Tempest of Vengeance (28 page)

“How does it look?” Lash hissed from outside
the door. “Come out, so we can see.”

“I forgot the crinoline,” I called out. “Can
you get it? It’s in my sewing room.”

“What’s a crinoline?” Lash asked. “What’s it
look like?”

“I’ll get it,” Devlin said, laughing, “Before
your time, Lash.”

Lash grumbled something good-naturedly.

Devlin was back in a moment, and handed the
tulle and lace underskirt through the door. I had Venus raise the
skirt of the dress, and I lay the crinoline down, so she could step
into it. She did, and I raised it, tying it around her waist with a
simple ribbon.

Venus looked at me expectantly. I knew that
look well from Devlin, the look that said she was waiting to be
admired. “You look beautiful,” I praised her. “Go out and show your
father, and Lash.”

Venus almost knocked me over getting out the
door. She pranced into the living room, beaming.

“You are beautiful, Venus,” Lash said in a
hushed voice. “You live up to your name.”

Devlin looked a little stricken as he beheld
his daughter. But after a moment, he nodded almost imperceptibly
and began to smile, even as he blinked back tears. “You are
beautiful, V,” he said in an emotionally charged tone. “You are
incomparable.”

Venus basked happily for a few seconds. Then
she looked down at her feet, and frowned. “I need shoes,” she said
sadly. “I don’t have matching shoes.”

“You have them,” Lash said, and handed her a
pair of silver flats that sparkled. “Merry Christmas from me.”

Venus gave a cry of delight, and snatched
them out of his hand. A second later, she had kicked off her shoes,
and put them on. “They’re perfect!” she said happily. “Thank you,
Uncle Lash!”

Lash grinned happily at her, then at Devlin
and me.

Venus hugged me, and whispered, “Thanks, Mom.
I know it must have taken a long time to make. Longer than the
star, and you didn’t have all of us to help.”

I had been thinking her too grabby and
ungrateful. Her sudden about-turn floored me. This also was
familiar, as Devlin was the same way. I knelt before her so I could
look at her.

“I’m glad you like it, V,” I said, hugging
her. “I’m glad to be here with you.”

I was suddenly hit hard by the fact that
Devon had never got a Christmas present, nor seen a tree, nor
tasted eggnog. He was never going to. Never. He was cold ashes, in
the ground, with none of us there with him.

I hugged Venus so tightly, she let out a
little gasp of surprise. Then she hugged me back just as hard. “I
miss him, too,” she whispered sadly. “I miss him, too, Mom.”

I felt like I was going to lose it for a few
seconds, and then got control of myself. I wiped away my tears, and
hers, and kissed her on the cheek, taking my time to stand on my
wobbly legs. “Come and take it off,” I said, my voice clear. “Then
it’s to bed with you.”

V nodded, and followed me upstairs, where I
got her ready for bed. Soon, she was in her bed, saying her prayers
with me as we did now every night. I kissed her, and left, turning
off the light. Then I walked back downstairs.

Dev and Lash were sitting there by the tree
sipping some wine, a filled glass for me waiting near them. I
paused for a minute, studying them. They were so opposite, it was
hard not to, when they were like this.

Lash was so much smaller and dark, his skin
tanned-looking, his black hair unkempt as always, all in black, but
still his usual cold-weather jeans, turtleneck, and heavy cotton
shirt. His weapons were strapped to his belt, as always, though his
gun wasn’t visible. Dev was so much bigger: tall, broad shouldered,
so fair, his shoulder length golden hair shining in the reflected
light from the tree, carefully styled to look not styled at all.
And as usual for any kind of occasion, he was dressed like the king
he was, in a white silk suit that had to be designer over a red
silk shirt, with some soft-looking shoes made of white leather.

How had such opposites become friends? How
had the friendship lasted for so many years, with them being so
different? Theo and Danial were similar in being different, but
they at least had wanted the same things, more or less. Even so, I
wondered that they hadn’t been headed for a parting of the ways
even without Danial’s injury, now Theo had his own family. But
knowing both Lash and Dev, I wondered that Devlin’s cruel actions
hadn’t driven Lash from him over the years. Had the promise of
being young and never dying been reason enough for his unshaking
loyalty? That was a big lure, not dying. But something seemed to be
missing, to not make sense about their relationship.

