Garnet Lacey - Dead If I Do Part 25

"The heck?" my dad shouted, coming to my side. "Are we being attacked by rabid priests?"

I was about to answer my dad, when Lilith growled.

"Whoa," my dad said. "You don't need to be like that. It was an honest question."

Through Lilith's heightened awareness, I picked up the scent of what was bothering her: a Sensitive. When on a.s.signment, the Order always traveled with someone conversant in magic. This Sensitive fought for the Order on the astral plane. He or she broke wards of protection, threw counterspells, and the like. Lilith could sense an impending attack. I had to do something quickly, or the tide of this battle might turn.

"Fine, be like that," my dad muttered as he rolled up his sleeves and waded into the battle. He picked up a nearby bit of smashed wood and held it like a club. Without a moment's hesitation, my dad whacked one of the two guys squaring off against Sebastian on the back of the head.

In the movies, the hunter would have dropped like a stone. Instead, he looked really, really p.i.s.sed off as he turned around to see what'd hit him.

The image of a black-robed priest bearing down on my dad with murder in his eye brought it all back-the night I walked in on the Order after they'd slaughtered my coven. I'd lost my best friends-no, more than that, my surrogate family-that night. They were dead because I hadn't acted soon enough. I would not let the Order take my family from me again.

No way in h.e.l.l.

Lilith's power surged through me like an electrical storm. My fists sparked with static. The charge raised the hair all over my body. Spits of lightning snapped with pinp.r.i.c.ks of pain out of my pores.

I felt the eyes of the Sensitive focus on me. He 'd hidden in the shadows of the coatrack, but, with Lilith's perceptions, his magical aura stuck out like a flare to me. I could see too that he 'd been using a spell to try to contain Sebastian and Matyas's magic.

Well, that just made me madder.

The charge I'd built around me released with a thunder-clap.

Flaming coat bits flew everywhere. The rack twisted into a melted heap. The Sensitive collapsed, though my magical senses revealed that he was still alive.

The room, meanwhile, went dead silent.

Every head in the room stopped and stared at me.

"You," I said to the nearest witch hunter, "are not welcome here. Get out."

They got the hint. Though they had the reputation of never backing down from a fight, they ran away. I 'd never seen anyone scramble to their feet so fast, much less such an orderly, hasty retreat. They left the Sensitive where he 'd fallen and disappeared into the night.

"Dudes, you forgot somebody," Marlena said, noticing the guy I'd zapped.

"He should probably get to the hospital, if I can ever get a d.a.m.n signal," William said, his phone still pressed to his ear.

"They were probably jamming it," Sebastian said and looked at his ruined palm with a grunt.

"d.a.m.n, that was fun," Smitty said with a laugh.

"I think I'm going to faint," said Larry, as Walter put a steadying arm around his shoulders.

"I broke a nail," muttered Izzy. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it."

"Are you planning a full a.s.sault for the real wedding?" Matyas asked wryly. "Because we definitely rehea.r.s.ed that."

"Who's going to pay for the damages?" My mother was worried. "Look at this place." "Uh, I'm afraid I can't officiate at your wedding," the minister said, coming out from behind the altar on shaky legs. "I no longer have a church."

"Yeah," I said, feeling Lilith's power melting from me. I sat down on the floor, feeling wasted and drained, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"How did they find out about us, anyway?" Matyas asked.

Normally, I would have accused him of tipping them off. But he seemed genuinely concerned, plus he'd been fighting for his life along with the rest of us.

"The dream," William said.

"The astral wedding invitation," Sebastian agreed with a shake of his head in my general direction.

"Oh, yeah, I had a dream about the wedding," said Marlena. "It was the weirdest d.a.m.n thing."

"We all had it," Izzy said.

"Apparently, Garnet forgot to set a friends-only filter," William said.

I looked out at the shattered remains of the church I was supposed to be getting married in, and I started to cry.

It was never going to happen now, was it? I had no cake, no band, no reception hall, no flowers, no bridesmaids' dresses, no license, and now no minister and no church.

