Yeah, embarrassment set in after he left. What was I thinking asking anyone, let alone my dad, to do anything like that.

Even if it would have been exactly what he would do. It was still bad of me…that was probably my mother’s side speaking.

But there was no stopping him now. All I’d had to do was tell him what was going on. Maybe I was just scared by how much I understood him. Maybe I was just treating him the same way he treated me.

Which wasn’t supposed to be how it worked. I wasn’t supposed to…

…and of course I wasn’t. He was manipulating me. He had me right where he wanted me. I grumbled to myself about how he’d clearly been the one who really initiated contact and felt much better.

After all, he was a trickster. I was…not sure what I was yet.

Fire whispered through my veins for a moment and I feared and wanted it all at the same time. My phone rang.

I answered it, glad of the distraction from my thoughts.

“Ja…” And then it cut off.

Mike’s voice.

What kind of trouble was he in? I reached for the fire and tried to call the fyrhund to me. After a moment, he flickered into existence, looking more wolfhound than beagle today.

“Find Mike,” I whispered. He set off at a nose-down trot and I followed, jogging easily. That was one being I wasn’t afraid to give orders to. He was, after all, only a dog.

As I jogged I dialed Kanesha. “Mike’s in trouble.”

“Again?”

“Supernatural trouble, or he’d have called cops, not me.” I had a feeling the phone had been knocked out of his hand, smashed on the ground. Could almost see it.

Who was attacking Mike? It didn’t seem to be the succubus’ style. Almost more likely to be our sort of allies.

Almost. Or the cultists. Or… “Call Thruor. I’ll call again when I have a location.”

The fyrhund kept moving, tail wagging slightly. Dog. It was all a game to him.

I sensed demonic presences, sensed them closing in on me. Imps again. I ignored them, determined not to let them slow me down. I’d kill any that got in my way, but at least this meant…

It was her after all, and we were close. Maybe she was trying to get into Mike’s pants as vengeance against Thruor. That would be a succubus thing to do.

Maybe she was…and I shuddered and ran faster.