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Her snort was loud. “Old man demon is hardly worth casting out.” She blew out a breath. “Plus, he is brother-in-law. Demon is probably keeping human side alive.”

“Are ya saying yer family knows what he is?”

Mulan hung her head and nodded. “He told them. This is more shame I must bear. My sister and I both sleep with demons now. We are failures.”

I rolled my eyes and lowered my voice. “Well, at least ya got the better deal.”

“That is rude to say but also correct,” she said sadly.

Now I blew out a breath. Good Goddess, this was a complicated task. “Look, Mulan, I had a vision of yer brother-in-law biting yer sister’s head off. Would you rather that happen in reality?”

Mulan sighed heavily. “That is hard question to answer about sister I loathe.”

My spine snapped straight. “Right. What was I thinking? Let me appeal to ya as a magickal who does good for the world. No one—no matter how awful they are—deserves to have their head bitten off by a demon.”

Mulan’s demonic brother-in-law grunted loudly. They must have understood that we were discussing what to do to them. Her sister and parents called out anxiously and ran behind him to hide. They huddled together a few steps up the stairs.

The brother-in-law glared openly at us. I ignored his glare to focus on Mulan.

She sighed so forlornly that I sighed too. Mine was in frustration. Mulan hated these people. Didn’t she? I wondered if she cared about them more than she wanted to admit.

“Parents will disown me if I cast out demon. Sister will lose husband. Parents will lose wealthy business partner. I will be terrible child forever.”

I glared at her parents for being cowards and not warning us about the demon. Not only did Mulan get hurt physically by their omission, but she was now in emotional agony. Her ethics warred with her desire to win their affection.

I snorted at the situation. “Are ya sure ya weren’t adopted? Maybe they’re not really yer parents. Maybe she’s not really yer sister. They certainly don’t deserve ya, Mulan. They don’t deserve all the worry ya’re feeling over this.”

Her dismissive snort extinguished any hope I had of rationalizing this for her. "So, what do you want to do then? Staying here is not an option for him. If ya want, ya can sendthem all home to China and let them sort it out back there. I hold nothing against good demons—ya know that. But everything in me—and I’m including the Dagda stone—tells me that his intentions are not honorable.”

Her nod was slow but there. “I know this is probably truth.”

“If ya tell me ya can’t because they’re yer family, I’d understand that. Do ya want me to call an energy sword and take care of him myself? I’ll not think badly of ya. If this was Fiona and Ma, I’m sure I’d be hesitating too.”

“No. It is not for you to do,” she said, wrapping both hands around the staff as she leaned on it.

She didn’t look anywhere close to deciding. I chewed my lip and tried to think of a compromise that might spare her from traumatizing her family. Nothing came to mind.

The Wu Shaman lifted her chin and her staff. The little turtle shells on the end of it clacked together with the movement. She drew in a breath and prepared to call her magick.

“No...wait,” I said, stopping her. “I have one more idea. Let me hold yer staff for a minute.”

Mulan turned and blinked in shock. I sighed before holding out my hand. “I’m not going to use it on them. Trust me in this. I’ll explain later.”

She considered my request for a moment before lowering her arms. “First, you say cast him out. Then you say wait. What is wrong with you, Aran?”

I sighed. “A great many things are wrong with me but I just need to check something.”

She pushed the staff into my outstretched hand. “Thank you,” I hissed between my teeth.

Instead of answering, she crossed her arms and walked away. I held the staff and closed my eyes.Hey—is anyone in there listening to me? I need yer help.

We are here,the female voice said.

I worked hard not to sigh again over how weird this was.Thanks for talking to me again. I need a second opinion on a situation. Mulan’s sister seems to have attached herself to an ancient being. My artifact warned me about him. Do ya agree that he’s dangerous?

What is dangerous for non-magickals is not dangerous for you or Wu Shaman.

I huffed at the staff’s evasiveness.This creature invaded my home without revealing what he was. He knew about Mulan being a Wu Shaman and yet chose not to reveal himself to her. Worse, he made the Wu Shaman believe he was as harmless to her as Conn.