“That doesn’t sound too hard,” E said with a laugh.
“I’ve got nothing else.”
“Nothing? Not even something you’ve meant to get to for an age, something you regret not doing?” Phoebe asked.
“Nope, sorry, no regrets, nothing I said I’d do that I didn’t get around to. Is that weird?” I was watching Phoebe who was about to say yes when E spoke.
“Not weird at all. There’s nothing lying around I haven’t gotten too either.” She smiled at me. Maybe we would end up friends after all.
“Oh really?” Daniel asked his voice teasing. “So how’s your swimming coming along?”
E looked at him wide eyed. “I wasn’t thinking of that.”
“Obviously,” he said sarcastically.
“Thinking of what?” Jakob asked Daniel not E about the mystery.
“No one wants to hear war stores, suffice to say once when things got tough E promised she’d learn to swim.”
“I would never have said that if I thought we were going to live.” E’s voice choked with fear.
“You’re aquaphobic?” Phoebe asked
“Oh she’s beyond that,” Daniel said. “Anything bigger than a glass of water is too much for her. Like a good water witch, I tried to help. Offered swimming lessons about a million times but…”
“But stuff comes up,” E finished for him. “I’m sure you’re a great teacher.”
“Why not make it your resolution?” Jakob asked. I was glad he’d said it. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t think our budding friendship could handle the glare of hate she gave him for suggesting it.
“Well, for one thing I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“We’ll go shopping!” Anna declared.
E looked around frantically, her brown eyes finally settling on Daniel. “I’ll get you for this,” she hissed.
“Oh I’m sure you will, especially since I’m going to hold lessons at six in the morning.” His grin threatened to overtake his face.
“You are so lucky we’re in public,” E threatened.
“You know, I think that’s the part of the party I leave at,” I said getting up. “Enjoy the swim lessons, E.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Some football fans will tell you the food they eat during the game doesn’t matter. They’ll say things like “If I was standing outside in an ice storm watching the game it would still be a good game.” They’re fools. Football is a game of nuance and skill, of seemingly minor details that make a huge difference. You can’t appreciate it when you’re wondering if there’s another beer in the fridge or if the dip tastes right. In short, when you watch football, nothing, and I do mean nothing, should distract you from the game.
Which was why my Sunday morning started with cooking. I rummaged in the fridge for ingredients, content to putter about my kitchen until the game started. Unfortunately, my answering machines message light was still blinking up at me, no doubt announcing something I should take care of right away that I couldn’t do a damn thing about on a Sunday morning. I did my best to ignore it while I prepared the dip, but the game was hours away, and eventually I gave up. I clicked the button and listened to the old fashioned tape whirl backwards.
“Good Afternoon Ms. Mors, I’m calling from the First Church Of Anu, regarding a raffle you entered. If you could give me a call at…” He rattled off numbers and mentioned a name. I couldn’t breathe; I hit the button to listen again. There was only one raffle I’d entered, only one I’d wanted to win. The third time the message went by my immobility broke, and I grabbed the phone to call him back. I dialed and immediately began chanting to myself “pick up pick up pick up”
“Good Morning FCA,” a chipper voice said in my ear.
“Hi this is Mallory Mors. I’m calling about my car, well my Jeep really. I won it, in a raffle. In your raffle, I think I won anyway, I got a message?” The words became a stream of insanity, but the woman got the idea and put me on hold. The next person who spoke had the same voice as my message machine.
“Ms. Mors? We’re about to go into services, but yes, you’ve won. When would you like to pick up the Jeep?”
“How’s now? Can I come now? Now would be good.”
He laughed. “If you come now, you’ll have to sit through services, and I don’t think you could stand it. Come around one.”
The game started at two; it would be tight. “Perfect. What do I need to bring?”
“Your checkbook. You’re responsible for state taxes, and a driver’s license.” He was struggling not to laugh at my enthusiasm, and I didn’t care.
“That sounds wonderful, you’re sure about this?” It felt so unreal.
“I’m sure. I’m looking at the keys right now. They’re yours.” He paused for a second dramatically and then added, “Unless you don’t want them?”
“No, no. I’ll be there. One o’clock right? With my checkbook.” He agreed, and we said goodbye. I won the car. I gently placed the phone in the cradle before I squealed in glee. The Jeep was mine. I’d dreamed about it and wanted it and hoped for it, and it was mine. I finished the private part of my celebration with a completely childish dance of joy in the kitchen.
It was far too early for Jakob to be awake. He woke up around two o’clock. It was still only. I checked the clock on the stove, eleven fifty-five. Yeah, maybe if it was raining or cloudy he’d be up, but from the pre-game chatter on the TV, I knew it was a bright sunny day outside. He could be woken though it would take magic. And we didn’t do magic on each other. I paced. I had to share this with someone. I called Phoebe. She wasn’t home, but I left a message. I thought about Anna or Rhythm, but neither of them would get it the way Jakob would. Isaura would only want to talk about Ben.
Finally I gave in, slugged back some apple juice, and went upstairs to break the rule.
“Sweetheart,” I called, hoping to gain the flimsiest of excuses for waking him. “I’m going to use magic to wake you, let me know if that’s a problem, okay?”
