Unfortunately, the formation of our expanded team came with new leadership. Elizabeth and James shared the leader responsibilities now.
“Having two leaders means we can divide ourselves into teams and cover twice as much ground,” James explained when he made the announcement. “Zander, Adam, and Cassie—you’re with me. The rest of you will work with Elizabeth whenever we split up for missions.”
“Is this some type of punishment for ripping my dad’s Roberto Clemente signed baseball card? Or locking my sister in the bathroom for three hours and calling it ‘babysitting’? Some other childhood crime?” I grumbled. “I swear she only picked me for her team so she can have a new reason to remind me that I’m a failure or not ‘living up to my potential.’”
With each mission we went on, my powers grew and became fortified. I could now successfully hold six shields while fighting and keep them up for over an hour. As impressed as I was at my abilities most of the time, Elizabeth thought I wasn’t trying hard enough. There may have been once—or twice (okay four times) Max physically restrained me from slapping her silly.
“She likes you, Luce,” Cassie reassured me when I found the news out. “It’s just deep, deep down. I think you remind her of herself in some way.”
“That is the most—“
“Lucy? You with us today?” James called, snapping me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t heard a word he’d said and could have kicked myself for it.
“Sorry, guess the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. What were you saying?”
“I was saying we should congratulate ourselves for successfully retrieving six souls during this last mission. The Retrieval team has processed them and they have since moved on to their final destination. While two were taken against their will, four willingly turned themselves over for a chance at living forever, and one of the four was a hardcore sadist who enjoyed hurting others. The Omega was happy to have him returned and from the look on half the Council’s faces, they’d been looking for him for quite a while and will probably enjoy his punishment.”
I nodded, not wanting to interrupt. I was already embarrassed by my behavior and got a wink from Cassie. I winked back and turned toward James to try to pay closer attention.
“Marco, do you have any news on our mole situation?”
“If I did, you would know about it already. Move on.” Marco’s nostrils flared and the tips of his ears were the shade of a ripe tomato. We all knew he was feeling guilty that he didn’t have any information by now, and it was boiling over to everything else. He took it as a personal failure that someone could evade his extra senses for so long, and his nerves were constantly on edge.
“Is there anyone you feel we can cross off our list of suspects? Anyone absolutely innocent?”
A little hope flashed in Marco’s eyes and he sat up a little straighter in his seat. “As a matter of fact, I can report on a few. Finnegan O’Malley is clean. The man actually asked me how to get on this team because he wanted to take out more ‘evil bloodsuckers’ as he called them. Of course I denied that such a team existed, but you know the Commons room—“
“Yeah, it breeds more gossip than a high school girls’ bathroom,” Cassie snorted. Marco glared at her and she bit her lip to keep from saying anything else.
“As I was saying,” Marco continued. “Niall Thornbury can be checked off the list too. He has been out of the realm for the last two weeks due to a new assignment with the angels and didn’t even know we left on that last mission. I’m pretty sure we can eliminate Shelby Lew from the list, but I’m waiting for final confirmation on that. I should know in the next couple of days.”
“Awesome! So how many confirmed good guys now?” I asked excitedly. Narrowing the search meant we were closer to finding the real culprit and Jessica’s soul. The others might have thought that I was silly for still believing we could find her unscathed, but the smallest possibility fueled me and kept me from breaking down when I was at my lowest.
James crossed the names Marco gave him off of the list we’d created on the far wall and added two more to the tally. “Sixty-two. Not nearly enough. We have double that still left on the suspect list.”
“Well, crap on a cracker,” Deflated, I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest.
“No,” Zander spoke up, surprising most of the group since the laid-back kid usually didn’t take the lead. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. Sorry, Lucy. I know you want your sister back now, but the larger mission is to shut down the operations of all those who are stealing the souls, and we can’t do that without finding the spy. We’ll get there. It’ll take time.”
I scoffed, but didn’t reply. Time is something that we had, but with each day that passed my sweet, innocent sister’s soul became blacker and more corrupt. How long could a person have evil all around her before it seeped inside and became a permanent part of them?
Max gave my hand a squeeze in agreement with Zander. “He’s right. This was a success, so no pouting.” He turned away from me and focused on Elizabeth, “Majesty, any new leads we can start to research or focus on?”
I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at his use of her formal title. He must really want something to suck up in this manner. I wondered what he was up to.
The queen gave me an exasperated look, but answered Max’s question. “It has come to my attention that there has been a surge of vampire activity in the South. I have been in contact with the leaders of teams from Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi. We have begun pooling our intelligence to gain the upper hand, but nothing is concrete yet. It might be a week or more before I have anything substantial to go on.”
“That’s good.” Max nodded, a hint of a smile on his face. “James, with no viable leads in the immediate future, I propose that we take a respite. We have been on missions or training for upcoming missions for the last month straight without more than a few hours off. I say, for the next week we get a break.”
