Tenants and Tyrants (Book 5 of The Warden series) (15 page)

“Yes, my visits are never long,” she said pulling away. “Danato is such a dear friend to me, if I stayed more than a night, I’d never leave. You understand.”

“Are you and Danato…” he let the words trail off so she could either pick them up or sweep them away.

“Oh, no, we’ve never been like that.” Sweep away it is. “I’m
so
old, Ethan,” she said drawing out the so. “I only look young because of a perception filter, but trust me I’ve got two feet in the grave. No, Danato and I just have many good memories, and many bad memories. That much history is too precious to let stagnant with long visits. It’s like family. You love them, but you’re secretly happy when they leave.”

“You’ve known Danato for a very long time?” Ethan tiptoed around the
very
since it might be insulting, even though she had already disclosed her age as
old.
“Did you know his wife?”

Annette’s warmth faded. A frown that over powered the perception filter allowed the creases around her lips to show. “Anything you want to know about Danato’s wife, should come directly from him?”

“He’s very closed mouth about it. I just thought you could tell me why.”

“Romeo and Juliet has a happier ending than Danato and Olivia.” Ethan gave a grunt of understanding to cover up the fact that he had never heard the name before.

“Won’t you at least stay for dinner?”

She put her hands up to his face and the warmth returned. The glow from her blond spikey hair was almost angelic. “If I leave now, you will long for my return, and that my dear, is the sweetest gift an old woman like me can be given.”

She kissed his forehead with enough force to leave a hickey, and released him abruptly. She grabbed her bag of magical paraphernalia and her box of blood. He reached to take them for her, but she shook her head as if he should not do or say another thing to disrupt her dramatic mournful exit.

He shook his head reflectively as he headed over to coax Penelope back into her “cave.” “I don’t suppose you could just walk back over there without any incentive.”

“
No,”
The dragon said inside his head.

Ethan looked up to see if he had only imagined it. “Holy shit, did I just hear you speak inside my head.”

“
I spoke
,” she said without moving her lips, “
and you understood it. Whether it is being perceived by your ears is irrelevant.”

“Holy shit,” Ethan said again, since the statement still satisfied his shock.

22

Daniel and Heaton arrived at the house later than expected. They had not been expecting to babysit an entire orchestra while their musical instruments were inventoried and examined. Nor had they expected the inordinate paperwork that came with such an arrival.

As they approached the front door, Heaton pulled out his pack of stink sticks indicating that he needed to mask himself before he went inside to face Nevia. Daniel rolled his eyes. He didn’t approve of the smell, he didn’t approve of the health risk, and he certainly didn’t approve of him hiding whatever dreadful secret he had.

Rather than fight about it, he left him outside slamming the door loudly. No one was downstairs, so he headed up to his designated guest room. On his way by Nevia’s room, the door opened and she stepped out. “Daniel, can you come in here?” she asked looking a little flustered.

Daniel didn’t bother getting excited about going into her room. It was never about sex. It would never again be about sex. Once you take the hope of that away, it was likely just going to be an errand or awkward conversation. Yay, the joy of female friends.

“Is Heaton with you?”

“Cigarette,” he pointed vaguely to the front door. He stepped inside and saw Cori sitting on the edge of Nevia’s bed, with her head down. Her blond hair was out of its usual pony and was draping over down her shoulders. “Oh, Lord, please let this be a threesome,” he said aloud before he understood the seriousness of the situation.

The door slammed behind him about the same time that Cori looked up with disgust on her face. “Daniel,” Nevia groused from behind him.

“I can hope,” he defended.

Daniel observed the scratches on Cori’s neck that were bleeding into her t-shirt. Her eyes were red from crying. “What’s all this? Did the fem-wolves attack you?”

“No, this is from vampires,” she said a little embarrassed. Vampires were dangerous, but given her experience, she should have known better than too get close.

“Why were you even on that level? I thought the fem-wolves were your detail today?”

“I suggested,” Nevia interjected from behind. “That she see a psychic to help block their hypnotic hold on her.” Daniel noticed that she had shut the door and seemed to be staying by it, as if he might make a run for it.

“You mean you went to see that mind sucker that Ethan hates,” Daniel simplified turning back to Cori.

Cori exchanged a look with Nevia before answering. “Yes, I haven’t seen him in months, but I needed to get control of my shortcomings. I didn’t want to interrupt Ethan, so I just went alone.”

“How did you get scratched up? Did he do something?”

“No,” Cori said defensively. “Look it was an accident, but I really don’t need Ethan questioning me on this right now. Nobody wants to have relationship problems with guests in the house.”

