“No, no I can’t.” he agreed with her. “I can suggest the truth is other than it is, or obfuscate in other ways. If you want to pin me down, demand a direct answer. Do it with any fey. It’ll make us squirm.”

“Why do you like teasing me?” she narrowed her eyes at him, putting what he'd just told her to use.

“It’s fun.” he shrugged. This was true, yes.

But she clearly suspected there was more to it, demanding, “Is that the full truth?”

He didn’t answer, but arched an eyebrow at her. Gods, she was fun to mess with.

“So it isn’t?”

Lear shrugged. For all she knew, he could just be messing with her still. And he sort of was. She was right, of course. He hadn't told her that he found her ridiculously attractive, but he also hadn't done anything to hide that fact, either.

“Come on, spit it out.”

He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered, “Wouldn't you like to know?”

“Lear!” she squeaked, jerking away.

Unable to help himself, he burst into laughter as the door to Paz's house flew open, and Paz demanded, “What’s going on here?” as he stormed outside.

“He’s being a menace!” Winna shook her head, then sighed and added a somewhat exculpatory explanation, “No, not really, I tweaked my ankle getting out of the saddle and he's helping me stay upright, that’s all.”

“Oh, well come inside out of the cold!” Paz told them, motioning back at the house.

“No, as cold as it is, I’d rather get this shadow demon problem taken care of.” Winna replied.

Lear was glad the young woman hadn’t agreed to go in, he wasn’t sure Paz would have given him permission to enter, not that he could really blame him if he hadn’t.

“Um, okay.”

“I’ll just hop back up on Poppy and let her do the walking.” Winna made to hop over to her pony, and Lear felt a thrill of mischief course through him.

With a burst of his fey speed, he scooped her up and gently deposited her into the saddle.

“Oop!” Winna squeaked in surprise.

“There.” he said mildly, adjusting the cloak around her. “You’re taller than me up there.”

“Well, that’s the only way I’d be taller than you.” She muttered, face bright red, then shook herself, and asked, “Where are the sheep at, Paz?”

Paz glared annoyedly at Lear. “This way.” he muttered, and led them towards a barn that stood a little ways away from the small farmhouse. “They’re outside right now.” They rounded the barn to reveal a large, fenced-in area with a good-sized flock of sheep grazing in what little grass was left.

Lear flicked open his second set of eyes and scanned the area. "It looks like we're in luck. There's only one hanging around right now." he told them, then asked, Paz, “How many times have you seen it?"

“Uh…several times from the corner of my eye, I think, but only once or twice in all honesty. And I only saw it actually kill a sheep the one time.”

“It’s getting bolder.” Lear muttered. “Is there a rowan tree around?”

“What?”

“Humor me.”

“Um, yes. There’s one over there.” Paz motioned at a tree growing several yards away.

“We’ll need some berries from it.” Lear said, “Can I borrow that cloak, Winna?”

“You were supposed to be wearing it anyways.” she muttered, grimacing, and shrugging out of it, then handing it to him.

“Thanks, I’ll be right back.” Lear darted off, but slowed as he approached the tree. The very smell of it made his head ache. The poison in his veins had a rowan berry base, so he needed to be pretty careful, lest he get more of the dangerous stuff inside him.

Using the cloak as a barrier for one of his hands, he picked the vile berries, cradling the poisonous bounty in a sort of pocket he made with the cloak between his other arm and his chest. When he’d gotten a sufficient amount, Lear shifted the cloak, dumping the berries carefully to the center of the fabric, and wrapping it up around it, making sure not to squish anything.

He went back to them, and handed the makeshift bag to Paz, “Is the barn really dark? Like even in the day?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“We need to separate one of the sheep away from the others, and have it in a dark place.”

“Okay. Why these?” Paz held up the berries.

“You’ll see.” Lear said, looking out over the flock. “Can I just grab one of the sheep? It won’t get hurt.”

“Um, sure.”

Lear once more shot forward, and easily caught a sheep up. “Alright. Into the barn.” he directed. The barn was indeed very dark, not having the gable window like Winna’s did, which meant that Paz had to hold up a light so they could see. Or rather, so Paz and Winna could see, given Lear’s cat-like eyes had excellent night vision. “Yes, this will work.”

Putting down the sheep, he tied it to a post close to the middle of the barn, giving it a very short lead. He motioned for Paz to come forward. “Put the berries all around the sheep in a wide, full circle.”

“Okay.” Paz looked dubious. “If you’re just messing with me, and the sheep dies, I’ll be-”

Lear cut him off, rolling his eyes, “Shadow demons work by draining a being's life force, its essence, through its shadow. We’ll leave a lamp in the barn so it’ll cast a shadow in a relatively controlled environment. The shadow demon will go to suck out the sheep’s life force, but since it can’t really smell or see, it won’t know the berries are there. So instead of sheep, it'll get the essence of the rowan berries. The berries are poisonous to it and will kill it.” He left out the part about rowan berries being poisonous to all fey, he didn’t want Paz knowing that.

“Oh.” Paz sounded surprised. “That’s simple.”

“Not everything is difficult.” Lear muttered.

Once the berries were spread sufficiently out around the sheep, Paz handed Winna the cloak, and Lear leaned across to set the lamp in the middle of the post, being careful not to step on the berries as he did.

“Now we leave, and wait for it to take the bait.” Lear said, and they left the barn. Winna had stayed in the doorway, watching.

“That’s clever, Lear.” she told him.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” he grinned at her, then told Paz, “If you ever have trouble with them again, you can do the same thing.”

“Right.” Paz nodded.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Not too long, I expect.” Lear said, “Shadow demons aren’t particularly bright, and are opportunistic killers, only thinking of where they’ll get their next meal.”

“They sound scary.” Winna murmured.

“They can be, if you don’t know how to deal with them. But they’re really pretty uncommon.”

“Good.”

“How’d we end up with them out here?” Paz wanted to know.

“Who knows?” Lear shrugged a little. “They do tend to prefer dark forests, but sometimes they stray.”

Suddenly, there was a hoarse, keening screech from the barn, as well as the alarmed bleating of a sheep.

Winna jumped in surprise, and Paz charged forward.

“Relax, that was just it dying.” Lear said, going after him, but not in any hurry.

Winna followed behind on Poppy, a little more wary.

Paz threw open the barn door, and saw the sheep still standing where they’d left it in the flickering light of the lamp. Only now, the berries on the floor were all squished and the juice covered the area surrounding the sheep.

“Done and done.” Lear said, nodding approvingly.

“Are you sure?” Winna asked, tone uncertain.

Lear opened his second set of eyes, and looked around briefly before shutting them and confirming, “Yes. No more shadow demons here."

“Well, good.” Paz paused, then bowed a little stiffly to them. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Lear nodded, then looked up at Winna, “Ready to go home?”

“Yeah.” she nodded.