Hearth, Home, and Havoc

by RJ Blain

  Viktor stretched out beside me in bed, hard at work twirling my hair around a finger. “We can’t afford to wait two months for you to dig a new hole. I’m sorry.”

  “It’ll be a lot faster if you’re helping me dig. Two people can dig a grave overnight. I bet can manage in three nights flat. I took my time digging my hole. You seduced me with that plan, Viktor. It seems like a waste not to use such a pleasant memory.”

  He chuckled and continued playing with my hair. “You have a delightfully vicious side to you, Dakota.”

  “You like it. I want to dig a hole and bury the bastard.”

  “And what about your hope to drown him?”

  “I’m willing to make some concessions, but damn it, I want that hole.”

  “The hole’s going to cost you one additional favor over his dead body.”

  “It better be a damned good hole,” I muttered.

  Viktor laughed so hard he cried. “It’ll be the best hole I can give you. When’s the reservation for?”

  “The cabin’s vacant, so we can go over as soon as tomorrow. I took it for two weeks. I’m not going to miss my court date, am I? It’d look bad if I didn’t make my court date because I was too busy killing Adken. If we’re killing him legally, we don’t really need a hole, do we?”

  “No, we don’t, but I’ll help you dig one anyway. It’ll be therapeutic. It’ll take a few days to get set up and lure him to us. He’s mostly hiding in his cabin, so we’re going to have to drop a few hints with one of his minions. He has a few in Reno doing errands for him. They’re beguiled, but it’s basic compared to what he did to you. The CDC will take care of them once he’s out of the way.”

  “I can live with that. It can be a celebratory hole, completely symbolic. I’d be nice if he just disappeared, but…” I shrugged. “Him being gone is enough for me.”

  “Yet you’re paying me in a favor to help you dig a hole.”

  “You seemed so hopeful. I couldn’t deny you a chance for a second favor, especially not when you lived up to your promise of murderous pillow talk.”

  “I aim to please.”

  That he did.

  We drove to Reno the following morning, and to reach the cabin I’d rented, we had to drive past where Adken hid. I would’ve been content to pass the place, but a flash of gold drew my eye, and I slapped my hand to the passenger window. “Stop the car,” I barked.

  Viktor obeyed, not quite slamming the brakes, but hard enough the SUV skidded on the loose gravel. “What the…?”

  I held up my hand, pressed my nose to the glass, and stared at the source of the color, the same shade as my hair.

  Yep, I recognized the pretty little blonde head hiding in the bushes, and I seriously contemplated Viktor’s advice to leash my daughter. Worse, there was a second head of darker hair beside her, skirting the line between a golden chestnut and a mousy brown, which put the figure at a high risk of being my first-born child.

  “Viktor?” I growled, contemplating how much at fault the man beside me was for the escapees loitering near Adken’s hideout.

  “I know that sound. That’s the sound of an angry woman who’s about to murder me. What did I do?”

  “I think there were some escapees.”

  “Escapees…?” Viktor leaned towards me, and when I pointed at the pair hiding in the bushes, he cursed. He cursed so much I raised my eyebrows at the expletives pouring out of his mouth.

  “Viktor…”

  “I had nothing to do with this. I’d never encourage that havoc-wreaking hellion to join in a murder.”

  Oops. “I’ll take the blame for that. I told her I wanted to kill the bastard and might need her help hiding the body.”

  The look Viktor shot me should’ve struck me dead. “We’re going to have a long talk over giving impressionable goddesses bad ideas.”

  “First, we stop those monsters from doing something I regret,” I hissed, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Then, you’re going to explain how they found their way here.”

  “Well, Nolan was the one who told us all of his father’s properties. This was one of them. That’s my fault. I did tell him I’d make sure his father was out of the way.”

  “You no longer have any grounds to chastise me for giving impressionable children bad ideas.”

  He blinked, and he furrowed his brows. “Huh. I guess you’re right. I’m never going to win a parenting award, am I?”

