Ritual Magic (32 page)

"Hmmm, interesting." Leo rubbed his chin and
eyed me from head to foot. Even in my seat I felt like he was
undressing me with his eyes.

"Stop that." I reacted rather poorly to his
scrutiny.

Leo's lips turned up in a mischievous grin,
one eyebrow climbing skyward as his eyes burst with a ruby red glow
before sliding back to his crystal clear ice-blue hue.

"Stop
what
exactly?" His grin was the
epitome of devilish, but it made his face look oh, so sexy.

Down girl. You're in love with Solomon.
Yeah, but dear old Daddy doesn't want you to mess with Solomon.
Yeah, he also doesn't want me to mess with the demon either.
I
shrugged.

Solomon growled beneath his breath and it
drew my eyes to him. He was staring threateningly towards Leo, but
the demon didn't seem to take notice of him or his deeply hostile
reaction.
Men. Did Solomon really think that I would be
interested in Leo in
that way just because he
looked
at
me?

Shaking off all of the testosterone-fueled
negative energy in the room, I leaned forward again to get a better
view of everyone present.

Tisha was sitting in the back, hands folded
in her lap, watching all of the drama unfolding in front of her
like she didn't have a care in the world. She was just prepared to
tear the men off of each other if she had to. Gabriel was standing
over by the cockpit, leaning against the wall on his shoulder,
looking as composed as ever. He looked like he was considering if
all of the fuss was even worth his trouble. He eyed me every now
and then but then he just went back to looking unconcerned. Jack
was a basket case as far as incredibly strong military types
went—he was quiet and broken. The poor thing deserved to be alone,
not in the middle of this insane discussion. Leo was happily
participating like he always did and Von was nearly foaming at the
mouth, ready to tear anyone apart for saying one wrong word. And
then there was Solomon, eyeing every man in the room like they were
all his competition. It was kind of cute, really, but he also had
the appearance of a man standing on the edge of a knife—ready for
anything, and as dangerous as a cobra ready to strike. We were in a
serious jam.

"Look, it was me. I know." I shuddered just
getting the words out.

"How?" Von's voice sounded weak as Leo
released his shoulder and patted him on the back. Von looked at Leo
through the corner of his eye like he didn't trust him at his
back.

I wasn't about to share the twisted
conversation that I had with myself. I mean, how many people get to
talk
to their future selves while being possessed by them?
In certain circles, that might just be considered a
little...insane.

My eyes drifted to Leo's and he offered a
sly smile in return. "It's time that we left. I have informed the
tower that we will be leaving shortly, so..." He stepped towards
the cockpit door and then turned back towards Von. "I hear that you
are a pilot." His words were like a loaded invitation. "Would you
mind taking the co-pilot seat for the flight back? We especially
need your magical abilities...to ensure that we don't fall out of
the sky like a stone." His eyes were set on Von's until Von finally
gave in and turned to face him.

With a sharp twitch in his cheek, Von
followed him into the cockpit. When Leo returned to close the door,
he winked at me and smiled wickedly again.

I rolled my eyes slightly and then I smiled
back at him and mouthed "thank you" as he closed the door. Leaning
back into my seat, I waited until the engine roared to life before
reaching over for Jack's hand. This time he accepted it and gave it
a slight squeeze.

"I'm going to get some sleep." I said aloud
to no one in particular.

Closing my eyes, I let the darkness overtake
me as the plane jumped to life and began to rocket us back to the
West Coast.

Seven months later...

Well, I would like to say that I loved every
second of being pregnant, but I honestly can't. It was a miserable
existence both physically and emotionally. Between vomiting fits
and my teary hormones within the first couple of months, I thought
that I was going to run off every single man, vampire and demon in
the castle.

We had chosen to stay, upon Leo's
invitation, at the demon castle for the duration of the pregnancy.
We were going to decide what to do after Cora was born. Currently,
in the past, I didn't have a kingdom and castle. Even considering
that I did have one in the future, I knew that the safety of my
baby was of the utmost concern underneath Leo's roof.

