London Harmony: Squid Hugs (16 page)

The look of terror and wonder on my girl's face at that was priceless.  My little inner evil Zil was rubbing her hands together and saying, “Yessss.”  That will teach her to giggle at my embarrassing moments.

She smirked at me.  “I hate you.”

I blurted out a surprised gleeping giggle and said, “It serves you right for laughing at me.  And, tough, I love you.”

I leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek then turned to mom and opened my arms wide in invitation, “She's perfect mom, you do good work.”

She grinned at me and gave me a tight hug.

Isaac grumbled, “Hey, I had something to do with it too.”

I waved him off, “Eww.  I don't even want to think about your contribution dad.  And I'm pretty sure you didn't use the 3D printer in your uterus to build a baby inside you.”

Mom said with all the humor in the world as she pulled me down to sit with her on the couch,  “Listen to your daughter dear.  She is a wise woman.”  Then she winked at him.

We all laughed at the sulking man when he said, “A wise something all right.”

I looked at the object of my affection who was paralyzed there, just holding Lumi like she was made of brittle eggshell.  Mom showed mercy and chuckled, as she held her hands out and Jen shuffled over ever so carefully and gave my sister to her.

She seemed to exhale in relief that she hadn't dropped her and I pulled her down beside me.  I crinkled my nose at her and said, “Not so funny now, is it.”

She just smiled, bumped my shoulder and said to mom, “She's gorgeous, and so tiny.”

Mom smiled and said, “Thank you.  She's the smallest of my daughters. Five pounds one ounce.  They say it was because of my age.”  Then she made a silly face.  “Which will also make it harder for me to lose all this baby weight too.”

Jen lifted her chin imperiously and countered, “You look amazing, especially for just having had a baby, I see where Zilrita gets her good looks.”  She added with a little wink to dad, “And Zil gets her stunning eyes from you, naturally, Isaac.”

Mom furrowed her brow in confusion as we all laughed at the joke, and said, “You're as charming as Zil has said.  I can see why you won her heart.”

I blushed and Jen claimed my hand as hers and laced our fingers.

Then we just sat and visited and had a general good time.  Lumi was passed around a bit, we were all such greedy baby-mongers.  I even indoctrinated Jen into the art of diaper changing.

She had paused and tilted her head as her face screwed up in curiosity.  “When did you get to be so good at diaper changing, Sally.”

I wiggled my eyebrows and mother told her, “Rita insisted on changing her little sister's diaper all the time to help me out.  She got to be quite a pro.”

After dinner, Jen and I washed the dishes.  Then I just laid down on a baby blanket with Luminita in front of the couch, and just gazed at her in wonder as my parents shared embarrassing tale after tale with Jennifer.  I whispered to my baby sis as she held my finger with her tiny hand, “I'll do better this time, I promise.”

A familiar longing hit me, just like when I held June's sister, Elizabeth's baby, Fay.  I glanced back to Jen, who had her head tilted back, exposing her graceful neck as she laughed heartily at something Isaac had just said.  I... I wanted a baby.  I smiled when Jen caught me looking at her and she smiled back.  Maybe some day.

We were all yawning by the time dad went out to lug our suitcases upstairs.  We said our goodnights, I collected my hug tolls and Jen and I retired to my mini apartment in the attic.

As we climbed the last set of narrow stairs, Jen chuckled. “I feel the need to make a bat and attic joke here.”

I winked at her and let her go first through the little door.  “This isn't like any attic you have seen before, lady.”

She paused in the doorway and said, “Bloody hell.”  Then she chuckled and went in with me admiring her sexy butt as she stepped into the space.

She didn't even look back as she said, “Eyes front, sailor.”

I grinned at her back.

I motioned to the new fort that Isaac had built for me, prompting her to explore.  When her curiosity was satisfied, we got ready for the night and slid into bed.  She said matter of factly, “Your dad does good work.”

I nodded and shrugged with a crooked smile on my face. “He does.  Who knew?”

We kissed for a bit, reacquainting our lips to one another's and then laid there facing each other and smiling into each others eyes.

She whispered, “I really like your parents, they were not quite what I was expecting with a contradictory happy goth daughter.  But it is a pleasant surprise.  And your sister is too adorable.”

I nodded with pride. “She is isn't she?”

Then I hesitated and said, “We need to talk Jen.  About plans.”

She nodded, “I want to see everything.  And of course, the zoo.  Every plan is better with animals.”

I smiled hugely at her then exhaled and said, “I mean... the future.”

