Defying Eternity (An Obscure Magic Book 5) (14 page)

The man was golden and elegant, the older woman had dark hair and bright blue-green eyes, and their daughter sat between them, her blonde hair and greenish eyes showing the mix of her parents as obviously as her bone structure did.

Matthias’s arm was still extended to her, so she stepped into place beside him, and he took her hand, kissing it softly.

“Leonora Wicks, these are the DeMonstres, the Cursed Ones. They are the monster hunters for the surrounding areas. Master disenchanters.”

Leo smiled at the DeMonstres. “I am pleased to meet you.”

The family smiled and nodded in unison.

“Where are you off to, Leonora?” Matthias asked her casually.

“I have two hours of motorcycles before I shower and get to my normal duties.”

“Ah. Coren is ready?”

“He is. He is even tapping a watch he doesn’t have.”

Matthias chuckled. “Have fun.”

She gave him a look that said he had ordered her to learn and his snicker turned a little evil.

She turned to his guests. “It was nice to meet you.”

The younger woman got to her feet. “I will walk out with you.”

Matthias beckoned her, and Leo leaned in. He wrapped a hand around the back of her head and kissed her.

She blushed, and when he let her go, she cleared her throat and walked out, waiting for the young woman, who looked about seventeen years old.

The woman smiled as they left the manor. “My name is Sophia, by the way.”

“Leo.” Leo extended her hand, and those eyes turned brilliant emerald when they made contact.

“Wow. You are not a vampire.”

“Nope.”

“But you have the power.”

Leo shrugged. “Do I? Good for me. So, what does being a Cursed One entail?”

Sophia grinned. “As Mayor Matthias stated, we disenchant things. Our curse is to travel whenever there is an object in the hands of someone who cannot control it. We unravel the influence and destroy the object if we can. We render it unusable if at all possible.”

“Sounds like a rough gig.”

Sophia chuckled. “I have been doing it for over a decade, but it has its moments.”

Leo was alarmed. “How young were you when you started?”

Sophia touched her face. “Oh, this. This is part of the curse. Youth is the best monster bait there is, so the active Cursed One doesn’t age much.” She smirked. “Folks gave my father looks when he married my mother. It was fine when they were young, but as time went on and she looked like a teenager, he got some comments.”

Coren was standing near the bikes and tapping his wrist.

Leo glanced at Sophia to excuse herself, and she noted that the blonde monster hunter was blushing as she stared at Coren.

“Um, have you two met?”

“A few years ago. I doubt he remembers, but he is so fun to look at.” Sophia shook herself. “Right. I had better get inside before my parents start whipping out the hint that I need to find a man. Matthias is good at matchmaking, but I am not sure that I want one of his choosing for my boyfriend.”

Leo nodded and grinned. “He does have peculiar taste.”

Sophia smiled and gave her another assessing look, her eyes flicking pure green again. “He definitely chooses those who can add something to his life. He is lucky to have found you.”

Leo inclined her head at the compliment. “I found him, but that is a tale I hope to tell you some day. Good afternoon, Sophia.”

“Good afternoon, Leo. Have fun.”

Leo straightened up and walked toward Coren. Fun was not what she was looking forward to. Healing was what came to mind.

After dumping two of the bikes, she got the hang of it and her arm was healed by the time she sat at her desk to work over the day’s correspondence.

“You changed your dress.” Matthias was grinning at her from his desk.

“Changed, destroyed, potato, potahto.” She finished the response to another request for Matthias to attend the waking of a new zombie.

“Instead of training tomorrow night, how would you like to join me at the gala at the museum celebrating the new additions to their vampire history collection?”

Leo blinked rapidly. “Like... a date.”

“Yes.”

She thought of her options and finally smiled. “Yes. I would like that.”

“Excellent. Dorn has acquired a suitable gown for you.”

Leo laughed and went back to work. Apparently, she was transparent when it came to his requests. Today was for work and smiling at a few images that arrived in her email of Melody trying to eat her own toes.

