Love Potion #9

by Claire Delacroix

  Surely they had just gotten off on the wrong foot.

  Lilith glanced from Sebastian to the door Mitch was knocking on and knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable. However disappointing the truth might be, Lilith knew she couldn’t challenge destiny.

  It simply wasn’t done.

  She had to tell Mitch the truth.

  Lilith opened the door just as Mitch let loose an eloquent stream of cursing. He stopped as soon as he saw her, his eyes widened and he lifted his hands in a plea for truce.

  “Lilith! Just give me five minutes to explain...”

  “You don’t have to explain,” Lilith said flatly. She ran a hand over her brow, feeling suddenly very tired. She couldn’t help it - finding her destined lover wasn’t as wonderful as anticipated, since it meant giving up Mitch. “There’s nothing to explain. I was wrong about everything. I know it now. Good-bye, Mitch. I’m sorry that you got tangled up in all of this.”

  Mitch’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m sorry.” Lilith didn’t know what else to say.

  Mitch frowned. He looked to his house, then back to Lilith, uncertainty in his eyes. “Did I miss something here? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we just spend an awesome night, not to mention make a very promising start to the morning? Aren’t we making up from an argument?”

  “No, Mitch.” Lilith heard the defeat in her tone. “We’re ending whatever we had begun.”

  Oh, she had his attention now. “What?”

  “We aren’t destined to be together, after all.” Lilith tried to shut the door and turn away, the whole conversation making her want to cry.

  But Mitch’s eyes flashed gold and his hand snapped up to stop the progress of the door. “What the hell do you mean? Okay, okay, I was wrong, but come on, Lilith, give me a chance!”

  Lilith shook her head despondently, wishing she could give him a different answer than the one she had to give. “It’s no good, Mitch.”

  Mitch folded his arms across his chest, planted his feet in her foyer and looked about as ready to move as the Rock of Gibraltar. “What exactly changed in the last five seconds?” he demanded, his voice dangerously low. “Give me one good reason why I should walk out this door.”

  “Everything has changed.”

  “We had a misunderstanding,” Mitch insisted stubbornly. “It changes nothing.”

  “No, you just don’t understand.” Once Lilith realized that she wasn’t going to get by with a quick explanation, she stepped back and gestured to the foyer. “Come in and you’ll see. You have a right to know the truth.”

  Mitch’s lips tightened. “I can’t leave the kids. Why don’t you come back and have breakfast?”

  “Because what you have to see is right here,” Lilith said softly. She managed a half-smile for him. “This won’t take long. Soon you’ll see exactly what I mean.”

  “Lilith,” Mitch said her name softly and hesitated, his gaze lingering on her as though he would find the truth in her eyes. Lilith averted her gaze, not wanting him to see the misery surging through her, not wanting him to guess that she wasn’t finding it easy to do the right thing.

  Because Lilith knew that they didn’t have a choice.

  Mitch made a frustrated noise in his throat, then strode further into the house. There was purpose in his step and a part of Lilith was pleased that he was not ready to surrender their relationship.

  Even if she didn’t dare savor to that thrill for long.

  Without a word, Lilith gestured toward the living room. Mitch evidently thought she was inviting him to sit down and headed immediately in that direction, looking as though he was preparing to argue a court case.

  One that he had no intention of losing.

  But Mitch froze on the threshold of the room and stared, in an unconscious echo of Lilith’s return home just moments before.

  “Who the hell are you?” he demanded of the man Lilith knew was lounging there. “And what are you doing in Lilith’s house?”

  Sebastian smiled wolfishly just as Lilith entered the room behind Mitch. “I’m Sebastian, come to claim my one true love.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Mitch turned and frowned at Lilith. “I thought I was Sebastian?”

  “So did I,” Lilith conceded. She shrugged sadly and tried to hide her tears from Mitch’s perceptive eye. “I guess we were both wrong.”

  But Mitch shoved a hand through his hair impatiently and scowled at the newcomer. “How long has this guy been here? Has he been bothering you all weekend?”

