Chapter 16

Beatrice

Thankfully, I had work to keep me busy the day after my date with Dev. My reaction to him scared me a little. At the same time, I couldn’t wait to see him again.

Today, I was in the office of a therapist, meeting with her familiar.

“I don’t understand why Evie is being so difficult about things,” Jezebel complained. She was sprawled out on the sofa, her green eyes focused on a bird chirping outside the window.

I’d started working with Jezebel shortly after she’d helped me rescue Julia. I’d been surprised when Julia’s familiar had approached me about seeing Jezebel, mostly because it had been Jezebel’s idea. Jezebel was not a friendly familiar. She liked very few witches and even fewer familiars. I’d come to realize it was a defense mechanism. Jezebel had a fear of abandonment, and she hated opening up about her feelings.

“Rather than talking about Evie’s problems, let’s talk about how this makes you feel,” I suggested. After several appointments, she hadn’t opened up to me much. Today, she’d complained about Evie for nearly an hour.

“It makes me angry at Evie,” Jezebel replied.

“Because you miss Rainer,” I concluded.

She glared at me with her eyes narrowed and her ears pinned back. “This isn’t about me. It’s about what’s best for Evie.”

I nodded. “As her familiar, you feel responsible for making her happy.”

Jezebel tilted her head to the side, not responding immediately to my statement. “Yes, I do want her to be happy.”

“You also like Rainer,” I pointed out.

“He’s perfect for us,” she agreed. Admitting that Rainer was perfect for her as well as Evie was a big step.

“How have things been going with your visits?” I asked. I’d suggested Evie arrange time for Jezebel to visit Rainer. Evie hadn’t liked it. She was doing her best to avoid the fallen angel, but she’d given in when I’d told her my thoughts on how this was affecting Jezebel.

“It’s nice spending time with him,” she said with a sigh before rolling onto her back and closing her eyes. “He always scratches the right spot behind my ears. I miss him when he’s not around. He should live with us.”

The last was said in a much quieter voice, and I considered it another breakthrough for us. This was our best appointment so far.

“That makes sense,” I told her. “He’s bonded to your witch.”

“Don’t tell her I told you about that,” Jezebel said quickly. “Evie doesn’t want people knowing about her bonding with Rainer.”

“I would never share what you tell me, even with your witch,” I reminded her.

“I like you, Beatrice,” Jezebel admitted. “You’re a nice witch.”

“I like you, too, Jezebel,” I began. “You try hard to keep others from seeing it, but you are pretty awesome.”

“Yes, I am,” she agreed.

I bit back a laugh. That cat was something else. There was a knock on the office door, meaning our time was up and Evie had a patient coming in soon.

“I’ll see you next week,” I told Jezebel, moving forward to scratch behind her ears.

“That’s good,” she purred. “Not as good as Rainer, but still good.”

“I saw Rainer recently,” I remarked as I moved to the door.

“You didn’t tell him about our therapy sessions, did you?” Jezebel asked in a panic.

“Of course not,” I assured her.

“Good,” she said with a sigh. “Don’t tell him anything if you see him again. On second thought, tell him to kidnap Evie.”

I laughed at her suggestion as I opened the door to let Evie in. Evie was only a couple inches shy of six feet tall with short blonde hair and green eyes. She was a therapist who worked with both witches and werewolves. It was an interesting career choice for a witch since witches tended to look down on werewolves. Evie wasn’t like most witches.

“How was the session?” Evie asked.

“Good,” I replied since I knew Jezebel wouldn’t even say that much. When the session was over, she wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. “Jezebel is a great patient. I recommend you continue the visits with Rainer. They’ve been good for her.”

Evie surprised me with a hug. I awkwardly hugged her back. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I pulled away and shifted uncomfortably. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Liar,” Jezebel accused.

“Hey!” I protested. “You know our deal. I pretend you don’t care about anyone other than yourself, and you do the same for me.”

Evie laughed when Jezebel hissed at me. “I’m going to walk Beatrice out,” she told her familiar. When we were out of the office, she spoke again. “You are a wonder with Jezi. She won’t talk to me about the stuff that’s bothering her. All I get are insults and sarcastic replies when I ask what’s going on. Since she’s been seeing you, her mood has improved dramatically.”

“Jezebel has more attitude than most familiars,” I mused.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Evie muttered. “I wanted to let you know I referred a warlock to you. His name is Zen Rathmore.”

“A warlock?” I asked. I only worked with familiars, and warlocks didn’t have familiars. No one knew why the process of bonding to a familiar only worked with a witch. It was rare for a warlock to need my help.

“It’s his sister’s familiar in need of help,” Evie explained. “Zen and Brynn are twins, and Brynn’s familiar can also speak to Zen. It’s a strange relationship.”

“I’ve heard of them,” I said thoughtfully. While I didn’t hear much witch gossip, this had been a big deal when I was in school. Zen and Brynn’s mother was a werewolf. The Council of Witches looked down on them, but their father held enough power to get them into the right places. Brynn’s familiar was a wolf.

“Zen is single,” Evie remarked with a smile.

“Many warlocks are,” I replied.

