Page 34 of Devils and the Dead
She ignored me and ran a hand through her hair, lifting the shirt even higher.I forced my gaze to remain on her face.
“This couldn’t wait until tonight?” she asked with a sigh.
“Honey? I’ve got the whipped cream and cherries ready!” Lucien’s voice called from upstairs.
I so didn’t want to know.
“No. It can’t.” I pulled her outside, hoping none of the neighbors were looking our way. “Xavier came into my bar last night with a guy named Hades. He’s from hell. He’s their architect, but he’s looking for a necromancer because of an incident a few weeks ago.”
I told her the whole story. She raised her hands to rub her face and in the process flashed the entire neighborhood full-frontal.
“Crap. Why couldn’t the woman’s soul have been from hell? Lucien could have covered that whole mess up and given you time to figure out how to make it right. But heaven? Those angels are assholes. Of course, they’re blaming Lucifer. Of course, they’re threatening war.”
“I told Maude and she’s resigned to the fact that she made need to go back to heaven,” I explained. “But I’m still going to try to do everything I can to help. If you have any ideas, I could really use them right now.”
She started pacing back and forth across the porch. “I’m going to tell Lucien. Maybe he can stall, or even smooth things over with heaven. He’s not quite as on-the-outs with his grandfather as the rest of them, but I don’t want to put him in a bad position over this. Maude may just need to go back to heaven, Lonnie.”
“I know.” The only good in this whole thing was that the demons and angels should at least knowhowto get Maude back to heaven, where I clearly didn’t. If I couldn’t figure out a way to resurrect her, then at least she wouldn’t be trapped here forever as a rotting corpse.
“You said you spoke with Nash?” She waited for my nod. “I’ll see if Lucien can refer us to any living necromancers. If not, I’ll send him to hell to talk to the dead ones.Someonehas got to know how to resurrect this soul.”
Relief swept through me. Cassie wasn’t giving up. She’d help me try to give Maude a new life. She’d enlist the help of the son of Satan. She’d stand in front of me and protect me from any fallout my actions may bring down upon my head.
She was my sister, but in so many ways she was more of a mother than the woman who’d given me birth.
“Thank you.” I blinked away a sudden spurt of tears.
“Oh, stop.” She grabbed me into a hug and I didn’t care that she was only wearing a threadbare T-shirt.
I sniffed when I finally pulled away, swiping a finger along the bottom of my eyes. “There’s one more thing. The guy that Xavier brought into the bar? The one who is looking for Maude? I…I went out to breakfast with him after my shift. And invited him to dinner tonight.”
Her eyes widened. “Was this before or after you knew he was trying to hunt you down?”
I grimaced. “Before. But I trust him. I’m going to tell him what I did, tell him about Maude. But after dinner. Or maybe tomorrow sometime. I like him, Cassie. I really like him. And I don’t meet a lot of guys I feel this way about.”
Her eyes met mine, holding my gaze for a while before she let out a long breath. “I want you to be happy, Lonnie. You’ve lived so much of your life without the things the rest of us had. Parental love and affection, and guidance. Heck, even our grandmother died when you were so young.”
“I had you. I had six sisters who loved me and were always there when I needed them.” I gave her a watery smile. “That’s more than a lot of people have.”
“We were children, too.” Her voice was soft and full of sorrow. “I was thirteen—far too young to be a mother to anyone. I did my best, but I’m still very much aware of what you lacked growing up.”
It was me this time who reached out for her. “I lacked nothing. I didn’t need Mom or Dad, or even Grandma when I had the six of you. And Cassie? You were an amazing mother figure, even at thirteen. I never doubted you loved me, that you’d do everything to protect me. Hell, you stepped up and convinced a judge to not only emancipate you, but to award you custody of six younger siblings. That alone should prove how capable and strong you are.”
She laughed, hugging me tight. “Well, magic had a little bit to do with that judge’s ruling.”
“Even more proof of how capable and strong you are,” I teased as I pulled away.
She chucked. “So, one more for dinner. You do know that not only are your sisters going to rag on your for this, but every one of our boyfriends is going to drag this guy out into the backyard for a stern talk about what it means to date a Perkins witch, and how they’ll kick his ass if he hurts you.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less.” I eyed my watch. “So you’ll tell Lucien? I’m going to work on the issue at Savior Mountain today, but this thing with Maude is of equal importance.”
She nodded. “I’ll tell him. And I’m here for you—either about the cursed ghosts on Savior Mountain, or you trying to resurrect your zombie, or for relationship advice with this new man.”
I grinned, thinking that Cassie was probably the last woman I wanted to take relationship advice from. She and Lucien were amazing together, but my eldest sister didn’t have the best track record with men before him. Besides, Cassie was always the dominant one when it came to men—in or out of the bedroom—and liked her relationships to be rough-and-tumble. I tended to prefer the nerdy guys, and liked a kinder, gentler, snuggly type of man. What worked for Cassie would probably never work for me.
“Sounds good,” I told her. I might not take her advice, but I was always open to hearing it. It was the least I could do for the woman who’d raised me.
“Cassie?” a voice shouted from upstairs. “Whipped cream is melting. And I’m getting a cramp in my left hip from the ropes.”
