by M. L. Briers
“No!” Louann shrieked, and Lottie nudged her in the back.
“Not helping,” Lottie said, by way of a warning.
Lottie could see what Louann couldn’t; that for whatever reason, whether it be the alcohol, Claudia’s visit, maybe just life weighing her down in general, or even a midlife crisis, Marilyn was like a teenager rallying against authority. If Louann was anything, she was a strong personality that you either liked or couldn’t get far enough away from fast enough.
If this had been the military, then there would have been a mutiny on the cards, but Lottie could see the way that Marilyn had reacted to her mother’s words and telling a rebellious child not to do something was always a sure-fire way to make it happen. Of course, Marilyn was a grown-ass woman, but they were still mother and daughter.
Claudia and Marilyn looked at each other, and at that moment, Marilyn finally discovered her wicked youth again. They both smiled, knowing what the other was thinking without saying a word, and then they turned back to the vampire.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
~
“Come on in,” Marilyn and Claudia said together, but it was only Marilyn’s invite that unlocked the magical barrier that kept the vampire on the other side of the threshold.
“Oh, dear Goddess, they’ve plum gone and lost their minds,” Louann said as if it was the end of the world as she knew it. Maybe it was if the vampire had his way, after all, nobody knew why he’d come back to town.
“Less dramatics, more listening,” Lottie whispered in her ear.
Neal lifted his booted foot and tested the threshold of the house. He didn’t entirely trust a witch, any witch, and especially not Claudia or Louann. For all, he knew they could have put a spell on the doorway that would turn him to ashes the moment he tried to step inside.
He felt nothing; just the buzz from the essence of magical power in the air, and pushed on inside. “I finally get to see the real you,” Neal said over his shoulder to Marilyn as she tossed the front door closed behind him.
“What’s going on?” Sandy asked Amber and Amber panicked.
“Sandy,” she said with the sudden realisation that the witch-not-witch knew little about anything magical. “Let’s get some snacks and watch a movie,” she said, steering her out of the hallway and towards the kitchen.
Amber had no intention of missing out on the fireworks if there was going to be any, and she planned to deposit Sandy in front of the television and head right back into the fray. Things had started to get interesting, and in Clearview, that didn’t happen a lot.
“I’m kind of tired,” Sandy said, and Amber changed course, heading her towards the stairs.
“I’ll show you your room,” Amber said, eager to get her friend settled and return.
“There goes my snack,” Neal said, aiming that at Louann and smiling when his comment hit the mark.
The elder pulled herself to her full height, lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes on him. “On your head, be it, Marilyn,” she said. “Don’t say you weren’t warned.”
“Perish the thought,” Marilyn said and rolled her eyes at Claudia who smiled back.
“I need a drink,” Neal said, and Marilyn motioned towards her mother who was still blocking the doorway.
“Go for it,” she said ambiguously, and her mother snapped to attention.
“I hope you didn’t mean what you could have meant by that,” Louann said and eyed the vampire up and down. “Don’t even consider it,” she warned him.
“If you were the last food on earth and I was starving, I still wouldn’t take a sip,” Neal assured her, but he snapped on a mocking smile to go with his words.
When Louann huffed and turned back into the room, she eyed Lottie who held her ground for a long moment with a warning look for her old friend. “Can’t you be nice for five minutes?”
“No,” Louann admitted. “Two is my maximum.”
“Well, look at that, you made a funny there’s hope for civilisation after all,” Lottie said with a teasing smile before she stepped out of the way to let Louann by. “Booze is this way, and that’s all you’re getting,” Lottie warned Neal, and he offered her a curt nod. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Marilyn,” she added, and Marilyn just shrugged in return.
Claudia sidled up to Marilyn and leant in to whisper in her ear. “But, doesn’t it feel freeing to be this badass?”
Marilyn frowned. She didn’t feel very free or for that matter like a badass. But she was done with rules – for now – and she wanted to know what the heck was going on in the quiet little town of Clearview, and maybe the vampire had the answers as things seemed to start going wrong the moment he arrived back in town.
~
“No, really, help yourself to the booze,” Marilyn said, eyeing the vampire in her living room who was making himself at home.
“You can come to my house and help yourself to anything you want at any time,” Neal said with a charming smile that made her bristle.
“Numb-nuts,” she muttered and heard Claudia snicker behind her.
Louann hadn’t gone anywhere, she’d only flounced off as far as the chair by the fireplace, and Lottie sat in the matching one on the other side to make them look like bookends. With those two keeping a watchful eye on proceedings, Marilyn thought she had little to worry about.
Scott was sitting on the edge of one of the comfy chairs, looking more than sheepish as he couldn’t meet his mother’s eye, and Claudia was hovering behind her. Apart from Amber, the gang was all there, and she wondered when they would get down to the nitty-gritty.
“Explain,” Marilyn demanded, and she folded her arms and told herself that it had better be good.
It was bad enough that she was second-guessing herself for inviting the vampire into her home, but if she had to kill him at some point then so be it. She wasn’t moving house that was for sure. There were too many memories stored in the walls, in each room, to say goodbye. It would have felt like she was turning her back on the family to leave the house behind.
