Leah smiled up at her and grabbed the rolling suitcase. “You’re coming too?”
Merry raised her nose in the air and stepped through Eldora’s door and disappeared.
Paige let Leah go first, then followed her daughter through and stepped onto a noisy tarmac directly beside a plane.
“I’m not going with you.” Merry handed Ember off to one of the waiting flight attendants and booped his sleeping nose before he was taken away. “At least, not this time. I’m staying behind in case you need help.” She met Paige’s gaze squarely. “You are walking into a trap.”
Hearing Merry utter those words out loud only made Paige feel worse. “I should leave the kids.”
“No.” Merry sighed heavily, folding her hands in front of her black business dress. “You parade those darlings around every camera you can find. You make people see you as a concerned mother. You’re white, you’re clean, and you’re an upstanding citizen of the U.S. Use those weapons to their fullest.”
How had things gotten so screwed up?
Reality was that they hadn’t. Not really. They were just twisted enough so she and those like her fell on the to-be-hated radar. The hate had always been there, like a sleeping giant in a tiny room.
Well, if she could figure out how to break through for her kind, she’d find a way for everyone else too.
Baby steps.
Make people fall in love with her adorable children. Then world domination and free love for everyone.
Fuck love. Just an even playing field would be nice.
The flight attendants had already strapped her sleeping circus onto the plane. Paige loved using the Eastwood jet. It even had onboard Wi-Fi, so she was able to catch up on the news and research the area for places to take Leah.
But what she saw concerned her. There was no news about the paranormals aside from the president’s address.
No one knew what was going on.
Like the bombing of the black neighborhood a hundred years ago hadn’t been on the news. Could Paige trust that everyone was okay? That it was really this good? Or were the horrors being covered up?
She hoped Brack, the dragon, really was on top of this. If there was something else going on here, the world needed to see it. The press really was a powerful tool and one the people couldn’t afford to lose.
She managed to get a slight nap in on the flight. She wasn’t stupid. She was a new mother and not nearly as young as she should have been to bring two new lives into the world. She also had zero idea what she was walking into.
Though, the reality was that she wasn’t going to see the president, even with Merry’s political strings. She’d make it some senator’s office. Maybe even Oregon’s senator. She had no idea how the government even worked.
That thought spawned an entire research session that lasted a good five minutes. It could have been closer to three. It was really boring and put her to sleep faster than Dexx talking to her about car parts.
When she woke, they were landing. The flight attendant was super nice and made sure that the babies were okay. Which, surprisingly, they were. They’d slept through it all. Paige’d thought for sure they’d wake up for at least the landing, but no. Rai pulled on her ear as they descended, but she didn’t stir.
Once the plane came to a complete stop, Paige gathered Ember.
Rai woke up and shifted into a wolf pup.
“No.” Paige scowled at her youngest daughter. “We’re going in public. I need you to be human.”
Rai gave her a dejected look and whined.
Leah chuckled and scooped up her baby sister. “I’ll carry her in whatever form.”
That wasn’t the point. “We’re about to go into a city of humans. We need to appear as normal as we possibly can.”
Perhaps taking her untrained children into Washington D.C. had been a worse idea then she first thought.
She invoked her alpha will on her twins, calling on their spirit animals to show a little more experience. “That means no shifting unless we are alone and safe. You are to remain as humans while we are out and about.”
Rai was not easily subdued. She was a fighter, true to her Whiskey heart, but she did eventually return to human form, though…was that onesie fitting a little tighter now?
Leah’s eyes gleamed with concern, but she said nothing.
Paige was ever so grateful for the flight attendants. They made getting off the plane with the babies and the suitcase and her computer bag and the diaper bag and Leah’s backpack easy.
She spotted the car waiting for them and headed toward it.
A motorcade came through the airport gate.
Paige looked around to see if another plane had landed, maybe with some visiting dignitary or something.
However, the motorcade seemed to be headed toward her and her kids.
She stopped, her heart pounding, her magick restless. She had just told her kids they had to be human. That meant her as well. Crap.
A small army of men and women in black suits, ties, and sunglasses, spilled out of the vehicles, and two of them approached Paige. The man never stopped swiveling his head, scoping out the area.
The woman smiled tightly. “Ma’am,” she said, her voice clipped. “You’ll have to come with us. We’re here to escort you to the White House.”
That was unexpected.
Leah looked up at Paige and grinned. “See? This isn’t bad.”
This probably wasn’t going to turn out as well as Leah hoped. A chill of fear rippled down Paige’s spine as two other men took her bags from the flight attendants. There were senators at the White House, right? Or was it only the president?
The woman turned and gestured toward the motorcade. “If you and your kids will just get inside?”
Paige didn’t want to get in that SUV, and she certainly didn’t want to take her kids into it. Were they really going to the White House? Or would they be taken to a prison? “I actually have a rental car waiting for me. With room for the car seats.”
The woman’s smile grew tighter. “Your rental has been taken care of. There’s ample room for your car seats.”
