Companions (24 page)

They were all talking too much, and nothing was getting done.

Her frustration wasn't helped by the continuing nightmares mixed with an unhealthy dose of paranoia.

Selena considered coming out of her apartment tonight something of a triumph. She'd been talking about Rosho so much, all she could do was think about him. As it was, she'd driven around until she was absolutely, positively sure she wasn't being tailed by anyone, mortal or vampire. She'd really be glad when the reaction to Steve's nasty memories wore off.

Selena came around to the back of the counter and leaned against the wall to talk quietly with her cousin until it was time to close the shop. "Sorry I've been incommunicado recently."

"Thought you were working on getting over that?"

"So, I backslid. Hey, I made it in time for tonight's party, didn't I? And why are you so wasted this evening?" Selena asked. Paloma did have dark circles beneath her eyes, barely hidden by an expert makeup job, and there was a certain haunted look in those big baby blues as well.

Paloma made a dismissive gesture, but her eyes stayed serious. "I think I'm nervous about the wedding."

"Me, too," Selena admitted. "Don't know how I let myself get talked into being a bridesmaid. I keep dreaming something awful will happen, and it's all going to be my fault."

"Hey, at least you aren't stuck with dreams that tend to come true. It's both a gift and a curse, you know."

"That's what they tell me. Most of your dreams don't come true, as I recall. And before you remind me that you are trying to enter the family business, remember that I have friends who work bunco, you gypsy witch, you."

"All Baileys are genuine psychics. Except for the ones that aren't," Paloma answered. "And very few of us work the
bujo
anymore. I think Great Aunt Bridget retired recently. Apparently, she started channeling Carl Sagan, and they were both so embarrassed about it she decided it was time to quit. In a way, it's a shame family traditions have changed with the times."

"You're proud of our long history of scams and cons? I can still remember how upset my dad was when
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he discovered great grandma's priors."

"Eight arrests, no convictions." Paloma spoke with pride at this record. "Woman had a way of turning the evil eye on anyone likely to testify against her."

"It was three arrests," Selena corrected the family legend. She checked her watch as the last two customers came to the counter with their choices. She'd noticed over the years that very few people left the shop without making at least a small purchase, and she wondered if Aunt Catie had put some sort of spell on her merchandise. Then again, Catie wasn't likely to resort to practicing that sort of magic, even on tourists, in an establishment frequented by some of the whitest white witches in the country, who would be bound to notice. She had her reputation to maintain. Selena supposed that those who found their way in here were seriously looking for something, even if they weren't consciously aware of it when they walked in.

She checked her watch while Paloma made change and put things in bags. "Am I the first one here?"

"The last. Cecile and Sara are downstairs setting up. Karen's upstairs with Aunt Catie. Came in for a reading before the ceremony. Girl's getting nervous."

"Is she thinking of backing out with only two days left until the wedding?" At least Karen had the option of walking away from a commitment to her partner. Some people got choices of the person they spent their lives with.
Pout, pout,
Selena thought, and fought down the sigh of longing to be with Steve.
We
didn't choose each other,
she reminded herself.
It's not love, it's matching blood types.

"She better not be thinking about canceling the wedding. I've spent too much money on an emerald green satin dress and pumps dyed to match to let her get out of it now."

"Hear, hear," Selena seconded.

"And I've lost and kept off ten pounds for the sake of that dress."

"We will be beautiful."

"And no one will look at us."

"Which is as it should be," Paloma conceded. She began closing up the register while Selena brought out the ritual tools for warding the store. "What I'm not at all happy about is that Karen's big day has invaded
my
subconscious. It's not like this is the first time a Crawford's married a Bailey."

"But it's the first time Aunt Catie's gotten involved in the festivities. Mom didn't have the full ceremonial treatment. She was such a rebel," Selena added.

"Aunt Catie says it's too bad we can't do tonight's cleansing properly."

"Why not?"

Paloma gave her an arch look. "No virgins."

