A Barrel of Whiskey - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel) (11 page)

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!
“People are looking for him?”

“Yes.” The angel nodded, glancing at everyone, a hopeful light in her eye. “To kill him.”

“People like who?”

The woman ran the pink tip of her tongue along her bottom lip. “Angels.”

Paige bared her teeth and clenched her hand. So, she had heard right.

“Oh, hell no!” Leslie slammed her hand against the table.

Kamden startled, lifted his wobbly head and wailed.

“Ah, shit.” Leslie stood up, cupping the back of his fuzzy head with her hand and rocked him.

Alma hustled across the room, brandishing a wooden spoon. “You’re not invitin’ that kind of danger into our home.”

“He’s a child!” the angel shouted.

Alma stopped.

Leslie stilled.

Paige hadn’t taken her eyes off the woman. She was still trying to figure out what to believe, what she was going to do.

“He’s a child,” the angel said again. “A baby. And his mother was just brutally murdered.”

“Why?” Paige asked. “Who?”

“We don’t know who yet.” The angel sighed, dropping her gaze. “I believe it was to find little Bobby and kill him. I think—” She stopped, taking in a short breath and holding it. “I think she died protecting her son.”

Shit. A well of emotion threatened to clog Paige’s throat. “Who would do that?”

“We are working on it. We have a few suspects, but there are only a few of us and we have to be careful.”

Something pinged in the back of Paige’s head. Who would know who the next prophet would be? Oriel. He
had
been adamant she return home. Had he known?

Was he maneuvering her into place? Again?

Did she care? Bobby wasn’t a chess piece. He was her best friend’s baby.

A baby
, her heart whispered.
A second chance.

No. She shook her head. No. That baby was a person. A responsibility.

That didn’t change the hope enflaming her soul.

She had to get herself under control. “Do you have any solid leads?”

“No,” the angel said. “And, Paige?”

Paige didn’t say anything. She just waited, her heart and mind on overload.

“Let the detectives handle this one. If you take Bobby and then investigate his mother’s murder, you could jeopardize his life. Your lives.”

“Why are you leaving him with us?”

“Because.” Her posture turned in on itself as if she were ashamed as she looked around the room. “You, as pagans, are better…people than most of the followers of angels.”

“They should be followers of God.”

“Some are. And they are beautiful, wonderful people, but most follow only themselves. Glorify their own image.”

Paige couldn’t argue with that. There were people like that in all religions. “Wouldn’t you want your prophet raised by someone more religious? By one of your beautiful followers?” She wasn’t mocking that. She’d
met
a few of those people who loved God and loved Jesus and were amazing because of it. They would make lovely parents.

“They won’t be able to keep him safe.”

“And we will?”

“When was the last prophet born?”

“I don’t know. Back in the days of the Bible?”

The angel shook her head, sorrow blanketing her expression. “There were many born after John, but none survived into adulthood. Most didn’t even make it past toddler.”

Paige frowned at the little baby in Ethel’s arms. “I bring danger of my own.”

“Which is why you’re best suited to protect him. You’re already set for it.”

“Against angels?”

“Not all of them will be against you.”

“When Rachel finds out about him, she’ll come for him. Like she did Leah.”

The angel bit her bottom lip. “Not all is well with her. You’ll see Leah very soon, and, trust me, she won’t be staying long with Rachel. Just take him. For now. If you decide you can’t keep him…” She shook her head, her face frumpled in a concerned frown. “We’ll figure something out. Please. Just for a night or two.”

A night or two. A lot could happen in that amount of time.

T
he social worker
slash
angel
slash
dumper-of-doom left Paige’s best friend’s prophet baby surrounded by witches. Well, witches and a really cool lab tech. And a demon hunter
slash
shapeshifter.

“What the hell just happened?” Leslie asked into the stunned silence.

Kamden cooed.

The baby in Ethel’s arms flailed his hands.

Tyler skidded into the room, his red cape fluttering wildly behind him. “What did I miss?”

“Everything,” Mandy said, popping into the dining room from the living room like a jack-in-the-box. “The new baby is a prophet.”

“What’s that?” Tyler asked, his oddly sharp features twisted in a comical confusion.

“Someone who can tell the future,” Mandy said as if everyone on the face of the planet should know.

Tyler stuck his tongue out at her.

“Not just that,” Paige muttered walking slowly to Ethel and the baby. “They tell the future of the world. Great events that affect a large portion of humanity.”

“Oh. Like the Bible people.”

“Not all the ‘Bible people’ were prophets.” Though Paige wasn’t entirely sure what Tyler figured a “Bible person” was. She met Ethel’s gaze. “Do we know his name?”

“Bobby. Bobby James Blackwell.” She lifted the baby up and released him to Paige’s arms.

Paige held him as if he was fragile. She knew otherwise, but it just didn’t feel real. She’d been in a shitstorm of life-changing events for the last week and a half. She hadn’t even had a chance to remember to call Heather. Or Ethel. Or anyone else.

Fuck. What was she going to do? “Do we know how long everything’s going to take?”

“If by everything,” Alma said, setting her wooden spoon on the table with a clunk, “you mean the paperwork. That angel said it wasn’t gonna take no time at all.”

“What does that mean?” Paige couldn’t make plans on “no time at all.”

“Are you in a hurry?”

Was she? If there were people hunting down this baby, she needed to get him as far away from there as she could. Keep him shielded. She could figure out a shield for him, a protection that would keep him from sending any flare gun-like signals to those hunting him. Right?

But what if he gave off a type of scent? What if the angels could scent him?

Then this angel, what was her name? Becky something? Whatever. She wouldn’t have left him with her, right? “We need to put up angel wards.”

