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at the nearest mageheld’s side and gave the life there a path home. Though it cost time he didn’t have, he did the same for other one, too. When he was done, he grinned at Michael with vicious satisfaction. “Too late, mage.”
    Michael hit the last step, slowed, and then walked toward Fensic. She extended the canister and pointed it at Michael, deadly serious. “Not another step.”
    The mage lifted his hands. “You betrayed me.”
    She yelped and dropped the canister, shaking her hand as if she’d been burned.
    “Fitting, I think, if your companion kills you for me.”
    “Enough, Michael.” She stood her ground, shoulders back. She’d gone opaque again. “No more.”
    Michael glanced at his arms and muttered something under his breath. His words carried power that made the skin on the back of Telos’s neck ripple. The blood on Michael’s arms flaked away. “Once you two are dead, I think I’ll be done for the day.” He spoke in that tone of aristocratic entitlement the magekind tended to have.
    Telos reacted to the magic the mage was holding; a shiver down his spine, the allure of all that power. No way in hell was this asshole some self-taught street mage. Someone like Michael trained for this from the day he could walk and talk. Judging from the color of his eyes, an opaque and unnaturally bright brown, he’d recently taken copa. The effects came at a price. Copa was addictive and eventually lethal for the magekind.
    He pulled magic through him again. He was prepared for anything. “There’s rules in this territory, mage.”
    “I don’t take orders from demons.”
    “Nikodemus won’t be happy when he finds out about the talisman. How many magehelds did you murder to pull off that one?” The unknowns were a worry. He didn’t know how many magehelds Michael had, how much copa was raging through his system, or how much new power he had after the ritual murders. This could go all kinds of wrong fast. He jerked his head in Fensic’s direction. “Not to mention what you’ve been doing to her.”
    The mage brushed lingering flakes of blood off one of his arms. “I don’t know what she’s told you, but surely you’ve noticed by now she’s too dangerous to be on her own. Uncontrolled. She doesn’t have any idea what she can do. She might be nothing but a street witch, but she’s almost as dangerous as you.”
    “Nikodemus is going to find out about what you’ve been up to.”
    “I do not accept that creature’s authority over me. Or anyone.” He sneered. “The sooner you’re all dead, the better.”
    “The car,” Fensic said from behind him. “Start the car.”
    Without taking his eyes off the mage, Telos pointed his fob backward in the direction of his car and pressed the button. The minute the motor came to life, he flipped the keys to her. He didn’t hear them hit the pavement and hoped that meant she’d caught them. Every second’s delay brought them closer to disaster.
    Michael’s attention flicked past him to the car, assessed the risks, then snapped back to him.
    Fensic needed time to get to the car. They were both dead if she didn’t make it in time. “You’re going to die a painful death, mage.”
    The mage muttered words that weren’t English. A chill shot down Telos’s back and the surface of his skin crawled. He wasn’t any stranger to pain, but the electricity turned searing hot. Foul magic spread through his body as Michael worked the spell that would enslave him. It happened a lot faster than he expected, losing his freedom. His chest burned and his heart slowed. The pain short-circuited his brain. There wasn’t any air, and when the mage headed for him, he was paralyzed.
    His legs crumpled and both knees hit pavement with a crack. He fought for his life, reaching for his magic, deeper than could ever have been safe for a place where there were vanilla humans, and he pulled. Nothing happened. Panic and horror at what was happening floored him. There had never