I was racing up to the piece of paper before I realized it, the action taking precedence over running to greet my father.

“Callie, wait!” Nate shouted.

I flung out a hand over the paper, a light whiff of magic to check for any dangers, but the fine cloud of magic revealed only the light green color of Nate’s wards. No traps.

Nate skidded up beside me, stunned. “How the hell did you do that?”

I blinked up at him, then reached for the paper. “Check for traps?”

“Yes. With only a little wave of your hand and no effort?”

I stopped, not grabbing the paper, and turned back to him. “You can’t do that?”

“Not without a whole hell of a lot of preparation.” He sounded impressed.

I shrugged. “Not that hard. Maybe you’re just doing it wrong.” And I grabbed the paper in one hand and the spear in the other. The spear emitted a single pulse in my hand, and then grew silent. It was authentic. One of the pieces. Just sitting in my yard. I frowned at it, then stood up to let Nate read alongside me. Claire was talking to my dad, keeping him on the porch, and his protests disappeared from my hearing as the words in the note sent a blade of fear into my heart.

He looks so comfortable in his cage. Maybe you should let the rabbit out to play once in a while. I’d love to show him a new game. Like I did with the vampire and the wolf. You looked particularly delicious at the bar. Add this to your growing collection of murder weapons. I have a few family matters to resolve outside of… town. Until we meet again...

I almost crushed the paper in my fist, but Nate deftly swiped it out of my hands, frowning down at me. “The fucking Demon bitch. She’s been following you, just like we thought.”

I let out a growl. “So it seems.”

“Do you remember seeing anyone at the bar?”

“You were there, too.”

“I was outside.”

“So was I. At the end. Maybe that’s when she saw me.” I had no idea who it could be. Had any of the women caught my eye? Or, hell, maybe Demons could shapeshift into dudes. I had no idea. I had noticed many people looking at me, but that wasn’t uncommon in a bar. I was a young, pretty, white-haired girl. I knew I attracted attention. I wasn’t conceited about it, but I wasn’t in denial, either. Plenty of women were prettier than me, but men were fickle, darting from one flower to the next without searching for anything beyond looks.

So, had I seen anyone staring at me? Yes, dozens. More than dozens. The bar had been packed. And then there had been all those reporters in the street, not counting any of the dozen pedestrians stopping to gawk at the commotion. And the people inside the bar rushing up to the window as we left. Did anyone stand out? No. I had only spoken to Johnathan and Claire.

Claire had met that Gabriel guy at the bar, I had met Johnathan, and then there had been the waitress. Nate had been talking to the reporter, Alyssa, whom he and Claire had eaten with this morning. This had happened in the last thirty minutes, because it hadn’t been there when I left for the grocery store.

“What about the reporter? Alyssa,” I asked, grasping at straws.

Nate frowned, but finally shook his head. “She doesn’t give off any trace of anything. Especially not Demonic. In fact, other than the auction, I haven’t caught a whiff of Demon anywhere. Until now,” he sniffed the air pointedly. “Besides, you saw her at the grocery store. We had been with her for hours.”

Which was true. Not Alyssa. Not Johnathan. Not Gabriel — because Claire had been talking to him for about thirty minutes. Unless…

“What about Gabriel?” I asked Nate.

He looked up at Claire thoughtfully, and then out at the street around us. “I doubt it. She said he was stuck in traffic and could barely hear him over the construction and honking horns. I even made her turn off the speaker phone because it was annoying.” He held out his hands. “No construction or honking here.”

I growled. The waitress? One of the other two dozen people from the bar? I sighed, frustrated. Nate was right, though. Until now, I hadn’t caught Demon scent anywhere. Well, I had when she threatened me in the alley outside the church. Which meant it had been someone at a distance, someone watching from the shadows.

I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We thought this would happen. Now we have proof. It looks like your wards kept her back.”

Nate shook his head slowly, pointing at the hole in the ground. I frowned, not understanding. Nate then pointed to the spot where the ring of wards surrounded the property. I stared for a second, and then gasped.

The piece of the spear had been staked into the ground inside the perimeter of our wards.

“If she could do that, why didn’t she take my dad?” I whispered softly enough for my father to not hear, because he was leaning over Claire’s shoulder now, trying to get to me, understanding the look on my face.

“I have no idea… But I think we need to get that last piece. Even if it is some kind of trap.” He trailed off. “But why give us her piece from the auction?” He shook his head angrily. “Then she killed the vampire, leaving that piece behind for you, too. She wants you to have them.”

The unspoken question hit me again. Roland also wanted me to get all the pieces. And someone had given him wrong information from the Vatican. What the hell was going on?

“We need to get that last piece. And then hide them… somewhere,” he offered, neutrally.

I didn’t even argue, because he was right. Someone was playing us.

“She seems interested in me, specifically,” I whispered.

“I’ll say it again. I have friends—”

“No.” My voice was ice. I saw my dad trying to force his way past Claire, and I remembered our conversation. He had told me to find my I… And I made my decision. I was done running. Hiding. Asking for advice and help. All that had done was get me in deeper trouble. Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.

I was not going to have a gang of unknown killers come save me. This was my home. What did that say if I just begged for help anytime things got hard? A small part of me didn’t want to seem helpless to Nate. I needed him to respect me as an equal, not see me as yet another pawn. He got enough of that from the Regulars because of his money, and judging by Roland and what I had seen at the auction, he got plenty of respect and fear from the magical community, too. I didn’t want to be like him. But part of me realized I needed to be like him.

A little.

“We take care of this ourselves. If you can’t live with that, I’ll do it myself.”

Nate grunted. “You want to pick a fight, fine. I’ll be right there to watch your back. But I’m not talking about a fight.” He pointed a finger at my dad. “I’m talking about him. A Regular. Being targeted. He can’t stand up to a Demon.” He folded his arms, waiting. “You’re letting your emotions call the shots.”

I let out a breath. “He has the sphere. That’s good enough for now. I don’t want to terrify him by unleashing an army into his house to watch over him. And I don’t want any of your friends hurt because of my problems.”

He began to argue, but I held up a hand.

“I’m serious, Nate. I need to do this my way. I’ll gladly take your help, but not your demands. Leave if you can’t accept that.”

“You won’t last the night without me. I’m not even being condescending. I’m being honest.”

I gave him my coldest stare. “You’d be surprised what I can do. What I can survive.”

Nate shook his head in exasperation. “Just don’t be so proud that you get your dad killed.” He said it in a haunted tone, as if we were having two conversations.

“For now, we do it my way. But I won’t axe your offer yet.”

“Let’s hope your foolishness doesn’t kill your dad.” And then he was walking towards the house.

Part of me agreed with him, but a very steady persistent voice inside me encouraged me, murmuring approval. This was my city. I couldn’t let anyone bully me. Because as soon as Nate left, I would be all alone again, and would be considered weak. Needing to be taught a lesson. If I won only because of Nate’s gang, the monsters of my city would pounce the moment they left.

It was time to drop my fear. Devote myself to the years of practice Roland had given me. Be hard. Unyielding. Deadly. Confident, and bold. Re-forge my fears and uncertainty into a blade.

Surprisingly, I realized that my daymare hadn’t bothered me recently. Was I getting past it? Or had I just jinxed myself?

I trudged up the stairs, shoving the spear into my back pocket. It was time to talk to my dad.