“I did that when your mother skipped town with Leah,” Alma said, her tone gruff. “She fooled me once. She won’t do it again.”

Bobby was so light. He barely felt like anything in her hands.

But he was so tiny and so helpless. His little face was pink, his eyes closed, one fist balled up next to his cheek. He wore a white knit hat on his small head and he was wrapped up in a white blanket like a burrito.

Could she do this?

Terror filled her. The last time, she’d charged into motherhood head-on. She hadn’t blinked. She hadn’t thought about it, even after Mark died. She’d still carried on as if she’d been invincible.

She’d lost the last time.

Becky had said Paige would see Leah again very soon and that she wasn’t going to be staying with Rachel for much longer.

No. That wasn’t what she’d said. She’d said that not all was right with Rachel. That didn’t mean what Paige took it to mean.

But if she were about to see Leah, that meant she was about to see Rachel.

And if Rachel arrived, angels would arrive with her.

And then they would know.

“We need a backstory.”

Paige didn’t even realize that everyone else had been talking until she blurted that out.

“What?” Leslie asked, her dark eyes flat with, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m related to that social-tard.”

“Sorry. I’m—just—Rachel’s coming. Here. Soon. So, we need a story to tell her so she doesn’t relay the information back to the angels.”

“The angels are trying to kill that baby?” Tyler shrieked.

“What would even make you
think
that?” Leslie asked, a what-the-fuck expression on her face. “Whose kid are you?”

“He’s been playing the craziest pretend,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes.

Kids. Paige’s eyes widened in alarm. They could blow this for everyone.

“Yes,” Leslie said, holding Paige’s gaze for a long moment before grabbing her son’s. “The angels are trying to take Bobby and it’s our mission to keep him safe. So, you don’t tell
anyone
who isn’t inside this room who he is. You hear me?”

Tyler nodded emphatically, then straightened and put his fist on his hip, kicking his cape out from around his ankles. “I won’t tell.”

“Whatever you want,” Ethel said, digging into her backpack beside her and pulling out her laptop. “I’ll create the paper trail to back your story.”

Alma held up her hands and walked back to the stove. “Dinner’s done if anyone’s interested.”

Feeding the zoo was a long process. Dexx filled in and helped Tyler make his own plate. Mandy dumped half her pasta on the floor the first try, but managed to clean up her mess and take her double helping to the table.

Leslie put Kamden in the playpen in the far corner, smiling down at his sleeping face. “You could put Bobby here.”

Paige knew she should. She needed to put him down. She needed to eat. She hadn’t eaten lunch, and breakfast had been poor and a long time ago. Her stomach, however, wasn’t protesting. It knew something more important was at large. Her every instinct was to hold onto that child, to never let him go.

Leslie gripped her wrist lightly. “I will never know what you’re going through, having your child taken from you. I won’t. But he’ll be safe. He’s in Grandma’s kitchen. It’s the safest place on Earth.”

Paige swallowed and forced herself to nod. She allowed Leslie to take Bobby even though everything in her fought to keep him in her arms.

If this was real, if she was able to keep the child, she would have to get over that. Keeping him too close would be just as damaging as abandoning him. By keeping him too close, she’d teach him dependency instead of independence. No. She needed to get a grip.

First of all, Bobby wasn’t her son.

Secondly, babies weren’t
things
you could just
give
to someone else.

Thirdly, people didn’t
get
second chances unless they
stole
them, and she wasn’t that kind of person. There might be someone out there who had really been close to Heather, someone Paige didn’t know because she hadn’t been part of her life in almost half a decade. She couldn’t hope that this was real. Something would come up. Someone
would
take him away from her.

Her arms…ached.

Breathing…hurt.

She couldn’t trick herself into thinking she’d
ever
be
anything
to another child, not like a mother. It would never happen. Rachel had taken one child away from her when everyone had said she couldn’t.

But Bobby was in danger. Someone—angels, the side Rachel fought with—was trying to kill this baby. He needed her.

She couldn’t even keep a job.

She couldn’t even protect herself. She’d allowed herself to be kidnapped, to have a spell cast upon her.

You have me. Though, really, you don’t need me. Not for this.
Cawli practically purred through Paige’s mind.
You are up to the task.

Gentle fingertips touched Paige’s elbow. Leslie. She smiled and shoved a plate in Paige’s hand, pushing her to the stove. “Eat. Feed your brain.”

Paige followed Leslie’s orders. “Is this real?” she whispered.

“It’s real,” Leslie said, dishing up her own plate beside Paige. “And you’re in the awe stage of things, but that’s because you’ve forgotten all the not-so-great parts of babies.”

Pausing with the sauce spoon, Paige tipped her head to the side, remembering. “That would be because I was sleep deprived.”

“Yes,” Leslie said, her tone filled with mock-excitement. “And that’s what you get to look forward to. Congratulations. How many personal days does the new job come with?”

She had no idea, but it was probably standard. And no maternity leave, though she could really use it. But this was the United States of America where women were shunned from the workforce after having a baby and accosted for working for a living at the same time.

Everyone else was already at the table. Tyler and Mandy sat on opposite sides, which was good because they were shooting daggers and other non-verbals across the space as it was. Paige couldn’t imagine what it would be like if they sat together.

Alma sat at the end, her back to the kitchen.

Ethel sat next to her, talking animatedly about something, her black-nailed hands flying with the telling.

Dexx had his cheeks full, but he listened to Mandy tell him something.

“Where’s Tru?” Paige asked her sister.

“He’s off installing servers for some big wig in Kansas.”

“But you just had a baby.”

“And he was there for that. He’s not much good for just about anything else and, besides, we could really use the money.”

Paige took one of the two empty chairs.