Fox Fate (12 page)

I cocked my head, identifying each heartbeat with the owner. One person was missing, and I used my ears to trace the owner's location. She was somewhere in the back of the store.

"Six heartbeats," I said. I cocked my head the other way. "The extra heartbeat doesn't sound like a wolf, but it's muffled. I think she's in back."

Angel nodded.

"How bad are the smells?" I asked her.

"Overwhelming," she said. "If I tell you we're leaving, hand everything to Anika and we're leaving."

"All right. Let's start with the massage oils." I grabbed a shopping basket, looked around, and headed towards the right.

"Michaela, Lara isn't going to like smelling any of this on you."

"Have no fear," I replied.

The staff gave us a minute or two before a clerk approached. She was perhaps upper teens, not long out of high school. She was dressed inexpensively, with heavy makeup: a teenage girl's attempt to look sophisticated. Pinned to her chest was a nametag. "Julie."

"Are you finding what you need?" she asked. She went into a short spiel about their products.

"We like the quality of your products," I said, interrupting her, "but my spouse is allergic to strong scents. Do you have any unscented oils?"

"Of course," the girl replied. She showed us how to identify the unscented choices. "My aunt doesn't care for perfume, either," she said.

Julie helped us with my choices. I spent a great deal of money, much to Angel's consternation.

"Please, Michaela," she whispered to me at one point.

"Just a few more minutes, Angel. I'll make it up to you."

Finally, I was satisfied. I handed Anika the cash clutch from my purse. "Get an extra bag," I whispered to her. Then I let Angel pull me from the store. We made it to the sidewalk, and she began sneezing.

Immediately Portia and Serena were at my side, taking me from Angel, and they led us further away from the front of the store, Angel sneezing the entire time. Her eyes started watering, and I felt very guilty for subjecting her to that.

Anika rejoined us long before Angel had herself under control. Serena provided tissues for the distraught wolf.

No one rushed her. I covered my guilt by digging through the bags Anika carried. I found the spare shopping bag and moved several items into it. I moved everything else into a couple of GreEN shopping bags I kept in my purse. Lara took them from me, earning herself a few points.

Finally, Angel's sneezes ended, although her eyes were red and puffy. "Head Enforcer, I am unfit for duty."

"You're off duty for now," Elisabeth said. "Stick to Michaela. You'll be fine in an hour or two."

"Angel, I'm sorry," I said.

"It's okay, Michaela," she replied. "It's just a little sneezing and a clogged nose."

"A cup of hot tea will help," Violet said.

"These are for you and Scarlett," I said, holding out the bag I had separated. "I hope you like them."

She took the bag with a weak smile, but then she took my arm. I hoped she would be fine.

* * * *

Two shops later, I pulled Elisabeth to the side. "I shouldn't have insisted on visiting that store."

She frowned. "This falls under the category of the enforcers making a small sacrifice to give you as normal a life as we can, Michaela."

"That's easy for you to say," I said with a glance at Angel. "You're not the one still rubbing her eyes. She's acting like it's worse than cayenne pepper."

"In a way, it is," Elisabeth replied. "Pepper is sharper, but you can sneeze it away. She was breathing those scents for nearly fifteen minutes. They filled both her nose and her lungs, and it's also embedded in her clothes. Have you noticed Lara is giving you a little distance?"

I could still smell the faint scents from the store, but I thought it smelled nice.

"It's in my hair, isn't it?"

"Yep. It's fading, but you'll both need showers when we get back."

I nodded. "You haven't made me try anything on today."

"I am biding my time," she replied. "Don't worry."

I laughed.

* * * *

Lara was very generous with the shopping trip, and the occupants from her plane enjoyed themselves immensely.

I bought a new jacket for Angel. She protested, but I told her it was practically made for her, and Scarlett was going to like seeing her in it.

I didn't pick any clothes for myself; Elisabeth did it for me. She started with six or seven different choices for me to try, and so I invited her to the dressing room with me. Two of the dresses were ridiculous -- I was sure she got them from the Young Misses section. I eyed them dubiously before looking at my sister-in-law, raising an eyebrow.

