Tempest of Vengeance

by Tara Fox Hall

  “If you want me there, I’ll be there,” he said in surprise. “Are you sure you want to give me that promise? You know how I feel about promises, Sar. I’ll hold you to it, and if you break it, we will be done, this time for good.”

  “Yes,” I said emotionally, “If you still want me that way.”

  “You know me well enough not to need me to answer that,” Lash hissed tenderly. “You know how I feel about you.”

  Did I? I thought I had. But I’d been wrong then. Maybe I was wrong now.

  No. I would believe that he meant what he said. I’d give him time. What did I have to lose?

  “I don’t want you to be jealous, watching him with me. We’ll have to consummate the Oath, after we give it. He’ll have to drink my blood, and give me his.”

  “I’m not a jealous man, usually,” Lash said in an offhand manner. “At least, I never have been in the past. And I’m not going to be jealous of Devlin. We are too good of friends, Sar.”

  That’s a blessing. If it’s true.

  “Come back to my bed,” he said, kissing my neck. “I’d like to hold you, and sleep a little with you. I’m sorry we couldn’t cuddle this week, Sar. But the more I was with you, the more I wanted you, and I had to leave you right after, or risk being with you over and over and hurting you in the process. My body was crying out for release in animal form, and the more I was with you, the worse it got. Dev had told me that you were considering it, and I wanted to wait for you, and not rush you, but I couldn’t stay away from you for long, no matter how much I tried. Every minute felt like it was hours—”

  The words were pouring out of him. I was beginning to think it happened usually right after he had sexual release. “It’s okay,” I said, kissing him gently, rubbing my cheek against his moustache and goatee. “I understand now, and I understood then, too. I was just feeling hurt—”

  Lash kissed me gently, running his hands over me, finally pulling me close. “Come to bed, Sweetness,” he hissed affectionately. “Let me hold you, so you know you are cherished.”

  I took his hand then, and let him lead me back to bed.

  * * * *

  In a few hours, there came the inevitable knock at the door. Lash got up and opened it, admitting a smiling Devlin, obviously happy that everything for our “first time” had gone okay.

  “Sar, today is Christmas Eve,” he said. “Your parents expect you, Elle, Venus and Theoron, don’t they? Is it tonight or tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow night, yes, and I need to go,” I answered. “Will you and Lash come with me?”

  “You want us to go with you?” Devlin said, surprised but perceptibly pleased. “Are you sure?”

  “Please,” I said. “Theo is going to stop by with Jenny tonight, plus T and Elle. My mother admitted to me that she told him that even if he’s leaving me, she still thought of him as a son, and to stop by. But we can avoid him and Jenny if we go tomorrow night.”

  “We’d be glad to come,” Devlin replied. “Let me go arrange to have Titus and Rip here to man the fortress, while we’re gone tomorrow.”

  Lash helped me up, and we both got dressed slowly. I was so exhausted that I’d have gone to bed then and there if it hadn’t been a holiday. But it was, and nothing mattered more to me tonight than being with my youngest daughter on her first Christmas Eve.

  * * * *

  Christmas Eve at Hayden was simply beautiful. The decorated tree was sparkling with lights, the snow was swirling down outside, and I had some of my loved ones about me, if not all of them. It was nice also to have a semblance of privacy, as the bears had been instructed to stay in their own quarters on both Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.

  Lash was so relaxed that night he was almost a different person. He’d always been kind to Venus, but he was almost overboard that night, fawning over her, giving her all kinds of treats, like chocolate and ice cream, letting her ride on his back as he pretended to be a pony for her. I could see how happy he was, and it made me feel good, to know in a large part that was because we were back together now.

  Venus was ecstatic, especially when I told her she could open one of her presents, as was my family’s tradition on Christmas Eve. I gave it to her, and she tore the paper to shreds in 2.4 seconds. Then she was shrieking, and holding up the one present that had taken most of my waking hours to create in the past month.

