It wasn’t enough for me to be comfortable, though. True, we could come up with ways for our inner circle, as it were.

What about the kid next to Kanesha in class? I knew Tyz’vel was likely doing this with the primary goal of rendering me paranoid. Didn’t stop me from getting, well…

Paranoid.

Which meant I needed a witch. “Hey, Clara.”

“What’s up?”

“There’s a shapeshifter wandering around that I can’t get rid of. I can detect him, but my friends can’t. Is it possible to make some kind of, I don’t know, magical warning system?”

“What is he?”

“Demon.”

Clara considered, then nodded. “I can’t do it but I know somebody who can. How many do you need?”

I considered. “Can you and Seb detect demons?”

She nodded. “He already has one, and I can do it.”

“Then I only need two for right now.”

A grin. “I’ll get it set up. You don’t even owe me a favor.”

“Thanks.” Witches often traded in favors, Bruce had told me. “Although if you ever need anyone or anything beating up, I’m your girl.”

Clara grinned again. “I know that.”
That part of things settled, I added, “Now to find a way to convince him to leave permanently.”

“What does he want, anyway?”

“My pants.”

Clara laughed. “I’d say not your soul, but I don’t think that’s in any particular danger.”

“He’d like that too,” I mused. “He asked me to marry him.”

“Oh dear. He’s got it bad.”

I nodded. “Very bad. I keep hoping he’ll lose interest in me and go for somebody else, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

That was my best hope, that he’d get distracted by another interesting female. Or male, I wasn’t sure he cared any more than I did. Possibly less.

“I’ll think on it, but I don’t have any bright ideas if he’s that determined.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll work on it. Just keep your eyes open. He might decide to harass you.”

She grinned. “I’ll get Father Will to give me a vial of holy water to toss in his face.”

“…that’s a good idea. I’ll have to do that too.” It really was a good idea. Or maybe, I could… “Thanks, Clara.”