I’d made sure Derek had my number and Thruor’s. I wasn’t surprised to get a call that just had an open line. While at lunch. I glanced at Zaid. “Got to go. Want to come?”

They grinned. “Let’s go.”

I broke into a run, knowing Zaid would have some means of following me. They were a good enough magic user that I knew I didn’t have to wait for them.

And I had my sword. It was funny how people never noticed it until I wanted them to. Even easier than it had been with the one Thruor had loaned me.

But, well. I ran. I wasn’t sure where he was without listening, but I got clues from that. Crap. He was by an airport, and I also thought I heard the river. Which meant he was on the far side of the river.

I was never going to get there on time. He was going to be killed or abducted and I was…

…but I wasn’t the magic user. I sensed Zaid’s presence go from behind me to way ahead. They hadn’t suggested they take me, which probably meant whatever teleportation spell they were using was limited in weight. Or that who and what I was would cause problems.

Either way, he had a better chance of getting there than I did, but that didn’t mean I was slowing down. The river. The bridge.

I still wondered if I could somehow get hold of a valkyrie’s steed, even though I wasn’t one. Or maybe, like the sword, mine was waiting for the right moment for me.

Forged for me before I was born.

Of course, the valkyrie steeds were all foals of Sleipnir. Awkward. Okay. Pulling my thought back from that, I realized I was on the bridge.

Then I saw a flare. Magic flare. Zaid. Making sure I had the right location, I was sure. I ran faster, if possible.

They were holding off half a dozen war demons, but hadn’t managed to damage them. Derek had managed to get or steal a baseball bat from somewhere and was using it to defend himself reasonably well.

I drew my sword and charged. Not the most original approach, but they were still looking at Zaid’s flare.

The first one I hit went down to my blade with one blow. A second turned, and Derek cracked him over the back of the head with his bat.
Zaid had changed tactics, or changed back, and was throwing ice at the others. They didn’t go down, but it seemed to slow them.

Probably what they had been doing until they sensed I was close enough to benefit from a signal. I spun to plunge my blade into the one staggering from Derek’s blow.

“I need one of those!”

“Sorry, they’re not that easy to come by.” A little bit of flame flickered along the blade. Fire beings or not, the demons didn’t seem to like that very much.

I could, though, probably find him some kind of sword. It looked like he was going to need one. Or maybe a good axe, the way he was fighting with the bat.

Looked like that might fit his natural style better, and I dropped another demon. There were two left standing.

They fled.

One was on the ground, but dissipated into fire and brimstone slowly. The other three were already gone.

“You need to stop making a habit of being beaten up,” I told Derek.

“I didn’t start it this time!”

I believed him.

Derek promised to be careful. I thought of Mike, and hoped he could even be careful enough.

When the best of us…

But he had also chosen this.

Or been maneuvered into it. That thought came nastily to mind. What better way to get somebody out of the picture than to push them into fighting alone, without proper training or gear, against all comers.

He’d been encouraged to hunt by the being he’d thought was his guardian angel, but as soon as Will had got his hands on him, he’d not even recognized that being straight away.

Which…meant he’d been befuddled. Demons couldn’t…but no, they couldn’t touch his soul, they could certainly mess with his head. Likely they’d managed to taint his soul too, but not likely enough that he wouldn’t recover.

If I could keep him alive.

No. If Will and Seb could. I wasn’t the one to train him, and I had enough on my plate. Will, Seb, and Zaid. I pulled out my phone and called the last named.

“Been a while,” they answered. “I’m assuming not a social call.”

“Got a kid who could use some pointers. Can I send him your way? Christian, mind.”

A laugh. “Sure. Now, could I maybe also have a social call?”

I laughed in return. “Sure, we can do…lunch tomorrow?”

“Works for me.”

I thought a moment longer. “The taco place on P street.”

“Very much works.”

Zaid liked spicy food as much as any middle eastern stereotype said he should. Almost as much as I did.

Which made me wonder idly if fire giant cuisine matched, well, their nature. Our nature. Would explain a lot.

The next day was also hot. Very hot. Too hot for most people, and Angrboda had gone back to Jotunheim threatening not to return until water was actually liquid again as opposed to just hanging in the atmosphere.

That was a rather picturesque description of DC’s famous humidity, but entirely on the nose. This was definitely one of those days when you thought you were breathing water. Which meant I walked right past the outdoor seating area and found Zaid inside.

“Even we’re hiding from it?” they quipped.

“Nobody’s sitting outside in this. I don’t want to stand out.”

A grin came from the androgynous form. “I can see that. So, tell me about this find of yours?”