  I’d long since cut up all of Devlin’s velvet clothes, and I’d had plenty of velvet, enough for three quilts really. So I’d stored the rest. But as I’d gone through the clothes, some had been exceptional in their beauty. Most of these had been handmade, going by the stitching, and initially had caught my eye as they had been made for a woman. I’d asked Devlin tentatively if he minded me saving a few I liked, to alter for Venus, or for myself. I guessed they might have been Annabelle’s, though I was surprised velvet could last that long. I hadn’t wanted him to be hurt, if he saw me wearing some clothes that had belonged to his long lost love.

  Devlin had looked a little sad, but gave his consent. And out of that idea had grown our daughter’s present: a miniature ball gown of silvery white velvet, with crystals sewn all over it, festooned with seed pearls, glass beads, and lace. It was almost a wedding dress, it was so replete with ornamentation. So I’d made her a veil to go with it, and Devlin had bought her a tiara of cut glass crystals that I had attached the veil to.

  “It’s so beautiful! Can I put it on now? Right now?” Venus asked excitedly.

  “You can try it on,” I said gently. “But only to make sure it fits—”

  “I want to wear it now!”

  I could tell whose daughter she was, if not by her arrogant expression, by the demanding tone in her lovely voice. “—but tomorrow you can wear it to see your grandmother and grandfather. All tomorrow night. Okay?”

  “Okay!” Venus agreed, already leading me by the hand to the nearest bathroom, the one off the kitchen.

  I helped her take off the red velvet dress she was wearing, and slipped the white gown over her head. I could see at once it was a little too long. But that wouldn’t take too long to fix, I thought, as I buttoned up the back. It would have been easier to install a zipper, but the carved pearl buttons were beautiful, and likely had been made by hand. I fastened the last of the three, then tied the white sash at the back in a large flouncy bow, realizing at that moment why the dress was too long.

  “How does it look?” Lash hissed from outside the door. “Come out, so we can see.”

  “I forgot the crinoline,” I called out. “Can you get it? It’s in my sewing room.”

  “What’s a crinoline?” Lash asked. “What’s it look like?”

  “I’ll get it,” Devlin said, laughing, “Before your time, Lash.”

  Lash grumbled something good-naturedly.

  Devlin was back in a moment, and handed the tulle and lace underskirt through the door. I had Venus raise the skirt of the dress, and I lay the crinoline down, so she could step into it. She did, and I raised it, tying it around her waist with a simple ribbon.

  Venus looked at me expectantly. I knew that look well from Devlin, the look that said she was waiting to be admired. “You look beautiful,” I praised her. “Go out and show your father, and Lash.”

  Venus almost knocked me over getting out the door. She pranced into the living room, beaming.

  “You are beautiful, Venus,” Lash said in a hushed voice. “You live up to your name.”

  Devlin looked a little stricken as he beheld his daughter. But after a moment, he nodded almost imperceptibly and began to smile, even as he blinked back tears. “You are beautiful, V,” he said in an emotionally charged tone. “You are incomparable.”

  Venus basked happily for a few seconds. Then she looked down at her feet, and frowned. “I need shoes,” she said sadly. “I don’t have matching shoes.”

  “You have them,” Lash said, and handed her a pair of silver flats that sparkled. “Merry Christmas from me.”

  Venus gave a cry of d
elight, and snatched them out of his hand. A second later, she had kicked off her shoes, and put them on. “They’re perfect!” she said happily. “Thank you, Uncle Lash!”

  Lash grinned happily at her, then at Devlin and me.

  Venus hugged me, and whispered, “Thanks, Mom. I know it must have taken a long time to make. Longer than the star, and you didn’t have all of us to help.”

  I had been thinking her too grabby and ungrateful. Her sudden about-turn floored me. This also was familiar, as Devlin was the same way. I knelt before her so I could look at her.

  “I’m glad you like it, V,” I said, hugging her. “I’m glad to be here with you.”

  I was suddenly hit hard by the fact that Devon had never got a Christmas present, nor seen a tree, nor tasted eggnog. He was never going to. Never. He was cold ashes, in the ground, with none of us there with him.

  I hugged Venus so tightly, she let out a little gasp of surprise. Then she hugged me back just as hard. “I miss him, too,” she whispered sadly. “I miss him, too, Mom.”

