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Where could she have contracted him? Or her, rather, as women were possessed by female demons. How could you contract a demon — it's not a flu, after all? The idiotic thought flashed through my mind before I could stop myself from panicking. Maya was possessed! Shit. In his flight, the incubus must have damaged the fabric separating our worlds, letting some stray succubus in.

What was I supposed to do? Raise the alarm and awaken everyone? No way. It might actually scare the she-demon off. I already knew that Robert's children were the apples of his eye. If Maya took off — and I could see that the succubus inside her was itching to paint the town red — Robert would make mincemeat out of me, then send it downstairs to M. Gérard to prepare him a nice meal of meatballs.

Calm down, Allison old girl, I said to myself. Maya wasn't going anywhere without me. She seemed to need a chaperone. A poor little rich girl, never without her bodyguards — I doubted she'd be able to find her way around NYC on her own. She'd do a bit of shopping first, then invite me to do some clubbing, I was sure of that. I'd picked up my own succubus in a club, hadn't I? Should I really take her out and see if Maya manages to dispense of her free rider and dump it onto some other poor unsuspecting soul?

I had to tell Cesar. I turned round and headed back into the office. He was sleeping sprawled in his chair, his listlessly hanging hand still clutching the champagne glass.

I shook his shoulder. "Cesar, wake up! We have a problem. Maya is possessed!" I shouted into his sleepy face.

His gaze cleared. He sat up and grabbed my hand. "Have you had one too many? This isn't a joke! You shouldn't make fun of these things."

"Let me go!" I struggled free and stared at the red marks his steely fingers had left on my wrist. "I'm serious. Just now, she was hitting..."

"Hitting who? You?" Cesar stared at me. "Why?"

"You listen!" I was getting angry with him. The champagne he'd drunk would need some time to get out of his system. "All I wanted to say, she was hitting on me. Suggested we went out together. Apparently, she wanted me to go shopping with her. Said she wanted to give me something for healing her brother. But she had this kind of look... sort of horny. You know what I mean."

"Horny? Slutty, you mean?" Cesar rubbed his forehead. "Fuck it. Now where could she have picked it up? Are you sure? Because if you're right, then it's a problem. Robert will kill us both. We've just saved Arthur, and now her... Maya, of all people!" he groaned. "Shit, shit, shit!"

An idea struck me. "We don't need to tell Robert anything. You go and see her now quickly and give her a kiss, and pull that succubus slut out the way you normally do. No demon, no problem."

"Yes!" he jumped up like an uncurling spring, wide awake and ready for action. "You wait here. No, pointless really, you'd better go to bed. I'll go and see her now. Not a word to anyone! Robert will burn me alive if I as much as touch her."

"Why?"

He grabbed his noose from the desk, uncoiling it. "It's a long story. Just trust me on this one. We'd be better off not telling anyone. I can't believe it," he groaned again. Was it my imagination or was there more to his anxiety than just a desire to appease Robert? "Never mind. At least I'm pretty sure I'll do a better job than anyone with her. Now go, go! See you in the morning. And not a word to anyone!"

He strode out, purposeful. I just stood there like an idiot. I didn't know what to think. What kind of secrets he and Maya might have? Or did she know about Cesar and her father's line of work? Then why had Cesar been so unwilling to tell me anything about it? We were partners, after all.

Shame on you, I said to myself. No need to be so jealous. Cesar had known Maya for ages — as well as Arthur and Robert, come to think of it — and he and I, we'd basically only just met. Even though we'd had experienced more in this brief period of time that Maya could ever have hoped. Absolutely nothing to worry about. Time to go to bed.

Still, I lingered. I listened to the sounds in the corridor: no one seemed to be coming. I wriggled sideways to the desk. Where were those printouts I'd noticed earlier? Yes, I know, nosing about somebody else's desk was a very bad thing indeed. But the proverbial curiosity got the better of me. Not curiosity even but rather my desire to find out more about demons — one particular demon even. My supposed Granddad. The mystery that shrouded my birth was burning a hole in me. Sorry, I just couldn't help it.

