“The professor said he didn’t have it,” I said, seeing the scene replay itself in my head, complete with the professor getting his throat ripped out. “And I believed him. I didn’t know this Professor Berel, but from what I saw, he didn’t strike me as the type to give his life to protect something.”

“He wasn’t.”

“But he must have known what it was; otherwise, he couldn’t have said that he didn’t have it. Unfortunately he’s dead, and the demon that killed him is stuffed in a bottle.”

“Some of his colleagues aren’t,” Mychael reminded me.

I jerked my head in the direction of the cells. “You’re going to question the blue ones out there?”

“I am. If they don’t know anything, I’ll have to let the Volghul out of the bottle.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It might be necessary. And since I’ve interrogated demons before, and I am the paladin of this island, it’s my duty to do it. But if I did have to interrogate the Volghul, I couldn’t do it here. Sedge has top-notch shields and wards on his cells, but they’re nowhere near strong enough for a Volghul. I’d have to take him to the demonology department for that.”

“Let’s hope the blue ones are talkative.”

Chapter 5

All naked, blue demons looked the same to me. Perhaps that opinion offended delicate demonic sensibilities, but somehow I doubted this bunch had anything delicate. An hour or so closed up in a warded cell had given their collective aroma ample time to seep out. Believe me, there was nothing delicate about that. Wards and shields would hold in or keep out most anything-unfortunately a stomach-turning, gag-inducing stench wasn’t one of them.

Vegard saw my grimace. “Brimstone.”

“What?” I tried unsuccessfully to talk and breathe through my mouth at the same time. Must have been a gift I didn’t have.