  “Don’t worry. Neither will I. I’m playing with a handicap, though. I have a goddess to contend with. I’m pretty sure she counts as a parenting nightmare.”

  “I left the older brat at boarding school, I swear,” Viktor muttered.

  “I produce brats, don’t I?” I slumped in my seat. “This is all my fault.”

  Viktor ground his knuckles against the top of my head. “You take the girl, I’ll grab the boy, and try not to stampede through the bushes like an elephant. I recommend slapping your hand over her mouth to stop the screams.”

  “Screaming would definitely alert Adken.”

  “Yes, it would.” Viktor sighed, unbuckled his belt, and eased open his door. “Be very, very quiet. We’re hunting children.”

  I clamped my lips together so I wouldn’t giggle. “You’re a bad, bad man, Viktor.”

  “But you like it,” he whispered, slipping out of his SUV. To limit the noise, he left his door open, and I followed his example.

  Fortunately for both of us, my children were so absorbed in their spying they didn’t notice us creep up behind them. At Viktor’s silent signal, I clapped my hand over my daughter’s mouth while Viktor jumped my son, who had at least several inches on me.

  Hestia gasped.

  “Shh,” I hissed. While my daughter was stiff in my hold, she didn’t fight me when I pulled her away from the bushes in the direction of Viktor’s SUV. “What do you think you’re doing, young lady?” I demanded in a whisper.

  “Mom?” my daughter squeaked.

  I hauled my demonic divine entity of a child to the SUV, an arm wrapped around her throat so she wouldn’t escape. “I’ve been called that from time to time. You have a lot of explaining to do, missy! Just what do you think you’re doing here?”

  “I was rescuing you!” she replied, her voice dipping into a whine.

  “You were what?” I took a deep breath so I wouldn’t turn my daughter over my knee and spank her for putting herself in danger. “I was never in need of rescue, but the sentiment is appreciated. I’m pretty sure you were told to avoid him at all costs, Hestia. This is not avoiding him. This is deliberately putting yourself in harm’s way.”

  Capturing my daughter in a headlock, I dragged her the rest of the way to the SUV, opened the back door, and shoved her in. She scrambled inside, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. When she froze, I snapped my fingers and pointed at the seatbelt. Her hands shook, but she obeyed.

  Viktor had an easier time with Nolan, who took the hint, scrambled around the vehicle, and climbed in beside his half-sister, fumbling with the belt before he could earn himself a scolding.

  Nolan was taller than me, and in a fortuitous roll of the genetic dice, he took after me more than he did his father. I looked over both my children, who watched me with owl-wide eyes, and reclaimed the front seat while Viktor hopped behind the wheel.

  “I’m gonna tan your hides,” Viktor announced before starting the engine. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  I grinned.

  “We thought he’d gotten hold of Mom!” my daughter wailed. “He hadn’t?”

  “Obviously not,” I muttered, shaking my head. “No. I was enjoying an unconventional vacation. Viktor decided to come along for the ride. It was the adult version of hide and go seek. Viktor’s really bad at the game. If you play and he’s the seeker, he might leave you waiting for a few months.”

  Viktor sighed and drove us to the cabin I’d rented. “I’m in trouble because I assured your mother you were safe and sound in boarding school. Which is where you should have
been, Nolan. Care to explain why you aren’t where I left you a few days ago?”

  “Hestia busted me out to show her how to get here.”

  Of course she did. My daughter viewed rules as things to be broken with limited exceptions. “Hestia! I’ve a mind to leash you.”

  “Mom,” my daughter whined. “It’s not my fault! I thought the sperm donor had grabbed you.”

  “I’ve a mind to actually let Viktor tan your ass, young lady. While I have opinions about him, he is Nolan’s father.”

  “I call him the asshole,” my son said, and I glanced in the rearview mirror in time to watch my son shrug.

  “Nolan has opinions similar to his sister’s,” Viktor murmured. “You two kids hush back there. Your mother and I are in the middle of committing a murder, and we weren’t expecting a pair of tagalongs. I’m the manual labor, and if you’re not careful, you’re going to be recruited to help. I’ve been tasked with digging her a hole. Ironically, we won’t be using this hole to hide the body, as we’re going to lure the asshole over to our cabin nearby. When he gets within ten feet of her of his own volition, it’s a legal kill.”