I reached for a neat stack of papers on the desk and leafed through them. Nothing. The drawings I'd noticed earlier weren't there. Shame. So much for my hope to do a quick detective job. I would have never in a million years opened his desk drawers. Reading some paperwork left on the table was one thing but being caught red-handed snooping about his desk drawers was quite another. If Robert saw it... Better not to even think about it.

Still, I studied the desk doors on the outside — very covertly mind you, as if it was somebody else and not me at all. Did Robert keep all the important papers in his desk — or in a secret strongbox somewhere? Wonder if he'd accidentally forgotten to lock them up?

The desk had two drawer units and three more drawers below the tabletop. I crouched and tried first the doors. They opened easily but concealed nothing. No paperwork at all, just some medicine bottles, little boxes and lengths of old rope. Oh well then, I had to check the tabletop ones. The one in the middle had a key sticking out of the little lock; the two side ones were open. I checked them one after the other.

The inside of the right drawer was lined with green cloth. A large black gun rested atop it. Gingerly I closed it: this would be Robert's weapon of choice in the event he caught me red-handed.

I stepped away and hid my hands behind my back, pretending I was studying the paintings on the walls. Their subject matter was sort of... demonic, I might say. The corridor was quiet though. No one was rushing to the office in order to arrest me or simply to shoot me on the spot.

I plucked up some courage and reached for the middle drawer. I touched the key but immediately snatched my hand back. What was I doing? This was illegal! Was that what my dear Gran had taught me? The one with the locket? Honesty is the best policy!

Then again, I might never learn anything about my Granddad. And if he'd been indeed a demon — it was very important to find out, wasn't it, Gran? She couldn't deny it. It was her fault, after all. It was her who'd rolled in the hay with him and now I was supposed to take all the blame?

For some reason, the voice of my conscience had chosen to take the shape of my Gran and she used to be a tough cookie when it came to arguing. Still, I finally reached out for the key and turned it, then pulled the drawer open. Fortune favors he who dares. Or she.

Inside was a stack of papers topped with a thin plastic file. A hand-written sticker said,

Hierarchs' Seals

My heart missed a beat: a sure sign I'd just stumbled on something important. Trying not to shiver, I pulled the file out. The familiar printouts slid out of it onto the floor. I leafed through them: there it was, the design that had caught my eye after my first unsuccessful disembodiment attempt. So what did it remind me of? All these swirls and straight lines...

My hand closed over Gran's locket in my pocket. I pulled both halves out and stared at the lid, then compared it to the drawing. Identical. Slowly, as if in fear or disbelief, I read the inscription under it:

The Seal of Great President Barbas

At this point, my last doubts were gone. Gran had had an affair with Barbas! She'd slept with a demon! Which made my Dad half demon and myself, a quarter one, right?

Not quite, the voice of reason spoke inside me. You Gran may have indeed had a roll with Barbas but it didn't necessarily have to be a love affair.

Oh yes, it did, I answered. He was an incubus. What else could he and a human woman have in common? Stupid question, really.

And if she'd indeed had an affair with him, he could have very easily given her this locket as a sign of his never-ending love. Or as protection from other demons. So what did it mean then? Was I really a demon's granddaughter?

The office must have been under video surveillance. The thought brought me out in a cold sweat. I hurried to hide the locket. No one should see the seal engraved on it. Nosing around Robert's paperwork wouldn't be that hard to explain: I was young, stupid and curious, impatient to find out more about demon hunters. It was only natural, really. But if he found out about my demonic pedigree — he'd have to kill me, of that I was certain. Wasn't I every demon hunter's secret enemy? It was a good job Cesar hadn't had a chance to get a better look at my locket back in his apartment.

But what if Granddad was a good demon? Was there such a thing at all? Gran was known for her strict morals. She would have never fallen for a sleek operator. Then again, what did I know about us women?

I had to ask around about my Granddad. Robert was out of the question. But Cesar must have known something, the only problem was asking him without raising any suspicions: why this particular demon? Why such an interest in him?

I staggered. Enough, I couldn't stand straight any longer. Time to hit the sack before I crashed right here on top of Robert's desk. Bet he'd be surprised!

