"Unfortunately, no," Niko said, clearly still upset about that. "This virus is proving... difficult to research."

"No kidding," Bahiti agreed. "I was hoping you would know more than we did, but I guess not."

"Not at current," Niko agreed. "Although perhaps you have been investigating different areas than I have been."

"Maybe," Bahiti said. "Although my sisters haven't found anything, either. What about that brother of yours?" Because she knew there was something distinctly not human about him, although he wasn't completely nonhuman. Maybe half.

Niko actually snorted at that. "He does not do research," he said mildly. "He is much more useful for getting rid of problems."

"I see," Bahiti said.

Ask him, Tamara said, coming closer to the surface. Bahiti's eyes flickered a little, lightening briefly before darkening again. Ask him about his brother.

No, Kali protested. Would you want him asking about us?

Niko watched, able to tell something was going on. And now that he knew what she was, he was fascinated to watch at least part of the process.

Bahiti blinked, pushing Tamara back down from the surface a bit.

"What?" she asked, knowing Niko was watching her. "What are you staring at?"

"Your eyes changed color," he said quietly, a hint of triumph in his voice. He was watching her, a look that almost said he knew.

Now all three of them were panicking.

"My eyes are brown," Bahiti said. "Only hazel eyes really change color."

Niko just smiled faintly. Because he knew, and he was satisfied with that.

For now.

Bahiti studied him. He knew, she was sure about that now. So, against her better judgement (or rather, against Tamara's vehement protests), she spoke up.

"Tell me about your brother," she said, "and I'll tell you about my sisters."

"That assumes the information involved is enough for a fair trade," Niko pointed out. "His story is not mine to tell you." Because he knew Cal hated his heritage, even if he used it, and Niko didn't want to tell other people in case someone was stupid enough to go after him.

Which confirmed for Bahiti that his brother wasn't all human, like she suspected.

"Fair enough," she said. "I am the middle sister; we are triplets." Just as much information as she managed to get from him, and just about as useful.

Triplets, indeed.

"And your friend?" Niko asked gently, more to check her reaction than anything.

"As you said," Bahiti replied, leveling her gaze at him. "Not my story to tell."

Niko nodded his acceptance of that. Fair enough.

"We've ruled out a few things the virus is not caused by," he said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We might have a theory about it," Bahiti offered in return.

"It's not caused by anything we've come across," Niko said after a moment. "No djinn, nothing we can name." Because it would take a while to list all the things it wasn't.

"Our tentative theory states that it might be a bit more demonic in nature," Bahiti said. "Although we don't know anything for sure."

Niko blinked. Twice. "Demonic?" he asked, sounding faintly disbelieving. "We've never run into anything demonic. I had been considering a god of some kind."

"At this point, almost anything could be plausible," Bahiti pointed out. "Suspend disbelief for a bit and run with it. We think it may be demonic, and it sort of makes sense if it's a pestilent demon."

Niko nodded slowly, thinking that over. "It could be either," he murmured. "If demons exist. I'll have to talk to a contact."

"By all means," Bahiti said. "I've told you what we know and what we think."

Niko nodded. "Let me know if you find anything else." It wasn't quite a request, but it wasn't a demand either.