That did it; I liked her.

“Call me Raine.”

“Only if you’ll drop the ‘professor’ and call me Sora.”

“Done.”

Mychael joined us. “Professor Niabi, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Not a problem, Paladin Eiliesor. The coroner needed me to officially identify Professor Berel, so I had to be here anyway.”

“He was a talented mage.”

“Laurian was a better fool, and you know it as well as I do. You should have been a diplomat, Paladin. You actually managed to say that with a straight face. I was hardly surprised to hear he’d gotten himself killed; I’ve been expecting that news for years. In our line of work, talent can get you into trouble, but arrogance will get you killed and eaten-and not always in that order.”

I nodded toward the warded cell. “Those four and their buddies were after something and they thought Professor Berel had it. He said he didn’t. Any idea what it was?”

“Not a clue. Laurian kept a lot of bizarre artifacts around.

We all do. Certain objects have power against demons. Everybody in the department has their own collection and their own favorites. It’s safer to have your own when you need it. Chances are if you need it, you don’t have the time to go borrowing.”

Mychael lowered his voice. “He was killed by a Volghul.”

Sora’s only reaction was a raised eyebrow. “Nothing he had would have saved him from that. Apparently when the demons didn’t get what they wanted from Laurian, they went to his town house. The place has been demolished from the inside out, like somebody got really frustrated.”

“Frustrated demonic searchers?” I asked.

“The brimstone smell gave it away.” Sora squinted through the thickly warded cell. “Is that a wine bottle?”

“The Volghul is in there,” Mychael told her.

Sora whistled. “In a wine bottle? Damn. Who stuffed it in there?”