  I felt like I was going to lose it for a few seconds, and then got control of myself. I wiped away my tears, and hers, and kissed her on the cheek, taking my time to stand on my wobbly legs. “Come and take it off,” I said, my voice clear. “Then it’s to bed with you.”

  V nodded, and followed me upstairs, where I got her ready for bed. Soon, she was in her bed, saying her prayers with me as we did now every night. I kissed her, and left, turning off the light. Then I walked back downstairs.

  Dev and Lash were sitting there by the tree sipping some wine, a filled glass for me waiting near them. I paused for a minute, studying them. They were so opposite, it was hard not to, when they were like this.

  Lash was so much smaller and dark, his skin tanned-looking, his black hair unkempt as always, all in black, but still his usual cold-weather jeans, turtleneck, and heavy cotton shirt. His weapons were strapped to his belt, as always, though his gun wasn’t visible. Dev was so much bigger: tall, broad shouldered, so fair, his shoulder length golden hair shining in the reflected light from the tree, carefully styled to look not styled at all. And as usual for any kind of occasion, he was dressed like the king he was, in a white silk suit that had to be designer over a red silk shirt, with some soft-looking shoes made of white leather.

  How had such opposites become friends? How had the friendship lasted for so many years, with them being so different? Theo and Danial were similar in being different, but they at least had wanted the same things, more or less. Even so, I wondered that they hadn’t been headed for a parting of the ways even without Danial’s injury, now Theo had his own family. But knowing both Lash and Dev, I wondered that Devlin’s cruel actions hadn’t driven Lash from him over the years. Had the promise of being young and never dying been reason enough for his unshaking loyalty? That was a big lure, not dying. But something seemed to be missing, to not make sense about their relationship.

  “Love, come in and sit with us,” Devlin said, turning to me. “You can look at us closer that way, instead of from across the room.”

  I smiled and blushed a little as I went over to him. He handed me my glass of wine, and I sat between them.

  Lash downed his wine in one swallow, and got up. I gave him an alarmed glance. “I need to go and check in with everyone,” he said with an easy smile. “I’ve let it go too long as it is. Someone’s probably asleep at their posts, and I’ll have to kick their asses. But I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

  He left. One of the Hummers started up, then lights shone briefly in the front window as he drove down to the front gate.

  Devlin eased me down into his arms, and we sat there for a long time, saying nothing, watching the tree sparkling, and looking at the pile of presents beneath it. Devlin had put them there at my request earlier that evening, when I had been getting dressed with Lash, and Serena had been keeping Venus occupied.

  “Dev, where is Serena? Why isn’t she here? Is she with T, or Nick?”

  “She went to church. Don’t worry, two bears are with her, at my insistence. But she goes every Christmas Eve.”

  “I didn’t know she was religious.”

  “She used to be Catholic,” Devlin said musingly. “I don’t think she is anymore. Maybe Protestant?”

  “I wondered why she was never around when Titus, Terian, or Rip were around.”

  “She disapproves of them, though I think she knows that they are not like what her church teaches her. They are not evil, not inherently, despite that they were born in Hell.”

  “Who is?” I said, sipping my wine. “Everyone has flaws. Even me.”

  Devlin laughed richly, and hugged me. “You did a good job with the dress,” he said softly in my ear. “You recreated it in miniature perfectly.”

  “Was it hers, Dev?”

  “Yes. The one Anna gave me her Oath in, all those years ago. I had it made for her, because Anna knew she wouldn’t be having a traditional wedding if she agreed to be with me, and she said she wanted to wear a white gown. It was very important to her to do that, for some reason she never was able to really define, and so it was important that it be the most beautiful one I could have made for her. She loved it so much—”

  “You shouldn’t have let me cut it up,” I stammered, feeling awful. “I’m sorry—”

  “No,” Devlin said, hugging me, and sniffling a little. “She would have understood, and also been happy to know that a child of mine would one day wear it. And I know you took a good portion of the material not needed for Venus’s dress for our quilt.”

