleasant as if there wasn’t a dark pentagram adhered to the floor behind me. “I thought I heard someone come in. That wasn’t your car I heard drive up. I was hoping it was Stephanie.”

            “Where is she?” I said, my fear for Trent redoubling.

            Lee sniffed, his gaze going to the rafters before dropping to me. “Work?” he guessed. “They were incredibly busy when I left. I imagine they’re asking everyone to stay late, and she is so conscientious.”

            The grip on my bag tightened as I looked at the books in his arms. How the hell did he get past Al’s wards? But then I remembered he had been Al’s familiar once. He probably knew the password.

            “I know you’re the mage,” I said. “So does the I.S.”

            He frowned, a hand going to a shirt pocket. “Thank the Turn I don’t need to wear that stupid costume anymore. I bought it for Trent’s little party in the hopes of doing some snooping in his lower labs. But the costumer could never get the eyes right. Or the voice.”

            My gut tightened when his smile became predatory. “Rachel, what have you been doing?” he mocked as he pushed me deeper into the sanctuary one step at a time. “Illicit, dark magic?” he added as he dropped my books on Kisten’s cracked pool table and tugged his sleeves down as if ready to do a trick. “Do me a favor.” He settled his feet, balance firm. “Run, so I have a reason to use excessive force to bring you in.”

            I shook my head, retreating until that greasy ash circle was between us. “You know I didn’t do this. It’s not going to stick. Parker . . .” My voice faded. Anything Parker had said was now hearsay. It was my word against his. “Vivian knows I’d never do anything like this,” I said instead. “Where is Trent?”

            “Illicit magic books,” Lee said, glancing at the pile he’d taken. “Check. Possession of illegal artifacts to perform dark magic, check. Evidence of using them to perform dark magic . . . big red check there. You are so screwed. Right to an Alcatraz wall.”