One of the men went to Leah to take Ember from her.
Leah frowned, confused. “These are the good guys. Right?”
Paige hoped so. “Yeah, Lee Bean. They are.” She shuffled her children into the SUV and got both Rai and Ember into their seats. As soon as everyone was strapped in, they were off.
Leah asked a million questions.
None of the security personnel answered her questions.
That didn’t bode well for them at all.
Paige’s nerves ratcheted up the closer they got to the White House.
Leah had finally gotten the clue that no one was going to answer her questions, so she kept them to herself and just stared out the window.
That twisted Paige’s heart. Hard.
Somewhere along the way, Rai had dozed off, and Ember had decided to wake up. He was hungry. And screaming.
Paige wasn’t about to pull him out of his car seat to feed him. So, she had Leah make up a bottle for him and give it to him. She had brought the travel heater. It worked okay. It probably wasn’t safe. None of the conveniences of the modern day were. But it would at least stop the screaming and probably keep them from dying. Ember’s screams were certainly starting to get on the driver’s nerves.
They pulled through the White House gate and into a small media circus. Cameras snapped nonstop.
The security team assisted Paige in dragging her kids through the throng of people. They threw question after question at her, but there were so many of them, she couldn’t really make one out from another.
As soon as they made it into the White House foyer, they were shuffled into another room. This one was blessedly quiet. The door was closed, and Paige finished feeding Ember and then burped him.
Her nerves went on high alert.
I don’t like this. Cawli’s voice was like a soft blanket inside her head.
Whatever happens, I am here.
That reassured her.
The door opened, and a woman in a blue pencil skirted business suit walked through. She had four assistants with her, each carrying a box. She smiled as the door closed behind her. “Ms. Whiskey, we are deeply honored to have you here.”
Paige didn’t think that was strictly true, and she was afraid to ask what was in the boxes.
“I hope you will understand our need for security. While you are in the Washington D.C. area, you and your children will have to wear these.”
The four people carrying the boxes opened them to reveal silver, metal collars.
She had actually been expecting this in the quiet recesses of her mind. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” But maybe this would work to her advantage. She already knew the collars were defective. She’d only guessed they’d been designed that way.
The woman smiled and tipped her head to the side. “We have no true idea of your full power potential. But we do need to make sure that our president is safe while in your presence.”
Wow. She really was going to get to see the president. She wished she’d prepared for that instead of thinking she’d be off the hook by talking to a senator instead. “How about I just promise not to use my powers on the president and then we just go with that?”
The woman smiled but didn’t say anything further.
Paige knew that if she fought now, she would just make the situation worse.
She nodded once to Leah, who frowned.
The people with the boxes stepped forward and clicked the collars into place.
As soon as the collar snapped around Paige’s neck, she lost her connection to Cawli. She hadn’t realized that, even when he was elsewhere, she could still feel an echo of him.
Something else filled the void, though.
Voices from the now unraveling Hell’s gate embedded in her bones.
With Cawli suppressed, his ability to seal that gate was gone.
The woman smiled. “The president will see you now.”
9
Paige was told how to address the president on their way to the Oval Office. There were so many rules that had to be followed to show respect, Paige was fairly certain she was going to slip up in some weird way. Like, she would burp at the wrong time or fart inappropriately or something.
She’d never come into contact with anyone with presidential political clout before. It felt a little like meeting a king or queen. Well, it kinda was like that. In this country, the queen was called Madame President.
Paige was shown into the Oval Office, and the door closed behind her. No one was there yet, and the other door was still open. Paige wasn’t certain what to do, so she just kind of stood there, waiting.
She trailed a finger along the back of the couch. No stains. How long had it been since her own couch had been stain-free?
The collar chafed at her skin. It wasn’t comfortable in the least little bit, but it was irritating. The voices of the demons whispered against her mind. If she was forced to wear this much longer, they’d all be in a lot of danger. They’d managed to push Hell’s gate further away from Earth, but this one?
It didn’t seem to be having any issues. Crap.
Paige pulled out the silver necklace she never took off and looked at the tiny, silver sea turtle, remembering when Dexx had given it to her for Christmas. It was their inside joke. Paige was secretly hoping that, in her next lifetime, she would be allowed to come back as a sea turtle. She wanted to take a hundred-year vacation, just surfing the tides in the ocean. Just swimming around and seeing the wild blue wonders.
She felt separated from Dexx in a way she’d never felt before. She’d gone on missions before. They’d been separated by miles.
His anger worried her. He’d never been that angry with her since before Louisiana.
He’d been right about the kids. She knew that. She’d known that at the time too. But the mother in her wouldn’t budge.
There was movement at the other door, and she quickly shoved her necklace back into her shirt.
The president of the United States stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She looked over at Paige and smiled, her blonde hair in a perfect poof, her blue pant suit immaculate. She gestured to one of the two sofas. “Ms. Whiskey, please have a seat.”
