I made a mental note to ask Loki if he could teach me to teleport. I’d seen him do it, after all.

It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d try to work out on my own.

No things to get attached to. Other than the sword, which had survived. But I hadn’t been entirely honest. I had to pretend I wasn’t at all upset about what happened.

Or they might do it again, and they’d catch even more people in the collateral damage this time. Bigger building.

A part of me wondered if I should try disappearing. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t do that to my friends. I certainly wasn’t going to pull the false-noble ‘You’d be safer without me’ crap on Kanesha.

Which meant…then I had an idea. I called Clara.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Need some witchy advice.”

I could hear her brighten. She always liked it when she was taken seriously. “Okay.”

“Let’s meet at the Dupont cafe. You know the one.”

A little bit later we were ensconced in a pleasant underground room with sandwiches.

“So…what do you need?”

“Wards. Is there a way to protect the building I’m in from a fire giant setting it on fire again?”

“You think they might go for a repeat.”

“I’m not risking it. Other people were hit last time, and one of them wasn’t insured.”

Clara nodded. “I’ll get a group together. It’s probably more than I can do on my own. Although, people might detect the wards.”

“That’s fine. I don’t think I could actually have any more enemies than I do.”

She laughed. “Don’t say that.”

“I already did. Fortunately, I have plenty of allies too.”

“How’s Derek?”

“Learning,” I admitted. “I think Thruor took him off to kick his butt a few times.”

“He might enjoy that.”

I laughed. “He might. To start with. You know how much of a drill sergeant she can be.”

“Oh, for sure. But…he is a straight guy.”

“He is that.” I grinned at her. “Then again, so’s Seb.”

She blushed.

I decided that was a low blow and changed the subject back to magic. Odd how it had become the harmless thing to talk about.

Well, almost anything was more harmless than relationships. It didn’t really matter what the combination of genders and sexualities were, they were always complicated.

No matter how much you loved each other. But most of us seemed to be managing to find somebody to love.

Who wanted one.

Then I thought of Thruor.

I thought of Mike, and grief drifted back over me again. The conversation was not quite enough to take my mind off of it.

Off of Mike and Monica alike.

I filed an insurance claim. Of course, there was no proof of anything. No sign of an accelerant – but a fire giant wouldn’t need one.

The investigators were going to be at it for a while, which meant I wouldn’t get money to replace my stuff for a while either. I did manage to find a new apartment, which was even slightly bigger, but the only furniture I could find was a second hand futon and a third or fourth hand table with chairs that wobbled.

It would have to do for now, and Kanesha was right. We were more important, and we were fine. Nothing that couldn’t be replaced had been lost. I bought her a new laptop, but then I was pretty much out of money.

Oh well.

I could eat ramen noodles for a while if I had to. And I got a surprising amount of sympathy at school. Especially for this happening right before graduation.

Even Peter came over, “Do you need anything?”

“Nah. Kanesha made me back everything up.” Finals would be a pain, but…

“Are you sure?”

“I’m insured, I’m making money, I’ll get back together.”

“Did they find out what caused it yet?”

I shook my head. “No. Probably an electrical issue somewhere or other. Probably wasn’t anything to do with me.”

“Probably something with the mechanics. Was there an elevator?”

I nodded. “A very grumpy one.”
“Yeah. Building electrics have a lot more voltage than anything in your apartment and elevators…use a lot of power.”

“Especially old and grumpy ones, I’d imagine.” And where I was would be better once I replaced everything.

Besides? I wasn’t going to let threats or messages get to me. Pretending I saw it just as some stupid accident would drive whoever was behind this crazy.

And drive them into making a mistake, I hoped. The police would never find anything, but I might. Find something or just…wait for them to poke their nose out.

Which they did, as I left my new place.

“Like the new digs?” A sardonic female voice.

“Gambling I won’t beat you up right now?”

“Gambling you want information more than revenge.”

She was probably right. “I wouldn’t mind knowing why you did something so petty.”

I saw her shoulder shrug. She had strawberry blonde hair, worn in a single braid. “People get attached to things.”

“Yes, but you didn’t manage to take anything away from me that I can’t replace.”

“Really?”

“I don’t have a past here to have things to get attached to.” Which was true. And I’d given the horn back, which might have been damaged by supernatural fire.

“Keep telling yourself that. But it was a warning. Anything you have, I can take any time I want it.” Then she vanished in a puff of flame.

I wanted to learn that trick. Quite badly.

Of course, now I was looking at shadows for a fire giant assassin that had people geased not to talk about him.

