She instantly mimicked my moves. “I like the way you think too, not kid. Will you still show me how to do the extra flip?”
“I don’t know. I think I’m going to need to see you smile again first.”
She beamed, showing off her missing teeth.
“That’ll work.” Lifting the dress, I kicked my boots off and rolled my shoulders. “I need to back up more and you need to move. I’m a little bit taller than you and need more space.”
Hilary laughed. “You’re a giant.”
“Told ya so,” Amber teased.
“Five-ten is not a giant. Six-five is. Remember when I took that poll?”
Amber’s eyes widened. “Yeah, too bad the rest of what you took size preferences on is X-rated or we could have a trip down memory lane.”
Pointing at her, I gave her a shit-ass grin. “Remind me later. I still have the pictures that I made them all pose for.”
“No way!”
“Hey that was hard work. We now have over five hundred pictures to prove it. I’ve seen ‘em all--big and sadly enough, small.”
Amber snorted and then stopped, instantly glancing behind me. My supernatural senses didn’t pick up anything unusual. I gave her a questioning look. She smiled sweetly.
“Okay, Hilary. If I break my leg you have kiss it and bring me ice water for two whole days until it’s better.”
She giggled as I took my running start. I did a round off, launched myself backwards into my first flip, hit the ground and quickly did another. The long dress fell in long waves over me. Pulling it down, I huffed as I struggled with it. “Hilary, I think the dress tried to eat me. Warn me not to do that again.”
She giggled. “Well, just think, at least the dress isn’t the vampire.”
Wiping my face, I laughed. “I really do like the way you think, kid. You remind me of someone very special.”
“Teach me that!”
Hilary didn’t really give me much of a choice, she backed up a bit and launched into the same routine. I ran next to her, using my magik to spot her and nodded.
“Snap both legs together. Good. Okay, again.” She landed and put her hands in the air like a pro. “You rock, kiddo.”
“I did it! Amber, did you see me? I did it.”
“Great job, baby.” Amber clapped madly for Hilary while I received a hug that almost knocked me over.
“Daddy, did you see that?” she asked, letting go of me slowly.
I looked up and found two men standing behind Amber. Both seemed familiar in some way but I couldn’t place them.
One had chin-length blond hair with green eyes. His gaze was locked on Hilary. The look he had was one of unconditional love, a father’s look if I’d ever seen it. Amber seemed drawn to him and that piqued my interest.
When I glanced at the other man, my breath caught. Stunning didn’t begin to cover it. His short chestnut-brown hair was just the way I liked my men to wear their hair, close on the sides and back but a bit longer on top. And he had the bluest eyes I’d seen a very long time. Tiny wire-framed circular glasses seemed to draw more attention to them, holding my gaze longer than they should have. I did my best to remember to breathe but my body wasn’t cooperating very well.
As my gaze raked over his clean-shaven square jaw line and down his thick neck, I had to fight to keep from drooling as cords of muscle popped in it. It was a neck I could easily picture myself licking, nibbling on, while laying him out before me and exploring every last inch of him.
The snug black tee shirt he wore left the muscles in his broad chest showing, allowing me to visually outline each and every one. His was certainly a body I could see myself staring at endlessly. I bit back a sigh. The light, faded loose-fitting jeans he wore managed to conform in all the right spots. He certainly was all man and if my calculations were correct, more man than I’d be able to fully take.
A girl can dream.
When I caught sight of the black military-style combat boots, I couldn’t help but smile. He was like a mail-order man. He couldn’t have been more on the mark for my wish list if he tried. Suddenly, suburban living was looking better and better.
“Mmm.”
“What?” Hilary asked.
I kept my eyes locked on the brunette but bent down a bit. “It was the equivalent of yummy. And I do mean yummy.”
Her green eyes widened. “Yummy?” She seemed to think about it a minute and form a tiny ‘O’ with her mouth. “It’s like a girl’s way of saying hellos?”
“Sounds better than chunga-chungas don’t you think? That makes me think of two cantaloupes strapped down with ... err, forget what I was going to say there. Let’s just go with a “men are yummy”.
