Eden's Charms

by Jaclyn Tracey

  André turned to Savanah. “Flash everyone. We’re out of here.” He tossed a wad of bills on the table, and headed for the exit.

  We’re on our way. Are you all right? Where is Molly? Is Duncan home with Luce, Serina and the baby yet?

  Molly’s in Elyza’s room wallpapering. Raven’s on her way up from Poughkeepsie with Jonah and Payton. Duncan, Lucian, my sister and the baby are still in the city.

  I’m two blocks away, Cherié. Don’t worry. Stay away from the windows and doors. I’m pulling up in the drive now.

  Just how fast did you drive?

  Cherié, I always drive like a madman to see you.

  You’re an imbecile, just as your sister says.

  That’s Lucian she calls imbecile. Not me. Would someone please get this right?

  André moved with a blurring speed while Julian circled the house from the opposite direction. He may not have been a vampire like his siblings or a werewolf like his brother-in-laws, but being a donor a few times a week to Lucian, he reaped the benefits of speed, strength, and telepathy with everyone in their family. There was an upside to this paranormal, supernatural, phenomenon André enjoyed most days. Right here, right now, he wasn’t feeling it.

  Julian met André on his hands and knees, his nose to the ground like a pit bull, sniffing out every grain of dirt. He looked up, his nose covered in grass and mud.

  André shook his head when he saw him. “Why didn’t you shift?”

  “Didn’t feel like ruining another good suit. You’ll never guess who was here.”

  André gave an impatient glare.

  “That stupid little mutt from the restaurant. I should’ve killed the ignorant bastard then and there. What does he want that’s worth his life?”

  “You already know it’s my daughter. I get to kill him and bury him in the back woods,” André added, baring no hint of amusement.

  “Fair enough. I was going to turn him over to the police.”

  Pointing to the door, André whispered, “Jules, it’s open.” Both men were inside in a heartbeat. Julian took the back stairs from the kitchen and André, the main stairs in the center hall.

  Jovan, he’s in the house.

  ****

  Ethan entered the nursery behind Jovan. “Ladies, hello. No need for panic. I realize it might be a bit overwhelming seeing a stranger in your home, but I really only need one thing and no one will get hurt, including me, but that’s a whole other story.”

  Jovan took one look at Ethan, staggered backwards, and latched on to Molly. Her frantic brain tried to make the images in front of her make sense—or go away. Her eyes had to be playing a malicious joke on her. This man could not be the one. She’d never been wrong the rare few times she allowed herself her sightings. Scrying, she knew there was a reason she didn’t do it and this idiot just made her case and point. Chattering teeth bit out, “Who are you and what do you want?”

  “The baby and Raven,” Ethan answered in earnest.

  Molly dropped her brush to the floor. “Are you insane?” Defiant, the red head added, “There’s no baby. Go out the way you came in, and we won’t hurt you.”

  Taking in all the baby things, the cradle, the swinging chair, the changing table, the mountain of pink clothes with tiny satin hangers, the white rocking chair with lavender roses blooming all over it, and a zoo of stuffed animals, he tossed his hands out. “Really?”

  André, he’s here with us. He wants a baby and Raven.

  Keep him talking. Julian’s coming in through the bedroom window. When he comes in, I’ll come through the door.

  “Really, Mister, there’s no baby. We’re just two contractors hired to paint. The baby hasn’t even been born yet,” Molly lied.

  “I beg to differ. I know the baby popped out two days ago, and Raven and he are coming home, here, today.”

  “Then you’re one up on us, buddy, because no one named Raven lives here and as you can see the crib’s empty. And if you’re not color blind everything is bloody pink and purple.” Jovan said her jaw tense.

  Ethan scratched his head. They certainly had a point. He knew if he had a son he wasn’t going in a pink and purple room. A little girl with jet-black curls and green eyes would though. Ethan shook his head. Christ, not five minutes ago I’d sworn off children. Now I’ve got a little girl? I’ve been hexed!

  Jovan shared the conversation to André. What the hell does this guy want Ray for and why would he think she had a child?

  I don’t know, Cherié. We met him at dinner. He planted a giant kiss on Savanah. Maybe he’s lying to you to get to her?