“I know that you all have been working tirelessly, so I agree. A break is necessary. We need to be rested and ready to go as soon as Elizabeth verifies a few things.” James tapped his fingers on the desk while he thought. I crossed my fingers—and hell, my eyes and toes too for good measure—hoping he’d let us have some much-needed R & R. “You all have four days. Be back here not a moment later.”
At his announcement, everyone in the room leapt out of their chairs and headed for the door. The meeting had just begun, but with the word vacation front and center in our brains, James knew we were a lost cause now. Max grabbed my hand to lead me away, but I hesitated a moment.
I kissed Max on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “Give me a minute with him.”
“I’ll meet you outside. Don’t be long.” The look in his eye told me he already had plans for our time off.
I licked my lips in anticipation and nodded, giving him a final wink as he headed for the door.
“James, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course, Lucy. What do you need?”
“I wanted to check in with you. I know that you and Amelia haven’t seen each other recently and when I saw her at lunch the other day she barely even acknowledged me. Did something happen?”
“Lucy, I appreciate your concern, but I’d like to keep my personal life private.”
I placed my hand on his forearm and squeezed gently. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that I haven’t seen you smile in weeks. We haven’t seen you smile in weeks, and we’re worried about you.”
James turned away and I knew I struck a chord. “We—about a month ago we stopped seeing each other.” He swallowed hard and shuffled some papers on the desk.
“Oh, James, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you come to us? We would have been there for you.” I took his hand in my own and comforted him the best way I could, but he wasn’t one to open up or admit weakness, so I wasn’t sure if I was helping.
“I appreciate your concern Lucy, but I’m okay. Really. I’ve had so
me time to analyze what went wrong and decompress, so I’m much better.”
“James, I know that you’re the strong silent type, but it’s okay to lean on your friends every once in a while. It’s what we’re here for. We care about you and don’t want to see you hurt.” I paused for a few minutes to think. There had to be something I could do to cheer him up. “Listen, I don’t know what we’re doing yet, but come with us on vacation. It’ll be good to be surrounded by people who care about you.”
He turned to me and tilted his head, offering a smile. “Your thoughtfulness is exactly what I needed. But I can’t go. I have to stay here and do a few more things. Plus, I have a meeting with the Council that I can’t miss. You all go and enjoy your time off.”
“We will have our bracelets, so if you change your mind give us a shout. You know you’re always welcome.”
“I do know. Thank you.” I gave him a quick hug and a final wave before rejoining Max. I knew he’d want me to talk about what happened, but out of respect for James I kept it to myself.
Chapter Four
“Good morning, my love.” Max wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. He nuzzled his nose into my neck, tickling the fine hairs and sending a shower of goosebumps down my body.
“It is now. I can’t think of a better way to wake up,” I breathed heavily. He was trailing kisses along my collarbone. Turning my body, I arched back to grant him more access. We’d been living together for a while, but with our hectic travel schedules, we didn’t get much alone time. At first, we were waiting for the right moment. But as the days ticked by, our mutual frustration at not yet being intimate grew. Not that we didn’t try, but our friends were always over, or we were out. There was never a quiet evening at home alone or a lazy morning sleeping in. I longed for nothing more than intimate, alone time with him today of all days. I’d waited months for this.
“You know,” he started, tracing the outline of the spaghetti strap holding the top of my pajamas in place. “There’s nothing more I’d like to do today than to spend all day in bed with you, birthday girl.”
I turned to him, mouth agape. “How did you know? I never mentioned my birthday since I…well, died. Adam told me a while ago that it’s not something Patroni celebrate anymore.”
“Because loving you means I want to know everything there is to know about you. And this is the first year that you haven’t had a birthday. I knew it would be a tough one for you, especially given how horrible the rest of this year has been.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. “There may have been a lot of terrible things that happened since I died, but none of them hold a candle to how amazing it’s been finding you. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”
I ran my hands down his bare back, tracing the contours of the smooth, hard muscles. Max moaned against my mouth as we kissed. “Okay, okay. If you get me started, there’s no way I’m going to want to leave this room. It’s going to be near impossible already. But I have a present for you, so get dressed and meet me in the living room.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “You didn’t have to get me anything. Having you is more than enough.”
Max was already out of bed and throwing on an old tee shirt that read “I Dig Dead People,” an homage to his days as an anthropology professor.
I stood up before he could completely pull it on, pressing my cheek against his back and trailing kisses down his spine. I could feel his muscles stiffen under my touch and wrapped my hands around him, pressing my palms into his chest to hold him close to me.
“You sure you want to leave this room?”
Max groaned, his body loosening as he submitted to my request, but instead of throwing me on the bed like I wanted him to, he shook his head a few times as if to clear his thoughts.
“God, as much as I want to, this is the worst timing. C’mon, let’s go get your present. You’re going to love it, trust me. I can’t wait to see your face.”
That piqued my curiosity more than anything, and as soon as he ran out the door to get whatever my present was ready, I opened my wardrobe door and tore through it to try to find something to wear today. I settled on a FSU fitted tee that I knew would make Max happy and a pair of cutoff jean shorts that emphasized my 5’ 11” frame. I ran my fingers through my curly locks and tossed my hair into a French twist with little whispies hanging out of the end.
