After Candy finished wolfing down her food, we spent the next hour slowly driving Lily up the Hollywood Hills, working our way up and down switchbacks, rising high and then sinking lower into the mountains. The views in the Hills were majestic but getting there was like navigating through the favelas of a third-world country, with roads barely wide enough for one car. You were stuck going around turns at five miles an hour, and god forbid you missed a turn.

“STOP!” Candy finally shouted. “Pull over here. This is it.”

“You’re sure this is the place?” I asked as we idled outside a house high up in the hills. It was protected by a fortified gate, and a half dozen demon sentries patrolled the grounds. The lip of the house hung over the edge of the mountain, and wall-to-ceiling glass gave it a slick modern look. Unfortunately, the tinted glass didn’t let me see inside, and I had a feeling it was reinforced with bulletproof glass.

“I’m sure.” Candy’s voice didn’t waver. “He made me drive a Rolls up here myself once when all his drivers were busy. Said I was the only one he could trust.”

I squinted, trying to get the best look I could. I didn’t like what I saw. Even at my best, I couldn’t take on an army of demons in a fortified place like that. Not without my own army. Maybe now I had a reason to call in an old favor. I found a safe spot to park and hid Lily on the hill as best I could.

I pulled Candy into an alley where I could be as hidden as possible in a residential neighborhood. “You’re about to see some stuff you can’t unsee. I need you to be cool, okay? Nothing is going to be as bad as what you’ve dealt with already tonight, okay?”

“Okay.” Candy nodded, then put a hand on my arm. “Why aren’t you madder at me, though?”

“Is this really the time?”

She shrugged. “If you’re going to kill me at some point, I think I should know.”

“I wouldn’t save you just to kill you. We both have the same enemy for now. But after this, we aren’t friends. I don’t ever want to so much as sniff you in the same place as me. If I even hear your name on the wind, I will reign vengeance on you like a frigging archangel, do you understand?”

“I figured it was something like that.” She nodded. “I understand.”

“Besides, right now, I would rather have you close, where I can make sure you don’t ruin my plans.” I grabbed her arm. “Porth i Ratinger Drug, Seattle.”

A huge green portal opened in front of us, and Candy’s eyes went wide for the hundredth time since I’d found her in that cabinet. “What is this?”

“Don’t ask questions.” I pushed her through the portal. When I arrived on the other side, Candy had stumbled on the sidewalk in front of Ratinger Drug, the front for Benny’s criminal enterprise. I reached down and pulled her up. “Come on.”

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I led her into the drug store, the door jingling when I opened it. The same hard-faced woman with the fake plastic smile guarded the counter and the hidden door behind it.

“Can I—” Her face dropped when she recognized me. “Oh, it’s you.” She pushed the buzzer underneath the counter, and the door behind her clicked. “Maybe he’ll finally kill you tonight.”

“He couldn’t kill me,” I replied, moving past her. “He loves me.”

I did more for Benny than I asked in return. In fact, aside from agreeing to help me take down the asshole who betrayed me, I’d never asked him for anything, and I hadn’t even called in that favor yet. Meanwhile, I’d done more and more work for the Rat King to inch into his good graces, always cutting my rate by fifty percent or more to show I was reasonable and a team player. It was a trick I learned early. Even when you have a gruff personality, if you were valuable to somebody, they would like you—even if they didn’t like you. Of course, it was a perilous dance. The minute you proved disposable, you would be disposed of. That’s when it was good you were more powerful than just about anything on Earth.

We snaked through the sewers under Ratinger Drug until we came to a break in a series of underground sewer pipes where three lines converged in one room. The smell of rotting food and feces grew as we descended, but the worst of it converged in the room that Benny called an office. My nose was already sensitive to smells, and Benny’s was the foulest I had encountered in a long time. I came prepared, popping in a pair of nose plugs. Too bad they couldn’t do anything to stop the foul taste of death on my tongue.

“Ollie!” he said. “My good girl. How’d that tip work out for you?”

“Perfect, Benny. Thank you. Lily is back home safe and sound.”

“Good, good to hear it.” His voice was softer than in our first encounters, and the rats that formed his body were more relaxed than they had been in the past. “I’m glad I could help.”

“That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Helping each other.”

“Absolutely. I scratch your back, and you scratch mine.” He left me an opening, and I took it. “Funny you should say that.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Because it’s about time I called in that favor, Benny. We got him.”

“Got who?”

“The demon that betrayed us both.” I pushed Candy forward. “This is Candy. She used to deliver cars to the creep, and she led me to his compound. It’s guarded by a small army of demons, which is a good sign they are protecting something massive inside.”

The rats that made up Benny’s face turned it to a scowl, looking Candy up and down. “How certain are you of this?”

“A hundred percent,” she replied. “Took me a second to remember, but I’m absolutely sure that’s where I delivered the car.” She dry heaved. “My god, how do you survive down here?”

“Evolution, my dear. Any who come to attack me gotta survive a natural barrier to doing so, and meanwhile, my rats bring me news from around the city. I control my whole army from here. This is the single most important room on the whole west coast.” He scoffed. “You humans, thinking everything revolves around your sense of smell. Pitiful.”

I pulled her back by the elbow. “I’m sorry. She didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I don’t like to be insulted. Even if it’s your friend, I will—”

“Whoa.” I held up my hands in protest. “She is not my friend. She betrayed me. If she didn’t have information I need, I’d kill her.”

“Hey!” Candy shouted, collapsing on the ground. “Oh god, I got it in my mouth.”

Benny growled. “If she’s a traitor, then why should I believe her?”

“Because I do,” I said.

“You’re willing to stake your reputation on this girl?”

“Is there any other way you’ll give me the men I need to mount an attack?”

Benny cackled in ten pitches at once. “No, I don’t think there is.”

“Whatever it takes. I’m calling in all my favors, and I’ll stake whatever you need to get your men to help me.”

Benny shrugged. “One hour. Be ready.”

“We will be.”