Chapter 2
RALPH DROPPED THE brush. His erection deflated immediately. With satyrs, everybody knew when their cocks were crowing a wake-up call—the scent alone was enough to floor you. Being around a horny satyr was like hanging out with an elk herd during rutting season.
I’d dated one many years ago—a satyr, not an elk—and I’d had one of the sorest pussies around. Satisfied, but sore. Satyrs were huge—they couldn’t help it, but not a lot of women dared take them on. There were times when I looked back on that relationship and wondered why I had left him. After the vampires caught my sweet Tom and turned him, I’d let myself off the leash. And when my friends and I finally walked away from the carnage, we had thrown ourselves into playing wild and free, taking multiple lovers and paramours. The wine and magic had run rampant. But after a while, the madness diminished and Sandy, Fata, and I had moved on.
“I’m not doing anything.” Ralph Greyhoof shifted his eyes. He was lying, of course. I knew him from way back and I knew that he wasn’t prone to telling the truth. Satyrs were smart and they were sneaky. Underhanded? Not necessarily. Sneaky? Always.
He leaned against the vanity, eyeing me the way a hungry kid eyes a candy dish. It suddenly dawned on me that wandering around naked in front of a satyr might not be the best idea. I reached for my robe and slipped it on, belting it tightly.
“Then you tell me what the hell you’re doing in my bathroom.”
“You didn’t answer the door.” Ralph frowned, staring at my boobs. Well, at the chest of my bathrobe.
“Eyes on my face, Ralph!”
He grumbled, but met my gaze.
“I didn’t answer the door because I was taking a shower. You don’t just walk into someone’s house if they don’t answer their door, you idiot.”
“Sorry.” He didn’t mean it, of course. “I’ll go now.” He started to backtrack toward the door.
“Hold it right there.” I leaned down to pick up my brush and place it back on the vanity. As I saw the hair in the bristles, it dawned on me just what he had been doing. “You were after some of my hair, weren’t you? What are you up to, Ralph?” I shook the brush at him. “And don’t you try to bullshit me. I’m one of the most powerful witches on the island and you know better than to fuck with me, Greyhoof. Why were you stealing hair from my brush?”
He froze in his tracks, letting out a sigh that sounded more like a snort. He was tall and imposing, but he was afraid of me and that’s the way I wanted to keep it.
Around six-three, his biceps gleamed, and the fur that clung to his goat-like legs was silky, brown, and plush. Ralph was a fairly handsome guy. His eyes were wide and slanted ever so slightly. A rich, dark topaz, they gleamed with Otherkin light. His braid hung down to his butt. He was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a muscle tank.
“Somebody asked me to.” He spread his hands. “Honest. Business has been slow and I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a side job.”
I tapped my foot. “I don’t believe you. You’re up to something, Ralph Greyhoof, and I plan on finding out what. But for now, just get out of my house and don’t you ever come in again without permission.”
He shuffled his hooves, his pretense at innocence falling away. He pressed his lips together but then bluster took over. “Yeah, well quit trying to pinch my customers! We were here before you. You just saunter over here to the island, take up with a vampire, and then try to put us out of business? You’re a leech, Maddy Gallowglass. A leech!”
“Oh for fuck’s sake. Not this again.”
Ralph Greyhoof and two of his brothers—George and William—ran a B&B a few miles away. Or rather, a bed-and-brothel, I liked to call it. The satyrs offered more than just a nice room and muffins for breakfast. They catered mostly to women, mostly, and their weekend specials came with a smile and a little sumthin’-sumthin’ extra. We weren’t really competition, but the Greyhoofs didn’t believe it and they were convinced we were aiming to put them out of business, even though the Bewitching Bedlam B&B was a lot more innocuous than the Heart’s Desire Inn.
I confiscated his plastic bag and motioned to the door. “Out of my bathroom. Get your ass downstairs to the kitchen and we’ll talk.”
He gulped—I saw his Adam’s apple move—and, after a brief stare down, turned tail and headed downstairs. I followed, deciding I’d better search him for stray strands of my hair before he left. Hair made for powerful magic. Blood was better, but hair worked just fine when you wanted to cast a spell on someone. Which is why I still had a plastic sandwich bag full of hair and bloody tissue from my ex, Craig. While we were married, every time he cut himself shaving, I fished a few of the toilet paper shreds out of the garbage and tucked them away for insurance.
