Always Be My Banshee

by Molly White

  “You OK, Cordy? You seem a little…extra verbal this morning,” Sonja said, setting the sharp-smelling tea mug on her side table.

  “Well, between the mild concussion, fractured ribs, and the ringing in my ear that Will tells me will go away in a week if I’m lucky, I got to take a whole bunch of different pills.” She shot Will a wink that wasn’t nearly as smooth as she thought. “So I am not responsible for what I say for the next little while.”

  “You doped up my little sister?” Zed accused Will.

  “She’s taking an appropriate amount of pain medication prescribed by a licensed professional and she will stop taking them by next week. And she’s not really your little sister,” said Will.

  “My maman is filling out the official adoption paperwork,” Zed said. “Also, I licked her. That makes her mine.”

  Brendan frowned. “Can we find another way to phrase that?”

  Zed shook his head. “No. Why?”

  “If it makes you feel better, he did the same to me when we were kids,” Bael said. “He says it’s cultural. But I have my doubts.”

  Brendan nodded. “That does make me feel a little better, thank you.”

  Will raised his hand. “Just before I left for college.”

  “Right after he found out I was pregnant,” Jillian added.

  Sonja chirped from the kitchen, “Right after I almost died at the rift site.”

  “See? That’s how I knew Walt wasn’t you,” Cordelia said.

  “What?”

  “Long story,” Cordelia said, waving her hand and then wincing at the pain in her wrist. Brendan took her hand and held it to his chest, soothing it with his cold touch.

  “Speaking of the rift, I stopped by the site this morning to check on things and it’s completely dormant,” Dani said. “It’s basically just a scar now and you’d need abilities like mine to even feel it. A human could walk right up to the water’s edge and not even have a headache.”

  “So Pandora held up her end of the deal. Oh, good, I was really hoping I hadn’t fallen victim to a classic ‘lying demon in a box’ gambit,” Cordelia said.

  “And we have the casket in a secured League facility,” Sonja added. “On display, just like ‘Pandora’ asked, where people will pass her every day—high-level League people with super, double-secret security clearance, but people. But we didn’t have to use any special handling, because she poses no threat.”

  Zed pulled Dani into his lap. “So are you saying that maybe we can relax for the first time in months and not feel this sense of impending doom all the time?”

  Dani shrugged. “I don’t want to jinx us, but maybe.”

  “On the theme of impending doom, you should know that I tracked your mother,” said Sonja. “The reason she dropped off of the radar is that she’s been in jail in Tallahassee for the last few weeks. She got caught with a bunch of checkbooks that didn’t belong to her.”

  “Did you have anything to do with that?” Will asked.

  Sonja shook her head. “Not this time.”

  “How long will she be in?” Bael asked. “And is there a way I can make that an extended period of time?”

  “Actually, she’s being held over for trial on those fraud charges,” Sonja said. “If she’s sentenced even in the middle range of what’s appropriate, she’ll be someone else’s problem for a decade or so.”

  “So the ‘no impending doom’ thing might actually be real?” Zed asked.

  At that very moment, there was an insistent knock at Cordelia’s door. Bael rose, checking the peephole before opening it. He sighed and opened the door, making a “come on in” gesture. Darwin Messina stepped into the living. He was holding a large tablet and a completely rigid posture. Cordelia could only imagine that he wasn’t comfortable with this level of casual seating, casual clothing, casual contact and…general casualness.

  “We have a problem,” said Darwin.

  Sonja slapped Zed’s arm. “You just had to say something.”

  “Hey!” Dani objected. “No hitting!”

  Zed rubbed his arm, frowning. “No, she’s right. I jinxed it.”

  “Hi, Mr. Messina,” Cordelia said, attempting to sit up straighter on the couch.

  “Ms. Canton, please don’t trouble yourself. I hope you’re recovering. I understand you were quite heroic in your efforts to protect the rift,” Messina said, his tone a bit warmer.

  “Told you,” she said, smirking at Brendan. “Certified badass.”

  “If this results in some sort of dangerous assignment inside a volcano, I’m going to be so pissed,” Brendan said.

  “Yeah, but the hazardous duty bonus would be worth it,” Cordelia noted. “Look at all the money you were able to send home to Colleen!”

  Mr. Messina cleared his throat. “I realize, I was perhaps forceful in my efforts to motivate you in your work with the artifact and I stepped over the line. And for that, I apologize. I never should have used the threat of your mother against you. Dr. Ramsay informs me that she has filed a complaint with the League’s Ethics and Sensitivity Office.”

  Brendan frowned. “We have one of those?”

  “It’s the first time a complaint has ever been filed with that office,” replied Messina. “Honestly, they didn’t know what to do when she called. But she was right to do it. Over the years, I have become single-minded in my efforts to promote the League’s interests. I have forgotten along the way that the League’s interests are protecting its constituents. I will be heading back to DC immediately for sensitivity training. Mr. Lancaster will be staying on as executive director.”

  “Oh…grand,” Brendan murmured, wincing when Cordelia poked him in the ribs.

  “It’s OK, Mr. Messina. And while we’re apologizing, I’m sorry I thought you were a murderous mastermind,” Cordelia said.