She got serious and sort of snuggled down deeper into the mattress as I explained, “I was... well, I'm going to be visiting Denver an awful lot now, at least for the next few years until Lumi goes to school.  I was... I was sort of hoping you'd... you know, come with me each time.”

She tilted her head and I couldn't read her expression but she said in a hoarse tone, “I'm not letting you haul me back and forth across the pond unless there's a ring on my finger.  We already live together.”

I froze and blinked at her.  She had convinced me to move into her place last month.  Well, I agreed readily when she asked me to live with her while we were umm... having an interesting time in the shower.  I vaguely remember saying “Yes.”  Or was I screaming it?  I shook the pleasant memory out of my head.  Was she asking what I think she was asking?

I asked carefully, just above a whisper, “Was that a proposal?”

She just stared at me as she got a shy smile on her face, “Of course you daft woman.”

I finally exhaled and nodded like a fool as I sobbed a happy cry.  She kissed me with a burning passion she had never used before.  My toes curled as she owned me.  I smiled into the kiss as I saw I wasn't the only one without dry eyes.

Then I whispered, “I want a puppy.”

She nodded.

“And a child.”

She nodded again and her crooked half smile cut across one side of her face as she whispered back,  “Let's start with a puppy.  If our incompetence doesn't kill it in a year, then we can talk about a baby.”  Then she nuzzled her head into my shoulder.

I was good with that.  I laughed through my happy tears.  “Good plan.  We'll start with a puppy.”

“Every plan is better with animals.”

The End

Books in the London Harmony series...
 

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry

Doghouse

Minuette

Squid Hugs

Books in the Music of the Soul universe...
 

(All
books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All
short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Unbroken

Books I collaborated with in the Bridge ~ Inner City series...

Gargoyles

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash

Rose: Briar's Thorn

Let Down Your Hair

Books in the Techromancy Scrolls series...

Adept

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

Books in the Paranormals series...

Fleas

Techromancy Scrolls: Soras...

Chapter 1 – Alexandru

I ducked under a sweeping blade and spun away just to parry away the strike of another attacker.  My blade, Anadele left an almost ghostly afterimage of wispy white as she shone brightly in the dwindling light of Father Sol.

The world was alive in color as amber sparks trailed from my eyes as I dove over a huge blade which was almost as big as I was as it swept past where my legs had been a moment before.  I landed in a roll the put distance between me and two of my opponents then I rolled up onto my feet, panting.  They were wearing me down.  They had been at it for over ten minutes now.

I could feel them moving around me, like wisps of white ghosts on the edge of my perception.  Since the day of my second igniting I have been able to feel all of the life in the world surrounding me.  I may possess the weakest magic potential of all the Techno Knights of Wexbury, but I was an Adept, and my abilities spanned the spectrum of known magics.

It was a state secret that I also possessed the magic of the People, the magic of the Mountain Gypsies that inhabited the Whispering Walls range.  That was giving me the edge now, as the world came into focus on in instinctive level when I was accessing it.

Who years hence, the band of gypsies who befriended me and saved my life, the Lupei family, had imbued my cloak and my blade with charms that made me harder to hit and gave me just a little bit of luck.

I could feel the strike coming and I whipped Anadele up behind me to catch a blow that drove me to my knees.  I panted as my blade sparked, her razor sharp edge never dulling thanks the glowing white runes on her and the fact that she had changed in nature in a way the Lupei could not explain.

They say that something happened to the metal itself when I had channeled so much power through her in the battle of the Monolith that had left me scarred in more ways than just physically.

My hand blurred forward, leaving ghostly afterimages from my spell imbued silk glove, I intercepted the blow meant to finish this fight, as my luck continued.  We all knew it was just a matter of time.  They had pushed me far past my limits and I was slowing down in my exhaustion as they continued their relentless assault.

I spun on my knee into a stand as I stretched out my blade.  The tip of Anadele tapping each of the four swords in my opponent's hands.  I almost smirked, it is what the love of my life, Celeste often did to indicate her reach and dare anyone to enter that circle.

This drew chuckles from all around me as I smirked in defiance.  Then the huge blade came crashing down on me and again I was driven to my knees.  Sir Tennison grunted as I deflected his blade into the ground.

Celeste said, “Good Laney, that's better.”  As she came at me from my weak side in a spinning fury of blows. I rolled over the ground in the hole made by Tennison being off balance.  I kicked his leg on my way past and the big man tumbled to the ground with a resounding, “Ooof!”

I was able to get to my feet as I deflected the flurry of blows.  Both Celeste and I leaving behind wispy ghost images as we danced.  She too had the blessing of the Lupei in her cloak and blade.

