I had the rest of the evening to think about it. Borrowing the Book again didn’t seem feasible. Sooner or later, somebody would get suspicious about just how much Will wanted access to it.

Maybe. Some people in the Church still believed in demons. Others didn’t. I wasn’t sure which side of the line his immediate superiors were on. I was pretty sure the very higher ups did, because they had to have all of the evidence.

Not for the first time, I wondered what interesting things were hiding in the Vatican basement. Probably a lot of interesting things. Well…I couldn’t get to the Vatican basement. I could get to…

Loki.

Leaning on a lamp post at the street corner ahead of me, complete with a silver topped cane. He fell in next to me. “You really need to stop attracting demons.”

“It’s not me this time. It’s the fairy.”

“Says you.” He winked at me.

“Got any advice? He’s already turned one poor girl into a suitable follower for Tyr. I don’t want any more of this.”

Loki actually winced, although whether it was Tyr’s injury, Fenrir’s imprisonment, or both… “You already know how to stop the stuff, and that you can do so without damaging anything else.”

“Right, but that’s only a start. Besides, I care more about how to stop the guy sending it.”

“Melchior.”

I frowned. “Name’s on my list. The highest ranking name on my list. Maybe I should just let him have the fairy.”

“He won’t actually try to take him. The Courts would object. More likely he’ll keep hurting kids.”

“Then the best way is to convince the fairy to go hide back in the Otherworld for a couple of hundred years, isn’t it.” I glanced around. “Maybe the demon will get over the grudge.”

“More like a thousand or so if it’s him, but yes. If the fairy leaves, the demon will go away.”

“That’s harder than fighting the demon.” I hadn’t much faith in my own powers of persuasion. “Maybe you could talk to him?”

Loki studied his fingers. “He’d probably try to jump in bed with me.” A pause. “Is he good looking?”

My eyebrows elevated. “If…uh…maybe…not my type…” Before, that would have just seemed smarmy. Knowing who he was to me just made it creepy. One’s father talking about jumping into bed with somebody?

“Maybe I’ll try it.” He grinned, tapped the top of a cane with a nail.

“Worst case scenario, I suppose, he won’t listen to you and somebody else will have to try. Like Kanesha.”

I definitely had more faith in her powers of persuasion than my own.