Gathering Storm

by Danann, Victoria

  Litha unlocked the cuffs and said offhandedly, “I think he believes us now. What’s next?”

  “Dinner on your little girl,” Elora said.

  Litha frowned. “What do you mean?”

  After hearing the details of the incident, Litha turned to Glen. “Why haven’t you mentioned this?”

  “Because I thought you had enough going on. We set up some rules about where she can go and how long she can be gone. No harm can come to her, you know. I mean think about it. How is anybody going to catch her unless she wants them to?”

  All the adults looked at Rosie at once. She smiled around the orange slice she was eating.

  They talked for a while longer about the plan, then Glen did a review.

  “We’re going to start the make-over tomorrow. We’ll meet downstairs in Sol’s conference room at nine. As for what happens until then…” He looked at Angel. Then he looked at Litha. “We’re going to need to keep appearances normal. He has to go home with you. Sorry.”

  Images of Angel and his tattoo standing naked in her bedroom flitted across her mind and she shuddered involuntarily.

  “So we’re agreed?” Glen asked.

  “I’m not.” Everybody turned to look at Angel. “Give me one reason why I should want to learn to pretend I’m this guy who you all think is such hot stuff. One minute I’m minding my own business, about to be maimed and mutilated, and the next I’m in the middle of a…”

  He stopped short and glanced at Litha, who promptly turned bright red, either from embarrassment or fury. It was impossible to say, but Elora noticed the reaction. Let the speculation land where it may.

  “…of a strange situation, in a strange place, with you people. So what, exactly, is my motivation to cooperate with this makeover?”

  Ram spoke up. “You make a very good point. Certainly you’re here through no fault of your own. From your point of view I’m sure it seems unfortunate that fate delivered you to us. As to your question about motivation, I’m happy to provide you with insight into why it would be in your best interest to work with us.

  “In a far corner of the deepest sublevel of this building is a chain link kennel where a ferocious beast used to be kept.” Blackie’s head came up, ears pointed forward, and he looked at Ram like he understood what was being said. “’Tis quite secure, I assure you. Escape would no’ be possible. If you would rather be spendin’ the next however-long as a prisoner there, while we wait for my friend’s return, that can be arranged.

  “If you decide to comply with our demands, you will no’ give us any trouble nor will you attempt to leave. Be assured that your hostess, her father, and any of his kinsmen can track and return you within minutes. Should you force us to prove that, you will earn yourself an unpleasant and unnecessary twenty-four hours in the kennel.”

  Angel smirked. “You won’t do that.”

  Ram raised an eyebrow. “I will no’?”

  “You’ve spent the past three hours talking about what to do with me and why. Where do you think I was while you were doing that? I’ll tell you. I was sitting right here listening. You’re not going to put the almighty Storm in a kennel in the same building where you’re trying to convince people nothing has changed.”

  Ram appraised him for a couple of beats. “Sharp as a tack you are! Another good point. And you’re right. Thank you for bringin’ it to my attention.”

  Ram pulled out his intelliphone and started fiddling with it. When he found what he was looking for he slid his thumb over the selection and put the phone to his ear while everyone in the room watched to see what would happen next.

  “I need a secure Hurricane kennel built tomorrow mornin’. Somethin’ for an extra large dog that would hold even if he was angry ‘bout havin’ visitors.” Pause. “Yes.” Pause. “Perhaps you could move it to the top of your list. Money is no’ an issue, but I will be needin’ it done in the mornin’.” Pause. “Yes. Close by.” Pause. “I’m handin’ the phone off, but keep this number. I’ll be your contact and payment.” Pause. “Hang on.”

  He handed the phone to Litha. While Ram stared at Angel, they both listened to Litha give her address and tell the fence company to construct the kennel inside the garage. Yes. She would leave the garage door open the next day. She handed the phone back to Ram.

  “I’m sendin’ you the email to invoice.” Pause. “Yes. I will pay as soon as it comes through.” He hung up and looked at Angel. “Are we understandin’ one another then?”

