Once Zakar had disappeared, it took Jorge only a couple minutes to get back onto his feet. He looked at Caelan, at Jali looking at the floor and Igor who wasn't visibly relaxed but wasn't staring at anything with particularly strong animosity.

"So," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Jali, you brought wine?"

The deputy was stone-stiff, let herself be led by Caelan to a kitchen chair. "To get out of that head space," he explained to Jorge, who was looking back at the living room corner like he'd just seen the shadows stirring. Maybe he had. "And just because he ain't showing himself doesn't mean we're in the clear. Don't fancy calling him 'good' in any way, but he's got a good set of ears."

Igor still hadn't left the sheriff's shoulders, but her fur had eased flat since coming into the kitchen. Caelan had made an attempt to move her before Jali, but the cat had latched herself into the fabric of his being and wouldn't have it. Now, as he felt her grip relax and the fluff of her tail drop down, he took the opportunity to reach up quickly and grab her. The cat hissed, bit his ear but was on the ground before she could do any worse. Rubbing his ear, Caelan leered right back at the Maine Coon, realized perhaps half a second before she did that the handkerchief was in the other room on the floor, and managed a diving catch of the animal before she could enchant or otherwise curse herself.

From the floor he yelled at Jorge to grab a plastic bag from underneath the sink and use that to pick up the handkerchief.

"Maybe she'll forget to be mean," Jorge said, oven mitts back on, not so gracefully double-bagging the handkerchief.

Caelan, with the black cat in his lap turning her head left and right as if assessing a good jump, ran a hand over the knotted ride of scars around her back and stomach. Her fur covered even more. "Think there's a few other things she'd forget first," he said.

Jorge waved the shopping bag. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"Burn it," came Jali's voice from the kitchen table. "You have no idea how tempting it is for me to use that. There's things I really want to forget right now, stuff that he somehow made more vivid- tastes, smells, feelings."

"Don't think we want to be burning it in the house," Caelan said with a concerned glance to the woman. "Especially not when we've got a disposal department. Keys to my truck are in the catch-all tray by the microwave. Hide the handkerchief wherever you'd like and let me know out of earshot of Jali. We'll bring it in tomorrow to have it destroyed properly." Once Jorge had headed to the garage, Caelan released Igor, returned to the living room to pick up a couple of the books and set them on the table.

"Wine or coffee?" he asked.

Jali looked up at him. "Wine," she said swiftly, craning her neck around to the bottle on the counter.

"I've got plenty stronger."

"Just need something to calm my nerves. I don't know what they thing is, but the moment he touched me..." she held up a shaking hand. "I feel so violated and all he did was touch me. It's eerie, feeling that electricity, that jump in your heart rate when you accidentally bump into your crush. He could make me relive those horrible things August did and make me feel like I enjoyed it, like I was about to open my mouth and ask Zakar if he could bring me back to that state himself. Betrayed by my own body. Trying to move away but fighting against moving onto his lap. I've felt helpless before but never like that."

"Same happened to Marcy," Caelan said. "It isn't uncommon. There are several incubus and succubus cases on record that have later been attributed to Zakar. While we don't understand the extent of his powers we are aware now how much influence he has over flesh- and how much he enjoys playing with people. There are a lot of unknowns floating around, but from what I learned speaking to the other jaguar god . . . There's a very good chance Zakar and some others had a hand in the creation or were present at the beginning of different species. It might could be a pack of lies, but the level of influence on others is incredible. You know we've been tracking the necromancers movement for years now. A lot or all of them relate back to him in some way especially in how rituals are performed. I'm beginning to think he wrote a bunch of that crap, or possessed one of his dolls and spread his gospel over the centuries, more frequently as her zeroed in on Miss Davins."

Jali lifted the edge of one book with more curiosity than she'd previously shown. She was scanning the table of contents, stopped to point at a chapter of herbs. "Are there any wards or spells and incantations to keep him out? I don't like the idea that he could just pop up anywhere, at any time or place."

