The shoot went well. Three outfits, and done. I grabbed lunch and headed home. Kanesha was due in about thirty minutes.

 

She did not show up. I called her.

 

Her cellphone gave an out of range error. I did not panic. Yet.

 

I checked. She did not have her sword with her. I grabbed it as well as mine and tried her phone again.

 

Out of range error.

 

So I called Thruor. “I think they have Kanesha.”

 

“I’m on my way. Sit tight.”

 

She was right, I should not go outside without backup in case they were still around. Or do something foolish.

 

“So…”

 

“She’s late. Her phone is giving an out of range error. She’s not armed.”

 

“Kanesha manages better unarmed than many armed.”

 

“I know, and I wouldn’t be worried if it wasn’t for the error.”

 

Thruor closed her eyes for a moment. “How about your dog friend?”

 

I had been close to panic, I realized, not to think of that. I called the fyrhund.

 

He padded in off the balcony somehow.

 

“Track Kanesha,” I told him, keeping my own sword in hand and Kanesha’s on my back.

 

I wasn’t leaving it here. When we found her she was going to need it. Something about it made me uncomfortable, though. As if it was all wrong in terms of weight.

 

It was not made for me, I knew that. For now I put it down to that.

 

Not made for me. Not made for her either, as far as I knew, but it answered to her hand.

 

I knew I should not try to use it. Besides, there would have been something rude about that.
The fyrhund set off. Thruor’s steed, in bike form, was waiting outside. I tugged on a helmet, we couldn’t afford to be stopped, and hopped up behind her.

 

Chasing the dog down the street. We probably looked like we were trying to catch it.

 

It could run fast enough not to hold us back, though, and I sensed that it had her scent.

 

I sensed that it knew exactly where to go. But what if she was already dead?

 

No.

 

If she was dead I would know, I would know in every deep part of my heart. And then they would not be able to use her as bait.

 

Kanesha was alive.
Somewhere.

 

“You had lunch with Charles without me?” Kanesha pouted.

 

“You were in class.”

 

“Point.” She wasn’t too upset. “I’ll just have to do the exact same thing back, although I can’t make you jealous.”

 

“He’s ace,” I pointed out.

 

“Right, and I’m gay, so you know there’s absolutely no chance of anything.” She grinned teasingly at me.

 

“Hey, remember, it just means you beat out more competition.”

 

Kanesha grinned again and then pulled me in for a kiss – something she could never have done without my full cooperation. Of course, she had it. When we both came up for air, though, I pulled away. “I also fought demons without you.”

 

“Nah, I dealt with the one that found its way onto the NoVa community college campus.”

 

I winced. “Sorry. I was kind of occupied.”

 

“Hey, if I can’t deal with a demon on my own I’ve been wasting all the time I’ve spent training.”

 

I decided she had a point. “There were quite a lot of them.”

 

“I kind of worked that out. But none left.”

 

“Except the big one, which my dad said he would deal with.”

 

“Deal with.” Kanesha air quoted.

 

“Hey, I’m not his keeper.”
We would probably have continued in this vein for some time, with an obvious end point, but somebody knocked on the door at that precise moment.

 

I opened it, and it was a highly disheveled Sarael.

 

“More demon problems?”

 

He nodded. “Can I just…rest up here…for a moment? I don’t think I can drag myself to the nearest church.”

 

He looked like he’d been dragged through several hedges, some backwards and some forwards.

 

I headed into the kitchen. “I don’t suppose I can get you anything.”

 

“I don’t need to eat, but…” A pause. “No, I don’t think you can. Just let me flop on your couch.”

 

He did so. “What did the demon do?” Kanesha asked.

 

“Oh, we missed a bigger one. I did manage to send it home, but it was…” A pause. “Trying to use a kid as a shield.”

 

I winced, stepping back out. “Kid okay?”

 

“Kid will be having nightmares for weeks, but…”

 

That could have been a lot worse.

 

“So,” Charles said, sticking his fork in a piece of his lunch. “It’s been…”

 

“I was on vacation. And…well…”

 

“Busy. So was I.” He managed a grin. “It’s fine. Friendships between people like us…sometimes have to take a bit of a second fiddle to politics.”