  Angel glowered in a way that let Ram know they weren’t likely to be buddies. Ever. But he managed a temperamental nod.

  “Again, you will no’ be givin’ Mrs. Storm any trouble ‘tween now and the morn. This is me bein’ calm and collected. You do no’ want to see my hot blooded side.”

  Elora leaned over and gave Ram a breathy whisper. “I want to see your hot blooded side.”

  In better times, that would have gotten a laugh and a wet kiss from Ram. All things considered, the smile she got in return would do.

  When everyone was gone and Helm had been returned. Ram and Elora ate cold sandwiches on toasted bread that had been good hours before and talked about the challenges of trying to turn one person into somebody else, especially one taciturn and surly person who was not in the least enthusiastic about a makeover.

  “There may be a dozen lookalikes out there. I don’t know. I guess there could be a hundred. Or a thousand,” Elora said.

  “But there’s only one Storm.” He finished her sentence.

  Elora met Ram’s somber eyes. “Yeah.”

  At the vineyard, Litha left Angel waiting in the kitchen while she made a few preparations. When she returned, she had some ground rules to lay down.

  “You can stay in the guest room. I’ve put some clothes in the closet and some toiletries in the bath. Do not set foot in my room or Rosie’s. You have the freedom of the house. You can feed yourself, watch TV, or whatever, but you can’t go outside until you have the skills necessary to double as my husband – in case someone we know should come by.

  “Tomorrow morning my father will be back here to transport you to Jefferson Unit. Be ready to go at nine. It’s going to be a busy day for you. Questions?”

  “Yes. What do you want me to call you?”

  “What I want is for you to never speak in my presence again. What I must tolerate, for now, is what Storm calls me, which is Litha. Now, if there are no more questions…”

  “Okay.” She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her. “I won’t tell your friends.”

  Litha’s entire body tensed, knowing what he was referring to. She hesitated at the doorway for a moment, but didn’t respond.

  Rosie looked up into her mom’s eyes when Litha leaned down to tuck her in. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

  Litha sat down on the edge of the big girl bed and reached to brush a lock of wavy dark hair away from Rosie’s face.

  “It’s weird having a strange man in the house isn’t it?” Rosie nodded. “Especially when he looks so much like Daddy.” Rosie nodded again. “I feel the same way and I’d really like to have some company in that great big bed tonight.”

  Rosie looked so relieved that Litha felt a tug on her heartstrings.

  “He looks like Daddy, but he’s not like Daddy.”

  “I know, sweetheart. Nobody is.”

  The next morning Litha dropped Rosie off with the monks and headed to Jefferson Unit. She hadn’t checked her phone for messages and didn’t see the text reminder from Ram to leave the garage door open, so she had to make a trip back home. She stopped at the Hub for a second coffee before taking the elevator down to Sol’s conference room. Taking hot coffee into a pass was an invitation to catastrophe. So she waited until she was out of the passes for a second cup.

  All parties from the night before were assembled and ready to go. Barrock had been given the day off so they could talk freely without having to worry about a young ear pressed to the closed doors.

  The smart
boards were in use, since the search for Storm was still on, but Glen had old fashioned pens and notepads for any who wanted them and hadn’t brought their own device.

  Deliverance arrived with his passenger right on time and Litha unlocked the cuffs.

  Glen sat Angel at the end of the table furthest away from the door and addressed the opening comment to him. “I’ve taken precautions about interaction with personnel this morning, but just in case, until further notice do not engage anyone other than the people you see in this room. If someone talks to you, just smile and nod when appropriate. We’ll take care of the rest.”

  Angel nodded absently. He was preoccupied looking at the poster size photos of Storm that were hung all around the room.

  Glen continued. “I don’t know what you go by wherever you came from, but while you’re here, your name is Storm.”

  “I go by Angel.”

  At that, Litha looked up, as did Elora and Ram, almost as if they were actually considering for the first time that he was more than a cardboard cutout of Storm.

