"You're welcome, Dotty."
"I take it back."
The smell of tomato sauce and garlic washed over us like a wet Italian blanket. I may not have been a fan of Italian food, but the place did smell amazing.
"Welcome back, Chief," a heavily accented voice called from behind the cashier stand.
"Hey, Maria."
"I see you have company this evening." Maria smiled and then recognized me from the last time I had been in the restaurant. Her smile faltered, but then came back. "Welcome back to you, too."
"Hi, Maria," I said embarrassedly.
"Just the two of you? Or will Mr. Jimmy be joining you."
"No. We're meeting the Mayor."
"Ah, yes. She is waiting for you." She grabbed a couple of menus and led us to the back of the dimly lit restaurant. I saw the back of a blonde head as Chief turned, but he blocked my view almost as quickly.
A strange feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. "Mayor Blake, the chief and his guest are here," Maria called out. Chief was still in the way, but I saw the smile on the corner of his mouth as he reached out and shook her hand. Then he stepped aside to introduce me…
My knees nearly gave out and all the moisture evaporated from my head as the mayor turned and stood to greet me. I'd met her before. Obviously, the townsfolk of Cedar Falls had thought it wise to elect a lawyer as their mayor. A lawyer who just happened to be the very pretty cousin of the other boyfriend who was currently pissed at me. Jimmy's cousin Sherry.
"You," she said as her hand and face fell simultaneously.
"Uh, hi. Nice to meet you. Again," I said bashfully and held out my hand. She took it, somewhat reluctantly.
"You know each other?" Chief shifted his glance back and forth.
"This is your girlfriend?" The mayor cocked an eyebrow.
"She's Jimmy's cousin," I answered as if that would explain everything. Knowing Jimmy, it should have been.
"What did you do?" He immediately shifted his stance, putting his hands on his hips and narrowing his eyes at me.
"I… I screwed up. Saw Jimmy having lunch with another woman and got insanely jealous. Kinda blew up his crotch."
"You what?"
At least the mayor started laughing. "I'll take those, Maria. Thanks." She reached out, grabbed the menus, and sat at the circular table big enough for six people. Chief shook his head, sighed, and sat down next to her.
I sat a seat apart and collapsed into the seat, already dreading the remainder of the evening.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
"Beer, please."
"Chianti," I said, remembering the name of the wine.
"I'll be right back."
"Hurry, please."
She gave a little laugh and headed to get our drinks. Chief didn't even pick up a menu before rounding on me. "You blew up his crotch?"
"Yeah. You know that pleasure spell I know?"
Chief's eyes went wide and he shook his head, almost imperceptibly glancing to his side to tell me to shut up in front of the mayor. "Um…what?"
"Did you miss the part where I said she's Jimmy's cousin?"
"I heard you."
"She knows what her cousin is, dingbat."
"Yeah. I do. I try to ignore it. Like Jimmy needed to be any weirder than he already was."
I looked over at her and gave her an appreciative nod. "Preaching to the choir."
"So, wait. You're a witch, too?" She turned her attention to Chief.
He sighed and reached for a beer that wasn't there yet. "Not as much as the one sitting next to me, but yes." He almost looked ashamed.
"Huh. Dennis I knew about, but I'm surprised you are. Your wife?"
"Yes. She was."
"So, that wasn't a car accident?"
Chief shook his head. Things went from awkward to high school with braces and acne.
"Sorry, Bill," she said apologetically and put her hand on his arm. I managed to resist the urge to pin it there with my butter knife. Go me.
"It's okay. Dot caught the killer. After two long years."
She looked up at me and I nodded. "It was the guy who burned in the car accident on Sycamore Street?"
"And his wife, whom he shot."
"Why did he shoot her?"
"She um…slept around."
"Jimmy," Sherry said and narrowed her eyes. She was very intuitive, our mayor.
"That's not important. Dot figured it all out."
"You helped," I added with a smile.
