I did finally get a name from the spy – Finley – which I was pretty sure wasn’t his real one.

That was fine. I let him call me Jane. No trust, not really, but Monica was out and nobody was dead.

Yet.

That thought echoed through my mind like a premonition. A feeling that something or someone was on the edge of a precipice. It was probably just my anxiety for Monica.

Probably. But it didn’t feel like it was her I should be worried about.

And as we split up, she drifted after me like a ghost. “Jane.”
“What is it?”

“Keep an eye on people. Somebody…”

“I got it too.” Perhaps not as clearly as she did. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Which worries me more. It feels as if it’s not something we can prevent, as if it’s not something we’re meant to prevent.”

Cold went down my spine. Odin…was not…well. How much did he care about mortal’s lives as opposed to their souls? Not much. Exhibit: Monica.

“I’ll be careful.”

“It’s not you that needs to be.”

I decided that after this I really needed to track down my girlfriend. If that was still the right word. Partner might be more accurate, given how much time she was spending at my place.

You should get married.

I still thought about it. I supposed I was waiting for her to ask me, because that was the only way I could really be sure she wanted it, knowing what might happen, knowing what our world was like.

Knowing that she might well fear that for me this was only a fling, even if it was one that might last her lifetime. No. I could not ask. It would feel like the king’s proposal of marriage, one no woman could refuse.

I could not put her in that position. I could, though, seek her out when the chill ran through me from Monica’s vague premonition. One which almost sounded like a threat, except that I knew she would not ever hurt any of us.

I knew she was only a voice, a vessel of destiny, and part of me understood, just for a moment, what might come of her. For a moment I glimpsed why she had to die, and then it was gone, leaving only the sensation of having known. That there was a good reason for it.

I fled that feeling as much as anything else for my small home and a movie, and called Kanesha to join me. She brought chips and dip and we watched something ridiculously romantic and funny.

I didn’t tell her about Monica’s prophecy that night.

“I really don’t have anything,” Monica said once we were, shall we say, in more congenial surroundings – what had been a conference room for whatever company, small c, had held this.

I admired her for being willing to help. I was still tempted to leave a body count, not because I wanted to but to send a message.

“Okay, and…”

Clara furrowed her brow. “I believe she’s a ranking succubus, and she’s been causing trouble, yes, but trouble to the government?”

“Apparently she’s collecting senators.”

I laughed. “And blackmailing them?”

“Right. She even went after Senator Cobb, which shows that she’s not paying that much attention.”

I had to think for a moment myself before getting the point – Derek Cobb was openly and quite notoriously gay. “No, she’s not. But it’s not demonic to just go for money…”

“Not money. Power. She’s after their votes. I assume when she has enough she’ll move on to Congressmen.”

A small nod. “Which means she’s got some kind of long plan.” Being a demon, it could be anything. It could be as simple as fighting against environmental bills, given demons liked things filthy. “Why not let us take care of her?”

“You’re still civilians.”

I smiled. “Experts.” It was true at this point, although much of it was expertise I still couldn’t remember obtaining. That didn’t make it any less valid. “I know you can’t trust us, but I’ve fought demons before. Although she’ll probably still go after Cobb again.”

“He’s…”

Clara grinned. “The difference between a succubus and an incubus is the target.”

He blushed. “Oh…they…”

“…do that.” I shrugged a bit. “Demons aren’t really one or the other. Some of them lean one way, but they’re flexible.”

“And you?” He studied me.

“All woman,” I admitted. “I could look like a guy if I wanted to.” Maybe even be one, but the idea didn’t appeal. “But I’m quite different from a demon.”

“Not officially.” He shrugged at me. “Officially anything that isn’t well, from the normal mundane earth is a demon.”

“Don’t say that anywhere near Odin. He gets upset by that and he might set a wolf on you.”

He laughed, but nervously.

When Monica saw me, she shook her head a little.

“I think the gang’s all here.” The man in charge, greying hair, dark skin turned to face me. “We know about you.”

“Then you should have known I’d show up.”

They should have, I thought, and had a better plan than this.

“We can’t let you leave…yet.”

That seemed a bit more progress. I shook my head. “That’s not acceptable. My girlfriend will put together half an army to come looking for me if I don’t show up.”