He didn’t reply. I took the last of the stairs still talking to his motionless form. “Because I know we have this rule about magic, so if you object say so…” Okay, it was silly, an excuse really, one I shouldn’t even bring up to him if he got upset. “I’ll take that as no objection,” I said as I reached the bedroom.
“Don’t bother,” he mumbled, still half asleep.
“You’re awake?” I practically squealed again in delight. He was awake. The only person in town who would appreciate this was awake. Oh happy day! Wait, wait a minute, no, why was he awake?
“You shouted and your heart is racing. Is everything all right?” He rolled over with a look of concern on his face.
“It’s better than all right. I got the most amazing news.” I took a deep breath. I could only tell him this once, I wanted it to be perfect. “Prepare yourself.”
“I’m prepared.” He sat up and pulled the sheet across his bare body. His pale skin practically glowed in the darkness of my bedroom.
“I won the Jeep!” I shouted. I hadn’t meant to shout, but it happened. Jakob broke into a wide grin for me. “I just got off the phone. It’s mine! Totally mine. I can go get the keys at one. I won!”
He laughed and reached out to me. I joined him in bed, delighting in the bear hug he gave me but not willing to stop talking about it.
“We should go driving tonight, you know under the full moon, which we’ll be able to see because it’s a Jeep and doesn’t have a roof. Ohhhh, and before it gets too cold we should do a road trip, some place close but not too close, to you know, give us time to be in the Jeep. I should name it; don’t you think? Something tough and Jeep like. What’s a good name for a Jeep?”
He laughed for a long time before he realized it was a serious question. “I don’t know. I suppose ‘Jeep’ would defeat the purpose?”
“Yes, yes it would.” I rolled my eyes. “Something strong, something tough…” I began, and I didn’t stop for a good thirty minutes.
Jakob indulged me. Sweet man, he even went along with the idea of me naming a Jeep. I would have continued too, except Phoebe called back, and I had to start over.
“I have a thing at two, are you going to gush much longer?” she interrupted after a few minutes. Clearly Jakob loved me more than Phoebe did.
“Not too much longer, but whenever you ride in it, you’re going to have to hear about it,” I finished with a smile. Then something struck me. “What kind of a thing?”
It wasn’t like Phoebe to say a thing, usually it was a date or lunch with someone, a thing was kind of vague for her.
“A meeting sort of thing, no big deal,” she said too quickly.
“A meeting for what?”
“So do you need me to take you to pick up the Jeep? Because it’s way too sunny out for Jakob to take you, and if you’re going to take the train, you’d need to leave now.” I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my pjs. There was no way I’d get there on time if I took the train.
“Could you take me? That would be amazing. You know it’s the last time you’d ever have to give me a ride.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” she said. Even though we were on the phone, I was pretty sure she was smiling.
I left Jakob in the kitchen to continue preparations for game food with strict instructions not to deviate from the recipes in my game day cookbook in order to make things healthy. He offered to make enough for Phoebe, but she dodged the question. The Jeep took up nearly all of my attention. Nearly all of it, but not all of it. My time as a detective wasn’t wasted. I got into Phoebe’s car and brought up her ‘thing.’
“So what did you say you were doing at two?”
“Oh, nothing, just something I thought I’d try.” She continued to drive and evade the topic.
“Something like…”
“You’re not going to let this drop, are you?” she asked.
“Nope.” I smiled to show we were still friends even though I wasn’t going to stop pestering her.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “But if I get any shit about this from Anna…”
“Not a word. I can keep a secret. Heck, I knew she was gay for like three months, and you didn’t see it in my head, did you?”
“No, and that’s the problem. I’m a spirit witch, and one of my friends was feeling all these things, and I didn’t get it. I mean I read her right. Read the emotions without any problems, but I put the wrong spin on them. Each and every time they came up, I found an explanation that matched what I thought was happening instead of what was happening. What does that say about me?”
“You’re normal?” I shrugged, it didn’t seem important to me, but Phoebe was certainly upset about it.
“No, that I’m not that great of friend or that wonderful of a spirit witch. Friends don’t force you to fit into neat little labels, and a decent spirit witch is open to every possibility.” She took a deep breath, ignored the driving and looked over at me. “What if I couldn’t see Anna was gay because I’m too focused on myself and my own life?”
“That’s not true, Pheebs. You can’t beat yourself up for not seeing what Anna desperately didn’t want anyone to see.”
“It’s not just Anna, the whole vampire thing, I don’t know.” We pulled into the church parking lot and she started to circle looking for a space. “So there’s a support group for witches. It’s small. They do outreach and volunteer. I’ve always avoided them because they all seemed too stuck on what they were, you know holier-than-thou but now… Maybe spending some time with them, doing some volunteer work or something wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
Phoebe sounded serious, too serious to be Phoebe actually. I hadn’t realized how much her night of debauchery had thrown her.
“It’s a fine idea. You already said your New Year’s resolution was doing more volunteer work; why not do it with these people?” I said soothingly. “Besides maybe you’ll make a new friend or find something out about yourself.”
