by Alexie Aaron
“Yes.”
“You could have told me no.”
“Didn’t want to.”
“You gave me a big hickey.”
“I know. Just marking my territory. If Acalan is going to paint you nude, then he’s going to know whose girl he’s looking at.”
“He didn’t do anything untoward.”
“You still came back all hot and bothered. I call it a win,-win situation.”
“I’m all hot and bothered now,” Mia said.
“Me too. I’m glad I was in the office and not Cid. You would have scared the shit out of him.”
Mia sat up and punched Ted in the arm. He lifted her on top of him. “Come on, wayward wife, use me.”
She did.
~
Mia arrived on the porch of the mansion. The door was ajar. She knocked as she walked in. “Hello?”
Quentin slid out of the library in his stocking feet. “Take off your shoes. Baxter just had the floors done.”
Mia pulled off her boots, dropped her purse, and ran and slid right into her crazy uncle’s arms.
Music started playing from Baxter’s office. Mia and Quentin danced their way around the foyer. Quentin spun Mia around with such vigor she slid out of control and ended up at Baxter’s feet.
“What’s up, doc?” Mia said, looking up.
“I have fixed a celebratory breakfast. Did you take care of the birdmen?” he asked, helping her off the floor.
“Yes, and they took care of me.”
“I’m reading a lot of innuendo in that,” Quentin said, leading them into the dining room.
“You’re a very bright man,” Mia said. “I missed you.”
“Did Baxter take care of you while I was gone?”
“He’s trying. Although, I noticed his hair is going gray fast.”
“I thought it made me look distinguished,” Baxter said, checking his reflection in the stainless steel of the toaster.
“Handsome.”
“Mia, stop it,” Baxter warned, passing her the scrambled eggs.
“Sorry.”
Quentin looked at Mia and then at Baxter. “Don’t take away our little seductress.”
“It’s for her own good,” Baxter said.
“I’m no longer in lust for her,” Quentin said.
“I know that should make me happy but…” Mia frowned.
Baxter patted her back. “We believe in catch and release here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Doctor,” he corrected.
“Yes, Doctor.”
“My god, you’ve got her trained. You’ve taken the wild wolf and reduced her to a show bitch.”
“Gee, thanks, Quentin.”
He reached over the table and grabbed her hand. “I missed you too.”
Baxter listened to Mia in his office without comment. Although, his eyes did twinkle when she told him about posing nude. “I’m not sure how I could do that. Sure, he’s a professional and gay, but I’m not.”
“Have you ever had a problem with the naked form?” Baxter asked.
“No, not really. Should I?”
“In this case, I think you behaved well. You looked at the situation, asked Ted to join you. Odd that he declined. I see some growth there. Let’s talk about your meeting with the feathers three.”
Mia told him.
“What do you think you could have done better?”
“I could have left Nicholai’s place when I first woke up.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Mia blew out air before explaining. “He’s done it before. Just snatched me. I wasn’t worried about my virtue.”
“Yet, he takes you away where you have no one to protect you, twice.”
“Huh.”
“I don’t want you paranoid, but I do want you looking at things with open eyes. Other people will look on his actions as pre-mating.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Angelo and you, do you want to talk about that?”
“I can see why he’s upset with me, but part of me doesn’t care.”
“Explain.”
“Why should I be governed by him or Nicholai for that matter? Why do I have to have a big bad birdman protecting me when I defeated Ruax all by myself?”
“I think he, like Murphy, is attached to you. We do need to examine your and Murphy’s attachment one of these days.”
“I’m not sure I could?”
“Explain.”
“It’s not that it’s private, but part of me doesn’t want to hear you tell me I have to give him up.”
“Why do you think I’d say that?”
Mia lifted an eyebrow.
“Mia, you asked me to help you. I can only help you to come to your own decisions. I’m not here to replace your common sense or become your new daddy fixation.”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry. I’m here to listen and help you if I can. Why would you choose me to tell your most intimate secrets and concerns to?”
“Because you kept a Nephilim – although lovable – sane. I think you must be a hell of a therapist.”
“But I’m a villain.”
“Who’s to say I’m not one too?”
Baxter laughed.
“I really think you’re helping me. Does it matter what side of the fence you’re standing on?”
“No.”
“Okay, what’s my homework?”
“Touching. Do try to think before you touch. A woman’s touch can be considered an invitation in a man’s mind who already adores her.”
Chapter Seven
Father Santos paced his inner sanctum. He had impulsively called Mia and found that she was a few minutes away. He knew she wasn’t happy with him for needling her husband to the point of questioning their marriage, setting them all up to be played by Beth Bouvier and Beverly Cooper. Even after the plot had been thwarted, Ted still needed closure. Was it his influence that compelled Mia’s husband to confront their tormentor or was it some deep-seated guilt? Either way, he had left things rocky between him and Mia. He was going to try and mend the fence first before asking a favor of her.
“Father, Mia Martin to see you,” his secretary’s voice announced over the intercom.
