Soul Sucker (9 page)

Ella sighed and checked her cell. Laney had sent her a text about the party saying she didn’t need a ride and would come on her own. A second text said she’d be late because she would be chatting online with her OCOS mate, Peter.

She stared at the text and tried to think how to answer it. For the first time ever, she was aware of feeling a little jealous. None of Laney’s other conquests had ever bothered her, but Peter did because—because what? Because he represented Laney’s survival, something Ella couldn’t do for her best friend? Something she was afraid of doing for herself?

She sat down on the nearest chair. She’d had another letter from Otherworld today, repeating their offer of finding her a mate and reiterating all the benefits. The letter was still stuffed in her backpack. She slowly took it out and studied it, squinting to read the small blurred print she’d earlier ignored. In two weeks they’d be sending her details of her mate anyway. Her only choice was to either agree to meet the guy, or ignore the information. What kind of a man had they found, and who in the hell would ever want to put up with her?

“Ella, are you coming for a beer?” Liz appeared at the door of the conference room. “I said I’d meet Doug at the bar across the street.”

“Sure.” Ella smiled at her friend. “As long as I make the last ferry.”

She stuffed the letter into the pocket of her backpack. Soon, she would be that much closer to madness and know the name of this mythical male who would supposedly make everything right for her. Would she leave off making her decision until it was too late like Natasha had? She slung her backpack over her shoulder and snorted. What a fucking awful set of choices.

Chapter Eight

She parked her VW Golf at the end of the street and walked past the long line of cars that led up to the side of her parents’ yard. The ranch house sat on a corner lot surrounded by oak trees and bordered by a small creek that backed onto the parched yellow hills. The back gate was open and she could already smell burning hot dogs, fried onions and warm beer. Her mouth watered. She loved it when other people cooked.

Outside of San Francisco and the bay, the temperature always shot up and today was no exception. Heat shimmered off the parked cars and off the roofs of the houses. As she’d driven over the Dumbarton Bridge heading for Walnut Creek, she’d wished she’d fixed the air-conditioning in her old car and had to crank down all the windows instead.

For some reason, her parents had hired an inflatable for the yard, and festooned the place with pink balloons. Ella frowned as she considered the invitation again. From what she could see, the usual crowd was all here. Was there something specific she should have remembered? She’d left a message to tell her mother she was definitely coming, but hadn’t heard back.

Fixing a smile on her face, she walked through the back gate and into the crowd of people milling around the patio. She spotted her two older brothers and younger sister but didn’t call out to them. Her father was behind the barbecue, prodding at something with a worried expression on his face. The French windows that led into the kitchen and family room were open, so she went inside. If her mother would be anywhere, it would be in the kitchen directing operations. Ella also hoped she’d come to the right place for a beer.

“Ella!” Her mother was making a fresh pitcher of margaritas. “So glad you could make it. And you even put on a dress! Thanks for making the effort, honey. You look sweet.”

Darlene was blond, but the resemblance between them ended there. She was tall and slender, her face tightened, her nose remodeled, her hair blonder, less natural, and more styled than Ella’s would ever be. She gave Ella an awkward one-armed hug.

“Did you bring Laney with you?”

“I think she’s coming later.” She looked longingly at the refrigerator. “Do you have any beer in there?”

Darlene pointed at two tubs under the kitchen table filled with ice and the frosty glint of bobbing beer bottles.

“There are a lot of calories in beer, darling. Make sure you choose one of those nice new low-carb ones, and limit yourself to a couple so that you can drive home safely.”

Ella helped herself to the first beer she touched. She took an experimental sip.

“Don’t you want a glass, dear?”

“No, I’m fine with the bottle. Liz and Doug Goddard are coming with some friends. Is that okay? You did say I could invite anyone I liked.”

Darlene’s smile faltered. “Sure. I don’t think we’ll be having a full moon tonight or anything.”

Ella took a longer swig of her beer. Darlene had never been quite comfortable with any of Ella’s friends who were not quite human. She was probably worried Doug would suddenly go all wolf on them and devour one of her guests.

“It’s okay, I’ll tell Liz to chain him up in the yard if he doesn’t behave himself.”

Darlene’s cheek flushed. “That wasn’t what I meant, Ella. I was just kidding. You’re too sensitive about your friends, you know.”

She resisted the urge to stick out her lip and mumble “whatever.” Somehow her mom always made her feel like an adolescent again. They’d gotten along just fine in those days, though—what with Ella being stuck in year-round boarding school.

“Dad’s barbecuing?”

“I told him to let Scott do it, but as it’s Scott and Julie’s big day, he insisted on doing it himself.”