Amber cleared her throat and I shrugged. “Oh, did you think I’d be able to stare at that,” I nodded towards the walking version of my male wish list, “and not comment. You’re so lucky it was G-rated.”
The man’s lips curled slightly, as though he was doing his best not to laugh. It only turned me on more. I did my best to think of a time when I’d been so drawn to a man the instant I laid eyes on him but couldn’t come up with anything. “Do I know you two?”
They exchanged glances and the blond seemed to wait for the brunette’s response before answering. That wasn’t something one found in normal life much. Thankfully, my life wasn’t normal. The brunette shrugged and lifted a dark brow as a rather sexy, smug look moved over his face. It didn’t fool me. He was skeptical of me. I could almost feel it. I couldn’t blame him. I got the sense that he was concerned for Hilary as well.
The music changed and the minute The Beatles came on, Amber groaned. “Here she goes.”
I put my hands in the air and began to shake my hips slowly, working into the beat of I Am The Walrus. Amber laughed. I pointed at her. “Rule number one in my bizarre reality: If The Beatles come on, everything else stops.”
The blond nudged the brunette. “Hmm, right up your alley. In fact, you do make us all stop what we’re doing when The Beatles come on.”
“Really?” I asked, impressed. I didn’t wait for his response. Instead, I took hold of his hand and gasped as heat seemed to pour into me. “Come on.”
Hilary giggled and ran at my feet. “Amber says this song doesn’t make any sense.”
I smiled. “I know and that’s the beauty of it.”
“You won’t get him to dance with you, Sweets,” Amber called out.
“Want to bet?” I pulled the tall brunette to me, turned into his body and took hold of his hands, placing them on my hips. He gave a tiny squeeze and I realized that his hands were so large that they almost touched around me. I began to move, slowly at first but working into the beat fast.
Hilary spun in tiny circles with her arms in the air like a ballerina while the sex god behind me gave in and moved with me. I couldn’t help but to glance over my shoulder and smile. When he smiled back, I thought my heart would melt.
“Come on, Eric.” Amber pulled the blond guy out into the yard and forced him to dance, too. She shook her head and her ass. It was great. “You’re crazy!” she shouted at me.
“Crazy beautiful,” the man dancing with me said under his breath. My supernatural hearing allowed me to pick up on it.
“I cannot believe you got him to do that and he’s smiling nonetheless,” Amber said, staring up at the hunk I was dancing with while she continued dancing next to us with a hunk of her own. We, surprisingly, didn’t bump into each other and considering the close proximity we were dancing in, that was amazing.
Part of me couldn’t believe the man was doing it too, but I didn’t let on to that. Instead, I savored the feel of his large, muscular body pressing to me. Hilary began to sing and pretend to be a bird. I laughed. “Ohmygods, I used to do the same thing when I was your age.”
“You did?” Hilary asked, her eyes wide and a huge smile across her face.
“Yep. And when the song was done, I would beg the person with me to play it again. I think I made him nuts with it.”
/> “I make my uncle nuts with it. It’s fun.”
“Isn’t it though?” The song neared an end and I realized that I was actually disappointed. Apparently, Hilary shared my opinion. It continued to play long after it should have been done and I knew I didn’t do it. I cast her a sideways glance and found her doing her best to appear to be innocent.
I snorted. “I ain’t buying it, sister. Keep working on the puppy dog eyes. You’re oh, so close. Stick the lip out a bit more. Oh, and be sure to tilt your head down.”
“Lots of cousins,” she said, blinking in an overdone fashion. “Lots and lots.”
“Do not make me cast a spell on you. I’ll do it. You’ll wake up tomorrow with....”
“Hellos?” she asked, sounding hopeful.
Looking up, I shook my head. “I surrender. She has done me in. Thank for the whole no-kids things. I’m surprisingly fine with it.”
“Oh come on,” Amber said, smiling as the tall blond spun her slowly. “As much as I make fun of you, you would be a fabulous mother.”
I stumbled a bit and ended up stepping on the brunette’s foot. “Oh, umm, sorry. The thought of reproducing scares the--” I glanced down at Hilary, “--umm, it scares the heck out of me.”
