“Do you remember her maiden name?” Grand Mistress Lauren asked.
“Or your father’s name?” Slade asked just as eagerly.
Zoey felt her brow crease. It was in her brain somewhere, but her mother had done her best to erase it. They never talked about her biological father. Her mother always said her true father was Doctor Bradley Mathers. “I’m sorry,” Zoey finally cried out as she felt her powers swirling as she got upset. “I was so young, he was always just Daddy. I don’t know.”
“Do you have your birth certificate?” Slade asked, reaching out for her. The second his hand touched hers, her powers calmed.
Zoey let out a defeated sigh. “It’s at my mom’s house.”
“Bring back the certificate, then we can get to work. Slade, I’ll introduce you to the mistress in charge of genealogy,” Grand Mistress said, and Zoey was pretty sure it was an order.
Right on cue, the ancient Egyptian witch, Neferu, appeared. “How did you do that? Can you all listen in when you’re not here?” Zoey blushed at the thought of all the witches listening in to her and Slade the previous night.
“No, Vilma texted me,” Neferu said with a roll of her eyes. It was clear Neferu thought Zoey was a simpleton. But then Neferu leveled her direct gaze onto Slade. “You look familiar.”
Slade simply smiled, but offered no explanation or attempt to jog her memory.
“Master Slade will assist you in searching for Zoey’s family history. They will pop over to LA to get her birth certificate. Mathers is not her father’s last name. In the meantime, the True Tenebris has offered the use of their books. Tell Slade what you’ll require, and he can bring them to you along with the birth certificate. I want you two to work together to solve this mystery before Alexander does.”
“Yes, Grand Mistress,” Slade and Neferu replied as Neferu eyed Slade suspiciously.
“Off you go,” Grand Mistress Lauren ordered with a flick of her tail.
* * *
Slade took Zoey’s hand in his. She’d never done a transport this far before. “Just hold my hands and picture us in your mother’s house.”
Zoey pictured her old bedroom in her mother’s house—the pink and white damask wallpaper, the white furniture, and the light pink carpet. Zoey felt a jolt, and when she opened her eyes, she and Slade were standing in the middle of her childhood room.
“Good job, sweetness. I knew you could do it,” Slade said, tugging her into his arms and leaning forward to praise her with one of his mind-blowing kisses.
“What is going on? I’ve already called the police . . . Zoey?” Zoey pulled away from the kiss to find her mother, in her silk bathrobe, standing at the door. Her stepfather was right behind her with a baseball bat. “What are you doing here at five in the morning? And who is this, this, this . . . man?”
“Mom!” Zoey tried to jump away from Slade, but he held her firmly by his side. Her mother always made her feel twelve years old. But at twenty-eight, she guessed being caught kissing a man in her bedroom wasn’t exactly a capital offense.
“Sorry to wake you, Mrs. Mathers. Dr. Mathers. We just couldn’t wait to share our news,” Slade said, wrapping his arm around Zoey’s waist and grinning down at her.
Zoey heard her mother give a little gasp. She understood. When Slade smiled it was enough to make any woman gasp and fan herself.
“Are you wearing matching contacts?” Dr. Mathers asked as he kept the bat up as if still undecided whether or not he’d need it.
“Yes,” Slade said smoothly, making a move to hold out his hand. “I’m Slade. Zoey’s fiancé.”
Her mother sputtered and Zoey felt herself wanting to hide behind Slade’s large shoulders. Zoey was expected to marry well. A doctor, at the bare minimum, and it was very obvious that Slade was not a doctor. No T-shirt or jeans hugged a doctor the way they hugged Slade’s six-foot-five-inch muscled body. And that’s not even counting the tattoo of the Tenebris on his neck that consisted of a circle of black swords with a drop of blood in the center.
“Fiancé?” her mother asked, her voice raising multiple octaves.
“Isn’t it great?” Slade asked, bending down to place a quick kiss on Zoey’s open mouth. Right now she was at a loss as to what to say. Her mother had that effect on her, and then Slade’s whole fiancé statement wasn’t helping either, especially since she didn’t know if it was real or just a ploy for her parents.