 

I opened my mouth to say it wasn’t exactly politics. Realized it absolutely was and closed it again.

 

Definitely politics. “I know,” was all I actually managed to say.

 

“And I’m figuring it’s god politics I’m not allowed to know about.”

 

I considered that. “More that I don’t want you dragged in when somebody is burning things down. I don’t want the next thing to be burned down to be your house or something.”

 

“Hrm.” A pause. “Suppose the cops can’t do anything.”

 

“The arsonist is very good at making it look like an accident.”

 

“Which is another way of saying they’re using magic.”

 

I nodded. “Yes. And it’s blackmail, and I won’t give in.”

 

“Good. You give in and whoever it is owns you.”

 

I thought about that. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.” Especially given what he wanted from me. “Still working out how else to stop it.”

 

“You may be right. I may not want to be involved.”

 

“I don’t plan on…” I tailed off. “You probably don’t. Oh, be careful, there’s a ranking demon in town.”

 

He nodded. “Another succubus?”

 

I shook my head. “No. At least I don’t think so. I should have more information soon.” I let out a breath.

 

“If there’s anything I can help with, let me know.” A sincere offer.

 

“There really isn’t at this point. I just wanted to, well, talk to you. Remind myself we’re still friends.”

 

He grinned. “That’s help in and of itself, I know it is.”

 

I thought about that and then nodded. “It definitely is. Having friends. Having people to fight for.”

 

“Just don’t get yourself killed.”

 

“I won’t.” I didn’t remind him how tough I was. I took the concern for what it was. A friend, sort of an uncle figure.

 

“Or ruin your outfit.”

 

I laughed. “I try not to do that either. It’s sometimes unavoidable, though.”

 

He was actually making me feel better, even if our conversation was not exactly normal.

 

But then, what else were friends for?

 

Whatever Loki was up to, the demon prince (princess?) was not doing anything right now. I headed out of the war zone to find something to eat, but with my senses alert. Sarael stayed on watch.

 

I was pretty sure he was not physical or corporeal enough to actually need to eat. Certainly I had never seen him do so.

 

But still, we were not that different. What were my choices turning me into? Something more fire-based? No, that had started before I decided I wanted to help the fire giants not fight them. But then, maybe that was based on a choice I could not remember.

 

Heck, maybe I’d made the decision before and that was the real reason Odin had exiled me. It did not feel right, but it was a possibility I could not afford to entirely dismiss. Just in case he…

 

Well, no.

 

He hadn’t done anything to me yet. I flopped, exhausted, into a seat outside the closest place with food, which turned out to be tacos.

 

Tacos I could do. I wouldn’t have minded alcohol, too, but I was going to be a good girl.

 

“Who hit you?” an older male voice asked.

 

“Somebody I hit back harder.”

 

I turned to look. Just some guy – no sense of magic or anything else unusual about him.

 

“I’d hope so. Unless you started it.”

 

I thought on the matter. “I didn’t.”

 

“Then good. More girls need to defend themselves. Only way you’ll get some guys to back down.”

 

I decided not to correct the assumption – especially as I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d got the shiner I hadn’t really noticed until he pointed it out. It would be gone soon enough. “Yeah.”

 

He grinned and stood up. “You keep it up.” I saw him talk to the waiter on the way out, and realized he reminded me of the Senator.

 

I also realized I hadn’t talked to Charles in so long he might well have forgotten the sound of my voice and that I should fix that. Well, no, we’d talked briefly. I’d told him I was going on vacation and told him I was back.

 

That wasn’t enough. But I wasn’t about to call him right now. I had other things to think and worry about, after all.

 

Like exactly what my dad was getting up to with that demon, who had summoned it and how we were going to get rid of it.

 

I finished my tacos.

 

The waiter told me the check had been taken care of. Which made me feel guilty – free food because I had let a man believe his own mind’s lies?

 

But it made me even more determined to call Charles.

 

Then he and I both looked towards the window at once.

 

“Okay,” he said. “That’s rude.”

