19. Magical Cock…tail
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MAGICAL COCK…TAIL
AURORA
W here is he?
It’d been a day and a half since Deke had disappeared while we were in the middle of…
Yeah.
At first, I’d been blinded by rejection while waiting like a simpering fool for him to return. Knowing how gnarly the scar was and what it represented, I’d been willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to him.
With memories of Ryan staying out for hours or even days at a time still fresh in my scarred heart, I’d stewed in my anger while contemplating my revenge. But as the hours ticked by, unease had begun to dilute it. I’d taken Deke’s big truck to check Mabel’s, his preferred grocery store, and Black Horse.
He was nowhere to be found.
After a second sleepless night and still no sign of him that morning, my worry had fully overtaken my hurt feelings.
Something was wrong.
I grabbed his cell from where I’d plugged it in and unlocked it. Scrolling his contact list, I looked for one of his siblings, but they hadn’t exchanged numbers.
Maybe he left because something was wrong with one of them.
Or those evil soul-stealers returned.
Guilt and disgrace prickled at me that I’d allowed more than a day to go by. If something happened to him because I was wallowing, I would never forgive myself.
It didn’t take much searching on Google to locate Juno’s neighboring stores since Novel Idea was a pretty distinct trio. I pressed the call button, but it just rang.
“What do you think, girl?” I asked Victoria as I paced the downstairs.
She trotted next to me, though she didn’t seem overly concerned. I wasn’t sure what it said about my mental well-being that I took that as a reassuring sign rather than the more likely option—that she was still being fed and thus hadn’t noticed or cared that the big, burly lumberjack was gone.
I eyed his keys.
Victoria barked.
“Yeah, that’s what I think, too.”
Going up to the loft, I opened Deke’s closet to see a variety of clothing.
Flannels in blue.
Flannels in black.
Flannels in gray.
Jeans in blue.
Jeans in black.
End of list.
A couple of duffels were tucked underneath, and I pulled them free to pack my limited belongings in one and some of Deke’s clothes in the other. I threw together another little bag for Victoria since I’d forgotten the first one at Nate and Denny’s.
Grabbing the load—plus Deke’s phone and wallet—Victoria and I headed out to the truck. I brought up the GPS directions to Novel Idea and hoped the disappearing act wasn’t a sibling trend.
The drive took longer than the quoted time. I knew how to drive—Mrs. Gideon had needed frequent rides home from the bar a few towns over—but by the time I’d been able to get documentation with an exemption after my accident, Ryan had claimed I didn’t need a license.
Between breaking the law and the fact I hadn’t slept a wink in two days, I stuck close to the speed limit—to the chagrin of my impatience and every other driver on the road.
Eventually, I made my way through the small town lined with shops and restaurants before parking in front of the stores. I kept Victoria in my arms as I entered.
Wow.
Games, collectibles, and comics were displayed on shelves and in cases. The scent of sugary sweetness hung in the air like I could pluck cotton candy from nothing. It mixed with the smell of strong coffee and chocolate until my stomach rumbled.
A woman a little older than me smiled from the entryway into one of the other shops. “Can I help you find something?”
“Is Juno here?”
Her smile stayed in place, but something in her demeanor shifted. A protectiveness. “No, she’s out. Can I take a message?”
Helpless frustration mixed with my growing worry.
Contrary to her claim, a back room opened, and Juno stepped out. “Can we make today a holiday and close early? I’m wiped and still have training…” She glanced up from the giant monstrosity of a coffee she held and did a double take. “Aurora, hey. I was hoping to see you.” Her gaze went over my shoulder. “Where’s the big guy?”
Oh no.
“Oops. Sorry for lying,” the woman said, though she didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “Never know these days.”
I didn’t know what that meant, and I didn’t care—right then, at least. My focus was on Juno’s question. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. I tried calling here, but no one answered.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Stellan stopped by, and… Phew. Good timing.”
I was about to ask what she meant when the door chimed behind me. My breath caught, but when I spun, it was just Denny and Lilith. It whooshed out in a rush.
“Wow, first your mate doesn’t think I deserve an archangel and now you’re disappointed to see me,” Lilith said. “It’s giving me a complex.”
Denny glared at her. “Now you know how I feel.”
“Deke is missing,” Juno said.
Their playful smiles fell as they went alert.
She tilted her head toward the room she’d just come from. “Come in here. We’ll figure it out.”
