Odd Melody (Odd Series Book 2) (32 page)

Mia and Sven argued at the counter over a webpage on the laptop, and customers wandered in the store and everything appeared back to normal. I had collected a paycheck for solving the Harbor Hammer situation, so I had paid my rent to Mia and life was good.

Sven no longer murdered people, but he also had no recall of doing so. As he was Wiccan, we weren’t sure we could tell him about it and not have him flip out anyway. Murder sucks and when your life motto is
and it harm none
… Well, to find out you have spent your evenings bashing in people’s heads would traumatize him. We went with don’t ask, don’t tell.

Mia glowed with health again. Too healthy. Back to spelling on purpose, and when she snapped the laptop closed and glared at Sven, sparkles shot out her fingertips. Ah, life had returned to normal.

So why was I rereading the same page over and over again? Two reasons really. Vance planned to come by at dark with a book he had found on Sirens in one of his friend’s libraries. Vance and I would be friends, which felt…awkward. I was still not sure how I felt about the whole thing. I, well, I did not want to be his friend. I wanted…well, it was a moot point. He hadn’t wanted me.

End of story. It had only been a fling. Everyone has flings. So I had a fling after my divorce with a super-hot vampire. No big deal. And it had fizzled. Not a big deal at all. But I had really liked him. And I had thought he liked me. And I wanted to whine about it. But that was dumb so, moving on.

Besides that, Chance, the other really complicated male relationship in my life planned to come over to meet my daughter.

Didn’t I swear off men?

I closed the book—as I had neither retained nor comprehended the words on the page anyway—to simply twirl the ring on my finger. Warm from my skin, it felt soft as butter. The stones glittered and I considered again what it meant.

What had he been thinking? For that matter, what was I thinking to agree to it? Blinded by sex
. I must have been blinded by really good sex.

Stroking the ring thoughtfully, I wasn’t altogether sure that I could blame it on sex, even if it had been exceptional sex. Not that I should think of sex with my daughter a few feet away. But, wow. Seriously. That man. I blushed just thinking about it. He made the Energizer bunny seem tired.

The bell above the door jangled. As if I had called him into existence by thinking of him, Chance entered. Loose jeans hung on hips hidden by a dark red tee shirt that was covered with a suede jacket in autumny brown. Mahogany hair hung in neat ringlets around his serious looking face and his hands were stuffed into his pockets. He nodded to Mia and Sven before he walked over to take a chair from a small table near the book section. Flipping the chair backwards, he sat, and folded his arms on the back to peer at Vickie and me.

My cue. Time to introduce Vickie to Chance.

Vickie glanced up from her game with a distracted air. “Hi, Chance.”

She went back to her game and bit her lip in concentration. I, who had built up to this all day, blew out a breath that made my bangs fly into the air. All the prepared speeches that I had went out of my head in a whoosh.

Chance, never at a loss, for once seemed startled and tilted his head at her before turning in askance at me.

I shrugged and stared back at Vickie.

After a minute or so of this, she looked up. “What?” Turning her head she seemed to study us, one to the other. Then she smacked herself in the forehead and nearly took an eye out with the stylus from the game. Vickie grumbled under her breath before clearing her throat to speak. “I was into my game, sorry. If I had paid more attention, you could have done your speeches. Sorry, sorry, start over. Oh, Mom, who is this?” She gave us wide eyes, brushed her blond hair from her eyes, snapped the game closed and crossed her legs.

I turned back to Chance and Mia sputtered in laughter.

I was less amused. “Chance.” The words came through gritted teeth.

“That wasn’t what you were going to say.” She shook her blond head as she chided me. “I’m listening now. Go ahead, you guys.”

I gave her an unhappy stare.

She waved frustrated hands. “Hey, you waited too long to tell me. It’s not my fault. I pick up on stuff. He’s been around for
weeks
.”

Chance still seemed very quiet, for Chance. I think he picked up on the mother-daughter dynamic. With us, the dynamic was odd. Then again, around there, odd was the catch of the day.

