"No. I've passed out twice, I haven't actually fallen asleep on purpose, and that was the check I picked."

"Well, at least you're sticking to your guns."

"I do that." She changes one leg, observes the complicated reaction her jeans have to this, and symmetrizes herself. "Man, this is weird."

"It really is. You get used to it."

"Some get used to it, anyway. I mostly just stay out of it."

"Why?" Bella asks Vernon.

"Because usually I am so far in over my head it's not even funny."

"Hey, this time this morning I didn't know sphinxes existed. From what I understand, neither did Darren." She plays with claw retraction, careful of the upholstery, and then goes fully human and sits up, and then watches her shoes disappear as she changes from the ankles down. "But whatever you gotta do."

"Normal human. I have a pocket knife. Demons possess people and are impossible to kill, they just go poof and go back to Dis. Angels have huge pointy swords. Even Darren, the pacifist who bleeds altruism if poked with something sharp, can blast people with magic. I know when I'm out of my league."

Darren is watching Bella's shapeshifting experiments curiously, but glances up when his dad speaks. "Thanks for doing it anyway."

He smiles back, and then - hugs. "Yup."

"They possess people? Darren didn't mention that."

"He didn't know. They freak him out and have got no reason to mess with him, anyway. I don't scare my kid for giggles." He considers Bella. "Though maybe now they do have a reason to mess with him. Okay, well, demons can possess people. If someone acts weird, get a bugbear or an angel or somethin' because you need to check."

"I want details on how they do it, what it consists of, and if there's any way to hedge 'em out." Her wings arch over her shoulders till they touch the ceiling, disappear, reappear folded a moment later, vanish again.

"They lose their physical bodies and go into the person. They get control of the person, but not access to their memories, so while some can be good actors it gets a bit hinky for long periods of time. Only way I know to get them out is to get an angel, or wait for 'em to get out on their own. Might be possible to threaten them out, but I don't think you want to get mixed up in stuff that can scare a demon out. I dunno of a way to keep 'em from getting in, maybe load yourself up on tons of luck charms and hope for the best."

"There are luck charms? That work?"

"Yup. Expensive, though. Before you ask, Darren, no I've got no clue how they're made."

"Aw. That would have been helpful..."

"Seconding that. Is there a ballpark estimate you can give me on how many demons there are active in the world at any given time?"

"Not a clue. Sorry. Not tons, but there are more of 'em than there are angels running around."

"How does one get ahold of an angel if one requires an angel? And do angels just look like winged humans, such that if I had to I could -" Wings. "Fool somebody?"

"Four wings, not two. I've got no clue how to get a hold of one, but I know one. They'll show up if something gets bad enough, usually."

"You know an angel? Do they have, like, a phone number?"

"Nope. Enigmatic. Really unhelpful that way. But I met - it."

"'It'?" asks Darren, confused.