"Oh, right." Tonight's rite involved a ceremonial bathing of the bride and various other rituals meant to ensure a happy, prosperous future for the
maiden
about to embark on her first sexual experience with her new husband. Tradition called for all unwed young women of her family to assist in the ceremony. In the
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good old days, it was just naturally assumed that all the active participants were pure as the driven snow.

"Chicago snow doesn't stay pure very long," Paloma said, picking up Selena's thought. "Aunt Catie says the best we can hope for is that the old gods appreciate that the ceremony is intended as a sign of respect, and no ancient power decides to hit the wedding cake with lightning come Saturday night."

"You've had that dream, too?"

Paloma turned a shocked look on Selena. "Yeah. So's Aunt Catie."

Selena dropped the stick of incense she'd just lit. It rolled under the counter, and she and Paloma dived after it. By the time they retrieved the smoldering stick and were back on their feet, Aunt Catie was coming down the stairs, a tense and sober Karen following closely after her.

"Good, you're here," Aunt Catie said when she caught sight of Selena. "Change of plans," she added coming up to the counter.

"Aunt Catie, the dreams — " Paloma began.

"I know," Catie Bailey interrupted. "You and Karen go on downstairs. Tell Sara to start without us."

Selena couldn't help but notice the pleading look Karen gave her before she disappeared down the basement stairway. Aunt Catie crooked a finger at Selena when Selena would have followed them. "The change of plans is for us, dear."

Before she could ask a question, Selena's attention was drawn to the stairs to second floor. For an instant she picked up a wavering movement of shadow, and the next instant, Lawrence was standing beside her aunt. He looked healthier and wore a long-sleeved shirt on this warm summer night that covered up whether or not his severed arm was regenerating. Selena wanted a peek or at least to ask.

Once again, her aunt spoke before Selena could. "You and Lawrence and I are going for a ride." It was not a suggestion or a request.

Selena cocked her head to one side and waited for an explanation. She didn't get one. Lawrence gestured toward the door, and Aunt Catie moved toward it with the imperiousness of a dowager empress. The effect was annoying but effective. Selena frowned but followed, and Lawrence brought up the rear.

"What about warding the building?" Selena asked when they were outside.

"Sara and Paloma will take care of it. Where's your car?"

Selena led them half a block up the street to where she'd found a parking space. When she unlocked the car, Catie got in the backseat, and Larry slid into the front passenger seat. "Where to?" Selena asked as she started the engine.

"You're a detective," Larry said. "You investigate things."

"What things, Aunt Catie?" She pulled out into the evening traffic. Selena's guts clenched with fear, even before she caught sight of the worried expression on her aunt's face when she glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She knew where they were heading without asking, but she asked anyway. "This is something to do with Karen, isn't it?"

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"The first thing we're going to do is cruise around Karen's neighborhood," Catie answered. "If there's anything to find, we'll find it. Then we'll talk."

"Find what?" Selena asked.

"Drive now," Catie commanded.

"But — "

"She doesn't want to prejudice our perceptions," Larry said. "Magic stuff."

"I
know
about magic stuff, fangboy."

Aunt Catie reached around the front seat to pat Selena on the shoulder. "Snapping Lawrence's head off won't make you feel any better."

"I really wish you wouldn't put it that way, Caetlyn," Larry said.

Selena almost laughed. Larry and her aunt exchanged an amused look. And it occurred to her that the two of them made a cute couple. Okay, Larry looked younger than Aunt Catie, but he probably wasn't.

Steve didn't look any older than her. Selena gritted her teeth. Why couldn't she stop thinking about Steve?

"Because you love him," Aunt Catie answered.