  “Bothering her?” Sebastian swept to his feet. “I’ve returned to my destined love because she summoned me.” His eyes flashed. “And it seems that I’ve arrived just in time!”

  “Don’t worry, Sebastian, Mitch always does the right thing.”

  Mitch swiveled to meet her gaze. “Which would be what?”

  “Leaving,” Lilith said simply, then laid a hand on Mitch’s arm, wishing she could make this easier for him.

  Never mind easier for herself.

  “Go home, Mitch,” she urged gently. “Go home to your kids.”

  But Mitch’s eyes flashed. “You can’t be serious about ending this?”

  “We don’t have a choice.”

  “The hell we don’t!” Mitch gripped her shoulders when Lilith didn’t say anything more, as though he wanted to give her a shake. Instead, his voice dropped low. “Lilith, listen to what you’re saying! I’m sorry, I made a mistake, but let’s talk about it. There’s something good growing between us, don’t just throw it away.”

  But Lilith knew better. She dropped her voice and looked into Mitch’s eyes, even managed a smile though her heart was aching. “Mitch, you don’t understand...”

  He spun away from her, clearly seeing that he was making no progress. “No! I don’t!” Mitch retorted in frustration, then gestured angrily at Sebastian. “This guy just shows up and that’s good enough for you? You had, what, one night together some six hundred years ago? What about us? What about the time we’ve spent together? What about last night?” Mitch’s gaze clung to hers, all amber intensity, and he didn’t have to give voice to his real question.

  What about his confession of love?

  Lilith knew it hadn’t been easy for Mitch to let himself care about her, but maybe that was all part of some divine plan. Maybe she was hurting now so that he could go on to find his one true love. Maybe he had to hurt to learn to love again. Lilith didn’t know and right now she didn’t much care.

  But she had to do what was right. There was no point in trying to cheat Dame Fortune.

  Because the Fates could be vengeful.

  “Mitch, we can’t fight destiny...”

  “Why the hell not?” Mitch leaned closer, his gaze dangerously compelling. “What happened to you, Lilith? What happened to fighting for what you wanted, what happened to not surrendering regardless of the odds? It isn’t like you to just let something go, particularly something very special.”

  Mitch took a deep breath and slid his thumbs across her shoulders. She shivered despite herself, unable to keep herself from responding when a smile tugged at his lips and his voice dropped low. “Lilith, it isn’t like you to ignore magick.”

  Lilith’s heart skipped a beat as she stared wordlessly back at him. Mitch’s determination, as well as his acknowledgement of the magic between them, made Lilith want to throw her arms around his neck and surrender.

  But she didn’t. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.

  But the light was wrong. It was too dim in the room to see whether anyone lurked in the depths of Mitch’s eyes or not, though Lilith’s Gift whispered to her of the truth.

  They weren’t a perfect lovematch, at least not anymore. She didn’t have to see to know. Sebastian’s return had changed everything.

  Lilith knew that the future is a constantly changing array of possibilities, a world of options that changes with every choice that each person makes. It didn�
�t make her feel any better that somehow her choices, or Mitch’s choices, had led to a fork in the path they walked together, a fork that would compel them each to walk in different directions.

  But Lilith couldn’t summon the words to explain all of that before Sebastian unfolded himself like a large version of D’Artagnan and strolled across the floor. He halted right in front of Mitch, and poked a finger in that man’s chest.

  “Beat it, pal. We’ve got destiny on our side.” Sebastian smiled coldly. “And three is a crowd.”

  “Lilith?” Mitch made one last appeal.

  “I’m sorry, Mitch.” Lilith swallowed, the words not tasting good in her mouth. “This is how it has to be.”

  Mitch swore, pivoted and stalked out the door.

  And Lilith felt suddenly as though she had lost everything that had ever mattered to her, even knowing that her destined lover had returned to her embrace.

