Chapter 33 33
While Connor and Lisa were having tea with cucumber sandwiches, he kept sticking his pinky out like he was high class. I shook my head. I’ve seen the boy do a keg stand…at a frat party….to impress a sorority girl half his age. Why he was putting on airs was beyond me. He didn’t impress the girl then (He might have..if…he hadn’t lost his balance and fell into the bar. Man, those frat guys were pissed. ) and I’m sure he wasn’t impressing Lisa now.
Lisa gathered the dishes and carried the tray to the kitchen. With a quick efficiency she had the dirty dishes loaded and lunch prepared. Clearly she was a domestic goddess, just as she set the last plate on the table simultaneously Tristan and Jeremiah came downstairs, the kids woke up, and the front door opened. The door opening would have been cause for alarm but this time we got a heads up that the ward was going down. Vera apparently didn’t want to be flambéed today.
Vera came into the kitchen followed by an older version of Thomas, which I suspected was Matthew. They each took a seat at the table along with the other live people. Lisa told everyone to help themselves while she got the kids situated at the kids table. As they made sandwiches, introductions were made. Yes! I was right. The new comer was indeed Matthew. I’m so good at guessing games. As I took in the scene, I noticed it had the feeling of being a habit.
“So Mathew, do you come home every day for lunch at this time?” A sinking feeling was settling into the pit of my stomach and I didn’t think it had anything to do with hunger.
“One of the perks of being Mayor. No one questions me when I pop out to eat lunch with my girl.” He sent Lisa a wink before returning his attention to Tristan. “How’s your dad been doing?”
I tuned out Tristan’s response as I closed my eyes to listen and feel for anything out of place. When Connor bumped me with his shoulder I opened my eyes in irritation. I’d heard him come stand beside me, but, I thought he would have the sense to wait until I was done.
“You’re worried someone knew what time the ward would come down.” It wasn’t a question. I really hoped this mind reading thing wouldn’t suddenly give me access to his thoughts. There are somethings I really do not need to know about my partner. All conversation at the table stopped at his words.
“Not likely, we have people stationed all around the ward. They would have noticed anyone sneaking across.” Vera‘s words were confident, but, her tone carried a hint of doubt. I waited a beat to see if she would catch on to the problem. Her head whipped around to me. “Unless they misted and came in from above. It’s cloudy today, they might be overlooked.”
The adults jumped to their feet while the Dancer kids looked on. The twins changed into their wolves before taking up guard position beside them. They sounded so cute with their little growls. I really wanted to give them another cookie, but, this was not the time. Instead I took command. I pointed to the werewolves at the table. “You stay here and watch the kids. Connor, you take the front. Vera, you have the downstairs. I’ll take the upstairs.” I turned to the wolf that had moved from the play house to peeping in the bay window in the breakfast nook. “Check out the back” He gave a nod and darted to the fence with his nose to the ground.
I walked over to the kids table and knelt down while motioning for Lisa to join us. “Want to see a magic trick?” When the kids both two and four legged nodded I rubbed my left index finger and thumb around my right thumb. A wide gold ring with a large amethyst in the middle and swans etched into both sides materialized just below the knuckle of my thumb. The kids were only slightly impressed. Not surprising since two of them had their own magic and the other two were covered in fur. “Ok, I need for each of you to put a finger on my hand. Or a paw. Whichever you got. You too Lisa.” When they complied, I reached for the power of Aphrodite. The ring didn’t have to be visible to use her powers, but, I needed to have the kids close for what I was about to do. Closing my eyes again I reached out with Aphrodite’s powers looking for the bonds that bound people together. I focused on only those touching me since I really didn’t want to know how everyone in the room felt about each other. If say Matthew had a thing for Vera, how was I supposed to keep that to myself? I can barely keep my own secrets, let alone anyone else’s.
Once I found the deep blue bonds which were Lisa’s for the kids I pictured myself grasping them and zip tying them together. The love for her grandchildren was strong. Interestingly enough, she had a faint love for the Dancer children. Which would work well for my purpose. Funneling more of Aphrodite’s power into the theoretical zip tie, I wove what I hoped was a clever spell. Just as I was about to open my eyes I noticed a bond attached to me that shouldn’t be there. It was a faint yellow. The color of a crush. Oh no no no. I couldn’t help it, I had to look. Crap. It was from Tristan. Dammit. I knew tackling him naked was going to come back to bite me on the ass. Ok. Deal with that another time. Save the kids, boot stomp the werewolf and witch murdering attempted burglar first, then stomp the boy’s crush on a woman old enough to be his many greats grandmother. I opened my eyes.
“Done. Lisa, the children are tied to you now. I’ve put them under a cloaking spell. You say the word “hide” and only you will be able to see them. Then, to make them visible again say “ollie ollie oxen free”. Try it. Make sure it works.” Lisa gave me a disbelieving look before activating the spell. I could still feel their little fingers and paws on my hand, but, I couldn’t see, hear, or smell them. The others gasped.
“No need to be alarmed. I am a professional. Now, let’s go make sure I’m the only corpse in the house.”