I pushed around him, opening the door and giving Glenda a weak smile. “Done. It’s all yours,” I told her.
“We were not done,” Eshu announced. “You could have held your urine for quite a bit longer.”
Glenda’s eyebrows went up and she bit back a smile. “So…I take it this demon is staying for dinner?”
I sucked in a breath, ready to tell her that yes, Eshu was staying, and that it wasn’t anyone’s business what we were doing in our free time as I was an adult who was almost thirty and perfectly capable of deciding what relationships I wanted to have with whom.
“Good.” Glenda chuckled. “I like him. I think we need him in this family.”
Eshu puffed his chest out at her words.
“He’s…we’re just friends,” I sputtered.
Glenda nodded knowingly. “Well, your aura says otherwise. Now get out of this bathroom so I can pee.”
Chapter 13
Eshu
If some demon had told me three weeks ago that I’d be following a witch around, tucking her in at night, participating in role playing games not of the sexual kind, and freely giving her my energy to power her charms, I would have thought he’d been hitting the nectar of the gods a bit too hard.
As for crashing her family-night dinner…well, I didn’t lie when I said I loved meatloaf. But no meatloaf in the world would have been sufficient for me to willingly spend hours with that annoying spawn of Satan glowering at me. No, I was there for Sylvie, because I missed her every moment I wasn’t with her. I missed her laugh. I missed her quick mind. Something fun and interesting would happen to me, and all I could think about was how much more fun and interesting it would have been had my couch-witch been there to share the experience.
I wasn’t truly a demon and not truly an angel, but I still bonded like they did, and I could feel myself bonding to this witch. And I had absolutely no interest at all in fighting it.
So, I threw myself into the event that was family-dinner night. I got to know her sisters and her sisters’ lovers. That eldest sister was a bossy stick-in-the-mud, but the rest of them were quite amusing. None of the others had ever died, let alone died by microwaving hot fudge, but they were still reasonably entertaining.
I tried to be on my best behavior, but to be honest, I had no idea how to behave around demons and angels, let alone a bunch of witches. Who knew that drinking games were not appropriate at family-night dinner? Or that I wasn’t supposed to tell that story about Lucien and the beholder? Or accidently drop mashed potatoes into Lucien’s lap. Okay, so it wasn’t an accident, and I didn’t exactly “drop” the mashed potatoes, nor did they go into his lap. Truthfully, I flung them into his face from my spoon.
Evidently food fights were not appropriate at family-night dinner. I also discovered that the racoon was not supposed to come inside to eat pie with the rest of us. Although I had a wonderful time watching everyone chase the animal around the room, a few attendees weren’t amused.
Sylvie was amused, especially when the racoon swiped the can of whipped cream and somehow managed to get on top of the light fixture with it. Racoons like whipped cream. I didn’t blame the guy; I liked whipped cream as well, especially if I got to lick it off my beloved witch.
After the racoon was banished outside, and Sylvie made a convincing argument for why I shouldn’t be banished outside, the cleanup commenced. I remained in the living room area with the others while the eldest sister and one of the younger ones dragged my Sylvie into the kitchen to do dishes and “talk.”
“I like seeing her laugh again,” Sylvie’s twin sister told me. “You make her happy.”
“I want to make her happy,” I replied.
The twin gave me a searching look. “Don’t hurt her, okay? She’s been through a lot. She died and Nash resurrected her. She’s still healing and trying to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of what happened. Just don’t hurt her.”
I would never hurt my couch-witch.
“She told me about her death.” I gave the twin a knowing nod. “A microwave and hot fudge. That’s incredibly impressive. And creative. I’m glad your reaper assisted her, because I would have hated for her to be dead-dead. Of course, I never would have met her if she hadn’t died and needed to convalesce on her sister’s couch,. I owed your reaper my gratitude. And the microwave that electrocuted her as well.”
The twin shot me a strange look. “Do you love her?”
