I really wanted longer arms.

Chaos surrounded me. Vegard was barking orders, and Guardians were running out of the Quad to carry them out. Meanwhile, more Guardians were arriving, and so were officers of the city watch. From Vegard’s expression and all the armed men shouting and running around, you’d think we were under attack. And here I was sitting on my ass holding a demon in a bottle. I got to my feet. My knees were a little shaky, but I made it.

“I’ve got him!” I yelled to Vegard over the din. “What’s the problem?”

“You have one, ma’am. There’ll be more just like him.”

I gripped the bottle tighter. “More?”

“It’s a Volghul, Raine,” said Tam’s voice in my head, as if that explained everything. It didn’t. Tam sounded as though he was running. I don’t know how I could tell, but I could.

“What the hell’s a Volghul?” I asked Tam, Vegard, or whoever could tell me what was going on. And why were Guardians in full battle armor running into the Quad?

“There will be more of everything,” Vegard told me.

I was incredulous. “Some lunatic is summoning these things?”

“Volghuls aren’t summoned,” Tam said. “They cross over by themselves. Vegard knows this.”

“Cross over?”

“Through a Hellgate.”

I stopped breathing for a few seconds. “You mean a gate to Hell? Literally?”

“If by Hell you mean the dimension in which demons reside, then yes, I mean a gate to Hell. Volghuls are advance guards.”

I froze. “Guards in advance of what?”

Vegard and Tam answered me at the same time. “A legion of demons.”