Other people’s competence, though, I decided to officially make Not My Problem. If they got killed through their own stupidity, it wasn’t my fault.

Which was probably a healthier attitude than wanting to babysit everyone. I’d still protect my friends, but I knew I needed to trust them more to protect themselves. Even if that meant somebody died.

Because it would mean they were protecting the people who really didn’t know what they were doing. Which was worth it, regardless of what Kanesha had said. It was worth it if only you died.

I took that morbid thought over to Mike’s in the afternoon. Thruor was there.

“So…”

“She wasn’t mine, but I made sure she got to her destination. We need to deal with that demon.”

“Well, at least we forced her to do something more open,” I said, quietly. “And…”

“At least the only person she got was somebody who was actively fighting and knew the risks.”

It reflected what I’d been thinking so perfectly I wondered if Thruor had a trace of mind reading ability. Or if she just knew me that well. “Kanesha isn’t sure it’s worth it.”

“She’s probably still a bit shaken.”

“Probably,” I mused. “I just…”

“You wanted to know if she’ll be okay. She will.”

“I realized that I need to not be so keen on protecting absolutely everyone and let some people worry about protecting themselves and others.”

Thruor laughed. “You get that from your mother.”

I thought about it and decided that was likely. “My dad doesn’t worry about anyone.”

“Oh, he does. He has friends. But he’s much more inclined to let his friends do stupid stuff and laugh at them afterwards.”

That definitely seemed likely. “Well…so…what are we going to do about the succubus?”

“You swing by and talk to Father Will.”

I nodded. “I should have done that before.”

“I mentioned it to him, but I didn’t have a good bead on her before. Now we’ve both seen her…”
She was right. Now we knew for sure it was a demon, rather than having to trust the judgment of third parties. And I did have, I thought, a good idea of how much power I’d sensed from her.
She was at least as dangerous as Tyz’vel. If not more so. That scared me more than a little.
Tyz’vel had taken everything we had to deal with…