Did I? I’d only known her a few weeks, but I was fairly certain I did love her.
“I’ve had sex with many men and women in my life, yet none has ever captivated me like Sylvie,” I confessed.
She wasn’t like the others. It wasn’t just sex that the couch-witch wanted from me. It’s not like she wanted me to do magic for her or grant her favors or intervene with some powerful being on her behalf. She hadn’t even made an offering to me, which normally would have been a deal breaker in any relationship.
She liked me. She enjoyed my company as much as she enjoyed my staff of love. She liked me. And when I made her laugh, it was the best feeling in the world—even better than sex.
Okay, that was a lie, but it was close to sex. Very close.
How could I win her over, get her to care about me the same way I did about her? How could I make her see me as worthy of being a part of her family, of being her one-and-only? I thought about the few weeks I’d known her, and suddenly knew what I had to do. It would be the perfect gift. I would help her by not helping her, then helping her. Yes. That would be the best gift ever. And maybe then she’d fall in love with me just as I was falling in love with her.
Chapter 14
Sylvie
“You’re not seriously sleeping with him?” Cassie hissed. She was washing dishes with Adrienne drying as I scooped leftovers into containers.
“Do you want the details? Because, wow, my life is pretty much like a porno right now.”
Cassie shuddered. “No, I most definitely don’t want the details.”
“I do,” Adrienne chimed in.
Screw it. The moment I’d made the decision to let Eshu stay for dinner, I knew that there was no way I could play this off as just friends. My sisters believed I was kinky as all get out. I specialized in relationship counselling dealing with sex issues, and I loved to shock them by recommending specific sex toys or positions. My boinking someone casually shouldn’t come as a shock to any of them.
But it did come as a shock. For all my talk, I’d never been one for partying it up or promiscuous behavior. The fact that it was Eshu probably bothered Cassie the most. I knew she didn’t see the attraction.
And that bothered me. Lucien, Hadur, and Nash didn’t appeal to me beyond my acknowledging they were good-looking dudes, but I didn’t doubt how my sisters could be attracted to—or in love with—them. Not that I was in love with Eshu or anything, but why couldn’t Cassie see how he was fun, exciting, and sexy? How he made me laugh so hard I felt like I was going to pee my pants? How sex with him was a wild, uninhibited ride?
“Chill out, Cass,” Adrienne scolded. “I’d do him. Damn, the shoulders on that guy… And I’ll bet he’s got some serious moves.”
“He does,” I assured her. “I barely got any sleep last night, and I’m doubting I’ll get any tonight, either.”
“No details!” Cassie turned to me, drying off her soapy hands. “Sylvie, you’re a grown woman and who you’re sleeping with isn’t any business of mine, but why Eshu? He’s such a screw up. He’s not smart. Lucien hates him. He doesn’t seem your type at all.”
I wasn’t sure what to address in all that first. “Lucien hates Hadur as well, and you’re not telling Bronwyn to leave him home.”
“Hadur saved Bronwyn’s life,” Cassie shot back.
“That’s not the point,” Adrienne chimed in. “Lucien’s your boyfriend. He’s not family. His likes and dislikes carry no weight on whether Sylvie gets to bring Eshu to family dinner.”
“Secondly,” I continu
ed, silently grateful for Adrienne’s support, “I don’t really have a ‘type.’ I like men whose company I enjoy and those who I’m physically attracted to. That encompasses a wide range of men. He might not be your type, but he makes me laugh and he’s incredible in the sack.”
“And he’s not stupid,” Adrienne added. “I think he acts like that to piss Lucien off.”
I got the impression Eshu loved to throw people off balance, to have people underestimate him, to operate under the radar. It didn’t matter to him that everyone else thought he was dumb and a screw up. All that mattered was enjoying life and being a living personification of the id.