The invitation to the gala wasn’t on her desk. She scowled and looked over at Matthias somewhere around three in the morning. “Where is that invitation?”

He lazily reached over and lifted a heavily embossed piece of cream paper, edged with gold. “Here it is.”

She got to her feet and moved stiffly across the room, “May I see it?”

“Of course.” He pulled it back toward him so that she had to walk around his desk to reach for it. “It is lovely penmanship.”

She reached for it, and he switched hands, holding it so that she had to lean across his body.

Leo reached, he shifted, and she ended up in his lap.

“Mr. Mayor, this is highly inappropriate during working hours.”

He grinned. “I am upholding a proud tradition of men in my position.”

“What?”

“Chasing my secretary.” He wrapped his hand around her hip and held her close.

She laughed. “You hardly chased me.”

“I am ancient and wise; I lured you in.” He winked before he leaned in for a kiss.

Leo caressed his cool cheek as he teased her and got her heart pounding.

The slide of his lips against hers wasn’t possessive but playful. She enjoyed the moment and the taste of his smile.

When he released her, she returned to her desk while he left to have a meeting with representatives from the XIA and the Mage Guild.

Leo focused on his schedule and the open spot that would occur in two hours. It took a lot of self-control not to write her name in that blank spot, but she would have him to herself at the museum. The director would be terrified.

“Mayor Matthias, this is Director Simmons of the Redbird City Museum. His speciality is ancient races from before the first recorded wave. Director Simmons, Mayor Matthias.”

Leo stood in her crimson silk gown with her tiny clutch holding only her cell phone and a lipstick. The car summoner was tucked into her cleavage.

They were at the preview. The formal gala would not occur for another hour. This was Matthias’s opportunity to see the items he had donated in their secure settings.

At his urging, Leo kept her hand on his arm while they went through the exhibit. The director was babbling excitedly over the age and condition of the objects that had been donated. He obviously considered losing Leo a fair trade.

Security was visible around the room. It was probably a good idea as the amount of extranaturals at the gala would be exceedingly high. Off-duty Mage Guild officers and XIA agents were in definite control of the space.

Well, that explained why Matthias had met with the commanding officers the night before.

The director suddenly stopped and blurted out, “Mr. Mayor, I must ask. Is Leo wearing the
Heart of Life?
”

Matthias inclined his head. “You have a good eye. I considered offering it to the museum, but Leonora convinced me that it would be best to remain in my collection.”

She scowled and touched the necklace he had placed on her after their two hours together and before dawn that morning. “I did not say that. I merely said that you had already sent more than enough to compensate the director for my loss.”

The director looked longingly at her necklace before shaking his head. “Of course, the security for that particular jewel would bankrupt the museum.”

She smiled. “It is a good thing that it is on me and not behind a display case.”jm

Matthias inclined his head. “Please, excuse us while we look at the rest of the exhibits. There are several items that I have not seen in centuries.”

“Of course, of course.” Director Simmons nodded nervously and waved at them to continue without him.

When they were out of earshot, she asked him, “You didn’t think to mention that this is a necklace with a history?”

“Everything I have has a history. The central stone of the necklace and six of the stones on the sides were made with amber from the tree of life.”

“Does it do anything dangerous?”

“Of course not.” He stroked her cheek. “Have I told you how lovely you look this evening?”

She blushed. “You look rather striking as well. I have seen you in a tux in the newspaper, but it is a little different to be next to you.”

“Our exit from the car will be on the front of every newspaper, feature on the net and be broadcast around the globe. I was delighted to be standing next to you in those images.”

“Because you have a new pet?” She kept her tone light, but he locked in place.

“You are not a pet. You are my apprentice, my companion, and one day, I hope to make our connection permanent.”

Leo patted his arm. “I didn’t mean to mock. I have just never seen you with anyone in this capacity in my lifetime.” She looked at him and frowned. “What do you mean
permanent?
”

“You know what I mean. You are very well suited to an immortal life.”