I wasn’t sure how being in a storage closet helped, but I did as she said. When I stepped past the threshold, the room changed. Gone were the metal shelves and plain cardboard boxes. An intricately carved table dominated the center of the space. Beads, jars, scraps of fabric, and beautiful metallic cards were dotted around shelves that lined the walls.
The sweet smell from outside was completely replaced by herbs and flowers.
“It’s a spell,” Denny answered my unasked question as she gestured around the doorframe. “The scent barrier.”
I forced my feet to stay rooted to the spot when all I wanted to do was run. “Did you read my mind?”
“No, but it was what I wondered when I first visited, so I went out on a limb that you were curious, too.”
“You were right.”
“How long has he been gone?” Juno asked as a book’s pages began flipping without anyone touching it. She gathered some jars—thankfully bypassing the one labeled praying mantis scrotum—and set them on the ornate table.
“Day before last.”
She froze and skewered me with a look of barely restrained suspicion. “And you’re just now coming here?”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth before sharing, “I have a really, uh, unsettling scar that he’d just seen for the first time.”
“Ahhh,” Lilith drawled. “So you thought he left to?—”
“Make whoever was responsible rue the day until they wished they were never born,” Juno finished.
“I was going to say get the supplies to treat the wound.”
“Oh. Yeah. Boring, but probable.”
“I actually thought he was grossed out,” I admitted.
Juno’s face softened like she knew what it was like to be unwanted. Since she was gorgeous—all three of them were—I highly doubted it.
“Anyway,” I continued, “I gave him time, but then I started to get worried. I thought maybe those soul-stealers had returned, and he’d come to help.”
“Nope. It’s disconcertingly quiet here.” She sighed before tacking on a dramatic, “ Unfortunately .”
Denny made a murmur of disagreement, but Lilith was on Juno’s side. “Waiting sucks. I’m ready to kick ass.”
It didn’t take long for Denny to come around to their way of thinking. “It would be nice for the other shoe to finally drop. I haven’t been able to see Lula at all. And it’s been too long since we’ve annihilated anyone.”
A proud, maniacal smile spread across Juno’s face.
“Murder?” I whispered.
“Catch Phrase. It’s a game.” Denny gave a wistful sigh. “My bestie and her husband throw awesome game nights, and teaming up with her to dominate is the best part. I miss them, but it would be too risky to hang out right now.”
“So he saw the scar and…” Juno’s gaze dropped.
I followed her line of sight to see I was touching my sternum—something I kept doing without meaning to. It was where the scar was, yes. But it was more than that. The ache that’d formed there seemed to be growing worse and worse with each passing second.
Her line of questioning changed. “What were you doing at the time?” At my likely flustered face, she shook her head. “Never mind, got it. As gross as this is to even think about, I saw the way he looked at you. Scar or not, he wasn’t leaving voluntarily.”
“He saw it, started to say what the fuck, and then he just disappeared,” I shared.
“Wait, he disappeared disappeared? Like poof, gone?”
I nodded.
“Does it feel like he’s super far away?”
“Yes.”
And it makes everything hurt.
At that, she started putting the supplies back. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“What? You know where he is?”
“Yup. Heaven’s corporate offices.”
I wanted to be reassured that he hadn’t fled from the sight of the ugly blemish, but him being in Heaven didn’t sound good. “He’s in Heaven? Is he dead?”
“Their corporate office. Boring place. He’ll be back in a few days. Time passes differently there.”
I could’ve sunk to the floor in relief.
Juno didn’t miss that, either, and her expression softened again. “He’s good. Promise.”
Deke wasn’t kidding about the way The Four Horsemen—er, Horse people had been twisted.
None of the siblings were what I expected.
Juno wasn’t battling her siblings for a spot at the top or whispering mistruths to sow seeds of instability and hostility. She just talked a lot of smack, but in an oddly endearing way. Not that she was defenseless. I had no doubt she was powerful and dangerous when it came to people who deserved it. But she wasn’t waging war against random adversaries and taking them out for the hell of it.
Not unless her opponent was the bag of the gummy bears she talked about…
Nate hadn’t seemed wrathful and ready to wipe out humankind. And I doubted his hoodie qualified as the cloaked robe he was often depicted in.
Lennon certainly wasn’t spreading plagues. He’d been genuinely sad about taking a sabbatical, but even more alarmed at the idea that something could happen to his patients. He’d even been concerned about a possible interaction between my sleeping pills and that delicious tropical cocktail.
A glimmer of hope began to form.
