“Wave bye-bye to Nan and her friends,” I tell her and then even out her weight on my shoulders.
I chuckle when her fingers wiggle goodbye over the edge of my clutched palm, as I take on the stairs two at a time.
Gracie
A herd of ghosts huddle by Nan as she covers the eyes of two young girls. They are back out of the photograph on the kitchen wall. Nan’s smile spreads across her face. The ghosts’ howls and cackles rise above the giggles of the girl’s tethered to Nan’s hands, as we climb the stairs.
Gaire shoulders Gracie’s bedroom door open, and then shuts it with his booted foot. Gently, he slides me to the floor. “Am I on top, or you?”
I laugh. I can’t help it.
Over a grin that begs to be kissed, he teases, “Hey, I ran the whole show the first time and it didn’t go very well.”
I draw my lips into a pucker and shake my head. “Nah-ah, if I remember correctly, I tried to seduce you the first time. You pushed me away.”
Gaire grits his teeth, eyes stormy.
“Hey, I’m down with a little rough.”
“After the mind-fuck downstairs, you deserve rough,” he says and lifts me onto the feather bed. “But I’ll save that for another Jane, sometime down the road. Tonight it’s all about your Gracie side.”
On my knees at the edge of the bed, I pull the leather tie at my back and leave the one around my neck secured. The moon is full and it softly lights the room. A gentle breeze from the open windows flutter my halter hanging mid-chest and to my navel.
Gaire moves closer and reaches out. I shake my head, and his hand falls to his hip.
Unzipping my jeans and kicking off my sandals, I squirm out of my pants and kneel before him in my halter and white cotton hipsters. When I reach out for his hand, he smiles and gives it to me.
As Gracie tilts her head and looks up into his eyes, I place his hand into her panties.
“I want you inside of me,” I whisper as his fingers slide into moist warm flesh.
“You’re so wet for me.” His whisper is deep and throaty. “I want to taste you first.”
His words are tempered by a throaty growl.
I smile wickedly and pull his fingers out of Gracie’s panties and up to his mouth.
“Bad girl,” he says and slides his tongue over them, nostrils flaring.
“Are you ready for rough now?” My grin moves up to my provocative red eyes.
“No, how about this time I please you first.” He pushes me onto the bed, and rips my panties down my legs and over my feet. Gaire kneels between my legs, his fingers running up the insides of my thighs. “Then it will be all about rough,” he says as his face nuzzles into the black curls between my legs. His tongue flicks over my clitoris, and nibbles.
I suck in a breath between my teeth, and let it out in short whimpering pants.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m floating beside the bed, a cloud of sooty smoke, wicked red eyes, and a toothy-sharp smile. Gaire looks pretty peculiar, with his wolf-like face, set of manic eyes, and a protruding jaw lying on a lacy sage striped pillow. His body, skinny and alien looking, is curled in a fetal position on top of a flowery peach comforter.
“We need a purpose,” I say. “Not a witch. Everyone needs a purpose in life. Before Gracie, our purpose was to find love, someone to share our lives with. Now...”
“A purpose?” he asks. His voice is heavy and sandy. “We have a purpose, Luna. We need to stay alive. There’s still a price on my head, and more than one bounty hunter out there. Not to mention the cool and collected assassin I happened to smite twice, and the hotwired hooker who accompanies him. She looked pretty pissed at you. What if she talks Vuur out of his promise?”
“Jane wouldn’t do that,” I taunt.
“Let’s not forget my father. He’ll kill me the moment he lays eyes on me. Until then, he is willing to pay anyone who gets there before him.
“And you’re still two years from being cut loose. You need to keep up appearances, literally. Your elders, and my breed, believe a wendigo feeding off the human flesh a doppelganger wears is what pushes us above ground for more. You make one more wrong move, and you’ll have a price on your head. I’m sure as hell not going to let that happen. Don’t you think that alone is purpose enough?”
“As far as I’m concerned they would have to prove that. Neither you nor I have done anything to prove their ancient beliefs. And to answer your question, no, nothing you have stated is a purpose. All of it is survival. You’ve lived so long in survival mode you’ve confused it with resolution. A purpose would be to make a difference, make changes in the way others think Down Under, especially about my breed and yours.”
“No creature has ever been able to change what is Down Under. It would be useless to try.” He raises his hand to keep me from voicing a rebuttal.
“We don’t need to charge out of here on a mission to change the world, Luna. That’s a bit daunting.”
“Well,” I say, “how about we start with your father and my elders?”