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His head moved up and down. “Yes, I took the equivalent of one of your vacations. Each lasted about half a year of your time. Most of it was spent acclimating to whatever daily life was like.”

“When was yer last human ‘vacation’ before the one ya’re taking now with me?”

Rasmus hesitated but finally answered. “I visited Medieval Europe. Thinkers among your kind were persecuted daily. At the end of my time among your kind, I gladly returned to my guardian duties.”

“I imagine ya found the unreasonable people of Earth boring and beneath your concern.”

Rasmus lifted one eyebrow. “I will refrain from answering honestly. I have no wish to fight with you today.”

I smirked at him. “Yer restraint in defending yerself proves ya’re an alien. Earth is a wonderful planet and humans are fascinating. I'm never bored when meeting new people and making friends. If ya could stop comparing humans to guardians, ya might feel the same.”

Rasmus sighed. “I am willfully changing the subject. Your phone message is from Jayesh.”

“See? Hearing so soon from Jayesh excites me. What did he say?”

“Jayesh says a happy Bo returned this morning with an empty cage and exchanged it for another tiger cat one. He said Bo brought a gift of a rare honeycomb to show his appreciation. He also said Ezra cursed Bo because he had to use his fairy skills to fabricate some way to house the active hive including the bees who made the rare honey.”

I laughed. “So Bo didn’t just bring us honey. He brought the whole hive.”

“So it would seem.”

My smile was wide. “Ireallylike that troll, Rasmus.”

Rasmus chuckled. “If every human were like you, Aran, it would change life on this planet.”

“It’s called having compassion for my fellow beings. If killing demons actually killed them, I probably wouldn’t be able to do my job. Killing someone I knew would not regenerate made me determined to never do it again. Sadly, it was a promise I couldn’t keep in my work. I can do what I have to do now, but I don’t enjoy wasting a life.”

“We have discussed this many times, Aran. Why is it so hard for you to incorporate it into your thinking? All beings regenerate in some process. The demons merely have a different one than humans and animals.”

“Yes, but humans do not return as the same person. That’s partly why Hisser hates me so much. I killed his favorite female follower. He sent his human sorceress girlfriend after me with a poisoned blade. She ended up stabbing herself during our fight. With her death plaguing my conscience, I didn’t go after Hisser for a year. Ezra tried to bring him in. Others did as well. Eventually, I had no choice but to go after him. Hisser was one of my last apprehensions before I moved to Salem, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill him. That was why I spent the rest of my time in Ireland training newbies.”

“The snake shifter must respect you as an adversary and also believe you are weak. Besting you may be how he intends to prove his greater power to himself. I suspect catching him will not be easy.”

I nodded. “Yes, I’m aware of the difficulty but I’m not planning a capture. There will be no imprisoning him this time. Hisser’s mental delusions of being a god are as dangerous as his venom. Conn won’t be sparing him whether or not I feel merciful.”

“Why did you spare the snake shifter’s life before?”

I moved my gaze to study the sunshine filtering through the bedroom’s tall windows. Waking up in this room with Rasmus made me happy and it relieved me to feel this way. Being held prisoner, no matter how nice the jail, warped a person’s nature and I had been no exception. I was less forgiving now and did not trust easily. There were days that I looked for betrayal around every corner. It was causing me problems in dealing with Ezra.

The punishing isolation forever changed me, and some of those changes created scars that would never fully heal.

This is why I knew Hisser would seek more than merely to hurt me. He would want revenge against me for catching and locking him away. Why wouldn’t the snake shifter hate me as much as I hated Jack and the demon hunters? Expecting him to feel anything else would be foolish after what I’d experienced myself.

I looked at Rasmus. “Letting Hisser live was my way of making amends for killing the woman he loved. His death was on her hands as well but he’s unable to see that. Conn is still angry at me because sparing Hisser required additional precautions from prison officials and the guards who had to watch over him. The snake shifter’s delusions of being a god remain even after all the time he spent behind bars. Like me, he’s now older and stronger. All my mercy did was create a powerful nemesis.”

“What are you planning to do?”

I stretched and rubbed my arms. “I’m going to get up, get dressed, and then go thank Henry and Gale for my wonderful breakfast.”

Rasmus smirked at my change of subject. “Is that your way of saying you don’t know?”

I shrugged at his stare. “Later today, I plan to hunt down the troll thief because that will be more easy money for us. After we’re done with the trolls, I’ll hunt for the far darrig and see what his problem is. Then—if he doesn’t find me first—I’ll track down Hisser.”

“You won’t have to face your nemesis alone.”

I smiled at the guardian. He resented his higher purpose because he now felt a strong need to protect me. It was human of him to feel that way about me. I felt honored that he even allowed himself to feel those feelings. His mental conflict might not be every woman’s idea of romantic devotion, but knowing what he was giving up to stay with me was fast becoming mine. The time Rasmus had spent with me could be the most I could expect from an advanced being who could leave his body whenever he wanted. Ascension was his highest goal and he’d achieved that long ago without me. His only interest in me was as a source of new knowledge.

I kept having to pull my attention away from my thoughts and back to the present. “Hisser’s sneaky. He attracts crazies who worship him and will do his dirty work. Walking over the dead bodies of those foolish enough to believe in him is the part I dread most.”