Sharon Karaa - A Familiar Problem (Northern Witches #2)

by Unknown

  He took the seat opposite me and reached for my hand, his blue eyes piercing into my soul as he captured my fingers in his. A bolt of electricity ran up my arm and straight to my nether regions and I pulled my hand away.

  "Can you knock that off?" I asked, tutting at him in disgust.

  "Knock what off?" He asked, confused.

  "This entire compassion lark is doing my head in. Can we just get on with it now? What do I need to do?"

  He smiled at me but his eyes were laughing. Bastard.

  He sat back in his chair and folded his arms in front of him, pulling my gaze to his chest. Again. I quickly lifted my eyes to his face. At least with him sat at the table, there was no way I could see the rest of his body. Not that it made a lot of difference. He must have the allure up on high again because I was burning up with lust.

  "And that! Can you stop that as well?"

  "What?" he asked, incredulous.

  "You know what," I snapped, waving my index finger at his chest and muscular arms. "Put some bloody clothes on mate because it isn't going to work!"

  "You find the sight of my body offensive?" he asked, a smile curving his too damn sexy lips.

  "Look Zerachiel, the gigs up! The cat was let well and truly out of the bag by Abaddon. He told me all about you!"

  That wiped the smile from his face.

  He looked at me and I couldn’t tell if he was angry or confused. Maybe a bit of both.

  "Oh? And just what did my brother tell you?" he asked.

  I gasped in shock. "Your brother?"

  "He was an angel too, once, didn't he tell you that?"

  I snorted with laughter. "You have got to be kidding me!"

  "I don't kid, Natalia. And I don't lie either, unlike Abaddon. Just what did he tell you?"

  I eyed him suspiciously. "I know about your allure," I said, triumphantly.

  "What allure?"

  "That thing you have that makes woman throw themselves at you and stops them from getting in to heaven." I glared at him, daring him to tell me it wasn't true.

  "Oh, that allure," he said, laughing. This man was getting on my last nerve.

  "And you find that funny, do you?"

  "Nats, the oldest woman I've escorted to heaven was nine years old. Didn't Agnes tell you? I look after the souls of children, not adults. We have other angels for that."

  I looked at him thoroughly confused. Then a thought occurred to me.

  "So why are you here for me then?"

  "I came originally to take a look at you as a favour to Agnes," he said, his eyes hooded and I sensed more.

  "And now?" My breath caught in my throat.

  "Then I became excited at the prospect of saving the soul of a demon," he admitted, going slightly pink. "But after our trip to heaven, I find I …I enjoy your company."

  The air rushed out of my lungs as I looked at him. He was really here for me?

  "Why?" I asked as tears burned the back of my eyeballs.

  "Nats, whether you believe it or not, you are very likeable. Frustrating, absolutely, but likeable as well. You're bullish, brutal at times, but underneath it all I suspect you have a heart of gold. I'd like the chance to prove it to you.”

  "So you really aren't using magic on me?" I asked. I had to know. If he wasn't then what did that say?

  Zerachiel smiled and captured my hand in his again. The electricity ran up my arm again. I didn't pull away this time.

  "So you find yourself attracted to me?" he asked, his blue eyes daring me to lie.

  I tutted. "I'm not dead from the waist down, Saccharine, of course I find you bloody attractive," I snapped.

  He grinned and started walking slowly towards me, never breaking eye contact.

  “Do you want to fuck me, Natalia?” he asked as he got closer and closer.

  I gasped and backed up a step. "You still haven't answered my question. Are you using magic on me?" I asked.

  He looked at me, laughing now. "Absolutely not, Natalia, it's all down to you."

  I looked at him confused. Then it really was down to my own reactions to him and Abaddon had lied to me? Why? And Abaddon was his brother? There were a few too many unanswered questions here for my liking and I realised I'd better keep on my toes until I figured everything out. I wasn't getting tangled in this little family mess.

  Zerachiel sighed and took a seat back at the table, I suspected to hide his erection.

  "Look, why don't we not confuse things. You obviously have some things to think about but you've also got some changes to go through now, let's focus on that."

