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Dinner ended up being drive-thru because the men wanted to get back as soon as we could. Katie had located a friend with a tiny rental that was available. We jumped on it because it had two bedrooms and futon in the living room. The rental was ours for a week.

When we stopped for gas, Rasmus took the cash we gave him and went inside to pay. I’d had Conn check the registration for the car on a hunch. After laughing at my lack of other detective skills, he’d done as I asked and found the car was not registered to Rasmus. It was registered in a woman’s name—Hilda something. She shared the same first name Jack had called the demon hunter council woman Conn had seen him consoling.

I studied Rasmus as he held the door open for a couple of people. “We need to monitor him. He’s no fan of Jack’s now, but we still can’t trust him.”

Conn had smirked at me. “If you were sleeping with him, keeping tabs on him would be easy.

“Sleep with him yerself. I got enough problems,” I said to my laughing nemesis.

Conn shook his head. “I tried kissing a man once, but it was not enjoyable.”

“That is too much information, Conn.”

“You said you wanted to know what I was like before I served The Dagda.”

“I believe I’ve changed my mind.”

Conn shrugged and grinned. “I’ll sleep at the foot of his bed tonight. I’ll even wait until he falls asleep, so I don’t scare him as badly. If he makes a pass at me, you’ll know about it soon enough.”

“Thanks for taking this shift. Ya’re worrying about nothing. Rasmus is not bi-sexual.”

“How do you know?” Conn asked.

“Intuition.”

“More like wishful thinking,” he said with a smirk.

It was nearly midnight when we got to the place we rented. It had a code activated lock we used to get inside. We blindly chose bedrooms and fell into them. Conn was the only one who wasn’t totally spent. He got tired, but it was never the same kind of tired that humans felt.

“Are ya okay?” I asked him before he shifted into a dog.

“No, but I will be once we get to the bottom of things.”

I nodded. “I’ll call Ma in the morning and see if she knows how to break compulsions without destroying them. Curses are the same, except harder to break.”

Conn snickered. “Do you need a hug and tucked in before I go?”

“No. Go away. I’m done being nice to ya.”

“Thanks for caring, Aran.”

“Ya’re welcome, Conn.”

* * *

This iswhy I didn’t like phones. Ya wasted time calling a person and never getting them. When ya did connect, ya wasted time talking about everything but what ya needed to know.

And talking to my mother over the phone was the absolute worst torment in the world.

“I’m glad ya called, Aran. I think ya should schedule another haircut appointment. It would clear yer mind and maybe ya would come up with a fresh answer to yer problem.”

What was her fixation with my hair? Would she shut up about it if I dyed it? I counted to ten before replying. “I just got a haircut, Ma. I don’t need another one. What I need is to find a way to break demon compulsions completely. I’m able to disrupt them, but that’s not the same.”

“Compulsions differ from curses, Aran. The magick driving a compulsion is all about the person placing them and their intention. Some compulsions are so subtle a person can go their whole life never knowing they’ve got one. I have heard that people sometimes use Devil’s Breath to override a compulsion. The herb gets them to talk, but it also knocks them out. This is especially true for humans.”

“So ya’re saying there’s nothing I can do but get the demon to remove it.”

Ma snorted into the phone.“No, child. Ya can go get a haircut and a fresh perspective on things. Stop being stubborn and cheap.”