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San Diego, California
Reese O’Rinn strolled down a quiet section of the La Mesa suburb at a loss for how to cheer up her twelve-year-old neighbor and dog sitter, Phoedra.
Wait, not twelve. That would really set off Phoedra. She was now a teenager at thirteen.
Until now, Reese had a go-to list for bringing a smile out of the adorable teen, but not today.
Everything she’d suggested had been met with indifference.
What else could she do at five in the afternoon that would be fun?
Normally, Phoedra would be bubbling with excitement over the smallest thing and full of opinions, which never failed to show her mature side. It usually took so little to make her happy. She’d turn her face up to the sun, which was currently on its way to setting, and smile, then prance around to show off whatever she’d worn in her favorite colors.
Nope. Today she kept her chin tipped down and wore a slouchy, long-sleeved, gray T-shirt and jeans with her worn sneakers.
A far too subdued look for her.
Just like her silence.
Reese knew zero about raising a child since hers had died without ever having a chance at life. That had been ten years ago. Not a day went by that she didn’t feel the loss.
But Phoedra was such a special girl in so many ways that being around her had patched over some of the holes in Reese’s heart. Everything about this child was unique except for her last name. Smith didn’t really fit.
Phoedra’s bright gaze had an exotic appeal, and for a thirteen-year-old, she was wise beyond her years.
Who knew? There might be other kids her age who were just as wise, but Reese felt justified in her subjective opinion since she’d been around to watch this one change. From a lanky braniac who had always been an adorable kid, Phoedra was budding into what would be a stunning young woman. She took in the world through inquisitive blue eyes and wore her black hair chin-length ... with a dash of pink.
She’d sported an entirely pink head of hair until last week.
Phoedra had major endearing qualities like loving Reese’s shaggy mutt, Gibbons, and looking at Reese on occasion as if she were some kind of superhero.
That right there qualified Phoedra for saint status, because while Reese did a smash-up job of pretending to be human, she would never be a superhero.
She would also never expose Phoedra to the fact that Reese was not human, or to the nasty demons hunting the energy inside Reese, which was why she had to keep the girl inside this demon-free zone east of downtown San Diego. Reese had stopped hunting demons so that the pain-in-her-butt person who gifted her this safe zone would not take it away.
Phoedra had been acting strangely lately, for ten days actually, and Reese was running out of geographic area to keep a thirteen-year-old entertained and safe.
Was Phoedra close to starting her period? How young did girls start nowadays?
I suck at knowing what to do for a teenager.
The movie Phoedra had wanted to see was sold out. Now what?
“What’s going on in that head of yours, Phoedra?” When at a loss, go rushing forward with a stupid question.
The girl lifted her slim shoulders.
Reese squelched a growl of irritation.
Where had the perpetually sweet young lady gone? Was this the infamous evil hormonal stage coming upon Phoedra?
At Phoedra’s age, Reese had been a real pain in her mother’s backside, but that had been more about Reese possessing demon blood than anything else.
Maybe all thirteen-year-old girls had demon blood. Heh.
“Got something you want to do?” Reese asked, feeling desperate.
Phoedra shrugged again.
“Come on, Phoedra. Talk to me.”
“You didn’t have to come with me.”
Technically, Phoedra was talking, but that was not what Reese had wanted to hear. “I’m actually a little hurt that you headed out for a movie without me.”
“I forgot.”
Reese was no lie detector like that demon Skinwalker named Storm whom she’d met in Atlanta six weeks back, but she called the bullshit flag on Phoedra forgetting.
She’d seen Phoedra leave her apartment after the girl’s foster mother, Donella, had departed for work.
Reese had told Donella a long time ago that she’d keep an eye out for Phoedra any time Donella couldn’t be there, and in return, Phoedra and her foster mother took care of Gibbons.
Reese was pretty sure this wily teen had slipped out without telling her foster mother, but she would not betray Phoedra’s trust when she was generally such a good kid. Something was clearly bugging her, but what?
Phoedra asked, “Do you ever get premonitions, Reese?”