  I joined him at the table, my hands in front of me. I looked down and realised my hands were shaking and quickly shoved them under the table so that he wouldn't see how he had affected me. He was right. I had enough to worry about right now. Sorting out my tangled emotions could wait.

  "So what do I need to do to seek redemption?" I asked finally.

  His blue eyes twinkled. Despite everything, I could see he was delighted at my decision.

  Zerachiel leaned forward on the table and looked deep into my eyes.

  "You need to face your past transgressions and you need to make reparation for your sins."

  "Can you talk English?" I asked him. What the hell did that even mean?

  "You need to acknowledge everything you've done that was wrong then you need to do some good stuff to make it better. Balance your evil side with your good.”

  "Shit, we'll be here for millennia then," I snapped.

  He laughed. "I doubt it.” Boy, he was sexy when he laughed but he really didn't know me at all.

  "So… what? I just start at the beginning and tell you everything?" I asked.

  He smiled at me, wickedly. "Believe it or not, no. Not me. I'm going to take you to see a professional, someone who can help you to dig deep."

  I gasped. "I don't want to talk to anyone else! Why can't I just tell you?"

  He arched an eyebrow at me. "If I told you I already knew everything about you, would you believe me?"

  Oh shit. I looked at him, startled. He laughed again and now I got mad. This was funny?

  "Natalia, I'm not interested in who you were, I'm interested in who you are!"

  I was interested in seeing beneath his loin cloth but I wasn't telling him that. He burst out laughing. Damn. I forgot he could read minds.

  "That's another reason why you need to speak to someone independent. So you can focus on the task at hand!" He stood and held his hand out to me. I took a moment to admire his lovely long fingers then snapped to attention and jumped up.

  "OK, where to?" I asked, as he wrapped me in his arms and unfolded his wings.

  9 - Two sides of the coin

  We stood outside a beautiful sandstone building, looking at the brass plaque embedded in the stone, announcing the offices of the honourable Dr. Sigmund Freud.

  "No fucking way," I looked at Zerachiel. He laughed.

  "You don't get all the interesting people, you know, some come our way!" he replied, pulling me by the arm to the glass doors. I dragged my feet. I really did not want to go see a head shrink who would tell me I had a father fixation. He might well find all his theories blown out the water if he ever met my father.

  Zerachiel stopped in his tracks and turned to me as I continued to resist him. "Are you afraid?"

  I scowled at him and pushed open the door. Read into that what you will but no one would accuse me of cowardice.

  Zerachiel walked over to the reception desk and smiled charmingly at the stern looking older woman sitting behind it. She glared at him, unimpressed.

  "Natalia Stokes here to see Dr. Freud," he announced, still grinning sweetly at her.

  "Take a seat, I'll call you when the doctor is ready for you," she replied, turning to pick up the phone and announce our arrival. I guess the allure really was fake.

  We walked over to the plush leather couch and sat down, sinking into the luxurious cushions. I looked about me, interested to see what the good doctor w
ould deem to be an appropriate environment for his patients. The walls were painted in hues of cream and a Salvador Dali painting hung on the wall to the left. Of all of the Dali's he could have chosen, this one was rather tame, depicting a melting clock and aptly titled The Persistence of Memory. The man obviously had a sense of humour or possibly wanted to start mind fucking his patients before they even stepped in to his office. Still, I guess it beat looking at butterflies.

  Directly in front of us was a glass top coffee table with a pile of magazines lined up neatly in the centre. I had an incredible urge to mess them up and had to sit on my hands to stop myself. On top of the pile was a copy of the Karma Sutra and I giggled gleefully and picked it up to have a read. Zerachiel, who had also been examining our surroundings looked at me and smiled, looking over my shoulder to see what I was reading. I opened the book to a page full of illustrations and one in particular caught my eye. Titled "the London Bridge", it depicted a man in a crab position with the woman sitting on top.

  "That looks interesting; perhaps one day we should try that?" I said to Zerachiel, turning the book slightly to give him a better view.