  Surely, she and Sebastian had just gotten off on the wrong foot. Surely, once they were alone together, the passion that had united them once would flicker to life again.

  Surely, Lilith couldn’t have made as big of a mistake as she felt quite definitely she had.

  * * *

  Mitch couldn’t believe it. He was furious with Lilith for refusing to see the truth. For a woman who talked about destiny and love all the time, she was really missing the road signs on this one.

  He loved her. And Mitch knew she loved him.

  He wished he could say something that would convince her of the truth. But Mitch had laid out his best arguments, to no discernible effect. And he knew that Lilith wasn’t easily persuaded to abandon whatever whimsy she took to heart.

  Maybe she hadn’t taken him as close to heart as Mitch had thought.

  That thought stung, but Mitch knew better. He’d been following his gut instincts long enough to know a reliable lead when he found one. Lilith was the woman for him, Mitch knew it in every fiber of his being.

  All he had to do was convince her of the truth. It was hard to walk away from her, doubly hard to leave her in the company of the wretch who had kept her waiting for so long, but Mitch knew an argument that couldn’t be won when he saw one.

  And he wasn’t going to persuade Lilith of anything today.

  Mitch took a deep breath as he reached his own back porch, and fought to compose himself. He’d need answers for the kids, reasons for Lilith’s quick departure and for her inevitable absence.

  Because she wasn’t going to be out of his life for long. No way. Mitch had taken one look at this Sebastian and recognized a man of Kurt’s ilk. Sebastian wasn’t the man for Lilith.

  Mitch was.

  She’d see the truth soon enough. The guy had some hold on her, that link in the past, but Lilith would see her way through that. This was something she had to work through, like his reassessment of his former marriage. Mitch respected Lilith’s intellect and knew she’d make the right choice. And when she did, Mitch would be waiting.

  He didn’t care how long it took.

  And then Mitch would start wooing Lilith in earnest. After all, the lady had appointed Mitch her champion and that was a role he took pretty seriously. It was a role he was damn good at.

  It was a role he was going to surrender without a fight.

  * * *

  Lilith sat down weakly in the closest chair and stared at Sebastian, unable to get things into any kind of order in her mind. The strange thing was that the sight of Sebastian did absolutely nothing to her pulse rate.

  In fact, the man before her didn’t appear to be her type at all. He looked very slick and more than a little unreliable. He didn’t even look the way Sebastian had looked all those years ago. And there was a decided absence of magick in the air since Mitch had left. If Sebastian hadn’t known about the card, Lilith would have thought he was a complete stranger.

  She still felt as though he was.

  Of course, nearly six hundred years was a long time. People grew in their own ways. It wouldn’t be easy to just pick up where they left off.

  And destiny really was on her side this time. Lilith pushed the sight of Mitch’s hurt out of her thoughts, deliberately stomped down on the ache of her own heart, and focused on the issue at hand.

  As reunions went, this one hadn’t been particularly celebratory so far. Maybe she could get them back on the right track.

  “So, you are Sebastian.” Lilith said deliberately, as though stating his name would make everything make sense.

  It didn’t. His name didn’t even linger deliciously on her tongue the way it had for many centuries.

  Lilith frowned and told herself not to fight things she couldn’t change.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” Sebastian grinned and preened, clearly expecting Lilith to admire his physique. He did have the build of a legendary Latin lover, bedroom eyes, golden skin and ruffled dark hair.

  But the sight of him did absolutely nothing for Lilith.

  “A little upgrade, you know,” Sebastian confided. “I wanted a slicker package this time, something with some serious style.” He flashed a very white smile. “Like it?”

  Lilith swallowed, not having it in her to lie and knowing he wouldn’t appreciate the truth. “How did you get in here?”

  Sebastian’s smile broadened. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, baby, but you’ve got a seriously inferior grade of lock on your door. It was like picking my teeth.”

  Lilith swallowed her gasp of outrage. “You broke into my house?”

  “I didn’t break anything,” he retorted. “I’m a pro!”

