Simply Irresistible (14 page)

The crowd still milled in the street, occasionally glancing at the building that had been winking all morning. The winking had stopped, of course, once whoever had done the protect had figured out what was going on, but that didn’t stop the crowd from hoping that the magic would continue.

No one noticed when Eris made her elderly puppet disappear, and no one noticed when the old woman popped up again on the roof of Quixotic’s building, carrying a length of rope that Eris spelled to this location from a nearby hardware store.

Eris dumped most of her magical abilities into the puppet, and then controlled the woman from a distance. With the flick of a thought, she got the woman to spell the rope, and then complete a series of complex maneuvers that eventually allowed her to lasso the Fates.

Once those creatures reached the roof, Eris would have the puppet spell them to Eris’s own secret hideaway—her lair, as her son always called it.

The Fates were sliding up through the building, floor by floor, terrifying tenants and screaming for help. Eris particularly liked hearing the Fates scream, and she wished she could prolong the sensation.

The terror in their voices gave her great pleasure.

Eris rested her elbows on the step behind her and enjoyed these last few moments. She was nearly there. And once she had the Fates far from here, her revenge would really begin.

Dex huddled against the wall. His head ached, and he had floor burns on his elbows and knees, but he had succeeded. In his hands, he clutched the end of the magic rope.

Whoever was wielding it didn’t seem to know quite what she was doing. She had lassoed the center of the rope, not one end, and left an end dangling. He had seen it as he jumped, and when he hadn’t been able to grab the Fates, he caught the rope instead, holding the end in place with his body weight and praying that would be enough.

Around him, he could hear discussion and feel Vivian’s concern. He wanted to reassure her, but he needed to concentrate on holding the rope.

The moment it went taut, he yanked with all his strength. The rope vibrated and then went completely slack. Dex grinned. He could hear the screams of three women grow closer and closer until—

The Fates fell through the ceiling. Vivian stumbled backward to get out of their way. They zoomed past her, the breeze from their fall blowing her hair away and nearly knocking her glasses off her face.

Then the Fates landed on the floor with a decided splat. The rope was wrapped around them, but not as tightly. They lay on it, their arms and legs entwined, moaning.

Vivian looked for Dex, but didn’t see him. For a moment, she was afraid he’d been buried beneath the three women. Squashed by Fate, as it were.

That last thought didn’t feel like hers. It had too much puckish humor. She scanned the room and finally saw Dex, wrapped in a rope, even farther from the wall than he had been.

I’m okay
, he sent to her, and she felt a relief deeper than any she had ever known.

Nora and Ariel were at the Fates’ sides. The two mortal women bent over the three immortal ones, smoothing hair, untangling limbs, making sure nothing was broken.

Blackstone was looking up at the ceiling as if it had been ruined. Vari stood slowly. He was also looking up.

Vivian hurried to Dex’s side. He was wrapped in the rope and grinning as if he had just been on the ride of his life. Vivian reached down to help him unravel, but he shook his head. He wanted to do this himself.

The Fates didn’t seem hurt either. They were already talking—only they weren’t taking turns. Their voices overlapped: Clotho worrying about being bruised; Lachesis wondering if she had a cut on her face; Atropos convinced she’d have a lump on the back of her head the size of Athens.

Over the din, Vari said, “What happened? How’d they come back?”

Blackstone crossed his arms and loomed over the Fates. Vivian could feel his menace from across the room. “You really haven’t lost your magic, have you?”

“If we had any magic, we wouldn’t have fallen like that,” Clotho said.

“It’s not dignified,” Lachesis said.

“And we always try to be dignified,” Atropos said.

Dex had finally unwrapped himself. No one but Vivian was looking at him. She helped him wind the rope around his hand and elbow, like cowboys did. She was shaking. She had been so worried about him. She had a sense–just for a moment— that she had found the man of her dreams only to lose him again.

“I really don’t care about your dignity,” Vari said. “I want to know how you got back into this restaurant if you don’t have any magic. I wasn’t done with my spell.”

Dex stood. “I think this had something to do with it.”

He nodded toward his right arm, wrapped in rope. The rope trailed to the Fates, who were still lassoed in it. The other end of the rope had pooled on the floor like a giant snake.

