Blessed (26 page)

Jack laughed and tried to peek his head into the room, but Chrissy and a couple other girls dragged him away. She heard the sound of Jack's voice from the TV room, accompanied by lots of giggles.

“Where did you find him?” Janet asked in an envious voice as she sprayed Eliana's hair.

Rolling her eyes, she waved away the cloud of hairspray. “Jack is an old friend of the family. I guess he's cute, but we aren't each other's type. Dating him would be like dating my brother.”

“He's yummy,” Danielle said as she began putting away her makeup brushes. “Is he available?”

Deciding to throw Jack to the wolves, she said cheerfully, “Yep. Totally single. Just the other day he was telling me how he wanted to meet a nice girl who he could treat like a goddess.”

Janet hastily pronounced her ready and headed for the TV room. Danielle put a final brush of bronze on her cheeks and declared her done, running after Janet to find Jack.

Eliana laughed as she heard Danielle and Janet join the flirting throng in the next room. Taking off the soft robe, she carefully stepped into the dress and shimmied it on. Fastening the collar, she turned her back to the floor-length mirror between the beds to make sure the sparkling chain was hanging the right way.

She frowned at how low cut the back was, but Chrissy had assured her it was in style. She grabbed the gauzy gold silk wrap that one of the girls had lent her and tugged it over her bare shoulders.

The last touch was a pair of pale-gold heels. One nice thing about being short was that she could wear heels as high as she dared and never be taller than her date.

Danielle had done her eye makeup in smoky bronze and glittering white, and it brought out the lighter shades of blue in the silver of her eyes. Her lips were a soft burnished peach with gold tones that went well with her naturally tan skin. Little bits of sparkle peeked out of her hair artfully piled on her head, and a few long pieces hung about her face in soft curls. She smiled at her reflection and did a small twirl. She couldn't wait to see Aiden’s reaction when he saw her dressed in something other than jeans and a ponytail. Normally she was a low maintenance type of girl, but everyone liked to dress up and look amazing every now and then.

Grabbing the small gold clutch that another friend had donated, she clicked her way across the linoleum floor. She stood in the doorway of the lounge, watching Jack and his harem. A disgruntled sigh escaped before she could stop it at the sight of her friends falling all over themselves to catch Jack’s attention.

Jack sat in the center of the couch, and girls hung out on every available surface of the small room. Obviously word of his arrival had spread because there were faces there that she didn't even recognize. They were all hanging on Jack's words, with Chrissy and Janet draped themselves on his arms.

When Jack saw her standing in the doorway with an arched brow, he disentangled himself from his adoring crowd and stood. “Wow. You look fabulous, bunny. Wait until Aid— everyone gets a look at you,” he finished with a grin.

“Ready? I don’t want to interrupt anything.”

“If you ladies will excuse me, Eliana and I have to be going. I've had a wonderful time. What guy wouldn't enjoy being surrounded by some of the most beautiful and interesting women in the world?” he said smoothly.

Eliana snorted, but the girls in the room simpered and sighed.

Grabbing his arm, she made her goodbyes. Chrissy gave her a hug and told her she would wait up for her tonight, and the rest of Jack's harem followed them out into the hall. As Jack turned to say something else to the adoring masses, she jerked his arm and hustled them into the elevator.

Turning to face Jack with a frown, she said, “Hands off my roommate, Jack.”

A wounded expression came over Jack's handsome face. “Can I help it that I'm like catnip to women?”

She snorted. “Unless you want to be a neutered cat, I suggest you keep it in your pants. Chrissy is a nice girl, and she has a boyfriend.”

Jack laced his fingers together and blinked big innocent blue eyes at her. “I would never do anything to break up the little witch and her boy toy.”

She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know she's a witch?”

Jack gave her a puzzled look. “Her aura of course. Can't you tell by looking at her energy that she's a favorite of the Mother Goddess?”

“Uh, no. How do I do that?”

Shaking his head, Jack said, “Man, what has Aiden been teaching you? If you lower your shields a tad and send out a gentle bit of energy, you can 'taste' her aura. After you get familiar with the feeling of different gods and goddesses, you tell what their signature energy feels like. Chrissy has a strong aura. I don't know what she's told you, but she's a powerful young witch and very loved by her goddess.”