“Oh Zoey, what have you done? You can’t marry this, this, this . . . man! We didn’t pay for boarding school and an Ivy League education for you to marry a . . . what are you, young man?”
“Some people call me a god,” he said, giving her mother a wink. Oh my goddess, Zoey was going to die on the spot. Her mother flushed red and suddenly looked like a fish gulping in air. “We’re here to meet you, but also for Zoey’s birth certificate.”
“Why do you need her birth certificate?” Dr. Mathers asked suspiciously.
“To get a marriage license,” Zoey answered now that words had come back to her. Now she understood. It was the perfect reason to get her certificate. Clever man.
“Just tell me where to send it and I’ll get a copy to them,” Dr. Mathers told them, as he finally lowered his bat. “Congratulations ZoAnna.” It didn’t sound happy, but at least he’d said something positive.
“Thank you, sir,” Zoey said as formally as his constant use of her full name. He’d always believed Zoey was the common nickname of someone who played with crystals and magic. How ironic that she turned out to be a witch.
“I’m afraid we’ll need that certificate now. A copy will do,” Slade said. “We’re due back home and need our license.”
“I can fax it to the clerk if your mother wants. You know I’m golfing partners with the mayor,” Bradley reminded Zoey for the hundredth time.
Zoey fumed. She didn’t care what her mother wanted. She wanted her birth certificate, and she wanted it right then. It was hers, after all. Why the fuss about handing it over? “I’m afraid we’re not living in town at the moment. In fact, I moved out of LA five months ago.”
Her mother’s brow creased as if she couldn’t imagine the idea of moving out of LA. “Where did you move? Tell me you didn’t move to the Valley,” her mother cried.
“No. I moved to Tennessee. If you’d have called me ever, you might have known that. Now, I want my birth certificate, please.” Zoey was hopping mad. Her mother was staring at her as if she was a disobedient toddler and her stepfather was simply dismissive.
“Tennessee? No, I can’t have a daughter living in Tennessee! What will the neighbors think?” her mother cried as if it was a done deal that Zoey would now move back to LA.
“What will the mayor think?” her stepfather muttered.
Slade must have felt her anger rising as he put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sweetness, why don’t you let me get to know your parents? You said you were hungry. Why don’t you pop down there to the kitchen and grab a bite? We’ll be down shortly.”
Suddenly in her head she heard Slade tell her to go. Well, that was new. Zoey took a deep breath. “Great idea, babycakes. I’ll make a pot of coffee for everyone.”
I’ll get you for that, sweetness, she heard in her head as she took off suddenly feeling better than she had moments ago. She was no longer alone. It was no longer just her versus her mother. Slade had her back, and it felt great. But now she had some snooping to do.
3
Slade smiled at Zoey’s parents as everything fell into place—the reason Zoey was so hesitant to trust, why she wasn’t used to working with a partner, and her reluctant worry about appearances. She’d grown up being constantly told she was a letdown, a disappointment. And that realization sent strong anger rushing through him; only his centuries of training prevented him from zapping her parents into nothingness.
“So, Slade, is it?” her mother asked as she wrapped her robe tightly around her. “Why don’t we move to the sitting room so we can talk like c
ivilized adults.”
Slade followed her parents from the bedroom and down a sweeping staircase to a very formal sitting room. The couch was covered in pale blue silk. The chairs looked as if they would break if he sat on them. There was no television, just artwork and tons of pictures and plaques showing how important Dr. and Mrs. Mathers were to the community. Oddly enough, there was not a single picture of Zoey.
“Just so you know, Zoey won’t get any money from her trust fund if she marries someone we don’t approve of,” her mother mentioned casually as she sat down elegantly on one of a frail chair.
Slade shrugged as he sat on the couch. “I didn’t know she had a trust fund. Not that it matters. I have enough money to last us lifetimes.” And he did. It was the benefit of being over five hundred years old. Investments made in company names could last for generations without raising suspicion.
Zoey’s mother snorted with disbelief and smiled at him as if he were cute for making up such a story.
