“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.