Jill groaned. “Blue Runners and Minute rice? Dear God, my mama would be having a stroke if she saw that.”

Jill was from New Orleans, with a mama who probably cooked red beans and rice every Monday, according to New Orleans tradition. With real red beans that had been soaked overnight and real rice.

“What, you thought my aunt was going to teach me how to cook?” I snorted, then looked at Kehlirik. He was carefully scraping the last dregs from the bowl with the side of the spoon. My mouth twitched. “That was acceptable, honored one?”

The demon rumbled. “Most acceptable. I have never had reason to sample the food of this realm. I find it quite interesting.”

“Great. Put him on the Food Channel,” Jill said sourly. “Can we please get back to this whole business of you summoning demons?”

“Look, they’re not evil. Demon is just the term that they’ve had for centuries, and it was sorta co-opted by various religions and turned into an evil-creature definition. They’re really more like aliens, except that they’re from a different plane of existence instead of from a different planet.”

Jill regarded me, a sour look still on her face, blue eyes fixed on me. I suddenly realized I was scared to death that she was going to walk out and never speak to me again. And I wasn’t sure if I could handle it if she bailed.

“Jill,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice steady, “I’m still me. I’m not a bad person.”

She blinked. “I know you’re not bad,” she replied, as if shocked at the idea. She fell silent for several heartbeats, then threw up her hands. “What the fuck. As dark secrets go, this is a doozy, but you’re still the coolest chick in Investigations.” She smiled at me, and I returned the smile in weak relief, literally gripping the counter behind my back to support myself.

Kehlirik daintily wiped the corner of his mouth with one claw as he handed the bowl to me. “My thanks, summoner. The wards laid by Zhergalet throughout the house have been removed.” He flared his nostrils. “You will need to restore these yourself or summon another to renew them for you.” He huffed softly. “You should attempt to do it yourself, even if you must summon guidance. You have the strength for it, if not the experience.”

I felt like I was being counseled by a professor. “Do you know anything more about why those wards were placed on the library?”

His heavy brow drew down. “I have formed some theories, but I would need to gather more information before I would be willing to give voice to them.” He settled his wings and folded his arms across his chest. “Lord Rhyzkahl has a message for you. He desires you to summon him, and he has given his word that there will be no reprisals for doing so.”

I felt rooted to the spot. I had certainly not expected anything like that. The no reprisals thing was pretty damn important, but my mouth still went dry at the thought of summoning him. Demonic lords considered a summoning of their person to be an affront and an insult of the highest order, which meant they had an annoying tendency to slaughter any summoner who actually managed to bring them through successfully. But if Rhyzkahl had truly promised that there would be no reprisals, that meant I could do a far less rigorous summoning ritual, since I wouldn’t have to maintain ten jillion levels of protections to keep from being torn to shreds. Also, if he wanted to be summoned, that meant the pull through the portal would not be as difficult. It would be damn near as simple as a first-level summoning.

So, now I was torn. In the past few weeks I’d come to accept that I’d seen the last of the angelically beautiful and deathly powerful demonic lord. I’d had no reason to believe that I would ever see him in the flesh again. Not when such summonings were so dangerous. I still dreamed of him, but those dreams were nothing like the utterly realistic sendings of before, which had been possible due to a link he’d placed on me when I accidentally summoned him. I’d come to the conclusion that the link had been broken when I passed through the spheres and re-formed on earth, but there was a part of me that wasn’t so sure. Could he still be touching me through the link? Or was I dreaming of him because my subconscious couldn’t control itself?

Then again, if he wished me to summon him, my questions surrounding the dreams seemed rather irrelevant now.

“Did he say—” I cleared my throat and tried again. “Did he say why he wanted me to summon him?”

“He did not advise me of such, merely bade me give you the message.” He lowered his head and looked at me with his ruddy eyes. “The moon is still full enough tonight.”

I controlled the urge to rub the gooseflesh on my arms. “You may tell him that you have delivered the message.” I had no idea whether I would comply or not. But I did miss Rhyzkahl, in a weird way. I was well aware that he wanted to use me, but he had given me a chance to live, and he’d been under no duress whatsoever to do that. And then he’d informed me that he’d taken the payment for it already, telling me in not so many words that I didn’t owe an honor debt to him. That was important, since honor was pivotal in the demon realm. Oaths were law, and you impugned the honor of a demon at your own peril. “Kehlirik, was there something else you wanted to speak to me about?” Something about Ryan? I added silently.

The demon seemed to hesitate for a breath before shaking his head. “I did, but it is no longer of any import.”

Maybe it had nothing to do with Ryan after all, I thought, but Kehlirik spoke before I could do more than wonder.

“Summoner, I have been here overly long.”

Suddenly I could feel it too, though I hadn’t realized it until he said something about it. I felt stretched and on edge, like the feeling you get when you’re positive that something hideous is about to happen. But now that he’d identified the cause of it, I relaxed. It wasn’t a premonition—merely the arcane bindings that were connected to me stretching and warping from long use that they weren’t designed for.

“Yes, of course. Kehlirik, I thank you for your aid, and for your gift.”

He inclined his head. “And I thank you for the meal.” He crouched before me. I hesitated, not certain if I wanted to do a dismissal in front of Jill. But, hell, might as well give her the full initiation now. I lifted my arms and started the dismissal chant, using the words to shape my will. A cold wind swirled through the kitchen, and I heard Jill’s surprised yelp. A slit of blinding light appeared behind the demon like a rent in the cosmos—which it basically was. Kehlirik threw his head back and let out a loud bellow as the light swallowed him, and an instant later both light and demon disappeared with a loud crack like a breaking glacier.

I pushed my hands through my hair, then slid a cautious look at Jill. She was staring at the place where the demon had been, lips pressed together, frowning. Then she took a deep breath and looked at me.

“Okay,” she said in a shockingly calm voice. “That pretty much takes care of the possibility that you were playing some sort of elaborate practical joke on me with someone in a really good costume.”

I gave a breathless laugh as I pulled myself onto a stool. Dismissals were tiring, and I’d already started out exhausted. “Sorry, chick. That was the real thing.” I looked at her warily. “Are you … I mean, is this going to be …” My words trailed away. I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted to know.

“Oh, hell, Kara. I’ve always known that you were more than a little off. Now I know why. If anything, the knowing makes you a lot easier to understand.”

I smiled, woozy with relief and gratitude. I could feel tears forming and I sniffled. She gave me a mock glare. “Don’t you fucking cry on me, bitch.”

I laughed, scrubbing away the beginnings of the tears. “Not a chance.”