I cast a furtive look around, slid the printouts neatly back into the folder, placed it in the drawer and turned the key in the lock. Time to leg it.

Yawning, I walked down the hallway. My feet sank into the fluffy carpet. I'd already reached my room door when I thought I heard something. It was none of my business, of course. I had absolutely no need to be there. Still, I headed for the stairs.

Cesar stood in the hallway, pressing his forehead to the window pane and staring at the black outside. A few little lanterns struggled to disperse the gloom.

"Are you all right?" I called him, coming closer.

He startled and looked around. "You've not gone to bed yet?" he stared at me in pensive surprise.

That was funny. Wonder if Maya was all right? In any case, it wasn't the right moment to pester him with questions about my Barbas granddad. "I heard you go downstairs so I wanted to find out. I didn't expect you to be so quick!"

"I didn't, either," he muttered, deep in thought.

"And?"

"And what?" he echoed, still in a world of his own.

"Cesar, wake up! This is important! How's Maya? Did you manage to drag the succubus out?"

He shook his head. "She wouldn't open the door. I've no idea what to think," he sounded puzzled.

"But you spoke to her, didn't you?"

"Well, sort of," he said. "I tried to. But it's weird. Maya's different. Shit, what do we do?"

"Just tell me!" I demanded.

Finally he seemed to focus on me. "Yeah, right, you don't know, do you? You see," he faltered, "some time back Maya seemed to have developed a crush on me. Robert found out. He wasn't amused. He told her to put me out of her head. And you're better off not knowing what he said to me. Basically, he forbade any form of contact between us. Which is why I asked you not to tell anything to anyone. You've seen it yourself, he's so precious about his daughter. With Arthur he at least tries to be strict and demanding, seeing as he's the heir to his empire and all. But I don't think he's ever as much as raised his voice at her," he rubbed his forehead with two fingers — a peculiar gesture typical only to him. "And now this! I was pretty sure Maya would let me in. A combination of teenage crush and demonic possession — she should have opened the door to me. But she didn't. I'll tell you more: she told me exactly where to go and stuff myself. That wasn't her speaking! She wouldn't have known how to say such a thing. As if there'd been nothing between us at all."

"Was there?" I asked mindlessly, feeling a pang of jealousy. Could Cesar be in love with Maya too?

"Nothing whatsoever!" he snapped, annoyed. "Robert had made sure I never came into contact with her. Whenever I come here I don't even see her. And whenever she goes out, she's never without her bodyguard. Today was the first time we saw each other in six months... under Robert's supervision," he cast me a strange glance.

"But you still thought her feelings for you hadn't changed?" I insisted. I didn't like his evasiveness. Of course it was up to Robert to decide whether they'd see each other or not, but still...

"It's not that," once again Cesar tried to avoid the subject, as if hurt or embarrassed about it. "Neither succubi nor incubi have any self-control, do you understand? Do you remember how you yourself felt? And this was something incredible: a victim knocking at her door begging to let him in, and she said no!" he threw his hands up in dismay. "I just refuse to understand it."

"Yeah," I said, feeling slightly better. If even the succubus' influence couldn't affect Maya's feelings toward Cesar, then they couldn't be that close. "You can say it's weird. So what do you suggest?"

"I've no idea," he looked totally lost. "She spoke to me as if she didn't even know me! What did she say to you, do you remember?"

"She said she'd collect me after breakfast to go and do some shopping."

He stretched, crunching his joints. "Now listen. We can't let her go out. I'll go to the security guys and have a talk with them. They'll keep an eye on her. This will buy us some time... until the morning at least. In the morning, I'll spill the news to Robert," his face took on a pained expression. "I can imagine what he'll say to me! And he can't even assign anyone else to the job!"

"Do you want me to tell him?"

"Yeah right. Think you can handle his reaction? Never mind. Just go to bed. I'll sort it out. When Maya comes to see you in the morning, try to keep her in for as long as you can. I'm sure Robert and I will think of something. Agreed?"

I nodded. I'd have to leave my family history till a later date. I had to concentrate on disembodying the succubus. A demon hunter's life was the opposite of predictable.

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