 

I wasn’t sure what he meant. I sensed something. Some disturbance. “I can’t identify that.”

 

“Demon trouble.”

 

“Not Tyz’vel.”

 

“Nah. But somebody high ranking.” He considered that. “I’m tempted to go say hi.”

 

“And see if you can deflect them?”

 

A grin. “Well, depends on what they’re up to. They could just be after a night on the tile.” He snapped his fingers and vanished.

 

I glared at the space where he had been, grabbed my sword and started to head towards the disturbance by rather more mundane means.

 

They might be after Derek again, although I doubted it. This was somebody high ranking.

 

This was somebody up to something big, and I didn’t need it. I didn’t need this level of distraction.

 

Probably, I should have left it to my dad. He could handle demons, one way or another.

 

But I couldn’t, as usual, stand to sit aside unless there really was nothing I could do. Besides, I wanted to know who it was.

 

I got about a block before Sarael fell in next to me.

 

“Who is it?”

 

“One of the high princes. Not Lucifer, but not far below him.”

 

“My dad went to try and distract him.”

 

“Or her, hard to tell from here.” Sarael arched an eyebrow. “Distract. Right.”

 

“Hey, it might work.”

 

“Crazy god,” he grumbled.

 

“I know.” I wasn’t going to deny that there was madness in my father, albeit madness that at least sometimes had a trace, just a trace, of method to it.

 

Okay, maybe more than a trace.

 

“You must get your sanity from your mother.”

 

“I do,” I admitted. “So, any thoughts?”

 

“I think we should mop up the lessers who came through and let crazy gods do their things.”

 

I smiled. “Well, I have my sword.”

 

“As do I,” the angel said, smiling back.

 

Sending demons back to hell the hard way suddenly struck me as quite a fun way to spend the night.

 

But the prince, likely that was something big.

 

Something political.

 

Something I hoped I could avoid being involved in.

“You’re right,” Loki said. “Surtur would never rebalance things in a way which weakens his military might. He also fancies himself as the Allfather.”

 

“That doesn’t gel with sacrificing himself to fix…”

 

He lifted a hand before I could finish my sentence. “Actually, it does. How did Odin get wisdom?”

 

I shuddered. “Oh, so he thinks…”

 

“And while it probably wouldn’t work per se, it’s entirely possible he could die and then come back worse, and Hel wouldn’t have anything to say about it because he’s leveraging stuff older than she is. Older than we are.”

 

I shuddered again. “Which is why it’s not my task to kill him. Because I’d probably end up…”

 

“Triggering something. Or there’s…” Loki considers that. “I think I know what that means but yes, try and refrain from putting a sword in his heart unless it’s genuine self-defense.”

 

“Don’t murder him.” I let my breath out. “I didn’t plan on it. Considered it, yes. Planned on it, no.”

 

“Good.” A pause. “I’d rather get things back to the status quo, myself. Anyone who replaces him is going to be an unknown quantity.”

 

“Says the chaos god.”

 

“Ah, but I’m actually a reasonably predictable chaos god.”

 

I laughed. “You are at that. I know you’re going to hit on everything that moves.”

 

“Not everything!”

 

“Oh, come on, you were hitting on Sarael.”

 

“Waste of time.”

 

“You were still doing it.” The banter cheered me up. Surtur would not rebalance things, but… “What if the efreet is wrong and somebody other than Surtur could force the rebalancing?”

 

“Hrm. Would have to be….” He tailed off. “I couldn’t do it. It would have to be somebody bound to Muspelheim. So, that eliminates both of us.”

 

“What about an entire bunch of well born fire giants forming a circle?”

 

“Might work, if you can get enough of them. And get it past under his nose.”

 

“Yngva did manage to rob his armory.”
“She must work there,” Loki mused. “Are you…”

 

“I’m returning the dagger. I think that as difficult as this is, it’s more feasible than destroying a whole bunch of weapons.”

 

“Well, then…”

 

“And I’m not calling her until you leave.”

 

He looked puppy dog hurt.

 

Books turned out to be the bribe. Not even horribly rare books.

