THE SMELL of cake was in the air. Red velvet of course. Chaz wasn’t sure if Jack had really delivered on his promise to bring the cake or if Imogen had busted out the cake mix with Nat. Either option sounded amazing. Music hummed from the other side of the large white door, making Chaz wonder if anyone had heard him ring the bell thirty seconds ago.
“Maybe you should knock?” Sully said. “It’s a big party. So maybe they cut to the celebration early.”
Chaz knocked. No footsteps. He reached for his cell phone, only to remember there was no service out here. Texting Imogen to answer the door for his own damn party was out of the question. Chaz raised his hand to knock again when Tansy opened up. She held a young girl with a shock of white hair and a onesie to match.
“You made it!”
“Of course we did. Kind of a big deal.”
“Yeah, but sometimes celebrations are best when had alone.” She winked as she reached out her free arm for a hug from Chaz, then Sully.
“So who is this?” Chaz asked. “Juniper or….”
“Delilah! Juniper is sleeping, though I don’t know for how long.” Tansy beamed at the mention of her recently adopted daughters. “Come in, though. Sorry it’s taken us so long.”
They stepped inside and hung up their coats while Tansy bounced Delilah over her shoulder. Chaz held out the bottle of wine he’d brought and Tansy gestured to the kitchen.
“Everything else is in there. So are a bunch of people who have been asking about you all day, and your cake. Your friend Jack arrived an hour early.”
“An hour? That’s a record for him.”
“It’s fine. He didn’t want to get lost, and now he and Nat are best friends. He’s showing him his cat pictures.” She smiled and swayed Delilah again. “I have to change this one, so let me say all the proper introductions and party talk in a bit. Imogen will take over for me.”
Tansy disappeared up the long staircase in Gabe and Nat’s home. The hallway was already filled with balloons and party streamers.
“They really are treating this like a birthday,” Sully said. “Which is still really odd to me.”
“It’s about freedom more than a birthday.”
Chaz walked through the front hallway toward the kitchen, bouncing as he did. His movements were more to do with nerves than excitement.
A week ago, Athena and he won the case against Vanessa, thereby establishing that vampires and all supernatural creatures could be victims. Vanessa and her lawyer were now supposed to press charges against the person who turned her, and the courts system would be sent into another tailspin as they learned to adjust. The entire law would be rewritten, and anyone who had suffered under its previous negligence would hopefully be rewarded reparations.
After they were ushered out of the court, they’d been met with TV crews. Some from the news but many from the Citizen’s Brigade as well. As Athena stated in one of those interviews, it would be a long, long road of atonement before real, substantial changes would be made. Chaz could now move on with his life, and though he would never be a cop again, Chaz had been looking into being a PI. It seemed fitting, especially since Imogen would now be sending him on regular detective missions as they prepared for the next stage of their legalization process.
“I get the reference for the party,” Sully said, referring to a huge streamer that declared Happy Birthday in neon writing. “The parties Divine Interventions gave you when you left. But I thought you hated them?”
“I did. Because freedom didn’t actually mean freedom then. It meant a new kind of prison. Now, though… everything’s changing. And I want a party for that.”
“Good. I respect partying,” Sully said, squeezing Chaz’s hand as he teased. Sully was still working at Artie’s renovated building, but he was also hosting education classes in her basement for new people who came through. He was starting to love that role more, and Chaz liked watching him get excited about teaching.
“Imogen told me something last week,” Chaz said. “After the trial and the cameras cornered her.”
“Oh? What was it?”
“That when you’re free, it’s your duty to find people who are not and help them get to where you are.”
“Oh, Atlas,” Sully said. They hung back in the hallway still filled with balloons, enjoying the private space before their victory would become a full-blown party. “That’s a lot on your shoulders.”
“Exactly. I said that back to her. And she told me that Atlas was a myth, so he does that work. People need one another in order to keep going, and that involves families. Parties. It involves a lot more than just one person, or even two.”
Sully took a long time to consider this. Chaz knew that wasn’t because he didn’t believe him; his silence, like so many of his silences, was probably due to nerves. Sully would meet Nat for the first time today, face-to-face.