She looked away, and I thought she was embarrassed. "Please," was all she said.

"Are you going to make me show everyone else?" I asked.

"No," she said in a quiet voice.

I pulled the first one on, and she did the zipper for me. Then I did a slow circle for her, catching her smiling as she looked at me. "I once tried on a dress like this."

"How old were you?"

"I don't know. Maybe eleven. I looked ridiculous."

"Well, I look ridiculous, too."

"But you wouldn't have at eleven."

I looked at myself in the mirror. "No, I suppose I wouldn't have. Did you end up buying it?"

"I wanted it," she said. "In spite of how bad I looked."

"What stopped you?"

"Mom wouldn't pay for it. I sulked for two days."

I didn't say anything further, but I did a slow pirouette to let her see, stopping to face her. She watched as I turned, but then she looked away to stare at the wall again.

"What's going on, Elisabeth?"

"You would have looked really cute in that."

"I look really cute in everything," I said with a grin. She glanced at me, offering a brief smirk of her own.

"Take that off," she said. While I undressed, she moved the other outfit to the discard hook, and once I was standing in my undies, she asked, "Will you try the others?"

"Of course." One by one, I tried the other outfits. Elisabeth and I both vetoed one of her choices; it clashed terribly with my hair. But I said little about the others. She spent most of the time smiling while watching me, but I could sense nervousness, as well, and her heart rate was elevated.

I went back and forth, deciding whether to say something, but finally I called her on it. "Do I make the big, strong enforcer nervous?"

"Of course not," she denied.

"And yet your heart is pounding."

She turned away again, not responding.

"What's going on, Elisabeth? Are you going to make me buy one of those?" I gestured to the first dress she'd made me try.

"No."

"Are you afraid I'm going to get mad if you make me buy one or two of these?"

"No."

"Then what gives?"

"I-" she broke off. "If I asked you to pick one, would you?"

"Nope. But I won't fuss. I will fuss, however, if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"Zoe told me she'd let me dress her this way, if I wanted."

"Regrets?" I asked her.

"No. We weren't right for each other."

I moved around, inserting myself between her and the wall. She tried looking over my head, but I can be hard to ignore. "Tell me."

She tried to look away again, but finally she looked down at me. "I shouldn't have made this wager, and I shouldn't hold you to it."

"But you don't want to let me out of it, do you?"

"I-" Again she tried to turn away, but I reached up and pulled her back to face me. She let me get away with it.

"The truth, Elisabeth."

"I'm living vicariously through my sister and her mate."

I studied her. "Do you like dressing me?"

"Yes." It was almost a whisper.

"The same way you would enjoy dressing your own mate?"

"Yes." It came out a little strangled.

"Good." I leaned up and kissed her cheek. I think I surprised her with it. "You do a lot for me, Elisabeth. I'm touched and pleased you enjoy my company."

"But-"

I set my fingers across her lips, and she stilled. "Which ones are we getting today?"

Together, we picked two. I ended up with another off-the-shoulder maxi dress, this time in violet. Elisabeth was definitely showing a preference. But I admitted: I looked good. She picked an ivory shawl to go with it. The other was a little black dress. I looked stunning.

If I may say so myself.

* * * *

It was a busy day. We made it back to the house in the late afternoon. Angel headed for an immediate shower, and shortly after, the rest of us disappeared into our respective rooms to get ready for the evening.

I had nothing to do with the costumes for Violet, James and Hanna, but I'd worked with a pack seamstress to have custom costumes made for Lara, the enforcers, and, of course, myself. I let my sense of humor come through.

I dressed my mate to look like a ghost, all in off-white top hat and tails. She had a white brocade vest, coat, slacks, and white shoes. There were gloves and a scarf along with a wig of long, dusty-white hair.

I had never seen Lara in long hair before, and I thought it looked good on her. From her expression during her fitting, she was bemused by my choice.

She looked quite nummy.

I dressed Serena and Karen as two more ghosts. They were both in off-white, hooded gowns that appeared to be shredded, and they had a steel chain around their waists with a long end I expected them to hold and, to really get into the spirit, so to speak, to clank.

