Anything but Ordinary (29 page)

‘It was
all
of us,’ he said. ‘Just like always.’

‘Still, I reckon you ought to get
something
.’

‘I got you didn’t I?’ what more do I need?’

‘Soppy git,’ she said. 

‘And I got a wolf.’

‘That thing is not sleeping in the house,’ she said. ‘I don’t care if you
did
save the day,’

‘What’s up with Jack and Hecaté?’ he asked, changing the subject. ‘I thought
we
were the newlyweds. They’re acting like a couple of teenagers.’

‘I think it’s cute,’ said Tamar. ‘I bet I don’t moon over
you
like that after six years of marriage.’

‘You don’t
moon
over me now,’ Denny pointed out. 

‘That’s all you know,’ she said obscurely. 

‘Well, you don’t.’

‘So, a party. What do you think?’ 

‘I think I’ll do as I’m told,’ said Denny clicking his fingers and sending Fulk obediently into the garden. 

* * *

Naturally, Dawber, Slick and Ray were invited back from their restructuring of the Agency for the party.

Ray was his usual loquacious self, but Slick slumped in a corner, drank and drank, and surveyed the room mordantly from under his lids. He never said a word to anyone.

Dawber brought a lovely looking girl who he introduced as Laura. Denny was certain he knew her from somewhere, but he could not quite place her, until she referred to him as the vampire slayer.  Then he remembered. She told him that she had been recruited by the agency shortly after he had rescued her. People who had already had a supernatural encounter were prime recruiting material apparently, although it did not always work out. 

But how did they
know
she had had a supernatural encounter?   Unless …

But that had been six years ago.  It seemed that the Agency had been watching them for a lot longer than they had realised. 

‘Oh, yeah,’ said Dawber through a mouthful of salty cashew nuts, when Denny tasked him about this.  ‘There are files on you almost from the beginning. But don’t worry,’ he winked. ‘They’re “eyes only”’ and he pointed to his eyes simultaneously, incidentally, giving himself a distinctly lunatic appearance, in order to illustrate his point.  ‘Is there any more beer?’ he added.

‘In the kitchen,’ said Denny. 

There was a sudden heartrending shriek from the floor above that stopped the party dead. Everyone ran at once to the stairs and were stopped short by Finvarra appearing at the foot of the staircase distraught and shaking, clinging to one of his sons as if he were afraid that someone was about to snatch him away. 

‘He’s gone,’ he babbled incoherently. ‘Jacky, she must have taken him.’

Tamar’s heart sank –
Cindy
. ‘When?’ she snapped. 

‘I don’t know. He was there last night, but then I went to sleep. I’ve only just woken. She must have … a spell to make me sleep on, and she took him. I wouldn’t leave them but …’

‘It’s all right. There was nothing you could have done,’ Denny soothed him.  He turned to Tamar. ‘She must have taken him while the house was empty. There was no one here to stop her. We never even thought it was odd that Fin stayed in his room for twenty-four hours. Someone should have checked.’

‘Which one did she take?’ asked Stiles curiously. ‘Her own, or the one she raised in his place?’ 

‘Her own,’ said Finvarra.

‘Strange,’ said Denny. ‘Why not just take them both?’

‘She always felt closer to the
other
one. She did raise him,’ said Tamar in a puzzled tone.

‘At least she has left me with
something
,’ mourned Finvarra. 

‘I’m pretty sure that, whatever her reasons were, compassion was not among them,’ said Tamar.  ‘Not now.’ 

‘She didn’t
want
the other one,’ said Stiles, ‘why not?’

‘It’s cruel to separate them,’ wailed Finvarra. ‘Why would she do this?’

‘
I’m
going to send him to sleep in a minute,’ said Tamar callously. 

‘He’s just lost a child,’ said Denny. ‘Have a heart.’

‘We’ll get him back for him,’ said Tamar.  Which was
her
way of showing that she cared. 

But the truth was that no one knew how to do this.  They had no idea where Cindy was, or how to find out. 

‘We can put out surveillance for her. We have a good network,’ offered Dawber. ‘Slick has that department now. Slick …? Hey where is he?’

* * *

Cindy held her son triumphantly.  ‘We shall change your name,’ she told him. ‘Something more fitting for the son of an angel. ‘From now on, you shall be Ashtoreth. How do you like that?’ 