Paige wasn’t entirely certain that sitting at this moment was what she wanted to do. However, if the president of the United States told her to sit, then she was going to sit.
“I was glad to hear you decided to come.”
Decided to come. That was a funny way of putting it, as if there’d been an invitation sent. Paige fingered her collar and grimaced. “You have a funny way of showing that.”
“This is just for the safety of everyone. We all saw how powerful you are. What we don’t know is what you want.”
“What I want? It’s not like we’re aliens from another planet.” Paige leaned back on the couch but didn’t get comfortable. “I was born here. I was raised here. What do you think I want?”
The president smiled and folded her hands in her lap. “It’s my job to make sure Americans are safe.”
Paige narrowed her eyes, reminding herself yet again she needed to show respect. “Last time I checked, I’m American too. And I believe you know exactly how safe you are, Madame President. Based on the collars, I’d have to say you and your people have been researching us for a very long time.” Something she already had intimate knowledge of. “Long enough to know how to mute our abilities, and that doesn’t make me feel safe.”
The president flicked her eyebrows up and relaxed on the couch opposite Paige. She let her head fall back slightly as she assessed Paige. “What I mean to say is that I don’t know if I can trust you.”
That seemed reasonable. “I don’t know if I can trust you either.”
The president took in a deep breath and tapped her leg. “You threw my team out of your town.”
“They came into the grocery store and pointed a gun at my baby. My baby. How was I supposed to react?”
The president grimaced. “That was, perhaps, an overstep on our part.”
Paige didn’t buy that for a moment. Now that she was in the same room as the woman, she was getting a much different feel for her than she had through the campaign trail. The president was colder, more calculated.
The president had a certain confidence that emanated from her, and she didn’t react like someone who was “new” to this paranormals-exist situation. She wasn’t stupid. She didn’t seem like the type of person who made an error of judgement.
The only thing the president didn’t know was just who Paige was. “If you truly want peace with our kind, then make sure that it looks like you want peace with our kind.”
“And what would that look like?”
“Perhaps fewer guns.” Why would she even have to say that out loud?
“And when you bring out your abilities? You can do things with your mind. Our people only have guns.”
That was a lie. “So, you don’t know that DoDO are witches?”
The president smiled and bit her bottom lip. “They are not, but I do appreciate you trying to undermine them.”
She wasn’t stupid, was she? “I assure you they are.”
“They do have abilities, which is something they need in order to hunt your kind, but they most certainly are not witches.”
So, what did they tell the president they were? Wizards? Because that was so much better? “Do you even know who you’ve gone to bed with?”
“Your enemy. Your natural predator.”
That was rich. “Did you employ any background research when you deployed them to hunt the people of your country? Peo
ple you swore to protect?”
“But you aren’t, are you?”
Wait. What?
“People, I mean. You’re something different.”
The president was treading a dangerous path. As soon as people stopped seeing others as people, as soon as they started seeing them as things to be feared, then the rules of propriety were thrown out the window. It didn’t matter what was done to those who weren’t people. They could be as ugly and as cruel as they wanted. “I think you’ll find we are, indeed, people. We just have different skill sets.”
“That’s the reason you brought your children? Smart move, actually.”
“I brought them because I just gave birth to them last week.” Paige was starting to get a bit pissed and needed to tone that down. “I’m on this thing called maternity leave? I know it’s not a thing here, but I’m on it.”
“Yes. Well.” The president stood and walked to her desk. “Bringing them won’t save you. This isn’t going to make you look sympathetic to anyone, no matter how hard you try. You’re a terrorist living in our back yard. You and your kind must be eradicated.”
Eradicated? Terrorist? People could shoot schools without being named a terrorist. They could shoot churches, malls, grocery stores. But Paige had saved the world from a demon and she was being named a terrorist? People who binge-watched Netflix like normal humans but could shift into animals at will were being called terrorists? “You can’t really believe that.”
“Yes, I do.”
This was her chance. Fuck, she couldn’t blow it. She scooted to perch on the edge of the couch, not wanting to stand and face off with her, even with the desk between them. “Look, Madame President, we’re normal. Okay? We’re just… we’re normal shape shifters and witches and…” She couldn’t keep going on with the list because she wasn’t certain how much the president knew. If she blew it, then people would start burning down forests to kill dryads. “We grow up the same. We fall in love the same. We mourn the same when we lose people.”
The president pressed her fingertips into the desk and stared at her, listening.
“I—” What could she say? Why hadn’t she been practicing this instead of looking at places to take her kids? Her kids! That was it. “Leah’s so excited to be here, to learn her history. To meet you.” She released a ghost of a chuckle, only now realizing that she wasn’t certain she even wanted her daughter to meet this woman. “She is becoming a woman, discovering what she’s passionate about, making...” Paige rolled her eyes, recalling some of the dumb things that had come out of her daughter’s mouth. “…hilarious mistakes in assumptions.”
Whiskey Storm (Whiskey Witches Midnight Rising Book 1) Page 8