“Oh, come on, Beatrice,” Evie coaxed. “You know what I’m getting at. He’s also very attractive.”

“While I appreciate you trying to fix me up,” I totally didn’t appreciate her trying to fix me up. “I’m kind of seeing someone.”

“Since when?” Evie asked. “You weren’t seeing anyone last week when I tried to set you up with that nice werewolf.” It had become a tradition for Evie to try to set me up with a new guy at each appointment.

“We’ve only been on one date, but I like him,” I explained.

“That’s great!” Evie exclaimed. “Tell me all about him.”

Telling Evie I was dating one of Rainer’s friends seemed like a bad idea. Evie didn’t talk much about Rainer. I hadn’t been surprised when she didn’t bring up my message asking for Rainer’s number since discussing my message would involve talking about Rainer. “I’m not even sure where to begin. He’s very intense. We should probably talk about him another time. I know you have an appointment, and I have a few things to take care of before my next appointment today.”

“Okay,” Evie agreed. “Thank you again for helping Jezebel. I know it’s your job, but I still appreciate what you do.”

“I’m glad to help,” I assured her. We said our goodbyes, and I made my way out to my car. I’d need to stop for gas. I still had three more appointments.

Until recently, I’d only had a few patients, and they’d all been in other territories. The majority of witches in this area who knew about my ability to understand familiars feared their familiars would reveal all their secrets during appointments. That hadn’t been a big fear for those living in other areas since I wasn’t part of their social circle. I wasn’t part of the social circle out here either, so it had always seemed strange that witches would worry about me gossiping. Jezebel had been one of my first patients in this area, but I had several now.

My phone buzzed right before I reached my car, and I immediately tensed. After the call from Desmond, I was on edge. He was in Hell. I should feel safe. There was no reason to worry he was coming after me. Looking down, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was Persephone calling.

“Hello,” I answered.

“You would not believe what we got in today’s shipment!” she chirped excitedly. “Gryph came in to help Julia set it up.”

“What did you get?” I asked curiously. The props they had at Bliss often shocked me.

“Stocks,” Persephone replied.

“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “What kind of stocks?”

“The kind they used to put people in when they were being punished,” she clarified.

“I’ve heard of those being used,” I remarked. It didn’t sound comfortable, but they had to be more comfortable than some of the other stuff they had at Bliss.

“Really?” she squealed.

I laughed at my friend’s innocence. She was something else. “Yes, really. It’s just another form of bondage.”

“They look extremely uncomfortable,” she stated. I could picture her eying them as she tried to find a way they might be fun to use.

“Some people are into pain,” I reminded her. “I like a little pain on occasion.”

“These still don’t seem like any fun,” she insisted.

“Are you getting a little excited thinking about them and trying to figure out why?” I asked.

“Yes,” she admitted. Persephone was refreshingly honest.

“I’m not sure I’d ever try them,” I told her. “The only ones I’ve seen were in the demon realm, and they didn’t adjust much for height. I would have been dangling in the air.”

Persephone giggled. “That would be funny. Of course, you’re a shapeshifter, so you could simply change into a taller person.”

“I’ve never had much luck changing into things that are bigger than me,” I admitted. “It’s crazy that I can easily change into small animals, but I can’t manage a horse.” Then a thought occurred to me. “I can add things to my existing form, so I suppose I could just add giraffe legs. Of course, then I’d be too tall.”

“We should try that when you get home tonight,” Persephone practically squealed. “I want to see you with giraffe legs.”

I laughed at her suggestion. “No way! I am not going to use up my energy on giraffe legs unless I really need them.”

“We can discuss it later,” Persephone began. “I called to ask you about your date last night. We didn’t get to talk before I left for work this morning.”

“It was nice,” I replied with a smile as I slid behind the wheel of my car. “Dev was a gentleman—damn him.”

“Poor, horny Beatrice,” she crooned.

“Bitch,” I shot back. “It was a good thing. We should wait. My brain knows this, but my body doesn’t like that idea.”

“I think it’s sweet Dev is being a gentleman,” Persephone declared in a breathy voice. “He’s looking for more than sex with you. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“It’s a little scary,” I confessed. “I’m used to being alone. At least, I was before I met you.”

“Where did he take you?” she asked.

“We went for pizza,” I replied.

“I thought he’d do more,” she mused.

“He wanted to, but I’m not interested in fancy restaurants,” I reminded her. “He seemed happy with our date. We saw an angel. If not, I think we might have spent more time out. The angel freaked him out a little.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “What was he like? I’ve never met an angel.”

“I didn’t meet him either,” I told her. “Dev went out to talk to him alone.”

“What kind of angel did you see?” Persephone asked.

“An archangel,” I replied.

“Oh. My. Goddess. I wish I’d been there,” she said excitedly. “I have so many questions.”

“Then it’s a good thing you weren’t there, you crazy witch,” I told her.

“You’re probably right,” she agreed. “Are you going out with Dev again tonight?”

“Yes,” I replied with a grin. “We’re going to explore food trucks.”

Persephone laughed. “That should be interesting. Something tells me Dev isn’t the food truck type.”

“He’s not,” I confirmed. “It’s fun corrupting him.”