Fire in Her Blood

by Rachel Graves

  “It’s an enticing offer but no, this is serious.” He kissed my finger tips and set my hand back on the bed. “You have my promise that I won’t hurt him. If you trust me, there’s no reason not to tell me.”

  “Right, I just think I should warn him first.”

  “If he’s as noble as you say he is, there’s no reason to.”

  I kissed him in one last desperate attempt to change the subject. We’d gone from shouting at each other to a tender conversation. It was a wonderful way to end a fight. I was afraid telling him would take us back to the shouting part.

  “Mallory,” he said with a sigh as I kissed his ear.

  “Amadeus,” I whispered softly. He went stiff. For a second I was sure we were going to have a second fight, but he relaxed again. “You’re all right?”

  “I will be.” He shifted quickly, and I was underneath him. His kiss claimed my mouth and an hour later there was no doubt in my mind he was the one I wanted.

  We were lazy for the rest of the afternoon. Jakob made an apple strudel that required my entire kitchen and dining room to complete. The process involved slowly stretching the dough until it was as large as the table top. He brushed butter on the paper thin surface, added the filling and then oh-so-gently moved it to wrap the filling in a thousand layers. While it baked I grabbed boxes of Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies that would represent my heritage at the table and set them by the door.

  I wasn’t sure what the appropriate outfit for a Samhain party was, so I went with less flashy than Convenire but flashier than work. I finally decided on an alpaca sweater in a dark walnut color and jeans. I dug around in my closet for shoes that would match. The only thing that came close was a pair of heels with sequins. They were flashy and over the top, but I doubted Anna the model and drama queen would mind.

  Of course, Jakob was already dressed when I went into the bathroom to try to do something with my hair. I mused inwardly on how incredibly unfair it was that men could throw on khakis and be ready for any party. Okay, okay, he also wore a navy sweater showing a hint of white undershirt at the neck with the sleeves pushed up. And yes, all right, he’d managed to form his fine blond hair up into spikes instead of brushing it flat the way he did for work but still it was totally unfair.

  “You’re wearing a lot of brown lately,” Jakob said. He came up behind me and slid his hands around my stomach, feeling the soft sweater.

  “Is that a problem?” I asked.

  “Hmm.” It wasn’t quite a word or a moan, but by then his face was buried in my hair. When he finally spoke I could feel his lips move against my ear lobe. “It brings out the beautiful colors in your hair, but green would match your wonderful green eyes.”

  I would have called them hazel eyes, but that was the beauty of being in love. I gave him several long kisses for the compliment, delaying us only a little on our way out of the house.

  Anna’s house was awash with firelight. There were tiki torches on the front porch, candles flickering the windows, and I thought I smelled wood smoke from the fire place. It wasn’t that cold out, but at a party for witches, Anna was showing off her specialty. I hoped it was her magic and not normal fire. We parked in front of a neighbor’s house, completing the long line of cars already shoe-horned in place. If Isaura was hoping for an intimate gathering, she hadn’t gotten it. There were at least fifteen cars on the street.

  I followed the walk lit by luminaries with cut outs like jack-o-lanterns up the steps. Jakob carefully picked a path behind me. For someone who could move with lightning speed, fly above obstacles, and break pretty much anything in his way, he carried the apple strudel with a little too much concern. Of course pride goes before the fall, and I knew he was more than a little proud of his creation.

  He maneuvered around the people crowding the entryway with enough stress that I didn’t laugh at him. The house was filled with people, people I’d never met, people I’d only seen dancing at Convenire. Actually the house had turned into a mini-Convenire. There was music playing somewhere, and while no one was dancing, they were certainly flirting and mingling enough. We made it to the dining room where the table had been extended to seat at least sixteen. All but one of the chairs had been pushed against the wall to make more room for food.

  We needed it. The table groaned under the weight of salads, fruit, cakes, bottles of liquor, chips and dip, and so many desserts my mouth began to water. At the top of the table, there was a single place setting, perfect but empty. Whoever was going to devour this feast would do it alone, using Anna’s best china with gold rim edges and embroidered linen. I stared perplexed for a minute and then grabbed a plate and began arranging Twinkies.