The elevator doors opened, interrupting her next question. The students on the other side ogled them and she gave them a weak smile back as one of the guys actually raised his phone and took a picture of them. Evidently, she was looking better tonight than she thought. It didn't hurt that Jack looked like a tanned model out of a men's magazine either, but all this attention was weird.

The night was chilly as they moved around the circular drive to the visitors' parking area. A large group of people huddled around one of the parking spots. The crowd moved back and glanced in their direction when Jack used his key to undo the car alarm. As the people in the crowd parted, they revealed a shiny dark green sports car that looked like a low and sleek spaceship.

Eliana stopped and glared at Jack. “Subtle, Jack. You sure know how to blend in with the herd.”

Jack didn't even have the grace to look ashamed. He beamed at the car. “That's my baby. She's a 1999 Bugatti Veyron, 18 cylinders, 555 horse-power. She can go from 0 to 122 miles per hour in 7.3 seconds and has a max speed 253 miles per hour.”

She was quiet as they got closer to the car and the growing crowd, resisting the urge to make jokes about Jack’s car over compensating for his manhood. Blushing heavily under the intense scrutiny of the crowd, she let Jack help her into the low-slung seat of the sports car and tried not to flash her panties to the world. The interior of the car was as awe-inspiring as the outside. Dark navy blue, almost black, the dash was highly polished steel with lots of fancy instruments and an expensive looking stereo.

Jack got in and closed the door, looking over at her as he said, “Buckle up, bunny.”

With a gulp, she put on her seatbelt and held onto the door handle. He placed his thumb on a little display on the dash. “Start.”

The engine rumbled to life. The car was too well insulated for her to hear it well, but she felt the engine humming in her bones. Jack smiled over at her with obvious pride, like a father whose child had done a neat trick.

She couldn't help smiling back at him. “Very cool, Jack. This car is what my friends from high school would call a panty dropper.”

Jack stared at her then laughed. “Thanks, but she's not only pretty to look at. Aiden's mother had her specially equipped for me.”

“Let me guess. Anti-missile system and cloaking devices. Maybe a laser death ray,” she said dryly.

“Yep. You forgot the ability to turn into a sub.”

She laughed, and looked out the window as the crowd around the car continued to grow. Slowly, Jack drove out of the parking spot. She was glad for the tinted windows because now the mass people was getting deep, and some were taking pictures of the car to the left and right with their cell phones.

Groups of guys were practically drooling, and one of them yelled out, “Rev it!”

With a grin, Jack revved the engine, its deep throaty roar vibrating the seat. The guys gave each other high-fives and thumbs-ups to the car, practically giggling with excitement. She sighed as they finally pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. People in their cars slowed to stare at them, reducing the speed limit to a crawl.

“We're never going to make it in time with your pimpmobile, Jack,” she grumbled as they came to a stoplight.

“Would I let you down, bunny? Wait until we get on the freeway,” Jack said with a wide, innocent smile.

She was scared.

As they were roaring down the freeway at 140 miles per hour, she unlocked her jaw long enough to squeak out, “I don't want to die before I'm Chosen please.”

“You're protected by Loki right now, Eliana. And, besides that, you're glowing with a rather sensual blessing that has the feel of Odin to it. What
has
Aiden been doing with you?” he asked with a slight comic leer.

She shot him a nasty frown, and Jack sighed. “Aww don't be mad, bunny. I knew from the moment I saw the two of you together that he was head over heels for you. And his family doesn’t only want to meet you because he's your Mentor. Aiden's sister said he has been gushing about how great you are.”

She felt her cheeks heat with such a heavy blush that she even forgot to be scared about becoming road kill. “Gushing? Really?”

“Yes, really,” Jack said. “Between you and me, his mother has been hoping he would find a nice Chosen girl to settle down with and give the Dynasty some nice grandbabies. Aiden has mostly stuck to dating mortals to keep his mother off his back. She's always trying to hook him up with different Chosen women visiting the area. The Chosen population is small compared to the rest of the world, a couple hundred thousand. Everyone tends to know everyone else...and have frequently slept with each other in the chance they could make it as a couple.”

