It took Lane a moment to orient herself when she woke the next morning. If it weren't for the scattered clothes near her bed and the smell of coffee and...Was that mint? She might have thought the night before was just some crazed dream. It had been awhile after all, and it wasn't often that a man claiming to know her long lost ancestor popped into her shop and then completely derails her life for that night. She went to the closet and slipped a t-shirt on, as well as a new pair of underwear, then padded downstairs to find confirmation that her subconscious had not been messing with her. Lane actually found herself smiling, but it was more of a coy expression that actual contentment.<br/><br/>Of course, he got right to the chase. No "Good morning." or "How did you sleep?" James went straight for the demonic questions. Lane padded past him toward the coffee pot and shrugged her shoulders. "From everything I've read, it would depend on the<i>kind</i>of demon. How old, ranking among the hierarchy of Hell, that sort of thing."<br/><br/>She pulled a cup from the cupboard and filled the mug about halfway up with coffee, then grabbed the milk and filled the rest with it. A generous addition of stevia and Lane lifted the cup to her lips. Her parents had not been heavy coffee drinkers, so she had come to the habit late in life and never acquired the taste for the black liquid plain. She had learned to buy good coffee, rather than just what was on sale at the grocery store, and had come to realize that made much of the difference in taste. Lane settled into the chair opposite where he sat and crossed her legs in front of her.<br/><br/>"Most of the really bad, evil devils are confined to Hell. They can't manage to get a corporeal foothold in this world, because the chains that keep them in their domain...The lesser demons though, they can coax humans to worship them, or allow possession. They require hosts, but once they've taken a body, it's like a virus...." Lane sighed and thought it was sort of funny she had used that word to describe it, since it did make magic sound like just another science, something to be compared and studied. "They are a parasite that hollow the body out, strip it of its soul and then use it for their own intentions. I've heard rumors they can keep that sort of thing up for centuries, but..."<br/><br/>She looked at the book in his hand and reached forward, turning it forward a few pages and directing him to a passage she thought might be more useful for his needs. It had Adella's notes about demonic possession. "But my mother kept that sort of study under lock and key, the only information I had was the book in front of you and rumors. Like I said, I don't dabble in darkness, normally."