“Please send her in.”
Mia walked in and nodded to Santos. She didn’t hug him. She held out her gloved hand instead.
He took it in both of his. “Mia, thank you for coming so quickly. I fear, I left this situation too long. I worry that time is against us.”
“As you said on the phone. What is the situation?” she asked, withdrawing her hand.
Santos shut the door behind her and locked it. He took her by the arm, and she snapped it out of his grasp.
“With all due respect, if you touch me again, I’m leaving,” Mia growled.
“I’m sorry, I’m nervous.”
“You nervous? Why?”
“Because I know I failed you. I can read body language. I don’t know why you’re even here if you hate me so much.”
“I thought I was coming here for an explanation as to why you felt the overwhelming need to submarine my marriage. I’ll allow that, if Roumain could get to Father Alessandro, then it’s possible that the Cynosura could get to you.”
“How much damage did I do?”
“My husband is cerebral. I won’t even know the damage until he explodes. In the meanwhile, we’re fine. Stay away from Ted. We don’t need you messing with his insecurity.”
“He admitted to me that I rushed him into marriage.”
“Why the hell would you tell me that? What is your endgame?” Mia asked.
“I did rush him in order to protect you from Angelo.”
“It’s a good thing Ted and I love each other, and I have certainly enjoyed being Mrs. Theodore Martin. It would be a hell of a lot easier if all of you pompous unmarried men, who think you know better than a couple - who have faced angels and demons and have weathered all kinds of storms - keep out of our lives. And Angelo
isn’t the bad guy here. You are!”
Mia walked to the door. She stopped and turned around. “Pray on this awhile before you call me again.”
“It’s a young woman, a painter. Her family thinks that she’s possessed. I can’t see a demon, but it could be a ghost,” he said quickly. He walked over and picked up a file. “Take this home. Look it over, and if you think you can put aside your hatred for me to help her, call me.” He thrust the folder into her gloved hands.
Mia dropped it on the floor. She wouldn’t touch it. She toed it open before she picked up a pencil and moved the documents around. She took a picture with her phone. She snapped open the door lock with her mind, opened it, and said, “I’ll look into this.”
“Mia, I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” Father Santos said.
“I forgive you, but it’s going to take me awhile to feel comfortable with you. Please understand, I’m at the time in my development where I was engineered to seduce a fallen before I kill him. Michael may have killed the demon, but the rest of me is volatile right now. I have sought out a person to help my mind. I’m going in search of a trainer to help my physical body. I can’t help your possessed painter until I know that I can take on a spirit without it claiming me. This may all be a Cynosura plot.”
“I never thought you’d be so selfish.”
“Selfish? Is it selfish to be careful? I’ll have someone proper investigate your painter, and then I’ll make my decision. If you want to help her, pray I can get my shit together.”
Father Simon, who had been waiting for Father Santos in his outer room, followed Mia out into the church. She got as far as the candles. As she walked, the lit candles extinguished. She raised her hand, and they all relit.
“Mia,” Father Simon called. “If you need spiritual guidance, come to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, and I will be happy to speak with you.”
“Thank you, Father Simon, I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, turned, and stared at him.
Father Simon had never seen Mia Cooper Martin look more powerful. Her eyes glowed blue, and her aura was made of a thousand stars.
He crossed himself.
~
“What do you think?” Bernard asked Ted. They were standing, looking at the massive stone vault with a locking system that Charles was certain could be cracked so they wouldn’t have to cut it open. “It took a crane to get it through the door and a rolling system not unlike what the Egyptians used to move their Aswan quarry stone.”
“Where did this come from?” Ted asked, running his hand over the rough stonework.
“Would you believe an island that has been under the ice until a few years ago?”
“Was this where Charles and Amanda were working when we were in Alsace?”
“Not exactly. That was Iceland. This was the result of something they found on that dig, and it led them to the remains of a Norse city predating the Prose Edda.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t leave it in place and open it there,” Ted said, walking behind it. “It looks to me that this is a door lying on its back, not a vault. Did they try to X-ray it?”
“I think that they were working against a deadline. You see, that particular property is situated in what will soon be a northern route across the world. Norway has dibs, but the UN would only grant them temporary ownership. What’s in this vault may determine who owns the island.”
Ted took that in. “Why did you want to talk to me before Charles approached me? I take it you guys want me to decode the lock.”
“Amanda is acting strangely. Ralph and I had them over last night, and she was acting as if Mia caused all of Beverly’s problems.”
“That’s untrue.”
“Yes. Ralph tossed them out and sent them home with a flea in their ears. But after consulting with Father Santos, we think that Piers Savatier may have gotten to Amanda. If you recall, he was her abuser and controller when she was young. The theory is that Amanda opened a letter similar to the one you had handed to you.”
“These Cynosura will not go down easy. Is she getting any help?”
“Father Santos is working on it. He was unable to get ahold of Angelo today.”
“Father Santos is persona non grata with the Martins right now.”
“You mean Mia hasn’t forgiven him yet?”
