“I know where she’s been,” Sixt accused, taking a sip of Chardonnay. Ashes looked at Sixt lazily.
“Where?”
“Deliverance.”
“Oh,” Harm said to the cat. “You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you? Sixt doesn’t like you to be too friendly with the enemy.”
“He’s not the enemy.”
“You wish.”
Opal and Carlin arrived together. Harm stood up, dumping the cat, who sneezed, raised her tail, and more or less huffed away.
“Here,” he said to Opal, “sit next to Sixt.”
Sixt took that to mean that the culling had begun. Of the two he preferred Carlin over Opal and wanted to sit next to her. Even though she did not have dark hair, blue eyes, or mile-long legs, she seemed likable enough and might have sister-in-law potential.
Sixt smiled at Opal and gestured to the spot left vacant on the loveseat she occupied. “Wine?”
Opal nodded and said, “Thank you,” quietly.
Carlin, on the other hand, was more effusive. “Thank you so much for hosting this get together. I haven’t been able to think about anything else since I heard the call. Oh, by the way, the schedules are lovely. I miss paper. Don’t you? And ink! And wax seals!”
Harm chuckled. “What do you say? Is it okay to ask each other how old we are?”
Carlin turned to him. “That’s a good question. I don’t mind.”
They turned to Sixt and Opal.
“Personal preference. Nobody has to say if they don’t want to. I don’t mind. I’m three hundred ninety-seven years old.”
Sixt could tell by Opal’s and Carlin’s reactions that they were surprised.
“Um. You look really good,” said Carlin.
“I’m five years older,” Harm said.
After a brief stare, Carlin said, “You look good, too.”
He leaned toward her with a sexy smile and said, “Thanks.” He looked between Carlin and Opal. “To tell or not to tell.”
“Well, I’m a hundred and eighty-three. From Ayr. Scotland,” said Carlin.
They looked at Opal. “I’m, um, old,” said Opal.
When she said no more, Harm cleared his throat. “One thing I think we’ve established already is that age is relative. So you’re saying you’re old compared to us? Or old compared to the world as we know it?”
“Yes.”
Harm and Sixt shared a look and apparently decided, together, to drop the subject.
“So,” Sixt said. “Did the two of you come together?”
Opal shook her head no.
Carlin said, “We just arrived at the cute little airport at about the same time.” She raised and dropped her shoulders. “So we got a ride together. Opal came from Lapland.”
“Finland?” Sixt asked.
Opal nodded. “The north.”
“Sounds cold,” Harm said.
Opal gave him a faint smile that could have suggested tones of superiority. “Comfort is not a challenge.”
“Alrighty then,” Harm said, turning to Carlin. “What are you hoping to get out of this weekend?”
“Well, I want to meet people.” She smiled at Sixt before turning back to Harm. “Of course. But I’m also hoping to get some help with a spell that confuses doggy noses.”
Sixt chuckled. “Okay. I’ll bite. Why do you want to confuse doggy noses?”
Carlin seemed delighted to be asked. She was like a little bundle of enthusiasm infused with energy. “Because…” She drew the word out like it was a fanfare. “I grow the best cannabis in the world and I bake it into all kinds of yummy things like cookies and brownies. It’s like the best medicine in the world. It helps with pain and insomnia and it may even cure some really awful things. Like… you know.” Sixt and Harm exchanged a look. If their parents had been alive, it was exactly the sort of thing they’d have been up to. “So I’ve made the, you know, illegal part undetectable to any means of detection except doggy noses.”
“Oh.” Harm chuckled. “You want to confuse drug dogs.”
She frowned slightly. “Not so much confuse. I just want them to be oblivious. You know, nothing to see here! Move along.”
Harm looked at Sixt. “A Star Wars reference. This is too good to be true.”
Sixt laughed. “So you’re hoping for an exchange of ideas.”
“Exactly!” Carlin grinned. “And to meet others like me.” She glanced at Harm. “Of course.”