  His face turned pink and he grabbed the book from me and slammed it back down on the table just as a grey haired old man came walking in to the reception. He looked like a slimmer version of Father Christmas with a neatly trimmed grey beard and a twinkle in his eye. I was suddenly very much looking forward to our encounter.

  "Good morning, Natalia, Zerachiel! How nice to make your acquaintance." He had a slightly Germanic twang to his accent.

  I shook the hand he proffered and smiled. "Well done, Doctor. In the space of sixty seconds you now know that I have an under-developed ego, an over-developed super-ego with no fear of expression, whereas Zerachiel here is very heavily sexually repressed. You also know, because of my lack of interest in the Dali, I have no delusions of grandeur and am completely uninterested in anyone's opinion of my intellect. I did, however, fight my compulsion to mess up your tidy pile of books, so I guess I’m learning!"

  I grinned at his smiling face and Zerachiel turned an even darker shade of red then jumped to his feet to shake the doctor’s hand.

  "Nice to meet you, doctor, I'll come by in an hour and pick her up.”

  He all but ran from the door and I laughed as I watched his receding back disappear.

  "You know, Natalia, I do believe we're going to get along fine," said the good doctor as I stood and he led me from the room.

  "Yes, I'm sure we will," I smiled at him. "Although, I must admit I am rather surprised to find you here. I had you pegged as an atheist.”

  He laughed, showing me his perfect white teeth. "Oh they didn't hold that against me. And as a scientist, I can readily admit to my mistakes."

  He shut the door behind us and pointed towards the couch.

  "Mind if I lie down?" he asked.

  "Go ahead, make yourself at home," I said, as I took the recliner positioned to the left of the couch.

  "So you've obviously read some of my work then, Natalia?" He settled himself on to the couch and turned his head to the ceiling as he spoke.

  "Just a little. There was an article about you in Cosmo," I grinned.

  "I'm not entirely familiar with that publication." He furrowed his brow.

  "Well, to be honest it was more about your daughter but some of your theories were discussed.”

  "Ah, my Anna!" He sighed contentedly. And we were off! I was absolutely the master at diversion tactics and I smiled contentedly to myself as Freud proceeded to tell me stories of his wife and children back in Vienna.

  An hour later, Sigmund was escorting me from the room, tears in his eyes as he finished telling me the story of how his mother had died. I patted his shoulder in solidarity. I'd spent the last hour doodling on his pad and had drawn a really good likeness of Mickey Mouse that I was particularly proud of. I'd managed to get through the entire session without mentioning a single thing about myself. As we walked in to the reception, Zerachiel was sitting up straight on the sofa, his hands in his lap and he looked up, surprised, as we came through the door.

  "Same time tomorrow, Natalia?" Freud looked at me through his round spectacles and I grinned at him.

  "Wouldn't miss it," I declared and Zerachiel frowned as he watched the good doctor wipe the last tear from his face.

  I waved over my shoulder at the dour receptionist and hooking Zerachiel's arm, I marched out of the door feeling as light as a feather.

  "That seems to have gone well," Zerachiel remarked, looking at me suspiciously.

  "Yes, this psychoanalysis malarkey is fun." I smiled at him. "Where to now?" I asked.

  "I think you've had enough for one day. I'll take you home" he smiled.

  We materialised back in Lauren's kitchen to find Selina and Lauren fighting with the food processor. From the state of the kitchen, it looked like the processor was winning. And from the looks of the ingredients on the bench, it looked like they were trying to make mojitos.

  Agnes was the first to spot us and she jumped up from her seat, calling my name and smiling broadly.

  "I knew you'd make the right decision,” she said, proudly.

  Lauren stepped up and wrapped me in a hug. "I'm so very proud of you Nats. I know it couldn't have been an easy decision for you.”

  "I made you a brandy sour," Selina smiled, handing me the frosted glass.

  I hated the bloody things and would have preferred a straight shot but I smiled and took a good long drink, smacking my lips together in satisfaction and smiling at her. "Lovely," I said and she beamed, curse her heart. "Where's Geordie?" I asked, looking about for the little man.

  "He's having a boys' night over at Daniel's. They're watching the match," Lauren said, arching her eyebrow at me.