Maybe Deke was saddled with me because all that good can save me.
Juno has mentioned her powers are stronger now.
Frequently.
Maybe she can figure out how to cure me.
Before I could ask, she brushed off her hands. “The sasquatch fur always sticks to the outside of the jar. Anyway, you can stay at Stellan’s while you wait for him.”
They’d been welcoming. Kind. Confusing, yet incredibly entertaining.
But I didn’t want to live in close quarters with any of them—and not just because of the risk of catching them in the middle of passionate… well, passion.
My heart couldn’t take the daily reminder of my multitude of shortcomings.
“Thanks, but I should probably wait for him at the cabin,” I tried.
“He’ll go wherever you are,” Denny assured me. “Trust me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you stay with any of us horny couples. Stellan and I live in the apartment above the stores.” Juno hooked a thumb toward the door. “Beth was finally ready to return to the apartment she shared with Lea, so his house is sitting empty.”
Oh.
That I can do.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“And since you’re right in time for training, you can join.”
“You know…” Lilith started before I could answer—which was good because I had no clue what to say since I also had no clue what training entailed. “The past couple of days had to be hard on poor Aurora. Maybe instead of overwhelming her with more, we should go upstairs, pour some drinks, and get to know each other. To give her a break.”
Juno’s green eyes narrowed. “You’re only saying that because you don’t want to be stuck reading my book while Denny and I spar.”
“That is correct.”
“Son of a bitch, I’m in anyway.”
“So…” Juno singsonged as she flopped on the couch and handed me a glittering beverage. “What did you think when my brother told you who he was?”
I took a sip. It tasted like a carnival. Not lemonade or treats from one. Not even cotton candy. But the excitement of one. A date on a balmy night. Holding hands. Riding dangerous rides for the thrill. Playing overpriced games but still treasuring the cheap prize.
All of that was somehow encompassed in a liquid.
“I’ve been practicing,” she said as she tapped her glass with mine. “Now answer the question.”
“Honestly? He said stuff about his brothers and mates, so I thought it was a sex cult.”
Lilith burst out laughing and raised her drink. “Same, girl. Same.”
“And once you found out he was Famine?” Juno asked.
The sharp way she watched me set off little bells in my head. Not warnings, per se.
“He told you I cried,” I surmised.
“He may or may not have mentioned it. But I’m just making conversation.”
And giving me the perfect opening.
It went against everything I’d done for six years, but for the second time in as many days, I shared about my accident. Waking up in those woods without my memories. And my curse.
Once I was done, I asked, “So… Do you think you can help?”
Juno bobbed her head side to side, her pink and blue bun flopping, too. “Memories are tricky. More subjective than what you might think. Messing with them could result in instilling what you wished would happen. Or what you fear happened. And once they become implanted as fact, it’s harder to correct the error.”
“No, not help with my memories.”
At least not now that I know it could go so wrong.
“Can you help get rid of my curse?” I asked.
“I’m still lost on that,” Denny said. “Which part is the curse?”
I reared back.
I got that they had their own stuff going on, but she must not have listened to a word I’d said.
Speaking slowly, I tried to jog her memory without letting my irritation show—much. “I get visions of the future.”
“I got that part. But not why you think it’s a curse.”
I would’ve understood why Juno felt that way. She was a powerful being. But the mates were human. That was what Deke had said. Denny and Lilith should’ve been horrified—or at least confused—by my ability.
“Because it’s made my life a nightmare,” I said.
“The visions or the people in your life?”
“The visions. And the people. Both.”
“Why?” she pushed.
“Because when I paid attention to the curse, it got me in trouble. It made people hate me. Pastor Gideon said it was a punishment from God because the devil created me, and nothing I said or saw could be trusted. He said if it was a gift like the visions given to Paul, Peter, or the others, He would protect me.” I lifted my shirt to show them the upside-down cross that marred my chest, made of puckered flesh.
I could almost feel the fire.
Smell the burned flesh that clung in my nose for days after.
Hear the sizzle as it scorched into my skin.
My voice was weak as I unnecessarily pointed out, “But He didn’t.”
Grief and understanding mixed on Denny’s face. “That asshole. Cherry-picking through the Bible to suit his needs. Claiming to be a voice of holiness while torturing me.” She shook her head and amended, “ You .”
“Freud would like to know if you hurt your back during that slip,” Juno said.