Caelan shook his head. "Clearly there's something he does to keep the one called Toby at bay, but I'm not sure if there's anything we can do to mimic that. I could ask," he began. Already he was disliking the idea of going back and forth between two things that considered themselves gods, vying for the same woman and the same homeland. It was not a good position to be in, and it'd prove a lot harder to 'outwolf' not one but two of those ancient beings. "But my best suggestion would be to plan for the worst. The good thing for you is he is distracted and busy. Hopefully won't mess much unless we mess much with him. He was rather tame this evening."

"Fucking wonderful," Jali said, watching Caelan pull a wine glass out of the cabinet. He popped the bottle and held it up with a questioning glance. "Not a whole cupful or anything, need to stay awake. I feel like such an old maid saying it, but a glass of wine really knocks me the hell out these days. I'm probably drinking more than I should. You heard that thing in there. Really haven't had a good night's sleep. The best rest I got was when I found out he was gone and the sheer relief that it was over. After that it all cycles back. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat clawing at my sheets."

Caelan poured her half a glass, set it on the counter and got himself some water. "Listen," he began, studying the clear liquid, wishing it was something else but reluctant to drink now that he needed to focus.

"Don't even," she said, downing half her glass. "I don't want your pity."

"I was going to say you're tough, and you slipped and fell and that's alright. Coming back isn't easy and it isn't fast. Sometimes we trip on the way back to our feet."

"Yeah, well, it's damn embarrassing if you can't even stand up," she said, dropping her head onto the pages. After a moment she turned her face toward him.  "You really think I'm tough? Even after clearly showing I'm going to be the weak link? Jorge was better behaved than I was and he's half chicken."

"I wouldn't have made you a deputy if you weren't," he assured her. "As you like to point out, your teeth are a lot duller than most folk's in the CPA, but you bite harder. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't send-" Zakar probably knew given August being in his possession, but still Caelan refrained from using his brother's name on the slim off chance he just felt Jali's experiences without knowing who was behind it. "-his sorry ass packing. You've given me worse for a whole lot less in the ring."

The pair of them caught Jorge standing there looking like he was about to turn back to the garage.

"It's alright," Jali said, waving him over. "Everyone in this room saw me fall on my face tonight."

She waited for Jorge to sit, tapping the rim of her glass, looking into the dark liquid and tapping and looking and finally leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"Cowboy, you haven't back in the saddle long enough to get all the finer details with this shit tornado blowing around, but I kept him around because he was your brother and I thought that made you mostly the same. It was kinda dumb of me to think that, but you sheriffs are so frickin' slick when you want to be. You two seemed cut from the same cloth."

This was not a conversation Caelan wanted to be having right now, but he did little to stop her beside a quiet, "Jali, you don't have wear everything on your sleeve tonight."

"Look," she said. "I'm not the sort of person who has a lot of friends. I mostly hang with work people and go home and that's my night. If we're going to be almost dying then I might as well get everything off my chest. Can't be used against me if you already know." 

"Fair." Caelan nodded. "Alright, the floor is yours." 

Jorge looked over at the microwave. "Don't suppose you've got some popcorn for this chat?" 

"I'll pop you alright," Jali said, snapping the book shut for emphasis. "I'm trying to have a heartfelt moment here."

Jorge lifted his shoulders, flashed a tentative smile. "I was trying to lighten the mood a little. Awkward situations make me nervous."

"Moving on," Caelan said with an eye to the work ahead. 

"Right. Okay." Jali clapped her hands together, rocked back in her chair. "First time you brought Marcy in calling her your temporary 'deputy' after Cho died, I was so pissed. I'm working my ass off over here trying to win your affection and we've always been awesome together and then I see you bouncing around her, this sheep you've known only a couple weeks who has got a near 100% chance of being dispatched."

"You know my policy regarding business and pleasure," he said, resting a hand on the stack of books. "Here's the result of ignoring my own advice."