‘Where’s Daddy?’ asked Ashtoreth. 

‘He isn’t your
real
daddy,’ said Cindy. ‘He’s just the man who stole you from me.  Your real daddy is an angel in heaven. And that other child is not your brother, but an impostor who tried to take your place. But I found you and now we have escaped from these bad people. Oh, I know it’s hard to understand, my dear, but I am your mother. You must trust me. I know what’s best for you.’

‘Yes Mummy,’ he said.

There was an ironic slow clapping behind her.

Cindy spun. ‘
You
?’ she said. ‘How did you find us?’ she pointed an accusatory finger at him.

‘Cool your jets,’ said Slick holding his hands up as if she had pointed a gun at him. ‘I’m alone. The others don’t know where you are. And I’m not going to tell them. Nice speech, by the way, the truth?’

‘Every word.’

‘I thought so. There’s an old saying you know. “A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent”.’

Cindy narrowed her eyes. ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

‘Well, it strikes me that we have something in common,’ he said.

‘I doubt it.’

‘Yes we do, I saw it at the wedding. We
both
lost that day.’

Cindy raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s ancient history,’ she said.

‘Aw come on. We could play together for a while.’ And he made a gesture with his hands that was so like one that Denny made unconsciously all the time that Cindy actually gasped. 

She surveyed him for a moment through narrowed eyes. It was remarkable really. With her eyes half closed, he looked just like Denny. The same floppy blond hair, the same slouching stance, the same narrow physique. He was slightly taller but still …

‘Don’t mind me,’ said Slick. ‘I’m used to being the substitute.’

‘Ashtoreth, run and play, Mummy needs to talk to the man alone,’ said Cindy.

Slick smiled.

‘What’s your real name?’ she asked him drawing nearer.

‘Why, what does it matter? Would it give you a kick to be the only one I tell?’

‘I just want to know.’

‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’

‘I can believe just about anything,’ she told him. ‘I could
make
you tell me.’ She was very close to him now, almost touching. 

‘It’s Denis,’

‘Denis?
Denny
? Oh, that’s priceless. But I don’t believe you.’

‘I told you, you wouldn’t,’ he reminded her.

‘Don’t talk,’ said Cindy. ‘Don’t talk any more. It’s better if you don’t talk.’ As if to re-enforce her point, she looked at him through half drawn lids

Slick smiled mockingly. Every pleasure must be paid for with an equal amount of pain. Sometimes the pleasure and the pain happen at the same time. 

* * *

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ said Hecaté. ‘He has gone to her. To Cindy.

‘Then, he will bring my son back?’ asked Finvarra his voice vibrating with hope. 

‘I do not think he is coming back,’ she said sorrowfully.

‘You think she’ll kill him?’ asked Denny.

‘No. I think he has made his choice. Why else would he go to her without telling us first? I only hope he does not live to regret that choice. But I think that he will.’

‘We can’t be sure that’s where he’s gone,’ said Denny.

‘Oh yes we can,’ said Tamar. ‘Hecaté’s right. It
is
obvious.’

‘Another one bites the dust,’ said Stiles. ‘Chalk one up for the bad guys.’

‘Cindy’s not “bad guys”,’ objected Denny. ‘She’s just confused. Although she
is
causing a bit of damage.’

‘I think we can count on Cindy doing a lot more damage than this before we catch her,’ said Tamar.

* * *

‘We
will
find her, won’t we?’ asked Denny later in their bedroom.  The party had broken up, naturally. Dawber and Ray had gone back to the Agency with promises to set a search in motion immediately. Stiles had offered to help. With his police background, he seemed a natural choice to head up the investigation. 

‘She’ll find us first, I think,’ said Tamar gloomily. 

‘Poor Fin,’ he said.  ‘He’s really broken up. I think he really loved her too. Some people don’t know when they’re lucky.’

‘Well, I know when
I’m
lucky,’ said Tamar bouncing onto the bed beside him. 

‘Poor Jacky too,’ resumed Denny. ‘He keeps asking where his brother is. Not that I’m a natural advocate of large families, not after growing up with
my
brother. But some kids need the company. I think it’s a shame if he has to grow up on his own.’

Tamar just smiled and stroked her stomach gently. She had a secret. 

‘Maybe he won’t have to,’ she said meaningfully.