I was absolutely sure Kanesha would hook up with the valkyries and come rescue me, or try to.

His eyes faltered. “There’s…”

“I don’t care what the good reason is.” I kept my eyes on him. “You’re kidnapping a dying woman and trying to make her scry for you when it doesn’t work that way. And threatening me. Give me one good reason not to kill everyone in this room.”

There was a pause. “You and your friends probably could too. I have no idea why Washington is suddenly such a hotbed.”

“Blame my old man.” I smiled at him. “Okay. You know what. Let’s try this again. What do you want?”

I glanced at Clara. She was clearly ready and I could feel the build up of magical energy, as if she’d started a spell then paused it.

“Information.”

“And you couldn’t just ask.”

“I know better than to expect people like you to be loyal to your country.”

It came out before I could think. “I’m not American.”

He half-smiled. “Shame I can’t really deport you. You’d only come back.”

I couldn’t resist responding with a similar expression. “I’m hard to get rid of.” Unless your name was Odin, but…

“Your kind generally are. But I won’t keep you for long. I just need to make sure…”

“…that we won’t tell the media about your operations. Which we won’t.” Clara glared at him. “A little bit of trust?”

“Spies don’t trust people by definition,” Mike supplied.

“What information do you want? Maybe we can come to a deal.” I could probably kill them all, but somebody would get shot. Probably more than one somebody. And I didn’t really want to.

“We need to know what a demon that’s been active is up to.”

“Is that all?” Clara rolled her eyes. “Give me a description and a use-name and I’ll tell you.”

“She’s using more than one name.” A frown from the spy. “Do you…”

“I keep track of things like that. You really need to stop being dramatic and ask people.” Clara was grinning.

I rolled my eyes. “I really think we should start this over.” Not that we could. However, while they were watching Clara I walked over and untied Monica.

Nobody stopped me.

Another gun shot and I was moving low along the catwalk. Mike and Thruor had dived for cover on either side of the door.

Then, one of them did what I would have done. He stepped over to Monica and put his gun against her head even as the other three came in. “One step closer and she dies. That includes whoever’s upstairs.”

I froze. Okay. Think. Think hard. Could I go so completely invisible they didn’t notice me, if he had his attention on Mike?

I would have to be sure he really did have his attention on Mike before trying that.

Mike spoke. “Kidnapping, Johnson, really?”

“Involving civilians?”

“These aren’t civilians and you know it. Look. You only had to ask.”

“She wouldn’t tell us.”

“It doesn’t work to order.” Clara’s voice, and while she didn’t move, it almost seemed as if the attention of the entire scene drifted to her. “Whatever prophecy you wanted, she couldn’t call it up. That’s divination, and even then it’s not reliable.”

Now wasn’t the time for a magical theory lesson. Or maybe it was exactly the time. I wasn’t sure which. It was getting their attention.

“Something really bad’s going to happen. We need all the information we can get. And you really shouldn’t involve civilians.”

“Why?” Mike asked.

“Because we can’t let any of you leave.”

Somebody was coming up the stairs. I turned towards him. “Don’t. Let’s not fight. I’d kick your butt.”

“Kid like you?”

I smiled. “I’d take you without a gun when you had two. Like the Detective said. We aren’t civilians.”

“You’re in over your head.”

“No. You are. How about we go downstairs?”

He frowned, but turned to the stairs. “I found her. Just another kid.”

“Don’t turn your back on her.”

He already had, but I resisted the temptation to shoot him in it. Monica might be better off dying as a hostage than wasting away, but that wasn’t my decision to make for her.

Instead, I tucked my gun back into my belt and followed him downstairs.

“I’d rather have answers,” I said, finally, “Than your blood.”

Stepping out of the car felt like crossing a line. It was entirely possible I was going up against complete mundanes.

No, against people who knew just enough to be in danger.

Mike was going first. I didn’t want him to. I didn’t want anyone but me to go in there, not really. I pulled my hat down slightly so I wouldn’t be immediately recognizable. I probably looked like I was going skiing.

Anticlimax. He knocked on the door. Nobody answered.

Quietly, I sneaked towards a window and tried to peek inside, but what of it wasn’t boarded up was glass with such a fine network of cracks in it as to make it completely opaque. I wasn’t seeing anything that way.