“Uhm, I, uh...” How to answer that? Reese saw visions sometimes, but not the way humans had premonitions from what she understood of them. Think, Reese. Phoedra had opened a door. She needed to keep her talking. “Sort of. Why?” Always redirect the question when in a tight spot.
“I asked Donella, but she doesn’t have them,” Phoedra said, instead of answering why she was asking.
Reese bit her lip, keeping quiet, hoping the tactic would push Phoedra to talk. It worked on adults.
Swiping a handful of black hair and pink highlight behind her ear, Phoedra admitted, “Sometimes I have a feeling something will happen. You know?”
That sounded right for a premonition.
What was a safe answer?
“I know what you’re saying.” Then it hit Reese that maybe this was part of Phoedra’s female cycle coming on. “I think it’s a female trait. I’ve heard some women say when they have their period, their intuition increases.” Total bullshit, but damn that sounded good.
Phoedra slammed to a stop and spun on her. “What? I’m not having PMS!”
Oh, crud. Backpedaling, Reese raised her hands in supplication. “Hey, I wasn’t suggesting that. I was just saying what I’ve heard from other women.” Not that she socialized with any besides Phoedra and Donella.
Time for a subject change. Reese went for Phoedra’s favorite topic. “How’s Joey doing?”
Phoedra’s eyes teared up. “He’s a jerk.”
Oy. Was there no safe direction?
But Reese did have experience with the opposite sex and shared her best advice. “Boys, and all men, are idiots most of the time. They don’t usually deserve the women they get.”
“But I really like this one,” Phoedra said in a watery voice.
Reese could commiserate.
With the exception of a casual encounter when loneliness got the best of her as a younger woman, she’d spent years avoiding intimacy with men. Who could blame her after the man she’d fallen for at nineteen had gotten her pregnant, then abandoned her.
Then she discovered he’d been married.
Then she lost the baby.
Then ... life didn’t matter a whole lot for a long time.
But in fairness to men in general, she’d met Quinn, who was unlike any other she’d ever encountered. So much that Quinn was the cause of her suffering weeks of stupid fantasies since she’d come back from Atlanta.
She couldn’t get him out of her mind.
He was in a hot and incredibly wonderful category of males all his own. He’d fought to protect the body of a dead priestess from potential necromancy. Not just any priestess. Kizira had been a Medb, an enemy of the Beladors, and Quinn was the North American Belador Maistir.
Who did something like that these days?
Sleeping with the enemy didn’t get much closer than a Belador bedding down with a Medb.
Reese didn’t know for sure Quinn and Kizira had done the horizontal tango, but she felt certain something serious had gone on between those two.
She couldn’t shake the disappointment that had latched onto her and still followed her around since she’d figured out that connection.
It wasn’t as if she had an attachment to Quinn.
Sure, he had stood between her and a horde of demons, and he’d played fair with her even though she never came clean with him about why she’d been sent to retrieve Kizira’s body. She’d like to think Quinn would have understood if she’d told him she’d been offered the return of her powers for delivering Kizira’s body and keeping it out of the Medb queen’s hands.
In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to take the body from Quinn, who was clearly grieving the loss and willing to protect Kizira’s body from everyone. She might be cursed with being a demon magnet because of her blood, and she would do practically anything to have her powers returned, but not at someone else’s expense.
Phoedra said, “I told him about my premonitions yesterday and he said I was special.”
Reese started to ask what she was talking about, but recovered in time when she realized they were still discussing Joey-the-jerk who had made this girl cry.
“You are special, Phoedra. You’re beautiful, intelligent and gifted.” Gifted should cover premonition territory. “Never settle for anyone who doesn’t treat you right.” Reese mentally ran back over what Phoedra had said and asked, “So, if he said you were special, what’s the problem?”
“He didn’t want to meet me at the movies today and I know he’s not working.”
Aha! Reese felt much better knowing Phoedra had not been dumping her so much as meeting a boy on the sly.
Wait a minute.
That didn’t sound right at all.
