Eden's Charms (28 page)

So bounce they did. First standing, then lying. For three days food was delivered. For three days, laughter and squeaky springs filtered down through the home. On day four, André and Julian lugged a new king-sized mattress up the three flights of stairs. That night, almost everyone slept like babies. Savanah and Ethan? The Sand man could have dropped a truckload of his finest granules to knock them out and rest would not come.

****

“Who’s got the Sunday newspaper? Just once I’d like to read it, Duncan, before you maul it for the comics,” Raven protested.

“Come here, Beauty. You’ve gotta see this,” Payton called. “I’ve got the paper not the old man.”

“I heard that,” Duncan grumbled, as he glanced over the top of the comics through huge magnified glasses. The specs made his eyes appear ten times bigger.

Julian walked past Duncan and swat the back of his head. “Mister Magoo, in the flesh.” Julian added, “There is an ad in the paper someone paid dearly for. If the PEON’s see it, it could very well cost the person their life.”

“Someone’s desperate,” Lucian continued, “Do you think it’s a set up?”

“I get the feeling it’s very real,” Serina explained as she held her hands just above the paper, getting a psychic reading from it. “Do you remember hearing about the set of conjoined twins born the same day as Elyza? They vanished from a hospital in Tennessee. The news said that whoever stole them killed their mother.”

“How awful,” Raven remarked as she shimmied in between her two brothers on the couch. “Ands!” Raven gasped seeing his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. She pinched his cheeks together. “That’s the third muffin you’ve devoured.”

André attempted a rebuttal, but with a full mouth, his manners kicked in. He jammed the remaining delicacy into his mouth and made little yummy sounds in her ear.

“Imbecile!” Raven turned to Serina. “So, do you think this ad is about the babies?”

“I’d bet my powers on it. I think we should call.”

“Hence the compulsion! M’lady,” Lucian cautioned. “We need to do a little research first.”

Serina began to interrupt, but Lucian stuffed a slice of the decadent roll into her mouth. “I’m not saying no. I’m saying let me check this ad out before you go committing yourself. You and I have way too much at stake. If the ad is real then we’ll make plans.”

Entering mid-conversation, Molly asked, “What for? You’re not leaving now, are you?”

Serina swallowed her treat. “Good morning, Molly. We were just discussing plans to separate a set of conjoined twins. The ad says they’re a cross between vamp and wolf. One of each. Poor little things. And they’re in Mexico.”

Duncan nervously tapped his fingers on the table. “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this. It smells like a set up.”

Julian offered, “If it is the real deal, Serina, I’ll help.”

Lucian cleared his throat. “Slow down. Research. Decision. Fair enough?”

Serina rubbed her hand across her husband’s chest in a seductive manner. “Fair enough, M’lord. Got any other treats you’d like to stuff in my mouth?”

“You two just never stop!” Raven rolled her eyes.

Serina giggled. “I meant muffin, Raven.”

Waltzing into the room with Ethan in tow, Savanah announced, “Happy Sunday, everyone.”

“Oh blimey!” Duncan chuckled. “She’s got it bad.”

“Love you as well, old man.” Savanah skipped to him and kissed the bald patch atop his head. “What’s up? We haven’t all been gathered in the library together in ages. This is nice.” Hearing footsteps she turned into her mother.

Savanah’s happy Sunday took a dismal plunge making it feel more like a dreaded Monday. Before her first tear fell Jovan hugged her. “Please give him a chance, Mum.”

Jovan clung to her, trembling.

“Mum, what is it?”

“The future sometimes has bumps, baby. Sometimes we bounce back and sometimes we get lost in the crevices. I’m not willing to lose you.”

Savanah tried to quell her fear. “Scrying can be tricky. You only see bits and pieces, not the whole picture. You saw your daughter happy and getting married, so whatever happens before that is null and void for the most part.” With a slight tilt of her head and a shift of her eyebrows, Savanah saw the return of her mother’s smile.

“As your mother, I have the right to change my mind at any time I deem fit or his if the occasion arises.”

“You’re talking about the blinkie thing again aren’t you?” Ethan asked.

“Isn’t he cute?” Savanah ruffled Ethan’s curls.

Jovan tried not to cringe.

Savanah’s take on the morning: Bleakness gone. Day looking better by the second. “All right, since I have you all corralled, anyone interested in going back to London for a few days with us?”