  He’s not lying. He believes Raven had a baby, and he wants him. A son.

  The look Jovan fired Ethan by all rights should have left him a giant ash pile. “Do you have the right address? Certainly somewhere, someone else had a baby you can go steal?”

  Ethan held his heart, and with a little sarcasm added, “Ouch. First you puke on me and now you insult me.”

  “That was you on the plane?” A sardonic half-grin worked its way onto her lips. “Trust me, it won’t be the last thing I do.”

  Julian crashed through the window and flew across the room with unprecedented speed. André had his backside, with Ethan’s arms crossed and locked behind him before his next breath.

  So shocked at the sight of the two men again, Ethan lost the contents of his bladder down his leg, out his shoe and all over the floor into a sloppy puddle.

  “Damn, he’s not house-broken,” Julian said one inch away from Ethan’s face. A little closer and he could have kissed him…or bit off his nose. The latter being Julian’s choice.

  Actually everyone’s but Ethan’s choice. Not that Ethan wanted to kiss the man, but if it were a choice between his nose or his dignity? Well, having just peed all over himself, the point seemed moot.

  “Ladies, Savanah’s in the carport screaming obscenities because I locked her in there for her own safety. Would you please go release her?” André tried to scoot the women out.

  Getting her last digs in, Jovan yelled, “I don’t care what happens to you—” She poked Ethan in the breastbone “—as long as it isn’t in this room. My paint hasn’t dried yet, and I don’t want any bloodstains or evidence. Do you hear me, Grimmy?”

  Julian shot his hands into the air and mouthed, “What? Me?”

  Ethan’s rosy complexion took a drastic turn for the worse.

  Watching him dry-heave she vowed, “If you even think of vomiting in this room I’ll kill you myself. Swallow it. André, get him out of here.” Jovan jammed Ethan’s mouth shut. “You ever touch my daughter again, I’ll turn you into the bull she said you were. And you’ll be castrated first.”

  “It’s called payback, Mom.” Ethan’s salmon appetizer left a rancid puddle of pink chunks on the floor.

  “Kid, you’ve done something I haven’t seen in a century. You broke open a beehive and my little queen’s about to take a chunk out of your hide,” André chided.

  “Who the hell are you people?” Ethan asked as he tried to wipe his chin off on his shirt.

  “Raven is my sister, and she is neither pregnant nor lactating.” André spun Ethan to face him. “Now, what makes you think my sister had a baby and why would you of all people want it? You’re not leaving here ’til we have answers. Please, humor me, and tell me you didn’t sleep with her.”

  “Me? No, but I know who did.”

  “Actually, Ands, he’s not leaving here period. We can’t let him go.” Julian winked behind Ethan’s back. But we can have some fun with him until we figure out what to do. The kid reeks of vampire.

  André wasn’t entirely certain he really didn’t want the little twerp buried in the woods.

  “Who’s Savanah? Is she the beauty from the restaurant?”

  André picked up a poker from the fireplace, and jabbed the rod’s tip into Ethan’s side. “It is not your turn to ask the questions. It is your turn to answer them. Who sent you here?” He prodded Ethan’s gut harder.


  “I’m claiming the fifth.”

  “He’s all your, Jules. Take him to the tack room.” André stormed from the room, his temper ready to stick around and finish the kid off. He found his wife and daughter in the kitchen.

  “Papa, what happened? Who’s upstairs?”

  André put his finger gently on his daughter’s lip and kissed her forehead. “We need to find out where this kid gets his information. Why would he think Raven had a baby?”

  “Who?” Savanah asked again.

  Jovan reached out to André, and whispered in his mind. We need to talk when we’re alone. Something’s very wrong. The boy’s mind is tainted by a vampire. He doesn’t realize his free will has been bought, and he’s now an indentured servant. He’s dangerous. For her daughter’s ears she inclined her head to the pantry. “We can make the truth serum up. Won’t take but a few minutes. We’ll meet you in the stables.”

  “Cherié, why the truth serum if you can detect lies?”

  “Because he will lie ’til the cows come home to protect his master.” Jovan kissed André on the corner of his lip.