“Or meet a hot guy,” she said, sounding exactly like I expected her too.
****
Phoebe finally gave up on a parking space and dropped me by the front door. The church to the air god didn’t have walls. It had large glass doors folded back somehow so I could see into and through the meeting space. The building was a circle, something I was beginning to suspect all Pagan churches shared, with those weird not wall glass doors on all but the top of the circle. I headed there, staying outside, until I found a door with a small plate listing hours. It was outside the usual time for them to be open, but I knocked anyway. The voice from the phone told me to come in.
The man sitting at the desk in the entry way barely registered with me, dark hair, wearing a tie, whatever. The keys in front of him mattered more. The metal gleamed up at me with a hint of promise, while the gray embossed letters made my fingers itch to trace them. Jeep it spelled, as if there was any other car in the world.
“You must be Ms. Mors,” the man said with a laugh. “She’s parked out back.”
“She?” I asked. It was a she. My car was a she. We were going to be the best friends ever.
“Well it’s the Lara Croft edition so that makes it a she, right?” He smiled. Maybe it was meant to be a flirtatious smile, who knows. I had more important things on my mind. The paperwork dragged. It took longer than paperwork had any right to take, but in the end I had the bill of sale, the pink slip, and the keys in my hand.
“Where is she?” I asked, my hand on the door.
“I’ll walk you,” he said. The smile was back again. He was a nice guy, but I only had eyes for my Jeep.
Outside of the building, the day turned a bit breezy, but since the parking lot had emptied, my darling Jeep was obvious.
“Don’t you want to know about the guy who donated it? Aren’t you curious why he would give it away?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “We had a connection the minute I sat in her. That’s all that matters for me.”
We reached the Jeep. I stood staring at its white finish. The inside was gray, dark gray. Red seat belts and red stitching in the seats made her look like no other car I’d ever seen. It had a light bar and a winch. I doubted I’d ever use either, but I loved them already. I should have gone slowly, savored the moment, but I was sitting and belted in before the man beside me could blink.
“What if it had been in some terrible accident? What if someone died in it?” he asked.
I turned the key and motor purred to life. “Wouldn’t bother me,” I said with a smile. “I’m a death witch.”
Epilogue
Jakob and Amadeus
Jakob found the room without much trouble. He’d never asked the younger vampire where he lived, but there wasn’t much need to. Vampires in his town were never truly hidden from him. He knocked out of courtesy but walked into the room without waiting.
“Jakob?” The dark-haired man looked up from an antique opera program. A week ago Jakob might have asked what made it important, but tonight curiosity gave way to barely controlled anger.
“We must speak.”
“Ah, is this about Detective Mors?”
“Eventually, but we should begin with her friend, Phoebe.” Amadeus’ blank look surprised him, could the other man really share his body, feed off a woman, and not know her name? “The blond spirit witch who was your meal last night.”
“A client, but never a full meal. It’s too great a risk,” Amadeus assured him. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize her name; she didn’t give it to me.”
“A reasonable precaution.”
“A reality of my life.” Amadeus seemed unconcerned with the omission. “A life I wish to continue leading for some time. I hope I have not offended you.”
“You frightened Phoebe.” Jakob danced away from the question, preferring to let the younger man wonder.
“I only did what she asked.”
“I realize that.” Jakob exhaled, feeling the anger leave his body with the breath he didn
’t need. “This would be much easier if I didn’t respect you.”
“Because then you could kill me without a second thought.”
“Exactly.”
“Is it because of what I do or because of Detective Mors?” Amadeus asked.
Jakob stiffened, not at all comforted by the use of his beloved’s formal title. “Both.”
“If I did something else, would that help?”
“A great deal.”
“Then I will do something else.”
“That simply?” Jakob almost laughed.
“I respect you,” he hesitated, “and I’d like to live to see two hundred, so yes, that simply. Are we going to talk about her?”
Jakob thought for a moment about the right phrase, what to reveal, what to keep hidden. He would not let this man turn into a threat. “You annoy her.”
“Is that all?” Amadeus laughed. “I was worried I attracted her.”
Jakob willed himself to remain calm and show nothing, but Amadeus stopped laughing.
“I see.”
“Do you?” Jakob asked. How much could he know? Did he realize threatening Mallory, even hinting at taking her away, meant an instant death?
“Perhaps it is time for me to tell you why it’s so important I stay in your town.” Amadeus paused, staring at the program, then set it down. “Sixty years ago there was a woman. I’ve never met her better, not in the twenty years she was mine, or the forty since she left me. We’re both very stubborn people, but she knows I am here, and so here I must remain.”
“You wait for her?” Jakob asked.
Amadeus nodded.
“Women do not live so long.”
“She’s a succubus. Even if she had died, she’d come back to me, eventually.”
“She left you once.”
“The fight was such a trivial thing.” Amadeus fell silent, no doubt recalling old memories. “I live in hope. But hope does not allow for others.” Jakob began to speak, but he held up his hand. “Clients and casual acquaintances perhaps, but not lovers, not women who are my friends; when your lover stepped into my home to interview me, she was the first woman to cross the threshold in decades.”
Fire in Her Blood Page 33