I was in a real fix. There was no mundane way off of the roof – no doubt why Tyv’zel had picked it. I didn’t know how to fly, shapeshift into a bird, summon a winged steed or any of the stuff I quite probably could do if I had the knowledge and experience.

And somebody was clapping slowly. The kind of slow clapping you awarded somebody who had got themselves in a fix.

I scowled, not even turning around. “Loki. He’s the one who brought me up here.”

My guess was right. “But you didn’t think to look for stairs before banishing him back to Hell. Which you did quite neatly, by the way.”

I sighed. “Stop teasing me and show me a way down?” I turned around. He was leaning against the HVAC exhaust from the building, grinning.

“Now, now. You really need rescuing.”

“Yes I do. You might be able to grow a set of wings and fly down, but I can’t.”

“Now there’s an idea.” And indeed, a set of brown, feathered wings, sprouted from his shoulders. “Like the look?”

“You are almost as far from an angel as he was.” I indicated where Martin/Tyv’zel had been before he vanished.

“Almost. Do you want a ride down or not?” He offered me his hand and I took it.

I was fairly sure the wings were just for show, but we drifted down lightly. “I need to learn that trick.”

“A lot of it’s about knowing you can do it,” he said, quietly.

“I admit I did just consider jumping and seeing if I could work something out before I hit the ground.” We touched down and the wings vanished. “You’re still a long way from an angel, though.”

“Have you ever met an angel? They’re boring. They’re not allowed to do anything fun. Why do you think there are so many demons?”

I laughed a bit. “Surely there has to be a middle ground?”

He shrugged. “Their creator doesn’t think so. Watch out, though. If Tyv’zel finds his way back he might decide to humiliate you in revenge.”

“I know. But he was trying to get in my pants and he…he wanted to make me his consort. Offered to protect me from Ragnarok.”

I almost expected Loki to say he could do that. Instead, he frowned, then, “Maybe you should have taken him up on it.”

I smiled. “I don’t think I’d enjoy living in Hell very much.”

“You never know.” He turned and walked away.

Protected from Ragnarok. He’d as much as admitted he couldn’t do that for me himself – and as much as admitted he wished he could.

Later. A house that apparently belonged to somebody Thea knew. It had a sort of long room to it. Large enough to make a small salle.

“You think I’m going to be mad with you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Given you were dumped in DC with no memories?”

“I know you didn’t make that decision. It was the Old Man.” There was no question there. “And now he’s going to start thinking…”

She sighed. “Jane. It wasn’t quite what you think.”

“The prophecy says I’ll either start Ragnarok or stop it. He was putting me safely out of the way.”

“First of all, he was hiding you from Surtur, who’s plans for you involve things I am pretty sure you wouldn’t like.”

“Things worse than killing me. He wants to recruit me.”

Thea sighed. “Yes. And a little bit more than that.”

“Don’t tell me he wants in my pants too.” I sighed. “Am I really that pretty?”

“You aren’t bad, but it’s not your looks he wants.”

“It’s my bloodli…” I tailed off. “Whatever it is.”

“Yes.” Thea brushed back her own hair, regarding me. “Surtur wants to make you his bride. Not now, of course, but when you’re a bit older. And ideally after Ragnarok. If he could manage to win, he would then have the only living woman with Aesir blood other than Helr. Who…”

“…doesn’t really count. She’s Queen of the Dead for a reason, isn’t she.” I tailed off. “And I’m young and impressionable. And that’s what it’s about.”

Choose. Choose.

I almost exploded. “I can’t even choose between wanting men and wanting women. I’m not going to even think about individuals yet…”

“And now do you understand why you can’t date Kanesha.”

“He’d see her as a rival and kill her.” My shoulders slumped. “Anyone I go out with…is in mortal danger.”

Thea nodded. “Until and unless we deal with Surtur.”

“Maybe that’s how I stop Ragnarok. Make him think he’s got me then stab him in his own bed.” I couldn’t believe I was seriously considering it.

I know who you are now. Brilliant. I didn’t ask her. I didn’t ask her not because I thought she wouldn’t tell me, but because my mind shied away from the knowledge.

“It’s…there are worse plans, but…”

“Okay, so hiding me from Surtur. And getting me out of Asgardian politics. And…”

“…giving you a fresh perspective when you came back.”
“And Surtur knows where I am, so maybe it’s time to come back.”

