Page 108 of Demon and the Raven

“Catch me up,” Lorne said, lying down beside me, stretching out, looking the most relaxed I’d seen him in days. The old, faded jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers were so much better than the police uniform he’d been more or less living in.

“Why did you have to go in today?” Amanda asked him. “You’re practically working all weekend. Do you never get a day off?”

“Not when crazy shit is going down,” he apprised her.

“True.”

He glanced at me. “What’s wrong?”

Amanda answered him for me. “He’s just sad. We both are.”

“Why?”

“Because of Mal, of course. It’s very concerning that he took the besom.”

Instant scowl from him.

“What’s with that look?” I asked.

“Pretend I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh shit, that’s right. I’m sorry,” Amanda said, smiling sheepishly. “I was thinking you knew about this already.”

“I know nothing.”

“Okay, so, here’s what happened.” She proceeded to catch him up.

After a few minutes, he said, “Lemme see if I have this right. Mal took a talisman from your office, and now the two of you are convinced he’s possessed, or at least in league with the demon. Do I have that right?”

We both nodded.

“Explain.”

“When you remove wards,” Amanda began, “you leave spaces in your protection. So, for example, even though in your brother’s house, your old house, the bells Cass chose from the ones Xan made are doing ninety-five percent of the work to keep the ick out, the witch’s ladder Cass made with Xan is doing the remaining five percent.”

“Are you serious?”

She turned to look at me.

“Of course she’s serious,” I told him. “And at her office, those bells are working really hard, and so the demon was bothered by the wards but unable to remove them.”

“But he got rid of the besom as quickly as he could,” she added.

Lorne turned to me. “I know we’re all emotionally and mentally wiped out, but I think we should talk with Mal before we convict him.”

“Of course.” I nodded, brushing away the tears I’d been weeping since we heard what he’d done.

“This could all be a misunderstanding,” Lorne offered, hand on my cheek, brushing his thumb under my eye. “Or, of all places, the demon is hanging out at Sanctuary with Mal.”

“Okay, Xan told me you two were trying to figure out where the demon could be, but would a lovely place like Sanctuary even be possible?” Amanda asked.

“Here’s the problem: I simply don’t know,” Lorne answered, sounding tense. “Without knowing what kind of demon it is, we’re shooting in the dark here.”

“I can’t believe Father Dennis doesn’t believe in demons,” she said sourly. “Is that even allowed for a priest?”

When I had caught her up on everything that had gone on, she’d been mortified.

Lorne said, “Well, honestly, it doesn’t really matter what you and I think, or Father Dennis or anyone else. It’s all going to come down to Xander, which I hate, because at the end of the day, this is for him to do.”