  “All right, Mal, this is supposed to be about honoring our beloved dead. Which of your ancestors enjoyed Twinkies and cupcakes?” Phoebe came out of the kitchen holding a blender filled with green icy goodness that could only be one thing.

  “And who in your family tree drank margaritas?”

  “Abuela and Tia Carmen.” She smiled as she refilled a pitcher on the far side of the table. For once Phoebe was dressed conservatively. I wondered if it had something to do with how she’d spent her early morning. She didn’t looked bad in the plain black pants and button down business shirt, just more like she was going into work than going on date. She looked like a white girl going into work though, definitely not someone who had a Tia Carmen in the family tree.

  “Feeling Latina?”

  She said something in Spanish, but too quickly for me to understand it. When she spoke again her accent was stronger than usual. “Tia Carmen had a thing for midnight margaritas. I’d wake up to the sound of the blender when I was little. They’d let me steal sips and laugh at the way I liked the salt better than the drink. Now back to the Twinkies?”

  “My dad and I would watch football together. Mom didn’t like it, so it was kind of our thing. Every Sunday we’d sit together and cheer on our team. When Dad went into the kitchen for beer, he’d sneak me Twinkies.”

  “Are you trying to make me feel bad?” Phoebe asked, her eyes looking sorrowful.

  “Is it working?” I teased. I walked into the kitchen to throw away the now empty plastic bags while she said hello to Jakob. When I turned around she was behind me. “Who’s the place at the table for?” I asked.

  “The dead. That’s what this holiday is all about, making room for them in our lives, remembering what they gave us, and seeing the balance between life and death. You of all people should—” Phoebe was interrupted by a voice coming from the patio.

  “Daniel?” Anna asked, joining us in the kitchen. She looked amazing in yet another midriff baring, tiny, tight sweater. This one was black, paired with jeans so faded they were practically white.

  “He’s a friend.” Phoebe shrugged. “I haven’t really found anybody since Mark…”

  “You mean anybody sufficiently screwed up.” Anna set a plate of flame touched kebobs on the counter and reached over to grab the pepper grinder.

  “Maybe I’m in the mood for someone not screwed up, someone nice. You know, for a change.” She added the last with great disdain.

  “For a week, maybe two, then you’ll get bored.” Anna didn’t look up from her work.

  “Maybe, maybe I’m growing up.”

  “Oh I doubt—”

  “Give her a break, Anna,” I interrupted. Phoebe was probably upset over her crazy night. She didn’t need to be teased.

  “Besides, I knew he wouldn’t upset me by feasting on the burned flesh of another living being.” Phoebe wrinkled her nose at the finished plate of meat skewers Anna held.

  “MMMmmmm burned flesh of another living being, yum. Care for some, Mal?”

  “Yes, please,” I said eagerly. Phoebe gave us an exasperated sigh and walked away. She didn’t get far before we both collapsed into a fit of giggles.

  “I don’t ever think I’ve heard you laugh before, Mors.” Ben stood at the dining room table, taking plastic wrap off a bowl of some purple pudd
ing like substance.

  “You’ve never seen me off the clock.” I walked over for a better look at the bowl. “What is that?”

  “Poi,” he said as if that explained it all.

  “Which is?”

  “It’s scared to our ancestors, actually it kind of is our ancestors. Anyway, it’s the only Hawaiian thing I could think of that’s totally and completely vegetarian.”

  “Which is important because?” I asked confused. I’d never heard Ben claim to be a vegetarian.

  “If it’s vegetarian, it’s Kosher.” He grinned widely at something over my shoulder. I turned to find Isaura walking toward us.

  “Uh-huh,” I mumbled, but they didn’t hear me. From the looks of the greeting they shared, they hadn’t seen each other in months. I rescued a plate of blintzes from Isaura. I set it down, gaped a little at the embrace that was still going on, and decided to find Jakob.

  He was out on the porch, laughing with Phoebe. I hastily swallowed the last of my steak before stepping out to join the conversation. Before I got there a man walked out and handed Phoebe a drink. His eyes were almost as blue as Jakob’s, and his black turtle neck and jeans did a lot for him. When it came to nice guys to date, Phoebe could do worse: he looked pretty yummy.

