“What is it?” I asked.<\/p>\n
“Do you know what the biggest problem with hunting demons is?” Eve responded with a question.<\/p>\n
“Um, no pay? Hard to put on a resume? People think you’re crazy? Give me a hint,” I said. Probably not too different than being any kind of full-time practitioner.<\/p>\n
“They wear human bodies,” she answered.<\/p>\n
“Oh.” It made sense, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. That… made things awkward. \u00a0“Can you chase them out? What about the red skin and horns?”<\/p>\n
“If you see a demon without its meat suit, you’re either using enhanced observation techniques, or you’re about to die. When it’s much easier to take a body, why would you risk something of your own? You have to have power, but more importantly, you need reason. ” she asked.<\/p>\n
“How do you know they’re really demons?” I asked. I didn’t really mean for it to sound so antagonistic, but\u00a0it was a bit aggressive.<\/p>\n
“My question, too,” she said. She looked frustrated. “At least I believe in them, which helps.”<\/p>\n
“Otherwise he sounds like some kind of serial killer,” I said, realizing her point.<\/p>\n
“Yeah,” she said. \u00a0She let Roberto come back into the booth with some new bowls of pudding.<\/p>\n
“So, some kind of magic to detect this stain? And what do you use, spiritual Clorox or something?” I asked.<\/p>\n
Roberto shook his head. “There’s prayers,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Spells,” Eve corrected.<\/p>\n
“Prayer,” Roberto said. “Though,” he said after a minute, “it is possible that miracles look to be magic.”<\/p>\n
“Or vice versa,” Eve and I said it at the same time. Yep, siblings.<\/p>\n
“Or…” he shrugged again. “You must realize, there is…” he got that distracted look again, “much of being a demon hunter that is wrapped up with the Church.”<\/p>\n
“The Church?” I asked. As far as I can tell, one refers to all the myriad collection of splintered Christian faiths as ‘the Church’ but sometimes they specifically mean the Holy Roman Catholic, and this seemed a time to specify. I mean, maybe he meant the Denver dance club. \u00a0That would be funny and weird.<\/p>\n
He gave me a suspicious look, but then Eve chuckled. “What did you expect, Bob? True faith?”<\/p>\n
He sighed, and shook his head, looking down at the table. “It is strange to me, because we took that magic was a specific gift… and responsibility. Given for specific tasks, and yet there are so many differing opinions, and it’s like…” he smiles a little, looking back up at me, “Denver Comic Con.”<\/p>\n
I leaned back. “Oh, go on,” I said, trying not to smile indulgently.<\/p>\n
“It was a real eye-opener for him,” Eve tried to hide her own smile. “Not just the cosplayers.”<\/p>\n
“Hey, don’t objectify,” I reminded.<\/p>\n
“Not even a little,” she sighed, but the smile crept back. “But it doesn’t hurt that it was the same weekend as Pride, and there was quite a variety of eye candy.”<\/p>\n
“Not for you,” I wagged my finger at her. Roberto looked like he wanted to do the same thing.<\/p>\n
She grinned. \u00a0“I know.”<\/p>\n
Roberto shook his head. “There are so many opinions. Everyone read,” he made an motion of an arc with his hands, “a group of comics. Or the whole…?”<\/p>\n
“Run,” Eve supplied.<\/p>\n
“Run,” he repeated, “and would remember different things and come\u00a0out with their own stories, separate from story that was told.”<\/p>\n
“Ah, Star Wars,” I said.<\/p>\n
“Well, yes, and X-men, and,” I cut him off.<\/p>\n
“No, it’s something I remind people when they talk about Star Wars is that everyone has their own. \u00a0For some people it’s a love story, some people it’s a story about the subjugation of droids, for others it’s a story of revolution, and for some it’s just the arc of Anakin and his redemption, but everyone calls it the same thing.”<\/p>\n
“Yeah,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I even call the phenomenon ‘Star Wars,'” I said, unnecessarily. \u00a0“But I understand. I didn’t think it really qualified for magic, but yeah,\u00a0it makes sense. \u00a0I stopped going to ‘witchy’ events, and not because I have anything against the lace and black\u00a0clothing movement, like, at all, speaking of objectifying,” I cleared my throat, “but they didn’t see the Force the same way as I did.”<\/p>\n
“Haha,” my sister said. \u00a0Not laughed: said.<\/p>\n
“Exactly,” Roberto said. He didn’t crack a smile though,\u00a0meaning that my attempt at humour\u00a0was exactly as good as my sister’s not-laugh implied. “I have not had a great deal of experience, but I am slowly being exposed to different viewpoints.”<\/p>\n
I could just hear the giggle my sister suppressed.<\/p>\n
“Intuition is a fantastic ride, itself. A rollercoaster that doesn’t ever improve.” I sigh. “But the point is that apparently being around a demon leaves some kind of slime trail and we can follow it somehow. Better than my plan to start hanging around morgues like some kind of television detective, because I don’t even think they let me in the door without some sad story, and I’m not ready to–”<\/p>\n
“You’re rambling,” my sister interrupted.<\/p>\n
“Yeah. I do that,” I mumbled. \u00a0“So, you in?”<\/p>\n
Roberto put up a hand. “What demon do we seek?”<\/p>\n
“We weren’t exactly introduced,” I start saying, “but do you mean a unique name? The fellow who was possessed has something odd as a name. Vasil. Kind of like a corrupted herb.”<\/p>\n
“Let me start again,” Roberto said, sounding less exasperated than he probably had a right to be. “What know we of this demon? Why do you seek it? Has it done something terrible? \u00a0What information do you have for us to start?”<\/p>\n
“And how much do you pay?” Eve asked.<\/p>\n
“Well, I’ll pick up lunch. What do you mean pay?”<\/p>\n
“Demon hunting doesn’t exactly pay the bills,” she said.<\/p>\n
I was at a loss until I saw the wink. “Yes, yes, you get to come along. That was the deal, right?”<\/p>\n
“No!” Roberto said. “She should not. She’s already being sought–”<\/p>\n
“You know about that?” I asked. \u00a0It had all but escaped my mind, like everything Magda said.<\/p>\n
“Of course I know about it. I made sure it happened,” she said.<\/p>\n
I think Roberto and I both groaned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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