“Well, shit,” I said.
“Yep. I know all the other gods say nothing could have possibly broken into their realms, but I know…I can feel the tracing of the magic.”
“And?”
“It’s a demon. One of the royals.”
The knock on my window startled me so hard I jumped. I was not proud of the squeak that came out of my mouth. Crow, the big jerk, was laughing so hard, he’d gone a little wheezy.
Jame Wolfe bent so he could better see inside the Jeep, though I knew werewolves had great eyesight. The moon had risen from behind the hills and while it was not full yet, I was pretty sure from the flash of light deep in Jame’s eyes that it would be full tomorrow.
I rolled down the window. “Yes?”
“You want to finish this inside so we can hear all of it, or do you want to stay out here in the cold?”
“I was just coming by to give you a message,” I said.
“There’s a stolen page from a stolen book that allowed a demon to sneak into Ordinary and drop off god weapons?”
I opened my mouth to say yes, but then it struck me. “It can’t be a demon. We set up triggers and warnings after Xtelle snuck in. If a demon—a new demon—tried to get into Ordinary, I’d know. We’d know.”
“True.” Jame folded his arms over his chest and glanced back at the house over the top of the car. I knew Ben had to be in the house listening to all this.
“Ben okay?” I asked.
“He was in the bath, and we both got tired of you yelling so I came out to see if you wanted to come in. He’s getting dressed.”
“No,” I said again going back to the original reason for my visit. “There’s a monster hunter in town named Vivian Dunn. She knows Ryder, and I don’t like her. We’re going to get her out of town as soon as possible.”
“All right. We’ll continue behaving as normal people just like we always do,” he said.
“Even with the moon.”
“How many years have you lived here?”
“All of them,” I said.
“How many people have reported seeing a werewolf?”
“Three.”
“Other werewolves making prank calls doesn’t count.”
I smiled at him. “Okay, then zero. Spread the word?”
“Can do.”
“Oh, and there’s a ghoul on the loose.”
He ticked his tongue and exhaled. “A monster hunter, a demon, and a ghoul?”
“No, I think it’s just a monster hunter and a ghoul.”
“It was a demon,” Crow said. “I felt traces of demon.”
“I believe you,” I said, “but I would know if a new demon came into Ordinary.”
Crow hesitated, testing the truth of that. “All right. But a demon was involved in breaking into my realm.”