  I stopped gawking and made it over to them in time for the introductions. “Jakob, Daniel. Daniel, Jakob.” Phoebe thought for a minute. “And you know, you two have nothing in common.”

  “Sure they do!” A voice I’d never heard sound so chipper or happy before joined the group from behind me. “They have me,” E said with a smile.

  Daniel broke into his own grin. “Well, this is a surprise,” he said, folding her into a long hug. E’s small frame disappeared inside his arms for a long second.

  “No way, you invaded my small town,” she said when she emerged.

  “It’s not that small of a town. I’ve been here for two years, and I haven’t seen you once.”

  “I just got back,” she said. They went back and forth like a pair of old friends, which I guess they were. It was odd to see tough as nails E relaxed with a friend. Worse, her wide necked sweater threatened to drown her, add it to the jeans and low boots and she looked small and vulnerable. The complete opposite of what she was.

  “Wait a minute, are you that Jakob?” Daniel asked Jakob, who of course didn’t get a chance to answer.

  “He is.” E nodded. “Remember all the things you promised not to tell him.”

  “Oh no,” Jakob said. “Those are the things I have to hear.”

  Everyone laughed and moved inside. I was about to go with them when I saw Anna standing apart from everyone on the other side of the porch. I told Jakob I’d join them in a minute and walked over to her. There were still people to meet, a whole group of earth witches were making pumpkins grow from seeds down in the yard, but Anna looked lonely. I stood next to her in a companionable silence for a while.

  From our spot on the wide wooden porch, I could see into the living room. I watched the four of them laugh on the couch. Phoebe was cuddled up next to Daniel, but his eyes were glued on E. I wondered what they’d shared during the war. Anna caught me watching.

  “E’s having fun,” I said.

  “She was supposed to be my date.” Anna’s voice sounded a little tight.

  “Supposed to be?” I asked, wondering what made her so sad.

  “It was going to be how everyone found out. introduce her around as my guest and…I chickened out.”

  “You know it won’t change how they feel about you.” I tried my best to comfort her.

  “No, I think it won’t change how they feel about me. I won’t know until I tell them. New York was”—she took a deep breath—“interesting.”

  “What happened?”

  “I came out to my agent.”

  “What he’d say?”

  “I can be trendy about it but not an activist, if I go activist, it might stop me from working.”

  “Trendy? Is it trendy to be a lesbian now?” I asked feeling incredibly out of touch.

  “It seems so, at least in New York anyway.” She leaned back against the railing with half a smile.

  “Well you’re trendy when it comes to everything else, why not this?” I asked. She laughed, and I joined her, even though it wasn’t really funny.

  “Thanks, Mal.” She looked over at Isa and Ben. The two of them weren’t really part of the group on the couch. They were in the same room, the same twenty foot area, but they were in their own world. “Think I’ll ever be as happy as those two are?”

  “Oh come on, you can aspire to more than that.”

  “I don’t think so. I suspect our Isa is going to stick with him for a while.”

  “Really?”

  “They share a God, Mal; that’s pretty powerful.”

  I joined her in leaning back against the wood railing, it felt good. “Speaking of gods how are you and Raya doing?”

  “Much better,” she said with a very real smile. “When we introduced Kelly around the family this morning, I told her I was gay.”

  “In front of everybody?” I asked surprised.

  “In front of everybody.” She nodded. “Dad had a fit and told me I couldn’t be, but when I corrected him, every fire in the room jumped. Next thing you know grandma stepped in. She said if I could make that happen, she didn’t give a damn who I slept with.”

  “Feisty grandma.”

  “She sure is.” Anna’s eyes twinkled with the memory.

  “Do you think things will be okay with your dad?”

  “I wasn’t prepared for him to be that upset. I knew he wouldn’t like it, but he acted like it somehow makes him look bad. But grandma’s word is law. If he has any problems with it, he’ll swallow them now that she’s ruled on the matter.”

