The phone rang.  There exist a few sounds that no sane human can ignore.  A crying baby is one.  A ringing phone is the other.

The phone was my curse: I had no family to call me, my best friend Andrea usually either saw me at the office, at the Chapter of the Order of Merciful Aid, or just came by, so the only time the phone rang was to let me know that I needed to grab my saber and head the hell out the door into some hairy mess.  Experience showed that ignoring the phone didn't work.  If they wanted me bad enough, they would keep calling.

I picked it up.  "Kate Daniels."

"Hello, dear!"  Maxine, the Order's secretary, always called me dear.  She called everyone dear, including Richter, who was as psychotic as knights of the Order could get without being stripped of their knighthood.  Her "dears" fooled no one.  I'd rather run ten miles with a rucksack full of rocks than face Maxine's chewing out.

"Richter is quite sane, dear.  And is there any particular reason you keep picturing a dragon with my hair on its head?"