No answer.

Paige swore under her breath and fumbled around until her hand brushed soft velvet. Withdrawing a box of matches from the bag, she struck it against the side of the box until a flame flared to life, and she lit one of the nearest candles to her, her pupils shrinking in the sudden burst of light.

Then, she looked up and let out a short, bitten-off scream.

A...thing was there, looming above her, observing her with the impassivity of the cat. Though most of it was shrouded in darkness, Paige knew it was a demon. She could vaguely make out the silhouette of wings, of huge horns curling up from its head like a gazelle. She wanted to light more candles to see better, but she didn’t want to look away from the creature.

“You...you heard me?” Paige asked, licking her lips nervously. “I...can you talk? I mean, can you understand me?”

“I can,” replied the demon in a deep, booming voice that gave it away as a male.

“What’s your name?” she asked, feeling a little foolish, but how else did one converse with a demon?

He seemed faintly amused by the question.

“You may call me Kryanis,” he said, with a slight inclination of his head.

“Where’s my sister?” Paige asked, but even as she asked, she feared she already knew the answer. She hadn’t heard Paige running up the stairs out of the basement and there was no other way out - if she hadn’t run out, but wasn’t anywhere in the room, then...

“Why, she’s with us, of course,” replied Kryanis, calmly.

“What do you mean, she’s ‘with you’?” Paige demanded, her heart pounding in her chest.