I put my head in my hands and sobbed.

An arm slipped around my shoulder. "Hey," said Sebastian. "It's going to be all right."

I broke. "All right? Are you insane?" I went down the laundry list of everything that had fallen apart one more time. "And now you have to buy a new church for the Unitarians. You can't even say no one's been hurt. They shot you with an arrow. Again."

He tucked a loose lock behind his ear. Gla.s.s fell out of his hair.

"Actually," he said, cradling his b.l.o.o.d.y palm in his lap. "It could have been a lot worse. They usually carry machine guns."

Unbidden memories of my coven came into my mind. They'd been gunned down, unarmed, in their own home.

Sensing my tension, Sebastian pulled me closer against him.

"Yeah," William said absently. "Why no guns?"

Matyas lifted a hand toward the stone altar. "I'm surprised they brought the longbow in. This is a church. It's an old tradition of respect not to bring weapons into G.o.d's house."

"Does G.o.d live in a Unitarian church?" Walter asked.

"If you were a true believer, would you take the risk?" Matyas asked.

"They shot Sebastian," William pointed out.

"In their mind, he's the devil incarnate," Matyas said. "Like I said, they probably bought an indulgence or something for that one."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Tears threatened to spill again. I took in a ragged breath. "I can't even believe this conversation. Why can't we have one normal minute?"

Sebastian squeezed me even closer. He looked out over the a.s.sembled crowd. I followed his gaze. Everyone had begun to form groups. Larry and Walter were righting chairs. William had found a broom and was sweeping up bits of broken gla.s.s. Smitty seemed to be regaling Izzy and Marlena with embellished tales of former glory. My mom and the Unitarian minister were in some kind of tight knot of negotiation near the shattered coatrack.

"You know, darling," Sebastian said. "This is kind of normal for us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean-" He waved his injured hand in the direction of the wreckage and our friends, and then he laughed softly. "I hope you're not expecting a settled life with me."

I had to laugh too, although another sob caught in my throat. "Oh, Sebastian," I said, laying my head against his shoulder. "I never defeated the curse. Tereza won." Sebastian kissed the top of my head softly. "Not by a long shot," he whispered. "We're still together."

I pulled my head up to look him in the eye. "We are, aren't we?"

He flashed me a soft smile. "To me, that's what's important."

I kissed him, full on the mouth. "You're right," I said once I pulled away. "That is all that matters."

As we were sitting there, my mother came up to me. Unexpectedly, she came down beside me and gave me a big, giant hug. I could feel her arms shaking a little, and I wrapped mine around her and squeezed as tightly as I had when I was four. Into my ear, she said, "You should wear whatever makes you happy. I'm just glad you're okay."

"I love you too, Mom," I said.

The police showed up a few minutes later. While the minister talked to the two uniforms, Izzy and I organized people to help board up the broken windows.

The officer who took my statement seemed pretty unconvinced, despite having heard the story six times already. He had curly black hair cut almost military short, and his face had a lot of rough edges like he'd been a professional boxer in his younger days.

"So you didn't see these, uh, priests come cras.h.i.+ng through the windows?"

I'd seen the one come through the doors, but not the first a.s.sault. I shook my head. "I was downstairs with my dad."

"Uh-huh," he said and raised his eyebrows like I just told him that I liked to snort marshmallows up my nose.

Eventually, after dutifully writing it all down, they left.

The minister thanked us for helping clean things up, but she told us she still had to call the insurance company and things like that. As we left, I apologized profusely, and Sebastian quietly made arrangements for a "donation" to help cover the costs.

The wedding party stood around outside in the cold, dark night, wondering what to do.

So I invited everyone back to the farm, and we picked up takeout on the way. Someone, it might have been Smitty, raided a liquor store and bought enough wine and beer for everyone.

We had an impromptu post-rehearsal dinner, casual-style.