Thea shook her head. “Not yet. You’re still shying away from accepting who you are properly.”

“…can you read my mind?”

“No. I just know you would have asked, otherwise.”

Whatever he saw, he didn’t panic. Just as planned, he changed course and gunned the car towards the ambush point. People flattened themselves against buildings, but they didn’t seem to think anything of it.

Armored car with bike escort. That was probably what they saw, or at least what they remembered. I pulled out my gun, but didn’t use it. Thought for a fleeting moment that I should have had Father Will bless the bullets, then wondered if that was redundant.

Probably. The van’s tires screeched, throwing through another turn. I unfastened my seatbelt.

No pot shots…well, no. Maybe one, well above them. I didn’t want to make them back off, but I also didn’t want them thinking the armored car people weren’t fighting back. All of my willpower was focused on one thing. Not being recognized.

Careful. No shooting anyone in the crowd. Somebody screamed, but it wasn’t the sound of somebody being hit so much as logical fear, brought on by the realization that a heist was going on right in front of them.

Other people were, of course, snapping pictures with their cell phones. Typical.

Mike grumbled, “Tourists. Look at them. Somebody’s going to get killed.”

“Let’s try to avoid that. We’re only a block out.”

He nodded. “I won’t ask how you did that, by the way.”

I didn’t ask him what it was I had done. I had a feeling I knew. I popped off another deliberately wide shot, up in the air. It hit a street light and I flinched. I hadn’t wanted to do any damage.
Well, it was done now. The succubi were in hot pursuit. No sign of Martin, though. I was honestly waiting for him to jump on the roof or something. He probably had wings too.

Hot pursuit and they were beautiful and terrifying and I had a feeling I was too, in that moment. And also nondescript and unnoticeable and I really felt apart. Separated. And very alive and real.

This really was what I was born for. I was sure of it. And then we hit the ambush zone…and Mike lost control of the car.

Of course, it was all part of the plan. A perfectly controlled spin to land blocking the street. I was facing them. I opened the door and started to shoot. This time I didn’t really care if I hit them or scared them, because I could already see the other four moving into position behind them.

They’d been, as we hoped, so eager to get the book that they’d failed to notice stuff.

I, though, saw everything. Everything as it really was. Thruor sat her winged steed, the mount of a valkyrie, and shadows and death swirled around her. Father Will glowed faintly…so that was what a halo actually looked like… Seb had a bit of the same about him. And Kanesha…was still Kanesha.

She was too fragile and vulnerable for this, and I loved her, and they knew too.

She was the weak link and they both launched themselves at her. Only for Seb to throw holy water in their faces.

I dropped the gun. It wasn’t the weapon I needed now.

One of the challenges had been finding an armored car attendant uniform to fit me. Not many women, apparently, do that job. Fortunately I’m fairly tall.

Mike was driving.

“You’ve done this before?”

Mike nodded. “We’ve switched cops out for regular drivers when we’ve known there was a threat. Not the fake armored car sting…if the cops did that it would be entrapment. But we’ve done the switch.”

He certainly knew how to handle the vehicle. “The trick is to get them to the place the others are, right.”

“And they can probably sense you, Thea and maybe even the priest.” A pause. “You realize I know what you girls are, right?”

“Does it matter?” It came over a bit too defensive. I was actually interested in what he thought and whether it was right.

“I’d rather have you than a demon. That’s all that really matters. I thought you were just some hunter kid, but you aren’t. I look at you next to Seb, and…”

I fought back a laugh. “Seb knows more of what he’s doing than appears, I think. I think he’s just…really lacking in confidence when it comes to working on his own.”

Mike nodded. “And outside the network you guys are forming. Well, not any more.” He fell silent.

“I’m sorry if bringing you in gets you hurt.”

“I’m a cop. You know. This isn’t really that much more dangerous. And I’m not worried with your friend there.”

Maybe he really had worked out what Thea was. “We’re not angels. You know that, right?”

“No, but like I said, you aren’t demons. I don’t feel…that you guys want to eat my soul, or even just tie me down in a bed and have your way with me.”

I laughed. “I don’t know. Thea might do that…but only if you wanted her to.”

The banter was keeping the tension away. They’d loaded a box of books…fakes, of course. Or ones that just weren’t that valuable but looked it. I didn’t know much about bookbinding.

“I had a feeling that might be the case. Not my scene, but I do know a guy I could introduce her to.”

