by Liz Schulte
“Damn right I can,” Gram said, walking back into the kitchen with a carpetbag in one hand and her purse in the other. “Don’t fret over me, child. You worry about you. You’ve never been a fighter, always too gentle.”
“Actually my fighting skills are pretty good these days, Gram,” I said dryly.
She gave me a quelling look, like I was a child speaking out of turn. Energy shifted in my skin and irritation vibrated to top.
“How much older am I than you, and yet you still call me ‘child’?” My voiced sounded hard to my ears—so I winked at her.
Her face fell in surprise, and I fought the urge to clap my hand over my mouth. What had gotten into me? That was as close to back talking her as I had ever come. Cheney seemed oblivious to the exchange. Gram stared at me like I’d grown three heads and peed on the floor.
“May I speak with you?” she said sharply to Cheney.
Cheney looked up from his phone. “Of course, Edith.”
“Alone,” Gram said, looking back at me.
Christ, one little slip. It wasn’t like I was that rude. I stayed in my chair. “Whatever you have to say to Cheney, you can say to me. If you’re going to help, you can’t keep treating me like a kid.”
Cheney nodded. “Selene’s right. You treat her as if she’s inferior. It’s inappropriate.”
“Don’t tell me how to treat my granddaughter.”
“But I’m not your granddaughter, am I?” I fired back. All the years of biting my tongue flooded over me.
Grandma’s face went as white as a sheet. Cheney shrugged. “She’s not wrong, Edith. I like you, and you’ve done an outstanding job under the circumstances, but it’s time you see Selene for who she is.”
My grandmother ruled the house and my life like the hand of God when I was with her. Asking her to give up control was like asking her to pull out her own teeth—not something she’d ever do willingly. It was why I moved away at eighteen and why to this day I was still scared of her. That sort of conditioning didn’t go away over night. I loved Grandma, but she also drove me crazy. And if she was moving back in with me, we needed to get this sorted out. I wasn’t going to walk on eggshells.
“Oh, I see her for exactly who she is. You’re the one missing it. Can’t you see the elf poking around back there? My granddaughter would never talk back to me, would never wink at me. That elf is in there. Mark my words. She’ll ruin everything again. You haven’t dealt with her.”
Cheney’s eyes narrowed. “First, let’s get one thing straight. You are talking about my wife. I love both her human and her elf side. Neither of them will be dealt with in any manner other than that which I see fit. Second, she didn’t ruin anything before. There will be none of that talk, Edith, or you will stay here.”
“The elf half is dangerous. You cannot trust her,” Grandma insisted.
“She is all Selene and I do trust her.”
“Then you’re a fool.”
The air around Cheney began to charge. “You will show us respect, human.” Cheney’s glamour melted away and he looked beautiful, wild, and frightening. “We have lived longer, seen more, and lost more than you could ever fathom. Do not offer advice on that which you do not understand. And don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I have lost patience with you, Edith. You will regret it if that happens a second time.”
Cheney stood and pulled me up by the elbow, then we were back home in our bedroom.
“Insufferable woman. How did you stand her for so long? She makes my father look relaxed.”
“It wasn’t so bad if I just didn’t say anything. I internalized a lot.”
“You must have been miserable. I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job making sure you were happy.”
“I was happy. I love Gram. She’s hard to take sometimes, but she means well. Her heart is in the right place. She’s trying to keep me safe.”
“Don’t let her make you think your elf half is evil. No part of you is evil. Your elf half was a free spirit, one who probably felt choked and smothered under her roof. I’m not saying the old you was perfect by any means, but you were never evil.”
“I don’t think she was evil, but—” I didn’t know how to articulate this. “In my memories of her, I don’t like her very much—yet I’m pretty happy with myself as I am now. I know that’s conceited, but it’s true.”
“Selene, she is always there.” He placed his hands on my shoulders. “You can control her.”
“I think if I gave her an inch she would over take me. She’s stronger than I am.”
“You’d be surprised. She had weaknesses. Your conviction and self-control are strong traits. I don’t know that she could push you to the rear anymore.”
“We’ll worry about this when the ordeal with your father is over. I don’t want to think about it now.”
“That is your choice.”
“Thank you,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “Oh, I meant to ask you, do elves hug?”
“What?” Cheney asked, looking perplexed.
“Do elves hug one another? Are they touchy-feely?”
He played with a strand of my hair. “Not too much, no. Why?”
“Just curious.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was trying to work out where I was going with this.
“Does it bother you when I hug you?”
“Your touch will never bother me.”
“I just want to know your boundaries.”
“I have no boundaries with you.”
“What about your life span?”
“What about it?”
“Did you shorten it healing Grandma?”
“Maybe slightly, but nothing of any significance.”
I leaned into him, resting my head over his steady heartbeat, not liking that he would do anything that would make himself die younger.
“Have I answered all of your questions?” His lips brushed against my hair.
“I suppose. Are you going to go back to get Grandma?”
A low rumble vibrated in his chest as he lifted me off the ground. “She can wait a little while longer,” he said, laying me on the bed. “All this talk of ‘boundaries’ makes me wonder where exactly yours are. Care to test them?” he asked with a wicked grin.
