Page 109 of Demon and the Raven

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“This is your show, love. The rest of us can offer help, but this mess we find ourselves in is for you to fix. It’s your power that will kill the demon.”

I nodded.

“This demon is already hurting almost everyone in Osprey merely by being here. It’s poisoning the town, and we can’t let it continue.”

“I’m a guardian of Corvus, not Osprey,” I reminded him.

The look he gave me said he wasn’t buying that. “Corvus is in Osprey, which makes you a guardian of the town as well, same as me, same as Amanda.”

“Me?” She sounded surprised.

“You own most of this town, and you did that, and haven’t sold any of it, because you want it to be safe for everyone who lives here. You also make sure this community is diverse and inclusive and that everyone has a voice. Don’t you dare try and tell me you’re not a guardian just like me and Xan.”

She turned away quickly, brushing at her tears.

Lorne looked at me. “What’d I say?”

“You’re very eloquent,” I praised him.

“Yes, you are,” Amanda whispered, then took a deep breath. “Okay, so what’s your next step? What are you doing now?”

“Now I think we need to go see Father Dennis. We said we would anyway, but he’s not answering his phone. I want to find out if he’s heard anything.”

“That sounds good,” I replied, getting more anxious by the second. I had to do something. Sitting around talking about all the obstacles in our way wasn’t helping anything.

“I’m going to take my kids home and wait to hear from you,” Amanda announced, standing up. “But you must call this time, Xan. You leave me hanging again, and you will be the one chaperoning JJ’s visits with Eddie’s mother for a month.”

I could feel my eye twitch.

“Yeah. See?”

“I will call.”

“And don’t do anything stupid,” she told me, then looked at Lorne. “No hero crap.”

“No, ma’am,” he agreed, smiling up at her. “No crap.”

“Don’t you think it’s interesting,” I said to Lorne as he drove us to the church in his Jeep, having finally changed out his work vehicle for his personal one, “that there are no new strategies for dealing with demons?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, parking in front of St. Theresa’s.

“I mean, back in the Middle Ages and today, same exorcism. No one has come up with anything different. I find that astonishing.”

“Maybe that’s because there’s only one way to deal with them.”

“Supposedly, King Solomon commanded demons.”

He groaned. “I’ll bet you Father Dennis doesn’t believe in King Solomon either.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous,” I said, chuckling.

“I’m just scared for you, Xan, and it’s eating a hole in my stomach,” he groused. “And why isn’t Father Dennis answering his goddamn phone?”

“We’ll find him, love,” I assured him.

As it was now one in the afternoon and the church was closed until evening Mass, the two of us went to check the rectory, which, because the church was so old, was around the back.