Zander's eyes narrowed. “The demon is speaking to her.”
“Can you hear? I cannot.”
“Not I. Can we intercede?”
“I do not know if we can. That woman is no ordinary person, and as we found with Brian, interacting directly with oracles doesn't infringe on our restrictions.” She waited a moment, intent on observation. The wind picked up; it whipped her black hair against her face. After brushing it aside, she made her conclusion. “It hasn't attacked her. Not that it would; killing humans does nothing for demons, it would rather control her.” As she and her partner watched, they began to walk away. The sight alarmed the angelic pair somewhat, since a sensitive obliging a demon typically meant some malfeasance was at work. If not, then the sensitive was interacting with the monster of her own record, which was arguably worse. When Shae passed beneath a streetlight, Zander managed to spot a quirk about her.

He nudged his partner in the side. “Check it out. Those look like normal tattoos to you?”
Zoe took her turn to examine the tats. “They are wards, protection sigils. Support specializes in them, remember?”
“Support...was he the Power with the two big swords?”
“No, that was Tithe. He wasn't even a Power. Support is our six-winged comrade in Central America.”
“I suppose. What do you think the wards do?”
“No telling. If she is wise enough to have such enchantments, they are probably not pleasant. It also means that she's not helpless against this demon, however. Let us follow her and see about this demon.”
“Finally.”

The two took off. There were no affectionate displays—this time, they had purpose in their stride. They followed at a good pace for about a block, staying across the street an d far back enough that Shae would have had to go out of her way to see them. As the sensitive and Ignavas rounded a corner, Zoe abruptly stopped. “Something bad is coming.”
Zander whirled to face her, surprised. Having set himself in a stealthy frame of mind, he hadn't at all expected for a foe to appear so quickly. “What do you mean? Should we...?”
“Yes! Reunite!”

Without hesitation, the two turned back-to-back and slammed together. To a normal person, they couple would have appeared to have vanished from existence, nothing more than deja vu. If a sensitive were watching, however, the area would have been illuminated by the fiery golden glow cast by the pair as they merged into their true form.

Union opened its collective eyes. “The burning passion ignites anew,” Zander's voice, deeper and reverberating, intoned. Zoe said nothing, focused on her surroundings for any sign of the approaching presence. She hadn't long to wait; from a nearby alleyway emerged a bizarre shape. It had the head of the lion, but instead of a body, behind its mane were five goat legs arranged in a star-pattern; the [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Buer.gif]creature[/url] looked like a grotesque wheel. Union spotted it and was instantly on the alert.

“Buer,” Zoe declared, leafing through her mental archive. Union had changed into a side-facing stance so that both heads could clearly see the demon. “What is hell's Tenth Spirit doing in a city like this?”