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can see why he needs you. Hell and damnation!”
    “What?” I demanded.
           She struggled to pull out the last bit of information as the enchanted lariat caught fire. Grandma fought as it burned to ashes.
    When it was gone, she lifted her head and stared right at me.
           “What?” I repeated, leaning as far as I could without breaking the circle. “So I’m a half angel.” Or half fallen-angel. “He’s a fallen angel.” I was good. “He has to have some good, right?”
           Grandma trembled slightly. “He does.” She glanced at the charred remains of my dad’s gift. “Even after this booby prize. I think it was hexed to compel you straight for Pasadena.”
           “Like a magical lasso?”
           Grandma frowned. “Or a noose.”
           “Did he know I’d find all this out?” I asked.
    “Nope. Most people don’t see us coming.”
    Frieda grinned, but Grandma wasn’t in the mood. “I don’t want you going. I don’t want us to go,” she said to the group. “It’s foolhardy, and it’s dangerous. Xavier’s soul is not our problem.”
           Okay, so I could tell Grandma had never been too keen on Xavier, but since when did she give a fig about foolhardy and dangerous?
    I could tell there was something else. “What is it you’re not telling me?”
           She eyed me. “If you don’t go, your father is going to fall farther,” she said, automatically. “He can’t help it. Forces are in motion against him.”
           I didn’t understand. “But how can he fall more? He was an angel and now he’s not.”
           Frieda squeezed my hand. Grandma planted her hands on her hips, searching for words. Ant Eater took the blunt approach. “He’s going to go demonic.”
           “What?” I stopped for a moment, shocked.
    Oh geez. Who was I kidding? Hadn’t I detected some demonic tendencies? Didn’t I smell the sulfur on him? He’d allied himself with death.
           Grandma sighed. “I’m sorry, Lizzie.”
    “Yes, well so am I.” This was my father we were talking about. Yes, he was creepy and I didn’t care for the way he’d tried to compel me or how he’d tried to trick me. But I wasn’t going to damn him to hell for it. “You say he’s going to go demonic unless we do something about it.”
           “We?” Grandma balked.
           “Fine. Me.” I was the demon slayer.
           “Lizzie, you don’t owe that man anything.”
           “Only my life,” I said. Technically, it was true. Even if I didn’t know him, I couldn’t help but feel for him. I owed it to him to at least see if I could help. If I didn’t try, I’d never forgive myself.
           Grandma watched me, unhappy.
           Dimitri would understand. Why couldn’t Grandma?
           She could frown until her face froze that way. There was no way to ignore the final, awful truth. “You realize if he does fall all the way and becomes a demon, I am a demon slayer.”
           “I know what you are,” she snapped.
           I’d have to kill my own father.
    I opened my mouth to say it and realized I couldn’t.
    She knew.
    It was too much. My head hurt. I rubbed at my temples, knowing it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. “Do you want to be on the run again?” I asked. “What if he comes after me because I didn’t help him?”
           What if he came after me and I couldn’t destroy him?
    I’d rather not have to find out. I really didn’t want to know that yes, I could kill my father. To save my friends and my new family, I would. It would be gut wrenching and horrible and I knew I’d never be the same person again if I did it.
           “Face it, Grandma,” I said to her and the rest of the Red Skulls. “Saving him is a lot easier than the alternative.”
           Besides, it was the right thing to do.
           Grandma stared at me long and