“Help me move this bed and this rug. We have a bit of work to do before she arrives,” Talia ordered.   Seraph did as she asked, and together they turned the bed on its side against the wall. He rolled up the thick cabernet-red rug it had been atop. Beneath it, Sara had scratched a massive pentagram, the five points of the stars pointing at five candles at the edges of the room. There were dozens of small runes drawn withi...

Seraph woke to the sounds of slow passion. He blinked away his sleep and propped himself up on his elbows. He was still on Sara’s bed, still surrounded by the candles, and still confused. He saw Sara, his childhood friend, engaged in a long kiss and full embrace with a woman he had seen before. Sara was wearing boyshorts, a small tank top, and no shoes.   The other woman wore brown cork wedges that left her toes exposed a...

Chapter 2 Seraph had active hobbies. He liked to hike, was part of a beer league kickball team, and even went along with his oldest friend and neighbor to the occasional mud run, but he didn’t work out to increase his performance in any of them. It felt good to look good. That’s why Seraph worked out. He had been a skinny, poorly styled nerd growing up whose romantic prospects had been limited by a lack of self‑confidence...

Chapter 1 Sparse raindrops dotted Sara Baldwin’s jacket, darkening the cloth like heavy rainclouds above dotted the twilight sky. She hugged her arms against herself and leaned into the wind and the purple-red twilight that cascaded over her from the clouded sky above. Her professor’s house was a good size, but not ostentatious. It overlooked a nearby lake from atop a small rise, and wasn’t too crowded by other developmen...