  “Here we go again.” Savanah knew it. “One kiss leads to another, and I’ll be waiting all evening to get to the stables.” Savanah pried her mother from her father. “Come on, Mum. I want to see who we’ve locked up since no one’s talking.”

  ****

  Ethan shifted halfway down the path to the stables thinking he could outsmart, out run, overpower this man. Not happening. Simply put, Ethan had been outdone on all levels. The mold for werewolves was cast from Julian.

  From Ethan’s vantage this scenario continued to spiral downhill. Getting dragged by the scruff of his neck to the tack room was the icing on the cake or so he thought until Julian secured him to an old wooden beam with a silver chain, and wrangled a loose muzzle on him. Panic escalated to level orange when Julian dug up as many syringes as he could muster then spread them out on a tattered, dusty horse-hair blanket. Nothing aseptic in these urine soaked walls.

  “No freaking way you’re poking me with those things.”

  “Good to know the wolf has evolved to communication in both life forms.”

  Julian winked, but it wasn’t a warm, mischievous blink like the ones Ethan doled out. Ethan realized there and then Julian was probably more of a cold-blooded beast than the Maestro.

  Both Jovan and Savanah sneezed in unison when they entered the musty barn. “Here’s the mixture. Who’s it for?” Savanah dabbed her nose with a tissue, searching. “Oh my, I don’t miss this place.”

  Recognition of one angelic voice had Ethan crank his large head in the direction of freedom, the sliding stable door.

  Taken aback seeing Ethan, she approached him with caution. “We meet again. No mistaking those green eyes. You got all dolled up for me? Nice coat! I must say you have a definite angle at getting to know people.”

  “Yeah, you’ll never forget this, will you?” Ethan sat on his haunches and bat his puppy eyes at her.

  “I don’t think I’ll let you forget it either.” She smirked.

  “Savanah! I know your name!”

  “Well, Ethan, I’m not Rapunzel. And I sure as hell won’t let my hair down for you.”

  Ethan’s nose twitched as he watched Savanah hand her father a glass flask with a bluish concoction gurgling without the need for flames. Steam rose, and sweetened the air with a mixture of juniper, peppermint oil, rue, violets and raspberries.

  Savanah passed another flask under Ethan’s nose to which he grimaced. The second flask contained a burnt amber gel. “And yes, it is what you’re thinking. It is my very own sweet and sour sauce.” She didn’t need to read his mind. The look on his face said everything. She ran her fingertips across his blond fur, then rubbed behind his ears.

  “Lower, sweets—the itch is much lower,” Ethan countered.

  Savanah picked up a horsewhip, and cracked it. “Still itch?”

  “Woman, I love the way you think.” Ethan growled at her through the muzzle.

  Picking up one the syringes her uncle had laid out, she aimed it at his back leg, daring him, without words.

  In his sternest tone, André shouted, “Savanah!” She jumped and the syringe went sailing like a dart just missing Ethan.

  “That was close.” Savanah bent over and got in his face. “Next time I won’t miss.”

  “Ha ha ha!” Ethan added sarcasm laced.

  “What have I told you about becoming infatuated with creatures we have to put down?”

  “Papa!” Her free hand atop her hip, she huffed a giant curl from her view. “Why can’t I keep him? You always kill off the cute ones. Always!” Savanah turned away from Ethan wearing a smile her orthodontist would have appreciated. “I never freakin’ get to have any fun.”

  Although teasing him wasn’t a bad way to spend the night, for a brief moment Savanah’s fantasies stole her and the wolf far away from her family where it would be just the two of them, her as Red Riding Hood and Ethan, the big bad wolf chasing her, catching her, and devouring her in a completely sensual, erotic frenzy—tongue, teeth, fingers, penis…The whole nine yards—ah…make that inches and yes, it was bigger than her pinky!

  Happy dance time was moments away.

  She wanted to make love to him, show him feelings she had no words for, only deep seeded desires. She wanted him to leave her breathless, exhausted under him. She needed his warm flesh against hers hard and fast. Savanah looked at Ethan and for a minute panicked he’d been able to read her mind. She broke out in a cool mist. Crap, I inhaled my own freaking concoction.

  Ethan stared at Savanah, tongue flopped over the side of his mouth, with lethal picturesque choppers showing through.

