The Witch's Dream - A Love Letter to Paranormal Romance (Black Swan 2) (29 page)

Katrina stared at Elora for a few seconds while she processed that, then looked around the table shyly and allowed herself just a little smile. “I know.”

All three men of B Team were a little moved by Elora’s sentimental speech. Being men, they were also a little embarrassed and at a loss for what they were supposed to say to that. Thankfully a knock on the door interrupted the silence.

As master of detail, Simon thought to send up a new cell phone for Kay, since his former phone had been destroyed. Ram got the door then handed him the phone.

Kay looked at it for a minute and then ventured hesitantly, "Did I do any other damage?"

Ram barked out a laugh and Elora shoved an elbow in his ribs. "Ow! Great Paddy, woman, that rib has just finished healin' since the last time you broke it."

"Guess that answers my question," Kay said dryly.

Elora rushed in to supply the details before he had a chance to imagine the worst. "There was a little damage to the Director's outer office. It's already been repaired and even he said it was in need of redecorating. No harm. No foul."

Kay smiled at her effort to make him feel alright about losing control. "I'm sorry I called you a dumb ass."

Ram's head jerked toward Kay and his face flushed instantly as his own notorious temper fired. "You called her a dumb ass?"

Elora put her arms around Ram's mid-section laughing. "He's just being funny. It was a long time ago and he didn't mean it at the time. Actually you were there, but distracted."

Kay nodded. "It's true that it was a long time ago. It’s also true that you were there and distracted. But I
did
mean it."

Elora just smiled, shook her head, and pulled Ram out the door. Storm said he might as well have a nap and left shortly after, but not before asking Kay to let him know if Katrina had thought of any other details. Kay assured him that his new phone was at the ready if she did.

"Part of me wants to take a hot bath and climb in bed." Katrina was grateful to finally be alone with Kay. "Part of me is too tired to move. And part of me wants to stay awake and talk about all this." She waved her hand in the air. "About what kind of work you really do. We've always thought you had some kind of high clearance government job, but I pictured you working at a desk. This..." She trailed off, looking around the room like something might be hiding in corners, and not knowing exactly how to finish that sentence.

Kay pushed his chair back from the table, reached over for Katrina, urging her to stand up and come back to the warmth, comfort, and safety of his lap. She snuggled in like she knew exactly where she belonged.

"We'll do it any way you want, but the answers to your questions won't change if you have a nice bath and a toes up. The other thing that won't change - ever - is the way I feel about you."

She rested her head against his shoulder. "I was scared."

"I know."

"You know what I really want?"

"What?"

"I don't want to wait until October for the big ass wedding of the season. Now that I understand just how fast things can change, I want to get married right now. I can't even remember what it was we were waiting for." While she talked, Kay rocked her ever so subtly, so glad to have her in his arms and a little desperate to restore her sense of well-being and security in any way he could. "Just our families and your... these people you're so close to. And I want to do it at the place we’ve both loved so much since we were kids - your family's river house, with all those sweet memories around us like a good hug.” Kay let her know he was listening by giving her a little squeeze. “On the grass. In bare feet while it's still too early in the year for chiggers and stickers."

He laughed softly and kissed the top of her head. "Anything."

Kay had food brought in that night so they could stay put. They didn't talk to anybody else except for the Operations Assistant who delivered Katrina's suitcase to their door. Kay's sisters, bless their hearts, had overnighted it, anticipating that she would need her things. She’d been so ever-present all their lives, they loved her almost as much as Kay did.

The betrothed used their time together well. They bathed. They slept. They ate. They made love. They talked at length about Kay's work, about the history and work of Black Swan. Through Kay, Simon offered Katrina the best on site psychological trauma counseling available anywhere, and, being a reasonable and well educated individual with no false pretenses, she agreed to talk it out with the pros before she left.

Last, the two of them talked about their wedding.

"I'd like to get married on May Day, but it looks like it's on a Thursday. That's not going to work for your sisters because they just took time off work. We'll have to settle for the third. That's the next Saturday after May Day."

Kay ran his huge hand over her hair. "It's perfect, Trina. So why are you sad?"

She didn't cry, but her eyes got red around the rims and he could tell she was working at holding back tears. "I feel so guilty about Litha. I'm here with you. Free of that..."

"Demon," Kay supplied.

"And she's there in my place. I hope she's safe, but I can't know that."

"Just look how resourceful she is, Sugar. There wasn't a soul in this outfit that thought there was a chance in hell you could be retrieved from another dimension. Criminently. I still can’t believe it, myself. And here you are.” He just had to gather her in his arms again to reassure himself, again, that she was there and okay. Fully present and accounted for. “It was impossible right up until Litha did it. She's a miracle maker. And one of these days she's going to turn up just like you did."

"You really believe that?"

"On my honor as a Black Swan knight." Kay felt like a shit lying on his honor as a Black Swan knight.

She gave him an I-adore-you look. "You know it's not at all hard to think of you that way."

He smiled. "What's going to be hard is keeping our secret. No one else can know any of this. Not ever. Not even after I leave."

***

CHAPTER 16

Deliverance returned a few minutes after he'd left. Litha had barely had time to look around. Not that there was much to see.

The demon nodded toward a section of wall. She turned to see why he'd gestured toward it and part of the wall slid open to a large room beyond that was quite contemporary, if not futuristic. Unlike much of contemporary style, there was plush, comfortable furniture set in a minimalist context with a white shag rug on a terrazzo floor and a glass coffee table. What caught Litha’s interest was the view of a dark blue lake with pink gravel beach.
Nope. Not in Kansas anymore.

