Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex Demonized #1) - Annette Marie Page 0,68

what?” I whispered.

Hunkered as low as possible, I peered across the sea of rooftops. We were perched on the concrete roof of a six-story building that could’ve been an office complex or apartments, but I had no idea because we hadn’t entered it. Zylas had climbed the outside of the building, carrying me under one arm.

Crouched beside me, he scanned the downtown view, his eyes glowing in the darkness. As it turned out, he could find the other demon if he wanted, though he had to get fairly close before he could detect his adversary’s presence. That had taken us three hours, and it was now past nine o’clock.

“He is on that roof.” Zylas pointed. Four structures filled the city block between us and the similar-sized building where Tahēsh waited. “He is not moving.”

“Is he hurt?” My brow scrunched. “If he was injured, why wouldn’t he heal himself?”

“It is the most difficult vīsh to master. He did not learn it.”

“But you did?”

He cast me his taunting, wolfish grin, then refocused on his prey. I scanned the block, trying to get my bearings. I needed a map.

As I slid my phone out of my jeans pocket, I grimaced. Between rips, stains, and water, I was running critically low on clothing. For our demon hunting excursion, I was wearing a purple zip-up sweater and jeans with a flower embroidered on one hip. On my way out, Amalia had remarked that I looked ready for a hardcore book fair.

I opened the MPD map. Red X’s dotted it—the reports of demonic activity—and I squinted as I worked out where we were and where Tahēsh was. Eyes widening, I lifted my stare to the pale building the demon was parked on.

“The Crow and Hammer guild,” I whispered in disbelief, “is right across the street from Tahēsh. Why is he waiting beside a guild?”

Zylas shrugged. “Something to hunt?”

I remembered the guild master Darius and his comrades. Did they know the demon was stalking their guild? I hoped they were safe.

“Now what?” I asked again.

Zylas hunkered lower, his tail swishing across the gritty concrete. “Ambush him. I will attack from behind, but I must get close. Any closer than this and he might sense me. If I use vīsh, he will know.”

I watched him, unnerved by the wicked cunning in his face as he plotted his attack.

“He might not come down, so I must go to him …” His stare turned to me and his eyebrows pinched together.

I leaned away from his intense assessment. “What?”

His mouth twisted. “You cannot do it.”

“Do what?”

“Get close enough. If I am inside the infernus, he will not sense me, but you would not get close enough—not while he is up high.”

I couldn’t scale the exterior of buildings, but that wasn’t the only way to reach a rooftop. “I could sneak through the interior.”

He considered that, then whipped back to face the distant building. “He is moving!”

A dark silhouette appeared on the rooftop, then broad wings spread. Tahēsh sprang off the building and glided away—in the opposite direction of our hiding spot.

“Where is he going all the sudden?” I demanded.

“If he goes to the ground, it is my chance,” Zylas growled, grabbing me around the waist.

He leaped. I choked back a scream as we plunged over the edge. He dropped down the side of the building and grabbed a windowsill. For an instant, my white face reflected in the glass, then Zylas let go. I clapped a hand to my eyes, holding my glasses in place as we plummeted another story. He jumped the rest of the way down, hit the pavement, and launched into a sprint.

Struggling for air, I yelped, “Stop! Stop!”

He skidded to a halt and I squirmed out of his arm.

“You’re crushing me,” I panted, massaging my ribs.

His tail snapped impatiently. “If you could go in the infernus, this would be easier.”

I decided to ignore that as I stepped behind him, grasped his shoulders, and jumped. He caught my legs and pulled them around his waist—then he was running again. He whipped around the corner and sprinted up the middle of the street. If there’d been cars on the road, he would’ve matched their speed.

One block flashed by, then a second, then a third. Ahead, the buildings separated to reveal a park, where erratic white light was flickering through the surrounding trees. Zylas dashed toward it. A streetlight glowed across a decorative wooden sign that read, Oppenheimer Park.

He sprang over the sidewalk, landed silently on the grass, and ducked