“I don’t know. We might need to test them over and over and over again. It could take hours.” I ran my hand over his warm chest and stomach, feeling the ripples beneath the soft cotton of his shirt. My fingers lingered at the waist of his jeans. He sat back on his haunches, his eyes gleaming.
“Well, if we must, we must,” he said, tugging my pants off.
“Yes, far be it from me to stand in the way of—”Cheney’s tongue trailed down my thigh, making my breath catch in my throat, “research.”
Ah, science.
By the time Cheney got around to going back for Grandma, the others were headed inside after casting some sort of spell on the house. The girls collapsed on the couch around me—tired, sweaty, and filled with delirious laughter.
“Oh my gosh, Selene, you missed it. Jess hit herself with the Wiccan wand Sebastian got us. It was priceless. She was looking all important and badass, then boom!” Leslie said, gasping for breath as Devin and Katrina dissolved into laughter. Jessica flipped them off and leaned back against the couch, covering her eyes with a manicured hand.
“It hurt, you assholes,” she grumbled, only making them laugh harder.
I glanced back at Sebastian, who lingered awkwardly in the room. “Well, have a seat, stay a while.” I motioned to a chair.
“Where’s Cheney?”
“He went to see if my grandmother still wanted to help us.”
“Still?”
“We had a little argument,” I said. Sebastian immediately gave me a ’what did you do?’ look. Defensiveness flooded me. “You don’t understand. It was necessary.”
Sebastian looked unconvinced.
“And besides, Cheney fought with her more.”
Sebastian shoo
k his head. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Honestly, the two of you couldn’t hold your tongues long enough to get one old lady to join the cause?”
I narrowed my eyes. All four girls stared at me. “You finally stood up to your grandmother?” Devin asked, amazed. “Good for you!”
“I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Kat added. “You should’ve stood up to that crazy woman years ago.”
“You obviously don’t keep up on current events, Sebastian,” Jessica told him. “She’s needed to do this for years. It’s seriously a good thing.”
Their defense drained me of any irritation I felt toward Sebastian. “I understand that we need her and what’s at stake, but it wouldn’t have done us any good if she got here and was herself. I needed to get something straight with her and set ground rules. Then she offended Cheney, and well …” I shrugged helplessly. “We’ll see if she comes back with him.”
“Holy crap, your grandma is moving in with us?” Katrina said wide-eyed.
“She’s going to teach us stronger magic if she comes.”
“I haven’t met her, but from what I hear there’s no way that’ll go well,” Leslie said.
“For real, dude,” Jessica agreed.
“And you guys will have her by yourself tonight, too. Cheney and I are going to meet some vampires.”
“Bullshit,” Katrina said, looking very interested. “That’s code for like, getting a hotel room and some alone time, right? Vampires aren’t real.”
“Oh, they’re real all right,” Sebastian said.
“Seriously, I’m totally coming with you.” She looked like she was just given a recipe for calorie-free chocolate.
“I don’t think Cheney will let you,” I said but was drowned out by the succession of agreement from the other three.
“I want to see vampires,” Devin said.
“You aren’t leaving us with her while you go out!” Jessica said from beneath her hand.
“Are they like they are in movies?” Leslie asked.
I looked at Sebastian for help, but he just smiled. “They’ve been teaming up on me all day.”
“Most guys would want us to team up on them,” Katrina said under her breath, and Sebastian let out a bark of laughter. It wasn’t as musical as Cheney’s, but it was fluid and rushed as if it poured from him. His face brightened and became more alive when he laughed.
When he cleared his throat and looked away, I realized we were all staring at him. The awkward seconds passed like hours and finally I managed to speak. “You don’t laugh nearly enough, Sebastian.” Then I spoke to the girls so they’d stop looking at him like they just discovered he was male. “I understand you want to come tonight, but first, there’s no way we can show up for a meeting with six people. It will seem hostile. Second, Cheney will never agree to take us all there. I barely talked him into letting me go along.”
“Cheney might not be as reluctant to include them as he is you,” Sebastian said.
“That’s so not helping.”
“He won’t let them in the meeting, but if they want to go they could stay upstairs while you guys talked,” he added.
Was he trying to make this harder?
“Gee, that sounds safe.”
“You can’t expect us to stay behind,” Devin said.
“Sure I can. Have you noticed any cars, helicopters, lawnmowers, or bicycles?” They all looked at me blankly. “I thought not. If one of the elves doesn’t take you, you have no way out.” Their faces went through a plethora of emotions that obviously touched Sebastian deeper than it did me.
“If Selene can talk Cheney into letting you go to the club, I’ll come along and make sure you’re safe.”
“Selene can talk anyone into anything,” Leslie said, hopping up.
“I’m getting ready!” Kat said with undisguised enthusiasm.
“I’m right behind you. It just feels like a hot roller kind of night!” Devin exclaimed.
Jessica walked stiffly behind them “Oh my God, you guys are so third floor.”
“You know he won’t like this, right?”
“I’m positive you can talk him into it. They worked hard today. They deserve a reward.”
