Galin (15 page)

“No, no, no. You can’t believe her. She’s
just a woman. She lies. This woman begged me to make her my pleasure bitch. Mine.
When I told her that you had to have her she told me that she’d rather die than
to come to anyone but me.” Markum looked at her. “She willingly came with me. Begged
me to bring her here. I even asked her to stay behind because it was dangerous.
Ask her, hear her lies as they spew from her mouth. I have never lied to you,
my lord. She is the liar.”

“Yeah, he did tell me that, but he wasn’t him
when he did it.” She nodded when she realized how little sense she was making. “He
looked like Boss. My friend. He even told me that he was coming here to save my
friend and nephew. I’m pretty sure he’s taken my protector and a few others too.
I don’t know why, but I think some of the protectors that are missing are in
there. And I think he took them.”

“You have a protector here?” There was no
mistaking the anger now. The being practically boiled over with it. “You dare
to bring a protector to this realm and hide them away and not tell me about it?
What were you thinking? Or were you? Do you…have you…? Do you know what you
have done? Do you know what will happen when He finds out what you have dared
to do? I will not save you when He finds out. And He will. Even if I have to tell
Him.”

“I believe not only that he knows what he has
done, but also had plans of continuing his scheme then laying the blame at your
feet.” Boss, the real one, bowed before her as He appeared and spoke. When he
stood he winked at her before turning to the being. “You have taken what is
mine without permission, Damon. I will want a full payment. There is no
mistaking that this was a one-time event. He has at least nine of my men and
women in there. And even though you claim not to be aware of it, they are still
where they shouldn’t be, and harmed too. What do you have to say about this?”

“He will pay.” They all looked at Markum, who
seemed to shrivel in size. Then Damon looked at her with a strange smile. “She
called to you, didn’t she? Called you to her, and now you have come.”

“Nay. You know that she cannot. And you know
what brought me here. It was not her saying my name.” Damon nodded. “This is a
grievous crime against my people, Damon. You and I both know that it is well
within my rights to kill you both. But I will take payment due. You will pay
me? And it will hurt him. Not just his body, because I’m sure you have plans
for that, but with something he loves. If a man such as him can love.”

“I believe you may be right in this. And I
will make sure that he will pay you until he hurts. Then I will take my pounds
of flesh.” Dusty shivered, knowing that whatever was in store for Markum was
not going to be something he walked away from any time soon. Damon bowed before
smiling at her. “She is a great deal more than I would have thought on first
look. You have done well this time.”

“She is perfect.”

Chapter 9

They were all sitting around the table in her
office. Kala and Riss were sitting in the chairs near her desk, as there was
little room left elsewhere. Boss was not saying a word as all of them, and she
did notice it was all of them, were shouting at him about one thing or another.
Dusty simply watched. And thought.

“He will pay with his life; it is only
fitting.” Another said that Markum should be imprisoned for the rest of his
days. Which she’d just found out was forever. Dusty did notice that Jacob said
very little too. She supposed he was still trying to fight through the pain he
was in. She looked up when someone sat on the floor near her.

“Are you all right?” She shrugged. Dusty
didn’t want to lie to Galin, but she wasn’t really sure how to answer his
question. “We can go home. There is no reason that you have to be here.”

“I know. I just…I don’t think I want to be
alone right now.” He nodded and took her hand. She knew that he’d be there with
her, but Dusty needed the…well, the noise, she supposed. And something more to
focus on than where she’d just been.

The man—it turned out he was called not just
Damon, but Lord Damon—was in charge of most of the happenings in the other
realm. The only person who had more authority was his boss, and no one wanted
to bother him. Especially not Markum.

Lord Damon had sat down with her and Boss
after Markum was…he disappeared, and that was all she knew for sure. She had an
idea that he wasn’t going to bother her or any of them ever again, but she
didn’t know precisely why. And she was pretty sure she never ever wanted to
know why he wasn’t there. Not having him there was enough for now.

“You will be given all that he has.” Dusty
didn’t know what that meant and started to tell Damon no, she didn’t want it,
but Boss put his hand on her arm and she just nodded. “You’d do well to have
Him guide you, my dear. You are a novice of the goings on here, and He will
guide you well.”

“He—Markum—said he had my nephew. Does he?” Damon
closed his eyes then opened them.

“He did, but your nephew is now safe within
your home.” Dusty wanted to go to him now, but she’d been asked to come to this
meeting of sorts and she knew that something important was going to be said and
didn’t want to miss it. “You have been harmed greatly by my minion. I am sorry
for that. That is not the way we do business.”

“Business?” Dusty waited for an explanation
and when none was forthcoming, she asked what was forefront in her mind. “You
said that I couldn’t call out to Boss. And the two of you seemed to know why. Tell
me. Please?”