He handed her a white paper sack wafting a heavenly aroma that smelled like hamburger and made her salivate, then gestured for her to enter the adjacent room, with the hand that was holding the glass longneck of IBC root beer, also meant for her.

Litha took a quick look around at the surroundings and sat down on a divan. One entire wall of the room was glass looking out at the lake which featured large bowls of fire above the water line and near the shore. One entire wall was made up of a grid of dozens of monitors simultaneously playing TV shows, movies and news. Most of them seemed to originate in her reality... the, uh, Loti Dimension. A third wall could only be described as an altar to fire and the fourth was smooth, rectangular stones, bare except for an enormous oil painting of a woman who looked a lot like Litha except for her fair skin and light brown hair.

Deliverance slouched on the divan facing hers and tracked her every movement. Until that moment he hadn’t realized that it was strange for a demon who certainly never planned to entertain guests, to have furnished his living space with a pair of matching divans that faced each other as if inviting dialogue.

She pointed at the monitors. "Bored much?"

He lifted a bare shoulder. "I like to keep up." He had removed his shirt and shoes after handing over the food.

"I thought you said no hamburgers from London."

He snorted. "That didn't come from London. It came from a 6th Street bar in Austin. Casino el Camino." He casually threw an index finger toward the burger. "Well done with everything including onions
and
jalapenos."

"Texas?"

"Not dignifying that with an answer." He chuckled to himself looking mischievous. "Right now I’ll bet there's some irate fool standing at the counter yelling, 'Hey. Where's my burger?'"

"Where did you leave the woman?"

"As agreed... " He inclined his head toward her. "...she was deposited where I took her. The lobby of the Hyde Park Hotel, London, Angland, United Queendom of Great Britannia, Loti Dimension, Gods Save The Queen." Litha opened her mouth to say something else, but he went on. "
And!
She was in absolutely perfect condition, sound of body and mind, at least to the limited extent of her potential."

Litha took a bite and chewed. "Condescending. Don't you have, uh, sex with humans?"

"Sure. Among others. I'm an Abraxas. I'm nourished by emotion. In my particular case, being a subspecies called Incubus, I can only be sustained by sexual excitement. Don't misunderstand me. I like them. But bottom line, they
are
food.”

"Excuse me, but, ew. Trying to eat here."

Deliverance looked unrepentant and amused. “Have you ever seen a biogram of a woman’s brain when she orgasms? It lights up with an array of kaleidoscope colors like she’s powering up the universe." He looked out the window toward the lake and shook his head a little. “It's amazing.”

He turned to watch Litha eat. “I’m sure it ‘tastes’ better to me than that hamburger does to you.”

“No way.” She chomped down on a bigger bite.

He smiled. “Glad you like it.”

"I get why you don't have a kitchen, but, as you can see, I
do
eat actual food. Are you going to fetch all my meals? I’m a grazer. That means I like to eat little meals. Often."

He snorted. "Little meals like the third pound burger you just devoured in six minutes?”

“I was hungry.”

“The answer is no. You're going to earn your food."

Litha stopped chewing. "How?"

"You will dine anywhere you wish, eat anything you wish, anytime you wish, but you have to successfully navigate a pass to get us there."

"Is that hard to do?"

"Not for me." He seemed as perky as if it was all a game.

Litha glanced at the wall where the portrait hung. "What about her? Was
she
food?"

The demon's face fell and for the first time, she saw something other than variations on smugness. It might have been a flicker of guilt or remorse or any one of a hundred emotions. Maybe just plain old sadness.

"No," he said quietly. "I loved her. I still do."

***

CHAPTER 17

When Kay and Katrina emerged from their hideaway the next morning, they looked like they had been rebooted. Katrina seemed polished bright in her own clothes. Kay looked relaxed and happy. They'd called and asked that Ram, Elora and Storm have breakfast with them in the Director's newly redecorated outer office.

When the little group was assembled, they announced their plans to wed in a week's time and shared that Simon had given them all leave to go to Hunt, Texas for the wedding and festivities. Storm took one look at Kay and knew in his heart what Kay had not yet said; that he wouldn't be coming back.

Elora asked Katrina if there was something she could do to help with the event.

"Thank you, but, you know his sisters are not only on the scene, but they're also very, ah, take charge."

Elora chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. Still, if there's anything that requires lots of brute strength, I'm your girl."

Katrina’s eyes drifted upward and roamed over Elora's hair. "That really
is
your natural color isn't it?"

Elora sighed. "I'm afraid so. I've thought about changing it to blend in more because I don't like the attention, but I always chicken out."

"That's not chickening out. It's your heart telling you to be yourself. Plus, there’s also the it’s-amazing factor."

"Katrina, I like the way you think. Now tell me what the bride is wearing."

After breakfast Kay asked Storm to take a walk. They crossed Princes Street to the Gardens side, walked east and turned right onto the bridge. They naturally fell into the easy and relaxed way in which they were accustomed to interacting with each other. They talked about ideas for the wedding, the logistics of getting everybody there and putting it together so fast and, of course, about how badly Katrina's abduction had scared Kay.

Halfway across Kay stopped on the bridge and leaned on the rail looking off toward Calton Hill. "Probably goes without saying, but just to make it official, I'd like you to stand up with me. Can’t dive into the deep end without you at my back. You know I was thinking that best man is kind of a funny expression. This may be the first time in history when it happens to be true."