Who was this guy Joey? Reese carefully said, “I wish he had joined us. I would have liked to meet him. What does he look like?”
Phoedra warmed to that topic, sounding breathless. “He’s got a great body. Maybe eight inches taller than me and has a green Mohawk. He’s a, uhm ... ”
Reese supplied, “Bad boy?”
Pink embarrassment flushed Phoedra’s cheeks. “I guess. He’s not like anyone else I’ve ever noticed.” She released a sad sigh. “I mentioned inviting you and that’s when he backed out. I told him how you’re a good friend, but I think he didn’t like that you were older.”
Twenty-nine was not old. Reese would like a chance to explain that to Joey-the-jerk. She was starting to think he might be someone older who was lying about his age to be around Phoedra. If that was the case, Reese would find him later and let out her inner evil bitch to make him think twice about ever coming around this girl again. She’d also send in an anonymous pedophile report. She would not tolerate some creep getting near Phoedra.
Still sounding hurt, Phoedra said, “I thought Joey might show up anyhow when I told him I changed my mind and I would go alone. But I didn’t see him at the theater.”
Reese would bet Joey had seen her with Phoedra. This guy was sounding more and more like some manipulating slimeball trying to get Phoedra alone to get frisky with her.
Phoedra’s eyes lit up. “Look!”
Reese spun around, ready for an attack.
Cars cruised by slowly. People strolled down the street. The sky was blue and full of fluffy clouds.
She looked at Phoedra. “What?”
“A psychic,” Phoedra whispered conspiratorially. “I’ve been wanting to go to one.”
Reese had yet to meet an honest psychic, but that didn’t mean some didn’t exist. She considered calling Donella first to clear it, but the minute she suggested that, she’d destroy the moment with Phoedra, who was actually smiling now.
Besides, what could be the harm of some woman staring into a crystal ball?
Reese would be right there with her. “Good idea.”
Phoedra started nodding. “I know, right?” She took off and Reese kept up with her as the girl cut across the street to the front door for Madame Salina.
Phoedra waited as Reese opened the door. Evidently this looked a little intimidating up close. Reese blinked her eyes to adjust to the dark interior lit only by candles and a small lamp with a yellowed shade that had tassels along the top edge. Incense burning in the corner failed to cover the old smell in the air.
A woman with dark-brown hair streaked with gray, decent makeup and black-outlined eyes walked into the room. Her red-and-black dress fell in filmy layers over her plump shape. She might be fifty, but her face wore it well.
“I am Madame Salina. May I help you?” she asked with the welcoming smile of someone happy to make money.
Phoedra looked at Reese with pleading.
What could Reese do but say, “My friend would like a reading. Do you have an opening?” Maybe the woman would be booked for the day.
“Actually, I saw my last appointment a few minutes ago and was going to leave—”
That’s the ticket. Reese gave a good apologetic look. “No problem. Sorry we didn’t call for an appointment.”
Phoedra looked crushed.
Crap.
“Oh, no, I was about to say I had a regular client call just now. She’ll be here in about an hour, so I have time.”
“Wonderful,” Reese said, but a weird feeling crept over her. Was she making a huge mistake? If Donella got upset, she might not let Reese around Phoedra again.
The change in Phoedra was instantaneous. “Thank you so much, Reese.”
The pressure of friendship.
Reese had two friends and did not want to lose either one. “What luck, huh?” she said to Phoedra, then asked the psychic, “How much?”
Madame Salina said, “I sometimes offer first-time visits for free. This will be my gift to her today.”
Phoedra’s eyes lit up. “Really? You’re the best.”
Reese felt unseated by a stranger, but she let it go. The woman probably sucked a person in with a free reading, knowing they’d come back for more.
Seeing Phoedra truly excited over something for the first time in a week and a half was worth it.
Waving her hand toward the opening behind her, Madame Salina said to Phoedra, “Please come in.”
Reese started to follow, but the psychic asked, “Do you want a reading as well?”
What if this woman was for real and somehow exposed Reese’s true nature? She shrugged. “Not really.”
