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Beneath magic hit him. He fell in a mess of ash and blood to the carpet.
    “Cool,” Gabrielle said, her voice thick with pain.
    The demons outside struck. They came in through the window, up the stairs to the door, and through the walls themselves. I heard human screams, which meant they’d broken into other rooms as well.
    Mick snarled a word I didn’t know, and his containment spell broke and fell away. I grabbed Gabrielle and hauled her up as the room burst into true flames.
    The only way out was through the door, and demons came at us that way. Mick turned and directed his fire to the wall behind the bed. Wallboard, bricks, and mortar melted in the flame, creating a hole—which quickly filled with demons.
    We had to get away somehow. Gabrielle’s interest in fighting was returning, though her arm was charred. She needed a burn unit, or Mick’s healing spells. No matter what, we had to get out of here.
    “Can you make a dent in them?” I shouted at her. Mick was battling, fire dancing around him and from him. If one of the demon flames got through, it would burn him as much as it had burned Gabrielle.  
    If Mick could go dragon, our problem might be solved. But he needed open space and a few uninterrupted seconds to become the beast.
    “Move, Micky,” Gabrielle called. She lifted her hand and sent a ripple of white toward the red flames.
    Half the fires died out, but were instantly renewed. Mick’s earth magic was strong here, as was the demons’. Beneath magic was usually stronger, but against so much volcanic stuff, the Beneath magic for once was weakened.  
    I had another idea. I still had no clue where I’d left my cell phone, but Gabrielle had one. I slid it from her pocket. “Call Nash,” I said. “Tell him to get his ass over here.”
    If he wasn’t on his way. Nash always knew when something was going down in his town.  
    Gabrielle snatched the phone from me, which I’d already dialed. I got to my feet, ready to keep the demons away from her.  
    More demons poured through the window, going flat like the other one until they dropped into the room. The new ones weren’t bothering to look like humans. They were human-shaped, but gray-skinned and granite-faced, with fire dancing beneath their surface like magma.
    John got up off the floor. I yelled at him to stay down, but rushed me. I saw the fire in his eyes, and realized he was not on our side, just before his fist came at my face.
    I ducked. Gabrielle said, “Nashie?” in her little girl voice. “Um, we have a little problem at the Flat Mesa motel …”
    John came at me again. Possessed or demon-born I couldn’t tell, and I was a little too busy for an interview.
    Mick turned, saw, and got bit with fire on the side for his trouble. I waved him off, brought up a surge of Beneath magic, and faced John. I wasn’t allowed to hurt humans, on pain of death or worse, but if John were demon …
    I let fly. At the same time, John hit me with a powerful fist.
    I didn’t get to find out whether my Beneath magic dusted him. A pain I’d never known split my body, as though someone was trying to tear me in half. I heard the scream leave my mouth as I dove for the floor and unconsciousness.
    The last thing I saw was the gleam of flame on wire-rimmed glasses and a pair of steel-gray eyes behind them.
    “Emmett?” I tried to say, and then … nothing.
    ***
    I woke in a bed, in a motel. I was unclothed, between thin sheets, my head on a flat pillow. The sun was up, the window open, fresh air pouring in, as well as normal sounds—birdsong, cars starting up, people talking, maids trundling their carts between rooms and chatting to each other as they worked.
    No smell of fire, ash, demon, or Beneath magic. Nice.
    Mick was there, his back to me as he watched out the window. He wore low-slung jeans and nothing else. The jagged fire tatt across the small of his back was stark against his skin, familiar and comforting.
    “Hey,” I croaked. My throat was