And as a therapist, I appreciated the value of that—especially in my own personal life.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Cassie took me by the shoulders, her eyes on mine. “Is he? If you care about him and think this is something that’s going to last, then I’ll back you one hundred percent, Sylvie. He’ll be welcome here in our house, and I’ll tell Lucien to just deal. But I need to know what’s between you guys is real and not you just having a wild fling because you almost died two weeks ago.”
I hesitated because I didn’t really know how to answer that question. And it was a bit unfair of Cassie to ask me this. Had she known Lucien was going to be a long-term thing when she’d first met him?
“All I know is that right now, I don’t want to date or sleep with anyone else. I’m happy with him. Am I going to feel that way in two months or two years or two decades? I don’t know. I only know that for now, you all should consider him my boyfriend.”
It scared me a bit to say that. Two weeks he’d flirted with me while I’d recovered on Cassie’s couch, and I’d thought that was as far as things would go between us. Two nights of what I’d consider dating. One night of intimacy. It seemed kind of fast to label that an actual relationship, but here I was doing just that.
“Good enough for me,” Adrienne said, folding the dish towel and hanging it on the oven handle.
Cassie sighed. “Good enough for me, too.”
“And Lucien?” I asked.
She laughed. “He got used to Hadur. He’s going to have to get used to Eshu as well.”
With the most difficult topic of the evening out of the way, I attempted to broach the other one. “About tomorrow night….”
Adrienne’s eyebrows shot up. “What about tomorrow night?”
Cassie sighed. “I meant what I said before. I spoke to Sheriff Oakes about Stanley, and he’s going to put a deputy out there. I also told Lucien that I want us to go over just before midnight, because that’s when everyone likes to do whatever it is they plan on doing. He’ll be safe. I give you my word on that.”
“And the attack on Clinton’s pack?” I asked.
“Unless Clinton asks for our protection, I don’t know what we can do about that,” Cassie replied.
Adrienne snorted. “Like he’d ask for our protection. Maybe if there were meteors raining from the sky, or an alien attack, or a volcano coming up in the middle of their mountain. He’s the alpha of his pack. He’s not going to ask for protection from his own father.”
“I’m going to go up there, then.” I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to do, but maybe I could make a difference. If I took Eshu with me, perhaps I could use his power again and hex anyone who threatened Clinton’s pack. He’d helped me power the luck charms; I was pretty sure I could convince him to help me with this project as well.
“No.” Cassie slapped a hand on the counter. “I’m not having you smack in between two groups of fighting werewolves.”
“I’ll go with her,” Adrienne interjected. “There’s seven of us, Cassie. If you’re going to be head witch and run Accident, then you need us to help. There’s too much for one witch to do, even one as powerful as you are.”
“You and Lucien protect Stanley,” I told Cassie. That was of primary importance. The lone wolves were counting on us to protect them, and if something happened, all of Accident would question our ability to stand firm against the werewolves or any other threat our population might face. “Adrienne and I’ll go up the mountain and see if we can’t head off any werewolf fighting,” I continued. “If it was just a bunch of drunks spouting off Friday night, then we’ll come back home, and no one will be the wiser.”
“Before I say yes on this, I need to know your plan.” Cassie scowled. “Tell me how the pair of you are going to hold off a dozen or more werewolves from attacking Clinton’s compound.”
Adrienne grinned. “Animals. It’s what I do. There are plenty of animals up on the mountain who will help me. Or maybe I’ll bring a couple of bears or break a lion or two out of the zoo. That would be fun.”
I smothered a laugh. “And I’ll hex them. Maybe they’ll become hopelessly entangled in vines or get lost on their own mountain. Who knows what form a hex will take?”
Cassie shook her head and sighed. “Okay, but I want the pair of you to be safe. And the moment you’re off that mountain, you need to call me and tell me you’re both okay, or I’m hauling ass up there and setting some werewolf pants on fire.”
I held up a hand and eyed Cassie solemnly. “We promise to be careful and call you right away. Promise.”
