Page 67 of Demon and the Raven

“Yep.” Lorne shrugged. “And though the demon had to have been feeling pretty confident at that point—I mean, I would be—still, it had to be sure.”

“Because even though it killed Nott, it couldn’t have been easy. Thero said she didn’t go quietly. So it started looking again, hunting for its next target, saw Aurora Moon’s posters, found her store, and did the same thing. It followed⁠—”

“You’re forgetting the bees,” Amanda interrupted me.

“What?”

“You’re forgetting about the bees. Before Kathy, it killed the bees. That’s the order of events.”

“You think a demon took time out to kill bees?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?” I asked her.

“Because demons can’t abide bees.”

“Demons can’t abide bees? Do you hear how ridiculous you sound?”

Amanda was undeterred. “In the Bible, bees represent abundance, all that land-of-milk-and-honey business, purity-and-goodness stuff. So bees are going to utterly enrage a demon who does not, normally, share space with them.”

“You’re back to making this demon into a specific kind,” I apprised her.

“Fine. Maybe it killed the bees because they’re pollinators and it wanted to disturb the food cycle and kill the town that way. I don’t know why the demon did it, but it did.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lorne told her. “But since I don’t know for sure, I can’t refute it either. For now, we pin the dead bees on the demon.”

“Plus,” Amanda continued, “there are a lot of missing cats around town, and I know this because my kids keep pointing it out to me.”

“Yeah, that was mentioned to me earlier as well.”

“And, as you well know, because your grandfather told us…” She trailed off, eyeing me, waiting for me to catch up.

“Oh, that’s right.” I smiled at her. “Cats ward off all evil spirits.”

“Yep. So a demon would try and kill as many as possible because having one in your house would keep the demon out.”

“That’s probably what was happening with Argos last night,” Lorne reminded me.

“What happened to Argos?” Amanda asked, glancing at the cat now sitting beside JJ on their chair, being fed cheese and bacon crumbles that Amanda had brought over the last time she was here. She was certain Lorne would want that on his salad.

“He found me and Xan in town last night and stuck to us like glue until we got home.”

“Well, sometimes I see him outside our house,” Amanda told me. “Like he’s checking up on us, but you should probably keep him inside for now, Xan. If there’s a demon skulking about, you don’t want him to get hurt.”

“Aren’t you afraid?” I asked her.

“Why would I be afraid? My house is warded, my home, my kids, and my husband are protected, and if something really scary were to happen, I would bring my family here and you would keep us safe.”

I nodded, choked up suddenly, her faith in me so very heartening.

She tilted her head, smiling at me. “We’ll be all right. We just have to figure out what to do to— Oh,” she gasped. “I’m so stupid.”

“What?”

“I never connected the dots with Argos.”

“What are you talking about?”