I got the impression Tyr approved of killing – under certain circumstances. I wasn’t going anywhere other than school unarmed.

Maybe if they snagged me I could take a couple of them with me. I hadn’t been this scared in, well, ever.

Yeah. These people had me not just on edge, but actively frightened. Which took a lot. It’s easy to get over-confident when you basically have superpowers, right?

Usually I was worried about other people. But I knew I would kill this witch if I had to and call it self-defense. Because it would be.
And it would be revenge. And it would be protecting others. So, I supposed, Tyr did approve. And Loki would approve of anything that helped my survival.

In other words? I felt no guilt whatsoever about contemplating murder. Which it would be, technically, because it was premeditated.

No, another word came into my mind. Assassination.

I made it back to the apartment. I’d had to get internet to study, but I hadn’t bothered with cable.

I could check the news on my computer. And I did.

The family of the little girl had dropped the charges. It had worked. I felt my stomach do several flips. Mixed feelings. What I’d done to them – and the fact that they might never get justice for their child.

Thirty minutes later, somebody knocked on the door. That was rare enough that I picked up my gun and held it behind my back before opening it.

A black couple. “Ms…Doe?”

“Rudi,” I corrected.

“Can we come in?”

I let them in, putting the gun back on its shelf. The woman noticed it and glanced askance.

“This isn’t exactly the best neighborhood,” I noted.

“Which is…I could have sworn it was him.”

“It wasn’t. I know who it was, and I promise, when I find a way to deal with him, he’s going down.”
She glanced at the gun again, then nodded. “He killed our Shania.”

“I know.” And he did it to get to me, and he’d do stuff like it again to get to me. But the alternative was to use a weapon designed to kill us…and work towards his destruction.

Why, really, was it so hard to contemplate that?

I relaxed quite a bit after that. I didn’t have to think of everything, they didn’t need that much of my protection.

The reasonably friendly fire giant disturbed me, though. But I also owed somebody something. I found the horn and got some good juice from a farmers’ market – no sugar added and all.

This time, Tyr stepped through the trees right away. I wondered if I’d ever learn to do that…teleport or portal or whatever it was.

“Hello.”

I offered him the horn. He grinned, took it, and drank. “Not bad.”

“I’d have brought mead, but I’ve been sailing close enough to the wind on that front.”

He nodded. “Any luck with your problem?”

“In the waiting to see what happens phase. But…if you have any people in town, warn them to be careful.” I felt I owed him more than juice.

“Careful?”

“Somebody’s throwing spirit bombs around.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ah. Yes. I thought I heard some noise.”

“They hit me, but it’s not bad. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. Except them.”

“A sentiment I can get behind,” he admitted.

Justice and vengeance were close together, I thought, a little wryly. Very close together, in fact.

But justice was more controlled. “So…any ideas? Other than being careful.”

“What are you already doing?”

“I have somebody who might be able to infiltrate them. They only take women, for some reason.”

Tyr nodded. “Probably some motif they’re going for. Or maybe they fancy themselves as valkyries.”

“Not hardly. They made it clear they think we’re all demons. No discrimination whatsoever.” I frowned. “Like some Christian fanatics, but I didn’t see crosses on them.”

“Maybe atheist fanatics,” he quipped.

I laughed a little bit. “I like you more than I thought I would.”

“You aren’t the trickster,” he noted. “I have more than one reason not to trust him.”

“You aren’t alone there. I don’t always trust him.” Which, I thought, made me a quite sensible woman. But…well…

“I’m working on it. What I want is to get to the person making the bombs.”
“And kill them?”

I frowned.

“Only if necessary.”

What was my problem was stopping her from blowing up anyone else. And I was pretty sure it was already too late.

Where was Loki? Maybe he’d have some ideas, other than letting the mortals fight her. Which didn’t seem all that smart.

Well organized women. Amazons…no, that probably insulted the real Amazons. Which probably existed or did exist or had existed. Somewhere.

Buffies after the old TV show? Nah.

I’d come up with something, but meanwhile, I had to look over my shoulder all the time. I was pretty sure the next one I saw would have a bomb and the will to use it. They certainly didn’t care about killing anything other than humans.