Sixt turned to Opal. “So are you single?”
Opal smiled slightly. “Yes.”
“You?” Sixt said to Carlin. Harm silently thanked Sixt for getting to the heart of what he needed to know so smoothly and sneakily.
“Oh, yes.” Carlin laughed. “I’m not into humans and I’ve never dated a, um, warlock.” She smiled at Harm.
“Don’t know what you’re missing,” said Harm, wiggling his eyebrows.
Carlin laughed again. “You’re right. I don’t.”
“Where did you come from?” Sixt abruptly changed the subject to include a topic of interest to all four of them.
“Washington. Some of the time.”
“Washington State?”
Carlin nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you ski?” Harm asked Carlin.
“Oh gods yes. Well, no. I prefer board. But I like the snow.” She looked around. “I’ll bet this place is amazing in season.”
Sixt smiled. “It’s pretty when it’s all white.”
“Not that it’s not pretty now,” Carlin said as Harm beamed at her.
They heard some voices coming from the front of the house.
“That must be more peeps,” Sixt said as she rose to go greet the new guests. “Stay and visit if you want,” she told Harm.
“No. I’ll come. I’m co-host after all.” He winked at Carlin. “Back in a few.”
The other three houseguests were still clustered near the front door, having arrived together. And they were a bevy of beauties, which made sense since witches can, to some extent, control what others see.
Sixt felt Harm following and knew in an instant that one of the three was a replica of the dream girl Harm had described. Dark hair, blue eyes, legs that couldn’t help but be long because she was tall enough to look Harm eye to eye. The word that jumped into Sixt’s consciousness was statuesque. Poor Carlin.
The other two were attractive. One auburn-haired with a big white smile. One dishwater blonde with sun-kissed streaks, a Newport Beach tan, clothes that said money, money, money, and a manner that said privileged from birth. Sixt was familiar with that air. She’d come to recognize it during the years she’d become a practiced courtier.
Sixt grabbed the temp butler and told him to move the wine and cheese to the room Sixt called hunters dining because it reminded her of an eighteenth century French hunting lodge.
“The other house guests are already here,” Sixt told the recently arrived. “You’re welcome to join us in the room off the kitchen, but if you’d rather nap or freshen up, do that. It’s free time until the party starts.”
The caterers kept the sibling co-hosts and their five house guests happy with wine and finger foods throughout the evening while the seven chatted amiably. Or rather six chatted amiably. Opal observed in her reserved and somewhat aloof way.
They learned that all five house guests, of wildly varying ages, were indeed single. In fact, they were different in so many ways, from experience to philosophy to reasons for coming.
The one thing they had in common was that they were witches.
Just before they were about to adjourn and go to their separate rooms to get ready for the party, Deliverance stopped by. In fact he stopped by the chair where Sixt sat at the end of the table. She waited for the other women to drop their dignity and faun all over him, but they looked completely unaffected.
Looking up at Deliverance, it was evident he was working at suppressing a heart-stopping grin. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
She pulled her gaze a
way and looked around the table. “Of course. Everybody, this is my friend, um, Deliverance.”
“Pretty name,” said Carlin, but it seemed that, if anything, she was being polite.
Sixt went around the table and named each person.
He nodded, tapped her chair, and said, “Nice fire,” before leaving.
The Hunters’ room fireplace was the second wood burning fireplace in the house and Sixt had let Harm build it up because the temperature was dropping outside. It wasn’t what you’d call a ‘roaring’ fire, but the flames were jumping knee high and the crackle of pinion pine mixed with other woods made for a cozy get-acquainted evening.
When Sixt made her way to her room to change, she found the demon leaning against the wall next to her door.
“That was a good trick,” she said. “What do they see when they look at you?”
“Ordinary.”
“Uh-huh. How do I know that what I see is the real you?”
“You don’t. Does it matter?”
She cocked her head and thought about that. “I guess not. As long as you’re not gruesome.”