In the kitchen, I put the kettle on for tea and handed Ralph a plate of cookies. “Sit your ass down for a moment. You do realize what my boyfriend would think if he found out a satyr crashed my shower in the middle of the night? And what he might do for payback?” I was feeling particularly snarky. Might as well make him sweat.
And sweat he did. Ralph turned an ugly shade of green. “You wouldn’t really do that, would you, Maddy? Come on. We go back too far for that sort of torment.” He fiddled with one of the cookies before setting it down with a grumpy sigh. “Listen. I really don’t know who the chick was, but she offered me five hundred for some of your hair. I wasn’t going to lay a whammy on you—I know better than that. But it’s the off-season. And this old decaying hunk of house is looking mighty nice now. Too good to ignore for tourists. You’re going to ruin our business.”
“I am not. We have two entirely different types of clientele.” I pursed my lips, not wanting to feel sorry for the lecher, but I couldn’t help it. Ralph and his brothers had dreamed big since the day I met them, which was shortly after I joined the Moonrise Coven. They never quite reached those dreams. They were always looking for the next big thing, the next get-rich-quick scheme. Their inn was the most practical thing they had ever done in their lives.
Relenting, I shrugged. “Fine, I’ll have mercy on you. But dude, you knock next time you come over. Or ring the bell. And if there’s no answer and it’s unlocked, stay out. And I swear, if you find out the name of whoever paid you to fetch my hair and you don’t tell me, I’ll turn you into a hamster and give you to Bubba as a chew toy. Get the idea?” I poured our tea.
“Yeah, I get it. If it helps, the woman who hired me is a blond bombshell. I swear, if somebody had figured out cloning, this dame could be a duplicate of Marilyn.” He arched his eyebrows and the scent of musk rose again.
“Monroe or Manson?” I knew just how to bait him.
Ralph let out a sputter, but then relaxed and laughed. “Either, for my tastes. But no, Monroe. She’s tall, has some sort of allure about her.” He leaned forward. “I think she’s a vampire, Maddy.”
Vampire? That was new. Aegis was the newest to come out of the coffin about his existence. There were probably fewer than thirty vampires on the island, and most of them belonged to Essie Vanderbilt’s nest. She just happened to be one of the regional vampire queens, and kept aloof, though cordial, relations with the community.
“New?”
He nodded. “I don’t remember seeing her around. She wasn’t wearing the mark of the local nest, and most of the loners are well-known. I don’t remember her name. You’d think she would have told me, but I can’t recall. But she’s got everything that counts.”
I snorted. To a satyr, that meant readily available sex organs. “Dude, you already slept with her?”
Ralph threw half of his cookie at me. “Stereotypes, always with the stereotypes. No, I did not sleep with her. I draw the line with vampires. Unlike some witches I know.” He touched his finger to his nose, nodding at me.
“Leave my sex life out of this. Aegis is a wonderful man, even if he’s dead.”
“He’s a vampire. They’re all the same, in the end—dead and clammy. But no, I didn’t mean I slept with her. She has money and isn’t afraid to use it.” He shrugged. “This is going to sound silly to you, but the woman can carry a tune. We sang together for a good two hours. I think she was bored, but she humored me. Not very many people around here will take the time to sing with us. Including that boyfriend of yours.”
The only thing satyrs liked as much as sex was music. Money was good, but they loved their music. And then it hit me. Aegis had been a servant of Apollo, who had been in a major fracas with Pan, the god of the satyrs. They’d basically created the first Olympian Idol contest, so to speak, and Apollo won. Pan had never forgotten the slight. It made sense that Ralph wouldn’t like Aegis, even if Aegis hadn’t become one of the Fallen.
It was hard to fault Ralph for being suckered in. Music to a satyr was like gold to a leprechaun or a big fat juicy steak to a werewolf.
I let out a long sigh. “Empty your pockets before you go.”
“Damn it, Maddy. Oh, all right.” Ralph emptied his pockets. A switchblade, a couple grape lollipops, three condoms, twenty-five dollars and some change, and a set of lock picks.
“Pull up your shirt.”
As he flashed me, I realized that Ralph had put on about twenty pounds since I’d last seen him. He was still incredibly built, but with a little padding around the edges. But nothing there to say he’d managed to actually get my hair out of the brush. I had no intention of patting him down. I knew where that would lead. For him. Not for me.