“Okay, I see the need for parties. Just forgive me if I’m not 100 percent sure what to do at one I’m not working at.”
“Oh, don’t even worry. I’m still not sure what the hell I’m doing either.”
Sully laughed and kissed Chaz quickly. By the time they made it into the living room, the TV was playing the same interview with Imogen from the trial. A new reporter for the Citizen’s Brigade named Maxine Dream held the mic to Imogen and appeared genuinely interested as she spoke.
“We are very excited about this win for the legal status of victims. All victims are victims no matter who they are now or who they were in the past. So let’s hope that our survivors can move on and find better lives, and those growing up now will no longer be subjected to unnecessary labeling. From here, change will happen.”
“Oh, our modern-day saint,” Gabe said. He stood in front of the TV in the living room and nudged Imogen, who sat close by on a couch. Gabe brought her head close for a friendly kiss on the cheek. She squirmed but eventually let him embrace her. When Blossom ran over, Imogen picked her up and combed her fingers through the flowers in her hair.
Nat turned down the TV when a commercial for a cleaner came on. He glanced at the crowd and turned to Jack, who stood next to him, but then seemed to notice Chaz and Sully lingering in the doorway.
“Hi,” Nat said.
Everyone noticed Chaz. The feeling of being on display made his skin itch. Oh no. I should have known. I hate parties, I hate parties, I hate—
“Hey,” Nat said again, in the voice he’d used to calm Chaz down years ago. “How are you?”
“Good. A little tired, but I brought wine.”
“Sounds great!” Athena said. “I know it’s been oh so long since I’ve seen you but pour me a glass. Catch me up. How have you been enjoying that freedom?”
Athena walked over and swept Chaz into the kitchen to get a corkscrew. He talked to her easily, and when the conversation became too stilted, she changed the topic like a pro. Artie and her other sisters came over soon after, talking quickly as they ate cheese and crackers with Chaz. Even Gabe joined them at one point and congratulated him on his win.
“How’s that jaw, by the way?”
“I’m fine. Lived, obviously.”
“I am sorry,” Gabe said. “Nat told me I’d feel better if I apologized more. So is this sufficient?”
Gabe’s shit-eating grin put Chaz at ease. He was toying with Chaz, but Chaz knew that meant Gabe liked him.
“You know what? I’d say we’re even.” Chaz glanced around, searching for Nat again. He wanted more out of their meeting than a quick hi. He saw him with Sully, chatting away near the stereo that pumped music from a band called Never Lose Your Flames into the room. From the passionate way they gestured with their hands as they talked, it seemed like they were both fans.
“So how do you feel?” Imogen said, coming by the kitchen counter to get a refill of her glass. “You’re the man of the hour.”
“I’m not, though. It’s all of you.” Chaz gestured to everyone at the counter. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“I’ll take that compliment,” Gabe said.
“Same here.” Athena raised her glass. After they clinked their glasses, Nat and Sully came over, followed by Tansy. “Hey. What are we missing?”
“Nothing much. We’re just being praised like the amazing people we are,” Gabe said. “But I think we’re going to serve cake soon. How does that sound?”
“Great. It sounds really great,” Chaz said. Sully slid an arm around his waist and leaned his head against his shoulder. Gabe stood next to Nat, their poses mirrored. The goddesses all hung around in a circle, followed by Jack and Tansy with Blossom close by. As Imogen placed the cake in front of Chaz on the counter, she added candles. Nat lit them, and every eye turned to Chaz.
“What are you going to wish for?” Imogen asked.
“I’m not sure yet.”
Sully squeezed Chaz’s side. Several options rolled around in his mind. He and Sully could get a new house, move away, run around in Mexico, and have a happily ever after. Or they could stay right where they were, in an apartment in downtown Toronto where they could see the city at night and Chaz could help people get to where he was. And Chaz could go to parties without feeling like his life was about to change afterward.
Maybe that would be the wish. Less nerves at parties. Always have good hair. Or that nothing will ever change from the way it is right now.
“Come on,” Gabe said. “Or I’ll make the wish.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Chaz took in a deep breath and blew.