by Ashley McLeo
Lily nodded. “Speaking of vampires. Empusa and Amon were Seraphina’s twins, weren’t they? That’s what Amon meant when he said they were our kin.”
“We think so, but of course there’s no proof except their word. It’s not like we could perform a DNA test. Hell, we don’t even know if fata have DNA,” Aoife trailed off, looking amused.
“But the eyes match perfectly with Seraphina’s description. I noticed how green Empusa’s were right away and Amon’s”—Lily flushed—“well, I know for a fact his eyes are gray flecked with violet. Seraphina called them gray-violet but human eyes change all the time after birth. Couldn’t a vampire’s eyes?”
“And they drank blood,” Sara added, diverting attention from Lily. “So if that’s true, not only are they our distant kin, they’re also the first vampires.”
“Did Noro know they would come out vampires and not fata?” Lily asked.
“No. Noro said ‘I wonder’ when they were born. There was no way he could have known what a fata-fata mating would produce on a planet that wasn’t Hecate, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t take advantage of a new species to mold.” Mary answered. Her cherubic cheeks were pink now, whether from the wine, the fire at her back, or the rush of talking about her research, Lily wasn’t sure.
“But how did that happen? Like two fatas had sex and then a different creature pops out? I don’t get it.”
“Experts Gwenn spoke with agree that the magic of the planet Earth versus the magic found on Hecate has something to do with the child’s development,” Mary answered.
“So let me get this straight once and for all: Human DNA combined with fata genetics to produce baby witches? Then the magic that witch children inherited from their fata ancestors was passed down through the generations even if they mated with humans because it was already a part of their genetic code?”
The McKay women nodded in unison.
Lily shook her head to clear it. “Alright, so I get the witches part but now I have to ask. All the magical variability on Earth can’t just be the product of Noro and Eve, right? I’m of course assuming Noro stayed here because how would he get back? He was too weak to bring himself to Earth, he was probably too weak to get back to Hecate alone. Maybe he’s still here! Who knows? Anyway, even if you add Lilith in for genetic variability, assuming they ever found her before she died, which she had to have died because,” Lily pointed to herself, “the original three have to be dead if we’re here to fulfill a prophecy. Well, there’s a lot of different magical creatures! That makes me think Eve must have succeeded in bringing over more fata after Seraphina died. Either that or she and Noro were really busy making all sorts of supernatural creature babies. But even then there’d have to be some incest and I know that doesn’t end well for humans.”
“That a few more fata made it to Earth is the consensus of the magical diversity experts Gwenn talked to. It would explain nicely the magical variability and the lack of weakness over time that incest would create,” Mary answered simply.
“So, what do these experts think happened when the children of fata-fata pairings mated with humans? I mean it had to have happened, right?”
“Quite a bit, I’d guess,” Mary said, looking thrilled at where the conversation had led them. “Any humanoid creature you can think of was likely a product of a fata-fata parentage subsequently mated with humans. Fae, for instance, have the look of a human, magical powers resembling witches, and abnormally long lifespans like fata. We believe a new magical creature was created with fata unions and then it took on a human form and minor human characteristics with subsequent human matings. Less mating with humans means stranger-looking creatures like djinn, which look kind of like ghosts or wind.”
Lily sighed. We could be up against any number of magical creatures and the only one I know how to fight is vampires. And I sucked at that. How were we ever going to win when I’m so far behind? I need to change the subject before I lose my mind . . .
“Did you ever find out who was staying in that first room we walked into in Empusa’s mansion?” Lily blurted out the next question she’d been obsessing over.
Brigit shook her head. “But we’re sure it was a witch or wizard. The room had the feel of witching magic. Whether they were on our side or not, we may never know.”
“Can I read Hypatia’s book again?” Lily had saved her biggest question for last. She needed to get her hands on that book again, to examine it herself.
“I’d have been shocked if you didn’t ask.” Mary pulled the book out from a beaded purple satchel hung across the back of her chair. As she handed the book over, Lily caught whiffs of Mary’s grapefruit and rain scents. She must have been examining it nonstop for her smell to seep into the old leather.
Here it was, in Lily’s hands. Thirty-three pages of roughly bound, thin paper. So small and potent. She knew she would obsess over it until all its secrets were plunged. There has to be something we’re missing.
“Thanks, Mary,” Lily said, her hand shaking as she placed the book on her lap, away from any liquids or food on the table.
“We hear there’s a chance your family is coming to visit soon?” Gwenn asked, sensing Lily’s need for a lighter subject.
Lily nodded, “Brigit said we could have them for a belated Thanksgiving.”
“Brilliant! That’ll be a real treat,” Aoife said, grinning her lopsided grin.
“As long as Annika can cook it well enough,” Gwenn’s comment was spoken with such familiarity that it turned Lily’s head.
“I forgot you knew Rena.” The fact that her adoptive mother had dated her aunt seemed so minuscule after everything else Lily had learned that she had never asked about it.
“Aye, we met in a bar after a Cher concert. We were arguing over our favorite song, if you can believe it!”
Lily rolled her eyes. She could so believe it—Rena was nothing if not serious about Cher.