No, if it came to a choice between moving house or keeping the vampire out of the family home – the bloodsucker was going down in flames. Ashes to ashes; he’d be toast.
“Why don’t we let Scott tell you all about it?” Neal said, as he turned with a glass of her best Scotch in his hand and eyed the young warlock with amusement.
Scott stayed silent, but he did fidget on the edge of his seat, so Marilyn knew he had something to say. “Scott?”
Scott winced. “I did something,” he started, and then stopped.
“It’s like blood from a stone,” Louann said and rolled her eyes. “Be more specific, dear, we all do something every day.”
“I’m getting to that,” Scott said, feeling decidedly uncomfortable.
“There’s no judgement here,” Lottie offered in a sympathetic tone.
“Speak for yourself,” Louann shot back.
“I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, Lou, but you’re not helping,” Lottie muttered.
Louann bristled. “He’s not a child, he did it, he should own up to it, and own his mistake,” she rallied back.
Marilyn sighed. “I just want the story, not the chatter of crows,” she informed them and then bit her tongue when her mother gave her a death glare. Luckily, Lottie saw the funny side.
“He promised something to Roland and then didn’t deliver,” Neal informed them, and all eyes turned to Scott.
“Who’s Roland?” Marilyn asked and noted that Scott grimaced again. That was bad. She knew her son and grimacing meant that she wasn’t going to like it any more than he appeared not to like having to tell her about it.
“And what did he promise?” Amber asked, walking into the room and taking a seat on the far end of the sofa near her brother’s chair.
Scott sighed. He guessed that he needed to come clean and tell the truth. “Roland is…”
“Wait for it,” Neal said with relish.
“Could you not?”
Marilyn snapped, scolding the vampire for his interruption.
“But, it’s so much fun,” Neal said, mocking her.
“I will magically pick you up by the collar and toss you outside like an unwanted feline,” Marilyn warned him, and as she stared at him with the look of a woman who was close approaching the end of her rope – he believed she’d try.
“He’s a vampire,” Scott blurted out before his mother and Neal got into it again.
Marilyn made a slow turn to stare at her son in surprise, and all eyes in the room were on him. “You promised a vampire something?” she said in disbelief, and then the penny dropped. “You’re working for a vampire?” she spat out with dismay.
“Did your mother teach you nothing?” Claudia said.
“Obviously not,” Louann said and looked anywhere but at Marilyn when her daughter snapped a glare at her.
“And he didn’t deliver,” Neal reminded them.
“That wasn’t entirely my fault,” Scott said, but he couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze.
“It was your fault,” Neal said, sounding bored with life, and Marilyn opened her mouth to rush to her son’s rescue, but Neal kept going. “Anyway – Roland’s brother ended up getting ‘death by police officer’ rather than thirty years in jail and trying to come up with an explanation of why he hadn’t aged a day since being incarcerated …”
“Wait,” Claudia shook her head frowning. “A vampire brother?”
“It happens, or it did back in the day,” Neal informed her. “A sire would turn brothers for their loyalty for each other only to be second to their loyalty for him.”
“Sounds … peachy,” Claudia said.
“Sounds despicable,” Marilyn said, scolding her with a look.
Neal shrugged. “Anyway…” he continued, “Roland’s brother has had to go underground – you know, new life, new identity, maybe even a new continent – and they’re both … miffed,” he said, being polite about the hell-show that it had all unleashed.
“That’s one way to describe it,” Scott grumbled.
“And you’re here because…?” Marilyn demanded the whole truth from her son and the vampire.
Neal looked at Scott, and the warlock groaned. “He works for Roland…”
Neal held up a finger and shook his head. “With Roland, not for,” he corrected him.
“And you’re here because…?” Marilyn asked again.
She didn’t like it that her son was working for criminal vampires – heck, was a criminal who was selling his magic – but she didn’t like the fact that he’d brought Neal back into town.
What was he thinking?
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
~
Neal took a long moment to consider it. “Scott was careful to try to stay mysterious, not give too much away about where he came from or who he was – but as soon as I felt his magic…” He shrugged once more.
Marilyn straightened up. “You knew his lineage,” Marilyn said as they stared at each other across the room.
“Would you two like a moment?” Claudia asked.
“No,” they said together.
Marilyn dragged her gaze from Neal to her son, and once she was sure any hold that Neal had on her had been broken; she looked at Neal again. “Now what?” she asked, fearful of the answer.
“So you broke into my store?” Amber asked.
“Not me,” Neal said. “I followed you in…”
“And the shifter was in the back,” Amber said, nodding. “So, the shifter works for Roland?”
“Possibly, I’m not in the in-crowd with Roland’s henchmen,” Neal informed them.
“But, aren’t you a henchman?” Louann asked with a sparkle in her eyes like she’d scored a point.
“With – I work with him, not for him, there’s a big difference,” Neal informed her.
“Someone struck a nerve,” Claudia said with glee.
“No,” Neal said. “I just like things to be accurate,” he added.
Claudia offered him her best-unimpressed look. “I’m sure that’s it,” she said and snapped on a bright, mocking grin.