“Love, come in and sit with us,” Devlin said,
turning to me. “You can look at us closer that way, instead of from
across the room.”

I smiled and blushed a little as I went over
to him. He handed me my glass of wine, and I sat between them.

Lash downed his wine in one swallow, and got
up. I gave him an alarmed glance. “I need to go and check in with
everyone,” he said with an easy smile. “I’ve let it go too long as
it is. Someone’s probably asleep at their posts, and I’ll have to
kick their asses. But I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

He left. One of the Hummers started up, then
lights shone briefly in the front window as he drove down to the
front gate.

Devlin eased me down into his arms, and we
sat there for a long time, saying nothing, watching the tree
sparkling, and looking at the pile of presents beneath it. Devlin
had put them there at my request earlier that evening, when I had
been getting dressed with Lash, and Serena had been keeping Venus
occupied.

“Dev, where is Serena? Why isn’t she here? Is
she with T, or Nick?”

“She went to church. Don’t worry, two bears
are with her, at my insistence. But she goes every Christmas
Eve.”

“I didn’t know she was religious.”

“She used to be Catholic,” Devlin said
musingly. “I don’t think she is anymore. Maybe Protestant?”

“I wondered why she was never around when
Titus, Terian, or Rip were around.”

“She disapproves of them, though I think she
knows that they are not like what her church teaches her. They are
not evil, not inherently, despite that they were born in Hell.”

“Who is?” I said, sipping my wine. “Everyone
has flaws. Even me.”

Devlin laughed richly, and hugged me. “You
did a good job with the dress,” he said softly in my ear. “You
recreated it in miniature perfectly.”

“Was it hers, Dev?”

“Yes. The one Anna gave me her Oath in, all
those years ago. I had it made for her, because Anna knew she
wouldn’t be having a traditional wedding if she agreed to be with
me, and she said she wanted to wear a white gown. It was very
important to her to do that, for some reason she never was able to
really define, and so it was important that it be the most
beautiful one I could have made for her. She loved it so much—”

“You shouldn’t have let me cut it up,” I
stammered, feeling awful. “I’m sorry—”

“No,” Devlin said, hugging me, and sniffling
a little. “She would have understood, and also been happy to know
that a child of mine would one day wear it. And I know you took a
good portion of the material not needed for Venus’s dress for our
quilt.”

“Yes. I’m using what I could save, mostly the
lower part of the plain white velvet skirt.”

“It wasn’t doing anyone any good in a box. It
has made me sad to look at it, all these years. I couldn’t let it
go either, though, and so had a witch enchant it, and a few other
of Anna’s clothes for me, so the material would not crumble, or
decay. I’d forgotten that.” He paused a moment, and then continued.
“I’m happy Venus will wear it, and when she outgrows it, I’ll have
it mounted, and framed. The spell still holds to the fabric, though
the dress itself will be in other forms. Who knows? Perhaps a child
of Venus’s will one day wear it, or their child, or grandchild.
That would have made Anna very happy, to know that her dress had
become an heirloom of our family. And I will look at the squares on
the quilt every night, and remember her.”

Devlin sipped his wine, and I discreetly
wiped my filling eyes again. “It makes me happy that you have
brought my past into the present in a way I can remember it without
being sad,” he whispered. “I didn’t know that was possible. It’s
good to finally be happy again.” Devlin seemed to consider
something, and tilted my chin up to look at him. “But are you
happy, Sarelle? Here with us?”

“Yes,” I said, sipping my wine. “But I do
miss my other children, and my parents, and—”

“Speaking of which, we should go see Danial,”
Devlin said, his voice sorrowful. “He should not be un-visited
tonight. Come, Love.”

I got to my feet, and followed him upstairs,
glad I’d not had to say his brother’s name. Devlin was always
saddened by any mention of Danial.

Danial was as he always was now: unmoving,
cool, and darkly handsome. I hugged him, and gave him a gentle
kiss, and Devlin embraced him as well. He gave no sign he knew we
were there, or that he heard our words, though I told him about
Venus, and about the gown, and Devlin added in his two cents. When
we were done, Dev and I looked at each other. “Merry Christmas,
brother,” he said finally. “I love you. Come, Sar.”

