Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (218 page)

I felt my heart flutter a little, not because she had called me by the wrong last name, but because Brent took the time to tell her that I belonged. I wasn’t some visitor — I was their little sister. I had been in this magical place less than two hours — I had found five brothers who I didn’t know I had and was developing a real kinship to them already. I had never been overly emotional, so the wetness in my eyes trying to get out felt completely out of place.

Everyone was standing inside the door when Bart explained to me, “No sense standing in the heat; they’re bringing the cars around for us.”

As if his words could make beautiful German automobiles appear out of thin air, two identical BMW sedans pulled up in front of the restaurant. I’m sure my mouth was gaping open when I commented to no one in particular, “You have matching Beamers?”

Brent, standing next to me said, “Yeah, that was Dad’s idea. He didn’t want any of us to feel slighted, so we all got the same car. I tried to talk him into a Camaro, but that was a big no go.” I did the math in my head. I knew there was no way to get that model for under $50,000, and Will had bought five of them for his sons. Who does that? My mind flashed to my earlier idea that my family was a part of some religious cult.

We drove just a few short blocks and left the cars with another valet. I looked at the inconspicuous sign indicating that this was the Yacht Club. When Bart suggested we go out on the boat, I was expecting... well, a boat. As we walked past the club to the pier behind it, Beau was again in the lead and made his way to the furthest slip. The largest yacht in the harbor was directly in front of us and displayed the name, “Easy Money.” Holy moly, this wasn’t some little cabin cruiser or something to buzz around the harbor on; we could take this thing to the Bahamas. I was careful not to suggest it. The little time that I’d spent with the five led me to believe we’d be at Nassau by dinner time if I weren’t careful.

Although much more comfortable around them after lunch, I reminded myself that something didn’t feel right about them. There was a reason a person had instincts, and I refused to ignore mine. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt wrong. I sent another text to Daniel, “Going 4 a ride on the yacht w/ 5 brothers, will call U later.” As I put my phone in my purse, the pessimistic part of me wondered how far I could swim if I had to.

A
granddaughter
. How had Angela hidden from me all this time, and how had she found a way to give birth and hide her children as well? Where had they been? I had searched the planet, the far off mountains of Tibet, the vast Sahara desert, the rain forests of South America, and every disgusting third world city in between. Every time I heard a whisper of where she might be, I searched. No stone was left unturned. She couldn’t possibly have hidden in plain sight all those years. She had been protected by a magic more powerful than my own – but whose?

Angela had been dead to me, for years — since the day she ran away. She abandoned her family, left us to pay her debt. I knew she still breathed, somewhere, but none of my powers could find her; that could only mean that she was protected by another. Who in our society would be willing to cross me?

That putz she lured in may have been a pure-blood, and the bastard daughter they conceived may be in my lineage, but something was wrong. Had she been born without a twin? Were things changing or had Angela tapped into a new source of magic? Was our bloodline finally diluted? William Strayer was not worthy of Angela. He knew it. He had no idea what he was up against if he intended to keep this granddaughter from me. She and her brother were the last in my line.

When Angela’s body died, I could feel her enter the spirit world. Even in death she refused to answer my calls. Angela paid as much attention to me in death as she had in life; that would change soon. Camille was my heir; she would be exactly the leverage I needed. We’ll see how long Angela can ignore my calls when her precious daughter is living the life that Angela herself escaped.

Isaac, her father, indulged Angela too much as a child, coddling her, constantly accusing me of abuse. They deserved each other; let her join him in the pasture. Until his death I had always wondered if he had hidden her from me. Once he passed into the spirit world and I still could not locate Angela, I knew that he hadn’t betrayed me after all. I never believed Isaac’s denial until his death proved his words true.

With that knowledge I was at a loss as to who could have protected her. I wondered if my worthless brother Zethus was involved. He swore the arrow didn’t exist. All these years I wondered if it was his arrow that cloaked Angela from me, but if that were true, Camille would still be under its protection. Once Angela passed, I felt Camille, I knew she existed. I had zeroed in on Southern California, and in a few more days, I would have found her apartment. I was close. I knew I was close. But why can’t I feel her brother?

