Ritual Magic (23 page)

"Oh, don't let Henry bother you—he's an
excellent employee—loyal, quiet, and capable." She flicked her head
over in his direction. "You have to respect anyone that works for
you without asking those pesky little questions."

"Pesky little questions?" I walked
cautiously towards the chair that the woman had offered, pulling it
out and sitting down on the padded seat in painful slow-motion.

"Yes!" She turned to eye him attentively.
"You know, the ones that just get in the way, like...
What is
this about? Why would I do that?
And then there is my
least
favorite
... What's in it for me?
" She nodded at
me like I understood everything that she was saying. "I am a
generous employer when I
want
to be. Aren't I, Henry?"

"Yes ma'am." The albino answered with a
generous bow.

"You see?" She beamed at me, "Loyal."

"I can see that."

"And so," the old woman waved her hand in
the air like she was painting a picture, "on to our business."

My seat creaked underneath me as I shifted
for a more comfortable position. "And that would be?" I was
concerned and my voice gave that away.

"First and foremost, introductions are in
order." She smiled at me with a set of yellowish teeth. "I am
Sophia Castillion Granda. It is a true pleasure to meet you
finally, Queen Ravenwood." She sighed in my general direction
before turning to eye me with jade green spheres. It took me a
minute to register that they were actually the true color of her
eyes. But her eyes...even though strikingly beautiful, they were
also mega creepy. The kind of creepy that makes you wonder if there
is a crazed lunatic hiding in a closet upstairs.
Note to self:
when the screaming starts, avoid running UP any stairs.

"Castillion." My heart began to race. "So
you are related to Leonzio?" I eyed her again, seeing a slight
resemblance in the bridge of her nose, but not much else to the
stunningly gorgeous demon king that had taken prominent residence
in my life.

"Yes," her lips turned downward as she began
to pick at her fish like she was dissecting it with her fork. "My
younger brother, yes. Please don't judge me by his behavior—he has
always been much more...troublesome than most." She shrugged as she
daintily laid the piece of fish speared at the tip of her fork onto
her tongue.

"I have found Leo to be quite enjoyable
company." I shrugged, wondering where the conversation was going to
eventually go.

Sophia immediately stopped chewing as she
stared me down, the edges of her eyes glowing with a new vibrant
red. "He's a
stain
." Her voice was
not
generous, and
I immediately worried about Leo's familial relations.

"Would you mind moving on to the key points?
I am on a timetable." I felt like I wanted to look at my watch if I
were wearing one, but my tone was meant to prompt her on. There was
no use in staying there any longer than I had to...or was made
to.

"Yes, I know about your timetable." Sophia's
voice oozed venom. "That is the reason that I have...
invited
you here. We need to discuss this troublesome ritual of yours."

My heart dropped into my shoes as I shifted
in my fancy chair again. Glancing quickly at the albino, I eyed the
woman sitting in front of me. "If you don't mind me asking...what
are you getting at?"

The older woman glanced around the room,
leading my eyes along with hers. I immediately noticed how very
brightly lit everything was—the room was practically drenched in
sunlight and lamplight. Although it shouldn't happen in a brightly
lit room, I suddenly had an intense feeling of foreboding. There
were no shadows anywhere near me, so Leo and Cora were not going to
be able to help. I fought desperately to suppress a deep gulp.

"What are your intentions?" My voice rang
through the room a little too loudly as I fought to control my
emotions, but I marched on like the trooper I was attempting to
appear to be. "What do you want from me?"

"Ahh," the old lady leaned back in her
chair, laying her thin wrist across the antique armrest,
"
that
would be the million dollar question, would it not?"
She tented her long, tapered fingers in front of her face, slightly
blocking the view of her wicked sneer.
Hmmm, manicured but not
long and creepy like Camela's. Just a clear polish and a clean
manicure. Very classy.

Shrugging, my eyes scanned the room once
more for a tiny glimmer of hope. "I doubt that your
brother
would like to know that you have taken me away against my
will."