“Tricked into hunting alone, with no gear, and with no discretion, by a demon.”
Zaid whistled. “I’ve seen that before a few times. They usually end up dead.”

“I think I can keep this one alive. I hope so, anyway.”

I had to try.

As he turned to leave, though, I thought I spotted something. “Careful.”

“Careful what?”

“On that bench.”

“What…oh, I think…”

He had enough of the Sight to spot it, as I’d suspected. “Let’s just walk casual.”

“And not start anything…”

“Too many people.” De-loose-cannoning Derek was going to be a tough job.

“…alright. But…”

I didn’t like the idea of letting a minor demon go either, but…it wasn’t doing anything right this second, so there was no sense starting a risky fight.

Until it got up and followed us.

“Now…”

I shook my head. “Wait. We’ll lead him somewhere and find out what he’s up to before sending him home.”

The hard way. He wasn’t significant enough, I could sense that. I probably wasn’t his target. I turned down a side street.

The demon followed. Derek was starting to relax. He wanted a fight. A nice, straightforward fight.

He was going to be disappointed – this wasn’t that type of demon. Once we were off the street I stopped, turned, “Did you think I wasn’t going to notice you?”

“This isn’t any of your business, Asgardian.”

My lips quirked. “I’m here.”

“You’re losing your way, Derek.”

Derek looked at me. Looked at the demon. “You just admitted she’s not one of you.”

“But she’s not an angel either.”
This was the little voice that had told Derek to hate everyone. This was something that had influenced him.

“No, she isn’t, and I don’t entirely trust her, but I know what you are now.”

I grinned. “Derek, was he pretending to be your guardian angel?”

“Yes. He told me it’s…”

“Very difficult for a novice to tell the difference. Which it is.” I grinned back at the demon. “Time to give up.”

“Don’t know why I put in so much effort on a worthless kid anyway.”

“Hey!”

I put my hand on Derek’s arm. “He’s trying to rile you now you’ve seen through him. They do that.”

The demon shrugged. “Alright. I’m going home. But the next one to show up won’t be nearly as nice to the kid.”

And he vanished in a poof of brimstone.

“That was too easy,” Derek complained.

“He was trying to get you killed and in trouble. He might just have decided I’m likely to do that job for him.”

He looked at me, then he managed a short, harsh laugh. “Maybe. I’ll probably do it myself.”

At least he acknowledged that he was in danger. But it had been too easy. We hadn’t seen the last of that one.

Or, as he’d promised, worse.

The next time I saw Derek, he was cleaned up, but still limping.

“I hope you got…”

“I got checked out properly. Nothing broken. Not sure how.”

“Maybe your guardian angel caught you.”

He seemed to consider that. “Okay, look. I don’t get it. If all the different deities are real, how come you aren’t warring over souls all of the time?”

“Because that isn’t really how it works.” I let out a breath. “We can’t touch anyone’s soul unless they agree. We don’t war, we…”

“Recruit.”

“And I’m not wanting to recruit you. Not when you’re happy where you are.”

He considered that. “Let me guess, it’s easier to go after agnostics?”

I nodded. “Much easier. Besides, this way we don’t end up fighting each other much, and you really don’t want that.”

“But there’s still…”

“Evil, yeah. But few entities are really absolutely evil. Genuine demons. Some giants. Not all. Some are just trying to live their lives.”

“I suppose…”

“You can not be evil and do evil stuff. Or you can do stuff that looks like it’s evil until you get some distance from it and it starts making sense.”

He hesitated. “Like doing something to teach somebody patience?”

I nodded. “Right. Or…dwarves consider stealing and counter-stealing perfectly acceptable forms of negotiation.”

“So…I need to learn to tell the difference.”

“And be careful of fairies. They’re not good or evil, they don’t really have morality at all. Most of the time whatever they do is funny to people other than them, but not always.”

He nodded slowly. “So…”

“The one who made the dragon illusion needed to be asked to stop, because people were panicking. But it didn’t warrant a physical attack.”

“What if they don’t stop?”

“Sit on them. Oh, and never accept anything from a fairy without being sure of the price. You don’t want to end up owing one a favor or accidentally trading five years of your life or something.”

“Is that a worry for you?”

“They’d try to get a favor out of me.” I was pretty sure of that, anyway. If I was a fairy, it would be what I’d go for. “Now, occasionally they’ll make friends, and friendship trumps, but it’s rare.”

“So, that’s why you don’t eat or drink in Faerie.”

“Exactly. It’s not the food or drink itself. It’s the obligation and what they might demand in return.” At least we were having a civil discussion and he seemed to have been convinced that I wasn’t evil.