 

He liked trashy romance novels. Of course he did. He also liked having somebody else buy them so he did not have to admit to this fact. So, I sneaked him a nice new to be read pile and then went back to contemplating the issue.

 

So, the armory could be destroyed. Or the fire could be rebalanced, which would weaken the weapons.

 

And thus Muspelheim’s position in the event of a war. Which I knew Surtur would never do.

 

He wanted a stronger position not a weaker one, and although progress had been made, nobody was going to talk him into weakening his position for vague promises.

 

Not even me.

 

Besides, at this point he had to know I hated him. He had to know he would only end up bringing a viper into his bed.

 

He had to intend to do just that. So, how did I strengthen his position? Aesir blood.

 

I knew then.

 

He intended to use me to steal the apples.

 

He also intended to make sure there was a child before he did something stupid. I, of course, was not going to allow any such thing. I would never let him touch me.

 

So, I spent a bit more quality time staring at the dagger.

 

Strengthen Muspelheim’s position. Or work towards actual peace. Actual peace was not really going to happen. I knew that in my heart.

 

Whatever happened, we would still live under the sword. Because that was part of our nature.

 

Because life happened in the intersection of fire and ice and chaos and order, and any one side winning meant life could not exist.

 

“You’re learning.”

 

Loki. On my balcony. I opened the door and let him in. “No brownies.”

 

“I heard your thoughts. You understand the conflict is needed.”
“And that it can only end one way.”

 

“Only to start again,” he added, thoughtfully. “We know that. The prophecy makes that clear.”

 

“A cycle.” I let out a breath. Stop Ragnarok or cause it. Something inside me shuddered.

 

“We can’t break that cycle. Well, one day the actual universe will end, and we don’t know at that point. Except that it’s likely to be just another much bigger cycle. Mortals have become fond of endings and beginnings. Neither exist.”

 

“I know.” I had been born, though. Or had I existed before in some form that I would not be able to recall even if I got my memories back?
Was I, too, a cycle?

 

“So…you’ve got two angles of approach,” the efreet said. “And there’d better be something in this for me.”

 

Did efreet drink alcohol. Or were they too Muslim? There was always chocolate. “I think I can come up with something.”

 

“The first is that destroying them would, yes, return the fire where it belongs.”

 

“But there’s an entire armory of this stuff, plus whatever’s out.”

 

“Right. So, I don’t think you want to do that. The second thing you can do is…alter how the fire is bound.”

 

“Wouldn’t I still have to do that to every single weapon?”

 

“You can’t do it at all.” The efreet’s tones were grim. “Whoever has authority over the source of the fire can, and even then, it’s tricky.”

 

“Surtur has to do it.” I understood that. “Maybe I can convince him.”

 

“Maybe. From what I know of him he doesn’t listen easy.”
Zaid cut in, “And it would require some extended magic, probably a ritual. Probably one he’d have to design, or get one of his witches to design.”

 

“And he doesn’t know how. Or he would have thought of it.”

 

The efreet laughed. “He’s a giant. No offense, but they don’t tend to think in intricate terms.”

 

“None taken. I don’t think that way well myself. That’s why I hang out with witches.”

 

More laughter. “Always good to know your limitations.”

 

While he was behaving, I almost liked him. “But Surtur might be…he certainly could do it, with sorcerous help.”

 

Zaid nodded. “The question is whether he will.”

 

Or whether he’d have to be replaced by somebody who would. “Would this…rebalancing?”

 

“It would remove some of their virtue, but still leave good blades.”

 

“Then he’d do it. If we can convince him it would work.”

 

“And if he doesn’t get some stupid idea of sacrificing himself or somebody else,” Zaid grumbled.

 

“He couldn’t get much more stupid than his current idea.”

 

I had to come up with an appropriate bribe for the efreet. Perhaps more than one. I might end up needing his help.

 

Hopefully not.

 

Hopefully I could do it without having to consult a guy who always made me want to shower after talking to him. But I wasn’t confident. He seemed to know what he was doing.

 

I hoped he wasn’t lying to me.

 

It stayed with me through the next day. Yngva had brought a dagger. I wanted to keep it for myself.