“Lots of cousins,” Hilary said, folding her arms over her chest.
The man holding me chuckled and the sound ran over me. I sighed and leaned into him. That made Hilary grin from ear to ear. “Lots and lots.”
“Then I’ll find your uncle a brood mare.”
Amber coughed hard and I stilled.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Stop worrying about me all the time.” She winked. “I’ll live.”
“You better,” the blond said, tipping her chin up a bit. It was an intimate thing to do and I had to wonder at just how close she and this blond guy, Eric, really were. It wasn’t like Amber to keep secrets from me but in her defense, I’d been absent from her life a long time and had no real clue what was going on in it. All I could do was hope that whatever was between them was mutual and made Amber happy.
Amber smiled and batted her eyes every so slightly that if I hadn’t have been looking at her to gage her reaction to Eric, I’d have missed it. Seeing how fixated she was on him, I knew then that something was at the very least, brewing between them. “Eric, you worry too much.”
“I don’t know, Riston, do I worry too much?” Eric asked.
The man holding me let out a slight laugh. “Just a little.”
I was about to comment but stopped when I sensed the pressing feel of evil nearing at an alarming rate. It pushed in on me, seeming to run over my skin as it often did. My senses were set to pick up on negativity, on evil--they were trained for this sort of thing.
My heart began to beat wildly in my chest. I could feel the evil energy, reaching out, scanning the area for something. Riston, the hunk holding me, stiffened. I ran my hand over his doing something I never thought I’d do--seeking comfort.
The sounds of an ice cream truck approaching filled the air. My mind didn’t want to register what it sensed to be true. The stench and feel of evil that surrounded me increased ten fold. It was radiating from the ice cream truck. The very demons I’d spent my younger years terrified of and my adult years fighting were trying to find Hilary. They must have sensed her gifts. It was a common thing with the shortage of females in the supernatural race. The bad guys liked to just steal theirs. Age didn’t really matter.
Hilary’s eyes lit. “Daddy, it’s the ice cream man.”
Eric pulled Amber behind him and the protective movement wasn’t lost on me. He put his hand out to Hilary. “Not today, honey.”
“But, daddy.”
Amber sighed. “Eric, just let her have....”
We didn’t have time for this. I stepped in. “Hilary.”
“Are you going to tell me no, too?”
“Nope, I was going to ask what your favorite kind of ice cream is.”
She smiled wide. “I like the kind with cookie dough in it but the ice cream man never has that.”
This one has a hell of a lot more than that. A big scoop full of evil. No thanks.
“Amber, take Hilary in and get her a great big cone full of cookie dough ice cream.”
Amber’s brow furrowed. “But, you don’t eat....”
“You have that kind?” Hilary asked, wide-eyed and happy, just the way I wanted to keep her.
Nodding, I put my hand on her shoulder. “I sure do. Now, take Amber’s hand and make her do her silly ice cream dance. I’m sure you’ve seen it.”
Giggling, Hilary grabbed Amber’s hand. “Please?”
Amber looked to Eric and he nodded. She sighed. “Okay, come on.”
I watched as they went into the house and thrust my power out, assuring that cookie dough ice cream and cones were now available in my kitchen. I leaned a bit towards Eric but directed my attention at the approaching ice cream truck. “I’m sorry about that. I hope I didn’t spoil lunch for her.”
“No. It’s fine,” he said, a bit fast. Did he sense the danger too?
As the truck neared, Riston pulled on my arm, trying to put me behind him. I wasn’t having any of that. The truck pulled to a stop across the street from us and the driver, a man who looked to be about twenty-five but was more like three-hundred stepped out of the truck. He looked around the neighborhood slowly. If it was a magikal girl he’d been sent for, it was a magikal girl he was going to get.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” I ran, barefoot, across the street, lifting the wedding dress to keep from tripping on it. I knew I looked like a nut. I was aiming for that.
The man spotted me and raked his gaze over me slowly, looking amused. “Can I get you something?”