She blinked. “I am a sister and an aunty. I want to be there for them, as a human.”

He smiled. “I am aware of it, but Minuet and Melody will not always need you there to catch them if they fall. Once Melody has reached adulthood, I believe she will be able to deal with her aunt being a vampire queen.”

In her mind, she saw a lovely Melody getting her diploma and Matthias rising from next to Leo, bending her back and biting her in front of all and sundry.

Leo shook her head to get out of the daydream.

“So, I would go straight to queen, no messing around as a countess for a while?”

He pulled her in close and steered her to one of the displays. “You are a very funny woman. I would raise you to empress, but you would get too big for your britches.”

She snorted, and they continued their tour of the exhibit as well as the museum’s own collection of vampire artifacts.

The DeMonstres were in attendance, and Leo found Sophia, cornering her as soon as it was polite to do so.

“Leo, you look amazing!”

Leo blushed. “You are one to talk, you look like jailbait.”

Sophia was wearing a daringly cut sapphire cocktail dress. She sighed despondently. “I know. I swear I actually saw a guy look me over and then smack himself for thinking whatever he was thinking.”

Leo laughed. She couldn’t help it, most women would kill to look young forever, and Sophia was cursed with it. Her mother, Lillian, and father, Gerard, had the hopeless look of those devotedly in love as they swayed to the music of the live band.

“I want to look like that one day.” Leo wasn’t sure if she said it or Sophia said it.

“I think you are about to have your chance.” Sophia chuckled.

Leo looked in the direction that Sophia had her head turned, and Matthias was making his way through the crowd toward her.

Part of her wanted to hide, she even darted a glance around, but he was next to her in a moment.

“Leonora, would you care to dance?” He held out his hand.

Leo’s heart started pounding at the image of him, his hair sliding over his ear and just the hint of fang showing as he smiled. “I am not very good.”

“You will improve with practice.”

She turned to Sophia and excused herself before taking Matthias’s arm and heading toward the dance area.

A few other couples were swaying together, but when Matthias took the floor, they all gave them some space.

He decorously put one hand on her waist, she placed her hand on his arm, just like she had learned in junior high, and he gently gripped her other hand in his. They swayed.

This time, it wasn’t in front of a bunch of vampires who had other things on their minds. This time, he was displaying her to all members of Redbird City society. This dance was serious.

She fought her urge to sprint for the door and looked into his eyes, relaxing at his expression. He wasn’t going to let her do anything stupid.

That meant more to her than she could say, and she tried to put that into her eyes.

He smiled slowly, and they began to step a little faster, turning and moving around the other dancers with the most graceful of motions. Leo enjoyed the dancing and blanked her mind to any negative thoughts about her own skills. His were enough for both of them.

She felt her tiny clutch buzz, and she ignored it. This was so much more fun.

The waltz that they were dancing was definitely seductive. She couldn’t imagine trying a tango. She might melt directly into a puddle right then.

When the dance was over, they stopped and applauded the musicians with the rest of the audience. Leo smiled as Matthias kissed her hands one at a time.

The director whisked him off for some information on one of the displays, and Leo returned to Sophia. “Sorry about that. Duty called.”

“And now I just hope that I find a guy I can look at like you and Matthias look at each other. That would make me ecstatic.”

Leo blushed. “Was it that bad?”

“It was amazing. I think someone caught it on film.” Sophia wagged her eyebrows. “I think I see the photographer. Let me go check.”

Leo stood by herself and used the opportunity to check her phone. An image of her sister and Melody bound and tied together filled the screen.

The next text said,
Come alone or I kill them both.

Leo’s heart started pounding, but she turned and headed for the exit.

She pressed the summoner and checked the time. It was a zero count, which meant he was already there.

She looked around and saw Nathaniel. He was staring at the gridlock surrounding his vehicle and raising his hands in frustration.

She stalked up to him. “Nathaniel, find me any kind of vehicle. It’s an emergency.”

He took in her expression, and he glanced around. “That will do.”