I laughed again. “Nah. She only does the modeling stuff. For the money, you know. I don’t think she’s really like that.”

He grinned. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t care what people do in their…”

The last word would presumably have been “bedrooms” but he didn’t voice it, because we were suddenly flanked by the succubi.

I saw them now as they truly were. Not beautiful women, but still beautiful, terrible sexless beings with tattered wings.

I wondered what Mike saw.

I already had the gun out. I dropped behind the bike, popping one off back at him as I did so.
Careful.

I didn’t want to hit Kanesha. If there were people on the street they were doing the sane thing and running in the opposite direction. The thing I badly wanted to do myself. At the same time I wanted to fight him and I wanted him dead.

Maybe that was the thrum through me, but no. It wasn’t just wanting, and it wasn’t necessarily him. Perhaps some instinct was telling me that at this point, at this juncture, it was him or me.

If he died it would be murder. If they caught me…then I’d have to disappear from my cell somehow.

They couldn’t hold me. In that moment I actually felt for the first time as if I was a goddess – above human law and human rules.

Except as I chose to follow them. Which I did. I would not kill him unless he gave me no choice. “Mr. Clem. Let’s not have this end this way. Let her go.”

Instead, he did what I should have expected…emerged from the van using her as a shield. She was limp in his arms, but I knew, could tell, she was faking it. She was waiting for her moment and I was going to give her that moment, if I could.
“She’s mine. I thought about what you said, but no white chica is going to convince me Kanesha isn’t mine. And once you’re dead, I’ll claim her fully.”

I knew what he intended to do and a raw sense of anger came all the way through me for a moment. They talk about seeing red? I literally did.

Kanesha’s eyes snapped open. “Jane. Don’t.”

It helped. I knew what was in me, though, and that if I let it out. “Back down if you want to live.”

“You won’t risk killing her.”

“Maybe I would rather than let you do that to her.”

I was aware now of somebody behind me. Crap. A witness. Well, hopefully he hadn’t seen me shoot the tire. If he hadn’t, then all he could speak to was that I’d pulled a gun on somebody who was shooting at me, something that cops tended to turn a blind eye towards even if the gun was illegal.

Oh, they’d take the gun, but…I could find another one. I didn’t turn around. But there was a quiet voice from behind me.

“I’m sorry.”

Sorry?

Mr. Clem snarled and reached for his gun…and at that point, Kanesha stepped hard on his foot and twisted free, running. I had a clear shot now. I had every justification in taking it.
Self defense. I could get away with murder, but I hesitated.

And as I hesitated, a bullet whipped past me from behind. It struck Mr. Clem in the throat and he went down.

Dammit. “That was not how this was supposed to end.” I still didn’t turn around. I didn’t even want to see who had done it.

All I wanted to do was make sure Kanesha was okay and that he hadn’t touched her, hadn’t done that to her.

I didn’t want anyone to touch her that way. Anyone but me…

From the bike, Southeast was different. White girl on foot got suspicious looks and sized up for mugging.

White girl on bike got people closing curtains. They couldn’t even see the gun. Or maybe it was something about my face.

“Find Mr. Clem,” I whispered, and the fyrhund streaked ahead of me. I didn’t dare send it to find Kanesha, it might eat her. If it ate Mr. Clem? That would solve all of our problems. The bike followed…I wasn’t even steering her at this point, just crouched over the handlebars, actually feeling the mane flowing into my face. And knowing I knew how to ride not just a horse, but a horse like this. The gun was heavy…I should have brought the sword too, but I hadn’t wanted Wilma to touch it, hadn’t wanted anyone to touch it.

Or maybe I felt that if she did she would be pulled in, and she would be dead. She wouldn’t last five minutes in this world.
The fyrhund swung down a side street and I clung to the bike as I followed, feeling as if I was about to take off into the air. Feeling, perhaps, like those who rode with the Wild Hunt felt. Free. Dangerous.
Feeling as if somebody was going to die tonight. Perhaps not at my hands, but there was death in the air. There was death in the fire that streaked backwards around me, and people saw it, sensed it, backed away except for one young man who got ahead of me, pointed his gun, fired and missed, then scrambled to the side before I could hit him.

Protecting his turf, his people. I could almost see that, almost see what he was. Remembered his face.

He was one for Mike’s head start program. He was one who could not just get out of here but be something for them on the outside, but I had to keep moving. I had to find Kanesha.

