Page 49 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

“Hey, I grew up on Disney, and I turned out okay?”

He raised an eyebrow and I snorted. Fine, maybe okay was a bit of an exaggeration. I did end up dead in a ditch and then with seven boyfriends, so maybe Disney didn’t have quite the desired effect. I scruffed Christopher’s head. I leaned down and kissed Enit’s snowy white hair and fist-bumped Carmen. We’d settled on that as an appropriate form of affection without pushing her boundaries.

See, I wasn't fucking up this parenting thing completely.

I walked back into the kitchen, turning on more lights as I went. It got dark earlier this time of year and I for one was happy as hell. Bring on winter to block out that burning ball of pain, so I wasn’t trapped in my house for so long every day.

Nico was icing cakes as Tex sat on the stool beside him, softly talking. I smiled at the domestic scene. Nico and Tex were worlds apart. Probably the most distant of my lovers. But Nico loved pop culture and Tex was a bit of a closet nerd, so they got on damn well.

Everly was carefully decorating a cake on the other side of the counter, apparently lost in the task, though her head was cocked slightly like she was half-listening.

“All I’m saying is that how do we know the trolls aren’t the bad guys? If they hadn’t told her that her powers were terrible, she would’ve still known love. Her parents wouldn’t have locked her in the basement and thought she was some kind of horror. She wouldn’t have had a complete meltdown,” Nico was arguing softly.

I frowned. Trolls? What the hell were they talking about?

Tex threw his hands in the air. “Without the trolls, Queen Elsa would have lost control of her powers and maybe done some serious damage to Anna.”

I cleared my throat. “Uh, are you guys arguing aboutFrozenright now? Or am I hallucinating?”

Tex grinned in my direction. “Sorry, the kids watchedFrozenearlier and Nico is convinced that the trolls are evil.”

Nico pointed a spoon at him. “Not evil. But they stole that boy and his moose.”

“Reindeer,” Everly corrected automatically.

“Whatever. They decided to keep him and then he got Stockholm Syndrome. They mightn’t be evil, but they are definitely more malicious than cute.”

Tex huffed. “I can’t argue with him. Come kiss me and tell me I’m right.”

I laughed as I walked over to him, stepping between his knees so I could hug him properly. He kissed me softly. “How’s X?”

I shrugged. “Healing. He doesn’t remember anything, but I’m worried. What if it has something to do with me? What if it has something to do with you-know-what?” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Everly, but the less she knew about my succubus bloodlines, the better.

Tex shrugged. “Maybe? But it makes no sense. Why X? He’s not the strongest, that would be Nico or Lucius. And he isn’t the weakest, that would be me. It seems more targeted to me. Someone has a grudge against X in particular.” He nuzzled my cheek. “I love X, but the guy would be on a hundred hit lists. Even Lucius wanted to kill him at one point, and we both know his fondness for decapitation.”

Nico stiffened, but Tex couldn’t see that. “Do you think it was Lucius?” I asked softly.

Tex stopped and considered it. “No. I don’t think so. If Lucius really wanted X dead, he’d be dead. That vampire is scary as fuck and I’m not too proud to admit it. But he seems to really like you, and in a weird way, seems to like us too. I mean, he didn’t have to ask permission to, uh, sleep with you? He could have easily killed us all off and then stolen you for himself. Instead, he tried to woo you with severed heads and stolen kids like that shit is romantic.”

Everly sniffed from where she was putting the final touches on a giant pink cake. “I think the heads of your enemies are kind of romantic.”

“See!” I exclaimed, and Nico groaned. I grinned at Everly. “Just don’t let Brody hear you say that.”

Tex chuckled, gripping me tighter to his chest. “Women are crazy.” He looked over at Nico. “What about his maker? I know he’s one of Lucius’ progeny.”

Nico bared his teeth in a look that was completely feral. “Antoine is vermin. But he knows better than to breach the barriers of my town.”

I cocked my head. “Do you think he wants to kill X?”

Nico nodded. “There is no doubt in my mind. But he is a coward first and foremost. He and Lucius had a falling out a few centuries ago, and it is only due to Lucius’ sense of duty that he still walks the earth. If he came for you, or for X, I am pretty sure Lucius would end him out of spite.”

Just another enemy we couldn’t see. What was one more, right? I sighed as I stood. It was time to start getting things ready to open shop.

Tex stood with me. “I better get the pups home. Don’t forget tomorrow night is the waning crescent moon. Both Alexander and Miranda will be here to perform the ancestry ritual.”

This time I hadn’t forgotten. I just didn’t know which freaking moon was the waning crescent moon. I might be a creature of the night, but I wasn’t a shifter. I wasn’t ruled by the moon.

I tried to judge if Tex was nervous about the whole thing, but he seemed okay. “No matter what, your family has your back, okay?” I whispered to him, and he smiled as he nodded.

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