by Fiona Roarke
“I sense that you are here to see if I have any information on your place of employment.”
Lilian’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open a bit. “What else can you see? Besides work stuff, I mean.”
Bianca told her all the things she’d ‘heard’ in her client’s mind regarding Lilian’s last name, this being her first reading, and all about her friend Shirley. As she spoke, different questions popped into Lilian’s mind. She loved her house and especially the backyard garden.
Bianca’s job included putting on a bit of a show. Theatrics were important to most of Bubba’s clientele. She tilted her head to one side, as if she had just gotten new information. She had. She mentioned that the roses in Lilian’s backyard were very pretty. She also told Lilian she loved all the different colors she produced, not just red. Lilian was rapt. She stared at Bianca as more thoughts filled her head with regard to her initial question.
Lilian told the receptionist one thing she sought from her reading had to do with job security, but the truth was actually much darker. Louder than any other detail, Lilian thought about how she wanted to know if anyone had discovered the secret she was trying desperately to hide.
Bianca’s eyes popped opened in surprise. “I see danger.” Before prudence stopped her mouth, Bianca foolishly added, “You have to put it back.” Rule number one. Don’t ever give bad news to a client or scare them. This is supposed to be fun and entertaining. Rule number two. See rule number one. Don’t scare the clients, ever.
“What? Put what back?” Lilian looked genuinely surprised, yet she understood precisely what Bianca was talking about. This was her dark secret.
Bianca’s mouth opened and the words came tumbling out before she realized their meaning. “The money. You have to put it back before they discover it’s gone.”
Oh no. I really shouldn’t have said that.
Chapter Five
<^> <^> <^>
Warrick closed his shop at four thirty on the dot and headed to his mother’s place. She lived on a vast acreage in the woods near Wolf Creek, but not in the gated community.
Vilma had wanted her own land to custom build their home in the hills outside of Nocturne Falls with certain specifications, like the ceiling height to accommodate her half-dragon shifter son when he was in full form.
There was also a vast sub-basement beneath the regular basement the same size as the first floor to accommodate her half-vampire son, Viktor, and his sun sensitivity.
Luckily, he didn’t flame to death if he was out in the sunshine, he was simply ill and mostly slow and incapacitated when it came to simple tasks such as walking, talking and thinking.
The orphanage told their mother he didn’t turn to ash in the sun when she adopted him, having found him swaddled in a blanket on their doorstep after daybreak had already broken over the horizon. Once when he was five, Vilma found him out on the front porch as the sun came up after sleep-walking his way out there. It took him a whole day to get back to normal.
Prolonged sun exposure would hypothetically kill him, although they’d certainly never tested that theory. Back during high school, Harmswood Academy had set up special classrooms in the basement and also some constructed without windows for sun-sensitive students like Viktor.
Their mother’s property was large and mostly wooded, three acres wide by fifteen acres long. Sometimes he shifted into his dragon form and flew the perimeter of his mother’s property, partly to check the land for anything of interest, like anyone spying on them, but also to enjoy the freedom of dragon flight.
Anyone in town with a decent telescope could certainly see him, but if humans ever saw him in the night sky, the incident would be explained away as a weather balloon or a large kite to anyone questioning his nighttime flight patterns.
It was very freeing to be able to shift and fly whenever he wanted to.
The other supernatural folks in Nocturne Falls, often referred to as Supes, had welcomed the Hart family into the paranormal midst of celebrating Halloween all year long.
Viktor had made several vampire friends in Nocturne Falls, just as Warrick befriended one of the other dragon shifters. Ivan Tsvetkov was huge when he shifted into his full dragon form. A former MMA fighter once known as The Hammer, he’d shared the skies with Warrick on several occasions when Warrick needed a bit of soaring beyond his mother’s property at night to free his mind. Van, as he liked to be called, was from Russia and was in the process of learning to speak American English without an accent. Warrick could still hear Van’s Russian accent, but never mentioned it. He had spent several years when he first arrived in Nocturne Falls getting rid of his own Eastern European accent. He had high confidence that Van would eventually conquer the accent.
Flying in his full dragon form was the ultimate freedom and something Warrick didn’t take for granted, because he’d never enjoyed this particular liberty as a child. His mother was too afraid of what the other dragons would do to him. Even his sizable dragon form bore the triangular brand put on him at birth to signify he was half-human.
Purebred dragon shifters where he’d grown up had been highly suspicious of any humans, even half-dragon shifter humans. Viktor had the same brand on his inner arm at the elbow and suffered the same fate from the purebred vampires with a long history of distrust where humans were concerned.
After being endlessly rebuffed by their kind and excluded, Warrick and Viktor simply pretended they were in a secret club that only crossbreeds could join. They both agreed Vilma could come into their small group of two, even though she wasn’t technically a crossbreed. She was always and forever their champion. She’d rescued them from a crossbreed orphanage that was about to shut down, and raised them as if they were her own flesh and blood.
Warrick used his remote to open the well-hidden gated entrance to his mother’s property and drove his car down the long paver driveway to the circular bricked parking area at the front door.