Damon looked at Boss, who nodded slightly. When
Damon stood up she thought he was going to show them out, as his face
registered so much anger. When he handed her a small vial, she didn’t take it
until Boss told her it was all right.

“That is what true love looks like.” She
noticed that there was very little of anything at all in the vial and handed it
back to him. “For my kind—and there are a great many of us—that is all we can
expect to find here. But you…you were able to call to Boss because of your love
for someone…I would say Galin…and in turn, this man.”

“I don’t understand. You said because I love
Galin, I was able to call Boss to me? Why wouldn’t I have called Galin?” Damon
set the vial back on the pretty pedestal and sat back down. “You treasure
that.”

“I do. And in answer to your question, you
have a great deal of love for this man too. Much more than would fit into this
entire room and then some. Your love for your husband is infinity times that.” Dusty
nodded. She did love Galin, but she had never thought of it in volume before. “We
do treasure it here. It is what…we must fight it daily to bring others to us.”

“So love really is what makes the world go
around.” They both laughed but she stood up. Damon watched her carefully and
she knew that if he tried anything, Boss would protect her. “What do you mean,
I will get all that he has? Money?”

“Yes. And more. He will…Markum has been
saving things for decades, and they too are worth a great deal of money.” He
put out his hand again and there was a large opal in it. “Not the most
expensive gem in the world, by any means, but lovely. And he has a great deal
of them. He collects them, you see.”

“Money isn’t the solve-all to this. He hurt
my family. Markum burned a scar into my nephew, gave him horrific dreams.”
Damon nodded sadly as she continued. “Money will not make that all go away. It’ll
help him, but it won’t negate the fact that he hurt him unnecessarily.”

“It will not. But the mark has been removed.
I cannot take the dreams away, but I can lessen them for him.” Dusty shook her
head. “You do not want me to take his dreams away?”

“I don’t want you fucking with his mind. You
just leave his mind to me.” Damon nodded and smiled at her. “You will really
leave him alone? No one here will ever bother him again?”

“You love him very much, do you not?” She
nodded. “Then he will be safe from my kind for so long as he lives. And before
you ask, that is a very long time. I have no designs over your nephew and none
of my beings will ever reach out to him again.”

“Thank you.” Damon nodded and smiled again. “You
do know that there is very little comfort in your smile. I don’t mean to be
mean but, damn, you’re scary.”

“I am supposed to be.” She stepped back when
he shifted. His body and face looked like every other person she knew. “This is
much better for you?”

“It is, but not necessary. You should be your
true self when you can. I don’t want you to be someone you’re not for me.” He
had nodded and went on to explain what she would need to do to claim the things
that Markum was going to give her.

“Are you there?” Dusty looked up at Boss when
He spoke. She’d been so deep in her thoughts that she’d not realized anyone had
said her name. She looked around and saw that everyone was now gone.

“I guess I was thinking really hard.” Boss
smiled and sat down. “I still don’t think we’re safe, are we?”

“I would say for a time we are. But you will
be all right, as well as Kipling.” He handed her a box and she opened it. “Those
are the most valuable gems that Markum had. I took the liberty of making sure
the others are cashed out for you. The money is in a savings account with
Kipling’s name on it. Yours as well, but I believe you will want him to have
it.”

“He wants to go to college. It will help.” Boss
smiled and nodded. Dusty ran her fingers over the diamonds and emeralds, along
with a few other pieces she had no name for. “And these? What do you want me to
do with these?”

“I would suggest you buy this building from
Judith. Then sell your small home and purchase something bigger for your
family. Galin has monies too. A great deal of it that, I’m sure, you will put
to good use over the years.” He laughed a little and she looked at Him. “The
fund for Kipling will be enough for him to go to any college he wants and never
worry about working. He is very set.”

“I’m glad.” She was too. Kipling wanted to be
a lawyer and she was sure that didn’t come with a small price tag. “I can’t
have children.”

“Nay, you cannot. But you can have them if
you want them.” She looked up at Him, confused. “Adopt them with Galin. You
will have no problems doing so. Judith and Agon will be able to advise you on
this, as they are doing it now.”

“She told me.” Still she fingered the gems. “I
want to be helpful, but I just don’t know why you picked me. If you need
someone to advertise an event or a product, even make up some business cards,
I’m on it, but there is very little else I can do with your Mystics.”

“Why do you think that?” She snorted at him
and He laughed. “I see that you have put a great deal of thought into this. So
I will be straight forward with you. I do not need advertising. It’s not
something that we do. Nor do I need business cards. I have no phone and no
email address, so there would be nothing on it save my name. And Boss would not
be something I’d like for people to see on a card. I think it would turn them
off. As for what you can do…well, there are a great many things. But….”