“Is there anything else you know? Or should I ask, what all do you know about him that you want to tell me?”

“If I told you all I know about him, he would ground me. Thanks, but I
want
a car someday.” She pushed her hair over her shoulder and quirked a brow.

“He can’t ground you. Only I can ground you.”

“Not yet.” She mumbled it but it didn’t take superpowers to hear her.

“What do you know that I don’t?” I popped to my feet.

“Actually, I’m curious, too.” Chance joined the strange conversation, tilting his head at Vickie. “We’ve only just met. How do you know that someday I may have the power to ground you, Victoria?”

“Don’t go using my full name already, buddy.” Vickie huffed out the words, looking as stern as a child could. “
That
is pushing it.”

“Don’t talk to your elders like that.” The correction automatically popped out of my mouth.

“Yes, Mom.” Her answer was just as routine.

“But answer him.” I schooled my features to a stern look.

“Mo-o-m.” She popped to her feet, a mini-me before siren abilities had changed what I looked like on the outside. She mirrored my posture and expression, and on the inside, where it counted, we remained a lot alike. “Why would you ask me something that no one wants to know yet? Sheesh, we learned about Cassandra, you know. And
nothing
good happened to her.”

I sat back down and put my head in my hands.

Sven laughed so hard his face lay buried in his arms. Mia sat propped back on her stool, tea in hand, enjoying the show thoroughly. The only ones not having a blast were Chance and me.

“Cassandra?” I sighed heavily. “Who is Cassandra?” I wasn’t altogether sure I wanted the answer.

“Greek mythology. Cassandra knew the future, too. If you can see the future, well, people don’t want to hear it, and that is all I am saying. And besides, you can change the future. Fate is in your hands.”

“Actually—”

Chance put a hand on my knee to shut me up. We were talking, after all, to a ten-year old.

Fate lay in Fate’s hands.
I had met her. She seemed nice enough.

Chance squeezed the hand on my knee in manner intended to reassure. “You have to have a little faith that it all will happen the way it is meant to.”

This threw Vickie into a fit of giggles. “Have a little faith. From you two. That is funny.”

“Why is that funny?” I turned to Chance.

He shrugged.

“So.” I decided to regain control of the conversation. “You would rather not tell us what you have seen from your gifts, but you know Chance, and he is okay?”

It was like asking permission to date him. It instantly seemed stupid, but decisions I made affected her. If I made him part of my life, well, he became part of hers. Although, I had waited too late in the game to ask her what she thought about it.

She stopped her laughter to walk over to Chance and place both her small hands on his shoulders. “I like him. He is not as bad as he thinks he is. And he’s going to be around for a while, so I think it’s cute you guys wanted me to meet him. That I will tell you.”

She smiled at him and patted him on the head like he was a dog. “I’m a vegetarian, but I like ice cream. Even if it is junk. My mom eats like a rat. Oh, and if you want to get on my good side, get her home at a decent hour and buy me clothes. Just to get that out there.”

“Victoria.” Her name came out on a sputter from me.

“You should have heard what I told my stepmom when I met her the first time.”

“Worse than that?”

Vickie giggled.

“Hey, did either of you guys see that storm last night? It was freakish. Lightning in the dead of winter during a snow storm, and then it blew over and there was this beautiful sunrise.”

Mia had flipped her laptop back open and looked at us in mild curiosity. After all, it was only a question about the weather.

“There was actual lightning last night?” I bit my lip. “In December?”

“Yeah, I searched online and the weather channel called it a freak storm that blew in off the lake. Something about hardly ever happens or something…a thunderstorm in winter, thunder snow. You mean you guys missed it entirely? Did you hear it Sven?” Mia looked at Sven, curiosity written on her face.

“Yeah.” Sven waved a hand vaguely. “Woke me out of a dead sleep. It looked insane. The weatherman said something about more lightning than the average storm…it was pretty spectacular to watch.”

“Global warming,” Mia answered vaguely while looking back to her work.