  Darwin waved her apology away. “That’s all right, Ms. Canton. I understand Walt Benson did everything he could to make me look like the guilty party.”

  “And I’m sorry I called you a ‘dick,’” Cordelia said.

  “Uh, Cordy, you didn’t say that to him directly,” Jillian reminded her.

  The corners of Cordelia’s lip pulled back into a grimace. “Oh, right. Have I mentioned I’m on pain meds?”

  Mr. Messina chuckled, but covered it with a cough. “Well, given the circumstances, I’d say it would be best if we just offer each other a clean slate.”

  Before Cordelia could answer, a video conference ringtone sounded from the tablet.

  Akako Hiyashi’s face appeared on the screen. “Jillian…and Jillian’s ever-expanding circle of friends and associates.”

  There was an awkward smattering of hello’s and waving around the room.

  “Ms. Hiyashi, thank you for calling!” Jillian said.

  Akako smiled gently. “Jillian, I asked you to call me ‘Akako.’”

  Jillian laughed quietly, clearly uncomfortable. “No…”

  “I just wanted to call and tell you what a commendable job you’ve done there, considering the ‘complications’ that arose last night. The situation could have been so much worse without the quick and decisive action of your team,” Akako said.

  “She called us a ‘team,’” Dani whispered in awe.

  “Ms. Canton, I am very sorry you were injured by one of our own. I seem to be making that apology more often lately,” Akako said with a frown. “But I’m grateful for the lengths you went to in order to protect Mystic Bayou and the League’s interests. It won’t be forgotten. If you need anything to aid in your recovery, the League will provide it.”

  Cordelia focused on sitting up straight and not blurting out anything inappropriate.

  “That would be wonderful, thank you,” Cordelia said. “And if you happen to consider an artifact storage unit in Mystic Bayou, I happen to know two employees in that department who would be willing to make the move.”

  Brendan grinned at her and nodded. “Yes, she does.”

  “I’ll see what we can do a
bout that,” Akako promised, her lips twitching. “Ms. Teel, I understand that the rift is officially considered dormant?”

  Dani straightened her posture in Zed’s lap. “Yes, ma’am. I don’t think there’s going to be much need for my services around here. I may have to find work somewhere else.”

  Bael patted Zed’s arm. “It was good while it lasted, buddy.”

  Zed gasped in indignation. Jillian rolled her eyes and elbowed Bael’s side.

  “I mean, that I hope I can find work nearby I can travel to and come home quickly, while I continue work on my book,” Dani said, sending a small ball of light Bael’s way. It struck him in the thigh, and he yelped at the mild shock he received.

  “Well, the highlight of this situation is that the general public remains unaware of the rift, the energy leak and its effects on the population,” Akako said. “Though there is a rumor that a teenager in Houma turned into a loup garou at a pep rally in front of his whole high school. But the internet seems to be blaming it on the mystical influence of New Orleans.”

  “Mr. Messina mentioned a new problem?” Jillian said, clearly trying to bring the conversation back to the point.

  Akako suddenly looked far less amused. “Yes, this is a video shot two days ago in the Fisherville neighborhood of Louisville, at a Shop-N-Save parking lot.”

  Akako worked some sort of computer magic and the screen with her face on it shrunk into the corner of the screen, showing a high-resolution phone video of a battered blue pickup trying to turn into the same space as a little red Prius. They were both honking and making rude gestures, each doing the traditional dance of inching toward the space in a game of motorized chicken.

  Finally, the Prius driver yelled, “I was here first, you dumbass! Go back to the mountains and screw your sister!”

  A crowd had gathered in the parking lot and several of them had pulled out their phones, clearly expecting some minor antics they might be able to post online. Cordelia counted at least eight amateur documentarians, just in this camera’s view. The truck driver took great umbrage to the sister comment and stomped out of his truck. His legs looked wrong, like they were jointed backwards. His face seemed to blur, the bones shifting and moving beneath the skin, and suddenly there was a half-man, half-goat wearing overalls.

  Jillian asked. “Is that a goat shifter?”

  “In broad daylight?” Sonja gasped.

  Bael added, “In front of all those witnesses?”

  Akako nodded. “That is Eustace Cornwell. Technically, he descends from a long line of satyrs, but as there are few satyrs, his family is, shall we say, not genetically diverse. It’s led to an altered state of shifting. His whole herd has lived in the area for years. They’re the reason for the Pope Lick Monster legend.”

  Zed shook his head. “That is a terrible name for a legend.”

  The crowd in the video screamed as Eustace took a running start at the Prius. His enormous coiled horns smashed into the driver’s side door, setting off the car alarm and airbags. The driver scrambled to open the door, but it was crushed like a soda can. When a semi-truck driver hollered at Eustace to stop, he aimed those horns at the truck’s headlights. The video ended with Eustace running at the camera, head lowered.

  Jillian asked, “Any chance of explaining it away as a prank involving extremely advanced CGI?”

  Akako shook her head. “There are too many witnesses. Too many cellphone videos with too many views. Too many morning show interviews. The secret is officially out. The League is going to make an announcement at an international press conference tomorrow.”