  “Way to teach them good morals,” I muttered.

  “There’s no point in hiding it, and since we’re luring the bastard to our cabin, it’s a good idea to warn them there’s going to be bloodshed.”

  I scowled. “Where can I get leashes appropriate for children?”

  The children in question chorused, “Mom!”

  That my son knew me at all after so many years made me want to cry.

  “Pipe down, kids. I really will tan your hides if you make your mother cry. I already ruined her plans to hide the body, so let’s not stir her ire any more. She might send us all to bed without supper if we’re not good.”

  “I’d never,” I protested. “Well, maybe you. I’d never starve my children, no matter how much they might deserve it for going near a dangerous person.”

  The whined apologies from the backseat made me grin.

  “This does change our plan,” Viktor said, turning onto the path that’d lead to our cabin. “Two kids were not part of the picture.”

  “They can stick with you, and I’ll do my part just as planned. When he shows up and knocks, I’ll answer, you take care of the rest.” I shrugged. “Just as long as the demonic entities in the back promise they’ll do exactly as told.”

  “Kids, the original plan was for your mother to be the bait and lure him out. We’re expecting him to use his magic, which is what will allow me to use the kill authority granted by the CDC. For a while, she might not be herself. If I can undo it, I will, but I expect I’ll have to call in a vampire. If he acts true to form, he’ll blank slate her. Here’s the important part of this, kids. Just because we’re ready for him does not mean we’re actually planning his death. We’re just being really prepared if he tries another stunt like the one in Vegas.”

  “Can I help?” Nolan asked. “The asshole used his magic on me, too.”

  “No.” Viktor parked, twisted around so he could look into the back, and pointed at my son. “Under no circumstances will you help. Your mother will blame me if anything happens to you, and I’m really hoping she’s planning on keeping me around, so don’t you ruin my chances, you runty brat.”

  I turned in time to see my son grin like a little idiot at Viktor.

  Men.

  “He’s hardly runty,” I protested.

  “You’re biased,” Viktor countered, winking at me. “While I’m a fan of awkward and teary reunions, I’d be grateful if that could wait until after the ex is dealt with. Permanently.”

  “He has an ulterior motive, Mom. It involves getting rid of the old competition so he can have you all to himself,” my daughter announced. “My brother and I have already discussed it, and we’re giving him our permission to court you.”

  “To court me?” I blurted.

  My children were going to be so disappointed if they ever found out I had severe problems with keeping my hands off Viktor on a good day.

  “You deserve better than what the asshole did to you,” my son confessed.

  Would I ever be able to truly move on from the heartache of the past? I’d have to for the sake of my son, who I didn’t even know. My chance to learn everything about him had finally come, as long as I didn’t mess everything up. “Nolan, what he did was never your fault. It wasn’t mine, either.”

  Viktor smiled at me, and the tenderness in his expression both broke my heart and healed it all at the same time. That Nolan’s expression matched wrecked me and put me back together again.

  The only future I needed was in the SUV with me.

  “I’m a practical woman. Courting sounds like too much work.”

  Viktor snickered, and with the faintest of leers, he got out of his SUV. “I wonder why.”

  “You’ll pay for that later,” I promised.

  “I look forward to it.”

  Rolling my eyes, I got out of the vehicle, went to the back, and opened the back door, staring down at my son with my throat tight as though my heart had tried to escape and hadn’t quite made it. Swallowing, I tried not to think of everything I’d missed over the years.

  He unbuckled his seat belt, leaned towards me, and kissed my cheek. “You’re exactly like I remember.”

  My eyes burned, and I reached for him, cupping his face in my hands. Not only was he taller than me, I wouldn’t have recognized him in a crowd. I wouldn’t have recognized him at all.

  My heart hurt, and I wasn’t sure the pain would ever go away.