“Well I suppose you can, then,” Gwenn laughed and ran her hands through her long brown hair. “Rena was different from anyone I’d ever met. We started dating shortly after, then road tripped around the states. We stopped in Nashville and met Emily. Rena learned of Terramar from Emily. We had a bit of an adventure in Nashville with a so called rogue fae and a fractionated coven. It was a summer I’ll never forget. Rena told me all about Terramar when she moved there. It’s how we knew where to send you.”
Lily’s eyes were wide with discovery. She’d known Gwenn and Rena had dated but that they’d both met Em at the same time was new to her. How much else do I not know?
“And what about, Selma? Nora seemed very familiar with her when we had our first ceremens class.” Lily tried not to sound bitter about the day Evelyn had broken into Nora’s head and discovered her ceremens talents. The way Nora had spoken about her family—condescending but with assured familiarity—before she’d been reduced to a terrified pile on the grass still irritated Lily. I can see why Rena and Nora don’t get along.
“Who doesn’t know Selma de Avila?” Mary said as if Selma were the Queen of England. “Not everyone can claim to be descended from the sirens of the Odyssey, now can they? Selma and I have known each other for years. We spent months gallivanting all over Spain. I even stayed with the notorious de Avila women in Menorca.”
Lily blinked. Her head felt like it was about to explode. Every day she learned some new, extraordinary fact about her life. Like how intertwined her two families were.
“I told you, we couldn’t give you and your sisters to any old family,” Brigit came up behind Lily and rubbed her shoulder. “There had to be a personal connection. People we could rely on to do right by you. Those we knew would not deny us knowing you later in life.”
“They didn’t talk to you about any of this when you were home?” Sara asked, copper eyes wide.
“Most of the time we grieved and talked about Em . . .” She trailed off, wanting more than anything to avoid talking about Em.
“There’s no need to rush anyt
hing. We’ll all be around tomorrow if you want to talk,” Gwenn jumped in. She reached out to grab Lily’s hand and Lily felt calming earth magic, like walking through a quiet forest on a spring day, pulse beneath her aunt's palm.
“Yea. Thanks. I think I’ll go relax in my room. I’m pretty sleep deprived and this would all be easier to take rested,” Lily said standing to rise.
“Sounds good, honey. We’ve set a couple lessons for you and Sara tomorrow, a few warm-up drills mixed in with a couple new things. We’ll wait ’til Evelyn arrives to get going on the more difficult work. Wouldn’t want her to feel left behind.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be ready,” Lily said and waved herself out of the room.
The Spark Ignites
“How do you keep this pace up?” Roman asked, shutting his laptop.
Evelyn, determined to finish the last few points of the extensive business plan they’d been crafting the last two days, continued to type. “I told you, I can only work with you for two months tops. I have personal obligations I’m putting off overseas. It's imperative we get all your accounts, projections, assets, and plans up to date so I can be sure everything will run well in my absence.”
“Couldn’t you be available by phone? I don’t mind doing some of this with you working remotely if you need to leave now. I can manage most of the basics and you could come back once I’ve implemented the initial steps.”
Evelyn turned her back to him. “I can’t guarantee it. Where I’m going cell service is spotty and I'm not sure how long I’ll need to be gone. I’m sorry, but it has to be this way. My father is working day and night to find a competent replacement to take over your accounts. That way we won’t leave you in a bind.” Her tone was as firm as she dared. The last thing she wanted was to discuss with a client why she was leaving her powerful, sought-after position for an undetermined amount of time. I wish he’d just stop with the all the questions.
“Alright, but I can’t keep up with these big city hours without some fun. What do you say we go grab a drink? I like to know more about the people I partner with than how they take the dozen cups of coffee they inhale every day. If this were Nashville, we’d already have bought each other a couple beers by now.”
“We’ve only known each other three days.” Evelyn hoped he was joking.
“Southern charm, Miss Locksley. We like to get real personal down home.”
I shouldn’t but a martini does sound amazing. She closed her eyes and rolled her neck, which crackled with tension. When she opened her eyes again the piles of paperwork on her desk leapt out at her and her decision was made. “Only one. We have another big day tomorrow.”
Roman grinned and opened the door to the conference room with a flourish that despite herself Evelyn found amusing. “To the point. I like how you big city girls operate.”
“Uh huh.”
They rode the elevator in silence. Roman scrolled through the messages on his phone while Evelyn compiled a mental list of where not to take him. Somewhere with food is good—I’m starving. Definitely not any of the clubs I played siren at, though. That would be too weird. The list of acceptable places was dwindling fast.
“Are you hungry? What kind of drinks do you prefer? It will help me decide where we should go. I’d prefer to go somewhere where I know the bouncer and we don’t have to wait to get in,” she said as they strode into the empty lobby.
A look of amusement crossed Roman’s face. “I was thinkin’ a beer and burger sounded dandy. Have any of those joints ’round here?”
A dive bar, Evelyn refrained from rolling her eyes. I should have seen it coming. “I’m sure I can find something,” she said, pulling out her phone.
Thirty seconds later she had the name and address of a place touted as the best dive bar on the island. It’ll have to do. “Found a place. Let me call George. He can drive us.”
