17. Oz #2
I patted his hand where it clutched the edge of my seat. “We’re about to find out.” I looked at Arch. “I’ll get out and help them put the luggage in the back.” He nodded as he pulled the truck to a stop in front of the two women.
Manny hopped out, and I followed.
“Mamá!” She hugged him and he spun her around. Eloise’s eyes were round as she took Manny in. Then she switched her gaze to me.
“Hi, I’m Oz. We met over video.”
She blinked, then her brain snapped back online. “Eloise. Nice to meet you.”
The airport security officer blew his whistle and shouted at us to move along, so I grabbed two suitcases and took them to the rear of the SUV.
When I went back for the rest of the luggage, Manny was giving Eloise a hug but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I smiled at his mom. “Hi, Carmen. I’m Oz. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand, but she pushed it aside and hugged me.
“Welcome to the family!” She ducked her head into the rear door of the SUV. “You must be Arch. I’m Carmen. Thank you so much for picking us up.”
I got the other suitcases into the car and shut the hatch. Manny had climbed into the third row of seats, and Carmen and Eloise were in the second row. I returned to the front passenger seat, and as soon as I shut the door behind me, Arch pulled into traffic.
Carmen told Manny little stories from their trip, and I asked a couple of questions about the ports their cruise had stopped at.
Eloise barely said a word. She kept glancing at Manny with wide eyes.
And Manny wasn’t doing much better; he wasn’t smiling much and there were long pauses between his questions.
Eventually Carmen stopped pretending to ignore their behavior.
“What’s wrong? Manny? Eloise? Why are you acting like... I don’t even know what you’re acting like!” She threw her hands into the air.
I twisted around in my seat so I could intervene if needed. Manny looked between Eloise and his mother, his mouth opening and closing like he couldn’t decide what to say.
Eloise took Carmen’s hand in hers. “She knows, Manny. She knows I’m a pixie.
” Carmen’s mouth dropped open, but Eloise pointed at Manny with her free hand.
“But I guarantee she doesn’t know you have magic.
How did that happen? It wasn’t there when I saw you last summer.
” She gestured at me and Arch. “And you’re dating a shifter and a Hunter?
” I hoped Manny started his explanation quickly.
No one wanted a pissed off pixie in an enclosed space.
They could shed their pixie dust all over everything in a twenty-foot radius, and depending on what they told it to do, you could end up happy, asleep, hallucinating, or whatever else they wanted.
Carmen swung around to gape at us. I waved. “I’m the shifter. Arch is a Hunter.”
Her eyebrows came down over her nose. “But, Arch, you’re Ellis’ brother! Is he a Hunter too?” She turned back to Manny. “You have magic? You’d better start talking.”
Eloise held up a hand. “Wait, you know Ellis? One of the District Monitors?”
Manny put both hands in his hair. “Let me start at the beginning. Then you can answer my questions.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again.
“My best friend since high school is Rory Blackbourne, who’s a Medium.
” He went on to talk about Rory rescuing Pia.
Carmen had been horrified to find out Pia had been trafficked—apparently Rory told everyone she was his cousin.
Manny explained how they’d gone with Shane and Ellis to Mineral Wells to meet a grove of dryads.
Eloise gasped, no doubt having heard about the vampires, but she gestured for Manny to continue.
He eyed his mother warily. “While we were there, the dryads were attacked by a group of vampires.” She covered her mouth and looked to Eloise. “Vampires are real? You didn’t tell me that!”
Eloise winced. “I didn’t think it would come up. By the time I was able to talk to you about my true self, the vampires who’d been kidnapping people had been killed, and now there’s only one vampire left. And he’s friendly.”
Manny just nodded. Neither of the women needed to know about the second vampire.
Carmen twigged to what Manny was actually getting at. “You were there? During this attack?”
“I was.” He held up a hand. “I’m fine, but I was injured. Um, I’m friends with a being, I don’t know if you’ll meet them, but they’re called Jackson. They were there and they healed me with their magic.” He shrugged. “It left some behind. I can see magic in other people now.”
Carmen reached between the seats and took Manny’s hand in hers. “I don’t like that you were injured, Manolo. I understand why you didn’t tell me, but I don’t like that either.”
Eloise’s expression said she had a bunch of questions but wasn’t about to ask them in front of Carmen. I’d have to check with Manny to see what he was comfortable sharing with her, in case she cornered me or Arch when we were alone.
Manny waved toward the front of the car.
“I’ve made friends with a local wolf pack, and Oz is staying with them.
Arch and I met through Ellis right after I was injured, so he looked me up when he moved to Houston.
” His expression turned serious. “Mamá told me you two met at a coffee shop. Is that the truth?”
Eloise smiled and patted Carmen’s hand. “It was. I hadn’t been looking for anyone to date, much less a human.
” She tossed Carmen a wink. “But after meeting your mom I knew she was the one. In November I went to the District Monitors to ask for permission to reveal the campaign to her. I showed them her photo, and, now that I think about it, Shane and Ellis had to have known who she was.”
Manny nodded. “They’ve met her a few times at the house.”
“They asked me if Carmen had any relatives who would need to be brought into the loop, and I told them she had a son, but I wasn’t close enough to him to know if he could be trusted with the information yet.”
Manny grinned. “Shane and Ellis were probably dying. And they never said anything to me.” He made a face. “Because it wasn’t their story to tell.”
Carmen took up the story. “Eloise showed me her true form. I... did not react well.” She kissed Eloise’s hand.
“My upbringing in the church did not leave much room for people who could turn into creatures out of folk tales. That’s when we took a break over the holidays.
I needed time to wrap my head around everything, because Eloise deserved someone who could accept her wholeheartedly.
” They exchanged smiles. “Eventually I realized I had to trust that God introduced me to Eloise for a reason, and the church would frown upon our relationship even if she was human like me, so why should they have any say in whether I dated her?”
Arch’s phone rang, and after glancing at the screen in the dashboard, which told us the caller was a Michael Kraus, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket, saying over his shoulder, “Sorry, this is work. I need to get it.” He answered the call on the phone instead of on the car’s Bluetooth. “Go for Jones.”
I doubted Eloise could hear the other end of the call, but I could. Michael Kraus was one of Arch’s Hunters, and two of the other Hunters had had an episode of lost time a little while ago. Arch’s entire body tensed up. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Manny and I exchanged glances, and I looked outside at the freeway.
I wasn’t quite sure how far from Carmen’s house we were, but it wasn’t nearby.
After Arch hung up, Manny called from the rear seat, “If you need to go, my house is closer. Why don’t you drop us there, and I’ll take Mamá and Eloise home on the way to work. ”
I put my hand on Arch’s leg. “I’ll stay with him at least until Cassandra can meet up with us. We’ll be fine.”
He shot me a grateful smile. “Okay, thanks.”
My badger chittered uneasily. He didn’t want us to be separated from Arch. Sorry, bud, but we’re gonna be separated from Manny too when he goes to work.
My badger hissed at me.