“How’d you get that?” Blackstone asked, sounding suspicious.

“I caught it,” Dex said, “and tugged. No magic involved. Just good old-fashioned effort.”

“Tugged?” Vari asked.

“Tugged,” Dex said. “You know the old saying. ‘What goes up … ‘ “

“Yes.” Clotho pulled herself off the pile of Fates. “But I never expected clichés to be so painful.”

She was rubbing her backside. Nora untied the lasso, freeing the Fates from each other.

“Did you see who did this?” Nora asked.

Lachesis shook her head. “I was trying to free us, but I was doing it wrong. I was trying to use magic I no longer have.”

“It really was a dumb idea to come here without powers.” Atropos had a hand on the back of her head. The rope was still wrapped around her waist.

“Grabbed it, huh?” Vari asked, as if he couldn’t quite understand that. He crouched near the Fates and touched the rope, as if he were testing it for magic. “A quick jump and a grab.”

“A quick jump, a grab, and a tug,” Dex said.

“You must be very strong,” Ariel said, looking at him with admiration.

Vivian didn’t like the admiration. She wanted Ariel to move away from Dex. Vivian also didn’t like the way Dex smiled at Ariel. It was a roguish grin, filled with a bit of joy and pride.

“Not that strong,” he said. “The rope was going up by magic. Anything can interfere with that sort of spell. Which reminds me. We’d better put a good protect spell on this place or we’ll be in for more of this.”

Blackstone glared at him, as if Dex were calling Blackstone’s magic into question. But Vari clapped his hands, and Vivian saw just a bit of light leave his fingers. The light seeped into the walls, ceiling, and floor, sparkling before it faded into nothing.

“There,” Vari said. “Nothing bad can get in here.”

“That’s subjective, isn’t it?” Dex asked.

Vari shrugged one shoulder as if he didn’t care. Vivian continued gathering rope. There was a lot more of it than she had originally thought. She had no idea how Dex had managed this. A regular man couldn’t have.

No wonder he got mistaken for someone with super powers. Traditional comic book super powers. Even when he wasn’t using magic, he was impressive.

“How’re we going to open for lunch?” Nora asked.

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” Blackstone smiled at her. Then he bent over and, to Vivian’s surprise, helped Lachesis up.

“Let’s go sit down,” he said. “I have some vegetable soup I’ve been experimenting with and some French bread. That should make us all feel better.”

“Experimenting?” Clotho asked as Nora helped her up.

“Don’t worry,” Nora said. “He tries to re-create meals he’s eaten over the past thousand years. So when he’s experimenting, we get a hundred really good versions of the same meal.”

“Re-create?” Lachesis asked. “Why doesn’t he just conjure the recipe?”

“And take all the fun out of it?” Blackstone pulled back the chairs at the table he had originally been leading everyone to. The Fates limped over there and Van returned to his seat, patting the chair beside him for Ariel.

Vivian and Dex finished coiling the rope. When they were done, Dex slid it up his arm to his shoulder, the way a cowboy would. He started for the table too, not looking injured at all.

He seemed so confident. Vivian watched the way he walked, the tension in his body. His muscles rippled as he moved.

She made herself look away from him. She hadn’t followed him because something had changed. It took her a moment to realize the change had been in Blackstone.

His attitude toward the Fates seemed to have shifted. It was almost as if he wore a layer of charm over his real personality. She could see it, like a mask, making his handsome features even more attractive, his eyes brighter, his smile wider.

Everyone else seemed fooled by it, but she still sensed confusion beneath the charm. Blackstone wasn’t certain whether he was going to help these women or not.

“I’ll help you serve the food,” Vivian said, not trusting him.

Blackstone glanced at her in surprise, as if he had forgotten she was there. “No need.”

He clapped his hands together, and before the sound faded the table had changed. White stoneware soup tureens and matching bread plates appeared before each chair. Three loaves of French bread sat on cutting boards in the middle of the table, along with a huge pot of steaming soup.

It smelled wonderful, rich and garlicky. Vivian’s stomach growled, but she still hadn’t moved. She didn’t trust any of this. Blackstone bothered her.

