9
NINE
Marie Charles couldn’t indulge in comfort food. She always had to go over the top. When she put her head together with Madeline, that only made matters worse. That was how Ofelia and Sully found themselves standing outside Emeril’s shortly before six o’clock.
Ofelia scowled at the restaurant. It wasn’t that she disliked the food. It was fine, if a bit ostentatious. What she hated was that she was going to have to sit through a meal with her mother … and Sully’s mother … and Sully’s father, for that matter. They all presented their own challenges.
The food at the restaurant was going to present another. Emeril’s was not the sort of restaurant that allowed people to pick and choose from a standard menu. You chose one tasting course and were stuck with it.
Ofelia growled as she looked at the menu.
Sully moved in behind her and scanned it over her shoulder. “I believe this shindig is on my parents,” he said. “We’ll pick up food we actually want to eat on the way home. What does Angelique like?”
Ofelia perked up. “Oh, she loves fried seafood. Can we really do that?”
Sully’s heart ached at the naked emotion on her face. “Of course, baby.” He pulled her to him for a kiss. “That sounds way better than what we’re about to go through.”
“Oh, you’d better be careful who you say that in front of,” a familiar voice drawled from behind them.
Sully scowled as he turned, pulling Ofelia with him so she was close to his side. “Amelia.” He said his sister’s name as if it were profanity. “You’re looking … fat.”
Amelia glared at him. “I’m pregnant. You can’t call a pregnant woman fat.” She looked at Felix for help.
For his part, Felix looked tired. “Amelia, you can’t even tell that you’re pregnant yet, other than your boobs are bigger,” he said. “You were smoking hot when I met you, and the boob thing only makes you hotter. Take it as a compliment, because it is one.”
Amelia looked confused. “Are you sure? I’ve never heard the f-word being used as a compliment.”
“I’m positive.” Felix’s voice was as smooth as chocolate. His glare was hard as ice when it landed on Sully. “Really? Do you have to get her going?”
Sully merely shrugged. “She started it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Felix pulled open the door and ushered Amelia inside in front of him, and then lowered his voice. “Nobody is looking forward to this. How about don’t be surly, though, because that will just make the night drag on longer than it has to.”
“Oh, nobody wants to drag this out,” Sully promised him.
“Just remember that when your mother … or my mother, for that matter … says something stupid. That will happen.”
Sully had already braced himself for that. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
The others were already seated at the table when Sully, Ofelia, Felix, and Amelia joined them. Marie and her husband Henri Charles sat at one end of the table with Oscar, who sat on Marie’s left and didn’t appear bothered that he’d been seated next to his ex-wife.
At the other end of the table, Madeline and Zeke sat next to one another and talked in hushed tones.
Ofelia had no idea what they were talking about.
In fact, the more she saw the couple together, the more she wondered what they’d ever seen in each other.
She understood what kept them together now — money and status — but what had drawn them together in the first place?
She’d never asked Sully, but one day she intended to.
“You’re late,” Marie said with the tight smile that Ofelia had come to associate with a long night.
“We’re not,” Sully replied as he pulled out a chair for Ofelia. When he moved to sit next to her, Madeline made a tsking sound.
“I set it up so you and your sister will sit on that side and Felix and Ofelia will sit on the other,” she said.
Sully blinked several times. Then he sat in the chair he’d already pulled out. “That’s completely unnecessary. I’m going to sit next to my fiancée.”
Ofelia could feel Madeline’s glare on her — as if she was the one who said it — but she didn’t care.
Madeline ran hot and cold. She hadn’t been thrilled with Ofelia’s presence in her son’s life from the start.
Sully was supposed to marry another shifter, not a witch.
Over their time together, Madeline had finally come to realize that Ofelia wasn’t going anywhere.
She still would have preferred that Sully marry a shifter.
She was resigned to the fact that Sully and Ofelia were going to spend their lives together, however, and she didn’t get a say in the matter.
“You know, after the way you left your own engagement party last night, I would think you would be at least a little bit conciliatory,” Marie complained from her end of the table.
Ofelia shot her mother a sharp look. “You do not want to go there.”
Marie balked. “Excuse me?”
Sully was caught. On one hand, he wanted Ofelia to tell her mother how she felt about the lies that had resulted in the terrible party.
On the other hand, they had more important things to deal with.
It was the anger he felt vibrating off of Ofelia that helped him make up his mind.