  “You’ve grown so much.” The words were the only ones I could say without lying.

  Viktor came to my rescue, grabbed me by the waist, pulled me back, and tossed me over his shoulder. I squealed, clutching the back of his shirt, eyes wide as I comprehended he’d picked me up with no effort. “One of you will cry, then both of you will cry, and then Hestia and I will be trying to get you both to stop crying, but she’ll start crying, too. I’ll go mad. After the menace has been dealt with, you can indulge. You’ll have to put yourselves back together before your mother’s court date, however, so I’m pulling the plug on any breakdowns then.”

  I peered around Viktor. Nolan saluted while Hestia giggled.

  “Now that we have an understanding, I’m going to take your mother inside and give her a few minutes to regain her composure. While I’m gone, you two stay here. You can discuss things you can do to help from a safe distance, all right? And Hestia, I meant it. If he looks like he’s going to touch you, you teleport away. Your mother will never forgive herself if something happens to you because of him. Understood?”

  My daughter hung her head and mumbled something.

  Viktor cleared his throat.

  “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

  Viktor cheated, and I learned a very important lesson about his talent and the nature of consent. A claim I trusted him fulfilled the condition of his talent, and the instant I’d answered yes to his innocent-seeming question, the bastard made me take an unexpected nap, effectively knocking me out of action for the rest of the day and the night.

  I should’ve resented him, but I enjoyed waking up with him stretched out beside me, his arm pinning me against his chest. He didn’t snore, but I enjoyed listening to his slow, steady breaths. As he had since our first time together, he slept in the nude, which made me hope neither of my children waltzed in as children did whenever they wanted something.

  “You rat,” I hissed.

  A soft chuckle and his breath against the back of my neck promised he wasn’t asleep. “You were tired, you needed the rest, and I’m not sorry. Good morning. With some help from the children, I’ve dug you a beautiful hole half a mile from here. It’s more of a rock shaft, as it seems Nolan’s a talented elementalist. Tunneling through stone isn’t a challenge for him, although he wasn’t expecting to hit a spring on his way down. We got thoroughly soaked. He carved a channel so the cabin wouldn’t flood, but I’m afraid t
he area’s going to have a new stream unless it dries out fast.”

  “Huh. I found a spring, too.”

  “Did you use magic to dig your hole?”

  “No. I used a shovel.”

  “You will owe me that second favor over your ex’s dead body.”

  While I’d expected him to use a shovel, I couldn’t blame him for taking advantage of magic. Given a choice, I would’ve done the same. Digging a hole was hard work, and there was no way I’d be able to dig a hole through solid rock. “I only demanded a hole,” I conceded.

  “I’m a terrible cheater, and I used the same trick on the kids I used on you. They’ll be down until noon at the earliest, giving us plenty of time to do anything nefarious you may have in mind.”

  “What sort of nefarious? I can think of several nefarious things we could do,” I admitted.

  “Whatever you want.”

  I reached for the nightstand and grabbed his cell to check the time. I had three hours to implement any nefarious plans. “Is three hours really long enough? I’m not sure we can do all that and murder my ex in three hours, Viktor.”

  “Nolan’s going to be our mole. He’s still talking with his grandparents, and he’s going to tell them I’m arranging for him to meet you here in Reno, as you enjoy the outdoors and it’s on neutral turf. News should get to your ex by tonight, as I’m positive the bastard is still in contact with his parents about Nolan. I have a theory.”

  “Which is?”

  “Nolan isn’t pliable enough; he’s too much of his mother’s son, which isn’t what your ex needs in an heir, so he’s gunning for another heir. Why he isn’t just remarrying, I don’t know.”

  “I divorced him, not the other way around. He probably feels he’s entitled to me despite the divorce.” I knew so; he’d told me as much himself when I was leaving the courthouse, determined never to see him again if I had anything to do with it.

  That hadn’t worked out well for me.

  “Not on my watch,” Viktor hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Well, you are going to help me kill him. I’m pretty sure this makes us bad people. Terrible villains, even. They should send people like us to jail.”