“Well, he’s going to notice…the scratches.” Daniel let the sentence end quietly. He turned back to Nevia. “You told her I could heal her, didn’t you?” She didn’t respond. She probably sensed his anger. Not only was she experimenting with his powers on herself, she was pimping him out to her new friend.

“I told you he wouldn’t help me.” Cori stood up and headed to the door.

“Wait.” Cori and Nevia eagerly anticipated his answer. “Cori I could seriously hurt you.”

“It’s worth the risk,” she said flatly. “You don’t understand how close Ethan came to leaving me over this hot button topic. I don’t want him to think I was betraying his trust.”

Daniel didn’t like lying to his friend, but he also understood the “better left unsaid” portion of relationships. “I’ll do this, but I’m—”

“—doing it for, Ethan. I know,” Cori finished, but that wasn’t what he was going to say.

“I’m doing this as a favor to you Cori. I misjudged your love for Ethan once, I won’t do it again.”

Cori excepted that reasoning and sat back down on the bed. He joined her and looked over her cuts. The wounds dipped below her collar line. “She needs something lower cut,” he said to Nevia. “I need to see the cuts.”

Nevia headed to her suitcase and pulled out a white cotton shirt. He recognized it immediately. It was the slouchy t-shirt she wore with her newspaper print drawstring pants as pajamas. The large neck left her continuously pulling it back onto her shoulder. It was what she wore the night he took her virginity. “Not that,” he said more severely than he intended.

She only questioned him a moment, before returning it to her belongings and pulling out a bronze satin night gown, with spaghetti straps. He raised an eyebrow to it, surprised she would have such a thing.

“Everything else has a high collar,” Nevia defended her choice.

“Fine, but if Ethan walks in on me leering at his wife in a satin negligee, you have to tackle him before he kills me.”

Nevia handed her the nighty and gave him the signal to turn around. He did, and she joined him, giving Cori privacy. He could feel her demanding his attention, but he didn’t give it at first. “You can do this.”

He glanced at her. “You need to stop doing this to me. I’m not going to go travel the world healing people.” He paused and waited for her to respond. “You get that, right?”

She looked at him. He wasn’t sure what he saw there: disappointment or sadness. She opened her mouth to say something, but Cori announced she was ready.

Daniel turned back around and joined Cori on the bed. Nevia came to her opposite side and took her hand. After a rapid succession of second thoughts, he removed his glasses and concentrated on the pain and hurt that came with loving someone.

23

As Danato requested, Ethan stopped by after finishing with the dragon and Annette. He gave a quick knock before opening the office door. He removed his pistol, but stood in the door signaling his desire to get back to the house. With so many guests, Danato couldn’t blame him. “Did Annette say goodbye?” he asked.

“No, she usually doesn’t.”

“She’s interesting.”

Danato smiled knowing exactly what Ethan’s first impression of her probably was. It was the second impression that mattered with Annette. “Yeah, she is that. Everything go okay?”

“Yeah,” Ethan paused chewing his lip. Danato waited for him to finish. Ethan unlike Cori didn’t keep things from him. “She gave me some of the dragon’s blood.”

Danato smiled. Dragon’s blood was a favorite with everyone. He didn’t get the true high that people spoke of, but it always made everything seem clear and crisp. His thoughts were unobstructed and he felt invincible. “How was that?”

“It didn’t do anything for me...”

“That’s too bad.”

“…at first.” Danato quirked an eyebrow and waited for him to regale his psychotropic experience. “Then something strange happened.”

“What?”

“I could hear Penelope’s thoughts.”

“The dragon?”

“Yeah, it’s okay she likes the name. She said she’s never had a name before. We had a big long conversation before the blood wore off.”

Danato sat quietly for a moment trying to decide how he should feel about this new development. He couldn’t think of any reason to be concerned. He was actually a little jealous. He was certain he should message Annette about it, since she would probably be interested in speaking with her most valued blood donors. To his knowledge no one had ever been able to communicate with dragons. “That’s new,” he said finally.

“Yep.” Ethan nodded as he rolled back on his heels. Danato knew there was probably something he should say to Ethan in regards to this revelation. He should have asked him what the dragon said to him. He should have at least asked what Ethan had thought of the whole experience. “Well, I’m going to head back to the house.” Ethan threw out before Danato could provide any solace. “You coming?”

“Ah, no, not yet, I have a few more things to do before I go. Ask Cori to save me some dinner though.”

“Like she would forget that,” Ethan mumbled jokingly. “Okay, see you in a bit.”

Danato nodded and Ethan snagged his gun and shut the door before jogging away. Danato shrugged off any minor concerns about Ethan’s newly found gift. All that could be dealt with tomorrow or the next day. Right now he had a party to put together.

24

When Danato finally arrived, everyone was in the living room drinking beers, while Cori finished up dishes. After a quick scurry of coaster passing, everyone greeted him. Nevia seemed confused by the urgent concern for water rings, but she would catch on soon enough.