“We just got home.” André frowned. “Your aunt wants to go to Mexico, you want to go to England? What’s left, Disney?”

“I’m in,” came from Duncan.

Savanah butt in, “I want to see if it was really Draque that stole all his belongings back or if it was some other dead beat.”

After one sharp inhalation, Jovan ordered, “You will not go there and chase that demon. Savanah St. James, have you lost your mind? André?” Jovan looked desperate.

“Mum, that ghoul stole my life’s work. It’s not right.”

“Peanut, you stole it from him. Did that thought ever occur to you? How would you feel if you had something you loved stolen from you?” Lucian asked, looking and sounding exactly like her father.

“What? Are you two practicing ventriloquism now!” Savanah exclaimed.

“Savage? Isn’t what Lucian just said, written on the back of one of the little cards we got in New Orleans?” Ethan spun on his heels and fled the room. When he returned, he waved the small black cards under her nose. “Look. The card reads almost identically. ‘How does it feel to have something you love stolen from you?’”

“Can I see the card?” Lucian asked.

After handing it to him, Ethan stopped and read the ad in the paper. “Hey, who put the compulsion in the paper? Isn’t that a death warrant?”

“Only if you get caught. How do you know of them, Ethan?” Jovan’s interest piqued enough to speak with the man in a civil tone.

“I’ve picked up a few tricks living with the one guy whose name you don’t want repeated in this home.” Ethan would have sworn just then he saw Jovan smile.

Jovan asked, “Food for thought, Ethan. You said Xavier’s child was born the same day Elyza was. If the ad’s the real deal and the babies are really half-vamp, half-lycan what are our chances that these two babies are the devil’s little spawns?”

“Still want to go separate them, Doc?” Duncan asked.

Serina answered, “Think about it, Duncan, how many babies are born each day? And with more and more of the population being turned, the chances are pretty good they’re just two babies who need our help.”

“M’lady, even with all the ghosts and goblins in this world you refuse to see the possibilities that these two babies could have ties to Sinclair?”

Serina scratched her head. “Lucian, that’s just it. They’re babies, they’re innocent. Whoever kidnapped them obviously wanted to keep them from either the science labs or Sinclair as well, if all this is true. If you didn’t tamper with Elyza’s labs we’d be in the same predicament! The PEON’s would be hunting her down. It is the age-old question, is it Neo-Darwinism—genetics or environment that makes a person do the things they do? Nature versus nurture. Here’s a quick tangent: Pit bulls. Beautiful, intelligent, loyal animals with a bad rap because some slimy, scum-of-the-earth bastards raise them to kill and fight, so the innocent dogs get tagged a bad breed. They weren’t born like that. They were raised that way. We won’t have answers unless we go see for ourselves. Innocent until proven guilty.”

Jovan spoke up. “Serina, last week I told you something bad was going to happen. Do you see where I’m headed with this? Between Savanah, Draque and Ethan and his ties to you-know-who and the possibility of the two babies, this isn’t trouble, this is the last chapter in the book without a sequel. This is not a good idea. This is a very,
very
bad idea. Please, I beg you, don’t go there. Let someone else do the surgery.”

“Sis, if you’re so worried, scry. See what it brings.”

“No.” Jovan offered no more, then left the room.

“Why is your mother scared of her gift, Savvy?” Ethan asked.

Julian answered, “When we were young Jovan used to rely on her foresight, but one day she played around and saw our mother on the couch, dead. A few weeks later her vision came true. She’s used it twice since then. Once, on the day she met Goliath, she cast a spell and scryed,” Julian bowed to André, “and two, to make sure Savanah was actually going to have a wedding. No offense, Savanah, but you’re maturing as we speak.”

“I live with a group of really bad comedians.”

“Ethan, has anyone taken into account that Draque is spelling his name differently these days? As long as I can remember it, the suffix was “
cula
”, not “
que
.” This guy’s a fraud. Yeah, he may be big and scary, but he’s not the Godfather. He’s more like an extended uncle three coffins over.” Lucian took the card without thinking, and stuffed it in his wallet.

“Uncle Lucian, I stole Dracula’s casket and all his goodies. Trust me, it’s him. I need to get out. Anyone want to go shopping?”

Raven perked up. “Oh, I hoped you’d say that. Serina, come on. Molly? Up and at ’em. Let’s go grab your mum and be gone.” Raven grabbed her wallet and headed out the door.

