Piaras’s song held the demon immobile, but the thing was strong enough to snarl and tighten his grip on the back of the Katelyn’s neck, puncturing the girl’s skin with his claws. Katelyn screamed. Piaras snarled and redoubled his attack.

Talon hissed a low countermelody in Goblin to run under Piaras’s spellsong, merging seamlessly into his spell. The unwholesomely handsome goblin was a spellsinger and dancer at Sirens, his father’s nightclub. I had thought his songs were limited to making the clientele horny. Apparently I was wrong. Piaras’s spell held the demon; Talon’s spellsong told the demon in no uncertain terms what was going to happen to him unless he let Katelyn go.

Piaras and Talon were both scared to death, but they were doing what needed to be done, and damned if they weren’t doing a fine job. I’d worry about how they were doing it later. But they couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

Vegard extinguished the fireball and carefully stepped into the area beneath the demon and the dangling girl.

Phaelan swore under his breath.

“Miss Valerian,” Vegard said, “I’ll catch you; you’re going to be fine. Just try to relax.”

“Good luck with that,” Phaelan muttered.

I elbowed him in the ribs.

The big Guardian’s voice was calm and commanding, but most important, he pitched his voice low, carefully avoiding vocal conflict with Piaras and Talon’s work.

I stood there feeling worthless, desperately trying to come up with a way to help without making matters fatally worse.

With visible effort, the demon unclenched his fingers, letting Katelyn fall into Vegard’s waiting arms. Vegard pushed her in the direction of a coffeehouse. The demon’s thin lips stretched in a mockery of a smile. He had wanted to be rid of her; now he could focus all of his attention on Piaras and Talon.