He laughed, which made her heart seize. She wondered if he knew that. “I’ll stop by afterward and tell you all about the party. If I think of it.”
“No need. I’m going.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not a demon party. It’s a witch party.”
“There’ll be humans there. Serving,” he pointed out.
“Did you want to attend as a server?”
He smiled. “No. I want to go as your date.”
She looked incredulous for a couple of seconds before laughing. “Since when do incubi date?”
“Maybe you don’t know as much as you think you do. Are you worried that you’ll start a scandal?” He dipped his chin in a flirtatious way and gave her the full press demon twinkle. “A coven of witches cavorting with a demon on a full moon night?”
She scowled. “Is tonight the full moon?”
He laughed. “Nice try. I know enough about witches to know that the event was planned with moon phases in mind. You are supremely aware that the full moon is day after tomorrow. If you didn’t know that, you’d have to turn in your witch card.”
She glanced at her watch. “I have to get ready. Do me a favor and stay out of sight tonight.”
The second those unfortunate words left her lips she wanted a redo. The last thing Deliverance wanted was to do Sixt a favor. She knew that. How could she get relaxed enough around him to forget something so vital?
She knew what was coming next.
“Is it important enough to you to let me go?”
“We already discussed coming to an arrangement to terminate the contract early when we get back. Being nice while we’re here will certainly go a long way toward making me feel inclined to negotiate.”
His eyes slanted away. “I took you for smarter than believing you can outmaneuver a demon.” He sighed. “Maybe not.”
Sixt was trying to remember why she’d wanted Deliverance to come along. Oh, yes. Because she was afraid of what he’d get into if left alone for days.
“You’re really not interested in witchy small talk. It would bore you to tears.”
He pursed his lips. “Could be. Let’s find out.”
She looked at her watch again. If she continued standing in the hall arguing with the demon she was going to be late and that was just unacceptable. It would be better to have an unexplained, ‘ordinary’ fellow lurking about at the party than to be host and be late. She wondered if any of the attendees would be creature sniffers and recognize him as a demon regardless of his glamour.
“Whatever. Do what you want,” she said.
He chuckled behind her. “You know I’d do that no matter what you said.”
Suggested dress for the weekend was ‘mountain casual’, but that didn’t mean attendees wouldn’t still try to impress. When Sixt came out of her closet half an hour later, she was wearing an ivory cashmere sweater over ivory suede pants, with soft ivory leather over-the-knee boots. She’d used a little magic to straighten her hair, left it down, and added old gold hoops to her ears. The sort of old gold that can be seen in the Egyptian section of the Metropolitan Museum.
Deliverance was sitting on her bed waiting. His eyes traveled slowly down to the floor and back up again. When his gaze returned to her face, one of her eyebrows was arched as if to say, “What are you doing?”
“I thought we had an understanding about privacy.”
“We do. There’s no privacy between us.”
“That’s not the understanding I had in mind.”
“Well, you can’t always be right, I guess. What do you want me to wear?”
“Since you’re not going to be with me tonight, I guess it’s demon’s choice.”
He laughed. “If you don’t choose, I will.” A threat was definitely implied, choose or I’ll embarrass you.
She was out of time and defeated. “When you first showed up in my office, you were wearing a knit shirt. Really, really, really dark blue.” Suddenly he was wearing that shirt. “With jeans and square toed brown boots.”
Either he paid more attention to what he wore than most males or he’d pulled the memory straight out of her head, but there he was, in the exact clothes she remembered.
“Very nice. You look lovely,” she said. “Now if only you behave as good as you look…”
He grinned and crooked his arm as if offering to escort her. She snorted, but how she wished they were actually going on a real date. She sighed surreptitiously. The day would come, sooner than she thought, when she let him go with an apology. But the day would never come when she would tell him that she’d never once fantasized about anyone but him.
Harm was passing by as they opened the door. His eyes flew to Deliverance.