“So, just fairy culture. I think I can get behind that. What about them taking kids?”

“That’s a myth, but they have been known to take and keep adults…or children old enough to fall for their tricks.”

“No sleeping with them either, I’d guess.”

“I suppose that would depend on whether they thought it was an even trade.”

He blushed, then nodded. “That’s kind of sinful anyway.”

“Better to find a nice person and stick to them anyway.” Thruor would disagree, but Thruor wasn’t there.

I was wrong. It wasn’t Seb who showed up – it was Father Will.

“I hear you have somebody who needs…”

“Derek here could use some explanations of the way the world worked.”

She’d made the right call. Derek, who had finally introduced himself, relaxed immediately when he saw Will’s collar.

“I’ll take him in hand. What beat him up?”

“Not sure. He’s lucky he got away with bruises, though. I thought of setting Zaid on him but Thruor’s right, you’re better.”

Will laughed. “Zaid would either scare him out of the business or…”

“Who’s Zaid?”

“Egyptian priest. Or priestess. Either way.”

Derek blinked, then it dawned. “Oh. One of those weird non-binary types.”

“And very talented.”

I did wonder if Derek was just lucky, though. That had been a nasty fall for a mortal.

Maybe his guardian angel had slowed him on the way down. I might ask Sarael. Or not. Will was the right person to deal with him right now.

“You’ll have to meet them at some point, but for now, I think…I’m going to take you out of the depths of weird for a bit.”

I grinned at Will. “Is that what I am to you now?”

“You,” he said. “Will always be my favorite bit of weird.”

I grinned, then watched priest and (limping) hunter leave. “Good call, Thruor.”

“Zaid would be a good one too. They’re an excellent teacher and not as far away in beliefs as we are.”

I thought about that and then nodded. “But maybe he needs to work up to Zaid.”

I wondered who the guy with the locks was. Another potential ally, possibly.

It was good to at least know who the players were. Especially if…

If some kind of war started. We’d already had a small one. I shuddered at the way the thought came into my mind randomly. When things like that happened, it usually meant that whatever I’d just thought about was something likely to have a kernel of truth.

Or maybe I was just afraid that Ragnarok was moving closer while I wasn’t looking. I often had that thought.

I had to remember it wasn’t all my responsibility, prophecy or no prophecy.

Then my phone rang. It was Kanesha. “Hey, where are you?” she asked.

“Thruor’s place.”

“Shall I come over?”

I glanced at the others…including the surprisingly quiet frost giant. “Sure. But be aware Angrboda’s here.”

“Alright.”

Thruor, having heard that, and seeing that we no longer had loose cannons around, was heading into the kitchen.

A nice relaxing evening with friends.

Well, friends and sort of friends. I mean, where does your dad’s ex fall? I still wasn’t entirely sure.

But Thruor was getting the mead, and that usually turned people into friends quickly enough.

“You guys are…”

“Too nice for demons?” I grinned. “She’s a frost giant. And the other one is a valkyrie.”

He looked at Thruor dubiously. “I don’t want to end up in Valhalla.”

She laughed. “Not to your taste, eh, all the drinking and fighting?” She grinned at me.

He looked down. “Uh…”

“You aren’t going the right way about going to Heaven if that’s your goal.”

Thruor wrinkled her nose. “Boring.”

Angrboda elbowed her before I could, then we both laughed.

“Well…”

“I wonder if Sarael’s around. He might be able to convince the kid that he’s not being the smartest here.”

“Who’s Sarael?” he finally asked.

“An angel I know,” I told him, bluntly. “An unusual one. He has a sense of humor.”

“…they generally don’t?”

“Angels,” Thruor explained. “Tend to take themselves very seriously. The thing is, kid, every myth is real, every story is true. Not literal, mind, but true.”

He frowned. “But…”

“That doesn’t mean any of us want or need you to worship us as well as the God you’ve chosen. But we’re real, and not all of us are evil. And if you don’t start getting your mind around that, you’ll be dead.”

“And?” he said, defiant for a moment.

“And you might find he’s not as happy with you as you think. If nothing else, no God is happy with a follower who gets himself stupidly killed.”

That seemed to get through to him. I headed to find Thruor’s medical stuff – the kid was going to need multiple ice packs, at the very least. Maybe we could recruit him once we had his head on straight. I came back with those and a couple of painkillers. “Aspirin or tylenol?”

“Aspirin.”

I offered him the bottle and a glass of water. He took two. “So…what are you?” He looked right at me.

“I’m Loki’s daughter.”

