That Old Black Magic

crap is all new to me, and I’m not liking it a bit. If I survive this I want to get my life back to normal as much as I can. Get it?”

“Got it.”

He amused her, she wasn’t exactly hiding this fact. “Once I know you’re safe I have to come back and take care of some other business.”

This shifted her expression from amusement to concern. “Are you stupid or something? They’ll kill you!”

“There’s an angel in a cell near yours. I need to rescue him, too.”

Her eyes widened. “An angel? How do you know that?”

Ben came to a stop at a light and eyed their surroundings cautiously. “He had wings. They were plucked daily. Didn’t you notice anything?”

“No, I… I mean I heard them talking to another prisoner near me. I think the guy’s name was Daniel, but I didn’t hear anything else that might help.”

Daniel. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

“Why would they want his feathers?” he mused.

Leena casually propped her left leg up on the dashboard. “An angel’s feathers aren’t really feathers. That’s just what they look like in the human world. They’re more like, uh, celestial Wheaties, if you get my meaning. An angel gets his power from his wings.”

Ben frowned. “How do you know that?”

“I’m a veritable encyclopedia of supernatural facts, handsome. Can’t help it. I retain everything I’ve ever seen or heard.” She tapped her temple. “Werepanthers are known to have photogenic memories.”

Werepanther. Terrific.

He rubbed a hand over his forehead. His head had started to throb. “Why would they pluck his feathers?”

“It would keep an angel weak and unable to fight back, which might be why they’ve succeeded in locking him up. Also, if their feathers are ingested by a mortal, it gives them a whole lot of power.”

Ben was silent for a moment. “They eat the feathers?”

“So the rumor goes.”

“It’s happened before?”

She nodded. “Legend has it that Hitler had an angel trapped so he could grind the wings up into his breakfast every day. Thought it would make him invincible.”

That was a disturbing image. “Didn’t work though, did it?”

“No, but I’m thinking he didn’t have enough time to make it work. Anyone so determined to trap an angel and suck up some of that celestial energy is up to something big. Something epic. The only question is who and what?”

Ben thought he knew who, although he wasn’t sure what Oliver Gale could possibly want that would require a huge influx of celestial energy.

Hitler wanted to rule the world.

So what exactly was the leader of the Malleus after?

EIGHTEEN

The moment Eden slid the bracelet over her wrist, the floor dropped out beneath her feet. Alternating darkness and light flooded her vision, and she clung to Andy’s furry neck as they fell.

A few moments later, they hit the ground, hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Sprawled on her back, she looked up at a dark, starless sky.

Noise assaulted her ears. Traffic, shouting, the bustle of a crowd.

“Eden, watch out!” Andy called.

She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a cart with large wheels that would have gone right through the middle of her forehead. She scooted to the side of the road and realized she was in the middle of a mass of people — or, rather, not people. Some of these creatures were in human form, but others were in… other forms. Tall or short, big or small, horned, unhorned. All sorts of colors and shapes. It was like something out of Sesame Street if the children’s show had been set in the middle of Hell itself and the Muppets had sharp teeth and scales, or slimy skin and octopus-like appendages.

“What is this?” she whispered.

“Some sort of a market.”

A demon market in the Netherworld. And she’d forgotten her camera.

“We need to find Darrak,” she said.

A demon walked past, pushing a smaller cart full of some kind of product. It seemed to be a cross between a lemon and a multicolored sea anemone, its tentacles waving in the air. Other demons approached and sifted through the lemon things, shoving them into bags while the lemons made high-pitched squealing noises.

“You’re not moving.”

“I’m currently frozen with fear.”

“Some scary black witch you are. You don’t want these things sniffing around you. Call me crazy, but I’m thinking humans — or mostly humans — aren’t too common around here.”

Eden got to her feet and moved behind a tall stack of boxes to escape the searching gaze of the eight-foot- tall puce-colored vendor.

She turned to look into Andy’s glowing red eyes. “Why do you sound so calm, anyway? You do realize where we are, right?”

His forehead wrinkled. “Don’t know. I just am. It’s eerie, really.”

“This isn’t a dream.”

“When that guy from before—”

“Lucifer.”

“Thanks for the reminder. Anyway, when he changed me, it gave me some sort of serenity that just kicked in down here. I guess that’s why I get to be your guide. I’m sure I’m going to have a complete meltdown when this is all over. I mean, I was still getting used to the werewolf thing. This — well, this is in a whole different ballpark.”

He was right about that.

Funny, this place reminded her ever so slightly of the Kensington Market in downtown Toronto. Food and crowds and entertainment, an energetic mix of pedestrians and vendors.

Only… not.

There were hundreds of demons here, but the storefronts weren’t emblazoned with colorful signs for local businesses. They were blank. And it was night — she glanced up again. Not a star in that sky. Or a moon. Just blank, black velvet. The only light came from streetlamps that only served to cast a spooky glow over the street.

But this wasn’t the same sky she was accustomed to looking at. Funny, she hadn’t even expected the Netherworld to have a sky.

Was this where Darrak spent time before he was cursed? Had he ever attended this market before?

And what exactly were those lemon things for?

A large burst of fire erupted from one of the carts down the street, followed by a scream of pain and a rousing cheer of appreciation.

“What the hell was that?” she managed.

“Looks like a pet dragon,” Andy said. “It’s for sale. Interested?”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” She scanned the crowd one more time. “What direction do we need to go in to get to the Void? Do you know?”