I nodded eagerly, almost child-like. “Oh, yes. I wanna marry you. I love ice cream men and my brother said I could. He’s the blond back in the other yard. He said that if I wanted you I could take you.” Seizing hold of him I began to dance in a circle to the music from the ice cream truck. Had I not been pretending to be off my rocker even more so than normal, I’m not sure I could have pulled that off. Though, if I didn’t have witnesses, I would have just pulled the demon’s head off and saved times.
“Mmm, marry me, huh?”
Oh, he sounded too enthused about that. I let my magik rise up fast, taking hold of him and spinning him hard into his truck. His forehead made an odd thumping sound as it bounced off the truck.
“Hey, what the ... ?”
Grabbing his arm, I hugged him tight to me, applying enough pressure to let him know that I wasn’t human either. “I’m so glad you came. I’ve been waiting in the attic for years and years and years and years for you.”
He did his best to try to break my grasp but I wasn’t having any of it. “Shit, you’re fucking crazy, lady.”
And deadly, asshole.
I began a nice little dance number that left me slamming his head into the truck again right before I kneed him in the groin. He cupped himself and fell to the ground. I tackled him fast, pinning him to the street. “I’m in my dress. Let’s go. We can have lots and lots of babies. So many that we run out of names. I love babies, don’t you?”
The man looked terrified. “No, I ... off ... what are you?”
“I’m the one you’ve all been looking for.” I let my magik hold him tight. “I felt you all coming. Each one of you. Now I’ve finally found the one. I want to hug you forever. Can I hug you forever? Oh, you should meet my brother.” Rolling off him, I yanked him up and hugged him tight. “Eric, look it’s the ice cream man.”
I glanced up to find Eric and Riston standing side by side watching me with equally shocked looks. I waved and then picked the supposed ice cream man’s hand up. I made him wave too. He tried to pull away and I pulled him back to me. “I wanna go now.”
“Go?”
“Get married.”
His eyes widened. “You’re a crazy witch.”
I’d given him exactly what he w
as looking for, a female with magikal powers. Granted, I added a hefty does of crazy to keep him from coming back but still. I danced around him poking and jabbing, knowing I was hurting him. Leaning in close, I let out a maniacal laugh. One I’d learned from years of going undercover. “Tsk, tsk, now it’s not very nice to call me a witch. Especially when I’m anything but.”
Spinning him one last time, I rammed him into his truck with glee, careful to make it look as though I was the world’s clumsiest dancer. I was aware of just how insane I most likely looked to everyone but I didn’t have much of a choice. The demon needed its ass kicked and I needed to keep the fact that demons were patrolling the streets for children as low key as possible. Being labeled crazy seemed a small price to pay for the greater good. “Let’s go. Hurry before my brother tries to stop us.”
Riston and Eric made a move to come for me and I drew upon my power fast, thrusting the compulsion for them to remain where they were out and at them. I also made sure to lace my power with a calming energy. I didn’t need any of them getting worked up about the situation. No. That was my job. The very idea of this asshole having come to collect Hilary to do gods only knew what with her sickened me. I’d have killed him if I thought I could get away with it without Hilary witnessing it. No child needed to see that kind of horror and no child needed to be hunted.
The man fought me off. I pretended to try to cling to him as he rushed into his truck. Forcing a smile to my face, I let my eyes go hard, hoping he got my point--I can be crazy and no one here can stop me. Want to play? “But I thought we were going to live happily ever after?”
“Uhh, I gotta go.”
I stood, watching him speed away. When I knew he was gone I dusted my hands off and danced in a tiny circle, no longer looking like a crazed love-sick loon. Now I just looked crazy. That was fine because it meant Hilary was safe and so was the knowledge that things that go bump in the night also go bump in the day light. Again, small price to pay for a child’s safely.
I laughed and froze when I found Amber staring at me. Hilary stood next to her licking a double scoop ice cream and grinning.
My gaze went to Riston and Eric. They both stood there with identical blank looks on their faces. Hilary giggled. “You got to dance with the ice cream man. Hey, I thought you said you didn’t want to get married? How come you told him you did?”
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