  “Well, it figures it would be Kentucky that finally blew the magique secret,” Dani muttered. At the mildly curious looks from the others, she added. “What? I lived in a town there literally called Oddville for six months, trying to close up a vortex. I’m allowed to make that judgment. Besides, did you know that the Pope Lick Monster is supposedly half-man, half-goat, half-sheep? How does that math even work?”

  “So I guess everybody’s going to know about Mystic Bayou, soon, huh?” Zed said, suddenly a bit somber.

  Akako’s smile was kind as she reminded him, “That kind of attention is the risk you agreed to when your town signed its contract with the League, Mr. Mayor.”

  He nodded. “I know, I know. I guess I just never thought it would happen. I mean we’ve lived in secret for thousands of years. I really didn’t think breaking that secrecy would involve the words ‘goat man.’”

  Bael started snickering, which made Jillian snuggle into his side to hide her giggles, while squeezing Sonja’s hand. Sonja started laughing, which led to a chain reaction involving everybody else in the room guffawing until tears ran down their cheeks. Even Akako started cackling. Only Darwin managed to hold it together, until Akako said, “I’m going to have to give a statement to the international press involving the words ‘Pope Lick.’”

  That broke Darwin Messina, who threw his head back and howled.

  This group hysteria lasted for several minutes until Akako sniffed, wiping at her eyes and said, “Oh dear. I needed that. Well, fortunately, Jillian’s work has helped us prepare for this eventuality. We have stockpiled paper copies of her report at strategic locations all over the world and will distribute it immediately after the announcement. And of course, the online distribution will be considerable. We can only hope that it helps the humans understand. Jillian, you should be prepared to give interviews and statements galore. I’ll have our PR people contact Sonja with any appointments.”

  Jillian nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I still can’t convince you to call me by my first name, can I?” Akako asked.

  Jillian shook her head. “Not to your face, no, ma’am.”

  “Well, if you need anything, any of you, go to Darwin or Alex. The League will do everything in its power to give you the necessary resources,” Akako said.

  With that, Akako’s face disappeared from the screen. Darwin tucked the tablet under his arm. “And with that, I’ll leave you. Ms. Canton, get well soon. Jillian, Mr. Mayor, prepare yourselves for chaos.”

  The room was quiet as Darwin walked out as each person seemed to contemplate this development and how it would change their lives over the next few months.

  “So the world knows,” Will said. “Now what?”

  “Well, we try to avoid a panic,” Bael said. “We protect Mystic Bayou. We protect the people here.”

  “We live our lives,” Sonja added. “We plan the weddings. Prepare for the baby. Find Brendan and Cordelia somewhere a little more permanent to live. Life doesn’t stop because everything seems scary and out to get you.”

  “How is that not our town motto?” Cordelia asked.

  “Aw,” Jillian cooed. “You said ‘our town motto.’ We’re your town now.”

  “Yes, thousands of towns auditioned, but yours made the final cut,” Cordelia said, waving grandly. “Ow.”

  “I don’t know how my family is going to feel about me moving to America,” Brendan said. “But they’ll be so thrilled that I found someone, I don’t think they’ll complain too much.”

  “Do you want us to clear out and give you some space?” Will asked. “All this socializing has to be wearing on you.”

  Cordelia looked to Brendan, who squeezed her hand. She said, “Nah, I’ve had enough quiet and solitude to last me a lifetime.”

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks so much to Wayne Keyser, host of “Ballycast,” for permission to use terms listed in the Ultimate Carny Lingo Compendium, which I found to be an invaluable source of information. If you’re interested in the history/culture of carnivals and sideshows, you can find his website at www.goodmagic.com. My gratitude to Louisiana State University and Cajunradio.org, for the online resources they have provided regarding Cajun French phrases and pronunciations

  Also by Molly White

  **all lists are in reading order**

  * * *

  The Southern Eclectic Series (contemporary women
’s fiction)

  Save a Truck, Ride a Redneck (prequel novella)

  Sweet Tea and Sympathy

  Peachy Flippin’ Keen (novella)

  Ain’t She a Peach?

  Gimme Some Sugar

  * * *

  The Mystic Bayou Series (paranormal romance)

  How to Date Your Dragon

  Love and Other Wild Things

  Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues

  Selkies Are a Girl’s Best Friend

  Always Be My Banshee

  * * *

  The “Sorcery and Society” Series (young adult fantasy)

  Changeling

  Fledgling

  * * *

  The “Nice Girls” Series (paranormal romance)

  Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs

  Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men

  Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever

  Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors

  * * *

  Half-Moon Hollow Series (paranormal romance)

  The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires

  Driving Mr. Dead

  Undead Sublet (A story in The Undead in My Bed anthology)

  A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses

  I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas

  The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire

  The Single Undead Moms Club

  Fangs for the Memories

  Where the Wild Things Bite

  Big Vamp on Campus

  Accidental Sire

  Peace, Blood and Understanding

  Nice Werewolves Don’t Bite Vampires

  * * *

  The “Naked Werewolf” Series (paranormal romance)

  How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

  The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf

  How to Run with a Naked Werewolf

  * * *

  The “Bluegrass” Series (contemporary romance)