“Then please wait out here.” Madame Salina walked through the opening and pulled two sliding wooden doors together.
Reese paced quietly for a minute before misgivings got to her. She’d always respected the privacy of others but what if that woman told Phoedra something crazy about her premonitions?
Or what if she told Phoedra something about Joey that caused the girl to get into trouble?
Or ... heck, Reese didn’t know. She wasn’t a parent.
She wasn’t even human.
Stepping close to the sliding doors, she eased them apart a tiny fraction at a time until she could see into the room.
Fifteen feet away, Phoedra sat in a chair upholstered in gold brocade and positioned to the left of a round mahogany table. The psychic settled opposite her in an identical chair. They were in a cozy spot framed with draped curtains pulled back at the sides and a small sofa against the far wall. Candles gave everything an intimate glow.
The furnishings in this place belonged in an antiques display for the late eighteen hundreds.
Thankfully, the room where Reese waited had a similar amount of candlelight, which wouldn’t give away her snooping. She suffered a moment of guilt, but dismissed it.
Phoedra’s safety came first and Reese would never share anything she heard.
Conscience put at ease, she stilled her breathing as Madame Salina finished her initial small talk and got down to doing her psychic thing. She uncovered a crystal ball in the center of the table.
Huh. Reese hadn’t thought there’d really be one.
Phoedra asked, “I’m not sure what to do about a boy I like.”
Madame Salina held her hands just above a ball and studied it. “Your relationship is going through a difficult time.”
Reese almost laughed. What young girl wasn’t in a rocky relationship? Phoedra was no pushover. Any minute now, she’d put Madame Salina to the test.
Phoedra asked about premonitions, which Reese had expected.
Madame Salina said, “You are quite gifted.”
I already told her that, Reese thought with a grumble.
“You must trust your instincts,” the psychic went on. “You are strong and you have wonderful things coming your way.”
Phoedra squinted at the psychic.
Uh oh. Reese knew that suspicious look in the girl’s eye.
Here it comes ...
“Can you tell me who my mother and father are?” Phoedra asked.
Reese’s heart hurt from the longing in Phoedra’s voice.
Madame Salina said, “I ... I don’t like to say some things to one your age.”
“What do you mean?”
“It sounds as if you don’t know if your parents are alive or not.”
“I don’t,” Phoedra admitted sadly. “I want you to tell me.”
The psychic looked up with concern in her face. “I would not like to be the one to tell you that sort of thing if they are not alive.”
“Is it because you don’t know?”
Staring into the ball again, the psychic said, “I know about one of them.”
Phoedra gasped and sat forward. “What? Which one.”
Hell, Reese was leaned in, too, waiting on that answer.
“I feel a spirit close by.”
Reese’s heart thumped wildly. She should grab Phoedra and get her out of here. That woman couldn’t know if her mother or father was dead, could she?
“You think one of them is ... dead?” Phoedra asked.
When Madame Salina nodded, Phoedra swallowed hard and said, “I want to talk to whoever it is.”
Reese shut her eyes. What have I done? Donella would kill her.
Madame Salina opened her hands and raised her chin, eyes closed. She said, “If you are this child’s parent, please let us know.”
Reese heard Phoedra sniffle and dropped her head against the door. She couldn’t take listening to Phoedra in pain. This had gone on long enough. Reese lifted her head and looked through the crack, preparing to go in and drag Phoedra out of there even if that meant the girl didn’t speak to Reese for a while.
A smoky figure in a hooded robe took shape behind Phoedra.
Reese checked the psychic, who still had her eyes closed and seemed oblivious. Heh.
Now what am I supposed to do? Reese chewed on her lip. What if that really was one of Phoedra’s parents?
The psychic said in a low tone, “I feel someone who cares about you close to us.”
Phoedra blurted out, “Ask why they left me.”
The ghost’s hand stretched out from the sleeve. Narrow fingers with sharp nails looked to be feminine. The ghost balled her hand into a fist. The floor trembled.
Oh, no, no. Reese’s palms dampened. She gripped the doors.