He almost choked on the pill. “And you’re trying to tell me you’re not…”

“I’ve met demons. My father is quite different, although you probably don’t want to get on his bad side.”

“He might throw mistletoe at me or whatever.”

“Nah, he’s more likely to find some way to sneak hot pepper in your lunch.”

From the look on his face that was a worse fate. Maybe I should get him some cayenne brownies. Just to be evil.

Or at least to be the trickster’s daughter.

“Okay. I…” He sighed. “How do I tell?”

“Usually evil entities are actually doing evil things. And I know somebody who can help you identify demons.”

“You can’t help?” He was still eyeing me warily.

“I can’t teach you the way I do it. It’s innate.”

“Oh, right.”

Thruor was already on the phone. I knew exactly who she was calling.

I figured it was time to head home.

Of course, we were in southeast, so I should have known something else would happen.

Actually, the something else that happened was a body landing at my feet with a thud. From the fact that it was still squirming, I divined that it probably hadn’t been intended to be a fatal fall.

“Is this one one of yours?” came a voice from a fire escape.

Angrboda whirled to face it. I inspected the body. It was our favorite loose cannon hunter. “No, but I’ll gladly take him out of here.”

I wasn’t sure who he’d decided to mess with this time.

“Tie him up until he learns the difference between demons and, well, anything.”

I laughed. “I think I’m going to try and set Zaid on him.”

“You know that guy?”

I could now see the figure on the fire escape…a young man with rather spectacular dreadlocks.

“Yeah, I know Zaid.”

“Good a plan as any.” He then looked at Angrboda. Then at me. “Okay, remind me to stay on your good side.”

I picked the guy up in a princess carry. “Don’t worry, it’s not hard.” And then I decided I was going to just carry him all the way to Thruor’s place.

Not Zaid’s, which was just a bit too far even for me.

He woke up after a bit. “Ugh.”

“You pissed off another hunter. This time I’m not turning you loose.”

“Ugh.”

“You’re either going to stop doing this or learn to do it right. Those are your choices. Or I’ll give you worse than bruises. Personally.”

“Demon,” he accused.

“No,” Angrboda said cheerfully, “That’s me.”

I laughed. “You aren’t a demon. Don’t confuse him further.”

“I’m a frost giant. Not much difference there.”

“This kid thinks we’re all demons.”

I put him down. “Don’t try to run.”

He didn’t. I took him all the way to Thruor’s place, which was bigger than mine.

She wasn’t even surprised to see me, a frost giant, and a beat up mortal on her doorstep. Probably because it had already happened too many times.

I wouldn’t have been surprised either.

The blade felt so right in my hands, but I was also glad for the spar against the dwarves, because the fomor pulled a hammer from what I suspected was thin air.

Had I not practiced against one, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid the blow he aimed for my skull, but then my blade darted past his guard and got him in the stomach.

Not a fatal blow, but it slowed him down. “Grah,” he managed.

“This is too easy,” I told him.

He pulled away, and I saw he was already healing. Rapidly. “For me!”

Okay.

I really did need cold iron, and I didn’t have any, but…then I knew. I backed down the stairs, narrowly missing him.

“Running away, godling?”

I didn’t answer him. Because now Angrboda was behind me. I let her pass. “Keep him busy. I have an idea.”

I did, too. Angrboda swung her axe towards him. Knowing it wouldn’t have any more success (and pretty sure my sword was actually complaining about it), I ran out. The mother and child were out of view. The outside of…yes. Not his house, but the one next door had barred windows. Theft prevention. With Asgardian strength I pulled one of the bars free and smiled.

Wrought iron.

It would probably work. And it was sharp from the way I’d twisted it free.

I turned around to see him toss Angrboda into the street. From the way she landed, I knew she’d let him do it. As he came charging out, I charged in from the side.

He brought his hammer down on my sword. It didn’t, of course, damage the blade, but it nearly knocked it out of my hand…

…which didn’t matter as I thrust the iron rod into his side. He coughed, choked, gave a small surprised sound and then dissipated into a foul stench.

“Aha. I should have thought of that.”

“You just forgot window bars on Midgaard are made of cold iron,” I accused.

She laughed. “I did indeed. I thought they were steel, and that we’d have to beat him into submission until he fled.”

I looked at the bar. It didn’t have any blood on it, but it smelled bad now. Oh well. I tossed it back under where it came from. “And the kid?”

“Oh, he was beating both of them. Another good reason to take him out.”

“As long as the kid’s okay.” I hoped she hadn’t developed any kind of twisted love for her stepfather. It seemed everyone around had daddy issues.