Dex put the rope over the back of his chair and sat down as if nothing were wrong. But he was watching with the same wariness Vivian felt. Only his wariness wasn’t as obvious. He masked it with feigned indifference.

“Food is a good idea,” Vari said, leaning forward and grabbing the ladle. “I’ll serve.”

Dex wasn’t going to speak up. He probably thought it wasn’t wise. But Vivian had nothing to lose.

“Wait a minute,” she said, and this time she spoke with enough force that everyone turned toward her. “This isn’t about food or conviviality. These three women could have died.”

“You don’t know that,” Blackstone said. “For all we know—”

“I do know that.” The anger Vivian had been feeling since she arrived in the restaurant finally boiled over. “And if you people hadn’t been so damned self-involved, this could all have been prevented. I knew it was going to happen. I could sense it. And you all ignored me to go on with your silly little argument.”

Vari let
the
ladle fall back into the soup. Blackstone’s eyes narrowed. The Fates watched Vivian, small smiles on their faces. Nora and Ariel seemed surprised.

Dex was reclining in his chair, his arm over the back. It looked like he was resting. But Vivian felt him again, as if he were inside her mind. He was amused and proud of her, all at the same time.

His approval gave her strength.

“You couldn’t have known anything in advance,” Blackstone said. “You haven’t come into your magic yet. You were just nervous.”

“Nervous?” Vivian walked toward him, this tall, pompous man who had lived for centuries. “I wasn’t nervous. I felt something. I knew that we were being watched, and I felt the danger. I tried to tell you people, but you kept interrupting me with your petty argument.”

“Petty?” Blackstone seemed taller than he had a moment before.

“Petty.” Vivian shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and stopped right in front of him. She was a lot shorter than he was, but not as short as his cheerleader/lawyer wife.

Blackstone looked surprised. Apparently people rarely called him on his behavior.

“These women came to you for help,” Vivian said. “They worried about it too, knowing you had a history. And all you and your friend there, Sancho or Darius or Vari or whatever his name is, did is try to figure out ways to make them pay for some punishment
they
meted out to you hundreds of years ago. Punishment that was, from what I understand, deserved.”

“You don’t understand,” Blackstone snapped.

“I think I do,” Vivian said.

“Vivian,” Clotho said, with a warning in her voice, but Vivian chose to ignore her. Chose to ignore everyone else except this cold man in front of her.

She didn’t even look at Dex.

“What I understand is this,” Vivian said, raising her chin slightly so that she could look Blackstone in the eye. “You use charm like it’s a magic spell. You pour it on so thick that people think you’re better-looking than you really are, and nicer than you really are. And what has your attention at the moment is the fact that these three women scare you and—”

“They do not,” Blackstone said.

“They do. You’re worried that they’re going to punish you again for some imagined slight. Which—” Vivian started to add that Dex had been afraid of the same thing and then changed her mind. That was his secret to tell if he wanted to— “they are in no position to do.”

“I am not afraid of them,” Blackstone said, but his voice shook, belying his words.

The Fates looked amused. Dex leaned slightly to the left, the rope coiled behind him like a tamed snake. His right fist was clenched. He didn’t seem to notice. His entire body vibrated with anger at Blackstone, for the way the man was treating Vivian.

Dex would jump to her defense in a moment, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to do this on her own.

“I’ve never seen Blackstone afraid of anyone,” Vari said, “and I’ve known him the longest.”

“You don’t need to defend him,” Vivian said. “You’re just as bad, maybe worse, because you’re acting out of an anger that you know is misdirected.”

Vari’s pale cheeks flushed. The red accented the blue of his eyes.

Dex shifted in his chair. Vivian made sure she avoided eye contact with him. He would take that as an invitation to help her.

Instead, she glared at Andrew Vari. “You know you were wrong all those years ago, and still you blame them for all you suffered in between.”

“I do not!” Vari said.

“Well, you certainly did when they arrived,” Vivian said. “You’re still broadcasting your desire for revenge. You never thought you’d get this chance. Of course, you’re a little appalled because you didn’t realize you were this angry.”