"Will you stop that!" It was families that drove you crazy, and psychic families could
really
get on each other's nerves. "It's not love. It's — "

"Love at first bite," Larry said. It was a wonder the look Selena gave him didn't stake him through the heart, but it bounced right off, and he kept on talking. "You can go for hundreds of years taking lovers and being content with those relationships, but there's nothing anyone involved can do to stop that soul mate connection of equals when it finally hits. Don't know if I'd ever want that kind of instant love-sex-completion-acceptance lightning bolt to hit me, I like to get to know somebody before I make a commitment." He glanced over his shoulder at her aunt. "But seeing it happen to you and
him
gave me faith that at least some of the legends are true."

"Some things are inevitable," Catie said.

"Like my stopping this car and kicking you both out if you don't change the subject," Selena informed them.

She noticed that her teeth were still gritted, and made an effort to relax her jaw. Soul mate her ass! What kind of romantic bullshit did vampires believe in? Okay, maybe sometimes she had certain kinds of syrupy warm romantic nest-building
urges
concerning the meanest mother in the valley, but that was just… the… bond —

"Shit."

"I think she finally figured it out."

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"Shut up, Aunt Catie."

Selena stared straight ahead as she drove. The streets seemed full of light, streetlights and headlights, she told herself, but for some reason she imagined fireworks. Her life was tragic, right? Her situation was hopeless, at best. Well, at least
fraught
with weirdness, violence, and a very uncertain future. Why was it that all of a sudden life didn't seem so bad? Because a
vampire
told her he'd witnessed her finding her soul mate? Okay, she'd always known what happened between her and Steve was rare and special, but this was the first time it occurred to her that the connection might be a good thing.

Fortunately, before this reverie could go any further, Larry reclaimed her attention. "You have anything to eat? Healing takes a lot of energy," he added when Selena glanced his way. "I'm really hungry all the time."

If he was
really
hungry, it meant he was fighting hard against the urge to hunt down and feast on the flesh of mortals. "There's some protein bars in the glove compartment, I think," Selena told him.

"Thanks."

Getting anything out of Selena's glove compartment was not necessarily a safe experience. There was a whole lot of stuff in there besides emergency rations for times when she worked stakeouts using her own vehicle. There were maps and a flashlight, a can of pepper spray, a makeup bag, and lots of other things she couldn't remember. She should have warned Larry before he stuck his hand in, and half the contents escaped into his lap.

"Is this a bra?" he asked as he started to awkwardly return items to the glove compartment.

"Yes. Do you have to paw through everything?"

"Haven't you ever read that vampires are curious? We have a compulsion to count things."

"I remember learning that on
Sesame Street."

"That's where I found out about it, too. What's this?"

"I have no idea."

"Looks like a computer disk."

Selena took the time while waiting at a stoplight to look at the pink plastic diskette Larry held up. "I know it's a computer disk, but I've never seen it before." Something nagged worriedly at the back of her mind, but the information skittered out of her reach when she tried to grasp it. Was this some piece of evidence she'd collected for a case and forgotten to turn in? She had no idea. "Slip it into my purse, okay? I'll have a look at it later." The light changed, and she drove on in silence while Larry ate all five of the Power Bars he'd found.

After another ten minutes, a creepy feeling replaced her attempts to remember where the diskette came from. The night grew progressively darker, and not at all nice. Selena said, "Okay, Karen's building is on the next block. What do we do, Aunt Catie?"

"Be very, very quiet, Selena," Catie answered. "Drive around the block a couple of times, then find a place to park."

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"I don't see them, but I know they're there."

"Definitely more than one," Selena agreed with Larry. She didn't see anyone, either, but, like the vampire beside her, she
knew.
There was a sort of icy tingling in her veins that was as accurate as radar for picking up the presence of other vampires in the shadows surrounding the old brick apartment building.

Of vampires. Not
other
vampires, she corrected her screwed-up perceptions. This acute awareness was a new wrinkle in her psychic development. The street, the buildings, the bushes, the trees, the traffic, she was aware of her surroundings, but only as a hazy backdrop to the lines and pulses of energy emanating from the other psychic beings in the area. She didn't know if she was more annoyed or pleased at the extra oomph she'd received as a bonus of her most recent interlude with Steve.