Mine were at least somewhat amusing.

What I hadn’t expected was that Angrboda would speak up before I could. “Hello there. Is your stepdad in?”

She knew about the kid.
Then I remembered she was one thing I was not and probably wouldn’t be for a while: A mother. She knew kids.

The girl put a hand over her mouth, then, “I’m not supposed to talk to anyone.”

Angrboda smiled. “Ah, but I’m not anyone. I’m an old friend of his.”

The girl recoiled a bit at the word friend. I caught that. Maybe she did too, because she glanced at me.

That glance said she would keep the girl distracted. Which she did as I slipped by, but I was about to do something horrible to her stepdad.

Who might be doing horrible things to her. Or Angrboda was just intimidating, but there was definitely something in her manner.

Somebody was abusing that kid. And that somebody was probably the person I’d come to take out.

Or the kid’s mother.

Who suddenly emerged from the room ahead of me. Seeing me, she screamed.

I had my hand over her mouth quickly, but not quickly enough. “I’m not here for you.”

I released her a little.

“You’re here for him.”

“Yes. Take your daughter. Go.”

“I…”

“I don’t care what you’ve done. Just get the kid and go.”

She ran past me. She’d done stuff. She’d done plenty of stuff, I could see it in her eyes, but she was still human. And a mother. I’d asked promises from Angrboda, I had to keep them myself.
Then the fomor was at the top of the stairs. He looked light skinned, almost white, as if that was as black as he was willing to go. He was also as big as any giant.

I drew my sword. “I hear you’ve been throwing your weight around.”
“On orders of my lady.”

“I don’t care. Go home to faerie or I’ll send you back the hard way.”

“You don’t have cold iron.”

“I have this.” The blade glowed a little, and I could feel its eagerness to fight. It had a mind of its own, and a mind that wanted to kill this guy. “I’ll take your cold iron and raise you dwarf-forged steel.”

He hesitated for a moment. Then, surprise surprise, he charged.

I told her, of course, over lunch. Her idea of fun was to go track down a fomor that had been beating on people in southeast.

“You in southeast?”

“We could take your girlfriend.”

“I’ll check, I think she’s busy studying.” But I stood out bad enough in that neighborhood. Angrboda’s white hair and youthful features – she honestly looked like a less delicate Daenerys Targaryen – would just make her a target. “But we’d have to deal with a bunch of people who didn’t like us being there.”

“So we give them enough bruises to convince them.”

“No killing mortals.” I grinned at her. “Ideally no maiming, either.”

“Really. Killing people is easy. Inflicting just enough pain to make them think twice before bothering you again? That’s hard.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Without doing real damage. I’ve been working on that art.”

Yeah. I did like her. Mother of monsters she might be, but we seemed to have rather a lot in common.

“Exactly. And I’m sure you have no aversion to killing annoying fairies.”

“Depends on the level of annoying.” Which launched me into a story about the one who’d created the dragon illusion.

I still hadn’t seen that guy since. Hopefully he was hunting something worthwhile. Or, better yet, had been scared clear out of the business.

She laughed. “Yeah, that level of annoying isn’t…”

“If the hunter hadn’t shown up, I’d have tossed him in the river,” I admitted.

“Appropriate. So, shall we?”

“I need to swing by home and gear up.” I also called Kanesha, but as I suspected, she was too busy with studying to join in a hunting expedition that didn’t really need her.

She hinted, darkly, that I should be the same, but I figured this would help me focus. Besides, I’d studied most of the weekend.

I grabbed my new sword, which I was finally going to get to test out, and we headed into southeast. As predicted, we got stared at, but something about us kept anyone from causing us real trouble. And it wasn’t like we were leaving a vehicle to get keyed or its tires stolen.

One of them, of course, got brave, “You ladies lost?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“You should get back where you belong.” He offered a smile. “Before somebody mugs you.”

“If they do,” Angrboda said. “I’ll put them in the nearest dumpster.”

A laugh. “I like your confidence, white girl.”

She inclined her head to accept the compliment. He didn’t try anything else.

The fomor was apparently holed up in a tenement. I could almost smell him. Fomori are an ugly kind of fae, generally, according to research Kanesha had done, used as muscle by Sidhe and the other more powerful types. Not much magic, good in a fight.

And I really did have no qualms about killing him.

Until the little girl opened the door. Not his daughter, of course. Just a shield. And Angrboda hadn’t lied about him being fae.

The kid was mortal, though. I didn’t want her harmed.

I didn’t want her to see this. I didn’t want her in foster care if he was somehow her guardian.

It was an unwanted complication.