And they thought they had the perfect weapon for it. I had this feeling they didn’t know the danger.

Then I did come up with a plan. We’d used it before, after all. And Seb might be able to pull it off. I called him. “Hey, Seb.”

“Hey.”

“Still having hunter problems. Can we meet up? Somewhere not too public.”

Normally I’d prefer something very public, but people who didn’t care about friendly fire wouldn’t worry about witnesses either. They’d already demonstrated that.

They trusted that the mortals wouldn’t notice what was going on far more than I did or Thruor did.

Well, maybe they wouldn’t. How many stories were there of…

…spontaneous human combustion. That bomb had burned me. Maybe this explained at least some of them.

Or vampires turning into dust.

Maybe Buffies was the most appropriate name for them after all. They were turning vampires into dust.

“Cafe in College Park?”

I nodded. That was perfect. Getting there was a pain and involved two buses, and made me want a bike even more. Maybe I should buy a mundane one.

Maybe. I preferred the ones with minds of their own. But I couldn’t exactly buy a horse. Not to ride in the city.

Seb was already settled into the front lounge window seat when I arrived. “Okay, so…”

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

“Would you be interested in pretending a falling out with me and trying to get in with this new hunter group?”

“I thought of it. They only take women.”

“So, that’s not just an accident. What, they fancy themselves as Amazons?”

“Oh yes. So? Clara’s going to do it.”

I laughed. “You’re ahead of me, but Clara’s turning into an infiltration specialist.”
“That’s the other reason she’s doing it.”

“Just don’t let her forget that last time I had to rescue her from lust imps.”
Seb…laughed. A lot.

Feuds. Well. Feuds happened. I hadn’t wanted this one, but I had to end it. I knew the way to do so was to take out their spirit bomb creator.

Preferably without killing them. I’d rather make them see the error of their ways.

I did almost want to kill whichever of the two had thrown that bomb. Not knowing which one it was, though?

And besides, I wanted to save that for if they really asked for it, even if they had me itching for my sword.

I didn’t appreciate being called a demon. I did wonder if I’d have become one if I’d said yes to Tyz’vel.

He’d promised to teach me the trick. The trick of stepping outside the cycle of life and death. I realized I didn’t want it.

Of course I didn’t. I laughed, not just inside but out loud. “We create ourselves.” She’d said that, Thea.

We create ourselves, and we are what we will ourselves to be. It was true of mortals too. They just did it through their choices.

Their choices. And I had some too. The fire? I thought about it, and realized I had a choice.

To accept that particular thing or set it aside. But I couldn’t make that choice without understanding what it meant. I didn’t understand it. I understood it as a weapon.

I understood it as something that was being offered to me.

And Surtur ruled the realm of fire. I wasn’t making that choice until I’d talked to Odin. Preferably not through a bird, even if I did like the birds.

I needed to know what I was getting myself into, and the offer of fire power could be a proposal, for all I knew.

But if it wasn’t, if it was something I did want and I turned it down?

The fire giant was there. I crossed the street again. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Working on the issue with the hunters with spirit bombs. I’m going to find the witch making them and deal with her.”

“With luck she’ll deal with herself,” the giantess said, grimly. “Usually, witches who start messing with those end up blowing themselves up.”

“That would solve the problem.” And I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. People blowing themselves up through their own stupidity?

That wasn’t my problem.

Which meant, that being out of my power, I could turn my attention back to the hunters.
Except? I couldn’t. The “sunburn” wasn’t healing like other injuries, and I knew if I tried to fight them they could kill me.

If I tried to talk them down, they wouldn’t listen to me.

I had to let Seb and Kanesha handle it, but it was a strange feeling. I felt as helpless as when I had thought I was only a teenaged girl with memory problems. Possibly more so. Once you’re used to being able to do something and protect people, it really hurts to have that something taken away.

And taken away it was. I let out a breath. “Your turn to protect me,” I murmured to the absent Kanesha.

Maybe that was only fair. There was a bit of pain in it, though. How could I ask her to protect me when I wasn’t sure I could continue to love her?

