I put a hand on Phaelan’s arm. I knew which dagger he was going for. Carnades saw and smiled slowly.

“By all means, Captain Benares. Give me an excuse to take you as well.”

I took a step forward, leaving scant inches between the elven mage and me. I had to look up to meet his eyes, but that was fine with me. Carnades could have reached out and touched me. I wanted him to. I also wanted him to remember what I’d done the last time he’d made the mistake of touching and threatening me. I’d do it again, and this time I’d have a squad room full of watchers as witnesses.

He knew it and kept his hands to himself, but he didn’t back down. I knew he wouldn’t. That was fine with me, too.

“Paladin Eiliesor is questioning the demons; I merely want to question their accomplice,” Carnades said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “The dark mage who used her Saghred-spawned power to open a Hellgate, releasing her demonic minions to do her dirty work. Though I can’t imagine anything being beneath a Benares.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. “Minions? I’d ask if you’re serious, but no doubt you believe that you are.”

Silvanus’s pale eyes glittered. “You are a danger to everyone on this island. I’ve said that you should be locked up-and today I’m here to see it done.” The elven mage smiled. “On the authority of the Seat of Twelve, you’re under arrest for practicing black magic and consorting with demons.”

Carnades’s pronouncement lost some of its effect when a man shouted in fear and surprise from a back room, then swore in utter disgust. It took me a moment to realize the man’s disgust wasn’t a reaction to Carnades’s speech.

A watcher came through a door in the back of the room dangling something by a bony, yellow foot. It was about a foot long, mostly arms and legs, with a round torso that kind of merged into a head. No neck. It was naked, it was hairless, it was wrinkled, and it had to be the ugliest thing I’d ever seen in my life. And it smelled like-

“It jumped out of the latrine!” The watcher looked like he was about to be sick.

Yep, that was the smell.

“Damn,” breathed Phaelan from beside me.

I couldn’t have agreed more, especially considering that the thing was still dripping. And it looked just a wee bit larger.

I looked closer. “Am I imagining things, or…”

The watcher who was dangling the thing by its heel grunted at the abrupt increase in weight. The thing twisted and squirmed, and since it was still wet, the watcher couldn’t hold on, and I didn’t think he wanted to. The yellow beastie hit the floor and scuttled under the nearest desk. Around the room, weapons were drawn, my own included. Phaelan had drawn steel and jumped on a chair. Carnades retreated to where his mage cronies waited.

“Cowards,” I muttered.

“Cautious,” Phaelan corrected me. “Do you know how much these clothes cost? No way in hell that thing’s getting near me.”

Considering where it’d come from, I didn’t exactly want it rubbing against me, either. Some smells just didn’t come out.

The wood the desk was made of creaked and then groaned. That was not good. Then the desk’s legs rose about eight inches off of the floor, lifted by something underneath. Something yellow, stinky, and growing entirely too fast.

That was very bad.

Most of the watchers did their duty and stood their ground; other watchers took the duty-be-damned approach and started backing away. I wasn’t a watcher, I had no duty, but I stood my ground anyway. Sedge Rinker stepped up beside Vegard and me.

Sedge kept his voice down. “Ma’am, you and your cousin might want to take advantage of this to leave.”

“Finally, a lawman I can agree with,” Phaelan muttered.

The growing demon stood up, and then up some more. The damned thing was so big it was wearing the desk like a hat. Then it turned around, facing us. Its eyes were black, beady, and really, really angry. With a single shake of its head, the desk went flying, splintering against a wall.

Professional discipline was pretty much gone at that point.

The interrogation room opened, one of Sora’s grad students looked, saw, squeaked, and slammed the door.

Smart kid.

Those angry demon eyes looked directly at me. And got even angrier. Then it growled, rattling the windows.

I shouted over my shoulder. I sure as hell wasn’t turning my back on that. “Carnades, if you want to haul me out of here, I think you’re gonna have to get in line.”

There were a few heartbeats of stunned inaction; the only sound was the wheezing in and out of the demon’s breath like some sort of putrid bellows.

Then he roared-and half the people in the room ran. Half the people included most of the accused perps, some still in handcuffs. The watchers let them go; they had a bigger problem, and it was still growing.

While less people gave the rest of us more room to fight, it gave the demon less targets to hit and a greater probability of hitting those targets, namely us.

“You still curious about demons?” Phaelan asked me.

“Not anymore.”

“Too bad you didn’t decide that five minutes ago.”

We had bladed weapons; the demon preferred blunt objects, like office furniture.

In the street we’d used fireballs. That was outside. This was inside, with entirely too many flammables like furniture, walls, and civilians. The watchers opted to go with crossbows with a little magical something extra glowing on the bolts that’d go through any living creature like hot butter. At least they should have. Apparently the normal rules of magic didn’t apply to this particular demon. The bolts shattered on impact and the demon didn’t even slow down, chucking a file cabinet at the bowmen. They dove out of the way before impact, and we had to rethink our strategy, such that it was. The demon wasn’t warded, at least not with any ward I’d ever seen; it was just impenetrable. A bad quality for something that needed killing.

Even worse was the reaction of most of the watchers. As keepers of the peace on an island full of magic users, Sedge’s people had probably seen it all. I don’t think they’d ever seen anything like this. That made all of us. But the thing didn’t want all of us.

It wanted me.

“Run!” I screamed at Phaelan.

“We go together, or we don’t go!”

The demon tried to stomp Phaelan to reach me, but my cousin darted to the left as the massive foot came down. Phaelan spun with deadly grace to plunge his rapier through the thing’s foot-and the blade shattered on its skin. My cousin gaped at the remaining hilt in his hand and his words blistered the air blue. He loved that rapier.

I was watching the demon’s feet, not its hands. My mistake. Huge mistake. Next thing I knew I was snatched off my feet, dangling upside down, with one leg clenched in the demon’s fist. He swung me around and I got a quick and blurry view of the entire squad room. Some Guardians were behind the thing with fireballs ready to launch. Fire safety must have gone out the window along with the furniture. The demon pulled me up to his face, I guess to get a closer look at what he was about to eat. I got a closer look at what was going to eat me. No teeth, just knotty, bony gums. That was really gonna hurt. I’d rather be bitten in half than gummed to death. At least that would be quick.

The demon’s breath came out of his nose in a sulfur-scented, gag-inducing stench.

Nostrils. Open holes. No wards.

Hot damn.

My hands were free, and an instant later, so were the pair of short swords I wore in a harness on my back. A second after that, the demon was sporting a sword up each nostril.

His shriek shattered what windows were left. Then he dropped me.

Being dropped was good; landing was not. Vegard, bless him, was there to catch me, which meant he let me squash him flat when I landed.