“You’re not going to tell me.” He shook His head.
“You do know that I can be much better at helping if You simply told me what it
is You want me to do.”

“But that would be no fun for me.” He stood
up and kissed her forehead. “Love Galin. He needs that from you, and in turn, I
do as well. And go home. Kipling has invited me to dinner, and I am looking
forward to sesame chicken with brown rice.”

~~~

Galin helped Kip clean up the kitchen. They’d
sent Dusty for some ice cream when they decided that they wanted a snack after
Boss had left. She had left them to clean up the kitchen and Galin was enjoying
the job. Except that he’d already broken a cup and a plate in his job of drying
them.

“You keep it up and we’ll need a whole new
kitchen.” Galin looked at the tea maker he’d killed earlier. “You promise to
read the instructions from now on, right?”

“You said to pour the water into the
container and turn it on. I didn’t know you meant to put the water in the back
of the thing.” He grinned. “I’m really glad you had a fire extinguisher. Who
knew that flames could get that high?”

“I did.” Kip handed him a large bowl and told
him to be careful with it. He washed two more pieces before he continued
talking. “I guess you and Aunt Dusty will want to have your own family now.”

“We have one.” Galin put the bowl on the
table, thrilled he’d not even chipped it. “You’re our family now. I’m your
uncle and Dusty will still be your aunt.”

“I mean kids of your own.” Galin started to
laugh but realized that the boy was hurting. “Aunt Dusty said something a while
back about sending me to a boarding school.”

“Do you want to go there?” Kip shook his
head. “Then why would we push you away when we have only just gotten to know
you? As for children, we cannot have any of our own. I’m not human.”

“But Aunt Dusty is.” Galin shook his head. “So
she’s like you? Someone who will live forever and ever. But not me.”

“Not yet.” Kip stopped washing the pan that
was in his hand and stared at him. “I can prolong your life if you wish. I
can’t do it now as you are but a child, but when you are older, I can if you
still wish it.”

“You mean if you did it now, I’d still be a
kid in about fifty years.” Galin nodded. “Thanks for not doing it then. Being a
kid sucks.”

They both laughed and before they were finished,
Galin broke the big bowl. He’d been very careful when putting it into the
cabinet, but he’d set another bowl above it and it fell out of his hand and hit
it. Galin wanted to cry. He’d never been this clumsy before.

“We need a dishwasher.” Galin agreed with Kip
as they cleaned up the mess. “I’m not sure, but I think we’d be better off with
a lot of things you can’t break. You’re sort of dangerous.”

“I’m unused to doing domestic chores. I want
to learn them, but there are so many things…the microwave boggles my mind in
what can and can’t go in it. The refrigerator with the ice machine still
confuses me. Where does the water come from if not from someplace magical?” Galin
knew it was from a small hose, as Kip had pulled out the refrigerator and
showed him, but still…. “And the television. How is it that you have over a
thousand stations, yet you complain about nothing being on? I have seen plenty
on. You just…you zoom past the shows as if you’re in a race to see how many you
can pass in a minute.”

“I’ve seen it all.” Kip put the towel he’d
been using to wipe down the counter on the back of the chair. “I have another
question for you. You can say no if you want, but I’d really like you to think
about it. I’ve already asked Aunt Dusty and she’s thinking on it too, though
she wanted to answer me right then, but…can I call you Dad instead of Uncle Galin?”

Galin staggered back from the boy. To be
called Dad was something he’d never thought to be called. He sat down and stood
up twice before he pulled Kip into his arms and hugged him to him. He had a
son.

“Is that a yes?” Galin laughed. “Aunt Dusty
did the same thing. Not the hopping up and down thing, but she hugged me tight
enough to cut off my air.”

Galin let him go immediately but pulled him
back for another, quicker hug. “You have given me a great gift. One that I
never thought to own. I don’t…words fail me in this. I have…you…I would be
truly honored if you were to call me Dad. And more so to call you son.”

“Yeah, Aunt…Mom said that I’d given her more
than she could ever tell me. I guess…you guys drive me nuts sometimes, but I
think I love you.” Kip laughed. “Okay, I really love you. And I’ve never had a
dad before so…we’ll have to figure this out together.”

“I would be glad to have you as a teacher.” Kip
nodded and said he had homework. Galin sat at the table to wait for Dusty. He
had a son. Galin was still smiling about it when Dusty walked in the door
fifteen minutes later.

“He asked you.” Galin nodded and pulled her
into his lap. “He had me bawling like a little baby when he asked me. He told
me that his mom was always Rose to him since she never wanted anyone to know
she had a son his age. But he said I’m his mom now and forever.”