And hopefully it would all be unnecessary. Hopefully the meeting tomorrow would go well, and we’d have peace and some compromise between the two alphas. Hopefully no one would make a move to attack Stanley. Hopefully Dallas would keep to whatever we agreed upon and keep the peace with Clinton.
If not…hopefully Eshu would agree to help me out, and I could ensure peace on the mountain with a powerful hex. And maybe a lion or two.
Chapter 15
Sylvie
Monday morning, I forced myself out of bed early and made omelets with the remaining eggs and cheese while Eshu did his best to distract me and get me back to bed.
“I can’t,” I protested as he pulled my rear end against his erection. “It’s Monday. I’ve got clients, then the werewolf meeting, then we need to go out with Adrienne to head off any potential attack on Clinton’s compound.”
“I’m looking forward to tonight.” Eshu wiggled against my butt. “And I like your sisters. Well, except for the eldest one that wanted me to eat outside with the raccoon.”
“Well, we’re going up the mountain tonight with the one who talks to the raccoon,” I told him. “Adrienne communicates with animals and can get them to do her bidding.”
With Adrienne, it was less controlling animals and more that they liked her and happily did as she asked. I really didn’t know if she actually could make an animal do something against its will or not.
“And what is my role in this adventure, beyond admiring my beautiful witch?” He kissed the side of my head.
This was so embarrassing. I hated to ask for help. He’d offered freely to assist me with the luck charms, but this was different. We’d only begun this…whatever the heck it was we had together, and I didn’t want him thinking that I was using him in any way.
“I’m still weak, and I’m not sure I’ll have enough strength to power a hex.”
There. Hopefully he’d offer and I wouldn’t have to actually ask.
He reached around me to flip the omelet, still keeping the other arm around my waist. “You will always have the strength you need. Whatever magic you decide to do, it will be sufficient.”
“What if it’s not?” I countered. “I’ll be out there with Adrienne in a potentially dangerous situation. What if I can’t cast a spell, or it’s weak and ineffective?”
“Your spells will always be sufficient.”
There was that word again. Sufficient. I really didn’t like that word. Sufficient didn’t give me any wiggle room, any buffer. And I didn’t believe that anything I did on my own would be sufficient.
“But what if they’re not? What if I can’t do it and the werewolves attack Adrienne and me?”
He flipped the omelet again. “Then I’ll save you. You first, and if your sister hasn’t b
een killed and eaten by the werewolves, then I’ll save her too.”
“Werewolves don’t eat people.” He was going to make me say it. He was going to make me come right out and ask. Ugh, this was so embarrassing. “Can you…would you please let me have some of your energy like you did with the charms? Just in case?”
“There is no need for that. Have faith, Sylvie. Trust.”
Trust in what? Myself? Him? Divine intervention?
“Sometimes the path is twisted,” he continued, “and you may fear you’re going in the wrong direction, that you won’t reach your destination. But remember that whatever direction you travel, it’s always correct, and the destination you arrive at is the one you’re destined for.”
This was the wise, serious Eshu. I think I liked the laughing, frivolous one better—the one with the near-constant erection.
“So that’s a ‘no,’ right?” I turned to face him, putting my hands on his chest and looking up into his dark eyes.
“Trust. Act intuitively. And have faith that your future will find you.”
He leaned down and gave me a soft kiss, and as I pressed myself against him, I realized something. He was right. I needed to have faith that my luck would always be there for me, to catch me and make sure that even though I might fall, I wouldn’t land on hard ground. Eshu might be there for me or he might not, but no matter how twisted the path, as he said, in the end I’d reach my destination. That destination might not be the one I set out for, but it would be the correct one for me.
Maybe my magic wouldn’t fully return. Maybe it wouldn’t be the same. But either way, I was lucky, I was alive, and I was in the arms of a demon—or whatever—who lit me up inside.
We ate breakfast, lingering over coffee as we chatted about my family, game night, what music we liked, then I managed to resist Eshu’s attempts at a sexy shower, and got ready to head to the office.
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