“All right. You’re clean, as far as I can tell. But I’m warning you, Ralph. If this woman actually does get hold of my hair—or any other anchor—I’ll know where to look. And I’ll bring Aegis with me and he’ll take it out of you in blood, and after that, I will turn you into a nanny goat who’s constantly in heat. Got it?”
Ralph nodded, eyes wide. All pretense was gone and he just looked grateful to be escaping with his skin intact. “I’ll go now.”
“You do that.” I saw him to the door and locked it, considering putting a reinforcement spell on the lock. But that would make it harder for Aegis when he came home. I glanced at the clock. I still had to get ready for the after-party.
After-party! Crap. I raced back upstairs to get dressed.
By the time I decided on what I wanted to wear—a black Bohemian gauze skirt with a skull-patterned corset, a silver-colored belt, and black lace-up leather boots—Sandy had arrived. Franny peeked around the corner of the door to my bedroom. I’d warded it heavily so she could only get in if there was an emergency, and she knew better than to fake one.
“Your friend is here. The blonde.” She sniffed, affecting a long-suffering tone.
“You don’t like Aegis because he’s a vampire. What the hell is wrong with Sandy?”
“She’s not very lady-like.”
“Neither am I. Go bother Bubba. He’s always up for a good spar.” I shooed her away. Then, wrapping a silver and black shawl around my shoulders, I headed downstairs.
Franny was nowhere to be seen, but Sandy was petting Bubba, taking care to steer clear of his belly. Cjinns were sneaky. While they were all cat on the outside, in their heart and soul they were djinns and they granted wishes based on belly-rubs and how persnickety their mood was.
A happy and purring cjinn? Might be magnanimous. An irritated cjinn would twist your words into the worst possible meaning. Trouble was, they could read emotions and—I suspected—thoughts, to a degree. If you offhandedly were talking to a friend while petting a cjinn’s belly and you happened to say, “I wish I had a million bucks,” you might very well find yourself the owner of a very large herd of elk. Mostly, it was safest to avoid the stomach area, especially when Bubba offered his fuzzy tum-tum up for adoration.
“You look good.” Sandy gathered up Bubba, kissed him on the nose, and gently tossed him on the sofa. He gave her the stink-eye and wandered off. “In fact, you look good enough to eat. Hope Aegis has been topping off the tank at the blood bank lately.”
I snorted. The local blood bank also took donations for vampires who didn’t want to drink from humans. Aegis used it more often now, given how I felt about him dining on our friends. “Yeah, he has. And you look good, too.”
Sandy Clauson was five-nine, thin, blond, and seldom showed up for anything other than parties in yoga pants and a crop top. She had the abs for it but despite the new-age getup, she was as experienced a witch as I was. We had been in the same coven for years, and friends for what seemed like forever.
THE MOONRISE COVEN had been around since 1950. I had been one of the founding members, along with Sandy, and Linda Realmwood, whom we agreed would take the role of High Priestess, given neither Sandy nor I wanted the responsibility. Linda had the power to hold the title and the wisdom to wield it.
Linda’s great-great-grandmother had originally been from Norway before arriving in Newfoundland around 1000 CE. Over the years, her descendants moved southwestward into what was now the United States, long before Columbus ever set foot on native soil. The family intermarried with Native Americans, and eventually, Linda’s mother-to-be, Greta, married Mohe, a Cherokee brave from the AniWaya Clan. Mohe brought Greta into the tribe as his wife and in 1797, Greta gave birth to a daughter, Linda, and gave her her own family name—Realmwood—as was her family’s custom. Linda took on the wolf spirit for her animal guardian, given her father’s tribe was the Wolf tribe, and she learned her mother’s magic.
Linda had also been elected mayor of Bedlam in 1995 and nobody would let her even think of retiring. She did a good job and everybody trusted her.
“SO WHAT’S THE theme of this shindig?” Sandy wandered over to the bar and poured herself a snifter of brandy. “Want one?”
“You have to ask? Of course I want one. And tonight is a pre-Solstice party for the band and their families. I’m making eggnog, so let the brandy flow.” As I accepted the drink and gently swished the drink, warming the glass in my hand, Sandy glanced around.
“So where’s the food?”
I grinned. “You know I don’t cook beyond a few cookies or a boxed cake. The caterer will be here in about twenty minutes.” I paused, then said, “I was in the shower earlier. I heard something in the bathroom and when I peeked out, I found Ralph Greyhoof trying to steal hair from my brush.”
Sandy stared at me. “Is he still alive?”