I listened to her phone call with William Strayer – she was already in Charleston by now. He would let his guard down. He wasn’t a protector. The fool didn’t stand a chance against me. It was only a matter of time. I needed to be patient, as patient as I had been the last twenty-eight years — I needed only be patient for a few more days.

A
s I looked
around the yacht, I had to wonder: was Will a billionaire or something? My mom wasn’t wealthy. I could remember growing up and for weeks eating nothing but Ramen Noodles, macaroni and cheese, and hot dogs. I could feel a twinge of jealousy in me, not begrudging that they had so much, but disappointed that I came from almost nothing. I wouldn’t have traded a day with my mom for all the nice cars and beautiful boats in the world, but I had to wonder why my mom never contacted Will to tell him about me. He could have surely helped enough so that we could have had better food. I couldn’t think of any good reason for us to struggle the way we had. Now that she was gone, I’d never be able to ask her why.

We climbed onto the yacht, and an employee from the club untied the ropes and handed them up to Brent. “Mr. Strayer, good to see you again.”

“Hi, Josh, any chance you wanna ride along today?”

Josh blushed at the offer, “Thank you, Mr. Strayer, but I’m working today.”

“Oh, come on. I’ll go in and clear it with your boss. It’ll be fun.”

“Mr. Strayer, thanks, but I’ll have to decline. Besides, you’ll need me here to tie her off when you return.” Josh gave a kind of salute with his hand, and turned to walk away. We powered out into the harbor, headed for blue water, with Beau at the helm. As stifling hot as it had been when we got out of the car, the breeze out on the open water was wonderful.

I’d gone to school with kids like my brothers – at least from the wealth perspective. But there was something about these five: they were almost magnetic. Aside from their obvious good looks, their demeanor was welcoming, their words to others were thoughtful, and each looked others in the eye when they spoke. In a word, they were “genuine,” not at all like the pompous stuffed shirts I’d become accustomed to tuning out.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, telling stories of stunts they’d pulled when they were younger. Each seemed to tell a story that was more brazen than the last – laughter erupted in all directions with each new story. I tuned out for a while, wondering if any of this could seriously be real. I found myself wishing for a way to let my mom know that I was going to be okay. I’d miss her for the rest of my life – but something I never thought possible, until that moment, I was no longer alone. Beau was the sweetest, his eyes were kind; whenever someone spoke, he looked them square in the eye, giving them his full attention. Bruce seemed to be the comic with an easy smile that reached all the way to his eyes. Bart was the quietest of the five, happy to be Bruce’s audience. Ben wore glasses and had an intelligent look about him, but barely spoke more than Bart. Brent was by far the most outspoken; he was the youngest and seemed to be comfortable being the center of attention.

When I tuned back in I heard Bruce saying “... then Dad said, ‘I’m sorry, Your Honor, I’m sure my son was temporarily insane. He gets it from his mother’s side of the family.’ Of course, Mom was right there beside him, and she glared at him pretty good. Remember that time when he melted down her best silver to make doubloons for a scavenger hunt at Halloween? Yeah, she glared at him just like that! Then he said to the judge, ‘I can assure you, he will not display such poor judgment in the foreseeable future.’ I was staring up at the judge, praying it would just be a fine or maybe Dad could buy a fire truck or something for the town and all would be forgiven, you know? The next thing I heard was, ‘Mr. Strayer, I understand sons can be a handful, but there are to be no concerts without the proper permits. Even with proper permits, they are not to host, encourage, or sponsor wet t-shirt contests in the courthouse square. Am I clear?’”

Beau jumped in, “You know why you got busted, right? The judge’s daughter was one of the girls you sprayed down, and I heard pictures of her got posted on Facebook.”

All five brothers were laughing at Bruce’s story. I had missed the first part and wasn’t sure about asking Bruce to repeat the beginning. It was obvious that these five were no angels. After I don’t know how many stories, Beau asked, “So, tell us about California. Do you have a boyfriend?”

I smiled and shook my head, “No, no one special.”

He dramatically wiped his forehead, “Well, that’s a relief. We were all worried we were going to have to fly out and give him the big brother talk.”

I was confused, “Big brother talk?”

“You know the one, ‘If you hurt her, I’ll hunt you down.’ That type of brother talk.”