  They were thinking his fate had been to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They knew they were using him, felt bad about it – to varying degrees, but that wasn’t going to stop any of them from proceeding.

  He was thinking that the moment of his kidnapping could not possibly have been more opportune or timely and that he was lucky to land where he was. But that was a bit of info he’d be keeping to himself.

  “Well, this may suck for you, but like I said, your name is Storm until we return you to life in…” Glen looked at Deliverance.

  “Halcyon.”

  “…Halcyon Dimension.”

  Angel perked up. “Halcyon? That’s the name of my neighborhood bar.”

  Glen looked unimpressed. “Good to know. Now the first order of business…”

  Glen’s attention was drawn to the door opening and filling up with a formidable figure carrying a duffle over his shoulder. “Somebody order pizza?”

  “Bubba!” Elora jumped up and rushed to give him a hug.

  Kay dropped the duffel in time to get both arms around her. “Lump. You better not ever call me that in front of my sisters or they’ll pound you. They think they’re the only ones entitled.”

  “Well, they’re wrong about that, but I get it. I wouldn’t let anybody else call me Lump.”

  Kay laughed softly and gave Elora a squeeze. His eyes swept the room and came to rest on Deliverance. “Who’s that?”

  Ram looked at Deliverance and it dawned on him that a situation was in the making. “Uh oh.”

  Elora tightened her arms around Kay, turning the hug into a form of restraint. “Kay. Don’t go flying off. That’s Litha’s father. He’s working for us now.”

  With a growl Kay shoved Elora aside, something she wouldn’t have thought possible.

  “You!” Kay’s eyes were taking on that feral look that was the harbinger of a berserker rage.

  Elora and Ram both stepped in front of Kay to try and divert his attention.

  “Paddy’s Curse, Elora. Who called Kay?”

  “I did. He deserves to know that his partner is missing.”

  “Yeah? Remember what Simon’s office looked like after Hurricane Kay blew through?”

  “Can we argue about this later? Kay! This is not helping. We can’t find Storm without that demon.”

  As Kay turned toward Elora, the berserker seemed to recede a little, but they were far from home free.

  “What?”

  “You’ve got to work out your differences and work together.”

  Kay gaped at Elora. “Work together?” Apparently that idea was so mind boggling that it brought Kay’s human side fully back to the forefront. “That can’t be a serious request.”

  Kay’s focus went right back to Deliverance, who stood waiting calmly and dispassionately with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “You kidnapped my girl!”

  “You killed my father. My kin wanted a retribution killing. I think you got off easy.”

  “Got off easy? Got off easy?” He repeated that like his brain was so scrambled by the incredulity of that statement that it got stuck on a loop. “You pinched her!”

  The room was quiet as a tomb while everyone held their breath waiting to see what Deliverance would say to that.

  Elora pulled at Kay to try to divert his attention to her. “Kay. Look at the chain of events. I’m not pretending to know how all the puzzle pieces fit together, but Katrina’s kidnapping led to Litha and Deliverance finding each other. Right now, she’s kinda miffed at him, but overall I’m thinking that was a good thing. That led to Katrina insisting that Litha be her maid of honor and that led to one of the most romantic moments in history. Also a good thing.” Elora glanced at Litha and saw that her face had softened and her eyes were misty. “I know that Storm’s the philosopher, but it just seems like there was a little meant-to-be in there. Don’t you think?”

  When Kay reviewed the incident through a filter of reason, he had to admit that Katrina had been frightened but not harmed. Not really.

  While Kay was mulling it over, Litha turned to the demon and said quietly, “Dad. I need you to work with us on this.”

  He looked at Litha for a few beats, then shrugged his shoulders and returned his attention to Kay. “Okay. You can pinch me back.”

  One thing that could be said about Deliverance. He was not predictable.

  The offer of a retaliation pinch seemed to completely take the wind out of Kay’s sails. And, as much as Kay might despise the incubus for the scare he’d been put through, he didn’t think pinching would make him feel any better about the thing. He glared at Deliverance.