Sophia looked up at the albino with a severe
and almost frightening expression on her sharp features. "I told
you that she was to be
invited
. She is not to be here
against her will. Had I not made myself perfectly clear about the
subject?" She sounded upset and a tiny bit threatening as her eyes
glazed over and her entire body became a statue of feminine
anger.

Henry's ebony glasses reflected Sophia's
face as he bowed, "I
did
invite her, madam. She came of her
own free will." He made no move to straighten to his full height,
remaining hunched slightly as if to imply submissiveness. The
proximity that he held next to her even under her intense scrutiny
was more than impressive, and he instantly earned himself some 'man
of steel' points just by remaining calm while she practically set
him on fire with her evil jade eyes.

"Ha!" I snorted as I glowered at Henry,
although he was clearly not looking at me. "There was no other way
to take the 'i
nvitation
.' I had no choice." My eyes flicked
between Sophia and Henry, and then back to Sophia once more,
driving home the fact that I was not the stupid woman that they
figured I was.

"I suspect that I truly never really had a
choice
." That sinking feeling was back again, but this time
there was a taint of frustration and anger of my own. "Can we just
get to the point? I have a lot on my To Do List." I snorted loudly
again.

"Your child." Sophia replied simply as she
turned her eyes back to me.

"I have no child."
Whew, that was
actually the truth for the
moment
.

"Right...but you
will
." Sophia leaned
forward, propping her elbows on the table top, lace pressing into
her flesh. "I want your child."

"Okay, Rumplestiltskin, back the boat up!" I
scanned the room once more for any shadows but the room glowed with
warm light throughout.
Dammit!
"Are you some sort of evil
troll?"

"No, but I can offer your child an
impressive and powerful future." Sophia's words were creepy, but
her voice sounded calming, reassuring.
Geesh! Get past the mommy
complex and move on with it.

I crossed my legs and leaned back in my own
antique chair, projecting an air of comfort that I didn't
possess.

"Look. I appreciate your offering to take my
child, raise it and give it power and some crazy-ass future, but I
will just have to pass. I sort of suspect that I will enjoy taking
care of my own child. Thank you very much!" My voice didn't
disguise how very disturbed I was with the offer.
What a creepy
woman.

Sophia smiled at me over her hands, her jade
green eyes sparkling with renewed energy. "Yes, I can see how you
would feel that way."

"I can't grasp why you ever imagined that
this conversation would go the way you wanted." My frustration
level was high, but I was working on a way to get out of there.
Ideas were already stealing through my mind and I kept coming to
the only one that made sense to me—make a demon phone call.

Sophia shrugged easily as she leaned back in
her chair, eyeing me from a more relaxed position. She looked
almost regal as she eyed me, and then she tilted her head and
nodded at me slowly, a cruel smile lifting the corners of her thin
mouth.

"Do you realize that I am a very close
friend
of your brother's?"
Get it out there and let her
know what your intentions are.

"Ha! My
little
brother." Sophia's
cruel expression immediately turned sour.

"You know...Leonzio Emilio Castillion?" My
eyebrows knitted together as I put emphasis on my words, "Your
little
brother that I would enjoy seeing at this very
moment?"
Please work, please work, please work!

Henry's head turned to face me slightly but
his body gave nothing away.
Does he know what I'm doing
?
Something inside me told me that he may have suspected, but he
could never really be sure if it didn't work.

Sophia's back straightened as she fiddled
with the edge of the lace tablecloth. "Let's get to the point. I
have a son."

"Son?!" My body instantly tensed. This was
extremely interesting news to me. "I thought that demons weren't
able to
have
children. I'm not trying to be rude, but that
is what I understood about the subject."

Sophia immediately looked indignant as she
glared at me.
Gulp!

"He's her
adopted
son." A familiar
voice rumbled from behind me, dripping with sexuality and Italian
masculinity.