"Well, apparently there is much more to our newest resident than just a pretty face and blowing up people's pants."
I squirmed in my seat. Thankfully, Maria brought our drinks. "Vino for the lady, birra for the signore."
"Thanks, Maria."
"Ready to order?"
"Actually, give us a few minutes. I'm going to see if my cousin would like to join us," Sherry said with an evil grin, pulling her phone out from her purse on the chair next to her.
I nearly spit my wine. "Uh…yeah. He's still a little pissed at me."
"That's okay. I'll make him come."
"Already did that," I mumbled under my breath. Chief must have heard me. He stopped mid-sip, beer bottle still pressed to his lips, and turned to give me a not-so-happy look. I shrugged.
He shook his head and kept drinking. There might have even been an eye roll involved.
Her phone dinged in her hand and her evil grin went to wicked. "He's on his way."
"Did you tell him I was here?"
"Of course. Not."
Oh, this bitch.
"Sherry," Chief made her name a warning.
"Oh, relax, Bill. You know Jimmy."
"Yes. That's the problem. How did I not know you were his cousin? You're more alike than not."
"What do you mean?" Sherry and I asked simultaneously.
He set down his beer and held up his hands defensively. "Sense of humor! Jeez."
"Okay. I'll allow that," Sherry said with a nod.
I just let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I thought he meant she was perverted, too. How the hell he would have known that, I would have taken great pleasure in torturing out of him. Snarl.
"So, how long have you known Bill?" I asked, using his real name and trying not to sound like a bitch.
"Since?" She looked at Chief. "I guess about five years? When I moved back to Cedar Falls to become a lawyer here. Can't be a lawyer without knowing the cops."
Fair enough. "What made you decide to be mayor?"
She sighed. "That is one of the few things you and I seem to have in common. We both want better things for the town."
"Oh." Her answer kind of shocked me. I thought it would have been money and power. Not that anyone ever comes right out and says they want money and power, but I could tell she was being honest.
"My turn. Why are you dating my cousin and my chief of police?"
If she could be honest, so could I. "Because I love them both."
Her eyes widened in surprise. She even looked at Chief for confirmation. He nodded.
Good boy. He gets a nookie.
"And you're okay with this?"
"Of course."
"Not to sound rude or anything…"
"Why?" I asked the question for her.
"Yes. Why? Don't you get jealous?"
Chief chuckled. "No. That's her job," he hooked a thumb in my direction. I blushed and shut up. He wasn't lying
"That much I knew." She gave me a dirty look.
"Don't be too hard on her," Chief started to say, but stopped. Jimmy had entered the restaurant.
He looked around for a moment and finally saw us, all of us, sitting in the darker corner in the back. His face lit up for a moment before being replaced by something else I couldn't quite read. I gave him a small, sad smile as he walked over, but he was mostly ignoring me.
"What's up, guys?" He sat on the other side of Sherry, one last empty seat beside us. I felt like a leper.
"Nothing," Sherry
said, leaning over to give him a quick hug. "Was having dinner with Chief and his girlfriend. Thought I should have dinner with her other boyfriend."
Jimmy narrowed his eyes at his cousin. He looked about as happy as me. "Oh. Okay."
"Was that not okay?"
"It's fine," he answered. "Hey, Bill. Dot," he said and finally looked in my direction.
"Jimmy," I answered back before downing my wine. The whole glass.
"We were just talking about how it must be awkward for the two of you to be dating the same girl," Sherry said and stared at him, wanting to see his reaction.
"Awkward? What's awkward about it? You know I'm a little different."
"That I knew. Just surprised at Bill's involvement in your little game."
"Signore Jimmy! Good to see you!"
"Hey, Maria."
"Birra?"
"Please."
"More vino?" She looked at me.
"Two, please."
"Oh, boy," Chief said and shifted in his chair.
"Just don't want her making multiple trips."
"Uh huh."
"You okay?" Jimmy asked, actually looking concerned.
"Peachy."
"Are you all ready to order?"
