I pondered what it meant to be human. I had wanted so much to be normal ever since I could remember, but I always felt too blonde, too frumpy, too something. Since I turned witch, I just wanted to be human.
Could I be simply human?
“You’re a witch,” said Spark out loud as she nibbled on sardines.
“Yeah, yeah, but I’m a human one.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Seriously. I think being human is more about making choices than biology.”
She lifted her chin and I looked behind me. Eric stood there with a bouquet of wildflowers in his hand.
“I agree,” he said.
“I don’t want to get into another argument about your choice to be immortal,” I said. “It’s too perfect a day.”
He kissed me softly and put the flowers in a vase on the table beside me. “You are my favorite human.” He folded his warrior body into the deck chair beside me. “Tell me what being human means to you, and I’ll tell you why you’re better than that.”
I slanted my face towards the sun and closed my eyes, partly to feel the rays burn into my skin and partly to avoid looking at him. “Compassion. Love. Empathy. Kindness.”
“What about cruelty and violence? That’s human too.”
Once a Viking, always a Viking. Pragmatic, practical … matter-of-fact … and this time wrong. “Nope. I don’t buy that. Those things are unnatural. I believe being human, truly human, is about the good stuff, the striving to be the best people we can be.”
“And if your crops are burned and your women raped?”
I stole a look at him. His eyes melted a smidge. “Life isn’t all about war, Eric. It never was and never will be. If you think that’s all life has to offer, then you’ve never lived.”
“My äskling, I have lived. Remember the night we spent together as humans? I held you naked in my arms. I have lived, Abby, and I want to keep living.”
I exhaled. “But you want to live forever. That’s not natural, Eric.”
“I want to be with you forever. I love you, Abby.”
“Too bad you broke your vow to her, Viking.” Dante appeared. “No one can trust a wizard’s assassin.”
I opened my eyes. Dante kissed my hand.
Spark snickered and lifted her chin in the other direction, indicating another arrival.
Gus approached with his cop swagger.
Gus and Dante sat in chairs. Spark muttered, “Love cubed.”
“Did that thing just say something?” said Gus.
The other men smiled. I sighed.
“I wanted you to be the first to know,” Gus said to me, ignoring the faces the men gave him.
I waited. I sure hoped it wasn’t another murder.
“Zane got transferred and I’m the new top cop in town. He’ll be around later to say goodbye.”
Eric chuckled. Dante smiled as if he were a Cheshire cat sitting on a pound of cat nip.
Gus ignored them. “Zane briefed me.”
“Briefed?” I said, biting back laughter.
“Yup, the Viking really is a Viking, he said, and the two of you have issues.”
“Leave her alone and all will be well,” said Eric in a menacing tone. “She is mine.”
“And the Italian is a …” He hesitated as a purple vapor appeared around Dante’s right hand “… a ladies’ witch.” He laughed at his own joke. “Zane was a little drunk when he told me this stuff.”
Eric laughed. “Good one. We may get along. I have other names for Dante if you run out.”
Dante’s handsome face froze in a crimson shade for a second. The vapor disappeared. “I look forward to your policing,” he said to Gus. But his voice was far from convincing. “And for the record, if you mess with Abby you’ll have to deal with me too.”
Gus laughed. “Abby, you have quite the fan club.”
I could think of other names for them but decided not to mess with his head. “We’re tight in the cove. That’s something you should know. None of us are—or at least few of us are—normal. We respect our differences and get along. But mess with one of us, and you mess with all of us.” Did I sound preachy? Maybe. But I spoke from my heart.
“Duly noted, Ma’am.”
There was so much Gus didn’t know. Where to begin? “So, Gus, we were just talking about what it means to be human. What’s your take on that?”
“Hah,” he said, sizing up Eric beside him. “In a town like this you ask me that?”
We all laughed. Maybe a part of him was beginning to get it.
“Especially in a town like this,” I said. “What could be more important than knowing what it means to be human?”
Without hesitation he spoke. “It’s in your heart.” He put a fist to his chest. “The desire to be kind to yourself and others. The ability to care.” Words flowed out of him as if he had rehearsed them.
Dante rolled his eyes. “And what happens when your cat gets run over?”
Spark yowled.
Gus blinked and looked at the lynx. “That’s where I come in. I’ll take care of it. That’s what police do. We take care of the nasty stuff so everyone else can get on with living.” He took another look at Spark who stood on her haunches. “Life, and in some cases death”—he looked at Eric— “is about the good moments.”
