The party was in full swing as Emma, Hanna, and the demon walked through the door—and then a pool of silence spread outward from them as all the other partygoers turned to look, and then to stare.

“Are we going to get this everywhere we go?” Emma sighed, wincing at yet another car crash outside from a distracted driver.

“Afraid so, toots. That’s what you are,” the demon said. “Until you learn to damp it down. Which I wouldn’t know how to teach you, not being one of you and all.”

“Well, I for one like it!” Hanna said, sauntering past them to where two men and a woman stood, talking. She put her arms around a man and woman, and then stabbed her tail like a spear through the chest of the other man. Emma stared, but the tail had gone intangible as it passed through his body, and only the barbed tip had solidified now. It pulled the man along behind Hanna as she herded the others toward a door.

“That’s why our tails are barbed?” Emma said. “They’re…_fishhooks?_”

The demon grinned. “Just so, toots. Just so.”