Leo had become the overly affectionate
father—doting on me and the belly any chance he got. Because he
already knew Cora, he would talk to her in Italian and ramble on
for hours. It seemed that he was taking advantage of the fact that
there was a baby in my belly because he would caress, snuggle and
kiss my belly as much as he could. It felt so incredibly sensual
and silly until he would finally sit up from his position hovering
over my huge mass, only to lean over and kiss my forehead. He never
made a move to kiss me on the lips or even the cheek—always the
forehead. It made me feel safe, and it also convinced me to allow
him the latitude to continue his lovefests with my belly. There
seemed to be no harm in it.

Von was a different story. He would ask that
I recline on the loveseat in my room while he pulled up a
wing-backed chair and read from dusty old volumes. Some of them I
recognized and enjoyed like
The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes,
but others were not as entertaining.
Socrates, Dostoevsky, Einstein, and countless others had each had
the opportunity to bore me until drool would drip from my mouth as
I dozed off to sleep.

I wasn't
trying
to be rude by falling
asleep, but I couldn't help it. Each time Von would close the book,
he would smile down at my belly, pat it gently and then reach over
to kiss my cheek. The contact would send a flurry of action through
my body, but I suspected it was just our powers mingling. I could
see how that would have been attractive to me when we first met.
Physical contact that gave you a buzz like that could be
addictive.

Von was enjoying himself so much as he read
from those dusty old books, that I began to recognize some of the
reasons that I had been attracted to him originally. He was
intelligent, handsome, and thoughtful when he wanted to be.
Whenever he would show up at my doorway for one of our reading
sessions, he would hand me a ginger ale—the only thing that seemed
to calm down my intense stomach cramps, and then he would ask me
how I felt. There was always a genuine sense of shock at the
sincerity, and I would blush sometimes when he would ask. My
conflicting hormones would rage within me until he would read me to
sleep, and then I could shake myself out of just about any mood. It
was just soooooo very boring! What man can be sexy while being
boring at the exact same time?
Indiana Jones when he was
teaching a class? Yes, but he was
still
Indiana Jones.
HOT!

Gabriel never seemed to require the bonding
time that all of the others wanted. He would come in to check my
health, measure the belly, and then ask me questions like a doctor.
It turned out that he actually had his license, and he was
impressively intuitive and skilled. But the thought of him being my
OB/GYN was kind of gross, and I told him right off the bat that I
was going to turn to Tisha to act as my midwife. What better
qualifications could any midwife have than to be a fairy?

Gabriel hadn't been offended or bothered in
the least when I told him about my choice. Actually, he seemed
rather relieved. It rolled all over me that it was one more time
that he was happy that he didn't have to touch me. Other than that,
he would assign me exercises and stretches intended to help with my
back pains and overall fatness.

Was I fat? Absolutely! I was so large that I
was going to have my own atmosphere soon. No one was idiotic enough
to imply anything so rude, though. It appeared that everyone valued
their lives and kept their heads low. Sooner or later, someone was
going to have to take the job of rolling me around the castle, and
I was pretty sure that there were not going to be any
takers...except...

Solomon had surprised me more than any of
the other fathers. Just looking at him, the things that would pop
to mind were weapons, military, vampire and pure hotness.
Don't
forget the hotness!
The first morning that I had been pregnant,
he just appeared at the edge of my huge king-sized bed with an
acoustic guitar. It had rich caramel colored wood with black enamel
around the edges. He was sitting down, holding the neck with his
long, capable fingers.

He smiled down at my disheveled hair and
asked in his sexiest voice, "Would you mind if I sang to the baby?"
His smile was so disarming that I felt a little confused.

"Um, I don't think she can hear you yet." I
pushed up on the bed and leaned back against my flattened
pillow.