Denny laughed. “Fine. I might be speaking from experience. My dad was a religious zealot like that. Hateful and horrendous throughout my life. He told my classmates I was Satan’s spawn, and they called me Demon Denny until graduation. Actually, after that.” She shook her head. “Joke’s on him. Heaven doesn’t take kindly to their direct orders being ignored.” She swayed her glass like she was doing a toast but aimed downward. “And now he’s the one in Hell.”
My brow lowered. “He had orders from Heaven and still thought you were from the devil?”
“Someone let it slip that I’d be working for the devil. I’m technically Levi’s employee. Assistant? That area.”
“Wait.” I remembered them mentioning Levi. Juno had even called him a lucky devil. But I hadn’t realized… “This Levi is the devil?”
“Yes, and a charming one at that,” Juno confirmed. “But nothing like what you think you know. Not fallen. Not evil. He can be a snarky asshole, but some would count that as a positive and not a character flaw.” She pointed at herself. “Me. I’m some.”
“How are you an employee?” I asked. If it were a month ago, I would’ve run from the building, screaming my head off. But a week with Deke had been enough to prove that I had things wrong.
So many things.
That little flame of hopefulness inside me stoked brighter. I wanted to believe them, but voices of doubt spoke cruel words that made the flame flicker.
Voices that sounded a lot like Pastor Gideon’s shouted curses and Ryan’s insistence that I hide away to save my soul.
At my question, it was Denny’s turn to point to herself. “Haden Underwood. The name was another fun gift from my dad. As in, Hades and Death.”
I reeled at that revelation. “Deke said all of the mates were supposed to be human. Something about ensuring The Four cared enough to keep fighting for them.”
“Yeah, well, we were wrong about a lot.” Her displeasure at admitting that faded to a cocky smirk. “Stellan can slow things down in his head. It makes him a skilled and attentive?—”
“Ayy, we don’t need the details,” Denny interrupted.
“Detective. A skilled and attentive detective.” She raised her glass toward her mouth before adding, “And an even better lover.”
Denny rolled her eyes.
“If Levi is the devil, I’m guessing you’re not timeshare splitting the throne for king of the underworld,” I said.
“I’m also not a philanderer who kidnaps my lover and still can’t keep it in my pants. Even after we defeat Absolve, Nate and I will continue finding missing or lost souls before they become vengeful. We’ll work with Levi, but not because all those souls are headed for Hell.”
“Do you have magicks?”
“I can turn the soulless to dust. If Nate is with me, we can make them disappear completely. But not magicks like Juno or even Lilith.” She crossed her arms and pouted. “And I’m basically only like ten percent bitter about that. Hardly at all. A simple thirty percent sad. Which, honestly, that fifty percent is barely anything.”
My gaze shot to where Lilith sat on the loveseat. “You have magicks?”
“I told you.” I gave a slow blink, and she gestured to me. “Your golden aura.”
“I thought that was just feel-good, horoscopy BS,” I admitted. “Like when people say they’re moody because they’re a Libra born under a supermoon or that they’re going to have a good day because the stars aligned for them.”
“Or a bad day because Freddie Mercury is in the microwave,” Juno added with a cackle.
And honest-to-goodness cackle—albeit a pretty one.
“Yes. That. No offense.”
“None taken,” Lilith said. “I thought it was just nature’s magic, too. My parents are— were —hippies.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, referring to the recent death of her father.
“It’s okay.” She smiled, but it was wobbly. “Like I was saying, when I took pictures, I thought I could read people’s auras because I was just more in tune with nature and the universe.” That time when she grinned, nothing about it was wobbly. “Lennon says I’m a hippie goddess.”
“Who then turns into her namesake to avenge others.” Juno’s gaze flitted to me, and she gave a disgruntled sigh. “No one knows name meanings these days. Lilith means night monster. She went out at night to kick ass.”
“Literally?” I asked, unable to picture the pretty brunette in the crop top and flowy skirt hurting a fly.
She nodded. “We’re still working through the details and the limits of what I can do. Juno says I’m an empath who reads emotions not auras, but I think it’s a mix of both. I also have strong intuition, which helps me avoid getting hurt while I do my thing.”
Death.
War.
Pestilence.
Famine.
A soul helper Hades.
A detective who can slow time.
A photographer who can read auras and fight.
And me.
A woman with visions.
None of us were just human. And none of us were evil or wrong.
For the first time ever, I didn’t feel like a freak. Or a sinner. Or cursed.
I felt like I belonged .
I can’t wait for Deke to get back so I can tell him.