Seeing.

Inside, I could hear voices. I caught the occasional word. “Door. No. They. Notice.”

They were hoping whoever had knocked on the door would think the building was empty and go away. I wanted to be able to see in there.

I glanced at Mike, then had a crazy, seen-too-many-movies idea. Was there…yes, there was a fire escape. I ran up it, as close to silent as I could, found a door at the top that led to some kind of upper story.

It was locked. I worked on jimmying it, trying to stay quiet. If I could get inside I could see what was going on.

If I could see I would know for sure what we were dealing with. I got it, and slipped into…

…an abandoned office. There was a heavy metal desk and an even heavier-looking filing cabinet; no doubt whoever had worked here had decided they weren’t worth the effort of moving. That was off the corridor to one side. The other side was a men’s room stripped of most of the plumbing.

I saw no ladies room, at least not yet. I moved down the corridor, hoping to…yes. It did open out onto a catwalk above the shop floor. Quiet, quiet…

…and then the alarm went off. Crap. I was apparently not well suited to this.

I hoped it would be heard outside the building as I ducked back into the corridor, pulled out my gun and flicked off the safety.

I heard voices again. One of them was Monica’s. She sounded annoyed rather than afraid. Not quite self-rescuing, but calm enough not to interfere with us. Good.

Then the door burst open and Mike and Thruor plunged through it. “On the ground!” Mike yelled.

A shot went off. I wasn’t sure who’s, but I moved out onto the catwalk again. There were only eight of them.

Only eight and none of them sensed as anything but mundanes. “Idiots!” one of the men called.

I wasn’t sure if he meant his side or ours.

Yeah, I had suspicions. Who would try to steal a seeress? Vampires weren’t smart enough. Witches could do divination spells. Any kind of decent hunter would just have asked.
Another deity? Unlikely. Heck, a demon was unlikely too.

Which meant that their employer was somebody who knew about the supernatural but didn’t know what they were doing about it. My worst fear was that it was…the government.

Because, maybe, I’d read too many comic books along those lines, but really, if I thought about it? It made far too much sense. Riding shotgun with Mike, I voiced. “What if it’s the government?”

“You have a nasty mind.”

“I know, but think about it. You can’t say it’s remotely unlikely that they would know about the supernatural, but possibly not enough about it.”

“And they would certainly…great. If those were our security operatives?”

“It’s not too late to pull out. I can drive.” I was actually feeling uncertain about continuing with this myself, but what else could I do?

“No. Even if it’s the government, they don’t get to do things like this.” He frowned, hands on the wheel. “Not just kidnap people who didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Right, but they could make you disappear. I have a way to get out if that happens. You people don’t.”

From the back seat, Kanesha spoke up, “You think I ever trust the government, Sig?”

She’d taken to calling me that in private. I’d taken to liking it.

“No, I don’t think you do. I’m amazed you’re in a car with a cop,” I quipped. “But that’s not the point. We’re going to make them hate us, if I’m right.”

“And if you’re right, they need…we need to blow it wide open if we can.”

I realized I’d tightened my hands to white knuckles. I broke the pattern by checking I had enough ammunition.

I understood one of the reasons Thruor hated guns. Swords don’t run out of ammunition.

Bows do, though. And Seb had brought one of those; a nasty looking crossbow. I hadn’t asked where he got it.

He was in the other car with Clara and the valkyrie. We were following them. I closed my eyes, not watching the city go by, not right now. I didn’t know that I wanted to know where we were.

Silver Spring. No, past Silver Spring into Tacoma. The other side of the tracks. Literally, in this case. They were slowing outside an old warehouse that was covered with vaguely obscene graffiti, even on the street side.

I wondered why nobody had cleaned it up. Then I knew we had to move.

I felt a sense of something coming to a head, of some danger growing.

By the time Clara found them, Mike and Kanesha had showed up. And they had what I’d requested.

“Do you need one?”
“I might as well.” Bullets didn’t hurt me that much, but they did hurt me some. I shrugged into the vest, which felt a little odd to start with then seemed to settle into a comfortable position.

Kanesha frowned. “They itch.”

