Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Cabbage rolls aren’t food for souls; they are instead of them.
It was time to track down my overly dramatic mate.
I refused to be manipulated into being the villain because I wasn’t spilling all my secrets the moment he snapped his fingers.
If he wanted a simpering female for a mate, he picked wrong.
I threw open the door and came face to face with supernatural snoops. Rebecca rose from her crouch.
“I was just looking for my lost earring,” she declared.
I huffed and folded my arms while eyeballing Sebastian and Dayna. “I suppose you were here as moral support while on a mission to rescue a wayward piece of jewelry?”
Sebastian tilted his head and narrowed his gaze. “No, I’m here trying to work out who you were holding secret meetings with.”
Dayna winced. “We agreed we would approach this diplomatically.”
“We don’t have time for diplomacy, and I don’t like being kept in the dark.”
I pulled my door closed and breezed past them. “Imagine that. Keeping your best friend in the dark when the world is being upturned by forces out of your control.”
“It’s not the same thing,” Sebastian snapped as he hammered down the stairs behind me.
“Which aunts are here?” I asked Dayna over my shoulder.
“Don’t ignore me, Cora,” Sebastian grumbled. “This childish behavior doesn’t suit you.”
I froze on the landing and turned on my heel, causing the procession of supernaturals to pause.
“I don’t know what morals you were taught at school, but I was raised not to lie.
I specialized in a field where the oath is to do no harm, as did you.
Yet you thought yourselves superior enough to make decisions about my health and future. ”
“You underestimate the physical and mental pain you were in.”
I folded my arms and tilted my head toward the ceiling, a growl working up my throat and rumbling in my chest. “I am not the first to experience pain, and I won’t be the last. How can you expect me to process something when you smothered the core trauma?”
“It’s not like we didn’t try, Cora. You were unstable, and we didn’t know the ramifications if you broke apart.”
They were trying a different angle, one that made it seem like their actions were protecting the world at large.
“There were other solutions to that. Stealing my memories should never have even been on the table.”
“You want to see?”
My head jerked to glare at Sebastian. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t,” Rebecca muttered, making a slicing motion across her throat. “Bad timing.”
“Spit it out,” I demanded.
“We thought you might question it,” the vampire prince said carefully.
“No shit.”
“So we recorded you.”
My heart thumped, and fire spilled into my veins. “You did not violate me in such a way.”
Rebecca shook her head and uttered a curse.
My back ached with the need to spread my wings and establish my power in my home, and Sebastian’s face sharpened, his vampiric senses picking up on the bigger monster before him.
“We did it for this exact reason.”
“It wasn’t enough to rob me of a part of my life I needed to process, but you had to record the humiliation too?”
“It’s not like that.”
I took a step toward him and jabbed my finger at his chest. He didn’t retreat, but his throat bobbed. “You didn’t record that video to help me; you did it to absolve you of your sins should I learn of your deception. Don’t pretend you made it for any other reason. Delete it.”
“You don’t want to view it?”
“No.”
I glanced over his shoulder at Dayna. “Gather any aunts you can and meet me in my office in ten minutes.”
She nodded and disappeared down the hall into the kitchen.
I could smell cabbage rolls, which meant Aunt Sophia was here.
I spun and rounded the stairs onto the ground floor, my jaw dropping at the room full of ghosts in front of me.
Not remnants, but fully formed spirits who looked confused, but lucid.
My wards shouldn’t have allowed this. “How is this happening?”
“They started gathering last night,” Rebecca whispered as she came to stand next to me. “For some reason they were drawn here, and the wards gave them no trouble.”
“Can everyone see them?” I whispered.
“It appears so,” Rebecca replied.
The more that spilled onto earth, the stronger they got, and the flimsier the veil became.
Which is why we had this bubbling cauldron of chaos, all thanks to my grandmother.
Regardless, I wasn’t running an open house.
I frowned and yanked on the magic surrounding my property.
It was still there, strong and shimmering with power.
“I don’t understand how they got through.”
Sebastian came to my other side, and I glared at him. I was pissed when I left my room, but now I was furious at the invasion of privacy such a recording had caused.
“Maybe it’s because the daughter of an archangel protects this place and all who live here?”
Harry clapped his hands, demanding their attention. There had to be at least twenty dead folks loitering. “I know you have questions, and once our lovely host has time, she will be along to explain.”
