Page 15 of Death and Divination
“Ah, the honeymoon phase,” I teased. “I guess you won’t be needing Sylvie’s services anytime soon.”
My twin was a therapist and a life coach specializing in relationship counselling—andspecializing in people’s sex lives. Like Doctor Ruth, only with a pointy hat and a bunch of charms.
I was kidding. My twin didn’t wear a pointy hat. She favored a jaunty beret on occasion, but no pointy hats.
“Heck no,” Cassie replied. “Sylvie would have us tying each other up, and shoving household objects into various orifices with a generous application of lube, then composing poems to each other.”
“Sounds like fun.” Actually, it didn’t sound like fun, but I loved to tease my eldest sister.
“Lucien would definitely think so, well, except for the poetry thing. Me? Not so much.”
Cassie was turning an interesting shade of red that told me she was lying. I was betting that not only did those ideas appeal to her, but that she and Lucien had probably already tried them out. I wasn’t able to pry any further details from her, though, as my other sisters and my cousin Aaron had arrived.
“Not the only guy anymore, huh?” I asked my cousin. Male witches weren’t common, and they didn’t usually have much, if any, magical ability. Aaron was older than all of us, but we’d always fawned over him, spoiling him as our only living male relative for as long as I could remember. He came to family dinners, borrowed stuff from us, called to ask us favors, and showed up randomly to chat or watch football. It was like having a little brother who was older in years, if that made any sense.
“You women can’t gang up and pick on me anymore,” he said with a smug expression. “I’ve got backup.”
“Right. Lucien is going to side with Cassie over you, so don’t get your hopes up, buddy.”
Hadur might back him up, though. He’d do anything for Bronwyn, but from what I’d seen, he and Lucien had some history and their relationship with each other was on the prickly side—which would make our dinner tonight extra exciting. This was the first Sunday since we’d managed to spring Hadur from the summoning circle he’d been trapped in for two hundred years. I hoped Cassie had the foresight to seat him and Lucien at opposite ends of the table, or none of us might be enjoying our baked ziti tonight.
I turned from Aaron and saw Bronwyn walk in. Hadur was right behind her, his hand placed protectively on her lower back, his shoulder so close that it brushed hers. She’d only been off her crutches a short while and seeing her careful gait as she made her way across the room brought tears to my eyes.
“Wynnie!” I went to her, gently giving her a hug and kissing her cheek. Everyone else did the same until she was surrounded by six sisters and Aaron, all of us making a huge fuss of her.
She could have died. When I’d seen that car…. Yes, my divination had said she was alive and safe, but seeing that car had made me doubt my vision. It had sent icy cold fingers of fear through me. I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t lose any of them. We were all we had. We were family. And the thought that one of us might die was more than I could bear.
“Hadur. It’s so good to see you again,” I told the demon. He’d pulled Bronwyn from the car, taken care of her, done more to heal her than I had done, than Glenda’s smoothies had done. There was not a doubt in my mind that he loved her, and she just glowed when she was with him.
“Uh, thanks. You, too…”
I bit back a smile, realizing he was struggling to remember our names—and struggling to tell me apart from my twin.
“Ophelia.”
He grimaced. “Right. Ophelia. The one who heals but doesn’t heal. You’re the oracle, correct?”
I nodded. “So now that you’re a free demon, what are you enjoying the most?” I noted his quick glance at Bronwyn and quickly amended my question. “Besides sex with my sister.”
He laughed at that. I got the idea that laughing was a new thing for him, and something he’d been doing more of in the past month than he ever had in his very long life.
“Oh, let’s see…. Microwaves. Coffeemakers. The internet. Indoor plumbing. Bronwyn is teaching me to drive.”
Now that hadmelaughing. “I’m surprised she lets anyone behind the wheel.”
“Oh, I’m not teaching him with my new truck,” Bronwyn said. “I borrowed John’s car for the lessons.”
“John the cyclops?” Yes, John the cyclops had no last name. He liked it that way. Quite a few of the supernatural residents of Accident were the same.
“Yes.” She laughed. “John’s got more dents in that thing than I have fingers and toes. I guess it’s a hazard of not having any depth perception. He said a few more scrapes wouldn’t matter, so it’s the perfect driver’s ed car for a warmonger. We’re taking John out for dinner next week as a thank you.”
“I like John,” Hadur spoke up. “He expresses his anger very openly and doesn’t let such emotions remain bottled up. It’s good to see someone with such a healthy relationship with their rage.”
I grimaced, thinking that most of Accident didn’t agree with the demon’s assessment. John the cyclops was constantly blowing his stack over things like litter, shopping carts not put back into the corral at the grocery store, and typos on Facebook posts. I wasn’t alone in wishing the cyclops would bottle up his rage a bit more.
“Well, here’s someone else you’ll like.” I pulled my cousin forward. “This is Aaron. He’s our first cousin, but like a brother to us. And he’s hoping you’ll stick up for him when the sisterly teasing gets too much.”
The two shook hands and I left them to whatever a male demon and a male witch would find to talk about while I helped Bronwyn to a chair then headed into the kitchen to assist Cassie. Lucien appeared with half-gallons of various flavors of ice cream, which he shoved into the freezer just as Cassie was pulling the baked ziti out of the oven. We all sat down and ate, the demons managing to ignore each other while the rest of us engaged in our usual lively conversation. After dinner, Aaron and Glenda cleared the table while Babylon roped Hadur into helping her with the ice cream. No one could decide what flavor they wanted, so we ended up just putting the tubs in the middle of the table, and we all did a circuit, putting a spoonful of each into our bowls. Lucien teased Cassie about saving some for later to lick off her body. Sylvie nodded in approval, saying that ice cream might be a bit too cold and that he should try whipped cream and chocolate syrup instead.