Chance and I exchanged a secret smile. I sputtered. “Nuh-uh.”

“Odd stuff indeed.” He laughed the free and easy laugh that I had not even known he had before our night together. His fingers reached from my knee to close around my hand and link our fingers. He stroked the ring, and I smirked back at him.

Had we caused a freak thunderstorm in the dead of winter?
How do you have “safe sex” and avoid that?
 

He chuckled, and Vickie looked back and forth between us as if trying to decide what she missed.

The door on Odd Stuff jingled again and in walked Vance in a wave of the scent of the night and snow. I glanced up from Vickie, who had moved to peer up at me.

Vance stood a moment, framed in the doorway, and took in the image of Chance with Vickie’s hand on his shoulder, her other on my leg. Chance held my hand so we were all linked together.

His face closed down, and his expression became unreadable. But after only the briefest hesitation, a smile quickly replaced that moment of blank face, and he entered the store and closed the door with a jingle behind him.

I realized I held my breath and let it out.

Vance joined us and the conversation stayed general. Vickie trotted off to discuss some internet game site with Sven so that Vance could come over and show me the book he had brought me. I thought that Chance would leave, but he stayed in his chair and waited.

Vance sat next to me and pulled out the book. “Here.”

Relieved, I saw this one was not bound in anything that resembled skin and I took it.

His smile seemed sad. “I have looked and other than this, I have a few other leads I will follow for you. I should hear back from another friend later this week, but this one had a song at the back I thought you would like, so I didn’t want to wait to give it to you. And check on page forty-five.” His eyes crinkled at the edges as he leaned forward, excited.

I opened the book, which seemed to be a history and genealogy of sirens. I flipped through the pages and, although informative, it didn’t seem that it would teach me more about my powers or how to control them. When I got to page forty-five, though, I caught Vance’s hand and looked up at him to see him smiling down at me. His blue eyes glowed.

The center pages had pictures of the royals of the siren lines. That particular page had a full shot of my dad. I stroked it. I had no pictures of my father. Actually, I hadn’t known there were any.

Tears pricked at my eyes and I blinked them back. “Hey, Vic. Mia, everyone, come here.”

They all crowded around and I held up the book. I was watery when I flipped the book around. The old, black and white picture showed my father as handsome and strong. I remembered that face. His hair and beard glowed as white as mine did since the change, over blue laughing eyes. He had dimples that showed when he shaved.

His hair curled neatly over his strong brow. His arms were huge, and he wore some weird flowing caftan. He held a shield in the picture, probably some siren thing. The image reminded me I would never know anything about the culture, and that I remained the last of my kind.

I turned the book back to me and announced to everyone, “That is my dad.” I turned to Vance and gave him a hug. “Thanks.”

“That’s what friends are for.” And his arms came around me. “I love you.”

But the words meant more, somehow, than friendship. Or maybe I wished they did. So because he was so kind, I smiled up at him, still soggy and stepped away.

My lips were tight and I took the book and headed upstairs. I put Vickie to bed. When I returned to the living room, I wasn’t surprised to see Chance. He tugged me into his arms and I went willingly.

~~~

My name is Janie Smith. I live in a small town on Lake Erie where the things that go bump in the night usually hang out with me. I live in a place called Odd Stuff. My daughter can see the future and who knows what else she can do. I have a soul mate. Witches and vampires have become my best friends, and I’m the last siren. I would be okay with all of this because it was the way things were.

Then again… who knows what next week would bring?

Look for the rest of the Odd Trilogy

Odd Stuff,
Odd Series Book 1
 

Available Now

Janie Smith always pretended to be normal. When her witch bestie gets tangled in a murder investigation, she finds it hard to stick to the mundane and save the day. Janie snarks her way through the paranormal world, fumbling again and again, determined not to give into temptation... But when your closest pal is suspected to have murdered a vampire, how do you prove she didn’t kill someone who has no pulse
?

Odd Melody
,
Odd Series Book 2
 

Odd Fate,
Odd Series Book 3