"I'll have the chicken piccata," I answered, wanting a quick escape from dinner.
"Osso buco," Chief ordered.
"Lasagna for my cousin and spaghetti for me, please."
Awww. He knows what she eats. That's so cute.
"Be right back with another round of drinks." Maria smiled and left us alone.
"Back to our conversation, you really don't mind dating the same woman as Bill?"
"No. Not at all. Don't mind the other two either."
Unfortunately, Sherry had just picked up her wineglass. She dropped it, splashing what was left across the table. Thankfully, I was far away enough to avoid getting wined and dined. "Shit! Sorry! Did you say two others?"
Oh, boy. Thanks, Jimbo. I shot him a look that spoke volumes. He shook his head at me like that would console me. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek, trying to wipe it away before anybody noticed. It didn't work.
At least it was the side of my face not facing Chief. But Jimmy saw it. "Sher," he said and started mopping up the wine with his napkin. "You need to remember something that you keep forgetting. We're not human. Things are…different for us." He blurted it out, not knowing Chief had already been outed as a witch and not caring in the slightest. It was his cousin, so I'd let him speak his mind. I was interested in seeing where he was going with it, anyway.
"But, still."
"There is no buts. She's like our queen. We treat her as such and would do anything for her."
"Anything?"
"Yep."
She looked at Chief for confirmation. He nodded as well and tipped his beer in her direction in salute. She finally looked at me with an exasperated look on her face. "How the hell did you get so lucky?"
That wasn't the question I'd been expecting. "Just born that way." I twirled the last few drops of wine in my glass. Thankfully, Maria brought me more. I slid one to Chief and nodded at Sherry.
"I'll bring some more napkins! Your food will be out shortly, too," Maria chirped and left us alone again.
"You're clairvoyant, too?" She looked down at the second glass of wine I had ordered, and her shock was even greater.
"No. I just like wine. You got lucky."
That was enough to take the edge off the conversation. Sherry started laughing. "Well, if you all are okay with it, I'll shut up."
"Thanks, Cuz."
"Your mom know?"
"Oh, fuck no. She loves Dot. And my dad doesn't have multiple partners, so…"
"Ignorance is bliss?"
"Yep."
"I wish I was ignorant. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight."
"Why?" She had officially piqued my curiosity.
"You have four boyfriends. I can't even get one."
"That's cuz you're too stuffy," Jimmy said with a smile and a laugh.
"Well, ignorant might be blissful, but at least I know what's going on. I hate a good mystery."
"You shoulda been a cop instead of a lawyer," Chief said with a snicker.
"I'm not that stuffy."
Sherry was a decent human being. Chief had been right. I sat up in my chair a little, more comfortable with the situation…and the mayor.
Of course, the front of the restaurant exploded as the angel crashed through the plate glass windows lining the front of the restaurant.
Chapter 13
"Get her out of here!" I pointed at Sherry and looked at Jimmy. "Chief, you get the rest of the humans out."
"No way. I'm staying with you."
"Chief. Not asking. Get…the…humans…out. The angel is mine."
"That's an an-an-angel?" The mayor was losing it.
"Come on, Cuz. Backdoor."
"Everybody out!" Chief's voice echoed through the restaurant. The angel turned and focused on me, taking great strides across the restaurant, her head nearly scraping the acoustic ceiling tiles overhead. She had to be at least seven feet tall. Maybe Chief was right, running sounded like a better plan.
Fight positive with negative, daughter, the goddesses voice echoed in my head.
What the hell is she talking about? I hope she can't hear me. Luckily, she didn't answer. As the angel passed, the humans either ran out the hole she had made, or headed into the kitchen, hopefully to the back door.
"Go!" I hissed the command at the others. Chief ushered Jimmy and the mayor toward the kitchen, skirting around the very angry looking celestial being.
She snarled and reached for me. "Dorothea Blackwell, you will surrender your father's mantel!"
Huh?