  “You’re drooling, Mr. Kitt.” Savanah pointed to his lips. “Quite the set of dents you’ve got there.” The second the words rolled from her lips, she knew somehow he’d take full advantage of the opportunity.

  “All the better to eat you with, my dear.” His tail wagged in the dirt leaving him in a smutty cloud.

  Rancor saturated Jovan’s voice. “Why is that thing still breathing?”

  Smothered by her mother’s tenor, Savanah’s saucy dream ended up watered down. Her mother was piping hot.

  André answered, “We were waiting for you, Cherié.”

  “Hold up a second.” Ethan barked. “Are you really going to kill me?”

  Everyone answered a collective, “Yes.”

  “If I talk?”

  “Yes.” Jovan hissed.

  “Probably.” Julian weighed his hands like a balanced scale.

  “If I give you names and places?”

  “We’ll see.” André.

  “What do you want?”

  You, once you lose the mangy fur. Savanah eyed Ethan as if he were a one hundred-eighty pound chunk of eye-candy made to order just for her. Oh! I’m in trouble.

  Yes, you are! Ethan’s gaze began with her feet and worked his way very slowly up every delicious, lip-smacking inch of her body, as he took in everything the woman had to offer him. When his eyes rested on hers he smiled, still in the form of a wolf, but he smiled all teeth and tongue. Yeah baby, I’m the big bad wolf, all right. And I am going to eat you for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dessert, however, is on me.

  Savanah’s eyes went wide. She stumbled and covered her ears. Ethan did a double take hoping it was coincidence and that the woman couldn’t read his thoughts even as he read hers without conscientiously realizing it.

  “The truth, Ethan.”

  Julian’s stern voice nearly gave Ethan whiplash as he spun his head toward the man. “The man that sent me after the baby is Xier, or the Maestro known by others. His son said some unstable chic, Raven, had his grandson two days ago, and he wants it. Xanti Sinclair claims he and his brother Xavier had a child.” With the mention of that name Ethan watched this family unravel. Purposefully, he said, “S-i-n-c-l-a-i-r,” again, slowly, spelling it just to see if the same reaction happened.

  Jovan choke
d. André held his arm up on one of the stables doors to steady himself and Julian, Mr. Rock of Gibraltar, landed squarely on his righteous rump.

  Savanah ran to her mother’s side. “Uncle Lucian beheaded that bastard. There was no way the guy had a kid. One century ago the science and technology wasn’t born.”

  “Seems I’ve hit a nerve or two.” Ethan bucked up.

  Getting back on his feet, Julian asked, “What makes Xanti think Raven had a baby?”

  “I’m just the messenger. I don’t even know what she looks like. Xanti told me to look for Sleeping Beauty. Lot of help there.”

  “Then turn around and feast your eyes, Mister.” Raven strut into the stables wearing dark sunglasses, skintight leather pants showing off long lean legs and three-inch heeled black boots. Her hair was done in a French braid. She avoided all the eyes except Ethan’s. One glance at him, her jaw dropped. Raven faced Jovan, pushed her glasses atop of her head, her eyes wide. Jovan the painting—werewolf or not, there was no mistaking the face behind the fur.

  About to say something, Jovan opted for a silencing finger to her lips and whispered, “Not now, Ray.”

  Having that nasty sensation of eyes burning a hole in him, Ethan glanced between Raven and Jovan. “Why does everyone always get that B-rated Zombie look each time one of you sees me?”

  “Because you’re a walking dead man.” Raven ran her fingers down the front side of her body. “As you can see I’ve no baby. So you work for the Sinclair’s? Who in Hell did you piss off to get that job?” Raven’s voice couldn’t have held more sarcasm if she were made of spandex.

  “Well I’m not surprised I was given the wrong info yet again. I apologize. So—if you’ll all just untie me and get this tarnished silver off me, I’ll be moving on. No harm done. Seriously, do I look like I have an idea what to do with a baby?” Ethan scoured the room, waiting, hoping to find an ally in any one of them. Not even his tall, dark beauty budged. The look she gave him reminded him of a lover scorned. Yeah, he’d seen it more than once. Just tonight as a matter of fact, from that buoyant little trickster.