“You bring ’em, and Lurnell’s gonna eat ’em. I love chocolate!”
Fiona laughed. “You’ve got it. I have to help Caitlin with something first, but as soon as I’m done, I’ll get those cookies for you. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Oh, I ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Lurnell said, bright-eyed.
As Fiona headed for Caitlin, four girls who appeared to be in their early teens, came rushing up to the cash register, giggling.
“Can I help you?” Shauna asked.
More giggling. Whispering. Then each girl stretched out a hand. One held a piece of citrine, another hematite, the third, a piece of amethyst, and the fourth, a beautifully cut quartz.
“Are these, like, magical?” the girl holding the citrine asked.
“Yeah,” said the one with the amethyst. “’Cause, like, we have a friend, you know, who told us they were real magic. And, like, we were supposed to come over here and get some, and you’d be able to tell us, like, which ones might bring us boyfriends and stuff.”
All four girls started giggling again.
Shauna grinned. She didn’t want to burst their bubble by getting technical, but the truth of the matter was that the magical elements in crystals and gems didn’t have anything to do with magic at all. The vibration of each stone, united with the energy of focused thought, often times did manifest a person’s goal or desire. But that had nothing to do with magic. It was simply the natural law of attraction. She was trying to figure out how to explain that without getting too technical, when Lurnell stepped up to the girls.
“Okay, if y’all wanna know if them rocks is magic, put ’em right here in my hand,” Lurnell said. “I’m gonn’ feel if they magic, and if they is, I’m gonna tell you they is. If they not, I’m gonna tell you they not.”
Looking a little fearful, each girl dropped her stone into Lurnell’s palm.
“Now, let’s see what we got in here.” Lurnell sandwiched the stones between her hands, closed her eyes, then cocked her head like she was listening to something far away. “Uh-huh, I be hearin’ somethin’… Oh, yeah, I be feelin’ you now.” She frowned, squeezed her eyes shut tighter. “Huh? Whatchu said? Oh…okay.” With that, she opened her eyes, held out the stones and declared, “They big magic for sure.”
“Really?” one of the girls said.
Lurnell plopped a hand on her hip. “What? If I told you they magic, they magic. Now, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Wow,” another girl said breathlessly.
“That’s so cool,” a third girl chimed in.
The girl with the amethyst raised a hand as if she were in a classroom.
“Uh-uh, don’t be wavin’ no hand at me,” Lurnell said. “I ain’t got nothin’ more to say.”
“But how do we make the magic stones work?” Amethyst asked.
Lurnell harrumphed. “All I got to say is they big—big magic. The res’ is all you.”
The girls nodded in unison and couldn’t pay for their stones fast enough. Shauna fought with her conscience as she rang them up. She didn’t want the girls to leave the shop thinking they had real magical stones, but she didn’t want to risk saying anything and embarrassing Lurnell. Besides, the girls did look extremely happy.
As the girls left, whispering and giggling en masse, Shauna turned to Lurnell. “Why did you tell them that?” she asked, unable to hide a grin. “Now those kids are going to go home thinking they have real magic stones.”
“And there be somethin’ wrong wit’ that?” Lurnell shook her head. “Girl, don’t you start climbin’ on no high horse, you hear me? You gots to learn how to work you stuff in the shop if you wanna make that green. Them kids is gonna go home all excited, and they’s gonna tell they friends, and them friends gonna tell some more friends, and all them friends gonna come up in here to get some rocks. You call that—takin’ care of bidness.”
Shauna laughed. “You’re a trip, you know that? Hey, talking about business, why aren’t you at Sistah’s?”
Lurnell’s face lit up. “’Cause I had to come show my girl somethin’. Look here.” She held out her right hand, pinky side up. “Go ’head, check it.”
Shauna rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be trying this again?”
“Don’t be talkin’ like that. Just look when I tell you look.”
To appease her, Shauna took Lurnell’s hand and examined it. “What the…?” There, just above the thin, pink scar that had come from Lurnell’s handy work, was the real deal—a marriage line. It was faint, but unquestionably there. Shauna peered up at her. “It’s real,” she said, amazed.