It took a few moments for this to sink in and then Denny just stared at her in speechless wonder. 

‘Looks like I’ve finally shut you up,’ she said. ‘I mean you’re normally such a chatterbox.’

 ~Epilogue ~

‘P
ush!Push!’

‘Aaagh!’

‘That’s it, breathe.’

‘Why don’t you go and boil something?’ Tamar snapped. ‘Oh, why does it have to hurt so much?’

‘Because you’re human now, this is how it happens. I guess there are just some things that no amount of magic can circumvent.’

‘Oh, shut up!’ Do you have to be so
reasonable
? Would a bit of sympathy kill you? – Ah ah aaagh!’

‘Okay, nearly there, and I
do
sympathise, I just don’t express it very well. Oh good, Push.’

‘I’m not talking to you,’ she said.  ‘Where’s Hecaté?’

‘She’s outside, Jack fainted. Shall I call her?’

‘I’m not talking to you,’ Tamar repeated petulantly. ‘Jack
fainted
? After all the dead bodies
he’s
seen. Men!’

Denny was deliberately trying to keep his tone light for her sake, but privately he was in torment.  He hated to see her in so much pain. She had not said it, but he had decided – never again.

Hecaté returned to the room. ‘Ah, I have not missed it. But ah, I see it. I see the head.’

Tamar screamed. 

‘Oh, my poor baby,’ soothed Hecaté. ‘Yes, I remember it does smart a bit, does it not?’

‘Just a bit,’ said Tamar through gritted teeth. 

‘Do not worry, after the pain there is the joy. You will see. Very soon if I am not mistaken.’

But for Tamar, a woman who had never suffered real pain in her life, there was joy even in the pain. A new experience, a
real
experience. She felt truly connected to life for the first time.

It did not stop her bitching about it, though. 

Hecaté delivered the child while Denny held Tamar’s hand tightly.

‘A girl,’ she said triumphantly. ‘A beautiful baby girl.’

‘I hope she looks like her mother,’ said Denny. ‘But of course she will. She can’t look like me. Mother Nature wouldn’t be that cruel to a girl.’

‘She may not look like either of us,’ said Tamar. ‘This isn’t my real face you know.’ 

‘It’s been your real face for five thousand years,’ said Denny. ‘It’s your real face all right. And look …’ He had taken the baby from Hecaté and was looking at her in wonder. ‘She looks just like you.’

Tamar took the baby. ‘Apart from her eyes,’ she said. ‘Those are
your
baby blues. Oh she
is
beautiful.’

‘Just like her mother,’ said Denny, just about ready to burst with happiness. 

‘I want to call her Iphigenia,’ said Tamar, ‘after my mother.’

Denny raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing. In all the time he had known her, Tamar had never so much as mentioned that she had ever
had
a mother. Denny had assumed that she had forgotten her long ago. It just went to show, you’re never safe from being surprised until you’re dead. 

‘You don’t mind do you?’ asked Tamar anxiously. ‘I know it’s unusual and old fashioned but …’

‘I don’t mind at all,’ Denny assured her. ‘I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to call her Rocky or Bullwinkle, as long as you’re happy.’

‘I am,’ said Tamar with a sigh.

Denny took his daughter from Tamar’s sleepy grasp and went out to the others who were waiting anxiously for news.

In the hall Stiles, now recovered from his faint, was looking sheepish. Finvarra and Jacky, Dawber and Ray were also there, the latter having flown in on a company helicopter. Someone was going to have to fudge the expenses log for that one, but they would not have missed this for a herd of troglodytes. 

Denny held up the baby proudly to show them.

‘Iphigenia Black, meet the world,’ he said.

‘World, meet Iphigenia Black.’

THE NEXT TAMAR BLACK BOOK
IS
…

TAMAR  BLACK – Rise of The Nephilim

Tamar and Co. – the Next Generation

Who’s that girl?

Meet Iphigenia Black – daughter of Tamar (oh, and er Denny too)

Cindy’s back and madder than ever – and she’s brought a little surprise with her.

Isn’t it amazing how fast they grow up?

Renamed Ashtoreth, son of Cindy has become a powerful threat.  Born of a fallen angel and a mortal woman, he is the Nephilim. And Cindy intends to throw him full force at Tamar and Co. – Revenge is sweet.