Serina asked Lucian, “Should I introduce Elyza to shopping today or would you like to give her the finer points of relaxing with the boys?”

“She’s mine. You go have fun.”

“I’m going to check on Jovan before you steal her from me.” André kissed Serina’s head as he passed. He added, “Lucian, don’t we have tickets for the game today? Front row—third-base line?”

Serina spun on her heels, the look—ready to kill. “You’re not funny. Lucian, tell me he’s joking. You wouldn’t dare go without me.”

“That was mean, Ands,” Lucian said as he gave his brother a thumb’s up gesture behind Serina’s back.

“Lucian, there’s a mirror not two feet in front of you. Imbecile! Are you blind?” Serina punched his arm and walked off.

****

After shopping for close to five hours, Molly asked, “Who’s hungry? Want to go to the new restaurant on the lake? I hear it’s to die for.”

“As long as that’s not taken literally. What’s the menu?” Serina asked.

“Seafood?” Savanah asked, hoping.

Molly pulled a small menu from the console of the truck and read it while they waited for the light to change. “No seafood from Saratoga Lake. But they have bass, northern pike, walleyes and black crappies.”

Serina scrunched her nose. “Sounds too much like Elyza’s diapers. No thank you. What’s the name of the new place?”

“Sinsations. It’s a cross between a high-end restaurant, and a trendy night club with three different floors with a phony dungeon to boot.”

“What’s the clientele? Humans or shifters? Molly, how do you know so much about the place?” Jovan’s curiosity piqued.

“Heard it’s mainly humans, but shifters are getting in and behaving so the PEON’s aren’t inspecting the place. Jovie, you’ve been in England and Paris for the past few months now. Serina’s always off either saving the world or having sex. I had to find something to keep out of trouble. Food works wonders.”

Serina defended herself. “You are so bad! I’m not always off saving the world.”

Jovan slid in, “Notice she didn’t argue the sex part.”

“A girl’s got to have priorities, Jovan. And you, Missy, are in the wrong shoes to argue this point with me.” Serina rubbed Jovan’s belly.

“Anyone up for hitting the furniture store on the way home? I’m going to do our bedroom over. Not the walls though, Mum. They’re beautiful. So are you.”

“Oh, does she want something!” Raven nudged her niece. “Will you wear your mother’s wedding dress, Savvy? Actually, it was your grandmother’s.”

“I’m too tall.”

“No, she won’t wear that,” Jovan spoke up. “She’ll wear something original and outrageously expensive that her Papa will pay out of his nose for.”

“Good line, Savanah.” Serina gave a chin nod to her niece. “You once again worked your charms.”

Savanah’s grin crawled across her face. “Putty in my hands.”

Serina slapped her arm. “You are a conniving child, and I pray mine doesn’t follow your footsteps.”

“Auntie, you don’t have a prayer. Elyza’s not only got me to corrupt her, but Ray and Molly. Can you imagine the trouble if Sydney came up to stay with us?”

Raven shrugged her shoulders. “If Sydney were here? What’s that saying…no rest for the wicked? That girl is a spitfire. I miss her.”

Serina went solemn. “Me, too.”

Jovan squeezed Serina’s hand. “No worries, Sis. We’ll take the family down after my two are born, and we’ll overstay our welcome.”

Trolling the parking lot, the women spotted a young man waving them down with a heavy metal spiked ball and chain.

“Killer valet! Do we trust him with this monster truck?” Molly’s heart raced.

“Remember
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?
” Savanah asked.

Molly answered. “Point taken!”

“Why the tinted windows in the restaurant?” Jovan asked.

Molly answered, “How long have we lived with vamps? No amount of sun block will protect most of the nefarious ones. We may be able to walk with the living, but there are others less fortunate. We’ve been blessed.”

Serina, Savanah, Jovan and Raven all said, “Blessed?” at the same time.

****

Pacing, Ethan found, passed time and gave him a bit of exercise. He also found it stretched Payton’s last nerve too thin. On his umpteenth trip through the kitchen—stopping and looking in the pantry to see if anything miraculously appeared to eat, Payton pointed one of his favorite knives at Ethan.

“Can you not see it’s Sunday? Considered a day of rest for most around here. Try it out,” Payton suggested his tone stern.

“Where is everyone?”

“The women for all intents and purposes won’t show up here until we’re rightfully broke. The guys go down to the theatre and watch porn.”