He saw Viktor’s low-slung sports car in the drive. Viktor lived in town at his own custom place, built to accommodate his vampiric needs.
Typically, Warrick just opened the front door and went in, but it was locked. Maybe his mother had heeded Sheriff Merrow’s advice. Warrick pushed the doorbell and waited.
He debated whether to tell his mother about his date and figured he would mention it. The very idea of his going out with a woman tonight would likely put a grin on her face if nothing else.
Rochester opened the door. “Good evening, Warrick.” The butler drew the door open wider. “Please come inside. Your mother is waiting for you in the drawing room.”
“How did she know I was here?”
“When you drove through the gate, a message about your arrival was sent to the security system.”
“Really? That’s new.”
Rochester, a tall, gaunt man with a completely proper attitude in all things having to do with being a butler, merely said, “The system was installed when the home was built, sir, but your mother has only recently employed all the available security features.”
“Is my brother in the drawing room, too? I saw his car outside.”
“I believe he’s elsewhere in the house, but they spoke earlier when Viktor first arrived.”
“I see. Well, thanks, Rochester. I’ll see myself in.”
“Very good, sir.”
Warrick strode purposefully to the drawing room, glancing at his wristwatch. He’d have to make this conversation quick in order to get back to town in time for his date. Bianca’s lovely face came into his head. His heartbeat sped just thinking about her.
“Warrick,” his mother said, sounding surprised, although Rochester had said he was expected. She sat on the sofa, an open novel on her lap, a steaming cup of tea on the table at her side. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“I heard you had a break-in. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Vilma smiled as if she’d just gotten the very best news ever. “That’s so sweet, dear.” S
he gestured for him to join her. He looked at his watch again and seated himself beside her on the floral sofa.
“Cup of tea?”
“No, thanks.”
“Coffee? I can send for Rochester.”
“No. Actually, I have a date and I—”
“What?! A date? When?” As he’d expected, his mother looked very pleased.
“Tonight.” Warrick smiled. He felt goofy at the idea that he found so much joy in telling his mother something she so obviously wanted to hear.
Vilma looked at the ornate grandfather clock near the door he’d come through. “Well, don’t waste time here with me. Go and have your date. I’m so happy for you, dear.”
“Okay, but first, who do you think broke into the house?”
Her gaze turned puzzled, as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. Then sudden clarity came and she dropped the pretense. “The sheriff stopped by and talked to you, didn’t he?”
“No comment. Answer my question.”
She shrugged. “Well, of course I don’t know who broke in, dear. But I’m sure it’s nothing. I don’t want you to worry about it. Nothing is missing. Perhaps the thief heard a noise and escaped before snatching anything.” His mother glanced at the clock again and patted his knee. “If you won’t go, tell me about the woman you are going out on a date with tonight. What is she like?”
Warrick wasn’t ready to shelve the conversation on the break-in, but his mother’s question about Bianca put her beautiful face in his mind and he could think of little else.
“Her name is Bianca Forrester, she works in town near my shop and the moment I saw her, I knew she would be important to me.”
“That’s so wonderful, dear. I’m very excited for you.” She glanced at the clock again and patted his knee a second time. “Go on, now. Go get ready for your date. I’ll be anxious to hear more about Bianca very soon.”
Warrick had plenty of time, but his mother obviously wasn’t going to talk about the break-in when he had a rare date planned. “Fine. But keep the doors locked. And if there’s another break-in, you call the sheriff and then you call me. Right?”
“Yes, dear. Whatever you say. Now run along and have fun on your date.” His mother stood up and physically shooed him out into the hallway.
Warrick smiled. She would never bring it up, but she likely wanted him to get on to the date so he could marry the girl tomorrow and begin satisfying his mother’s repeated requests for grandchildren. Telling her it would take more than a day would only be a waste of his breath.
He ran into Viktor as he neared the front door. His brother was clearly intent on making his own exit.
“Hey, Bro. Did you hear about the break-in?” Viktor seemed rather nonchalant about the news.
“Yes. The sheriff stopped by my shop.”
Viktor glanced down the hallway toward the drawing room, lowered his voice and said, “I asked if the sheriff would let you know because I knew she’d never call you herself and if I tried to call you while I was here, she’d probably catch me at it. Always trying to be so independent.” They shared a laugh. Vilma Hart was and always had been the very definition of liberated.
“Mothers, always trying to be so brave,” Warrick said with lots of sarcasm. “What are a dragon and a vampire to do with her?”
Viktor made a face. “Don’t make fun. She’s out here all alone now that we have our own places in town.”
“I’m not making fun. She’s strong and if anyone messes with her, she’ll turn them into a toad. Plus, she has Rochester.”
His brother laughed. “If only we would give her the grandchildren she wants so much so she wouldn’t be as lonely for youngsters.”
“Indeed.” Warrick didn’t mention he had just taken a step closer to answering his mother’s most-wished-for desire.