Chinese noodles and beer can cure a lot of ills, as can silly stories told by a man with an Australian accent. It didn 't take long before the house rang with laughter. Even Benjamin didn't complain about all the company for once. Barney came out and had her pick of laps. After soliciting scratches from nearly everyone present, she chose my dad to snooze on, of course. He 'd had one beer and fallen asleep in the armchair closest to the fireplace.

Sebastian disappeared upstairs to change out of his b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+rt. I followed after to check up on him. Someone hooted, like we were off to do some hanky-panky. Much laughter and good-natured teasing ensued.

Upstairs, I found him struggling with his clothes.

"I lost blood," Sebastian noted, as I helped him out of his jacket. The shaft had made an ugly hole in his hand, but I could tell it was already healing. Still, I thought it could use some Bacitracin or something. Given how fast Sebastian recovered, I worried that infection could set in even as the wound closed.

"You can have some of mine," I offered when I came back from the bathroom with the salve. "Blood, I mean."

Sebastian sat on the bed. He smiled at me a bit wickedly. "I thought you a.s.sured your friends your intentions were honorable."

"They are," I said, handing him the tube of disinfectant. "The entire wedding party is downstairs. We can't have s.e.x."

He squeezed out a handful of goo and slapped it over the puncture haphazardly, like it was suntan lotion or something. "Why not? It'd be naughty."

I blushed a little as I helped smear some on the back of his hand. "Very, and kind of rude. They're expecting us back."

"At least let me nibble somewhere fun," Sebastian insisted, putting his hands on my waist and leaning up to nuzzle my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Pleasure instantly stiffened my nipples. I playfully pushed him away. "Sebastian," I complained, though not too hard. He slid his hands under my sweater. "C'mon," he said. "Let's make this fun."

Well, he had a point. He had to bite me somewhere, so it might as well be somewhere pleasurable. I pulled my sweater over my head. "Okay," I said. "But make it quick."

His legs straddled me as I stood next to the bed. Pulling me close, his teeth nipped at the lacy edges of my bra.

I was just getting into it when I heard the screams from the living room.

I rushed down the stairs, pulling my sweater over my head as I went. Tereza stood in the middle of the room. My friends had formed a loose, wary circle around her.

"I'd really been hoping for torpor," I muttered.

"Me too," Sebastian agreed, flexing his wounded hand.

Tereza looked up at Sebastian imploringly. Her eyes seemed brighter than usual, less clouded by insanity or whatever it was that kept her constantly leaping for my throat. Curious, I tapped into my magical vision. Even without going deep into a trance, I could discern the edges of Athena's s.h.i.+eld. My protection spell still guarded her.

"I'm cold," she said with a tremor in her voice. She glanced wildly at the faces of the people around her. "Sebastian? Where am I?"

Everyone looked at Sebastian. How do you tell someone she's been dead for a hundred and fifty years?

"Come sit by the fire," he said. Coming down the stairs, he steered her toward a nearby chair.

"Yeah, have the blanket," William offered the afghan he'd wrapped around his shoulders like a shawl.

"I'll put the kettle on," Smitty offered, heading to the kitchen.

"Isn't that the crazy lady from the restaurant?" my dad said, waking up with a start. Barney jumped from his lap with a hiss. She bolted up the stairs. Her claws clattered on the hardwood. Izzy, Marlena, and my mother huddled together on the opposite side of the room and whispered to each other. Larry and Walter watched from the couch with eyes like dinner plates. Sebastian deposited Tereza in the overstuffed chair. William draped the blanket over Tereza's knees. She smiled at him kindly and pulled it up over her arms. Sebastian knelt beside her but looked at me when he said, "The sleep has done you some good."

I nodded, considering. Maybe given time for the healing factor to do its magic, Tereza could become more stable, less bloodthirsty. Perhaps she needed a little Sleeping Beauty time, vampire style.

Matyas came to crouch beside his mother. "Miri dye, do you recognize me?"

"Of course, my darling boy." She laughed, taking his face in her hands. She kissed his cheek. "Oh, Matyas! You're so hot."

He wrapped her hands in his and looked her in the eye. "No, Mama, you're cold."

"Isn't she dead?" William wondered out loud.