Find Kanesha and Mr. Clem. And the fyrhund was running faster. They were on the move, I knew. Some kind of vehicle.

Then I saw it. He’d got an old VW camper, painted puke green. I winced. You can get away with colors on VW campers or bugs you can’t on other cars, but that shade of green belonged nowhere outside of somebody’s stomach. The plates, of course, were obscured.

I whistled, and the fyrhund dropped back to run next to my rear wheel. What next? Shoot out the tires?

Somebody was going to die. I sensed that again. It thrummed through me. I pulled the gun from its holster and fired.

Hit the rear tire square on, the van squealing and then spinning sideways.

“Let her go,” I said, not dismounting, not moving. I hoped in that moment he saw the reality…a blonde woman on a grey horse, with a dog made of fire at her side.

Instead?

He tried to shoot me.

I knew Thea knew I had taken the bike. The bike knew I had taken the bike, but whatever mind or mentality it had, it was with me. It knew this was a true emergency. Sensed it from me, perhaps, the sense of urgency that flowed through me.

Why had she called me, not the cops? Or maybe she had called both, but she was at home, or had been when she’d made the call. Help. Home. The only words she’d been able to get out.

Had been when she’d made the call. Wasn’t now. The fyrhund. I needed it right now, the only asset I had that could track her down, but I wasn’t sure where the beast was.

No, it was there, running next to me. I’d called it, somehow, without knowing I had. It liked me, but it couldn’t be trusted. The bike didn’t seem to trust it either, it felt like it shied away a little.

“Easy girl,” I murmured. For a moment, it felt like a horse again, running on swift hooves across the pavement, but all anyone would see was a girl on a bike, gunning it through an alleyway, between cars. Fastest way to get across a city. And knowing you wouldn’t wreck, knowing that what was under you wasn’t a dumb machine?

I went even faster, squealing to a halt outside the house.

It wasn’t Kanesha who came out. It was Wilma, the quiet one, whom I almost never spoke to. “Oh my…oh my…where did you get the bike?”

“It’s a friend’s. Where’s Kanesha?”

“Her old man grabbed her.”

“Dammit.” Where would he have taken her? “She should have hit him in the balls.”

“She did. Bastard was wearing a cup.”

Of course he was. Mr. Clem…which wasn’t even Kanesha’s last name…would take precautions like that. “Wilma, can you do one thing for me?”

She nodded.

“There’s a gun under my bed. Get it for me. Wear gloves, just in case.”

Her eyes widened at the mention of the illegal weapon, then she vanished inside, retrieving it after a moment. Wearing gloves.

“Good. Now stay here…”

“Are you going to shoot him?”

“Probably not, but he doesn’t need to know that.”

I knew she wouldn’t tell the cops I had it. She was, though, pale and shaking her hands as if the weapon had contaminated her. “There’s chocolate ice cream in the freezer.”

I couldn’t suggest alcohol, not when she was no older than I was, but I could give her my ice cream. It was about all I could do. Then I turned the bike towards Southeast.

Father William went off to set up whatever he planned on making them think the book was being moved. Which apparently included hiring an actual armored car.

Using the funds of the Catholic church.

To help a valkyrie…maybe two valkyries…and a teenaged demon hunter trap three demons. Oh, and a cop. Who was Protestant. And I still wasn’t convinced Loki wouldn’t show up. It was a walk into a bar joke waiting to happen. I still couldn’t believe we’d gotten Father William in on this.

While he was busy, I filled Seb in on the situation. “First of all, we communicate with each other…as long as we’re in this city, we make sure we know about each other’s ops.”

He nodded. “Actually…yeah. And maybe I can help again.”

“Maybe you can. Where did you get the holy water?”

“I borrowed it from the cathedral.”

“Next time, ask Father Will. I’m pretty sure he’d oblige.”

“I didn’t know anyone would. My dad…well…he wasn’t hunting here, he was hunting in New York and when he…died…I had to come here and live with my mom.”

“Who doesn’t have to know about this. Don’t worry.” I almost asked what got him, but it was clearly a sore point, not one to be pressed on for curiosity or even for the desire to avoid the same fate. Later, I told myself, firmly.

“Thanks. She would give me the Irish Catholic guilt trip.”

I laughed. “Oh dear. A fate worse than dealing with demons.” Even if I was a bit jealous. I had, after all, no clue who my mother was nor any memory of her.

“But…” He paused. “I have the Sight.”