The psychic’s face gave away her surprise.
Hold everything. Reese lowered her hands. Did the psychic know someone was there or not?
Madame Salina now stared at the crystal ball, licking her lips and showing no sign of acknowledging the ghost standing behind Phoedra, who made no move to touch the girl.
Damn. What if that was Phoedra’s mother? If Donella knew who it was, wouldn’t she have told this girl? This couldn’t be the first time Phoedra had wondered about her parents.
This might the girl’s only chance to find out.
The ghost wasn’t a demon. Seeing how the ghost now held a hand above Phoedra as if protecting her, Reese took a breath and gave the psychic another minute.
Madame Salina said, “O spirit, if you are this child’s parent, move the candle flame.”
The ghost unfurled her other hand from the deep sleeve.
Reese watched the candle closely for any tiny change, which ended up not being necessary. The flame flickered once then grew and twisted unlike any flame Reese had ever seen.
Riveted in place, Phoedra’s gaze locked on that braided flame as if it was a direct cyber connection to the afterlife. She whispered, “Which parent is it?”
Madame Salina had lost some of the pink in her cheeks, but she said, “O spirit, if you are her mother, give us a sign.”
The candle bent to one side.
Yes, it tilted toward Phoedra and wax drizzled from the candle. Reese couldn’t see what the wax looked like.
Phoedra got excited. “It’s an M. It must be my mother!”
The psychic looked less thrilled by the minute. Could she feel the power vibrating in the room that Reese felt even from behind the door?
Who was that ghost?
Madame Salina must have felt something. Her skin turned pasty. She lifted her disturbed gaze to Phoedra.
Reese expected the psychic to finally comment on the ghost standing in her line of sight, but Madame Salina didn’t say a word. She seriously couldn’t see it?
Practically bouncing now, Phoedra asked, “Who is she? What’s her name? Did she ever care about me?”
The table began to vibrate, making the candle dance around.
Madame Salina slapped her hands on the table and shouted, “O spirit, please show your love and cross over. Be at peace.”
“No!” Phoedra shouted. “Don’t send her away!”
The melting candle lifted up, the flame blinked out, then the candle flew against one of the door panels where Reese hid. She jumped back, then lunged forward and shoved the doors apart, determined to get Phoedra out of there now.
A loud crack sounded as the table ripped in two with each half falling to Phoedra’s right and left side.
The psychic made panicked animal sounds.
Madame Salina’s chair spun around and shot her out of it onto the floor. She jumped up and ran to a door at the back of the room, screaming.
Reese had made it two steps inside when everything calmed except for Phoedra crying.
The spirit floated toward Reese, stopping between Reese and Phoedra.
In a furious move, the ghost pointed a finger at Reese then shoved the same digit in Phoedra’s direction in a silent order. Then she vanished.
But not before Reese recognized the face she’d seen all too often on the darknet.
That face belonged to a dead Medb priestess in Atlanta.
The same body Reese had left with Quinn.
Holy crap.
Was Kizira of the Medb coven Phoedra’s mother?
That made no sense. No Medb priestess would leave her daughter to be raised by someone else, and definitely not a human.
Had Kizira’s spirit shown up because Reese was present at the reading?
That seemed more logical, but why?
Was Kizira trying to get Reese to help Phoedra find her mother and father?
Again, why?
This was like a twilight zone episode of that old show with Timmy and Lassie, but with Kizira’s spirit playing Lassie’s role of pointing out trouble.
None of that made sense either.
Reese gave up for the moment. She got a shaky Phoedra up and held the girl as she cried herself out.
When she caught her breath, Phoedra said, “I know you had to have heard some of that. Do you think it was my mother?”
So Phoedra wasn’t wigged out over a spirit wrecking the room, only that it might have been her mother?
Reese wanted so much to tell her yes just to give Phoedra something to hold onto, but she wouldn’t lie to her.