“How ’bout we walk?” Roman said, touching her wrist as she raised her phone to her ear.
She shivered. There was that spark again. The one she tried to ignore every time their hands reached for the same paper or exchanged cups of coffee after Rose mixed up their order.
“Walk?”
“Sure. It’s a nice night, and fresh air would do us good after being cooped up inside all day. Knowin’ you as I do, this place is efficiently close anyhow.”
He was right. It was three blocks away.
Ten minutes later they walked into the most disgusting place Evelyn had ever seen. Tall tables lined the edges of the room shrouded in the neon glow of beer signs that hung above. Smaller tables dotted the middle of the room haphazardly. There was a minuscule dance floor that looked as if it hadn’t been polished in as long as Evelyn had been alive. The clientele was even worse. Cheap suits, tight flannel shirts, horn-rimmed glasses, and dresses too short to be decent lined the bar, their feet precariously close to dipping into the old-fashioned trough at its base.
“Is this good?” Evelyn’s torso was already angling toward the door.
“It’s perfect,” Roman said, his grin wide as her grazed her shoulder lightly with his fingers.
The spark and an unfamiliar wave of tingles raced up Evelyn’s arm as Roman pulled her to one of the high top tables by a window.
“This reminds me of my favorite places back home. Take a seat, Miss Locksley. First round’s on me.”
Three hours later Evelyn was still sitting in the same dirty bar.
I haven’t laughed so hard in years. She fanned herself as Roman regaled her with stories of his life back in Tennessee. It feels good to not be so serious and have a release that’s not all about my power.
An image of Lily and Sara practicing spells and brewing potions back at Fern Cottage flashed in her mind. Evelyn pushed it back. Roman was surprisingly intuitive and she didn’t need him asking more questions than he already did.
Instead she focused on Roman’s charming smile and longish sandy blond hair. He wasn’t her usual tall, dark, and handsome type at all. Yet, after hours of sitting with the man in a dirty bar, she had to admit he had grown on her. Must be that southern charm he’s always talking about. Either way I can’t deny he seems to get more attractive by the minute. It pleased her that Roman seemed interested, too, even though she hadn’t used her siren or ceremens powers on him. While Roman had no problem flirting with her, he was still, first and foremost, a client of Locksley Enterprises and therefore not to blasted with magic. Though she had to admit, Roman had been making that rule more difficult to follow tonight.
Roman left to get them another round of drinks. Evelyn watched him walk away savoring the outline of his tall form and broad back. Women and men parted for him like they often did for her. The man oozed charm and confidence. No wonder his family has risen from dirt poor to soon-to-be billionaires.
She spun her finger around her martini glass. Free of any distraction for the first time in hours, the question of how Brigit would react when Evelyn told her she was delaying her return to Ireland pinged in her head. Evelyn sighed. She’d been dreading the call so much she’d managed to put it off for two days. She could handle Brigit, who would be disappointed, and Sara, who wouldn’t like her decision but would understand, but Lily was a different matter entirely. After a rocky start Lily and Evelyn had finally achieved level ground. Had even felt like sisters for a moment. Now though, after Emily had met a tragic death over a book that as far as Evelyn was concerned seemed largely useless . . . Lily’s going to be pissed at me for abandoning her after everything she went through for the rest of us. I can’t say I blame her either . . .
“What’s got you down, Miss Locksley?” Roman said, his face concerned as he set what Evelyn had deemed a surprisingly good martini before her.
Evelyn shook her head. Bogging a client down with personal issues was going too far. Not to mention she couldn’t even tell him most of it. There was no way she was telling Roman Simons she was a witch before her parents or Vici.
Or ever. She shook her head.
&nbs
p; “It’s nothing. Personal drama.”
“If you need an ear you can use mine. Even if we are business partners. I not only like to know the people I’m working with can hold their martinis, I like to know they’re human too.”
Evelyn smiled a thin-lipped smile as Aoife’s remark of fata-human unions producing witches surfaced in her mind. If he only knew.
“Aw, now don’t go gettin’ even sadder on me! I’m serious. Now I feel responsible,” Roman’s accent had thickened with their drinks and Evelyn leaned back as he cupped her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes.
It was a gesture meant to comfort but the effect it had on Evelyn was anything but comforting. She sucked in her breath as a wave of heat washed through her. What is it with this guy? Their eyes locked and her heart started to race. I guess it couldn’t hurt to tell him about the adoption . . . I bet he’s wondering why I don’t look like my parents anyhow.
“I’m thinking about my family.”
“Did something happen? Should we leave?” Roman sat up straighter.
Evelyn couldn’t help herself; she smiled. Not everyone would feel the need to insert themselves into family drama having just met the family that week.
“Not my mother or father here. They’re actually my adoptive parents. I have a biological mother, aunts, and sisters in Ireland whom I met this summer. My sisters, Sara, Lily, and I are triplets and I’m supposed to meet up with them again soon. We have this whole bonding thing planned. I’m nervous about how they’ll take the news that I’m staying here. Especially Lily. We haven’t quite clicked yet.”