“So, we figure the shifter broke into the shop and my house?” Amber asked frowning. “But why?”
“Good question,” Louann said. “I still think the vampire did it.”
“I’m shocked,” Neal tossed back.
“So, who hit Scott over the head?” Amber asked, and Marilyn’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline.
“You got hit on the head?” she asked with the mild shriek in her tone that could only come from a protective mother.
“Spark-o,” Neal said. Marilyn turned an accusing look on him, and he wagged his finger at her. “I know you’re not thinking to blame me for that one.”
“Wrong again,” Louann said.
“Where were you?” Marilyn asked and placed her hands on her hips as she offered him a hard stare.
Perhaps allowing him into her home had been a little premature – a decade could do a lot to a person, and she didn’t know him anymore. But it wasn’t as if spending a good chunk of your life with someone allowed you to know them any better – apparently, her ex-husband had been a complete mystery to her.
Neal drew her attention back to him with just a sigh. “I was walking by the alleyway and scented blood…”
“Blood?” Marilyn said and immediately stalked across the room to Scott to check on his injuries.
“It’s fine,” Scott said, holding up his hands to fend her off. “I’m not two, and it’s all good.”
Marilyn stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes on him, but she didn’t want to be the hen mother, he was a grown man – and a criminal – but that she could overlook for the moment when he needed her help.
“Convenient you were just – walking by?” Louann said, walking her fingers through the air and cocking a curious eyebrow at the vampire.
“Louann, I get that you don’t like me…”
“Understatement of the year,” Louann muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
“And the feeling is somewhat reciprocated, but can we focus on what’s important?”
“I’m more than happy to talk spells that will banish you forever,” Louann said, met his gaze and held it like a vice with her own. “So, explain how you were walking by, conveniently, I might add.”
“You already did, and not conveniently when you factor in that my car was parked in that direction,” Neal tossed back.
“Speaking of cars, who cut my brakes?” Claudia asked, folding her arms and giving him a hard glare.
“Your brakes were cut?” Amber asked, and Lottie and Louann joined in with the chatter.
Marilyn rolled her eyes and stared at them all talking over each other. The only person who wasn’t speaking was Neal, and as she caught his gaze, he suddenly felt like the life raft in a stormy sea.
That wasn’t right; she didn’t want him to be the sanity in the mayhem, and certainly not a life raft. It took her a moment to pull her gaze away, sneaky little bloodsucker had drawn her in with his vampire attraction when her guard was down, but she was a strong-ass witch, and he couldn’t keep her locked to him.
Everybody was still yapping, and she put her finger and thumb in her mouth and whistled hard and loud. She noticed the way that high pitched sound made Neal very uncomfortable and she revelled in it, but it also shut everybody else in the room up, and that was twice as good. “So, now what?” Marilyn asked, now that she had their attention she wasn’t about to let mayhem reign once more.
Neal was the first to answer. “We know that I didn’t start the fire in the boarding house, break into Amber’s store, or cut the brake lines on Claudia’s car,” he said. “Although, I can see why someone might find that tempting,” he added with a smirk, and Claudia grunted.
“But…” Claudia started, pointing her finger to the ceiling to make her point, but he cut her off.
“I never hit Bozo the warlock clown over the head, nor did I ransack Amber’s
place because, and I point this out for the hard-of-thinking among you…” He looked at Louann, and it was the elder’s turn to grunt. “I haven’t been invited into Amber’s house,” he announced like he had been vindicated of all wrongdoing, and should be apologised to, immediately and unreservedly.
“Says you,” Louann piped up, and muttered something under her breath that he couldn’t quite make out, but their history said it wasn’t going to be all rainbows and unicorns.
Lottie nudged Louann with her magic and got a scowl in return. “Sourpuss, admit it, you wanted it to be him.”
“Of course I did, and there is no proof that it isn’t,” Louann bit back.
“Except I can’t get into Amber’s, I went in the front of the store…”
“You could have had help,” Louann grumbled.
“And fairies might be dancing at the bottom of your wishing well, but it’s unlikely.” Neal tossed back. “Well, my job here is done,” Neal said and turned towards the door.
“You’re leaving town – now?” Marilyn demanded, and when he made a slow turn back toward her, a satisfied smile on his lips, she pulled her head back on her neck and winced at how that had sounded.
Whoops. She blamed alcohol.
“I was planning on going home,” Neal said with an easy smile for her that sent the blood rushing to her cheeks, and she was sure that they were glowing red hot, or maybe even white-hot. “That’s if Broom-Hilda has left me a home I can get into, or is still standing,” he said motioning to her mother.
“Mom?” Marilyn asked, turning to her mother with surprise. “What did you do now?”
Louann batted it away with a wave of her hand. “He’s safe,” she said and shot a quick glare at Lottie. “My conscience was with me.” She looked down at her shoes. “That’s not to say I won’t burn it down around him if I find out he’s lying,” she muttered.
“Noted,” Neal called back over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
Louann waited for the front door to close and turned a glare on her daughter. “I cannot believe you invited him in.”