  “Good,” I declared, thinking how nice it would be to have a feisty grandma of my own to rule on everything in my life. Rhythm and Phoebe stumbled into our conversation.

  “See, I told you Rhythm, no dancing!”

  “Just Anna dancing around the truth,” Rhythm said with a sparkle in her eye. “You going to tell us finally?”

  Anna’s face was a mask of shock and mine was no better.

  “Tell us what?” Phoebe asked. “You’ve got a secret?” Phoebe walked across the patio to wrap both her arms around Anna. Anna went wooden as a playful wind of magic washed over the porch. Phoebe broke the embrace and shouted, “Isa, get out here!” There was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

  “Pheebs…” I cautioned. Coming out shouldn’t involve tirades by spirit witches.

  “What? I was in the middle of—” Isaura surveyed the group of us, me leaning against the railing and Anna a step in front and beside me still looking stunned. Phoebe seethed with anger or maybe disappointment while Rhythm stood by amused.

  “Anna has something to tell us, something I’ve been too damn dumb to notice,” Phoebe announced.

  “Don’t beat yourself up Pheebs; she’s good at hiding it,” I said, realizing why Phoebe was so angry with more than a little relief.

  “What?” Isaura asked Anna.

  “I’m gay,” Anna said bluntly.

  “Mazel tov,” Isaura said with a smile. Then she leaned forward and kissed Anna on both cheeks as a new breeze played over the porch. “Can I get back to the party now? Ben is in the middle of the funniest story…”

  “That’s it?” Anna laughed.

  “Later I’ll introduce you to some nice Jewish girls but for now, yeah pretty much.”

  “Go, go back to the party.” Anna could barely restrain her glee. Isa trotted off, her mind so focused on Ben, she never noticed there might have been a problem.

  “What about you two?” Anna asked Rhythm and Phoebe.

  “I liked it better when you were dancing around it,” Rhythm answered with a shrug. “I’m going to see what the end of Ben’s story is.”

  That left the three of us, Phoebe and Anna staring at each other and me trying to decide
what to say.

  “Well, Pheebs?” I asked.

  “How much have I had to drink?” she asked Anna her eyes narrow.

  “I don’t know, two or three margaritas, maybe four?”

  “So I’m not drunk, right?”

  “Not really.” Anna nibbled her lip anxiously.

  “Good.” Phoebe walked over and gave her a second long hug. “You’re my friend. You don’t ever have to lie to me or hide from me, but I’m going to be pissed off for a long time that I didn’t catch this.”

  “Don’t be Pheebs. Mallory’s right, I’m very very good at hiding.”

  Phoebe laughed. “Oh you’re not that good, I’ve caught you thinking about women. I never realized it went beyond thinking.” She shook her head. “Good thing I’m not the cop in the bunch.”

  The party started to wind down around midnight. Isaura pleaded exhaustion, and Ben graciously took her home, although I suspected her tiredness would evaporate once he got back to her apartment. Rhythm went off dancing, and a handful of people I hadn’t met went with her. The house emptied of strangers, leaving Jakob and I snuggled into the overstuffed arm chair chatting with Daniel and E while Phoebe and Anna cleaned up in the kitchen.

  “Dishes are done. I have no idea how you own so many glasses,” Phoebe declared, sitting down in front of the couch on the floor.

  “When I got the house, Mom and I went a little crazy. We got enough for a family of four. I should donate it all somewhere, get something that fits a single woman. Maybe I’ll make it my New Year’s Resolution.”

  “Isn’t it a little early for resolutions?” I asked. January was still two months away.

  “Samhain is Pagan New Year,” Phoebe explained. I could see her fighting not to roll her eyes at my ignorance. “I think my resolution will be volunteering somewhere, I had fun organizing the race.”

  “And yet you sounded so panicked on the phone,” Jakob teased dryly.

  “Okay, not all of it was fun, but resolutions aren’t always about fun. What about you Mal, what are you gonna do?”

  “I have no idea.” I shook my head. I’d solved the case, and helped Anna come out. Okay that last one didn’t really count, I hadn’t done much. “Oh I know, I’ll get a car.”