“Dummy,” War said, “I know what happened. What did you do? Are you a wizard or a dumbfuck?”

“I… gave her entrance to this world and gave her flesh using a drop of my own blood. I could use my blood,” Simon looked at his feet, “because I’m a virgin.”

“Shit, kid,” War said, “you think me ‘n’ my bros can get laid? We’re elementals. It’s not in our natures. Now, when you gave her flesh, what did that make her?”

“I made her a dem-ow!” War’s hand tightened again.

“She was a demon when the universe got made,” War said in a way that showed his patience was starting to unravel. “What did you make her.”

Sometimes, when Simon was working on a spell or ward, he’d suddenly see everything as if a flare had gone off over his head, stark and white and sudden. Every shadowed place would suddenly be bright and visible in his brain – he was having that experience right now.