Verna struck from behind and I just barely sidestepped in time to grab the end of her blade, Gertrude, with a gauntlet. I yanked her off balance before Celeste renewed her attack.  Sparks flew as our swords clashed.

Someone called out, “Just yield Laney.”

Another asked, “Why doesn't she yield?  She is outmatched.”

As Celeste hacked away at me, drawing my guard off time and again, she said between potentially debilitating strikes, “Laney...”  She reversed direction almost faster than my eyes could follow and I barely got Anadele in place to intercept, our blades sparking.

“Doesn't...”

She did a probing thrust that I didn't bother using my blade to deflect, I slapped it away with my free hand as I panted.

“Know...”

She did a sort of pirouette that I have never seen from her before, her hair billowed out like a red sea of fire behind her, and she ended in a double handed overhead strike that had me falling to a knee once again with a grunt.

“How...”

She just started hacking down at Anadele which I had over my head.

“To...”

She grinned and went for my exposed side.

“Yield!”

Then she was suddenly on a knee in front of me, her blade at my neck and she winked at me and gave me a quick peck on the lips as Verna said, “Laney is out.”

I grinned and over-dramatically collapsed onto the ground, letting Anadele clatter to the cobblestones of the practice yard as I gasped for breath with a silly grin on my face.  Countess Celeste of the Techno Knight Order, Blade of Temperance of Wexbury, daughter of Prime Techromancer Donovan, Lady of the Court, stood and crinkled her nose at me as she sheathed her blade.  She wasn't even breathing hard, neither were the other three knights.

She offered a hand and I grabbed my sword then accepted her hand with a smile and she pulled me to my feet with no effort at all.  My hand remained on hers, and she laced our fingers as we stepped over to Verna, who was collecting coins from the knights and squires who watched the spectacle of me getting trounced by my fellow knights.

I didn't know why they insisted on picking on me when they needed to demonstrate why defense was more important than offense to the new recruits.  I slid Anadele into her scabbard as my Lady  asked her best friend, “How much did we make, Verna?”

The musclebound woman grinned as she made two identical stacks of coins and handed one over to Celeste.

“Your share is twelve gold two penny.”  Celeste absently just gave our bounty to me and I slipped it into one of the many pouches on my belt.

One of the new knights we had received in the new cross training program, from the ranks of the new defenders of Far Reach Keep, Donald, spoke up.

“The outcome was a given.  Everyone knows that Lady Laney here is a poor excuse for a knight.  Wexbury only allows her to defend, she doesn't know how to attack.  It is common knowledge through the Lower Ten that she has the least amount of magic potential of any Techno Knight in history.”

I sighed, the details of the battle of the Monolith are a tightly guarded secret.  The leader of Wexbury Keep, Duke Fredrick does not want the other realms in the Lands of Sparo to know the real strength of Wexbury's defenses.

All who were present for that terrible battle will all swear to the bravery of Lord Samuel though rumors circulate of the actual outcome of that awful night, which left me with physical and mental scars that will never heal.  They will always remind me of the evil that Rogues can bring to bear.

It was Verna who spoke up to my chagrin, “Do you wish to test your blade against Laney's, Sir Donald?”

What was she doing?  I was almost too tired to stand.  It was all I could do to keep standing after that punishing sparring match just now.

He smirked.  He was a good sort, and we got along, but he was always puffing up like a rooster on display.

He asked, “You call that tiny toothpick she wields, a blade?”  He nodded and stepped toward the courtyard as he drew his long-sword.

I deflated as everyone started yelling out bets and Celeste winked down at me and nudged me toward the man.  I really didn't need another beating today.  All I wanted to do was take a nice long soak at the bathhouse and then go to our quarters and cuddle with Celeste.

The evil Verna, who had instigated this cut off the betting, then stepped up to us, Celeste was at my side.  Our well-muscled friend grinned at both of us, I was going to make her pay, mark my words.  She said as Donald checked his backpack that would electrify his blade so he could stand against a Techno Knight's magic powered blade,  “Remember, this is only a sparring match.  First blood.”

She narrowed her eyes at both of us as everyone in the courtyard repeated, “First blood.”

Donald sheathed his blade in his insulated scabbard and said, “First blood.”

She turned to me and I nodded and echoed, “First blood.”

Then Celeste and Verna stepped away.  I said to Donald as I tried to stop my heavy breathing from the last match, “Let's just call it a draw?  I'm exhausted and just want to rest.”

He shook his head with a confident grin.  Celeste caught my eyes and nudged her eyes toward the man in a prompt with a wicked grin.  I understood what she meant and tried hard not to snort.  She was positively evil, did she really want me to do that to the poor man?