Danato joined Cori in the kitchen and she gave him a kiss on the cheek while she continued to scrub her dishes. “You’re done doing dishes,” he announced. “I need you to try these on.” He pulled a pile of plastic wrapped gowns from over his shoulder and showed them to her.

She stared at them with as much confusion as he expected. He waited for her to come out with at least one question before he explained. “What are those for?”

“For tonight’s ball.”

“Ball?” she scoffed.

“Well, okay, it’s more like a dance, but I’d like you to get dolled up for it anyway.”

Cori toweled off her hands and traced a finger along one of the gowns. He had chosen three different colors, and three different styles, just in case his taste in clothing was way off. He knew they would fit, but he wasn’t sure what her preference would be. He would have chosen the long crimson one, but he wasn’t sure she would be comfortable in the open back and plunging neckline.

“That’s sweet Danato, but I’m not sure a dance will be much fun, without music,” she grimaced as if she were sullying his best laid plans with an inconvenient, but obvious truth.

“The cafeteria brought in punch and snacks. I invited everyone. The guards are rotating shifts for the evening so they can all get a little two step in. I even dimmed the gym lights for ambience.” He smiled knowing that he wasn’t done, but watched her show the best fake enthusiasm she could muster. “The band I brought in specifically for the occasion can only stay for a few hours, but I’m told they are quite talented.”

Cori’s face blanked. “Band?” He feigned confusion. “A real live band? With instruments.”

“Yes, Cori, how could I throw you a ball without music?”

Her hands were around his neck so fast, he had to stop himself from trying to defend his throat. She screeched in his ear and pulled back suddenly looking fearful. “What about the music? The time bubble.”

Danato put his finger to her lips. “Live music is fine. Don’t worry about that. Go pick out a dress, and put your good lips on.” Even as he said lips, she smothered his cheeks with kisses before ripping the dresses away and running upstairs. A quiet squeal came from upstairs, before her door shut behind her.

Danato stepped out of the kitchen area facing the confused faces in the living room. Heaton and Nevia were sitting opposite each other in the chairs, Nevia in his usual spot. Ethan and Daniel were on the couch. “If anyone is interested, I’m having a dance in Cori’s honor tonight in the gym. It’s not a fancy occasion, but it’s the best I could do without making Belus’s head pop off, or blowing my budget. You are all welcome to attend. Casual dress is fine, except for you Ethan, I have a suit in my room for you.”

“How did you pull this off?” Ethan asked.

“Cori’s gardening has left a surplus in the budget. I thought it was only fair to reward her for all her hard work.”

“What about my hard work? I don’t suppose you have enough left in that budget for a flat screen,” Ethan quipped.

“No, but I did have enough left for those dresses.” Danato winked at him. “I think you’ll find them a good deal more fun to watch than a television.”

Ethan thought about that while he swigged his beer. He glanced upstairs and back to Danato. “That suit’s in your room?”

Danato nodded and Ethan bonded off to get dressed for his date. “What about the rest of you?”

Heaton raised his hand. “I’ll give it a go.”

“Are you serving alcohol?” Daniel asked holding up his beer.

“No, my men aren’t allowed alcohol while on duty.”

“I think I’ll skip it.” Danato didn’t intend to glare at him, but as Daniel tended to bring out certain emotions in him, he couldn’t really help it. Nevia kicked Daniel’s foot which was outstretched beyond reasonable leg space. “Or I could stop in for some punch. I always did like punch; and maybe a dance with the lady of the house.”

Before Danato could formulate how he felt about Daniel openly flirting with a married woman, Nevia interrupted his thoughts. “We’d all love to go, sir. Don’t mind Daniel’s rudeness he’s just covering up his discomfort with dancing.”

Danato laughed. He could tell this girl was going to be good for Daniel. Whether he appreciated the improvements she would bring to him was another question entirely.

25

There were no words to describe Cori’s excitement. The gym looked like an undecorated prom, and the only people remotely dressed up, were her and Ethan, but there was music. The fast paced song that was playing was probably old to the outside world, but it was new to her so it didn’t matter.

Ethan pulled her out onto the dance floor as soon as they arrived. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the long crimson dress that she had donned for the occasion. The plunging neck line was more revealing than she was used to, but she hadn’t dressed up since her wedding, so she thought she should make the best of it. Ethan’s gray suit and purple tie just begged for a fedora, but Danato hadn’t thought to add a hat to his attire.

Ethan spun her around the dance floor with prowess that she wasn’t aware he had. When they settled in for a closer slow dance, he whispered his intentions for later that evening into her ear. She bit her lip and hid her blushed cheeks in his shoulder.