That bit of normality seemed to settle her. We munched on sausage and pepperoni pizza. “So, how did you get involved with them anyway?”

A pause, then. “A vampire.”

I nodded. “Oh, vampires are definitely…well…evil would imply that they had more of a mind left than they do. Bestial.”

“Not what I expected. I mean, there are all those stories about romantic vampires, sweeping women off of their feet and stuff, and the real thing’s more like zombies.” A pause. “I should be trying to kill you, not sharing pizza.”

“You know you couldn’t.”

“Was there really a dog?”

I nodded. “Yes. Also, those bombs? They do hurt mortals. Not as much, but if you screw up, you can deny somebody their afterlife.”

She frowned.

“I’m not trying to stop you people just for me. Well, a bit for me. But not just for me.” Yeah. I was scared of the bombs. But I wasn’t just selfishly scared.

“Okay. What are you, anyway?”

“I’m…a minor Asgardian.” I temporized.

“Like a valkyrie.”

I shook my head. “Nah. Maybe. I’m kind of in training. You must know how that goes.”

“You don’t seem evil.” She took another bite of pizza, looking confused.

“That’s because I’m not. Oh, I can be a bitch sometimes, and I freely admit I’ve killed people when I had to. But I’m not evil. I can show you evil, though.”

Maybe I could save this one.

“But there’s only one true God. Which means…”

I sighed. “He’s real enough. Your God that is. I’ve met angels. Well, an angel.”

“How do you know the angel wasn’t a demon?”

“He was in a church. Demons can’t go into churches. They’re banned. I can.”

“But…”

“I don’t like to, because I feel a bit like a trespasser, but I don’t get smited or anything. That’s generally one good sign that something’s evil. Or at least, actually opposed to your God.”

Which wasn’t a bad definition, I thought, of Evil.