Slade smiled sinisterly. “Does that bother you? Knowing I could buy this house and everything in it and barely put a dent in my net worth? How about knowing I would burn it all to the ground just for fun?”
“Now young man,” her stepfather said, puffing himself up. “I think it’s best to tell us what all of this is about? ZoAnna has always been a rebel. Is this her way of irritating us?”
“No, this is her way of being happy,” Zoey said from the door with an old book in her hand and papers sticking out of it.
“Put that back!” her mother gasped. “That’s not yours.”
“It’s my father’s and that makes it mine. You knew. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Knew what?” Slade asked, standing to move over to Zoey.
“This doesn’t concern you,” her mother snapped. “This is a family discussion and you need to leave. Now!”
Slade looked down at the old book and his breath caught. It was the book of the Tenebris. He looked up into Zoey’s eyes and reached out to her. Her heart was breaking, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He felt it just as surely as she did since they’d bonded.
“Now!” her mother’s shrill voice cracked, and Slade simply looked at her. In that second, a soundproof wall divided the room. Her mother’s face went white as she pounded on it.
“Are you okay, sweetness?” Slade asked.
Zoey shook her head as tears silently fell. “She never told me. I found it in a hidden safe. I was drawn to it. I’ve never felt anything like that before. And then I found the safe, and it was like my fingers knew the combination.”
“Magic finds magic. It’s how the Tenebris find the Claritase. Are you ready to talk to your parents or do you want to leave? It would be a sight to see your mom climbing out the window.”
Zoey shook her head. “No, I’m ready to talk to them. I need answers.”
With a snap of his fingers the wall came down and her mother stumbled forward. “Don’t hurt her!” her mother cried as she ran between them, shoving Zoey behind her. “You can’t have her!”
Now, that wasn’t what Slade had been expecting and neither had Zoey by the surprised look on her face. “I’m not going to hurt her. We are true loves—honestly. But I do want to protect her. I think it’s time we all sat down and had a real talk.”
“How do I know you won’t kill her?” her mother asked, gripping Zoey tightly behind her.
“Would you feel better if I told you she’s more powerful than I am? Or we can call one of her friends if that would make you feel better.”
“Powerful? Zoey’s not powerful. She has no powers, so she should have been safe. But you still found her.”
“Mom, I’m pretty powerful. It was an accident that I got them but I have powers. But, safe from what?”
“From him!” her mother screamed as she pointed at Slade. Bradley raised his bat again and tried to sneak forward.
Slade’s eyes narrowed. No, it couldn’t be . . .
“Stay away from her! I’ll kill you,” her mother grabbed a candlestick and swung. Slade easily moved out of the way and pulled out his phone. A second later Neferu knocked at the door.
“Could you get that, Dr. Mathers?” Slade asked as he took a step away from Zoey’s mother and called out her stepdad with the bat ready to swing.
Her stepfather looked conflicted, but the choice was taken away from him when Neferu simply walked inside. She glided into the room confidently as Zoey’s parents stared at her in surprise.
“What was so important?” Neferu asked in her ever-present voice of superiority.
“Show her, Zoey,” Slade simply said.
Zoey held out the book, and for once Neferu looked surprised before calmly saying, “Well, that’s interesting.”
“Who are you?” Mrs. Mathers asked.
“Neferu, head genealogist of the Claritase. We need to talk about Zoey’s father.”
“Claritase . . . save her from that man!”
“Mrs. Mathers,” Neferu said with such calm yet undeniable authority Mrs. Mathers’s mouth snapped shut. “As suspicious as I have been about Slade, I believe he’s of no danger to your daughter. However, that does not mean she is free from danger. Which is why we need you to tell us everything about her father right now. Why don’t we sit?”
Neferu reached out and touched Zoey’s arm in silent support. Zoey seemed as surprised as Slade felt by the comforting action. Neferu wiggled her fingers and a complete tea tray appeared. Dr. Mathers stood speechless, his mouth hanging open as the bat dropped to his side. But Mrs. Mathers didn’t seem one bit surprised.
“So, you knew Zoey’s father was a witch?” Slade asked, but Mrs. Mathers still looked suspicious of him.
“Mom?”