"Yeah, but you made an exception for her. I wanted to be your exception. Sometimes I still wonder why I couldn't be. We're a great team."

"Never saw you that way, Jali." Caelan said, meeting her eyes. "We've had this conversation before."

"Not since Marcy showed up."

"No, but I was careful not to lead you on after that." He tipped his head to Jorge, who backed him up with a startled 'yeah, boss.'  He got up, pulled a couple of tiny, plain magnets from the fridge and set one before himself, the other near Jorge. As he spoke, he moved the first toward the second. When the magnets were close enough they jumped together. "Marcy and I connected, Jali. I'm not sure why or how it happened. We met each other and it was like a magnet that got nudged just close enough to something that it sticks. Her kind of northern crazy and my kind of southern crazy draw each in and click." 

"I guess," Jali said. "I just don't understand what you've got."

"Someday you will," he said and meant it. "But you've struck out and I do believe that's what you're trying to tell us here before we go and start investigating ways to save this woman from a horrible fate. No matter how any of us feels towards her, that's the right thing to do."

"Just to be clear, I like her well enough," Jali said. "She's cool, for a sheep."

"Not a sheep," came the instant reply from Caelan and Jorge both.

"In any case," Jali said, rolling her eyes. "Not gonna be BFFs or anything but she's fine."

"I like her more than enough," Jorge said, checking under the table. "Obviously she's a lot nicer than Jali and a lot prettier than you, bossman. I just hate her cat." 

"Go on, Jali," Caelan reminded her. "I don't mean to be rude but we've got to get on the tracks to stay focused on 'em."

She took another sip of wine. "Right when I'd decided you are off the market and not coming back soon, you skipped town and he stepped in claiming you and Marcy ran off together to the dark side. There he was, all heroic and missing his hand and practically a widower and shit just trying to get by. Figured if I couldn't have you, your brother was close- maybe better, considering you contacted that bozo across from me and left me in the dark. And he was so nice and friendly and handsome and all torn up about the death of Winona. I'll say, werewolves aren't warlocks but I fell right under his spell."

"If you knew Winnie, you'd never have gotten involved with him," Caelan said. "I almost wish she'd lived long enough to warn you off him. Even he was saying she'd have to be put down once he retired and got his breeding assignment. No way would she'd have allowed anyone near her man, sanctioned pairing or not."

"She got rejected when she applied for brood stock," Jorge added. "Caelan and I were down in Louisiana when it happened. About what, thirty pets went missing that night?"

Jali frowned. "Shit, I barely heard anything but she was a wonderful woman dedicated to the CPA. She'd won all kinds of honors and awards."

"For maiming and murdering innocents," Jorge said. "What a duo they were."

"Anyway," Jali said. "I got caught up with him because I was hung up on you. I was dumb and as I'm running my mouth I'm realizing this conversation is dumb and your brother's a shithead. End of story. I'm not saying I'm going to move past you or him but I guess that's the next thing I'm gonna do after things calm down and we've got Marcy back." She finished her glass. "You're stupid cute together, anyway. I think I'd throw up if I ever acted all mushy and lovey dovey like that around another grown human. Grinning like an idiot all day because you kissed a girl. Wow."

"Here, here!" Jorge said, raising a soda bottle. "Except I kinda like snuggling." 

"Here, here," Caelan agreed in a tone that said he was present, though his mind was firmly elsewhere. As they got to work, the sheriff was searching for answers not only for what he didn't know, but what he'd missed. After several hours of notes and discussion and hitting more books, he'd glanced up to find Jali and Jorge asleep and the magnets just out of reach from Igor's roving black paw. The cat, realizing she was caught, twisted her neck around to regard him. He could feel the allergy medication wearing off, felt his eyes growing tired and itchy but reached out to scratch the cat's chin. 

He thought about waking up the pair of knuckleheads, then decided to leave them to their sleep and moved off to the couch. Igor followed him, jumped onto his lap as he stretched out.

"I miss her, too," he said.