Angel and Portia were both zombies. Scarlett designed their makeup and taught them how to do it. Portia dressed in a confederate soldier's uniform, torn, ragged and dirty. Angel dressed like a college girl, also with torn, ragged clothing. We'd added a few bloodstains. I wanted to use real blood, but both of them had balked at smelling dried blood on themselves all night.

For Eric we started with a Mad Hatter idea, but then we zombie-ized it in a similar fashion to Portia and Angel. Portia did his makeup for him.

Ah, but Elisabeth, my sister-in-law, who I love fourth in life only behind my two daughters and my mate... I dressed her as a voodoo doll, complete with large pins that appeared to be stuck through her.

And then for myself... We were to be in New Orleans, and so I dressed as a voodoo queen. That left me with Angel, Eric and Portia as my zombies, Serena and Karen as two of my previous victims, and my sister-in-law as a voodoo doll.

Sometimes I amuse myself.

* * * *

I helped Lara get ready then chased her downstairs. "Text me when everyone else is waiting," I told her. "I want to make my entrance."

She laughed.

"I can't believe I'm letting you put me in a wig," she complained.

"You look hot," I told her. "You are so wearing all of this-" and I gestured to her, "-when I let you take me later."

She grinned.

For me, the hardest part was the makeup. Scarlett spent hours trying to help me, simplifying a design until we reached something I could do myself. I started with white face paint. I used a variety of very dark brown pencils to draw across my forehead beginning with two heavy arches from my ears, arching above my eyebrows, and meeting above my nose. Where the arches met, I continued the line down my nose, stopping in a point short of the tip.

Above that, I added more lines to follow the same arch, but not connected, with a sort of swirl representing a third eye in the middle.

Below my eyes, I did a reverse arch to the ones above, then added a dark brown rouge across my cheekbones and, widely speaking, framing my mouth. I used heavy kohl around my eyes and drew vertical lines through my eyebrows and across my painted lips.

My hair received a significant amount of hairspray, taking what was already a wild mane and making it even wilder. To it, I add a headdress of feathers.

My clothes were the easiest: a simple, ivory peasant blouse and heavy, brown skirt, both cotton. I then added a significant amount of big jewelry. My earrings dangled with white skulls hanging at the tips. They were the heaviest earrings I'd ever worn.

I wore my chopsticks and all four knives openly, even adding two more knives sheathed off my belt and set up for a cross draw in front of me. I also added two more voodoo dolls hanging from my belt.

One of the dolls looked almost exactly like Elisabeth in her costume.

I'd had fun.

I wasn't remotely finished by the time Lara texted me. I replied, "Twenty more minutes." It was more like a half hour. I sent her another text. "Is everyone dressed properly?"

"We all look suitably haunting, although Elisabeth refuses to explain her costume."

I sent back an "LOL" and told her if she figured it out by the time we made it out of the house, without any hints of any sort, I'd let her grope my bottom. I got my own "LOL" back.

Finally I was ready. I checked my appearance one more time and resisted the urge to futz with the makeup; I wasn't going to improve on it. I would only make it worse.

I poked my head out the bedroom door. No one was in sight. At the top of the stairs, I looked around the corner and called down, "Where is everyone?"

"Downstairs," Angel called back.

"In the library?"

"Portia and Karen are outside."

"I'll get a better entrance if you're all together," I said. "And you know how I like a good entrance."

Angel laughed, but then I heard Elisabeth step to the door and call the two enforcers in. I cocked my head, listening, and a moment later, it was safe to descend.

"If anyone peeks early, you will feel my wrath," I announced once I was halfway down the stairs. I moved to the library entrance, still out of sight from anyone inside, paused, and then stepped into the doorway.

Everyone was already waiting for me, and there were a great many eyes turned in my direction. No one said a word, but then Violet began laughing.

"What?" Elisabeth asked.

"Don't you see?" She explained. "She's your voodoo queen, and you are all her subjects. Or victims, as the case may be."

I strode forward and put on a scowl. "And don't you forget it, either!"