“I knowed it!” Lurnell pulled her hand back and clapped. “I seen it when I was brushin’ my teeth and hair this mornin’, and I says to myself, ‘Lurnell Shantelle Marquetha Franklin, you gonna get married, girl!’ Then I says, ‘You got to go show her—that be you—’cause she ain’t gonna believe it’s for real. I swear to gawd, girl, I be so excited, I had to back myself up to the commode before I peed myself.”
“I’ll bet! I’ve never known one to appear that fast. Not in one day.”
“Yeah, but I know why it come fas’,” Lurnell said. Her eyes danced with a secret she couldn’t wait to share.
“Why?”
“’Cause I met me a man las’ night. His name be Tyree Johnson, and, oh, that man look good. He all the time be sweet talkin’ and even got hisself a real job. And he ain’t got no baby mamas nowheres, so he ain’t gotta pay that child support.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“Down to Zydeco Joe’s, and let me tell you what, child, that man can for sure bus’ a step!”
Lurnell was demonstrating a few zydeco moves, when Fiona appeared with a plate of chocolate cookies.
“Here you go, just like I promised,” Fiona said, and handed the plate to Lurnell. “Enjoy.” She gave Lurnell a little four-finger wave, then headed for a group of customers standing near the amulet and totem display.
“Oh, yeah!” Lurnell held the plate close as though someone might steal it at any moment. “I’m gonna have a few of these here, then I got to get back to the store.
Bidness be good and all, but they got all kinda people walk-in’ up in my stuff wit’ they dirty shoes. I gots to go pass the vacuum, so the place look good. Tyree comin’ later. He gonna be—”
A blast of rap music suddenly erupted, and it sounded like it was coming from Lurnell’s rear end.
“Hol’ up,” she said, and dipped a hand behind her back. It returned clutching a cell phone. She checked the caller I.D. and broke into a wide grin. “That be Tyree.” She handed Shauna the plate of cookies. “Now don’t be goin’ nowheres wit’ that. I’ll be right back.”
Lurnell flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. “Hey, Tyree, baby, where y’at?” As she listened to his response, she winked at Shauna, then stepped away from the counter, evidently wanting some privacy.
Watching Lurnell coo into the phone, reminded Shauna of Nicole and Ian. How each time they had come into the shop for tea and scones, Nicole had had that same over-the-top happy look on her face. Just like Lurnell did now. Thinking about Nicole made Shauna wonder about the keening sound she had heard in the shop the day before. Had it been Nicole crying out before she died or Ian in mourning? Not that it really mattered. Dead was dead, and heart-pain was heart-pain. Both carried pitiful sounds.
Thoughts of the two weres brought Danyon to mind, and Shauna suddenly realized she had yet to hear from him today. She figured he had been too busy, alerting the other alphas, as August had requested, and busy she certainly understood. Still, it would have been nice if he had taken the time to call her at the shop, for no other reason but to hear her voice.
She would give anything to hear his right now. To feel his touch. Last night had been one of the most amazing nights of her life. Shauna still couldn’t get over how quickly she had reacted to his touch. She had never felt anything so—right before. To call it electricity or a con
nection, didn’t even come close to describing what had flowed between them. It had felt as though each had reached into the other and took hold of their soul, absorbing not only all they were now, but all they were ever meant to be.
“Excuse me. Can you help me with this?” a woman asked, and thrust a matrix box at Shauna. “How does it open?”
Shaken out of her reverie, Shauna took the box and began to work it open. She felt a bit guilty. In the short respite she’d had between customers, she had let her mind float away on thoughts of Danyon instead of focusing on Nicole and Simon, and how they might go about finding the murderer. It wasn’t going to be an easy task. They had found no blaring evidence that pointed them in any specific direction. So far, all they had was speculation—a human couldn’t have done it—a shifter, possible, but not likely—a group of glamouring vampires held some possibilities, but weak ones. For all they knew, those assumptions could be wrong. Maybe a vampire or a shifter or even a were was exactly what they should be looking for. She just wished they had more to work with. Anything that might tighten their aim. In some respects she understood why Danyon wanted to hold things close to the vest for now, and why he didn’t want to inform the leaders of the other subcultures yet. On the other hand, she saw the benefits that could come from joining forces just as clearly.