Mrs. Mathers picked up a teacup. It rattled in the saucer as she tried to lift it before giving up and setting it back down. “Yes, I knew. But he said since I was human, ZoAnna probably would not show any signs of being a witch. And since she didn’t inherit his powers she would be safe.”
“Safe from what?” Neferu asked before Slade could.
“My husband,” she looked back at Dr. Mathers and corrected herself. “ZoAnna’s father that is. He belonged to the Tenebris. He came from an old family, but the leader . . . what is his name?”
“Alexander,” Slade told her.
“Wanted him dead.”
Slade put a reassuring hand on Zoey’s knee and looked at her mother. “I think I better start at the beginning.”
4
Zoey didn’t know whether she was shaking or if her energy was about to burst free. She felt she would shatter if she moved. She’d been in a constant state of combustibility since she opened the safe and saw the old Tenebris text inside. But when she found out her mother knew . . . well, she was afraid she might accidently poof herself from existence if she got any more surprises. But then Slade had put his hand on her leg, and it seemed to take some of the edge off.
She looked over at him and his eyes told her he had her. She was safe. And then her mother reached for Zoey’s stepfather and began to tell them of her marriage to Zoey’s father.
“I met Gus . . .” Her mother paused. “Magnus that is—when I was young. We met and quickly fell in love. We had no money. We really had nothing but our love. It wasn’t until Gus asked me to marry him that he showed me who he was. He told me he came from an ancient line of witches that were put on this earth as healers. But his family was exiled, and he’d been on his own since then. He said he didn’t want me to marry him unless I knew and accepted the real him. The”—her mother took a deep breath to steady herself—“witch part of him. He told me we’d have a halfling if we were ever blessed with children and that he or she probably wouldn’t have his powers.”
“How old was he? His real age?” Neferu amended.
“When we married, he was one hundred twenty-three years old. He’d be a hundred and fifty now,” Zoey’s mother said as she gripped onto her husband’s hand. “I was so in love. I didn’t care who he
was, and on a certain level I found it thrilling. We married and were blissfully happy. ZoAnna was born and things changed. Gus became paranoid. He was determined this Alexander was going to find her and kill her. He’d disappear for long stretches of time saying he was doing research on how to kill this man or he was training to protect us. He told me how the Tenebris hunted the Claritase. ZoAnna, being female, would be hunted her whole life.”
Her mother took another deep breath. “One night after he’d been gone for two weeks, Gus woke me up in the middle of the night. He said they were coming for him. That they had found out he was still alive and he had to leave to protect us. He handed me divorce papers and made me sign them. I begged him not to go, but he said he was doing it to protect us. He said he’d stop by a couple times a year to see ZoAnna if it was safe and the best thing I could do was forget all about him.”
“Did he tell you who found out he was still alive?” Neferu asked.
“Me,” Slade said suddenly. “Your husband was Magnus Rode, wasn’t he?”
Neferu gasped, and that scared Zoey more than anything, especially when her mother nodded that Slade was correct.
“Who is Magnus Rode?” Zoey asked.
“Your father, and the man the Tenebris was trying to kill,” Zoey’s mother said angrily as she narrowed her eyes at Slade. Zoey looked at him and saw the guilt in his eyes. No. Please, no. Slade couldn’t have killed her father.
* * *
“The Rodes were originals. Incredibly powerful originals, and Alexander’s main opposition,” Slade explained in shock. If Slade didn’t know the Goddess believed in fate and letting things play out on their own, he would have sworn she had her hand in this.
Neferu looked at him with the same surprise he felt before picking up the story. He just couldn’t. Not when he was at fault. “Your ancestors were second-in-power to the Goddess herself. The original Rode, Selena, was said to be best friends with Grand Mistress Celesta. Selena and her husband grew in power over the years, not through killing as the Tenebris hunters do, but through healing and love. They cared for millions over the eons, and they grew powerful through their love. Then, when Alexander took over, the Rode family refused to bow to his power. They knew his heart was black and would not follow him. Alexander’s first move as the head of Tenebris was to have Selena and her husband assassinated.”
Moonshine & Mayhem Page 2