  “Yes. I’m using what I could save, mostly the lower part of the plain white velvet skirt.”

  “It wasn’t doing anyone any good in a box. It has made me sad to look at it, all these years. I couldn’t let it go either, though, and so had a witch enchant it, and a few other of Anna’s clothes for me, so the material would not crumble, or decay. I’d forgotten that.” He paused a moment, and then continued. “I’m happy Venus will wear it, and when she outgrows it, I’ll have it mounted, and framed. The spell still holds to the fabric, though the dress itself will be in other forms. Who knows? Perhaps a child of Venus’s will one day wear it, or their child, or grandchild. That would have made Anna very happy, to know that her dress had become an heirloom of our family. And I will look at the squares on the quilt every night, and remember her.”

  Devlin sipped his wine, and I discreetly wiped my filling eyes again. “It makes me happy that you have brought my past into the present in a way I can remember it without being sad,” he whispered. “I didn’t know that was possible. It’s good to finally be happy again.” Devlin seemed to consider something, and tilted my chin up to look at him. “But are you happy, Sarelle? Here with us?”

  “Yes,” I said, sipping my wine. “But I do miss my other children, and my parents, and—”

  “Speaking of which, we should go see Danial,” Devlin said, his voice sorrowful. “He should not be un-visited tonight. Come, Love.”

  I got to my feet, and followed him upstairs, glad I’d not had to say his brother’s name. Devlin was always saddened by any mention of Danial.

  Danial was as he always was now: unmoving, cool, and darkly handsome. I hugged him, and gave him a gentle kiss, and Devlin embraced him as well. He gave no sign he knew we were there, or that he heard our words, though I told him about Venus, and about the gown, and Devlin added in his two cents. When we were done, Dev and I looked at each other. “Merry Christmas, brother,” he said finally. “I love you. Come, Sar.”

  We left Danial as he was, and returned to our spot on the couch. Devlin got us each another glass of wine.

  “I don’t remember a Wintermas being so melancholy in all my history,” Devlin said, hugging me. “And that is saying something. It’s true, I have not celebrated one for years, but I wish it was happier, especially being your first with me, and Lash. V had a good time, but—”

  “I am happy,” I said in exhaustion, getting to my feet. “But
I’m ready for bed, Dev.”

  “Come upstairs then, Love. Lash can join us when he comes in from checking on the guards. And tell me as we undress, how was it, to be animal with him?”

  I followed him upstairs, with a last glance at the sparkling tree, then into the bedroom.

  “Sar? Do you not want to tell me?”

  I looked at him as I pulled off my sweater and jeans and gave him a wide but tired smile. “Very good. But I’m so exhausted, and he did all the work. It was nonstop, for hours.”

  “Hmm. Maybe I’ll have to train beforehand,” Dev mused. “I’ll ask Lash, and also Titus.”

  I thought that very funny for some reason, and stifled a laugh. Dev took no notice; he was too busy thinking of the possibilities, by his expression.

  “Come to bed,” I said, swallowing the last of my wine. “And snuggle with me. I need that more than anything.”

  “Your wish is my command,” Devlin purred, and crawled into his arms. I was asleep in a few moments.

  * * * *

  Christmas morning, I woke up to find Lash carefully placing a small velvet box on my upper chest, right above Devlin’s sleeping form.

  “Merry Christmas, Sar,” he said softly, propping himself up on one arm to look at me.

  Chapter Ten

  To say I was shocked was an understatement. Lash was not the type I’d have guessed to buy me jewelry. And the big question: was a ring in there? “You didn’t have to,” I said, not sure what to say. “I wasn’t sure you celebrated Christmas.”

  “I usually don’t, because Dev doesn’t. But as it looked like we would be celebrating this year, I got you these.”

  I relaxed instantly, because there couldn’t be a ring inside with him saying “these.” I opened the box to see it contained small gold earrings. “What are these?” I said, peering at them. “They look like...flies? Gold flies?”

  “Deer flies,” Lash blurted, laughing hard.

  “You gave me deer fly earrings?” I said, looking at him like he was crazy, because I thought he must be. “Why?”