Relief rushed through my body as I sighed
deeply, thankful for this fleeting moment where Leo was my knight
in shining black Armani.
Leo. Thank you, sizzling demon
man!

"Sophia, sister
dearest
." Leo
sauntered from behind my chair as I uncrossed my legs and felt the
knees begin to knock together. There was definitely tension between
the two siblings as he neared her side of the table—their weighted
expressions boring into each other with each leather-soled step
that sounded on the wooden floor.

Wow, I'm pretty dense, but even I picked
up on the tension right away. Guess it must be pretty darned
obvious for me to notice it at all.
The tension in the air had
literally
doubled
with his presence.

Leo slowly approached his sister, laid a
hand on her slender shoulder, and leaned over to kiss her on the
left cheek and then moved directly over to the right to repeat the
motion. When he was done greeting his sister, he smiled up at the
albino as he straightened his posture.

"Enrique. Always a pleasure."

"I would prefer that you would call me
Henry—Enrique is
not
my name." Henry straightened his collar
as Leo eyed his perfect suit with obvious respect.

"Yes, yes, but neither is Henry. So when I
call you Enrique, you answer." Leo gave him a look that brooked no
argument.
Wonder what his real name is.
Henry bristled but
remained in his stoic position next to Sophia.

"So, I take it that you are here because of
the witch." Sophia's voice flowed with grace and casual
conversation. She was acting like nothing had happened between us
at all—as if I weren't an important part of the conversation to
begin with.

"Witch?" Leo sounded interested. "What are
you referring to?" He eyed her from head to waist since she was
still sitting down.

Sophia waved in my general direction and I
immediately began to hate her. "This witch here—she is going to
conceive. I want my little Max to be the one to father the
child."

Leo walked smoothly over to the chair on my
right and pulled it out with a sharp dragging noise. My heart began
to pound as I realized that I was going to be wedged between two
crazy siblings with dysfunctional tendencies.
CRAP
! Tiny
droplets of sweat began to tingle the back of my neck just as Leo
reached over to the arm of my chair and dragged it to the now open
spot. He then slid his chair into the vacated spot and sat down in
a smooth, fluid motion.

Leaning back, Leo crossed his legs and
tapped his pant leg with his hand. Of course he looked as gorgeous
as he always did—perfect Italian charcoal black suit, manicured
nails, slicked back hair, and glowing olive skin. His strong Roman
profile was striking with his sister in the background. He looked
nothing like her, and it was more than obvious when they both
turned to look at me—Leo with a warm but aloof expression on his
face, and Sophia with an evil glint in her jade colored eyes.

"So let's begin. We have plans and,
technically, we were on a date when you
sent
Enrique to
gather my dear Celeste." Leo continued to look at me warmly and I
smiled back genuinely at him.
Liar!

"Okay, let the negotiations begin." Sophia
nodded sharply as she leaned back, flicking her hand into the air
like she was bored.

"Negotiations?" My voice shook with
frustration. "I doubt that either one of you have the right to be
negotiating over me, much less
about
me."

Leo turned to me and lifted his eyebrow. "My
dear." He was avoiding my name for some strange reason. "We
negotiate about absolutely everything. Even the smallest serving of
dessert must be negotiated between us—it is our way."

I wasn't an idiot—there was something more
going on here, and it pained me to admit, even to myself, that my
freedom may actually be in the hands of a crazy demon king
and
a crazy-eyed woman with a taste for unborn children. But
an ominous bell chimed in my mind as the two siblings began to put
their heads together to work out the whole situation of Celeste
Ravenwood and her future child.

Leo waved his hand with a sharp flick
towards Sophia as the conversation went something like this.

"Offers?" Leo's voice oozed with
innuendoes.

Quiet fell and then Sophia's voice was
filled with excitement when she finally spoke, "Cream." Henry's
cheek twitched.

"Pass." Leo's laughter rumbling as if he
didn't like what was on the table.

"Coffee then," Sophia leaned in and looked
intensely at Leo's ice-blue eyes.