  "Don't look at me like that! I'd much rather have a night with my bitches." I took another long swig of my drink. It was disgustingly sweet and I fought not to grimace then put my almost empty glass on the bench with the other detritus.

  "Gerwyn's popping over shortly, he rang earlier to see how you were doing," Lauren said.

  "I'll leave you to it," said Zerachiel, picking up a lemon and inspecting it before putting it back down on the bench. Domestic bliss obviously wasn’t his thing. Either that or he didn’t want to be the only man at a party. Drinks and a loin cloth could lead to tricky situations.

  He turned to me and smiled. “I'll pick you up tomorrow for your next visit to the doc’s." Then he shocked everyone, me included, when he kissed me tenderly on the cheek and promptly disappeared.

  Agnes raised an eyebrow at me and grinned. "Something you want to tell us?"

  Lauren grabbed me by the arm and dragged me in to the lounge with Agnes following close behind. "I want to hear all about it." She spun into the sofa, dragging me down beside her.

  “Come on, spill,” Agnes demanded.

  “What?” I asked, incredulous.

  Selina came in with a pitcher of cocktails that had so much alcohol in it, the lime was making a bid for freedom.

  “Zerachiel? Out with it,” Lauren prompted.

  “He definitely looked keen,” Selina smiled as she set the tray down on the table.

  “There’s nothing to tell, nothing’s happened,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

  Agnes arched her eyebrow at me as she perched precariously on the arm of the chair.

  “Honestly,” I snapped. Bloody hell, a kiss on the cheek and they were all mentally picking out their hats and outfits for the wedding!

  Lauren handed me a glass and I drained it, handing it back for a refill.

  Selina, seeing I was getting annoyed, jumped in. "What happened at the doc’s? Did everything go ok?"

  "It was fine, honest. A walk in the park," I replied, taking another long drink, this time to hide my guilt.

  "So what happens now? You visit him a few times, un-repress all your emotions and then bam, that's it?" Selina asked.

  "No, apparently I have to redress the bal
ance of good and evil, whatever that means."

  I set my glass down on the table and Agnes tutted, picking it up and placing a coaster beneath it. "It means you have some work to do, that's what it means. But don't worry. We're all here to help you." She pushed her specs back up her nose and sat back in her chair.

  "That's what I'm worried about," I stated, grinning at her cross expression.

  Just then, Gerwyn arrived in a shower of pink confetti and wearing a skin tight, pink, fish-tail dress and matching pink feather head piece. Her makeup, as usual, was a disaster. I stood up to give her a hug.

  "Hey my lovely! You haven't been by to tell me how you're gettin' on. I've been worried about you," she said, air-kissing my cheeks. I was particularly grateful she had, given the hideous pink lipstick she was wearing.

  "Gerwyn, I've had enough, we are having a makeup lesson right now!" I stated.

  "Oh goodie!" Lauren jumped up. "I'll go get my kit!"

  She dashed out of the room as Gerwyn stared at me with a shocked and hurt expression on his face.

  "Gerwyn, you make a beautiful woman, you really do, but you honestly haven't the first clue about making the best of those gorgeous cheekbones," I said, turning her and setting her down in the chair I'd just vacated. Placated, she took her seat, blushing slightly.

  An hour later, Gerwyn was looking sultry and stunning and we were all three sheets to the wind, despite my good brandy being drowned in lemonade.

  "So how are things going with you and the demon?" Gerwyn slurred. "Have you jumped his bones yet?"

  Lauren looked up sharply. "What's all this?"

  "It's nothing, honest," I replied.

  "Oh sure," said Gerwyn, missing the byplay completely. "I saw the way he looked at you. That was so not nothing!"

  "Nat, you can't be thinking about having a relatonship with a demon?" Lauren said, turning to me with shock on her face.

  "Lauren, are you forgetting, I am a demon?"

  "That's beside the point, and you're going to be redeemed anyway so that's a moot argument."

  "Zerachiel is a good man, you shouldn't be messing him about," chipped in Agnes.

  "You could always have a threesome," Selina giggled. I knew she'd had too much to drink.