“If someone doesn’t do something about that kid, I’m going to hog-tie him and toss him out of the store myself,” Caitlin said storming up to the register.
“Who?” Shauna asked
The answer came running down the center aisle of the store, arms flapping wildly, like a hummingbird on speed.
It was Banjo Marks.
Some customers yelped and jumped out of his way. Others hurried out of the store, as if the building had suddenly caught fire.
“I smell ’em, smell ’em!” Banjo shouted, then slid toward the counter. His knees smacked into the counter wall—hard. He didn’t even flinch. “Lemme have some, girly girl. Now, okay? Where’s at? I smell ’em, smell ’em!”
He was chattering at a hundred miles an hour, and the customers still in the store backed away, giving him a wide berth.
“Look at that,” Caitlin fumed. “He’s scaring our customers off!”
Shauna scanned the store for her muscle, but Lurnell was nowhere to be seen. She’d evidently stepped out to have a private conversation with her new man. He must have truly been a gem for Lurnell to leave an entire plate of cookies behind. The plate still sat near the end of the counter, where Shauna had placed it a few minutes ago—and where Banjo was headed now.
“I knew it—smelt it—knew it! Smelt ’em all the way across the street,” Banjo declared, then let out a loud, twittering laugh that made Shauna want to slap her hands over her ears.
More customers scrambled out of the store.
Banjo was about to dive into the plate of cookies with both hands, when Fiona suddenly appeared and grabbed him by the arm.
“Come on, sweetie. Let’s go into the office, and I’ll make you a sandwich.”
“No!” Banjo yelled. “Cookies, cookies. Gotta have ’em, want to have ’em. Cookies!” He wiggled, trying to pull out of Fiona’s grasp.
Caitlin slapped a hand to her forehead. “Fi, you’ve got to quit encouraging him like that. You keep feeding him, and he keeps coming back here.”
“Coming back, coming back!” Banjo mimicked, sounding like a hoarse parrot.
“You two go see about the customers,” Fiona said.
“I’ll—”
“What customers?” Caitlin said, frowning. “He’s run nearly everybody off.”
“Then see to the ones who are left,” Fiona said sternly. “I’ll take care of Banjo. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”
“Not okay—it’s not okay!” Banjo squawked. “No sandwich! I want a cookie. Cookie!”
Shauna picked up the plate of cookies, thinking out of sight, out of mind. The moment she turned away with the plate, Banjo let out a loud shriek.
“No, feed it! It’s all good—it’s good!”—hehehehehe, squawk-scritch-squawk.
There it was again. That nerve-grating, hair-raising laugh. It made Shauna’s teeth hurt.
Banjo plucked his arm from Fiona’s grasp and started hopping in place. Then he worked his way around Fiona, bouncing from left to right, so she couldn’t get hold of him.
Still bouncing, he made his way to Shauna. “Gimme cookie, give you secret.” An ugly grin spread over his face. “Cookie—secret, secret—cookie.”
Shauna wanted to punch his high wattage lights out. “Stop bouncing like that. You’re making me dizzy.”
That twittering laugh again.
“Look, just go with Fiona, Banjo,” Shauna ordered, hoping that food would calm him down at least a little.
“No, no. Got a secret. Gooood secret! One cookie, good secret. Two cookie, more secret!”
“What are you talking about? What secret?”
Banjo lifted his head, sniffed three or four times.
“Sixteen cookies. Got sixteen cookies on the plate. Sixteen!”
Puzzled, Shauna glanced down at the plate in her hand, did a quick count, and was astonished to find it held exactly sixteen cookies. “How did you know how many there were?”
“Smell it. Can’t you smell?”
“Come on, you,” Fiona said, finally latching on to Banjo’s arm.
“No, not come on!” He leaned way over to the left, closer to Shauna. “Give me a cookie, tell you a secret!”
“Go eat a sandwich or something, Banjo. You’re talking out of your head.”