Or her.

Or whatever. With Zaid around, it was hard to forget the existence of “or whatever” when it came to these things. Oddly, I thought her was more likely, though.

Maybe I was just biased.

Or maybe we’d been told that to make us look over our shoulders for a fire giant assassin. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it wasn’t some kind of trick, as nice as the kid had seemed.

Either way, it was definitely making me nervous, no matter how much I told myself not to be. I could handle it, whatever it was.

Or so I thought. I won’t say I’d got cocky, but I really had got cocky. I had a shoot on Saturday and afterwards, flush with cash, I took Kanesha out for dinner at a cheap, but excellent steak house. We planned on going back to my place afterwards. For dessert, as it were.

The meal was excellent, nobody tailed us home, but when we got there…

…the firefighters were blocking the street. The building had caught fire not long after we left and was now gutted. They didn’t let us through to look for our belongings.

I knew our weapons would be okay when we could find them. But everything else was gone. Our clothes. Our laptops. And I knew what it was.

A message.

Somebody had done this just to piss us off, and the fact that it was fire told me the source.

“Tell me you had your notes…”

“I had everything on Google Drive. It’s…it’s fine.” It clearly wasn’t, but…

I slipped an arm around her. “We’ll get them for this.” Which might be the reaction they wanted, but I was hoping they would underestimate just how dangerous I could be.

But I should have come up with some way to stop this from happening. “I should have…”

“The only important things are us, right?”

She was right. I closed my eyes for a moment. “Charles won’t be pleased about the dress.”

She laughed weakly. “I guess…”

“No, I have money. We’re getting a hotel room.”

And later, when they weren’t looking, I went through the rubble and retrieved the swords, undamaged. Mine, though, seemed to be rather annoyed.

Swords don’t like threats they can’t stab.

It was a couple of days before we could try and turn things back on Kanesha’s tail. She ignored them in the interim, pretending as best she could that she didn’t know they were there or realize what they were up to. Grumping about it when we were together.

But finally, I was able to cut around the block, cut them off and corner them as she turned around.

It was a young fire giant. “Explain yourself.”

“I…we…don’t want anything to happen to her.”

I let out a breath. “She can look after herself. I can look after her. Why does she need you?”

“I know who Surtur’s likely to send.”

A slow nod. “Then you can tell me.”

“I…” He shook his head. “I can’t. It’s a geas. If any of us talk about them, they’ll know.”

I nodded slowly, taking him at his word at least for now. There were certainly people capable of doing what he suggested. “But you can warn me if this person or persons show up?”

A slow nod. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I only hurt people who are trying to hurt others.” Just another fire giant kid. The kids seemed to be on my side.

“Maybe you’d be a good queen.”

My lips quirked. “Nah, I’d be terrible.”

I wouldn’t start Ragnarok, though. At least, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. Sometimes I doubted myself, wondered what was hiding in the memories Odin had blocked from me.

Sometimes I wondered if Loki was right.

“I don’t think so.”

“For one thing, I don’t have any experience ruling anything.”

He laughed a bit. “I don’t…”

“If I was a true princess I’d be trained for it, you know.” Kanesha was trying not to laugh. I glared at her.

“You are a goddess, though.”

“And I’m about the same age you are, at a guess. Gods need to learn too.” How to god…was it a verb? I supposed it could be.

“…point.”

“And anyway, I don’t want to be queen. Not alone and certainly not sitting next to Surtur.”

“And…we…we respect that. But I still think you’d be good at it.”

“I think,” Kanesha cut in. “That whoever he’s trying to warn us about is going to get suspicious if they’re watching somehow.”

“Yeah. I should pretend to rough you up some.”

He laughed again. That was the second one I’d actually liked. Or were they brothers or something?
Thinking about it, I was pretty sure they were.

The thought that the conversation left me with, though, was a bit of a sad one.

If everyone decent I knew had screwed up parents except Seb and Clara…that probably meant more parents were screwed up.

Or, maybe, it meant having a messed up family pushed you into our kind of craziness. I decided that was the real answer and to stop worrying about it. Besides, the more people around the more firepower.

And the more people who might die. I shook my head at that thought, heading home before it could take me over into melancholy. If nothing else, home had chocolate.

Home also had a tired-looking Kanesha. We curled up together on the couch.

“I’m a little worried,” she said, finally. “I think I’m being followed by fire giants.”

I tensed. “You…probably are. I can come dissuade them.”

“I can probably do that, if it’s only one or two of them, but it’s making me worry that Surtur’s about to try something.

