I set my bowl and plate in the sink before I wadded up my napkin and threw it away. “I have to make up some spells, and I don’t want to leave my mom alone, so until she wakes up, I’m going to work here. I need to run back to the church for some stuff. Will you wait until I get back before you leave?” Can you do that much for me? I thought bitterly.

“Uh,” he stammered, long face empty as he was caught off guard, “I was going to stay until she wakes up so you don’t have to come back. But maybe I can help you. I can’t cook, but I can chop herbs.”

“No.” It was a little brusque, and seeing his hurt, I added gently, “I’d rather spell alone, if you don’t mind. I’m sorry, Takata.”

I couldn’t look at him, afraid that he would know why I wanted to spell alone. Damn it, I didn’t know how to trade summoning names with a demon, but I knew it involved a curse. Takata, though, was wincing for an entirely different reason, apparently.

“Could you call me by my real name?” he asked, surprising me. “It’s kind of stupid, but hearing you call me Takata is worse.”

I paused at the door. “What is it?”

“Donald.”

I almost forgot my misery. “Donald?” I echoed, and he flushed.

He stood, reminding me of how tall he was as he awkwardly tugged his T-shirt down over the top of his jeans. “Rachel, you aren’t going to do anything stupid, are you?”

I stopped looking for my shoes when I remembered they were at Trent’s. “From your point of view, probably.” Al had tortured my mom because of me. There were no marks on her, but the wounds were there in her mind, and she’d taken them for me.

“Wait.”

His hand was on my shoulder, and when I stared at him he let go.

“I’m not your dad,” he said, gaze lighting on my neck with its bruises and bite marks. “I’m not going to try to be your dad. But I’ve watched you your entire life, and you do some of the damnedest things.”

The feeling of betrayal was rising again. I owed him nothing, and I couldn’t see him in my life anywhere. It had been hell growing up having to be strong for my mother because she couldn’t handle things. “You don’t know me at all,” I said, letting a sliver of my anger show.

His brow furrowed, he tried to reach out, then let his hand drop. “I know you will do anything for your friends and those you love, ignoring that you’re vulnerable and life is fragile. Don’t,” he pleaded. “You don’t have to take this on all by yourself.”