He stopped bouncing and squinted at Shauna, as though sizing her up. Then he opened his eyes wide. “Got no teeth. Ain’t got no more teeth—no more big fingernails. Nope, none!”
Shauna froze. “What—who has no teeth or fingernails, Banjo?”
Hehehehe, squawk-scritch-squawk—“No teeth, gotta have teeth! Gotta.” He hooked a finger on either side of his upper lip and pulled it up over his teeth. Then he tapped a dirty fingernail against a tobacco stained incisor. “Gotta have the teeth.”
“Any idea what he’s talking about?” Fiona asked.
“I’m not sure,” Shauna said, then set the plate on the counter out of Banjo’s reach and took a cookie from the top of the heap. “But we’ll soon find out.” She dangled the chocolate chip cookie in front of him.
With a loud grunt, Banjo grabbed the cookie and stuffed all of it into his mouth in one fell swoop. He closed his eyes, a blissful expression on his face. When he opened his eyes again, he started hopping on one foot then the other.
“Okay, I gave you a cookie, now what’s the secret?”
Hehehehe, squawk…
Banjo broke free of Fiona again and took off running through the store. Fiona and Caitlin ran after him, but before either could corner him at the back of the stop, he’d spun around and was halfway back up the center aisle, heading toward Shauna.
The counter caught him at the waist this time, and for a moment, Shauna thought he would flip clean over to the other side.
“One more dead,” he hissed, glaring at her, fidgeting in place. “One, two—three. Three dead, no teeth. No big fingernails. Three dead, three dead!”
With her heart thudding in her ears, Shauna grabbed the back of his shirt and held tight. “What the hell are you talking about? Who’s dead?”
Banjo suddenly stopped fidgeting and pulled away from her. “Three blind mice,” he said, his voice low, robotic. “See how they run. Run with no teeth. So stupid. Three, stupid, blind—dead mice.”
“Please, Banjo,” Shauna said, keeping her voice low. “Tell me who you’re talking about. Who’s dead?”
Without warning, he sparked back to life. “Cookie, cookie!” he yelled, then shrieked with laughter and ran out of the store.
Shauna’s heart was beating so hard it made her nauseous. Banjo knew about the weres. She was sure of it. But he said there were three.
Nicole, Simon…who else?
&nbs
p; Had another were been killed?
And the teeth. How did Banjo know about the teeth and claws?
Shauna felt an uneasiness rising in her gut. An intuitive whisper. And she remembered Banjo and Mattie fighting in front of the store—how Mattie had dented the light pole with her fist.
Too much strength for such a small woman…
And Banjo, who claimed to have smelled the cookies from across the street. With so many tourists clogging the streets, that would have been…should have been…impossible.
August had said that whomever ingested the claws and fangs of a were would take on the traits of a were. Everything but transformation.
Had Banjo and Mattie ingested either? Both?
Fear crept up Shauna’s spin.
Three down—no more to go.
It was time to get Jagger and Ryder involved—time to bring in the leaders of the other races—time to enlist reinforcements.
Whether Danyon liked it or not.
Chapter 11
A Little Bit of Magic was so packed with customers that Danyon had to literally squeeze into the shop sideways. Any other time, and he would have backtracked out of there, refusing to be part of the throng. He hated crowds. The collective energy of too many people in a limited space scrambled his thoughts and made him anxious.
There was only one reason he allowed this exception. Shauna. He had to talk to her.
As soon as the West Bank was a dot in his rearview mirror, Danyon had hurried back to the Quarter to find her. That in and of itself had made him feel strange. He had never hurried back to anyone for anything before.
Since their time together last night, Shauna had burrowed into his core, and there was no getting rid of her. He wouldn’t have wanted to if he could. His intellect kept telling him that the intimacy they shared had been a mistake. A human and a wolven didn’t belong together. Their worlds were too different. It would never work.
His emotions countered, however, telling his brain it was full of crap. He needed to enjoy and treasure the remarkable gift that she was.
Danyon couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this alive. And, if the truth be told, it had little to do with the sex they’d had—although to him it scored a thousand on a scale of one to ten. Danyon had had more than his fair share of intimacy with other women, but not once had he left their beds with a total sense of contentment.
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