The smoke spun out and lengthened. Curled into a humanoid shape. Put down hoofed feet. The form towered over them until, at last, the being before them had a voice. ‘Who summons me?’
‘I do,’ Aliza said. ‘I and my daughter.’
Hard red eyes peered back at her. ‘Mortals?’
‘Witches,’ Aliza corrected.
‘Do you know who I am?’ Disgust razed the voice into something like metal against metal.
‘You are Samael, the ancient one, he who fell, head of the Castus Sanguis, the creator of the noble race of vampires.’ And, she thought gleefully, mine to command.
He seemed mollified by her acknowledgment of him. ‘Why do you summon me?’
‘Power,’ Aliza answered him.
He laughed. The glass doors rattled and something in the house shattered. ‘All beings want power. What do you want from me?’
What they had originally wanted and what they wanted now had changed since the night Evie had been restored. ‘We want the ring the vampiress Tatiana seeks. The ring of sorrows.’
Samael laughed a second time. ‘You are not equipped to command such a thing of power. Release me and I will teach you how.’
‘I summoned you, didn’t I?’ She’d expected this response. Known he’d want to be released. No demon wanted to do the bidding of a mortal. It only made her want the ring, whatever its power, that much more. ‘And because of that, you must give me what I want and answer my questions.’
His smile vanished. ‘I do not have the ring.’
‘Then who does?’
‘A blood whore. One of the comarré. The one Tatiana seeks.’ He growled, the sound like thunder. ‘Release me!’
‘You mean the girl with the gold tattoos?’ Evie asked. She nudged her mother.
He nodded, eyes like fiery slits.
Aliza smiled. ‘Then give her to us.’
‘I can’t.’ He scowled. ‘I cannot touch her. Why do you think I sent the vampiress after her?’
Evie stepped forward. ‘What is the ring’s power?’
‘Bring it to me and I will help you rule the world.’ He leered at her. ‘All you have to do is release me.’
Aliza shook her head. ‘Not enough, demon. What does it do?’
He raged, arms outstretched, clawed fingers splayed. ‘Mortal fools! With that ring, you can raise an unconquerable army. Now, free me.’
An unconquerable army was far more than Aliza had ever hoped for. Plans began to form in her head. Why rule Paradise City when she could have the world?
‘Not yet, demon. Not yet.’