“So what exactly is a dynasty? How many are there?” she asked as they slowed to take their exit.

“There are a couple hundred of these Dynastic families. They can trace their unbroken and pure line back dozens of generations. The families think that their descendants are more powerful Chosen because of the purity of their blood and that their descendants will have a better chance at surviving their battles against the Destruction Chosen. I mean in a way it makes sense. All children of Chosen are targets from the moment their born so wanting your kid to have the greatest chance at survival means making sure your partner is not only strong enough to defend them, but passes along the right kind of genetics to make someone a Chosen.”

“I can understand that.”

Jack smoothly downshifted through the gears.” My father is from a Dynastic Hawaiian family, but he fell in love with a mortal and married my mom, a little blond surfer girl who came to the islands in the 1970s to catch the big waves.”

Jack turned on his blinker and made a right onto a two-lane street. Once again, their pace slowed to a crawl as the cars in front of them and behind them tried to get a better look at Jack's car. “Aiden's mother comes from a Dynasty of Nordic Chosen and his father from a Celtic Chosen Dynasty. Aiden favors his mother's side, hence his god being Odin. His twin sister favors their father's Celtic side, and she's a Chosen of Epona.”

“Who's Epona?” she asked as they drove through the brass gates of the country club.

The long winding drive led to the massive front stairs of a vast white building done in Greek revival style. Jack got in line for the valet with the other cars, some as exotic as his though none quite as flashy. She drew in a deep breath and strapped some steel to her backbone. Just because these people had more money in their wallets than her family did in their bank account didn’t make them better.

Jack noticed her tension and gave her hand a quick pat. “Relax, I promise you no one is going to give you a hard time. Okay, where was I-Epona is the Celtic Goddess of Horses, healing springs, dogs, and crops. Kayla, Aiden's sister, breeds champion racehorses on the farm she shares with her wife outside of the city. They also breed special horses used for magical purposes, but those are kept out of sight of ordinary humans.”

“She has a wife?”

They were a few cars away from the entrance now. She tried to get her mind off having to face the unknown crowd by learning more about Aiden's family. A family filled with what basically amounted to Chosen royalty.

“Aiden's sister is gay. Her wife/partner is a Chosen of Aphrodite. Aiden's mother was pretty pissed at first, but once she found out that Kayla and Erin want to have a baby using another Chosen's sperm at some point, she calmed down. Aiden's mother is huge on continuing the Dynasty. You should know that before you meet her,” he said with a wink. “Don’t be surprised if you find her poking holes in Aiden’s condoms.”

“Jack, that’s disgusting,” she mumbled as a young man in a butler's uniform helped her out of the car.

Taking a deep breath, she held her head high and raised her shoulders. Her mother had taught her to walk as if she knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going, even if she didn't. If you acted confident and in charge, people often viewed you as such.

Jack came around to her side and leaned to whisper into her ear, “Shields tight, darling. This charity dinner is for an interfaith safe house where women and their children can go to find refuge from an abusive home life. There will be a lot of Priests and Priestesses inside, as well as a good amount of the local Chosen. Aiden's mother wants to show you off to the Chosen society, so be ready to be stared at like a fish in a bowl.”

“Shit.”

She gulped audibly, and Jack squeezed her hand. “You look amazing, bunny. You're going to knock their socks off.” With that, he led them up the stairs and into the main foyer of the country club.

A large man in a black tuxedo who practically screamed bodyguard stood at the entrance to the ballroom. He asked for their IDs and checked the list while Eliana tried to keep from staring at him. The faintest hint of a psychic smell came from his direction, a trace of a spicy scent, and she wondered if he was a Chosen or if she was just catching a hint of his cologne. His stern face broke into a smile as he welcomed them to the Mother's Arms Charity Dinner.

She took in the magnificent ballroom with a silent whistle. Five massive crystal chandeliers spanned the length of the room and illuminated dozens of tables. Each table was large enough to seat eight, and they were all filled with elegantly dressed men and women. Huge arrangements of pale pink, green, and shades of purple orchids filled thin crystal vases in the center of the tables, and the room seemed to buzz with energy.