“If he touches you…” If he did, I might forget about the consequences of killing him.

If I could.

It wasn’t my task. Did that mean bad things would happen if I did or did it mean I didn’t have the right skillset to do it? Probably the latter. I was pretty sure I knew which of us would win in an out and out fight.

It wasn’t my task. That didn’t mean I was sure I could resist the temptation to try if he so much as cut a braid from Kanesha’s head.

“Don’t…”

“I won’t do anything stupid, but he needs to know he won’t get away with it.”

“It might also be people who don’t want you as queen protecting me.”

I laughed. “Well. Again, if you need help chasing them off, just let me know. I will.”

“I know that. I think I can handle them.” She didn’t sound sure, though.

She had a decent weapon, but she couldn’t conceal it the way I could. She could only really carry it when we were actually hunting.

“Might be best to get them on our own terms, though.”

She turned towards me. “I don’t mind being bait.”

“Don’t put it that way. It makes you sound helpless.” And I didn’t want to ever see her as that, think of her as that. Because she wasn’t. She most emphatically was not helpless.

“Got a better way?” A pause. “Let’s worry about it tomorrow.” She reached to pull me into a kiss.

I wasn’t about to object, and things most definitely went in interesting directions from there.

But my last thought before dozing off was that I had signed her up for this and I had to make sure nothing happened to her.

Nothing bad.

At least the efreet himself didn’t show up to make things awkward. Not telling him about his father?

I could and could not get behind that. The more I thought about it, the more unfair it seemed, but at the same time, he didn’t need a father like that. Not at all.

Nobody did.

It was sad that I sometimes seemed to be the person with the least crazy father. You know, the daughter of the chaotic trickster god.

I reminded myself Seb and Clara had perfectly sane parents. So did Thruor. I didn’t know about Zaid. They hadn’t talked about their family, which made me wonder if they’d been rejected for being non-binary.

Some parents were pretty cruel about things like that. Actually, some parents were pretty cruel period.

Sometimes I thought the people without them were better off. Or maybe it was the people who’s parents had chosen them who had it best.

You couldn’t choose how your kids would turn out. If I ever had them, I would have to remind myself of that.

If.

I wasn’t sure I wanted them. But Derek’s mother was messed up and his father was, well, even more messed up.

No wonder he was messed up and vulnerable, but I hoped we could get him on a straight path now.

I corralled him after school and we went to the subs place I used to work at. I could bring myself to eat their food again now.

“So…”

“So, we know people want to turn you evil. That’s way more than half the battle with this kind of thing.”

He nodded slowly. “My mother…why did she lie to me?”

I paused, then, “Because your father’s a total jerk and she didn’t think you needed anything of him in your life.”

He frowned, but didn’t look surprised. “Or she was worried I’d turn out like him.”

“You’re already much nicer. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Not that bloodlines don’t matter, but some of the best people I know have fathers you wouldn’t want to invite to the table.”

He laughed. “Fair enough. Then again, I’m not sure I’d invite yours.”

“He’s actually fun at parties.”

“When he’s not…”

“…sliding whoopi cushions under the butt of the most pretentious person there.”

Derek laughed. “Would he actually do something that petty?”

“Yes. Although he’s normally more creative. The point is, though, you don’t have to be like your parents, but you do have to acknowledge what of them is in you.”

He nodded. “And what of my father is in me?”

“I can’t tell you. I’ve already pushed the edges. Your mother asked me not to give you too much information.”

“Still afraid I’ll turn into him.”

I couldn’t answer that. Not yet.

“So,” she said, studying me. “I talked to Zaid.”

“I suspected as much.”

“I kept my son from knowing the truth because I knew he would be…fragile…about it.”

“And now he’s mad with you for not telling him.” I reached for my coffee. “I understand both sides of it.”

“I was worried he’d end up in Hell.” A pause. “I still am.” She said it so casually that I had to take a peek at her soul. As best I could.

“We won’t let that happen.”

“And can you keep him from getting himself killed?”

“We can give him the tools to keep himself from getting himself killed,” I said quietly. “I’m…I can’t tell people want to do. I can’t tell him to stop.”

“Why not?”

“I suspect you know.”

She laughed a bit. “I don’t know, but I definitely suspect. Not angel, not demon. Other.”

“Right, and if I interfere with him…” She was his mother. “But when I first saw him he was shooting fairies with cold iron because he couldn’t tell the difference between them and demons.” My eyes challenged her.