No. I would always love her. I wasn’t sure I could stay with her. Or…what was bothering me?

I couldn’t put a finger on it, so I made an effort not to be bothered. Then I saw her.

Another of the hunters. Were they all women? I frowned. If she had a bomb and used it, I was already screwed.

From the way she was glaring, though? I crossed the street towards her. “Hello.”

“Go back to hell.”

“That’s hard, as I’m not from there in the first place.”
She scowled.

“Regardless of what you were taught, there are different things out there. Demons are real, but so’s plenty of other stuff.”

I managed to conceal my anger. She wasn’t one of the two who had blown up the fyrhund, after all. She just wore one of the same jackets.
They were a gang, I decided. Just like any other gang. No better. But I wasn’t going to blow up at her.

“If I…”

“You don’t. And if you come after me or my friends again, you’ll wish you did, because I am not above killing people who give me trouble.”

“Which proves it.”

“I said, who give me trouble. You’ve clearly never met a real demon, or you’d know the difference.” A pause. “I can introduce you to one.”

I meant it, too. Maybe an encounter with Tyz’vel would scare them into some sense.

She reached for a knife. I shook my head. “Don’t. I’m not going to fight you. I’m just saying. Leave me, my friends, and my operations alone.”
That sounded spy movie, but it sounded good. Then I turned and walked away from her, setting my shoulders firmly.

I hadn’t wanted to start a feud or anything, but boy had they started one with me.

“You’re back.”

I nodded. “And I’m about to ask you to do something horribly dishonest and mildly illegal.”

Fitz grinned a bit. “As long as it’s not…”

“I’m taken,” I quipped. “Got a perfectly good girlfriend.”

He managed, to his credit, not to shudder. “Alright.”

“The mildly illegal part is this.” I pulled out the bottle.
“Wine?”

“Mead. It’s got a spell on it that breaks illusions.”

“And you want me to sneak it to my clients.” He peered at the label. Which just said fruit mead.

I nodded.
“And the mildly illegal part is turning a blind eye to you having booze.”

I shrugged a bit. “It’s not for me.”

He turned the bottle in his hands. “I should maybe take a sip myself.”

I nodded. “I think we got you free of influence, but it might help, yeah. Can you handle this?”

“Will it make them…”

“It should…” I sighed. “It should make them realize it wasn’t Mike they saw. But I’m not sure how many layers. It might be…uh…”

“Unpleasant?”

I nodded. “But most people don’t remember supernatural stuff, or rationalize it away.”

“Why am I not rationalizing it away, then?” He looked at me, thoughtfully.

“Not sure. Maybe you have a little bit of locked away talent for magic somewhere.”

“My parents did their best to stamp every bit of imagination out of me. I remember them telling me I wasn’t allowed to pretend a hotwheels car was an ambulance.”

I rolled my eyes. “So, if you did have something, it got stomped on when you were a kid and you not only never did anything with it but…became a lawyer.” I ducked.

He pretended to whap me with the hand not holding the bottle. I decided I liked him despite everything.

“So, just let it out. The creativity.” That was probably the secret. Imagination.

Was I imaginary? I didn’t think so…but I realized I couldn’t ever be entirely sure.

“I’ll try. And I’ll see what I can do with this.”

Would it be enough? I supposed I’d know before too long.

I’m not saying I cared for Tyz’vel or anything like that. I just understood exactly how Odin and Loki cared for each other.

How they had come to, apparently, hate each other that much. I didn’t care for Tyz’vel.

I just respected him enough not to want his destruction. I knew, though, I’d have to fight him, beat him, and send him home. And I had to do it in a way that convinced him I wasn’t going to ever be his.

The spirit bomb was tempting – if I could be sure it wouldn’t destroy him. And I had to do it myself, anyway.

So? So I grabbed the infamous bottle, which turned out to contain a blood colored liquid that, when I removed the cork, was definitely mead with fruit juice added. A mix of fruit juice. It smelled good, I decided. I couldn’t resist pouring myself a tiny sip.

