“Ouch!” He laughed, but I could detect a forced edge to it. “All right, I’ll see you at ten.” And he turned and sauntered off to his car.

I watched him go, mentally thrashing myself for reacting like such an idiot. What the hell was wrong with me? I teased and joked with my coworkers all the time. So why the freak-out when Ryan did the same? He was teasing too. Right?

I exhaled as he backed out of the driveway and drove off. I had to face facts: I was no good at dealing with men. I couldn’t even tell if he had any real interest in me. How pitiful was that? Still, it wasn’t like I knew him all that well. We’d been thrown together for a month on the Symbol Man case, and that had pretty much been it. It was sad that my best friend was someone I barely knew, but even if I did know him, did I want to get involved with him?

Not sure. That was the best answer I could give myself. Not only did I not want to chance losing him as a friend, but I also didn’t know enough about him. The demonic lord Rhyzkahl had implied that Ryan was more than he seemed. Unfortunately, I’d had no chance to pursue that, as I’d been more consumed with finding a way to help my aunt. Hell, Rhyzkahl could have merely meant that Ryan had more arcane ability than he was letting on, or maybe even that he colored his hair. But the comment still bothered me, if only because it cast doubts I didn’t want to contemplate. I liked Ryan.

But enough about that. I had a demon to summon. And a U-Haul to rent.

My house was still pretty clean from my summoning the night before, which meant that all I had to do was scoop the dirty clothes off the floor and run the vacuum around. Clutter and messes could harbor pockets of unwanted energy, or so my aunt had always said—even though I was fairly sure that was merely a line of bullshit she used to make me clean my house occasionally. But I wasn’t going to tempt the fates by forgoing it.

Fortunately, the cleaning didn’t take much time at all, and once I’d made the necessary changes to my diagram for summoning a reyza instead of an ilius, I went to bed and slept for a solid four hours. I woke up at nine p.m., then took my shower and tried to convince myself I wasn’t being stupid for allowing Ryan to attend the summoning.

My stomach gave a nervous flip-flop, and I scowled. Fear had its place during a summoning—caution was always prudent, and a summoner had to maintain his or her guard in expectation of the worst. But fear that made for uncertainty or shaking hands was the sort that would get a summoner killed.

Of course, thinking about it that way didn’t exactly help control the fear. Don’t be afraid, because if you are, well, you know, you could die a miserable, bloody death.

“Been there, done that,” I muttered. Then I couldn’t help but smile. I had pretty much been through the worst that a summoning could offer, so what the hell was I worried about?

Fortunately, I didn’t have long to fret. At ten on the nose, the doorbell rang.

I pulled the belt on my robe tight and opened the door, gesturing Ryan in. He had a smile on his face.

“You’re going to transport a demon in a U-Haul truck?”

“Well, as you pointed out, it’s not like I can stuff him into the trunk of my car. Are you ready?”

He gave a shrug and a nod. “Ready as I can possibly be, I guess.”

I walked to the door that led to the basement, then stopped and turned to him. When I spoke, I kept my voice deathly serious, because this was deathly serious.

“Ground rules,” I said, holding up a hand. “Do exactly as I say. Stay exactly where I tell you. Keep your mouth shut unless I specifically tell you that you can speak, and then only say what I say you can say. And,” I took a deep breath, “do not mentally extend to feel anything arcane.”

His expression turned puzzled. “I … don’t know how to do that anyway.”

I scowled at him. “You think you don’t. And you probably don’t. But just in case you do and you feel something that you would like to feel more of—don’t!”

He nodded gravely. “I understand.”

I hoped he did. “All right.” I pulled the basement door open. “There are two circles down there. One’s big and complicated and has candles around it and is chalked out in all sorts of nifty colors. The other’s a lot smaller—chalked in blue and green by the wall opposite the fireplace. You get the small one. Go down the stairs and step into that circle without touching the chalk, then face the wall and close your eyes.”

He gave me another grave nod, then walked down the stairs and to the circle. To my intense relief, he didn’t waver at all from my directions and turned to face the wall.

I let out a breath. Yes, I was being a total chickenshit, but I preferred to change into my summoning garb downstairs in the summoning chamber. It might have been complete superstition on my part, but every time I’d tried to change upstairs, something had gone wrong with the ritual. And I wasn’t about to take a chance while summoning a reyza. I quickly slipped my robe off and folded it, then walked downstairs and tugged on my summoning garb—a simple gray silk shirt and pants, buttery soft and easy to move in.

You are such a weenie, I scolded myself. But I wasn’t about to let him see me naked. Though I’d briefly had the insanely wicked thought of telling Ryan that he had to be naked to be a part of the ritual …

Probably a good thing I’d chickened out on that as well. Distractions during summonings were bad. And, oh, how I would have been distracted!

I moved to the circle I had created for him and took a deep breath to settle myself. “You can turn around now and open your eyes,” I said. He did so, and even though his expression didn’t flicker, I was fairly certain that I caught an amused glint to his eye.

Yeah, I deserved that much. “Okay, you can stand or sit within the circle, but decide now, because once I get started I don’t want any movement from you. Also, no matter what happens, do not move from this circle.” He gave me another grave nod.

“All right, do you have any questions?”

He shook his head. “None for now.”

I smiled, working to control the nervous fluttering in my stomach. “I’ll get started, then.”

I pulled potency and activated the wards that I’d placed around his circle earlier, satisfied as they flared into life in shimmering blue and green that matched the chalked colors. Ryan could see the runes, I knew, which I hoped would make it easier for him to remember to stay put. I then turned and walked over to the main diagram, doing my best to put Ryan’s presence out of my mind. He was doing as I’d commanded—staying perfectly still and not making a sound.

I set the bindings and wardings on the main diagram carefully, not daring to skimp even though I—supposedly—had been promised a payment of honor debt from this particular demon. I’d summoned him right before being assigned to the Symbol Man case and then never had the chance to summon him again.

I took a deep breath and began the chant, sensing as much as seeing the protections and bindings flare into life in coruscating colors. I could feel the arcane shudder as the portal connecting the two spheres began to form—a light-filled slit in the fabric of the world, bringing with it a wind and a potency that fought my control. I held my focus with tenacity as I lifted the knife and made a shallow slice on my forearm—spilling the drops of blood that the higher-level summonings required onto the diagram. It felt odd to mar my skin—smooth and scarless since my return from the dead. The cut was never deep—not enough to require stitches, and just enough to leave a hairline scar. I usually made the cut through the same scar, to avoid looking like I compulsively cut myself. But now my skin had become a clean slate again—at least for a short time.