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I know something bad has happened when I see Yara and Mir leave the apartment in a hurry.

I watch from the shadow across the sunlit street, my curiosity spiking. Mir glances in my direction, acknowledging my presence, before getting into his car, but doesn't say anything to Yara. They drive too fast for a human to follow, and that's the sole reason I enjoy being no human--I follow them like a breeze.

The air around the library where Nilam's club is hidden in the basement tastes of magic, electrified and bittersweet. Yet the place is dark and empty inside, the lights over the dancefloor off, no music. Normally, I wouldn't be able to step here for Nilam has quite a number of protective runes adorning the walls, but since I have stepped, I suppose the fresh blood is to thank. Wherever blood is spilled, a demon can walk.

"What happened?" Mir demands, his macabrely flat. The blondie, Kadri, only stares at him in return, confused. And the tall boy beside her, Adélard, is about to say something, but the question is not for him. Mir's eyes settle on the stocky bearded bartender who sits in the corner with his head in his hands. "Charlie?"

Charlie looks up, his shoulders sagging. "I don't know. I just came and saw... him. Nilam kept saying to call you five if something happened. You're sort of a lawyer, aren't you, Praejis? I've dealt with the drunk and the violent at the parties, but"--his gaze flicks to the staircase--"not this. Who could do such a thing? Are they after me, too? Do I call the cops? What do I tell them, then? This place officially doesn't exist, I have tons of illegal booze and--"

Yara's stifled shriek cuts Charlie off. I follow her gaze and now, too, notice blood trickling down the steps. In the dimness, it glitters like garnet. It jars me how next second, Yara's fingers slip into Mir's palm, seeking support, how his hand clasps hers without thinking. She trusts him now? She can't trust him.

"Charlie, did you see anyone else here?" Mir asks.

"Save for you who I called? No."

"Didn't see? Or don't remember seeing?"

"Is there a difference?"

Yara doesn't listen anymore. She runs upstairs, so I go after her. The scent of magic is stronger in the room where Yara leads me, and I almost lose myself in it for a moment, forgetting where dark energy ends and my mind starts. It always happens like that, and this is the tricky part I don't enjoy--being an undead demon means walking and seeing both worlds. I can see Yara, the sun seeping in through the window, the colorful gems on the shelf, but if unfocus my vision, if I let it go just for a beat, the world of the dead clouds it all. It's rotten, it's starless, it stinks of forsaken souls. A whispering void, where magic has infected and conquered everything.

I can't stay here. I need Mir's sigil scar, or Yara's--or anyone's!--to work, to make me corporeal again, to anchor me to the living. Vlad's book promised me powers, but it didn't warn me I'd be damned to be a part of this power.

"Nilam?" Faltering in the doorway, Yara then lunges into the room. Her voice moors me back to the living colors.

Nilam looks worse than I imagined. Ashen, he is laid on the floor in the center like a grotesque statue robbed of its breath that makes a flesh human. Emptiness has fogged his eyes, feasting where his soul used to reside. Blood covers practically every inch of his skin, pooling around his limbs, trailing to the door and smearing the wall beside its wooden frame. I squint at the smears. They look odd as if Nilam tried to write something with blood. Z...Zagovor? What does it have to do with the restaurant?

A sob escapes from Yara's lips, but she doesn't cry. I wish to console her, but even if all the sorcerous stuff in this room is enough to make me visible for a while, I'm not sure it's enough to give me my voice.

"This can't be real," she whispers, crouching beside the body. Her moves angry, she pulls Nilam closer to herself, trying to find the lethal wound. There isn't one. There are many. Hundreds of cuts on his arms, his legs, his torso... His clothes are a torn, blood-soaked mess. If he didn't die from the cuts, the blood loss ended him. "This can't be real. Nilam, I shouldn't have let you go alone last night. It's my fault."

It's not, Yara.

She raises her head. "You." I glance over my shoulder, but there's nobody there. She glares right at me. She sees me. "Find him, Bogdan. Bring him back!"

I tilt my head to one side. How? And even if I locate Nilam's spirit somewhere in the Immortal Realm, his body is expired. He didn't have a sigil scar, she wouldn't be able to put him into another vessel. Our childhood friendship hasn't gone unnoticed, I suppose, since Yara understands me without words.

"I don't know how! He didn't deserve it!"

"Who are you talking to?" Adélard stops on the threshold. Taking in the scene, he shudders and looks away.

Yara ignores him. Nilam's gun lies an inch away from his hand; he must have attempted to use it, but his wounds made him too weak to pull the trigger. Yara grabs the gun, blood staining her fingers. She doesn't point it at me, knowing it's useless. Still, she looks like she'd use it if she could. Anger gathers in her eyes. "Mir can sense your presence, Bogdan. I had a theory, but I didn't want to believe it. Yet here you are again, drawn to the place brimming with magic like a moth to a flame. You're a demon, not a ghost. Which means you can use magic. And you can use it to kill."

I stare at her, shocked. Does she really imply I did this? I'd love to squeeze the life out of Mir Praejis, but I'm not a crazed maniac. She has no idea how close the real one is! Besides, I can't use my power on corporeal people while I'm in an incorporeal form.

"A demon?" Kadri's voice sounds dismayed. She peeks from behind Ady's back, her eyes darting around the room, but I take a step away, turning into a shadow before she can see me.

"Don't worry, he's my friend," Yara says, her tone thick with sarcasm. That's what I've been afraid of, she doesn't believe I'm her friend anymore. Praejis's lies have finally worked on her.

"Bogdan?" Adélard repeats, still avoiding looking at the blood. "Did Nilam know him, Yara? Because if not, we all had the backup plan, remember? Nilam would have cast the spell upon himself as Jasna has if he anticipated danger. He didn't."

"So he trusted the one who was here." Kadri nods. "He knew his murderer. Charlie said he called us five. He wasn't talking of your demonic friend. Where's Laverna?"

No. No, this is all going the wrong way. Their dear Laverna is probably already dead, too. Or she will be soon as she's done with her job for the killer. The right question is, where is Vlad who's been orchestrating this madness from the very beginning?

Where is Mir?

Taking a deep breath I don't need, I let myself dissolve into smoke, leaving the building, drifting outside.

Mir Praejis stands in the alley, right outside the club, alone, his eyes fixed on something in his hand. He winces, sensing my approach, but doesn't show any pain otherwise. He must have taken another reverse elixir recently, his power is too weak for my presence to awaken it.

"Believe me or not," Mir says without looking at me, "but I actually tried to tell Yara the truth last night."

"And failed." My voice startles me. I didn't expect Nilam's collection to be strong enough to give me my voice. "As always."

Opening his palm, Mir shows me a small glass orb with toxic green flames circling inside. The Soulwrecker. I know it doesn't work without the full moon, yet it's a deadly weapon, and I unwillingly back away. "It doesn't matter, Dan. She'll never fall for your truth now."

"Because you've painted a beautiful lie, where I am guilty of your crimes. Because you manipulated Yara's emotions!"

"I've never manipulated her emotions, she's always been a mystery I couldn't solve."

"Yeah, you hated that mystery the last time we fought. At her burned house in Blakfait, remember? What changed?"

He looks at me for a long moment, his gaze calculating. Whatever lie he's preparing to tell me now, I won't buy it. Nevertheless, he manages to surprise me yet again. He doesn't tell me a lie. He asks the truth. "Does Yara know that her best friend Bogdan Weihen is a demon?"

I give him a cold smile. "Yes. And does she know that Mir Praejis and Vlad Voskresenyev are one and the same? Does she know that you, Vlad, killed her?"

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