Kanesha emerged in time to meet up with the “demon hunting” party the next evening. I had more modeling gigs and had put in my notice at the sub store.

It would work out much better. More money and while it was certainly harder work, it was more flexible work, too. I remembered what Thruor had said about her not being one of us. I couldn’t repeat that, of course. It might be taken wrong.

I knew it had nothing to do with the color of her skin and everything to do with the fact that…I had to face it. Kanesha was mortal. I probably wasn’t. Thruor had just been reminding me of that. That she was fragile and…

I shook my head a little bit.

“Are you with us, Jane?” Father William asked.

“Mostly. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. We’re going to announce that certain books from the Cathedral library are going to be on display here at St. Jacob’s. Then drop rumors the Black Book will be among them.” Father William frowned.

“But we won’t actually expose it to them. I’d suggest nothing else valuable. They may just try to fireball the church from outside. They can’t come in, but they can do that.” Thruor made a face.

Mike shook his head. “No. We’re going to try and get them to hit on the road. Armored car. I’ll be driving it.”

“I’ll take shotgun,” I said before anyone else could. “You need somebody with you who can sense them. We’ll set up…”

Thruor cut in. “The rest of us are protecting Father Will right here. He’ll have the gear to do the exorcism. Seb and Kanesha, you’re with me. All you need to do is keep them away without scaring them off.” An arch look at Seb at that.

He looked sheepish. “But you have to admit it worked.”

“For your goals, yes.”

He definitely looked sheepish. I almost felt sorry for him, but my eyes drifted to Kanesha again. “Sure you’re up for this?”

“I’m fine. I mean, there’s going to be the four of us and you with the van. We have them outnumbered.”

I started to say that wasn’t what I meant, but I couldn’t. I was afraid to. I was afraid to open up last night, especially in front of witnesses. Afraid not to leave it just sort of lying there in that street in Southeast where we’d left Mr. Clem’s body. They’d brought it in and Kanesha had identified it, no sign she’d been there. Just another Southeast statistic, another shooting.

Another father. But most of them were younger. Most of them were sons. I forced my attention back to the matter at hand and wondered if my question had really been aimed at Kanesha or at myself.