  Her destined love was a professional criminal. Lilith pressed her fingertips to her temples. This was getting better and better.

  What had she done to deserve such a fate?

  “I thought you would have shown up sooner,” she commented quietly. “Where have you been?”

  “All over the place,” Sebastian confessed with a vague wave of his hand. “Spreading the wealth, you know. I’ve got to tell you that I’ve had action in this life, like you wouldn’t believe. Yet there are women everywhere who haven’t yet made my acquaintance.” He examined his nails with a smile. “I do what I can to set things to rights.”

  “What?” His confession brought Lilith to attention with a snap. “You’ve been with other women?”

  “Hundreds of them, baby.” Sebastian smiled and shrugged. “Maybe even thousands. Over the years, I’ve lost count.”

  Lilith sputtered in her indignation. “But you’re supposed to be my one true love!”

  Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Women and the stuff they come up with,” he mumbled, then smiled engagingly once more. “Sure, Lilith baby, whatever you think is fair.”

  Lilith leaned forward in her chair. “Don’t you think we’re destined lovers?”

  Sebastian shrugged. “Well, that’s what the crowd said when the interrupted a truly great seduction about a week back.” His eyes gleamed. “I was on the Riviera, you know, in this great little hotel, all the amenities, if you know what I mean. And I had met this blonde with hooters out to tomorrow…”

  “What crowd?” Lilith shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

  Sebastian blinked as he sought the element of his story that had caught Lilith’s interest – it took him a moment because it wasn’t the element that interested him. “The crowd? Oh, yeah, this whole party bust into my room.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like they came out of nowhere. It was weird, truly weird. I never did figure out how they got in, and that is my area of specialty.”

  Lilith’s mouth went dry. Her Gift sparkled like starlight and gave her a definite nudge in the direction of a conclusion. “Who were they?” she asked, suspecting that she already knew the answer.

  “Some council, they said. Pretty hoity-toity name, I don’t remember, but they had some really fancy tricks.”

  “The Grand Consulting Council of Immortals,” Lilith whispered reverently, awed that they had taken an interest in her plight.


  “Could have been.” Sebastian shook a finger at her, more than ready to get back to his story. “Now, this blonde was wearing a bikini, or actually not wearing it…”

  But Lilith wasn’t interested in the blonde. “What did they say to you?”

  “Huh? Oh, that I had some obligation from a past life or something equally weird. Freaked out the blonde, which didn’t thrill me particularly, I have to say. After she took off, they laid a lot of goofy doom and gloom on the table. I didn’t know what they went going on about until one of them touched my forehead. I suddenly remembered all these past lives. It was pretty bizarre.”

  “So you didn’t remember anything before that?” Lilith asked, wondering why she didn’t find that very reassuring.

  “No, but then, it was all right there. Just to make matters more strange, they insisted that I had to come here, that you were waiting.” Sebastian leaned closer, no doubt turning what was his best smile on Lilith. “If I’d known you were such a looker, baby, I wouldn’t have argued as much as I did.”

  A sick feeling coiled in Lilith’s stomach. “You mean you didn’t want to come?”

  “Naw! I mean I remembered the other time, but it was hardly anything to chase after, no offense. You were just a skinny kid, not bad looking, but that blonde had you beat hands down. And you couldn’t touch her in terms of experience.” His lips quirked in a smile. “Nothing personal, baby, but I’ve got to look out for number one.”

  Lilith forced her words past the lump in her throat, knowing she had to have everything absolutely clear. “So, you do remember being Sebastian before?”

  “Well, now, yeah.” He shrugged. “Kind of a gruesome way to go, but that’s life. At least I got to come back a few dozen times. And since those council types visited me, I can remember all those babes!” He winked confidently. “Pretty neat that my name is the same this time, don’t you think? Just like destiny or something.”

  He grinned.

  He’d reincarnated dozens of times, yet he hadn’t come looking for her. He’d been too busy “spreading the wealth”, as it was.