Caught

Nicole Taylor

*'Hold it' I said as the lesser demon started to dematerialise, summoned beyond the Shroud. At my command the calling fizzeled away, leaving the imp quite confused. 'She's mine.' I simply answered, smiled and redirected the calling.*

*Before me now, a woman with pink hair, believing me caught in her meagre pentagram. 'Good news, as long as you'll obey me we can cooperate without pain.' The gall. 'What do you desire, oh powerful mistress.' The sarcasm dripped of my tongue, burning away part of the pentagram. She shivered, clearly not anticipating this.*

*'Simple job,' she hastily adds, 'keep these prisoner, if I die, slowly torture them over the course of 48 hours.'*

*I watch the pathetic pile of changelings. 'As you desire, I answer.' This would call their attention. The Salesburough is too reckless not to take the bait. Which would mean she'd come as well.*

*I look forward to reclaiming what is mine.*

*This will be fun...*

## Better the devil you know

Patricia is making her to do list. Usually, that's a piece of cake.
One part of her mind makes the list, and the rest of her mind is working
 on it. Or delegating it. By the time the list is finished, she can
usually cross out the first points on it. But this time, it’s a little
different.

For starters, it’s nearly christmas. Which apparently caused
someone to think it was a good idea to invite a choir to sing christmas
carols. A choir consisting of a bunch of orphans. All dressed like
little angels, with halo's made of silver guirlandes. Worst of all, it's
 led bij an angelically looking Patricia. Or Altricia as Franklin and
Nicole call her. They’d probably prefer an angel over a demon…

*Oh dang it. Start writing that bloody list. You're a*
mindmaster. Focus. It's not as if you're still stuck in a pentagram
watching your friends being manipulated by the demon who has taken over
your body.

* Apologise to Sophie

*A freaking prince of hell is nicer than I am. Wait. Does that make*
 me a princess? Nevermind, focus. Consider it rationally. He wasn't
nice. He just wanted to stir up relationships. Which is going to work
splendidly if I don’t mend things with Sophie. That really would show
that I’m worse than a demon.

*Or maybe he just wanted to get laid. He is a demon of lust*
after all. Guess it's going to be disappointing for Sophie that I won't
get intimate with her anymore. But it is actually time to make amends.

* Send notes to DIMH

*That is, make an appropriate report about what happened and make*
sure it ‘leaks’ to DIMH, so that they can use it to help Nicole. And
Franklin. Maybe they can even get Franklin to accept a psychologist to
help Stephanie and the children. Nightmares can be diminishued in he
most gentle ways. They should not have to suffer any more then they
alreado do. Maybe Levi can suggest it. I would offer, but it’s not like
any of them is going to accept it.

* Don't antagonize Franklin unless you have a really good reason

*For one, I do not want to die. He had enough to deal with at the*
moment. And I caused it. Well, my face did. I wasted time, by wanting to
 fly back. I exacerbated his dreath for the kids's future by talking
joyfully about the changelings being tortured.

*Okay, technically I didn’t. I don’t even work on kids. That*
includes the little girl that randomly dropped in from outer space.
Working with kids is Altricia’s job. Better an angel than a devil,
especially with kids. Of course, if kids think I’m a creepy witch,
that’s fine. It’s true enough, for certain values of truth. But my
teammates have never seen me do anything bad to kids, have they? I
protect my nieces and nephews, I helped changelings.

* Be gentle with Nicole

*It was odd that she didn’t see anything weird when the demon was*
talking. Flying back for 10 minutes was a pure timewaster. Arguing that
it was dangerous to go outside the ship to try and re-establish
communications was too. Taking the wrong route was too. That was even
after I managed to get a word in. ‘Hail’. Which did not work. I should
have tried something else. Maybe Hydra would have worked at that moment.

*So, make sure Nicole is all right. As far as possible. Getting*
 new responsibilities and figuring out how to balance them is hard
enough without an actual demon whispering in your ear that one is more
important than another. Kids are as important as a new position. You
wouldn't be human otherwise.

*Patricia thinks about a thought experiment with a cart riding*
over rails. About rescuing one person who is close, or 20 further away.
'Human… That explains that, doesn’t it?', a voice in her head says
sarcastically. 'Also, causing an argument about who is captain of the
ship is quite like you. As is reprogamming robots.'

*Encouraging Nicole to cast a ritual however is still a good*
idea. That is, it's her decision. I won't use nudge theory or something
stronger to force her mind. Just a little teasing, so things are back to
 normal for her for as much as possible. I do think it's really good for
 her to really experience the other side. It does give you a new
perspective.

* Order wreath for Blackwell from the Feed. Go to the funeral.

* Apologise to Matthew

*Having a reputation as a ruthless sadist works perfectly fine with*
 deviants. However, Matthew is here to stay, hopefully. So I should make
 cooperation workable. Perhaps I should give him a hint about Mireli.
She needs assistance soon, and Matthew might know a trustworthy tutor.

* Apologise to Senex

*How to phrase that to an archmage. Who, just like Levi, didn’t notice he was talking to a prince of hell.*

*‘Hey Senex. You probably already figured out what happened,
but I have been assured by my supervisor it did not happen, so I can't
tell you. I’m just calling to set the record straight: I think it's good
 for Nicole to have a committed relationship. I think Matthew is
acceptable. I strongly believe we should encourage Nicole to balance her
 work and her private life. That is, she should be encouraged to have a
private life. Going away for a weekend with her boyfriend is a good
idea.'*

'Aren't you forgetting something?' Levi, who has been enjoying listening to the carols, takes Patricia's notepad and adds

* Therapy for dr. Jane

'Because at the moment, miss Jane, you may need it the most.'