“I did not…”

“That’s the problem. You didn’t teach him, so he went out and tried to teach himself, and got tricked by a fake Guardian Angel.” I was trying not to be angry.

“And you…”

“No, this isn’t on me.” I sighed. “It’s on him and on you. And maybe a little on his father for not being around.”

Zaid had been very quick to stop me from… “You were pretty young,” I added. “When you met him.”

“Too young.”

“I…think I may have met him, if he’s kept those tastes.” I made a face. “Was he…”

“His father does not know about Derek. If you have met him, please keep it that way.” Her tone went tight.

“Don’t worry. If it’s that one…” I shuddered. “I mean, my dad can be an embarrassment, but he at least waits for them to fully grow up.”

She studied me again. “I know about embarrassing parents. But embarrassment is one thing, wanting to arrest the guy for stat rape is another.”

Which, looking at her and thinking about Derek…it had probably been. Too young for a normal guy, let alone efreet, who lived far longer.

How long would Derek live? Not long enough if he couldn’t protect himself.

“Zaid’s the one who told him anyway.”

“With my encouragement. But we were too far into the conversation to stop without driving him crazy.”

“Does he still have the anti-fairy gun?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. He probably should.”

“Or not.”

“I think he can be trusted to use it now.” But would she trust my judgment?

“I want to see that for myself.”

I decided I didn’t like her much, but I definitely respected her. But I wondered at how cold she was.
Was it the fault of Derek’s father?

I didn’t have time to do much over the weekend, with shoots both days and a party Saturday evening put on by one of the other models.

A nice little interlude of some kind of normalcy. Of course, I couldn’t get away with drinking at the party. I could get away with taking Kanesha. The hostess, Diana, was very gracious, and she hired good caterers.

“So, the new guy…”

“…is apparently part efreet.”

“I hope that doesn’t mean he’ll hit on Clara.”

“Seb would punch him.”

Kanesha grinned. “No. Clara would hex him.”

“Point. Seb knows she can look after herself.” I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in, relaxed, half-watching the party.

“More than, half the time she’s the one looking after him.”

I still wished I could do something about her scar, but Kanesha was right. Clara was quite dangerous when she wanted to be. She wasn’t going to get any more like that in a hurry. “Good point. Anyway…he’s in good hands with Zaid.”

“Confused, I’d imagine.”

“I think Zaid got across to him that he’s not a demon, not a monster, and doesn’t have to abandon his faith. So he should be good.”

I hoped. And I was still wondering about that fire escape. “I talked to the other guy,” I added. “Dreadlocks guy. Hunter from New Orleans. Came to check on rumors of me.”

“That’s gonna start happening, isn’t it.” She smiled. “Let’s stop talking business.” She stood, offering me her hand. “Let’s dance.”

I took it, and let her lead – for everything superior about me, she led better than I did. Smarter, a better dancer…I grinned inwardly as I started to list her good qualities. It was a habit, but a good one as far as I was concerned.

If you didn’t know all the ways the person you loved was better than you, then you loved the wrong person. So, we danced, and everything went smoothly.

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, in terms of the next thing being a ranking demon coming after Derek.

But it didn’t that night, or the next day. No, it actually waited until Monday, and then it came in the form of a phone call.

“I know you don’t know me, but my name is Marlena.”

“Okay.”

“Derek’s mother. Can we talk?”

I knew instantly that Derek had gone to her to take up the matter of his heritage, and she’d been hiding it from him, and was mad…but why call me, not Zaid?

Unless she’d already yelled at Zaid about it and was now working down the list. “Alright.”

Or maybe she was mad about something else, like him hunting, which she hadn’t known before and was blaming on me.

She named a cafe not far from Dupont Circle. Not really in the full-blown alternative zone, but close.

I put on a nice blouse to meet her. Maybe she thought Derek had a thing for me.

But I knew she wasn’t happy and I wanted to fix that, wanted not to be the cause of conflict between a mother and her son.

Zaid did not give me Samson’s number – that would have been rude. He gave me the address of his haunt. Then he headed off with Derek.

Whom I was determined not to leave alone until we found him a decent weapon and got him some real training. It was hard to believe this was the same guy, though. We’d at least got him thinking straight.

Assuming he was. So, I went hunting Samson, but warily. Those two demons might decide to try me on for size now I was alone. And, of course, the address?

The community center I’d once hung out with with Kanesha. Heck, maybe I’d even seen the guy back then and not noticed him. As it had been, I was one of only two or three white faces.

“Jane!” somebody called.