Ella took another beer, then paused. “Scott and Julie got married last year. Did I miss something?”

The doorbell rang, drowning her mother’s reply, although the expression on her face was enough to make Ella beat a hasty retreat to the hallway to see who’d decided to go all formal and demand entry through the front door.

She opened it wide and discovered Liz looking super cool and collected in a lemon-yellow halter dress, accompanied by Doug.

“Hey you!” Doug picked Ella up and enveloped her in a bear hug. His T-shirt bore the words, “Meat Eater and Proud of It” accompanied by a picture of a bloody steak. “How’s my favorite empath? You know these guys, right?”

He put her down and moved to one side. Behind him stood Alexei and Vadim. They both wore khaki shorts and polo shirts and looked as if they were heading out to play golf somewhere expensive. Vadim removed his aviator sunglasses and nodded.

“Ms. Walsh.”

“Morosov. I thought you had other plans.”

He half-smiled. “So did I, but I hope I’m still welcome.”

More flustered than she wanted to admit, Ella stepped back and allowed them to enter the house. It was much cooler in the hallway and she hurried to shut the door.

“Welcome to my parents’ house. They’re celebrating...something.” She started to move toward the kitchen. “There’s beer.”

Alexei lightly touched her elbow. “You’re okay with us being here?”

“Sure! The more the merrier. If you could do a bit of magic and enchant my mother, I’d be really grateful.”

“How grateful?” he murmured.

She grinned back at him and walked into the kitchen. “Mom, Liz and Doug are here and they’ve brought a couple of other people I work with.”

Darlene’s bright smile wavered, but she held out her hand to Alexei. “It’s always a pleasure to meet Ella’s friends. We see her so rarely.”

Knowing how Mrs. Walsh felt about them, Liz and Doug waved and said all the right things before checking out the beer and drifting outside to join the party. Alexei glided over, took Darlene’s proffered hand and kissed it. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Walsh. My name is Alexei, and this is Vadim.”

Ella moved out of the way as Vadim went past her and also shook Darlene’s hand. “A pleasure, Mrs. Walsh.”

“And where exactly are you two from?”

“We’re currently based in Russia.”

Darlene clasped her hands together. “How exciting. You didn’t tell me you were working with Russians, Ella.”

“I wasn’t until a couple of days ago.”

Darlene’s gaze lingered on Alexei who was smiling endearingly at her. She blushed and patted at her hair. Ella fought back a grin. Perhaps she would have to ask Alexei to dial it down a bit. Fae glamor could be a little overwhelming sometimes. Vadim came to stand beside her and she looked up at him.

“Would you like a beer?”

His gaze moved down from her face to the bust line of her blue flowered maxi dress.

“You look nice.”

“Which bit of me?”

His gaze returned to her face. “All of you.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Nothing you do surprises me.”

She snorted. “You poor, cynical, world-weary man. That’s such a cliché.”

“Is it?” He braced his hand on the refrigerator door behind her head, cutting off her view of the party.

Rather than look into his eyes, she turned to study his long elegant fingers and the gold signet ring shaped like a dragon. “Are you sure you don’t want a beer?”

His smile made her knees wobble. “I was wondering if you had any wine in the refrigerator instead.”

“Oh!” She hurriedly straightened. “I have no idea. I’ll get out of your way.”

She stepped around him and busied herself retrieving her beer. She couldn’t deal with his party manners at all. Her younger sister came in from the yard and walked straight over. Madison wore a halter top and cut-off shorts so tiny the pocket linings were visible beneath the frayed denim hem.

“Hey, Ella, you look nice for a change. Where did you get that dress, Goodwill?”

Before Ella could answer, Madison’s gaze fell on Vadim, who had just shut the refrigerator door and turned around.

“Holy cow, where did you find
him
?”

“This is my coworker, Vadim Morosov.”

Madison tossed back her long blond hair, pushed past Ella and stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Madison. The not-weird Walsh girl.”

Vadim shook her hand and then looked back at Ella. “You are quite alike.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Madison giggled. “I’m way taller and thinner than her and way smarter. Oh, and I’m not going nuts in a few months either.”

“
Madison
!” Darlene’s voice cut across whatever Ella had started to say. “Don’t talk about your sister like that.”

“Why shouldn’t I? It’s the truth,” Madison demanded. “I’m not sure why we all have to pretend nothing’s going to happen.”

Vadim leaned down until his mouth brushed Ella’s ear. “And I thought you were the outspoken member of the family.”

“Usually I am. I’m not sure what’s got into Madison today. She’ll probably insist on telling me later,” she replied as Darlene and Madison squared off. “Would you like to come out into the yard and meet my father and brothers? They’re much quieter.”