We left Danial as he was, and returned to our
spot on the couch. Devlin got us each another glass of wine.

“I don’t remember a Wintermas being so
melancholy in all my history,” Devlin said, hugging me. “And that
is saying something. It’s true, I have not celebrated one for
years, but I wish it was happier, especially being your first with
me, and Lash. V had a good time, but—”

“I am happy,” I said in exhaustion, getting
to my feet. “But I’m ready for bed, Dev.”

“Come upstairs then, Love. Lash can join us
when he comes in from checking on the guards. And tell me as we
undress, how was it, to be animal with him?”

I followed him upstairs, with a last glance
at the sparkling tree, then into the bedroom.

“Sar? Do you not want to tell me?”

I looked at him as I pulled off my sweater
and jeans and gave him a wide but tired smile. “Very good. But I’m
so exhausted, and he did all the work. It was nonstop, for
hours.”

“Hmm. Maybe I’ll have to train beforehand,”
Dev mused. “I’ll ask Lash, and also Titus.”

I thought that very funny for some reason,
and stifled a laugh. Dev took no notice; he was too busy thinking
of the possibilities, by his expression.

“Come to bed,” I said, swallowing the last of
my wine. “And snuggle with me. I need that more than anything.”

“Your wish is my command,” Devlin purred, and
crawled into his arms. I was asleep in a few moments.

* * * *

Christmas morning, I woke up to find Lash
carefully placing a small velvet box on my upper chest, right above
Devlin’s sleeping form.

“Merry Christmas, Sar,” he said softly,
propping himself up on one arm to look at me.

Chapter
Ten

To say I was shocked was an understatement.
Lash was not the type I’d have guessed to buy me jewelry.
And
the big question: was a ring in there?
“You didn’t have to,” I
said, not sure what to say. “I wasn’t sure you celebrated
Christmas.”

“I usually don’t, because Dev doesn’t. But as
it looked like we would be celebrating this year, I got you
these.”

I relaxed instantly, because there couldn’t
be a ring inside with him saying “these.” I opened the box to see
it contained small gold earrings. “What are these?” I said, peering
at them. “They look like...flies? Gold flies?”

“Deer flies,” Lash blurted, laughing
hard.

“You gave me
deer fly
earrings?” I
said, looking at him like he was crazy, because I thought he must
be. “Why?”

“Because—” he began, then started laughing
too hard to get it out.

“Say it, you whackjob,” I said, trying not to
grin. “Why?”

“Because you like things that bite you and
drink your blood!” Lash managed, and then he was choking, he was
laughing so hard.

“What are you laughing about?” Devlin said
grumpily, waking up. “I’d better still have all my hair, Lash. None
of my blood donors can come today.”

“You’re okay, Dev,” Lash said, still laughing
uproariously. “I promised you I’d never do that again to you,
anyway.”

I wanted to laugh myself, imagining what Lash
must have done to Devlin, but I managed to stifle most of it. “You
bring bad taste to whole new levels,” I said, yet I couldn’t help
smiling.

Lash finally stopped laughing, his easy
expression sliding into a wide grin. “I wanted the jeweler to make
me some mosquitoes, instead, but he said he didn’t have delicate
enough tools.”

I wondered when he said that if there wasn’t
another reason he’d given me these. Mosquitoes would remind me of
the Everglades, and what Lash and I shared there.

“Do you like them?” Lash said, suddenly
hesitant.

“If you get them out of the box for me, I’ll
put them on,” I answered with a joyful smile.

Devlin wasn’t moving or saying anything, just
watching us. Lash unfastened the earrings from the case, then
handed them to me one at a time. I thought them pretty, despite
Lash’s reasoning behind the gift. And the more I thought about his
reason, the more hilarious I thought it was. “Thank you,” I said,
kissing him gently. “I like them very much.”

Devlin looked up at us, his expression very
guarded. “We should get up,” he said, moving off me reluctantly.
“Venus will be wanting to open her presents. I also have something
for Sar myself.”

I blushed, though I had expected this. “Dev,
you shouldn’t have. I—”

“You’re here with us,” Devlin interrupted.
“And you are going to give me your Oath tomorrow night, Sar. I’ll
include Lash, as I said I would. That’s enough for both of us.”
Lash said nothing, but he nodded in agreement.