“Yeah, and he’s lucky he is. Thing is, he told me some chick paid him to do it. And get this. She paid him both with money and a sing-along. Have you heard of any strange vamps moving into the area lately? He thinks she was a vampire.”
“No, but this doesn’t sound good at all.” Sandy scowled. “Maddy, you know what hair’s used for. You think Ralph might be lying? That he was going to pay somebody to throw a whammy on you?”
“Well, at first I did. My thought was that he wanted to hex the B&B. But the more he talked about the woman—I’m kind of convinced he might be telling the truth.” I motioned for her to follow me into the kitchen.
“Don’t be too sure. The Greyhoofs are an old family, but they’re crafty. I don’t know that I’d trust anything Ralph said. Be careful, Maddy.”
She made a good point. The Greyhoofs have been on Bedlam for more than a hundred years, and they were known for rabble-rousing and causing general havoc. They were in jail so often that Delia—the sheriff—joked about putting in a revolving door for them.
“There is that. Well, I’ll look into it more tomorrow. I guess I’d better tell Aegis, even though I wasn’t going to. If he found out on his own, Ralph would be a few pints low before anybody could intervene. Now, help me set up these tables?”
Aegis had brought up three long tables up from the basement. The dining room had plenty of space for them, since we didn’t have a formal table yet. The buffet would taste just as good on metal and plastic as it would on solid oak.
As we wrestled them through the kitchen door, Franny reappeared. She stood to one side, frowning. Half of her was still inside the wall next to the stairwell, and her arms were crossed as she stared at us with a pointed look of disdain.
“Those are ugly. When I was alive, my mother had a beautiful cherry wood table. You should buy something like that.” She tsked at me.
“Franny, can you just give it a rest for once? You do nothing but complain all day. What—besides painting the kitchen pink—will make you happy?” Exasperated, I swung on her, wanting nothing more than to exorcise her right then and there.
Franny jerked back, as if I’d slapped her. “You know, I can help you if you’d give me a chance. Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I can’t do anything. It gets boring just standing around watching everybody else go about their business.” She arched her back and pulled out a fan. If she had been hiding it, I had no idea where and I wasn’t going to ask. In an affected voice, she added, “I can do a lot of things that you don’t know about.”
I wanted to shoot back, “Besides complain?” but decided to drop it for the night. I was tired of sparring with her and truth was, I suddenly felt sheepish. After all, I had the advantage. For one thing, I was a witch. For another, I was still alive. Franny was just an unlucky spirit who—for whatever reason—couldn’t move on. And it must suck to be stuck in one house for eternity. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know whether I could exorcise her. There were so many variables involved.
“I’m sorry—” I started to say, but she vanished.
Sandy arched her eyebrows. “Sensitive much?”
“I guess being trapped in a house over two hundred years would tend to set a person on edge. I really need to find out more about her story. I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything else but work on this house.” I paused, trying to think about it from Franny’s perspective. “She lived here when she was alive, I do know that much. And she died by falling down the stairs while reading a book. I suppose it really does hurt to see the home she grew up in being gutted and changed so much.”
“Either that, or she’s just a grouch. Here, help me tip this upright.”
Sandy had opened the table we were carrying and unfolded the legs. We set it up and then went back for the other two. Once they were standing, I found the tablecloths—long, green linens—and we were arranging them as the caterers arrived. Sandy and I retreated to the living room, giving them control of the kitchen and dining room.
The caterers had no more set up the food when the door opened and Aegis strode in, followed by the band members and their families. I decided I could wait till later to tell him about Ralph as he swung me into his arms and gave me a long kiss. But as his lips touched mine, I could sense that something was up. He felt…nervous.
“Is something wrong?” I murmured.
Aegis shifted, just enough to tell me I had hit a chord.
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. It’s been an odd evening.”
“Don’t worry about it. Nothing that I can’t handle. Band stuff.” And he went back to kissing me.
Keth, the drummer, passed by, clapping Aegis on the shoulder.
“Get a room, dude.” But he laughed as he said it. Keth was half-satyr, half-human, with a spiked Mohawk. His ears were stretched with heavy gauges and he was heavily tattooed. Residual horns poked out of his head, but they weren’t fully formed and they never would be, given his heritage. He had feet rather than hooves, but he was a very hairy man.
“Hey Maddy, thanks for hosting the spread.” He immediately headed over to the tables of food and began to pile a plate high.
