I knew we'd have to call it a day, but we stopped off at a little café on the way home that served great desserts. We settled into a corner booth, Seth and me sitting side by side while I held Kayla on my lap. We decided to simply split a piece of cheesecake, and naturally, I required coffee. Kayla still leaned drowsily against me, but she'd valiantly woken up as though sensing the approach of sugar.

I brushed her hair back from her face. "Hey," I said gently. "Did you see anything magic today?" That was how she'd referred to me in the past.

She shook her head and reached up to touch my cheek in a mirror of my own gesture. "When will you be magic again?" she asked.

"I don't know," I told her. "Soon."

Seth's leg against mine was starting to stir up some illicit feelings, something I felt a little ashamed of with Kayla there. I was further startled when I glanced up at him and saw not lust in his eyes, but rather, something soft and tender.

"What?" I asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because of you," he said. "Just the way you interact with her…it's remarkable."

"Because I can get her to talk?"

He shook his head. "Nah. More than that. I've seen it with the other girls. You have a knack with kids. You'd make a great mother."

Maddie had made the same offhand comment. I don't think Seth had ever really and truly grasped how much I'd pined for children. His words filled me with both elation and sorrow. For an instant, I considered telling him about Nyx's dream and the bizarre pregnancy theory. Those things were too fragile and too precious to me, however, and the cheesecake's serendipitous arrival saved me from further deliberation.

The cheesecake was lemon raspberry, a bit adventurous for Kayla, perhaps, but she ate it without hesitation. Seth gave up on his share before us, and she and I finished it down to the last bite.

"Perfect," he mused. "I'll return her to Terry and Andrea, just in time for her the sugar rush to kick in. They'll never let her go out again." He frowned. "Will you need her again? I think she has some kind of play-date thing tomorrow."

I sighed, and reality dimmed my golden moment. "I don't know. I'm running out of close places. I'll have to head up north next, up around Edmonds, though Dante pointed out that Jerome could be farther out-out on the Olympic Peninsula or something. The summoners would want to keep him close, but 'close' could mean ten miles or a hundred."

"You're not going to be able to go out to the coast in an easy day trip," observed Seth. Under the table, his hand rested on mine out of sympathy. "I'm sorry."

I squeezed his hand in return. "It'll be as it'll be, I guess."

"I still want to help if I can."

I offered him a rueful smile. "You want to help me get back to being a succubus?"

His return smile was equally bittersweet. "There's no way any of this can end well, Georgina. Sometimes…sometimes we have to choose the lesser of evils and simply enjoy our sweet moments while we can."

Like this one. And through some shared instinct, we both fell silent, savoring this brief interlude, this dream we'd gotten ourselves ensnared in. For now, it was enough to just sit together like this. His hand moved idly on my leg, offering comfort and love…at least for a little while. Before long, the sweet affection turned into something with a bit more desire. I met his eyes, and while it wasn't the same animal intensity that had thrown me against the wall last night, there was still a longing in his eyes that told me how much he wanted me, to be closer to me. My body responded to it, and then we both glanced over at Kayla, who had fallen asleep again. We laughed, realizing the absurdity of our current situation.

"I should get her back," said Seth.

"Yeah," I said, sad at the thought of parting but certainly not aroused enough to make out while his niece was around.

He drove me back to my car in Bellevue. Our parting kiss was gentle and light, almost hesitant. It seemed typical of this entire affair, like it was hardly real and would blow away at any moment.

"Anything you need, Thetis," he breathed into my ear. "Anything you need, I'll do it. You know I will."

A flower of agony and euphoria burst open in my chest. He hadn't called me Thetis, his old pet name for me, since the day we broke up. "I know," I murmured into his shirt. "I know."

I returned to Queen Anne not long after that, getting a nice spot right in front of my building. My head was swimming with Seth and Kayla and Jerome and a hundred other things. I was so distracted that when I stepped into my apartment, I nearly walked right past Grace sitting on my couch. Of course, considering she was the first demon all week who hadn't attacked me the instant I cleared the door, my reaction to her subtlety was understandable.

"Grace?" I asked curiously, as though maybe it wasn't her.

She was leafing through a copy of Seattle Metropolitan magazine, their issue on Seattle's best brunches. When she glanced up at me, there was a tiredness in her eyes that even demonic perfection couldn't hide. Seeing her alone was almost as strange as her being here at all. I'd grown so used to her and Mei being a unit that their forced separation lately seemed almost as tragic as Jerome's summoning.

"There you are," she said. "I almost left."

"Sorry," I said. I meant it. I seemed to be on her and Mei's good side lately and wanted to keep it that way. Demons didn't like waiting, and without that innate connection of an archdemon, she couldn't instantly find me across time and space.

Grace gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't mind. It's rather pleasant having a few moments' respite from all the politics and bickering."

"I can imagine." I frowned. "No, wait. I don't think I can."

I swear, I thought for a second she might laugh, but she kept that same stone face she excelled at.

"It'll all be over soon, which is why I came to see you. Mei and I have been talking to all of the other lesser immortals today. The day after tomorrow, a corporate demon named Ephraim will be making his final decision on who will replace Jerome."

A cold lump settled into my stomach. "So soon?"

"Hell doesn't like to waste time and resources."

"I guess not."

"Ephraim's already in the area and may come speak to you as he attempts to assess the situation. He'll want to know about your job, how things ran under Jerome, etc."

With each word, my spirits sank further and further. My window to find Jerome was shriveling up. We were going to get a new archdemon anytime now.

"Don't be afraid to speak the truth," she advised. "I know that's often a concern among lesser immortals, for fear of causing offense."

"Something like that," I muttered, thinking of Nanette.

"Clearly, you don't want to actively anger Ephraim, but he has no affiliations with anyone currently involved in the dispute here. He won't punish you for stating your opinion."

"I'm guessing he might not listen to it either."

There it was. A tiny quirky of her lips, gone so quickly that I wasn't even sure I saw it. She rose from the sofa and absentmindedly tugged on her blazer. It was deep, deep red, paired with sleek black trousers and patent leather heels. Underneath the collar of her coat, I caught a glimpse of that same chunky necklace she'd worn at the meeting. I recalled Mei's sleeker one and couldn't resist my next words.

"This may sound weird…but I can't help but notice you and Mei are dressing differently lately." As soon as I said that, I hoped she wouldn't get mad at me essentially calling her and Mei copycats. Fortunately, she remained as blasé as usual.

"In these times, it's wise to distinguish yourself. None of our jobs are secure right now."

I did a double-take. In all of this madness, it had never occurred to me that Grace and Mei might have something to fear. But of course they did. When Hell did re-orgs, they tended to tweak the larger structure. They could very well decide to transfer Grace and Mei and institute a whole new set of demonic leaders here. I didn't like that idea any better than losing Jerome. I wanted things to stay the same. And studying that fatigue I'd seen on Grace's face, I realized I wasn't the only one with a lot to worry about.