“Bullets itch more,” I quipped. “Clara’s got a location. If we go in on this we’re going to get shot at. Get your jacket on over it.”

Mike nodded. “If they think we’re wearing armor they’ll get out the copkillers. Hopefully they won’t anyway, but it was still a good thought.”

I grinned at him as I pulled on my jacket. “Oh, come on. Don’t try to con me into thinking you didn’t have exactly the same idea I did.”

He wasn’t about to admit it, which meant he want to make me feel good about myself. Which tempted me to scowl instead of grinning, but I didn’t. “Do we have enough transport?”

“Where are they?”

“Somewhere in Silver Spring.”

“We’re going to need another car then.” He turned and tugged out his phone. “I’ll tell Thruor.”

Thruor driving a car struck me as strange, but I didn’t argue with it. Cars could be bulletproof. Bikes couldn’t.

Of course, did anyone but James Bond really have a bulletproof car? “How do they actually make tires bulletproof on bulletproof cars?” I asked Mike, to distract myself.

“They don’t.”

“So…”

“They use run flat tires that don’t care if they get shot. They aren’t the standard ones, but they can go for 60 miles at 60 em pee aitch.” He grinned at me.

“James Bond cars.”

He grinned more. “You can get smokescreens. Not the guns under the badge, though.”

“Didn’t he forget to load that in the last movie?” I found myself relaxing from the banter. “Is Thruor really bringing a car?”

“She’s bringing a car and driver.”

Which showed up – the driver was a valkyrie who’s name I wasn’t sure of, a redhead. It was actually a black SUV. I didn’t ask if it was bulletproof, but followed Mike to his car instead.

“Okay,” he said before we got in. “These people are professional mercenaries. They’re doing this for pay. They will try to avoid collateral damage.”

I nodded. “Meaning we might be able to avoid fighting them.”

“Depends on how afraid they are of their employer. And possibly on whether their employer already has what he or she wants.”

Given my suspicions about their employer’s nature, I fell silent at that.

Clara and Seb were setting up scrying, based off of a photo of Monica I found on the internet and printed off. It was painful to look at – it was a photo of how she had been before she got sick.

I got out of their way, curling in a corner and munching on one of the last slices of pizza. Again, I was hating having to let somebody else do it, but what could I do?

Beat them up when we found them. The mundane professionals would use guns, so I’d have to make sure I had mine. They wouldn’t know how to handle magic, though.

Unless they’d been briefed, but then they’d have to have been carefully chosen or, as usual, they would ignore it.

No. I decided to assume they had been briefed. I hoped they hadn’t for our sake; although I’d almost feel sorry for them.
Almost. They’d probably take money as readily to kill somebody as simply to snatch them, so they didn’t really deserve my pity or any thought that remotely resembled pity. But at the same time, this wasn’t their world.

I thought of the cultists, who had left me alone, and wondered which was truly their world. Most of them were essentially mundanes, after all.

But professionals, Mike had said. People who did this kind of thing for a living. I shuddered a little bit. Okay.

How did I deal with them? Not by killing them if I could avoid it, but I might have to. If they were trying to kill me, then I figured it was reasonably justified.

Did I try and talk to mafia types? No. The cops had people much better suited to that.

That was when I had an idea. A particularly evil idea and one that would have been well worthy of my father. In fact, it was pretty much exactly what Loki would do.

It didn’t preclude the need to find her, but if we did before the cops did? Oh, I would play a very nasty little game with them until I had all the information I needed.

Setting that to one side, I closed my eyes. If I got into a shootout, I could handle it. Kanesha wasn’t great with guns, though. Seb was better. Mike was good. Thruor hated guns…

But Thruor could also look after herself in pretty much any situation, so there was no sense either trying to leave her behind or trying to tell her what to do. Could I leave Kanesha behind?

It had to be up to her, I decided, but I had to make sure…

…duh. Mike could do it. “I need to call Mike,” I called to the others, then moved further away so I wouldn’t disturb them.

“Mike, I was wondering if you could get some equipment for if we go after the kidnappers?”

“What do you need?”

I told him.

Okay, so Odin wasn’t going to help. Or he was already fixing the entire thing while I tried to work out which way to go.