“He hasn’t asked. She thinks he’s trying to ruin our marriage.”
“Do you have marriage problems?” Bernard asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“No. I was bullied by him into getting some closure. I have it and understand there is no victim who needs rescuing. Just a bitter woman who didn’t get her way and is blaming everything on me and my wife. I’ve acknowledged my part in things.”
“Why does Mia hold Paolo responsible?”
“Mia is worried that it had to be more than Gerald’s suggestions to Father Santos that spurred him to point out all my flaws as a husband. She’s afraid that Paolo has been Gerald’s puppet for a while now. Gerald is more than a wheeler-dealer; he’s a mind reader and master manipulator. She dealt with him in the past when he was studying with Quazar. He claims that his association ended then, but there is a document the Feds have that proves that Beverly and Gerald were selling my son Brian. The name of the purchaser was Quazar.”
“Isn’t he imprisoned by the Council of Women?”
“He was, but we don’t have any way of knowing if they still have him, let him go, or if he has escaped. Mia told me that he claimed to be working for someone else.
“So you’re thinking…”
“Gerald, but Gerald is locked up. Father Santos is tainted by his connection to both Beverly and Gerald. Now Amanda is acting up. Wouldn’t you say that’s more than a coincidence?”
“Where is Mia now?”
Ted looked at his messages. “She is waiting for Ralph at the theater. The two of them are going shopping. After, she and I are traveling back to Big Bear Lake together. Ralph warned me to bring the big van. I fear for our bank account.”
“Would you care to have a long lunch with an old fan, Ted?” Bernard asked.
“It would be a pleasure, no place expensive. I worry how much she is buying.”
“I worry how much Ralph is spending on her. Anytime Ralph felt that Amanda and Charles were particularly hard on Mia, he took Mia shopping and indulged her.”
“How bad were they?”
“Enough that I should look into a second mortgage.”
~
“And how does Ted feel about your modeling in your birthday suit?” Ralph asked as they were looking through the fall selection of clothing at his favorite shop.
“It surprised me that he was fine with it. I rewarded him later.”
“Mia! I didn’t spank you enough as a child. You’re so naughty.”
“You never spanked me that I can remember.”
“I don’t remember either. All I know is, I don’t know how Bernard’s going to take seeing you buff naked all over town again.”
“I had on a bathing suit before, Ralph, and you know it.”
“Not much of one.”
“This is for a tarot card deck. I don’t see Bernard hanging out in gypsy tents.”
Ralph giggled.
Mia held up a dress.
Ralph took it from her. “Too matronly.”
“I’m looking for something I can wear to the boys’ school functions. And I want to pick it out myself.”
“Why? I dress you superbly.”
“I want to dress myself. Baxter said I should be choosing my own clothes.”
Ralph frowned.
“But I will take your advice.”
“I don’t think you have to wear a dress. Things are pretty casual out there. How about a nice pair of lined trousers, a few blouses, and a roomy fake fur jacket with a hood? I saw just the one over at Coach.”
“I can’t afford Coach.”
“I can,” a voice said from behind them.
Mia turned around, and there stood Quent
in.
“Ralph, this is Quentin, my uncle. Quentin, this is Ralph, my godfather.”
The two stylish men checked each other out. Ralph nodded his approval. “I see all the taste in the family went to you.”
“Mia just needs a little guidance,” Quentin said. “I would recommend my tailor though for the jacket. He can deal with the bumps.”
“They are called breasts,” Mia said with her hands on her hips.
“I was looking at your bottom, dear.”
Mia ran over to look at herself in a three-way mirror.
“There’s nothing wrong with her behind,” Ralph said.
“I just wanted to get her away for a minute. I didn’t mean to push my way into this excursion. I just saw the two of you and had to make your acquaintance.”
“I’m not put out at all. Look at her, she is a little vain thing.”
“She has every right to be. Come on, let’s convince her to get some new underwear. I want to see her turn red,” Quentin said.
After enjoying a private tour of the imaging lab of the museum, Ted walked to the van. The autumn evening air was filled with the sounds of the Thursday night football game at Soldier Field. He imagined Susan Braverman and Deb Booker were sitting there enjoying the 50-yard-line seats Orion had purchased for them. He got in the van and backed out of the space Bernard had reserved for him. He stopped quickly as something flew past his rearview camera. He could have sworn it was a parrot.
Mia waited in the lobby for Ted to drive up. She had a lot of bags of clothing for herself and the Martin men. Quentin flashed his black card, and the sales help all but prostrated themselves to help Mia. When Mia protested, Quentin held firm. He said, “Let me treat you this once. You saved my life, Mia. I don’t take that lightly.”
Ralph approved of the connection. The man, in his opinion, was rather flighty. And when he found out he was older than Charles, Ralph couldn’t believe it.
“We age slow on my father’s side of the family,” he explained.
Ralph invited Quentin up to have drinks with him and Bernard. Mia declined. Ted would want to get back home to his project.