  “First, you took my girl. Now you’ve lost my partner. When I look at you, I see bad news walking. I will leave you alone, but just stay the hell away from me.”

  “Fair enough. Your loss,” Deliverance said cheerfully just before he winked at Litha and popped out.

  Glen flopped into a chair. “Who wants cookies?”

  Ram raised his hand. “I do.”

  Kay gave Ram a shoulder bump greeting. “Sorry about that.”

  “Pffft. We’ve all come to be quite fond of your high strung, extra sensitive side.”

  “Still funny, Rammel.”

  Glen stood up with a mouth full of chocolate chip cookie. “Okay, B Team. Enough with the reunions and high drama. Hugs all around and then let’s get back to it. We’ve got work to do.”

  Kay looked at Ram and pointed at Glen as if to say, “What is that about?”

  Ram grinned and shook his head. “The long of it is, ’tis a story. The short of it is that the kid’s in charge.”

  “Of Jefferson Unit?” Kay gave Glen a thorough once over. The astonished tone in his question might have been insulting to anyone besides Glen. But he knew the situation was astonishment-worthy. So he just smiled as he munched down an enormous chocochip cookie. “Want milk with that?”

  Back to Ram, Kay said, “I can’t have been away that long. Where’s Sol?”

  “On a sexy vacay with our very own Farnsworth. Whom he’s marryin’.”

  Kay looked dubious. “Now I know you’re shitting me.”

  “On your own time, gentlemen. Take a seat if you will,” Glen interrupted. “What we need to accomplish today is twofold. We need to assess our subject, identify bullet points, and assign duties. Let’s take it one category at a time. We’ll start with his body.

  “Storm. If you would be so kind as to stand up and remove your shirt.”

  “What?”

  “Take off the tee.” Angel made no move to comply. “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes. There’s a problem. I’m not auditioning for pinup.”

  “That’s okay because no one here is interested in photos.”

  He got to his feet slowly and hesitated before pulling his shirt over his head. Standing there being ogled he felt vulnerable and self-conscious to a degree he didn’t know was possible. The collective murm
urs of disapproval had him blushing and turning shy.

  “Great Paddy, man. Where is your pride?”

  “It’s a good thing he’s not auditioning for pinup,” Kay snickered to Ram.

  “What are we going to do about the ink?” Elora asked Glen without taking her eyes away from the dragon tattoo.

  “Make sure he keeps a shirt on.”

  Glen cleared his throat. “Thank you, ah, Storm. That told us what we need to know. Please feel free to get dressed.”

  He’s ten pounds over and belly dancers have better def,” said Kay. “I’ll bet he can’t even run an eight minute mile.” Ram and Elora nodded in unison. “I’ll take on getting him in shape.”

  Angel pulled on his tee and started to sit down.

  “Not so fast.” Elora was up and moving toward the end of the table. She pushed his chair out of the way with her foot to clear some room, then asked, “Ever done any fighting?”

  “Like in a bar?”

  Elora heaved a sigh. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’. Alright. I’m going to try to slap your chin. Not hard. I won’t hurt you. I just want to get a look at your reflexes and counters.”

  She flicked out a jab that glanced off his jaw. It was over before Angel knew she’d moved.

  Walking back to her chair she said, “My fourteen-year-olds could permanently disable him in two seconds. I’ll take martial arts.” Then under her breath, so only Ram could hear she said, “For all the good it’ll do,” as she sat back down.

  “Okay. Moving right along. I’ll take Black Swan history and make sure he knows who we are, what we are, what we’ve done, and what we’re doing.” He looked at Ram, Kay, and Elora. “I’ll throw in some B Team fun facts, but the three of you will probably want to fill in the color. Also, as friends, you will catch it and bring it to his attention when he does or says something that is un-Storm-like.” They nodded.

  “Litha, same thing. I want you to work on the subtleties. You don’t need to schedule extra time. You can do it at the vineyard over dinner or whatever. Facial expression, body language, tone of voice, verbal inflexion. Correct anything that’s off.