I nodded. “I kind of figured. You can spot demons at a distance. So can I, but it’s always good to have a second person.”

“You’re not a demon, but you’re a something. So’s Thea. The same something, almost.”

Almost? I nodded. “Yes. But don’t worry. We aren’t after your soul or anything.”

“I figured not, although I’d almost…” He glanced where Thea had left to.

“She’s good crush material, isn’t she?” I grinned.

“You too?”

He probably assumed it was a girl crush not the romantic/sexual kind. I wasn’t about to correct that impression. I didn’t know how he…or Father William…would react, but they’d likely tell me the only moral thing to do was to date boys.

Again with the having to choose. Then my cell phone rang. “Excuse me.”

It was Kanesha, I knew from the ring tone. “Help,” was all she said, then I heard noise in the background.

She was supposed to call 911, not me, I thought angrily as I rushed outside. How did I get there?

Thea’s bike was parked outside. I was pretty sure that was the only way.

Seb turned out to be exactly what he claimed to be. A nervous, Italian-looking kid who knew something about demon hunting.

“I’m sorry. I thought…”

“Honestly, they were going after souls in there,” Thea told him. “But we had a plan to get rid of them for an extended period. They won’t fall for it twice, so we need a new one.”

I paused. “You know. That fyrhund’s still around. Wonder if I could bribe it to track them for us.”

Thea frowned. “You can’t trust those things, even if that one does seem to like you.”

“Got a better idea?” I admit I gave Seb a challenging look. He’d screwed up one sting, he owed us help coming up with a new one.

Unfortunately, he just looked kinda flustered and looked away. I noticed it wasn’t so much me he was trying not to look at as Thea. Probably a crush coming on.

“I have an idea,” Father William said. “We find something else they can’t resist, and it just occurred to me.”

“What did?”

“There’s a copy of the Black Book in the cathedral library. If it were to somehow appear outside the wards.”

“What if they got it?” Thea frowned.

“Oh, I don’t plan on actually moving it. Just making them think it’s going to be moved.”

“What’s the Black Book?” I demanded, and got odd looks from everyone except Mike. Including Seb. Clearly, it was something I was supposed to know.

“It’s a book that supposedly contains the true names of many of the more powerful demons. You need that to banish them. So, of course, every demon has a standing order to destroy any copy they can find.”

I nodded. “Okay. So…yeah. But no moving the actual book. Please.” I had this feeling we’d want that book.

Sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Or not an idiot. Apparently, I wasn’t the only demon hunter in the area, because holy water in the sprinkler system?

Hadn’t been part of the plan. Not that I was going to do anything to protect the succubus. She shrieked, glared at me, then vanished before I could tell her this one wasn’t me. The non-demons were, of course, pouring out the doors.

I was heading towards the employee-only door, determined to find out who had ruined our sting before they got away. They were probably useful to know, because I was wishing I had thought of holy water in the sprinkler system. Then again, I had a feeling it hadn’t got rid of them for long.

The door led to a narrow breezeblock corridor. On one side were dressing rooms for bands and other performers. Down the other, I saw a masculine figure running for the fire exit.

I took a gamble that this was the perpetrator (or Martin) and took off after him. I caught up with him as he stepped out into the alleyway outside.

“Was that your genius idea?”

He turned to face me. Blinked. “What?”

“The sprinkler system. If it wasn’t you, tell me, but I do have ways of determining the truth.” Not that I exactly did – right now, Thea had the horn in her purse, which was larger.

He narrowed his eyes. “Huh. You’re not a demon.”

I brushed the adulterated water off my arm. “Nope. We’re on the same side, but we seem to have crossed each other. I’m Jane.”

“Seb,” he introduced. I wasn’t sure from his appearance which form of Sebastian it might be short for.

“So. Are you a demon hunter or just?”

“My dad was…a demon hunter.” He tailed off. “I just…”

“You did the right thing. Not your fault we were trying to corner them for an exorcism.” At that point, Father William came out of the building, looking uncomfortable.

“They got away,” the priest said…he was wearing a plain suit and no dog collar.

“I know. This is the guy that interrupted. I reckon we should keep him around so he doesn’t do it again.”

Seb was starting to look worried.

“Don’t worry. You’re just going to come to our war council and listen.” A kid. He was no older than I was and trying to do grownup work without grownup help. Everything rang true and we could always test him with the horn once we were off the streets.