Negative energy, daughter. Lightning…
Then everything clicked into place. Dar's lessons on the planes of existence made a little more sense. Angels lived in the upper realms, overflowing with positive energy. Lightning was electricity. It flowed from negative to positive, the negatively charged electrons leading the path…
"Tintreach!" I screamed the canting, thunder resonating from my voice and then again as every outlet, switch, and lighting fixture streamed an arc of pure unadulterated blue-white fury into me and out my outstretched hand. My aim was a little off, but when you're hurling lighting, correcting your aim doesn't take much. Just a shift of the fingers. Everything outside the restaurant went dark as I channeled everything the electrical grid had to offer. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of Lambresco's electric bill for the month. Hopefully I fried the meter.
The heavenly being screamed in hellish agony as the one-point-twenty-one jigawatts blasted its corporeal form into cosmic dust.
I looked around the broken, battered eatery and frowned. Lambresco's was going to need some remodeling. I sighed in relief and sat back down at the table, grabbing my wine and scooping out most of the dust that had settled over the surface. The glass was perched at my lips, the liquid flowing toward its final resting place as three more angels landed in the street outside the restaurant.
"Fuck." I sighed and downed the liquid courage before getting up and heading toward the front of the battle line. There was a flash of light, and the subtle sound of a phone making a camera shutter noise, but I had bigger things to worry about. Three of them. "I should have known that was too easy."
They were peering into the restaurant, making very un-angelic faces. I saw their teeth for the first time as they snarled. They were all conical in shape and freakishly long. Their mouths were something out of a horror movie.
"You ladies picked the wrong fucking town," I said and held out my arms. Both of them. "Tintreach!"
My voice boomed with power and nothing happened. Not a damn thing. No arcs of electricity. I didn't even get a static shock. Then I realized why… My last bolt had blown the mains. There wasn't any power to be found for an entire city block.
They looked at each other, back at me, and
screeched in laughter. The closest one took a bold step forward and flashed a hideous smile. The nine-millimeter slug caught it right in the forehead.
"Ha! Take that!"
Blood that looked like mercury poured freely from the wound. Chief was standing behind me, I could feel his power and yet he reached for his firearm.
What a cop.
The angel with the brand-new, shiny third eye in its forehead shook itself in anger and smiled. The bullet slowly slid from the wound and dropped to the ground in front of it.
"Chief! Get out of here," I called over my shoulder.
"Not leaving you!"
Yuki skidded to a stop in front of me. "Hey, Boss."
"Good timing."
"Blue Boy is on his way."
"We might be running away from this one." I looked at the power lines overhead. No streetlamps were flickering back to life and they didn't look like they would be anytime soon. A couple of the transformers were even smoking, completely overloaded.
"Fire?"
I tried it, the angels just started walking through the flames, their bodies completely immune. Think, Dot, I chanted in my head. Negative energy. Electricity and death. They were the only two forces I could think of. Maybe Yuki could hurt them. Or Dar, if he ever showed up.
The angels were done playing, each one calling a celestial sword to their now outstretched hands. The one on my left went down in a snarling ball of hellish canine fury, Dar tackling it in his hellhound form. It couldn't swing the blade, but it was pummeling him in the arm with the pommel, Dar whining with each blow and biting down on the creature's other arm. If he let go, she would skewer him like a corn dog. Chief started firing, full bore, popping round after round into the one on the right. Yuki dove at the one in the middle, slashing with claws and spunk, but not really doing any damage either. Things had officially gone to hell.
Deal death, Daughter. The voice in my head wasn't the Lady or the Lord, but it was masculine.
Father?
Later. Deal death to your foes.
How?
Close your eyes, feel your power. Power right at your fingertips. Power I bequeathed to you…
The gem. I reached up and grabbed it beneath my shirt. Next to it was a small pouch I had put Nana's broom into. I yanked on both, breaking the chain around my neck and wincing as the clasp dug into the flesh of my neck.
Fifth Essence: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 5) Page 12