“Oh, for… Look,” he said to the demon, “it’s not that I don’t like you. I actually think you’re an okay sort. But tonight’s not the time or place.”
“For what?” Deliverance sounded as if his curiosity was sincere.
“For making a fool of my sister.”
The demon held his index and third finger together over his heart and said, “I won’t. Scouts’ honor,” which would have been reassuring if not for the Grinch-like smile that accompanied the oath.
Harm shook his head and stomped away.
“What’s the matter with him?” Deliverance asked.
“He’s worried that you’re a walking disaster with a countdown already started.”
The demon chuckled. “I could be. But maybe I won’t be. We’ll see how it goes.”
“That makes for a stress-free evening,” she said sarcastically.
“Allow me to remind you that I’m not here by choice.”
“Yes. You are. I changed my mind. Gave you the rest of the weekend off. Remember?”
“Ah, but it was too late. My curiosity had already been aroused.” He said the word ‘aroused’ like a sexy growl.
“Knock it off.”
He smiled from the pleasure of needling her. It was a pleasure that was unique in all his long life. As they walked, he said, “Will there be dancing?”
“Uh, no, we hadn’t planned on dancing.”
“Why not? Isn’t that what witches do? All you need is a token demon to complete the picture. And here I am!” He held his arms straight out from his sides to emphasize the point. “We can all get naked and dance in the moonlight.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“For gods’ sake,” she muttered. “Nobody’s getting naked.” She stopped, faced him, and poked a finger into his shoulder. “That includes you.”
With an exasperated huff, she continued walking. She wanted to rant that he would not spoil her weekend, but she knew that the more she acted like she cared, the more likely he would be to create a catastrophe worthy of The Sorcerer’s Annals. “There will be no dancing.” She did her best to keep emotion out of that proclamation. “E
ven if some of us were into that sort of thing, it’s damn cold outside.”
He nodded seriously, then brightened. “Cavorting then?”
“You’re driving me crazy.”
“I think maybe that’s a short drive.”
“Just. Stop. Talking.”
Deliverance chuckled. He would rather have taken back the curse than admit that he was having a good time teasing the witch. He couldn’t lose sight of his mission because she was beautiful and good at easy banter.
He was there to find out how to craft a hellish future for the lovely sorceress and he had a feeling that he was going to come by some juicy little morsel of intel during the witchy weekend. He was not here to have fun. On the other hand, if he could make her squirm a little, wondering if he’d behave himself, why not?
The partygoers arrived in a steady stream. The five houseguests, who already felt at home in Sixt’s house, took it upon themselves to help with welcoming and coats.
Sixt had expected that attendees would come dressed to impress, but they managed to exceed expectations. Most wore some sort of dramatic outerwear that incorporated faux fur so perfect it passed for real.
Everyone had chosen to appear as if they were physically in their twenties or very early thirties and everyone was extraordinarily handsome. That included the warlocks. Even Hollywood couldn’t say there was a greater concentration of beautiful people at one of their awards shows.
There were several couples, but most were single and, like Harm, obviously delighted to have been invited to an opportunity to check out eligible others of their species. Sixt had cast a spell that created name tags when guests stepped over the threshold. The name tags appeared on the wearer’s clothing as functionally seamless and aesthetically pleasing in that the design fit the style, color, and fabric of whatever was being worn. The display gave first names only, which left other details up to the discretion of the individual.
From what Sixt gathered, Deliverance was the least attractive person in attendance. At least that was how he appeared to everyone but her. He was essentially ignored.
The caterers were instructed not to carry trays around, but to keep them, along with small linen napkins within easy reach so that no one would ever be more than a couple of steps away from food. Trays of canapes, charcuterie, petit fours, and all manner of hors d'oeuvres including finger sandwiches and shish kabobs were constantly refreshed so that they were full and supremely appealing to the eye.
Deliverance (Knights of Black Swan Book 12) Page 14
