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“What if . . . we make a deal?” Admittedly, I was grasping at straws now. But deals were the favorite currency of the Lost Ones, so maybe shadowbeasts had hopes and desires too? “You let Zee and me go, and stop attacking us, and you can have this attic? How does that sound? The wards will protect you. We can board up the window, keep out the sunlight. Your very own space⁠—”

“Wards broken.” Its voice made a tearing, metal sound.

“No, well yes, at the moment, to stop you. But they’ll be working again any second now, and then, not even Gideon’s ring can control you, if you become a guest at my hotel. Your name in the book. Perfectly safe.”

“Guest?” it ground out.

“You’ll be safe from Gideon.” I stepped closer, having to lift my head to where I assumed its face was. I figured the ring wasn’t a mutual agreement, more of a slave-master arrangement that sorcerers were notorious for. “I can’t imagine you want to be at his beck and call forever?”

“You sorcerer?”

“No, I’m not . . . I don’t . . . I don’t want to own you. I’m offering you freedom, sort of, at least under my roof.”

“Freedom?”

How long had it been under Gideon’s control? Days, weeks, years? “Yes. Incorporeal shadow-beings deserve to feel safe too. A home?” Perhaps all it wanted was a chance to be the master of its own destiny? Wasn’t that what we all wanted? It did seem to be considering it, since it wasn’t advancing, but I needed it to hurry up. The wards would be back in place at any moment, if they weren’t already, and Zee wasn’t looking good.

“Home?”

“Home, yes.” I offered my hand. “Agreed?”

It extended a smoky, writhing tendril and wrapped it around my arm. “Shadow yes.”

“Shadow? That’s your name?” Not entirely original, but I was in no position to judge. “Great.” I let go of its wispy limb, and resisted the urge to wipe my hand on my thigh. “Now, can you help me get my friend back to our realm, where we belong? Maybe the hotel bar⁠—”

A wave of shadows swooped in, picking me up. A brief moment of weightlessness turned me around, and then in a blink I was back in the bar, with dark sparks raining off my clothes and fizzing in my hair. Zee sat slumped against the stage, still unresponsive. And there was Gideon, casually seated at the bar, sipping his drink as though nothing untoward had happened and Tom Collins didn’t have the bar shotgun shouldered and aimed an inch from his face.

Reynard loomed by the jukebox, his silvery eyes ablaze, disheveled and breathless from his battling the shadowbeast, but also poised and ready to attack.

Everyone else had fled, which was probably for the best.

I knelt by Zee and checked his pulse again. Still there, still weak. “Reynard, can you take Zee to his room?”

“I won’t leave you with the sorcerer,” he growled, as though he was two seconds away from breaking bones.

“The wards are back in place. Gideon can’t do anything, especially now he’s lost his shadowbeast.” As I approached Gideon, I saw how he caressed the ring on his finger, probably wondering why Shadow wasn’t responding to his call, although there was no sign of concern on his smug face. He continued to sip his drink as though all was well. Not even having the business end of a shotgun an inch from his face could dent his smile.

Reynard rolled his shoulders and sighed, standing down, then scooped Zee into his arms, wings and tail trailing either side, and headed for the bar doors.

“I’ll be right there.”

“You had better be,” Reynard said.

I waited until Reynard had left, then took up the stool beside Gideon. “You can lower the gun, Tom.”

Tom did as I suggested, then took himself to the far end of the bar to aggressively wipe down some glasses.

“Very good, Adam,” Gideon said, staring at the racks of bottles, studiously avoiding meeting my eye. “How did you kill it?”

“Oh, Shadow? It’s not dead. It just lives here now, with me.”

He turned his head, raked his glare over me, reading me anew, then chortled. “Of course it does.” He threw back the remains of his drink and tossed a few bucks onto the bar. “This changes nothing. This hotel will still be mine, and I will take great pleasure in reducing it and you to dust.”

“Haven’t you learned anything about me in all this, Cain?”

“I know you’re a scared, lost little man, who isn’t really a man at all. I know you’re the most dangerous thing in this hotel, and I know you’ll get them all killed. It’s what you’re good at, Adam Vex.”

I nodded Tom over, and watched him pour my usual. “You missed the most important part.”