“I’ll be honest. I know it was someone’s spirit, but I have no idea if it was definitely connected to you. If I thought it was, I’d tell you.” Wiping Phoedra’s tears, Reese said, “I’m not making any promises for success, but I will help you try to figure out where you came from and the identity of your parents. Okay?”
“Thank you,” Phoedra blubbered, hugging Reese.
Poor girl. Reese meant her words.
She wasn’t sure what she could do, but she’d give it her best effort. Hopefully Donella would support her research and share what she could. Reese had spent recent years building a following as a celebrity photographer, selling her pictures under a pseudonym to media for the gossip columns. She had a way to shield her demon energy, which allowed her to leave this area to work, and now she would use her resources to track down Phoedra’s parents.
Patting Phoedra’s back as she nudged her toward the door, Reese said, “You ready to blow this popsicle stand?”
“What?” Phoedra wiped her face.
“Hey, don’t tell me you don’t remember Skipper saying that in Madagascar Penguins. We watched that last year.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Phoedra smiled a little. “I’m not thinking straight.”
“I know, hon. Speaking of dessert, I’m hungry for a banana split.”
Glancing back at the psychic’s building after walking outside, Phoedra said, “I’m in, but I still want to talk about what happened in there.”
Reese expected that but had no answers. “Let’s get you somewhere you can freshen up and we’ll talk. Deal?”
“Okay.”
Avoidance plan working fine.
Reese caught a break in the sparse traffic and crossed the street, then turned south to hunt up an ice cream shop she’d taken Phoedra to before.
They were walking past glass windows covered in brown paper on the inside. Still trying to cheer up Phoedra, Reese said, “Maybe this is a new clothes shop.”
Phoedra walked over to look into the glass pane on the door with her hands cupped on each side of her eyes. “I can’t even see ... ”
The door opened and Phoedra fell in.
“Hey!” Reese rushed over behind her and dove inside.
Someone shoved her hard enough to take her to her knees, but she’d seen no one. Nonhumans? Her eyes adjusted quickly. The only reason she hadn’t fallen on Phoedra was because the girl was being dragged away kicking and screaming.
I might not have my powers, but I still have some preternatural moves. Reese rolled to her left and flipped up to her feet, then raced after Phoedra, knocking over silver clothing racks set up between bulging boxes of clothes.
Someone swiped her legs out from under her without even touching her.
Reese was ready this time and rolled up to land on her feet again then turned, hands up for the attack.
Finally, an actual body to fight. A wide one at that. He came at her, silhouetted from behind by the bright light coming through the open door to the sidewalk.
A woman walked by without looking in.
Somebody had shielded this attack from view.
The guy lunged for her. When his big hands touched her, she latched onto arms twice the size of hers, rolled back using his momentum, and shoved her feet into his gut to flip him over.
He crashed against a stone fireplace that was under construction, and crumpled. Blood rushed down his face from where his head had taken a beating on the rocks. If he had any serious powers, he should have thrown a spell at her or used his ability to pin her better.
Maybe he underestimated her and saved his majik.
Everything about his rough look made her think merc.
Or bounty hunter.
But that would mean Phoedra was the target, because they didn’t seem interested in grabbing Reese.
She didn’t hang around to find out how much that headache was going to piss off the guy behind her. Racing through the back storage area, she jumped over piled boxes marked with designer names and landed in an open space.
Why couldn’t she still hear Phoedra screaming?
At the back door, she burst through to the rear loading area in time to see Phoedra slumped over the shoulder of a big guy with a full tattoo sleeve and green hair. He tossed the girl into a van, jumped in after her, and it peeled off.
Reese leaped off the steps and raced after the van, using every ounce of extra demon juice she had, but the van blurred, then disappeared.
Had someone cloaked it? She didn’t think so since cloaking should be more immediate. Either you’re cloaked or you’re not.
Same with teleporting.
Had the van driven into a bolthole?
Reese stopped and stared at the empty space where the van had been. She mentally reviewed everything she’d seen so she didn’t forget any details.
One major detail hit her between the eyes.
Phoedra’s kidnapper had a green Mohawk.
Joey-the-jerk was not human.