“Like most men.”

He followed her out of the open doors leaving Madison still arguing with her mom. Alexei had taken a seat at the kitchen table and seemed to be enjoying himself. Ella headed for her dad, who was brandishing a pepper mill over something that looked like a chunk of steak.

“How’s it going, Dad?”

His face softened. “Ella. How’s my girl?”

He put down the pepper and she walked into his arms. He smelled of the same spicy aftershave brand he’d been using since the 1980’s. For some reason, she wanted to stay with her face buried in his shoulder forever.

“I’m doing fine. How about you?”

He made a face. “Trying to survive your mom and your sister’s constant bickering.”

“That’s what golf was invented for, wasn’t it?”

“Exactly.” He turned to Vadim. “And who’s this?”

“This is my colleague, Vadim Morosov.”

He shook Vadim’s hand. “You can call me Ned or Mr. Walsh, whatever floats your boat. Russian, eh?”

“Yes.” Ella grinned when Vadim looked confused by her father’s faux-hippy speak.

“Is he one of yours?”

“One of my what, Dad? Men?”

He retreated behind the barbecue again. “You know what I mean.”

“No, he isn’t an empath.” She looked speculatively at Vadim. “I’m not quite sure what he is.”

“He looks like a nice young man.”

“Well, appearances can be deceptive.” She winked at her dad, who winked back. “Is the food ready yet?”

“Does it look ready?”

She studied the various lumps of meat and the half-cooked sausages. “Nope.”

“Anyway, your mother wants to make the big announcement first, so I’m waiting on her orders.” He pointed the spatula at her. “Go and take a seat and I’ll give you a shout when it’s time.”

She led the way to a couple of empty chairs that sat in the shade of the covered patio. Her brother was sitting at the table nursing a beer.

“Hey.”

He nodded at her and Vadim. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. You?”

“Nothing much.” Dave scratched at the peeling label of his beer bottle. “I’m going down to San Diego next semester.”

“To do what?”

“Continue my studies, duh.”

“Dave’s studying to be a doctor,” Ella told Vadim who had sat beside her, one hand wrapped around his plastic cup of wine.

“That’s an excellent career choice. What specialty?” Vadim asked.

Dave concentrated on his bottle. “Supernatural studies.”

Ella put down her beer. “Really?”

He shrugged. “It sounded kind of interesting.”

“I suppose it might be,” Ella said cautiously. “What exactly do you have to do?”

“First response team stuff, for unusual or abnormal medical situations, liaising with SBLE. You know the drill.”

“I didn’t realize there was anything official like that around here.”

Dave looked up at her. “It’s a new thing. Hiding all that stuff away is becoming far too difficult, so our government decided to open up some opportunities for those who are interested.”

“And you were interested?”

He dropped his gaze. “Well, having a sister who was never there kind of sucked, you know?”

* * *

Vadim looked from Ella to her brother and tried to work out exactly what was going on between them. If he lowered his shields, he’d probably get a better sense of the emotions swirling around, but then Ella would know he was snooping and call him out on it. It was interesting watching her interactions with her family. Even just using his human faculties, he could sense there was a ton of unspoken conflict simmering beneath the surface.

“Have I met all your siblings now?”

Ella tore her gaze away from her brother and looked at him instead. Her expression was uncharacteristically solemn.

“I’ve another brother, Scott. He got married last year to Julie.” She waved a vague hand toward the edge of the pool where Vadim now noticed Alexei was chatting to Madison. “They’re over there, somewhere. I’ll grab him when I see him.”

“Your family seems very nice.”

Her smile was quick. “I suppose they do.”

Beside Ella, Dave sat forward. “What Ella means is she wasn’t around that much to appreciate them.” Vadim raised his eyebrows encouragingly and Dave continued. “She was five when they took her away to that fricking boarding school.”

“That must have been difficult for you all.”

She patted her brother’s arm. “We all got over it eventually. It was a good place for me to be.”

“Sure, that’s why you kept running away, and Mom kept insisting on taking you back. Dad would’ve let you stay, you know that.”

“Mom was right to do it. If I’d stayed here I would have attracted some funky creatures from Otherworld into our house. We would all have suffered.”

“All I remember is you crying and kicking and pleading not to go back.” Dave finished his beer and abruptly got to his feet. “You’re way too nice, Ella. I’ve never forgiven them for sending you away.”

Vadim waited, but she made no effort either to contradict Dave or persuade him to sit back down. After a moment, he nodded at Vadim.

“I’m going to get another beer. Do either of you want one?”

“I’m good,” Ella said.

Vadim showed Dave his half-empty plastic cup. “I’ve got wine, thanks.”