What hated fairies? I doubted angels liked them very much, but an angel wouldn’t hurt people. A demon, of course, would – and enjoy every minute of it.

Working theory: Demon. And it might have been after me, but I didn’t think so. Unless Tyz’vel had found some way to get back and was mad with me.

No. It hadn’t felt like him or anyone connected to him. It hadn’t felt demonic, but I hadn’t met enough demons to be sure.

Which meant that I needed to have a word with a certain history teacher going by the name Mr. Merrifield.

I waited until the end of school and then positioned myself between the classroom he was in and the exit.
Seeing me, he looked like he was about to bolt. “I…”

“I know you didn’t do it. I know your kind don’t hurt kids.”

He relaxed. “Let’s…”

“Outside.” I moved outside the building without really looking to see if he was following. “You know what happened. Do you know who did it?”

“That girl’s going to lose her hand. It’s a form of hell fire.”

“So, I was right. A demon. But real fire destroyed it.”

He nodded. “That proves it. Thank you.” He turned slightly towards me.

“I don’t let people around me get hurt. Not if I can prevent it.”

“A worthy calling…hrm. You’re not a valkyrie. You’re not pure Aesir.”

So, he didn’t know quite who I was. “I’m a bit of a mix,” I admitted. “But I’m not a threat to you unless you hurt my friends.”

“I won’t.” He let out a breath. “I’m not annoying you. Or your relatives. But apparently…”

“It could have been aimed at me. I did piss off a rather high ranking demon recently.”

“You did?” His tone implied I had taste. “What did you do?”

“Refused to sleep with him.”

The fairy blinked and then laughed. “I can see why he might go for you. Me…”

My turn to laugh. “Are you a fairy in more ways than one? No need to answer that.”

“Maybe I started the trend of people calling them that,” he quipped. “Nah.” A pause. “Well. Personally, I hope it was aimed at you, but it might not have been. You know demons don’t like sidhe, even unseelie.”

I nodded. “Demons don’t like demons. Except maybe their friends.”

“Demons don’t have friends.” A pause. “Neither do sidhe.”

“I know. I’m not expecting friendship. Just perhaps alliance to deal with whatever this is.”

“Done.”

He seemed nice enough. So, why did I feel like I’d made a deal with Lucifer himself?