Appearing out of nowhere, Sofia, Dante’s mother, walked into our midst, dressed in spandex and running shoes as if she were in the middle of a marathon. Maybe she was. “I thought I’d find you here,” she said to her son.
“Gus, may I present Sofia …” I said.
“Dante’s mother. I heard about her.”
She turned his way and graced him with her mother-of-a-witch, emerald-green stink eye in full force. All six feet of him flinched. “Trust me, whatever you’ve heard isn’t half of it.”
Gus’s brows rose and the color in his cheeks drained. “I didn’t mean to offend …”
She tossed her hand in the air, seemingly to dismiss him. Orange vapor swirled around her hand and she flicked it towards Gus. That always meant trouble. She turned back to her son. “You’re late for the council meeting.”
“There’s always another one,” he said in a dry voice.
“Ten minutes, Dante.” She nodded to us all and left. Did the new constable notice how quickly she vanished? Did he notice the vapor? If he did, he didn’t say so. He stared at the spot where she had stood.
Eric turned to Dante. “Before you go, we need to tell her about our agreement.”
Agreement? These two agreed on something?
“I will train Jonathan to fight,” said Eric. “It is time for him and he will help protect the family.” His arctic-blue eyes locked with mine.
“And I will oversee the education of Jinx,” said Dante, giving me a witchy wink.
Gus hiccupped. We all looked at each other. Dante shrugged. Eric smiled.
How much crazier could my life possibly get?
Jinx burst out of the back door of the manor and ran towards us. “Mommy, Mommy, can I visit my fairy godmother? Can I? Can I? She’s calling me from the portal.”
Gus looked at me with wide eyes. “Is there something more I should know? Hiccup.”
“Another day,” I said to both of them. “Another day.”
“Hiccup.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks go to my awesome beta-readers: Barbara Cassata, Gina Smith-Probost, K’Tee Bee, Darcy Speed, Marianna Kay, Nicole Laverdure and Jim Dutton. You are amazing readers and your insights have helped me pull this story together. I couldn’t do this without you.
Thanks also go to my professional team:
Cover Design from Authors on a Dime.
Copy Editing by Dr. Philip Newey.
Last, but never least, thanks go to my husband Piet, who supports me in all my creative endeavours.
Afterword
A Note From Jo-Ann Carson
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading my last Abby story. I hope you
enjoyed it. Please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub or Instagram. Remember it doesn’t have to be an essay. A sentence will do. Reviews help other readers find books. They are a golden gift to authors.
If you would like to keep up with my latest news, please sign up for one or both of my newsletters (book news on Jo-Ann Carson’s newsletter, Podcast news on Blood, Sweat and Words newsletter).
My home on the Internet is my website: www.Jo-AnnCarson.com. My podcast home is www.BloodSweatandWords.com.
I’m active on social media and would love to connect with you. My links are below.
Best Wishes,
Jo-Ann
Website Podcast Website Storyteller’s Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram
Other Books by Jo-Ann Carson
A Ghost & Abby Series
Midnight Magic
I Messed Up Christmas
Death by Seance
The Gambling Ghosts Series
A Highland Ghost for Christmas
A Viking Ghost for Valentine's Day
Confessions of a Pirate Ghost
The Biker Ghost Meets His Match
The Vancouver Blues Series
(Danger waits in the alley ...) Steamy Romantic Suspense:
Black Cat Blues
Ain't Misbehavin'
Mata Hari Series
(A single woman ~ A double life) Steamy Rom- Suspense:
Covert Danger
Ancient Danger
Lovin' Danger
Writing as Doomsday Carson
Bête Noire
About the Author
About Jo-Ann Carson
Reports of Jo-Ann Carson’s death on a Gulf Island are greatly exaggerated or, at the very least, premature. She’s an award-winning fiction and non-fiction author, blogger and podcaster.
Her stories, a saucy mix of fantasy adventure and romance thrill and chill you to the bone. A Viking with existential issues, a broken-hearted Highlander, a Casanova man-witch and a Pirate are a few of the males her strong heroines encounter in her last two series: Gambling Ghosts and the Ghost & Abby Mysteries.
In her weekly podcast, Blood, Sweat and Words she focuses on the world of writing today. Her non-fiction writing penned under the name J.R. Carson will launch this fall with the title, How to Write a Short Bio.
A firm believer in the magic of our everyday lives, Jo-Ann loves watching sunrises, walking beaches near her home in the Pacific Northwest and reading by the fire. You can visit her on social media.
Website Podcast Website Storyteller’s Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram
Death by Tarot Card (A Ghost & Abby Mystery Book 4) Page 11