Right now, given what the banshees were looking for, he didn’t want Ofelia hoarding her anger like gold coins.
No, he wanted her to express it because she was one of those people who got angry fast. Then she got over it fast.
“You guys promised Ofelia specific things and then didn’t deliver,” he volunteered, deciding to take control of the conversation. The faster Ofelia got angry, the quicker she would get over it. “Just FYI, we were in the middle of leaving your fancy party when the banshees attacked last night.”
“You were not,” Madeline growled.
“Oh, we were definitely leaving.” Sully thought back to the small party he’d arranged for Ofelia, the one that had fallen through, and sighed. “All the people you conveniently left off your invitation list were going to meet us there.”
“Nobody was left off,” Madeline scoffed, looking toward Marie for confirmation.
Ofelia’s mother made slashing motions across her throat to shut Madeline up, but it was already too late.
“Oh, I didn’t realize people were left off the list.” Madeline’s expression was hard to read as she ran the information through her head. Ultimately, she shrugged. “Well, if Marie had a reason to leave them off, I’m sure it was a good one.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ofelia growled.
“I can’t believe you were going to escape to a fun party and not take your father,” Zeke complained to his son. “That is just … not cool.”
“Are you saying our party wasn’t fun?” Madeline challenged him.
“Your party was about as much fun as a colonoscopy,” Zeke replied. “I was figuring out how I was going to make my escape when the banshees swooped in.”
“I’m confused,” Felix said. “What’s a banshee? I mean … I’ve heard the word before. I don’t think anybody has ever explained it to me, though.”
“Google it,” Amelia suggested in a low voice. “I would explain it, but I think Zach is about to rip my mother a new one, and I don’t want to miss it. I love it when my mom has a big hole where her butt should be.”
“Thank you for that lovely visual, Amelia,” Madeline said darkly.
Amelia beamed. “No problem, Mom.”
“Okay.” Felix smiled. As long as Amelia was happy these days, he was happy. Since Amelia was pregnant, her hormones swung left and right like a carnival ride without a brake. Felix hated risking the swings. “I’ll do that.” He started typing on his phone.
“Our party was a glorious event,” Marie insisted. “It was absolutely beautiful.”
“It was ostentatious and full of your friends,” Ofelia fired back. “And your friends,” she said to Madeline, her glare sharpening. “You left some of the most important people in my life off the guest list.”
“Like who?” Marie demanded.
“Pascal, for starters.”
Marie balked. “We were not going to invite a vampire to an engagement party. That’s just gauche. What if he were to get hungry and start feeding off the guests?”
“He’s been alive for a very long time,” Ofelia replied. “He is not a slave to his urges. Plus, at least he’s my friend. I didn’t recognize the bulk of the people at my own party.”
“They were my friends,” Marie replied. “I couldn’t very well leave my friends off the list. How would that have looked?”
“As if I didn’t know them,” Ofelia replied. “You know, it would have looked like the truth.”
“Well, my friends represented a much better class of guest.” Marie made a sniffing noise.
“They left you some lovely gifts. I know you didn’t see them because you ran after that weird …
incident … with the half-naked women. What was up with that, by the way?
Were those ex-girlfriends of yours, Zach? ”
Sully didn’t know what he’d been expecting his future mother-in-law to say, but that wasn’t it. “Yes, that’s exactly who they were, Marie,” he said dryly. “They were my ex-girlfriends.”
“Well, they shouldn’t have been invited.” She sent a pointed look toward Madeline, as if blaming the other woman.
“I didn’t invite them,” Madeline shot back. “Plus, they weren’t Zach’s ex-girlfriends. They were banshees. If anything, one of them was probably looking for Zeke.”
Sully’s father didn’t have the grace to be abashed. He just shrugged. “Stranger things have happened,” he confirmed.
Marie looked appalled. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ofelia barked. “Although, since we’re with you anyway, I need background on the two women who were scratched and the men who were transported to the hospital.”
“Why do you need information on them?” Marie asked, suddenly suspicious.
“Because the banshees are looking for angry women to absorb into their group, and they’re looking for men who have enraged women to kill.”
Marie tapped her fingers on top of the table. “I’m not sure I understand.”
Thankfully, the server picked that moment to approach their table. “Let me tell you about our menu,” she offered. She didn’t ask if they wanted to hear about it. She was going to run her spiel regardless.