“Who deserves a reward?” Cheney appeared behind us, carrying my grandmother under his arm. “Your room, Edith, is down that hallway.” He set her down and pointed to a wing of the house we hadn’t used yet. “Third door on the left.”
She took her bag from him and marched down the hallway, not saying a single word to me. I sighed. “You do, for getting her here.”
“She had no intention of backing out. Things might be icy for a while though.” He squeezed my shoulder reassuringly, then tugged a strand of my wet hair. “You should be getting ready to go.”
“About that.” I cleared my throat. “The girls want to come tonight.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I told them you would say that.” I looked pointedly at Sebastian. “But they’ve been working really hard, and they want to see this world they’re a part of. I think if they want to go and if Sebastian agrees to hang out with them upstairs, it shouldn’t be a huge deal. Right?”
“Four overly excitable human witches in that bar? There’s nothing but trouble for them to get into.”
“Sebastian has already agreed to go with them.”
Cheney shot Sebastian an impatient look, then he glanced back at me. I gave my best expectant smile, and he sighed. “I guess if you’ve already arranged it, but I don’t like it.”
“Thank goodness you agreed. Devin’s already hot rolling her hair. She would’ve been crushed.”
We walked into the club, the girls doing their best not to look like the wide-eyed, big-haired tourists they were. The strange atmosphere and even stranger looking people didn’t ease their mission. Devin was the first one to break free from the pack, walking right up to an extremely pale, blue haired woman.
“I love your hair. It’s so beautiful,” she said brightly. The woman smiled slightly but seemed a bit taken aback by Devin’s forwardness.
Katrina grabbed my arm. “Um, are those children smoking and drinking in here?”
“They’re not kids,” I whispered. “They’re some sort of faery, I think. Don’t stare.” Cheney cleared his throat impatiently. “I have to go. Good luck, girlies.”
The bar downstairs looked just as it had the night we met Holden and Olivia—right down to Holden sitting by himself in a back booth. His eyes flicked toward us briefly, then away. He wasn’t the friendliest person I’d ever met.
“So who are we meeting?” I asked Cheney as he handed me a drink.
“He isn’t here yet.”
“What time is he supposed to meet us?”
“We don’t have a meeting per se.”
“Why not?”
“Vampires would be reluctant to meet with me, but Paolo sometimes comes here.”
“Why don’t you ask those vampires over there if he’s coming?”
Cheney shook his head. “We’ll wait.”
He saw some elves he knew and went over to say hello while I sat at the bar, looking around the room for any new interesting people. Holden caught my eye and gave me the slightest of nods. I glanced over at Cheney. He was still talking with his elf friends, so I headed over toward Holden, feeling a little like a dead girl walking.
Holden had the smallest of smiles on his face when I got to his table. “Do I scare you …” his voice faded as if he couldn’t quite remember my name.
“Selene,” I supplied. “Yes, you do a little.”
He shook his head. “You have nothing to fear.” Holden’s eyes darted to Cheney. “You’re here to meet with the vampires, yes?”
I didn’t know how much he knew, but Cheney hadn’t said it was a secret. “Yes.”
“Getting them on your side is a good plan, but I’m not sure how feasible it is. Paolo hasn’t been in yet tonight. The vampire at that table over there,” he nodded toward a table with two girls an
d a guy, “is Corbin. He’s Paolo’s second in command. He’d know whether Paolo is coming in tonight, and he’d be good to get on your side as well.” Holden studied me for a moment. “Or you can ask your cousin to call in a favor.”
“Sy? He knows these people?”
Holden gave me an appraising look. “You really don’t remember anything, do you? You should talk to Sy.” Holden leaned back in his booth. “My associate Baker will be here soon. He can introduce you to Corbin if you want.”
“Sure. I’ll tell Cheney.”
“No. I told you for a reason. Corbin responds best to women and Cheney won’t like that plan.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I wouldn’t like that plan if you were Olivia.”
I nodded. He was probably right. No way would Cheney approve of me talking to vampires alone, but—
“A pretty girl alone can get a lot further and get a man to listen to her a lot easier than if she’s attached at the hip to another guy.”
“As soon as I walk over there, it will draw Cheney’s attention. I’m surprised talking to you hasn’t.”
“He knows you’re here.”
“How can you tell? He hasn’t looked over even once.”
“I can feel it in the air, just like your fear. He’s been on edge since you sat down with me.”
I studied this strange, handsome man. “Huh. Nifty trick.”
He shrugged as if unimpressed. “Perks of being a jinni.”
“Someday I want to hear how you ended up with Olivia.”
Holden’s face softened. “That’s her department, not mine.” He glanced at the door, as a short, heavily muscled man who resembled a boxer entered and headed straight to us.
“Who’s the fox?” he asked, hitching a thumb in my direction.
Holden rolled his eyes. “This is Sy’s cousin—Selene—the half-elf we’re helping.”
Baker shoved his hand toward me, a goofy smile on his face that made him seem a hundred times less threatening. “Hey, baby, so the boss tells me you need to meet a vampire. Let’s get a wiggle on. Holden will take care of your old man.”
I stared at him, open-mouthed. I thought I understood everything he said, but I wasn’t sure. “How did you know?”
