A very pretty blonde woman stood waiting, dressed in black long-sleeve shirt, black slim-fit pants, and even a black cap. She gave him a quick smile before glancing behind him into his room.

Taking the hint, he stepped back and waved her in.

“Omega said you need help. Did you find the demon?” he asked, knuckling one eye.

“Yes and no. I found where she was, not where she is.”

“So what kind of help do you need? And isn’t it almost daylight?”

“Well, where she was is a murder scene and I might have left DNA evidence,” she said, touching a strand of her hair where it hung out from under the cap. “And I was hoping to crash here,” she added, pointing at his bed.

“Oh,” he said, looking at the bed with concern. “Well, I can go take care of any loose hairs or other DNA if you give me a strand or two. Ah, you’re welcome to my room, but I, ah, need to tell Stacia.”

She smirked at him and he puffed up a bit, opening his mouth to speak. She beat him to it.

“I already texted Stacia, but points to you for thinking of that right away,” she said, reaching up to yank some strands of hair out of her head. “Here,” she said, handing him the wisps of blondeness. Then she turned and strode to the windows, lowering and closing the blinds.

“Ah, I think I have clean sheets here somewhere,” he said, moving hesitantly toward his closet as he tied off the lock around his right ring finger.

“Don’t bother. I’m actually going to sleep under the bed,” she said, pointing to the little cave his half-lofted bed had under it. “We don’t feel much during daylight hours, so just a blanket and a pillow are all I need.”

“Oh. Are you sure?” he said, shoulders relaxing, tone unconvincing.

“Yes. Are you sure you can blot out my sloppy tradecraft?”

“What? Oh yeah, no problem. I’m also gonna add you to the door wards so you could leave if you had too. Um, I should also take my book bag cause I’ll just head to class right after breakfast.”

“Great,” she said with a big smile, turning and bending over to pull a few boxes from under the bed. He whirled away, forcing his mind to pull up a more complex spell for hair eradication. Bad enough to get caught ogling a girl from behind, let alone a really powerful telepath. It wouldn’t have even meant anything, just a hardwired male reflex. Never caught girls ogling boys, but guys seemed helpless to stop themselves.

“It’s because you’re all so visual,” Nika said without looking around.

“Right, well, sleep, ah, well,” he said, fleeing his own room. My face is flaming red and I didn’t even do anything, he thought.