“Well, you can rest easy. No need to hop on a plane anytime soon. I dated a guy for a while, but we broke up a few months ago. No big deal.”

Brent looked shocked when he confirmed, “You broke up with a guy?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t some epic romance or anything.”

Brent asked again, “You dated him and then broke up?”

Surprised by his sudden interest, I could only answer, “Well, yeah.”

“What happened to him?”

I laughed, mostly because Brent had a way of looking so serious. “Happened to him? Nothing, it was mutual. We just weren’t cut out for each other.”

Beau must have noticed the strange reaction in Brent because he said, “Geeze Brent, it isn’t a big deal.
People
date.” I couldn’t help but notice Beau’s emphasis on the word
people
, and he gave Brent a look that told them all to leave it alone. I got a weird feeling that there was more to the question that Brent wanted to ask, but after Beau shut him down, he never circled back to the topic.

We spent another hour together before we pulled back into the slip. Josh was waiting on the dock as Brent tossed him the rope, and he had us tied off before Bart had cut the engine. We’d only been out for a couple hours, but the rocking of the water, maybe the sea air, the heat or the sun beating down had me worn out. Josh offered me a hand onto the pier and asked, “Did you have a good time, Miss?”

“I did, thanks for asking.” Josh was handsome in a geeky way. He was about my height, just slightly shorter, light green eyes, and deep tanned skin — no doubt his golden bronze skin was the result of working outside all day.

Brent, of the five, was the closest to my age and was the brother who had talked the most to me since my arrival. Brent stepped off the boat behind me as Josh asked, “Miss, which Mr. Strayer was your escort today?”

Josh winked at Brent, logically making the assumption that if he trailed me getting on and off the yacht that I must have been his date. Brent didn’t miss a beat, “Josh, I should have introduced you earlier. This is our little sister, Camille. She’s visiting this week from California.”

Josh gave a slight bow, “Miss Strayer, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I held out my hand, “If I can call you Josh, the least you can do is call me Camille, or better yet, Cami.”

“Sorry, Miss Strayer, house rules.” A part of me thought I should correct being called, “Strayer,” but my new family was obviously well-engrained in the community. I was, after all, the illegitimate little sister: no sense giving people anything to gossip about. I gave Josh an awkward smile and followed Brent down the pier.

As we climbed into the car for the trip to the house, I felt the softness of the leather seats, the cool air blowing on me after being out on the ocean in the heat of the day. I had flown all night and was more tired than I realized. The excitement should have kept me from dozing off, but I must have completely passed out in the car.

I
awoke
in a brightly colored bedroom, a sunny yellow color on the walls, darkness clouding the windows. I had been sleeping in the softest bed I’d ever felt, wrapped by a four-poster mahogany frame. The room was meticulously decorated, from the beautifully framed prints on the wall to the fresh flowers on the dresser. I looked at my watch and couldn’t believe the time: it was 10 p.m.

“Camille?” A low, gentle voice asked.

I looked off to my left to see someone sitting on the other side of the room, on what I was sure was an antique loveseat. I sat up quickly, realizing that today hadn’t been some amazing dream. I was really in South Carolina and had spent the day with my five brothers. The room was dimly lit with two lonely lamps illuminating the room. I couldn’t be sure who was sitting across the room, as I wiped the sleep from my eyes. Everyone had been so welcoming that I wasn’t creeped out by someone sitting there in the dark. I answered, “I guess I was more tired than I realized.”

“I’m glad you’re here. I trust the boys were tolerable today?”

It was my father, right here in the flesh. I knew from the way he asked the question. My heart began racing, pumping so fast I thought it might beat right out of my chest. I sat up a little straighter, realizing this was really the day I had waited for my whole life. Trying to keep my enthusiasm under control, “They were great. You didn’t mention them when we talked yesterday.”

We had coordinated every aspect of the trip by email and phone. I’d talked to him several times, but he never once brought up that he had sons, that they would be picking me up, or entertaining me. As I watched him sitting on the love seat, questions flooded into my mind: Why didn’t you tell me about them? What’s your wife think about me staying in your house? Why did you have an affair with my mom? Why did she never tell me about you?