Tasted good, too, although it didn’t seem to grant me any particular wisdom. Shame. I could have used some right about now. But I was right. It was just a recipe. Symbolic. Magic, Bruce had told me once, was all about symbols and representing things.

Representing things. What represented me? Fire? I wished…I wished I could do something about the fyrhund. At least Seb was alive.

Assuming he didn’t go over to those other hunters because they were hot. That was always a hard temptation to resist, and he was a young man. Not like I was that great at resisting temptations.

I’d just managed to limit myself to Kanesha-shaped ones. Part of me wanted to say “for now” but I was still thinking about it.

About possibilities. About how I knew it couldn’t last.

About how much I wanted it to. And I might not have my memories, but I seemed to have my sense of time back.

I wasn’t seventeen. But she was. And what… I shook my head, denied myself more of the mead, and started the ritual. This one was for me to do, I knew. I’d need to shapeshift to get it to them. Or…

No. I’d work through Fitz. Now he knew, and now I thought I could protect him a little. But I couldn’t carry the horn around.

Which was the point of what I was doing. Eventually, I had a bottle of mead that didn’t look like it had been opened. I felt like one of those horrible people who spike drinks. I felt like I was being horribly dishonorable.

But no. They were being messed with and it was right to get them un-messed with. I finished sealing the bottle and put it in my bag. Hopefully Fitz wouldn’t get me arrested.

Hopefully I really could tell him the truth.

“It has to heal on its own,” Thruor said. “Stay clear of them.”

“I will. They got the fyrhund.” I hadn’t even given it a name. It hadn’t seemed like it needed one. And now I knew, somehow, that it was gone.

“Alright. They’re going down,” she said, grimly.

“Seb said he’s met hunters like this before. They don’t distinguish, they just want to take down everything supernatural. I think we need to take out their source of bombs. Or introduce them to Tyz’vel,” I added.

“They might be able to take him out, but we don’t know who else they might take with them.”

She was right. I closed my eyes, then flinched as she applied cream to my burns. Being more vulnerable to something was an odd feeling. I didn’t like it very much.

I didn’t like, either, the reminder that I wasn’t and never could be human, no matter how well I pretended. It made me feel…the entire thing made me feel oddly empty, and oddly…unwanted?

No, out of place. Not part of anything going on around me. Thruor, she was like me. Kanesha wasn’t. Could we really make this work?

“But yeah. I still think we need to find who’s making the bombs and deal with them.” I shook my head, then regretted it, wincing again.
“You need to rest some. I’ll look into it.”

“Get the mortals to look into it. For once, they’re not the ones at risk.” Kanesha. Seb. Clara.

Mike…but Mike had to keep his head down. If he set foot outside, he’d get harassed. “And I’ll work on the stuff with Mike,” I decided.

“No. We will. I have the bottle.”

I let out a breath at that. “Good. We’ll take care of that…maybe it will work. If not, we haven’t lost anything.”
And if it did, we’d have Mike back where he belonged, on the streets.

But there was still the matter of avenging the little girl. Of dealing with the one truly responsible. I still thought these hunters could do it.

Except?

The fyrhund was dead and gone and destroyed. Tyz’vel was pure spirit, wouldn’t that happen to him? He was my worst enemy. I wasn’t sure I wanted to send him to oblivion.

The deepest depths of hell in some maze that would take him centuries to escape, sure.

Oblivion? No.

Which meant…what? It meant, I realized, that I had to deal with him first. Or warn him.

“Penny for them?”

“Would the spirit bomb destroy an entity? Even a powerful one?”

“Depends on the bomb. It might.”

“I know he’s my enemy, but I can’t let that happen to Tyz’vel.”
Thruor hesitated. Then she nodded. “A cave with poison.”

And I understood something in that moment I hadn’t before.

It was a standoff. I didn’t do anything other than, well, stand there.

“She’s a friend,” Seb protested.
“She’s a demon. No matter what she may have told you.”

One of the women was half a step behind the other. “That thing you just threw?” I said, evenly. “It’s called a spirit bomb. It damages souls. Including yours.”

“Doesn’t matter. It kills demons.”