 

It was beautiful. The hilt was well bound and it was equally balanced for throwing and stabbing. The steel had red in it.

 

Oh, I wanted to keep it. I certainly did not want to destroy it, and that might give me some idea what I was up against. Beauty.

 

Stolen beauty, of course. It was not mine and if I did not destroy it I should probably return it. But that didn’t stop me from spending time admiring it.
Then I tried to work out how it was made. Was the red in the steel fire or blood? I feared it might be the latter, but I sensed no hint of such sacrifice.

 

Fire, then, bound into the steel to temper it, to make it stronger.

 

To make it, I suspected, particularly good against frost giants.

 

Balgefa was jealous.

 

No, I would not keep this thing, as gorgeous as it was. I would not claim it for my own.

 

Would destroying it release the fire? I probably did need to talk to somebody else with fire nature.

 

An efreet, Zaid had suggested, but I knew only one and had no desire to ever be alone with him. Of course, maybe I wouldn’t have to be alone.

 

I called Zaid. “I have a dagger.”

 

“Want me to…”

 

“Call him. Just don’t leave me alone with him or I’ll end up slapping him.”
There was laughter from the other end. “That’s a motivation to do exactly that.”

 

It probably was, if Zaid was as annoyed with the guy as I was, but he was here, he was already aware of who I was.

 

He was the best prospect. While I waited, I stared at the dagger as if it would release its secrets to my gaze alone. It took them about thirty minutes to get here.

 

“So, letting me in your place?” the efreet asked.

 

“To help. Don’t get ideas.”

 

“Will you put in a good word for me with Derek?”

 

“That’s up to him. This is about stopping Ragnarok. And besides, I’m sure I can find something you want. Other than a kiss.”

 

Zaid was laughing silently. I gave them a dirty look, and then indicated the dagger on the table.

 

“Oh, now that…” He frowned. “That is gorgeous.

 

“You aren’t getting it.”

 

A laugh. “I don’t want it. But it is a fire blade…what does this have to do with stopping Ragnarok?”

 

I told him.

 

I didn’t want to tell him everything. But I did.

 

We made it to my place without incident. “I don’t feel comfortable or safe.”

 

Clara nodded. “Neither do I. Danger sense is triggering.”

 

“Spidey sense?” Kanesha quipped.

 

“I don’t think we should all be together. Or maybe we should.”

 

Kanesha nodded. “Surtur’s going to show up, isn’t he?”

 

I frowned. “Or send more firepower. And they’re only ordered to keep me alive.”

 

“Then I vote,” Kanesha said, “For staying together.”

 

My frown faded. “Trusting me to protect you.”

 

“Right on.”

 

I glanced at Clara. “See what you can scry? Please?”

 

She moved to my table and started to set out a map and her tools. I kept my distance so my aura would not cause her any problems. Turning back to Kanesha. “Now is one of those times when I feel bad for dragging you into all of this.”

 

“I trust you.”

 

“That only makes me feel worse.”

 

“No. I really do trust you. I know that even if they…” She tailed off.

 

“I am not letting you get hurt.”

 

“Aha!” Clara interrupted. “I have a thought. Jane, get over here.”

 

I did so.

 

“Put your hand on the map. I’m going to steal some of your magic to find every fire giant in town.”

 

“I can almost do that on my own.” I did so.

 

“Uh oh.”

 

“The one right outside or the one apparently in the White House.”

 

“Yes.” Clara shrugged. “The one in the White House is probably a lobbyist.”

 

I laughed. “Probably.” But unless the one right outside was Yngva we had a potential problem.

 

I reached out with my power, ready to stop them from setting fire to the building.

 

The knock on the door followed. Kanesha peered through the peekhole. “It’s a woman.”

 

“Yngva! Is that you?”

 

“Yes!” she called in. “Whatever you’re doing, mind not doing it?”

 

I stopped. “Come on in.”

 

Kanesha let her in.

 

“Sorry. I thought you were hostile.”

 

“Dang. You’ve got a knack for that.”

 

I grinned. “Thank you.”

 

But the feeling of dread had not faded.