Sid was there, sans wife and kids. “Sylvia sends her love, Maddy. She’s still tired. I told her to stay home with the kids and nanny and watch TV.”
“How’s the baby?” I wasn’t really geared toward maternal feelings but I cared about Sid and Sylvia. However, I had the feeling she could use more than one nanny. With five very active Fae children, the stress had to be high. But I decided to forgo offering unsolicited advice. Sid couldn’t afford to hire more help. Not all of the Fae were rolling in dough. Especially the artists and musicians. Actually, a number of those who chose to live in the human world instead of their own seemed to find it rough going.
“The baby’s a handful, all right. She’s already causing havoc.” He beamed, looking proud as a peacock. Sid and his wife were aiming for ten kids, and I couldn’t imagine the mayhem that was going to generate. But they loved the bustle.
As everybody poured into the dining room, gathering around the spread, Aegis slid his arm around my waist. “You did a fantastic job.”
“The caterers did most of the work.” I nestled into his embrace, still feeling unsettled. My radar was buzzing and I wasn’t sure what I was picking up on. “But yeah, things seem to be going over well. How did the show go?”
A slight but subtle tensing of his arm told me I was right. He was concerned about something. “Everything went fine. Why?”
I forced myself to relax. “I just wondered.”
He didn’t answer, just kissed me on the head and moved over to talk to Jack-Az.
I headed into the living room where Sandy was leaning against the wall, watching the interplay. While she was a socialite, my best buddy was also extremely observant and I trusted her judgment. I joined her, drink in one hand and a cookie I’d liberated off of somebody’s plate in the other.
Lowering my voice, I asked, “Does Aegis seem tense to you?”
She glanced over at him, watching for a moment. “Yeah, he does. So do his band mates.”
I was about to say something when I heard a yowl from upstairs. It was Bubba, and he sounded pissed or hurt.
“Oh hell, what’s going on?”
I shoved my drink in Sandy’s free hand and darted up the staircase. Bubba might be a little turd at times, but he was my little fuzzy turd. I followed the parade of hisses that came tumbling down the stairs. As I slammed open the door to my bedroom, I caught sight of Bubba, arched up like a Halloween cat. He was in front of the French doors leading out onto the brand-new balcony. I’d gone tumbling off the old one when the railing gave way weeks ago, so that was one of the first things I’d asked the Alpha-Pack to fix.
“What’s going on? What’s out there, Bub?” I cupped my hands to the windowpane, peering out into the icy night.
It was snowing outside, and didn’t look like it was going to stop any time soon. A number of Winter Fae lived on the island and they attracted all that went along with the Winter Court. Bedlam was located on the northernmost tip of the San Juan Islands, northwest of Ferndale. As a result of all the magical energy and the positioning, winters here were a lot harsher than on the southern islands. This storm, fresh off the westerly winds, was blanketing us with snow.
The twinkle of faerie lights shimmered from my balcony. I loved them, and kept them up year-round, but in the snow, they glowed with a gentle radiance that always made me feel calmer. Except right now, calm wasn’t quite the word, with Bubba hissing like a wildcat.
“What’s out there, Bub?” I leaned against the window, cupping the glass as I pressed my face against it. I couldn’t see anything, but Bubba seemed positive there was something out there. “What do you see?”
He glanced up at me. “Mrowf.”
That wasn’t good. I knew that meow. He had constantly used it on my ex. It usually meant Enemy at the gate!
“Is there someone out there who’s dangerous, Bubba?” I knelt beside him, glancing back out the window. I tried to make out any movements outside. But only the snow seemed to be moving—falling fast and thick.
Bubba nosed the window and I followed his gaze. In the faint glow of the lights on the snow, I could see what looked like footprints in the snow. Someone had been outside my bedroom on the balcony. They weren’t my footprints. I hadn’t been out there since morning and the snow had covered what prints I had left.
“Mrowf.” Bubba was louder this time, sounding pissed. His eyes flashed and I could feel the magic rising.
“Let me get—” I stopped as I turned to see Aegis and Sandy edging into the room.
“Hey, Bubba’s upset. Someone was out on the balcony. I can see the footprints.”
“Do you think it was Ralph?” Sandy pressed her face against the glass.
I winced. I had hoped to wait for a better time to tell Aegis that Ralph Greyhoof had seen me naked. Somehow, I didn’t think that would go over very well.