I still wanted one of those bombs. Or better yet, to lure Tyz’vel into a meeting with these two. Let them take care of him. It wasn’t just tempting…or Loki-like. It genuinely struck me as a good idea. Then deal with them.

It shouldn’t be too hard, I thought. I didn’t tell them I wasn’t a demon. “And if anyone dies at the same time one goes off, it’ll destroy their soul.”

At least they didn’t have a second one. If they did, I was sure they’d be triggering it right now – and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t survive. Would it destroy me?

I didn’t know…and then I heard a very sweet sound indeed.
The sound of bikes. “Also, you don’t have another one, and you’re about to be badly outnumbered.”

They took the hint and ran. Seb looked at me. He sighed. “Some hunters are like that. They don’t see the difference between you and Tyz’vel.”

“Did you have a vampire problem?”

He nodded. “A bad one. That thing just…turned them to dust.”

“Well, at least it didn’t leave a body. I was going to call you to ask about spirit bombs.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. But I might be able to find out where those two chicks came from.” He added, “They’re hot, too.”

I hadn’t thought either of them was particularly hot next to Kanesha. But…well…

I was biased. And Seb had never looked twice at her, so clearly we didn’t share a similar taste in women. I’d rather have Seb himself than either of them. “Sorry, not seeing it.”

“It’s…”

“Plus, it’s not fine. I had a fyrhund with me. I think they killed it.” That hit me. I wanted to cry.

“Oh…that’s not good.”

I tugged off my jacket. “Neither is this. That’s what that stuff did to me.”

“Looks like you went out in the desert southwest without sun cream.”

I shuddered. “I need to see if Thea has any idea what to do for it.”

It hurt, too. It hurt worse than, say, being shot. I wished I didn’t know that from experience.

I didn’t like having even more enemies. I most especially didn’t like the idea of one I didn’t know the identity or motivation of.

A witch with more power than sense, Thruor had said. And the members of a certain coven had scattered to the winds.

But this didn’t seem their style. If it was them, they’d try putting a curse on me or something. Something more subtle.

I honestly suspected careless hunters. Which meant I needed to make a call to Seb.

“I’m…a…bit…busy!” he said.

“Where are you?”

“Rock Creek!”
That wasn’t enough info, and a moment later I heard his phone hit the ground. Dang it, I thought. Dang it…

I had to rescue Seb now and I wasn’t sure how to get there fast enough. I needed one of those “bikes.”

Instead, I set off at a run, hoping my instincts would be able to find him. I also tried summoning the fyrhund.

And it actually came, loping along next to me, tongue hanging out. I suspected anyone looking would see a young, enthusiastic Labrador.

Did fyrhunds come in different breeds? I elected not to care, but rather whispered, “Find Seb.”

It took off at a run I wouldn’t have been able to follow if I was merely human. Even as it was, I was struggling. “Slow down. Some of us only have two feet.”

It did. Slightly. Leading me into the park. Last time…yeah. I had bad feelings about Rock Creek Park. I suspected Seb’s trouble was, it being dark, of the fanged nature. Into the park…I hoped I was in time.

I didn’t want to think about something happening to him. Then instinct screamed at me to stop.

I did. I skidded to a halt, then turned and ran the other way.
The explosion still caught me, just the edge of it, like a fire burning. It didn’t damage by jacket, but I felt it like a sunburn underneath.

And the fyrhund was gone. No. If they had…if they had hurt a creature that was there because I called it?

Somebody was going down for this. I pulled out my phone. “Seb?”

“It’s okay. I got help.”

“We need to talk.”

“I…”

“Now, Seb.”

I wasn’t sure who these people were, but I knew I needed to convince Seb that they were, while possibly on our side, incompetent at best and utter idiots at worst.

“It’s important.”

I waited for him, then, but when he showed up, two women in, to be honest, the most ridiculous vampire hunting gear ever flanked him.
And one of them immediately lowered a gun at me. “This is your friend?” she said in utter disgust.

I felt the anger start to boil up within me. They had injured me, possibly killed the fyrhund, they…

“You know there’s no such thing as a good one.”