He opened the front door and they stepped out onto the porch. Viktor flipped up the tall collar of his long coat and pulled his baseball cap low over his head. He already wore driving gloves, so very little of his skin would be exposed to the late afternoon sun between the porch and his car. The vehicle’s darkly tinted windows would take care of any stray beams before the sun set.
Warrick asked, “Where are you headed?”
Viktor pulled his key fob out, pushed a button and his tail lights blinked. “I’m going to Insomnia for a drink or five.”
“Would you be able to get me in there tonight?”
“Sure. Want to ride together?”
“Thanks, but no. I have a date. I’m on my way to pick her up in a little while.”
Viktor glanced over his shoulder as he if he could see through the front door. “Does mother know?”
Warrick nodded. “I mentioned it in passing.”
“Whatever. You were in there bragging about it, weren’t you?”
“No. I was in there asking her to please keep her security system on and, as I said before, I mentioned it only in passing. She pushed me out the door right away. So how about it? Can you get me in with a plus one or not?”
“She isn’t human is she? No humans allowed at Insomnia, you know that.”
“No. Not human. In fact, she’s a psychic alien. One of the new transplants from Alienn, Arkansas, working at Bubba’s Psychic Readings.”
“Huh. Okay. I guess she can get in. I’ll leave word at the door so you don’t get thrown out.”
“Thanks, Viktor.”
“Sure. I can’t wait to meet her. She must be something special to get you out in public and on a date.”
“She is very special. Very compelling. I can’t really explain it.”
“She can’t read your mind, can she? That could be dangerous.”
“Nope. She said she can’t read my mind.” He pushed out an amused sigh and put his focus on the coming date with Bianca. A rush of anxious excitement filled him body and soul as he hurried to his car.
Tonight would be the beginning of something special. Maybe grandchildren were not far off in his mother’s future.
Warrick smiled as he contemplated a wife and children in his immediate future. It was as if he suddenly lived in his most secret dream brought to life and couldn’t wait to see Bianca and kiss her and love her and marry her and have children with her. He shook his head, hoping this wasn’t some elaborate dream sequence he’d conjured up to make his mother happy.
Another sharp head snap didn’t erase the joy in his heart at the idea of seeing Bianca soon. As if the mere shake of his head could make him lose the longing in his heart. Foolish.
Warrick’s foot mashed down on the gas pedal as he narrowed his mind on his singular goal. Find Bianca, kiss her and hold her close.
Tonight was going to change everything for him. He could feel it.
Chapter Six
<^> <^> <^>
Bianca couldn’t believe she’d spilled the beans. Thinking quickly, she pretended to fall into a momentary unconscious spell, allowing her limbs and head to droop as if she was a puppet and her strings had been cut unexpectedly.
Lilian was quiet at first, but as Bianca continued to pretend to be out cold, she asked, “Bianca? Are you awake?”
Bianca thought she gave an Oscar worthy performance when she coughed once, roused momentarily and then drooped again.
Lilian cleared her throat. “Please wake up.” Her voice quavered with uncertainty.
Bianca didn’t want to frighten her. She roused again, shook her head back and forth, but kept her eyes closed. She coughed again, shook her head more forcefully and opened her eyes.
She focused on Lilian’s wide-as-dinner-plates eyes and asked, “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” Lilian asked. In her head, she was wary, but also tremendously relieved that Bianca seemed to have forgotten all about her thievery.
Bianca shook her head. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I don’t always remember what I say or do.” She frowned and asked, “What did I say? I wasn’t mean or anything, was I?”
Lilian’s wide eyes
blinked. “No. You weren’t mean. You just had…had…sort of a different voice and it startled me. But I’m fine now.”
“Did I answer whatever question you had? If not, I’m willing to try again.”
“No!” Lilian squeezed the top of her purse until all ten knuckles were snow white. “I mean, I don’t want to stress you out. Obviously this was difficult for you.”
Bianca put her hands on the table, palms up, inviting Lilian to put her hands in her grasp. “I’m fine. Really. I can try again.”
The older woman stood up. “No. No. It’s fine. I just need to think.” She stared into space, thinking hard about what she had to do once she got home.
Bianca also rose from her chair, mentally listening in as she pretended to be gathering her strength for her next client. “Is there anything else I can do to help you? Are you sure you don’t want me to take your hands for a deeper connection?”
“No. No. I don’t need any help. I just need to get back home—” Her lips snapped shut before she spilled any more details, but Bianca heard her anyway. She planned to put the money back, but worried whether the packet of bills had already been discovered missing.
Bianca had no way of knowing how to handle it, but knew from Lilian’s recollection there was a potted plant right beside the safe. If the packet had been on top of the safe, it would have been easy for it to tumble from there into the potted plant.
“Within the leaves of the potted plant is where you’ll find salvation,” Bianca said in a portentous tone.
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” Bianca said in her normal voice, adding a shrug. “That sentence just popped into my head. Does it help you at all?”
Lilian’s eyes flicked back and forth as in her mind she constructed a story about how perhaps the packet of twenties had fallen off the top of the safe and into the potted plant, instead of being stolen and then put back. She was confident she could pull it off without grief and decided it was best to enact this plan as soon as possible.