No, I wouldn’t, because I didn’t understand.
A tall woman, who appeared to have been in her twenties when she passed, raised her hand. Harry pointed at her. “Yes, Mabel.”
Trust Harry to already know their names.
“How long will we be safe here?”
“There are things hunting us out there,” another of the ghosts added, pointing to the window. He was an older guy with a receding hairline, dressed in worn jeans and a checkered shirt.
Harry nodded in understanding. “Cora Roberts is the most capable of keeping you safe. As long as I’ve known her, she has been a champion of any supernatural being needing help.”
“Isn’t she The Undertaker?” another ghost guy muttered.
I cringed. I hated that name.
“What do we do in the meantime?” a woman asked.
Harry smiled. “Group activities will help pass the time.”
Save me now. Dayna reappeared with Aunt Liz and Aunt Sophia in tow. That will do. I jerked my head toward the stairs, and they proceeded down to my office. One problem at a time.
I followed and closed the door, sealing us inside.
After collapsing into my chair, I leveled a stare at my three aunts.
Each of them had a profound impact on my life, my childhood, and my values, so they only had themselves to blame for my intolerance of this utter shitshow they conducted with my memories.
Aunt Sophia had a ball of pink wool on the floor, and her hands moved rapidly with the crochet hook. I caught sight of the White Furry Menace in the corner of the room. She narrowed her eyes at the offending wool and hunched down.
Liz opened her mouth, and I was ninety-nine percent sure she was about to spew a slurry of excuses, ones I’ve already heard.
I lifted my hand, and the words died on her tongue.
“I’m not ready to hear the million reasons why you thought this was a good idea.
I’ve already listened to Hudson. Right now, we need to focus on the immediate threat. ”
“Donn,” Dayna said.
I shook my head. “No, Eloise.”
Dayna scrunched her nose at the sound of her mother’s name. I could sympathize.
“My sister needs to be stopped,” Sophia grumbled. “Whatever it takes.”
“You don’t consider the god a problem?” Liz asked with a raised brow.
I tilted my head. “I consider him less of a problem than my grandmother.”
“He’s helping her end the world as we know it,” Dayna grumbled.
“He couldn’t give a shit about humanity or the factions. He used her.”
“Language,” Aunt Sophia chastised.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, given her skill with that crochet hook.
“Then why did he do business with her?” Dayna wondered.
“A foothold.”
“For what reason?” Sophia asked.
I shrugged. “Unknown.” It was a question I’d asked, but he’d failed to answer.
“What does he want with you?” Liz asked.
“A mate.”
Everyone froze. I half expected the Terror of Tennessee to barrel into the room, scoop me up caveman-style, and whisk me off to some remote place.
The thought was appealing, even though I was angry with Hudson.
I still loved him, but that didn’t mean I would make it easy on him.
To do so would invite him to make more stupid decisions in the future.
“And how do you feel about that?” Aunt Liz asked, like she was treading on eggshells.
“Indifferent.”
“That man could do with a little healthy competition,” Aunt Sophia decided. “It will do him good to know you’ve got options.”
She was talking like I needed a man in my life, when in fact, I wasn’t looking for one at all when I met Hudson. Well, since we met at a speed dating event, I doubt anyone would believe that.
“You were the one making grand demands about the wedding banquet and the lack of cabbage rolls,” Dayna muttered.
“There will be no wedding if there are no cabbage rolls,” Indigo said, her multilayered voice sliding off my tongue. “Or I’ll consume the guests.”
“You can have Mercy regardless,” I offered.
“Promise?”
“If she dares to attend, she’s all yours.” I made a mental note to check the invite list to take her off it. Or add her to it… depending on how I was feeling.
The aunts blinked, but I offered them no explanation. They believed Indigo and I were the same person, so they needed to accept all of me—soul-sucking issues included.
“I see no such issue,” Indigo purred.
Of course, she didn’t.
“The cabbage rolls will make it onto the menu,” Dayna said, avoiding engaging with Indigo.
Probably the wisest decision.
“If Donn isn’t our enemy, does that mean he’s helping us?” Liz asked.
I leaned back in my chair and threaded my fingers together, channeling my inner villain. “For a price.” All three of my aunts opened their mouths but snapped them shut again at my glare. Look at them learning.
Sophia paused her crocheting. “What does that help look like?”
“He’ll drain his power from her.”