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"…I thought you forgot about me.” Ric sounded amused, teasing even, over the phone. "Don't tell me you've been exorcising in other churches."
The weight of that night in the rain came crashing down over Jo again, the bloody Sandman with his bloody sand and Rachel, who deserved a million times better than Jo's sorry arse. "I’m sorry. Today has been… a lot and I– I wish I could have called you sooner."
"...Today? You mean the past two months, right? I've had to get other exorcists in. The last one mucked up the job, nearly died, and destroyed one of the altars."
"Bet they didn't cost you triple the fee, though."
"It didn't come out of my pay, CoE can afford it," Ric said. "Seriously, though. Where've you been?"
Not doing that many jobs, that was what. Johanna was surprised she still had a flat. There hadn't been any nightmares the past couple of months, either. Not like she deserved that, but she had no urge to seek out Dream of the Endless and tell him to give her nightmares again. That was the kind of cosmic power you didn't want noticing you again.
She had been trying to find the Magdalene Grimoire, though. Anything that could bind an Endless needed to be burned. And no, it wasn't just because he'd looked, for a moment, like any traumatised human would, despite being far beyond that. Artefacts of the Endless were too powerful to be left adrift in the mortal world. Jo hadn't even known what the sand was. She hadn't known, assumed it was nothing, and left it. Left it with Rachel.
"Jo?"
"Sorry," she said again. "It's a long story."
"If I buy you a drink, will you tell me?"
"Yeah. Sure, fine." Jo flopped her head back against the couch, debating if Ric would mind that she was in yesterday's clothes. "The usual place? Tonight?"
"See you there."
She didn't particularly want to talk about Rachel, but maybe she wouldn't have to. Maybe they could have this one night, two people who knew about the world of monsters, fae, and demons. Someone who knew the risks but was still not close enough to Johanna to burn.