“Yeah, sorry, I took up modeling, got high class, stole Kanesha and disappeared.” I grinned – it was Pansy, whom I remembered from before.

“Modeling.  That’s either fun or boring.”

“Both at different times,” I informed her. “But I’m looking for Samson.”

“What do you want with him?” She stuck her tongue out at me.

“What, is he boring too?”

She shook her head. “No, he’s kind of cool, but also more than kind of weird.”

“So am I,” I pointed out.

“He’s…oh wait, I think he’s in the garden.”

I headed back there and found him checking on the herbs. I’d almost never gone back into the little garden. It was supposed to let people practice their green thumbs.

As most of the kids lacked that facility, it was usually half dead. “Samson?”

“Oh…oh, it’s you.”

“He’s with Zaid.”

“And still alive? I’m surprised.”

“Did you…”

“I did not throw him off the fire escape. He fell off the fire escape all on his own.”

I sensed a ring of truth there. “So, what did you work out about him?”

“Mixed breed. Efreet, at a guess.”
“Zaid confirmed that. And he’s a loose cannon. We did convince him not all supernaturals are demons.”

“Fall probably knocked some sense into the kid.” He stood up. “What do you want from me?”
“I’m just curious. How…”

“I’m new in town is how you haven’t met me before.” He grinned a bit, then offered a hand. “Samson, but you know that.”

I paused, then. “Siglaugr. But Jane is…”

“Far easier to pronounce for those who don’t speak Old Norse.” A pause. “You’re the one all the rumors are about. Random half-trained Norse goddess.”

“I am…” Then I laughed. “…very random.”

He laughed too. “And I…” He shrugged. “Just a hunter. Been in New Orleans.”

“You came here to find me.” Not a question.

“I was curious.”

I hoped it was nothing more than that. I had a feeling he would end up needing or wanting something from me.

And I wasn’t sure I believed him about the fire escape, except he knew Zaid. Zaid would have warned me if he was evil.

“So, they just came out of nowhere?” We’d found a cafe. Fortunately, almost all of the blood on Derek wasn’t, well, his, and demon blood doesn’t stick around once you’ve got rid of the demon.

“Yup.”

“We need to know why Hell wants you so badly.”

Zaid was studying Derek with his eyes slightly wide. I didn’t push them for an immediate answer.

“Could be you have natural talent.”

“Next to…”

“Don’t compare yourself to us. Zaid’s been doing this for years and I’m a goddess. You’ve got a solid fighting style, you move well…”

“…that’s not it.” Zaid blinked, and their gaze returned to normal. “That’s emphatically not it.”

“So, what is it?” Derek asked, frowning.

“How well do you heal?”

Oh no.

I didn’t think Derek could take being told he was supernatural. Worse, what if he belonged to a God other than the one he had chosen?

“Pretty…” He tailed off. “Am I human?”

I wasn’t about to answer that. I could tell Derek had a soul, but whatever scrying Zaid had done wasn’t something I could duplicate with a glance. With time, sure. I knew he wasn’t anything to do with Asgard.

“Derek…” A pause. Then I glanced at Zaid. “Tell him.” Because it was already too late to hide this and it was too late to have him be left in some kind of limbo.

“Not entirely. Recent efreet blood, I’d say.”

“I’m not a demon!” He started to rise to his feet, then slowly sat down.

Good. He had himself under control.

“Oh, not remotely a demon. Efreet have souls, have free will, are very much like men. Just stronger.”

“We need to track that one down who fancied Clara, even if he did have a taste for…”

Zaid shook their head. “I can find one who isn’t halfway to being a pedophile. Leave it with me. It might take a bit.”

“And the demons…”

“Mixed breeds are rare. Derek’s soul is…a bit of a prize. Heaven and Hell will both want him.”

I looked at Derek.

“Well…I’ll try and stay on the Heaven side of the line.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you…”

I shook my head. “No, and besides, Thruor’s the one who harvests souls, not me.” I’d seen her do it. I almost thought I knew how.

You will never be my sister.

“Am I safe from her?”

“As long as you want to be.”

Mike. I mourned inwardly for a moment, then shook my head. “That guy in the dreadlocks. I need to find him.”

“Why?” Zaid asked. Not which guy in dreadlocks.

“I think he knew what Derek is. Which makes me wonder what else he knew.”

“Dreadlocks his most defining feature…I wonder if you bumped into Samson.”

“Is that his real name or does he keep his strength in his hair?”

Zaid laughed. “You know? I don’t entirely know for sure.