I sighed as I thought of the words of people much smarter than myself.  “Even the smallest thing can turn the fiercest battle when it is not expected.”

I started gathering my meager power as the world again became brighter and flooded with the colors and tastes of all the metals around me.  Liquid amber sparks started dripping from my eyes as rivulets of power arced down my arm.  I sought out my target.

Verna held up a glove then dropped it.  The moment it hit the ground I released my power faster than Donald's hand could travel to the hilt of his sword.  With a little pinging sound, his metal belt buckle tore off of his belt and his sword clattered to the cobblestones along with his trousers, and I turned my back to him and walked off to my Lady as Verna said, “Donald is out!”

In first blood, disarmed is the same as injured.  I tried so very hard not to smile as I heard him making exasperated sounds.  I held my hand out to Verna for our take of the bets when I staggered, grabbing my head.

I suddenly found myself moving through a forest at breakneck speeds.  I was hurt, I could see the ramparts of Castle Wexbury and the walls of the keep through the trees as my horses strong legs thrummed on the ground as his chest heaved as it took in labored breaths.  Its coat lathered with sweat and foam dripping from its mouth and nostrils.

I winced as I twisted in the saddle, hanging over impossibly to the side, facing backward as I drew up my bow and nocked an arrow fast as thought and let loose.  I watched the deadly shaft with it's brightly colored feathers slice through the air and find its mark in the neck of one of my mounted pursuers.

I saw, at least, five more as my vision pulled back for me to see  Alexandru hanging from his saddle.  Then I was back in the courtyard staggering as Celeste steadied me.  She started to ask, “Laney, what is...”

I blurted out, “Alexandru!”  And ran at the line of horses on the far end of the courtyard.  I called back as the other knight started running after me.  “Sound the alarm!  An ally is under attack at the gates in less than five minutes!”

I reached my huge black Percheron, Goliath, and sprang into the air, my silk gloved hand blurring, leaving that ghostly afterimage as I grabbed the pommel of the saddle. He was already in motion, sensing the urgency as I swung myself gracefully up onto him.  Graceful would never have been a term I would have applied to myself just two years hence.

I didn't bother with the reins as I laid across his neck and patted it as I spoke to him,  as his mighty hooves kicked up sparks on the cobblestones as we shot through the main arch and onto Lord's way.  “Give me everything you have my beautiful boy.  A friend is in need.”  Like he could understand me, he stretched out farther as his lungs worked like huge bellows and our speed increasing.  I glanced back to see the other knights falling behind on their slower steeds, Celeste leading the pack.

I heard the great air powered war horns of the keep sending out a long steady rumble that rolled through the keep.  When the people of the village heard this, they all moved aside on Lord's Way and the Crossbar and I thundered past them unhindered.  All eyes were on me as I passed.

I reached for that elusive magic of the People and let it flow from me in wispy sheets of silk and into Goliath, giving him more energy, more stamina.  I wasn't very good at using that magic of the spirit element without someone to teach me, but this much I could do.

I cut across the Roundabout at the Church and flew down the Crossbar as my techromancer power rose within me, leaving a trail of amber sparks in our wake.  As I approached the main portcullis, where the gate guards were assembling to the call of the war horn which had finally stopped echoing through the keep.  They made a hole and I shot through the portcullis, under the heavy iron gates. I yelled, “Make way!” 

Just as I cleared the keep, I saw Alexandru's horse break out of the Whispering Forest and into the clearing.  He was hanging from the saddle just like in my vision, he was firing volley after volley at his pursuers.  There were more than I thought.  Ten men broke out of the cover of the trees in pursuit.  Another of  Alexandru's arrows hit home, make that nine pursuers.

I raised a hand and quested to the limits of my range and I could taste the steel arrowheads in the return fire as Goliath thundered past my injured ally.  I screamed out in defiance as I slapped my hand to the side, knocking all of the incoming arrows to the ground as my power grasped the arrowheads.

I slowed now that I was between the injured gypsy and the enemy, I swatted away another flight of arrows in mid flight as Celeste and the other knights swarmed past by me.  The attackers pulled up short and reversed course.  Half of the thirty knights in pursuit pulled up and turned back as the others gave chase.

I gave some pressure to Goliath's side as I reached for the reins.  He reared a little and turned back as Celeste slid into my right looking ready to chastise me for being reckless.  I shook my head at her and gave a pained look of apology and said, “He's hurt.” As we caught up with Alexandru, who was now just hanging limply from his saddle.