Or he was expecting Monica to be self-rescuing. Which wouldn’t surprise me, even in her current physical state.

I wasn’t about to just sit back and trust him, though. He wouldn’t expect me to. He expected people to solve their own problems.
And sometimes threw extra ones at them. “Time for some old fashioned detective work?”

Mike grinned. “I’ll call in some favors. You…” A pause. “Not going to ask you to relax and chill, but why don’t you call Seb?”

I blinked, then nodded. He was right. Seb and Clara might be quite helpful when it came to locating our missing model and seeress. “I’ll find him.”

I walked away, already tugging out my phone. It was best to let the cops do detective work; it wasn’t something I’d shown much of a knack for. Seb, though.

“Seb, you there?”

“Would I have picked up if I wasn’t?”

“Probably. Can I swing by your place, and is Clara there?”

“She’s supposed to be here in ten minutes. You need a spell casting?”

“I need to find somebody.”

The fyrhund trotted alongside.

“Alright,” Seb said. “Come on by.”

I glanced down at the dog. “You need to vanish. I can’t take you on the bus.”

And no, I wasn’t about to suggest he disguised himself as a service dog. That would be rude, somehow. Insulting to people who really needed them. He whined and then flickered into flame and was gone.

Knowing he’d show up again when I needed him, and thinking he really needed a name, I hopped onto the bus that would take me to Seb’s.

My best guess was that Monica was in no immediate danger. She wasn’t worth a ransom, so it was really unlikely it was anyone other than somebody who wanted her to see the future.

Which meant they needed her alive and intact. Which meant we had time. That was enough to get me to relax. That and she might well be self-rescuing.

Seb was at his parents’ rowhouse, if he had parents. I’d never seen them and sometimes wondered if he was living here on his own. He and Clara were already there, Clara was on the phone. “You’re here. Meat lovers okay?”

“Meat lovers works.” I settled down on a somewhat worn chair while she finished ordering pizza.
“So, what’s up?”

“Monica got kidnapped.”

“So, you need a scrying spell?”

“Or at least somebody who’s a better detective than me. The cops are looking too, but you know me. I can’t sit around and wait for them to maybe solve it.”

“Any idea who took her?”

“Mundanes. Mike thinks they were professionals. So the real question is who hired them.”

Seb smiled weakly. “Isn’t it always?”

I ran after the car, but even I can’t actually catch a vehicle unless they’re stuck in traffic. Instead, I took out my cellphone, hesitated…and called Mike.

That was pretty much calling the cops, after all.

“What happened?”

“Monica got kidnapped.”

“Stay put. I’ll call it in. Where are you?”

I told him. Staying put was hard, though, but I hoped he’d tell Thruor. Or somebody who had a bike to find them with.

The fyrhund sidled out of the restaurant to settle next to me in beagle form. “You have any idea where they took her?”

It just wagged its tail, which melted the snow under it, sending little runnels of water away.

“Helpful.” I knew it couldn’t track one car out of many, though, and I hadn’t sensed any strong supernatural presence. Meaning that whoever had taken her?

Heck, it might not even be a magic thing at all, although that seemed unlikely. I couldn’t think of a motivation to kidnap a washed up model dying of cancer. Kidnapping a seeress, though? They probably wanted her to see the future for them.

Mike showed up in an unmarked car pretty quickly. “Did you see the license plate?”

“It had TYZ, I didn’t catch the numbers.” I rubbed the dog behind the ears. “There were three men who followed her out, but they could have been innocent.”

“Not much to go on.”
“We could try tracking her cell phone?” I started to suggest, then sighed as I saw what was in the gutter.

It was broken, but the rose gold case was familiar. “I think they may have been professionals.”

I nodded a bit. “I didn’t sense anything about them.” But then something else occurred to me.

If I wanted somebody abducted and knew there were people around who could sense me, then getting people who didn’t ping radar to do it… “I wonder if they were hired to snag her.”

“I’d say so. No screams, little struggle, cellphone left behind.” He sighed. “We’ll do our best.”

“I think they might get a nasty shock.” And I knew who could find her, unless this was somehow part of his plan. He might, after all, want these people to hear what she had to say.

Or she might be able to do something bad to them herself. Still, I glanced around for ravens.

Not so much as a black feather.