Solomon simply smiled as his fingers began
to caress and strum the guitar. The tune was gentle, a quiet
lullaby, and it was beautiful in its foreignness. Solomon began to
hum with the guitar and every cell in my body melted into a huge
blob of mush. The timbre of his humming was so incredibly sensual
that, for a moment, I was jealous of Cora for inspiring such a
beautiful instinct in Solomon.

That was then, the first time that he had
played for me. This was now, seven months into the pregnancy, and I
was savoring every moment that Solomon would spend doing this for
the baby and me.

I closed my eyes as he continued to play and
allowed myself to be transported to the fantasy realm where
everything was perfect and Solomon and I were meant to be together.
I sighed as the gravity of our relationship hit like a ton of
bloody red bricks.

Unconsciously, my mind began to scan through
the memories that I had of Solomon. He had been my protector above
all things, then he was my friend, and then he was my lover. I had
always tried not to compare him with Von, but it was hard when my
mind would go on its own walkabout sometimes, sifting through
thoughts, memories and dreams. Sometimes I would catch myself
thinking about the stark differences between Solomon and Von in
both appearance as well as personality. But you know, women are
willing to ignore the most atrocious behaviors in men when the men
treated the women well.
Why the hell are women like that,
anyway?

My heart still harbored ill will towards Von
for the way that he had treated my disappearance. He had been so
cold, disillusioned about what he suspected were my motives, that
he didn't even care to come after me himself. And then, when he
finally did find me, all I ever received from him was hostility and
accusations.

It pained me to admit, but Von and I were
never going to be able to make our relationship work ever again.
The proverbial bridge had been torn down plank by plank, doused
with lighter fluid, and burned while my heart danced around the
pyre. Well, that's what it felt like—I was purging myself of him,
and for some reason I felt grateful. I was grateful that he had
left me alone. I felt grateful that I had been given the chance to
be independent. I was especially grateful for the fact that Solomon
was always there when I needed him—my avenging angel coming to
bring balance to my life.

But your life
isn't
balanced
because of him, is it?
I stared off into the corner of the
ceiling as I realized that the music had ceased.

I allowed my eyes to drift back to Solomon
to find that he was staring at me with an intense look of wonder on
his face. My fingers automatically fidgeted and I looked down at
them to give them a fleeting glance.
Stop making me look
bad!

As I forced my eyes to focus back on
Solomon, I realized where we stood. This is where he would
sometimes ask about
us.
He would ask, I would put him off,
and then he would usually leave me alone for another month. Then he
would get this intense look in his eyes again and we would start
the entire process all over. It had felt as if this conversation
had been due to come along before now, though. I was actually
impressed with how long it had taken for the topic of
us
to
come back around.

Solomon looked deeply into my eyes and
leaned on his guitar, using the balanced weight that was already
based on his upper thigh.

"So, have you finally learned some Hendrix
for me? I think his music is massively sexy." I had to change the
subject before it even began. It was my best strategy.

Solomon shook his head as his eyes began to
glow a subtle white glow. He was getting emotional or angry—usually
it was difficult to tell the difference just by his eye color. Both
emotions scared the living tar out of me when it came down to
Solomon. I didn't want to hurt him, and I
definitely
didn't
want to be hurt
by
him.

This pregnancy seemed like the perfect time
to do some serious soul searching to decide what I was going to do.
After months and months of deep thought and deliberation, my
thoughts and emotions were just as confusing and discombobulated as
they were to begin with.

Every part of me wanted Solomon. But my
father didn't want me with him, stating that it would be a terrible
choice, basically, and my future-self had been hurt by him so badly
that I was still reeling from the projected anger that I had been
sending out from the future.
Grrr.

My hormone-riddled months of pregnancy were
also no help because everything was a big deal. Heck! The fact that
we had run out of real butter and I had to use that fake 'I Can't
Believe It's Not Butter' stuff had me in tears for hours. My life
was a mess. Or was that just my hormones that were the mess? I
could dream.