“Ralph? Ralph who and why would he be outside your bedroom window?” Sure enough, Aegis didn’t sound happy, and he didn’t even know who we were talking about yet.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t think those are his prints. They look like shoe prints, not hoof prints.”
“Are you talking about Ralph Greyhoof? Why would he be outside your bedroom window?” There was an edge in his voice that I had only heard the first time we had met. But then, it had been mixed with arousal. Now he just sounded pissed.
“Um…I was going to tell you about that. Ralph showed up in the bathroom as I was taking a shower—”
“Bathroom? You were in the shower? If he touched one hair on your head I’ll drain him dry, and he’ll feel every drop leave his body.” Aegis whirled, stalking to the door.
“Get back here, you big lug. Listen to me. Ralph didn’t touch me. He was trying to steal hair out of my hairbrush.” I paused. That didn’t sound much better, given what it meant.
Aegis slowed, then turned. “Why would he be doing that? Answer me before I charge over to the Heart’s Desire and light a fire under Ralph’s balls.”
“I don’t know, to be honest. He said he was doing it for some vamp chick who paid him to.” I watched Aegis closely, suddenly thinking that maybe, since he was from the fang-me set, Aegis might have some clue about who the strange vamp was.
Aegis frozen, then glanced out the window. “Stay inside. I’m going to have a look outside.” Abruptly, he turned and stalked out of the room.
I turned to Sandy. “Something’s going on. Those prints out there are shoes, and they look like about the size of a woman’s footprints. Bubba was having a hissy fit when I came in.” I turned back to the cjinn, eyeing him carefully. “Bub, is there still somebody outside?”
He looked at me, the pale gold of his eyes shining. He let out a whimper of a mew, then moved closer to me, rubbing his head against my leg. Sometimes, Bubba was a hellion. Other times, he seemed very much just a scared kitty-cat.
I leaned down and stroked his head, then scooped him up in my arms. “Bub, if there’s something scary out there, Aegis will find it.”
“There’s something out there in the snow.” Sandy reached for the handle on the French doors and before I could stop her, she opened the door, darting outside, then back in. She was holding a red rose. “What’s this?”
I stared at the flower. “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but somebody is bringing you flowers. Maybe Aegis?”
Bewildered, I shook my head. “Lock those doors. Until we know whether Aegis finds anybody out there, it’s best to stay inside. Can you go back down to the party and keep things running smoothly?”
She nodded, handing me the rose and heading for the stairs.
As I sat on the bed, holding Bubba close to me, a noise near the hall door made me jump. I whirled around, but it was just Franny, standing in the doorway with a concerned look.
“Franny, did you see anything out there?” I nodded toward the balcony.
She shrugged. “I couldn’t have, now could I? You banned me from your bedroom. But Maudlin, something’s wrong. There’s a strange energy afoot and I’m not comfortable. It’s making me shiver in my shroud. You should be careful.” She sounded like she actually cared.
“You think something is wrong, too? Do you know what it is?” Carrying Bubba, I headed toward the door.
She moved back to allow me room to exit. I could have just passed through her, but by now, Franny knew how much I hated doing that. Not only was her energy unearthly cold, but it just gave me the creeps.
“I don’t know what it is, no. But there’s an unsettled energy around the house. We may have our differences, but this isn’t anything to joke around with. I have a horrible feeling that something’s going to go terribly wrong. Please, be careful?”
When a ghost was asking me to watch my step, I knew that things had taken a bad turn. “Thanks, Franny. I promise. Would you stay here and keep an eye on the bedroom with Bubba? You can come in the room.” I disabled the wards against her with a flick of the wrist. “Bubba can generally take care of himself but until we know what’s going on, I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Of course. Thank you for asking.” She silently drifted into my bedroom and stood by the window, with Bubba sitting by the hem of her gown.
As I rejoined the party below, Aegis returned, a dusting of snow on his shoulders. The flakes clung to him. He had no body heat to melt them off. I glanced around to make sure no one could overhear us.
“What did you find?” I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but he shook his head.
“Nothing. I didn’t find anything out there. But don’t leave the doors or windows unlocked tonight. Come on, let’s go talk to the guests.”
He stared at me, unblinking, and for the first time since we had met, I was nervous. He was lying and I could sense it. But there wasn’t much I could do.
“Fine. But we need to talk later.” I looped my arm through his and plastered a smile on my face. As we rejoined the party, the evening slid into a mire of doubt and shadow.