As much as I wanted to open this present, I knew I shouldn’t go anywhere without at least brushing my teeth, so I took another ten minutes brushing, putting on makeup, and a dab of perfume behind my ears. Looking at myself in the mirror, I knew that was the best it was going to get on fifteen minutes’ notice, so I turned and headed into the living room.
When I got there, I was shocked to see it full of people. “Surprise!” everyone yelled once they saw me. I was stunned and frozen in place, so Max came around, taking my hand and leading me through the small crowd that gathered. I said hello to the members of my team, giving quick hugs or waves.
“I can’t believe you did this!” I stammered.
Max pulled me closer and kissed my temple. “You deserve it.”
A pang of guilt stabbed me at his words, but I swallowed it down. I needed to live my life.
Amelia and Elizabeth were in the corner. Each waved to me (though Elizabeth’s could have been more of a finger twitch). I received several birthday wishes from people I’d gotten to know over the last six months and smiled when I noticed Marco decided to come. I said a silent hello and thanks for coming, knowing that he was probably reading my mind anyway. He tipped his head in acknowledgement and went to grab some fruit from the platter on the kitchen counter.
I was listening to David Stone, who was once again telling the tale about being sucked into a swell as he tried to go surfing during a Category Five hurricane, being spun so forcefully that his limbs were dislocated from their joints before his death when Cassie nodded to Max. He handed me a mimosa and clinked his own glass with a fork.
“Can I have everyone’s attention for a moment?” he asked. The room quieted. He always was able to command peoples’ attention. “First, I’d like to thank you for coming this morning and joining us for this birthday brunch. I know we as Patroni don’t celebrate the anniversary of our births anymore, so it means a lot that you’d take the time today, knowing it was special for Lucy.”
“We wanted the free booze!” Paul Clever shouted from the back of the room. Everyone laughed.
“Well, there’s plenty of it, and food as well. So please, help yourselves and thanks again for coming,” Max continued. “I want to propose a toast. To Lucy, may the laughter never leave your lips, smile never leave your eyes, and love never leave your heart.”
“To Lucy! Cheers!” The crowd toasted around me, clinking glasses.
Max leaned down, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ears and kissed my cheek. “Happy birthday, my love.”
“Thank you for this. It’s wonderful. This is the best birthday present ever.”
He chuckled lightly and shook his head. “No, sweetie, this isn’t your present. You’ll get that as soon as everyone leaves.”
I didn’t know what to say to that and didn’t get a chance to reply as Max placed his hand on the small of my back and led me through the room so I could say hello to everyone. Since there were only about twenty people or so, I was able to spend a little time with each of them so I could thank them for coming and catch up on their current missions. It was fun to see the differences in our jobs even though we all technically worked together.
I finally made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a plate of French toast, piling fresh strawberries on top and smothering them with syrup. I added some sausage links and dug in, savoring the blend of the flavors and smiling. Cassie sat next to me, telling me about Adam’s newest scheme to tear down the wall to the adjoining apartment since it was empty and expand their place. Upon hearing his name, he came over, lifting her easily and planting her on his l
ap before stealing a kiss.
We talked and mingled for another two hours, but eventually people needed to get back to work and left. I was hugging the last person when Max came up behind me.
“Ready for your present now?”
Cassie and Adam were sitting together on the couch; it was just the four of us there now. I couldn’t contain my squeal of excitement and nodded my head.
“Good, be right back,” Max said, quickly darting out the door and closing it behind him.
“Where’s he going?” I had no idea what he was up to, but by the gleam in his eye I knew he had something big up his sleeve. Cassie and Adam eyed each other, having a silent conversation but no one said a word. “All right, I know you guys are up to something. What is it?”
I could see Cassie sucking in her cheeks, probably biting them before she spilled. I was about to lay it on thick to get her to tell me, but before I could say another word, the door opened and Max walked through, carrying a large box wrapped in pink and black paper with a big black glittery bow on top.
“Wow. What is it?” I asked. The wrapping was so beautiful that I didn’t want to ruin it by taking it off. I could only imagine how much better the present would be.
“I know this is something you’ve wanted for a very long time. I worked some magic and pulled some strings, but it’s going to be totally worth it to see how happy this makes you.” Max gently set the box down, came over and took my hand, leading me to sit on the floor next to the box. “Go ahead, open it.”
I pulled the end of the black bow, slowly peeling it away from the top of the package. As it fell in a heap to the floor, the wrapping dropped from each side. Inside was a small, metal crate and sitting in the center, sound asleep, was the most adorable puppy I’d ever seen.
“Ohhhh, he’s so cute! Oh my goodness, look at him!” I cooed.
I flipped the latch to open the door and reached inside, scooping the puppy up into my arms. It was a French bulldog puppy, white with one brown patch on its belly in the shape of a star. His little ears were twitching as he listened to me, but he snuggled into my lap and fell back asleep.
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