The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (6 page)

“Yes. I’m going to need you to come to me tonight.” She pulled a card from her purse and slipped it into the breast pocket of his shirt.

“Definitely … ,” the man muttered.

“Excuse me, young man,” a gray-haired woman said as she pushed her way around the waiter.

A small man stood at the woman’s side, his head barely as high as the witch’s waist. His skin was a mottled pale white, as if he had been covered in makeup. He pulled at his shirt collar and itched at his skin, and Ariadne caught a glimpse of a patch of gray skin under the edge of his shirt. He must be an elf. It had been a long time since she had seen one.

The waiter looked down at the little man.

“You may go.” Kat directed him with a wave.

The gray-haired woman’s eyebrows rose as the man spun on his heel and walked away. He looked back over his shoulder and his tray banged against the door that led inside.

“Well, you seem to be doing well.” The woman chuckled. “By the way, this is my friend and assistant, Ivan Chenikylo.”

The elf dropped his chin, in what she assumed to be a greeting.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Chenikylo.” Ariadne offered her hand.

He didn’t move. “You can call me Ivan,” he said in a thick Russian accent.

Ariadne dropped her hand. “Okay. Ivan.”

Kat leaned back in her chair and looked down her nose. “I don’t know why you even try. He’s an elf, for the goddess’ sake.”

“Ya won’t talk to my friend that way, Kat,” Tammy growled. “Elf or not, you treat him with respect or ya will be finding yourself another witch.”

“As always, Tammy, you know how to cause a commotion. Just keep your elf out of my way.” Kat glared at the little man.

“I think y’all find that he’s the best man you can get to protect your behind.” The witch pulled out the extra chair and sat down. Ivan kept an eye on Kat as he silently moved around to the witch’s side and pulled out the chair between her and Ariadne.

“Tammy, this is Ariadne Papadakis, one of the women from my group. She’ll be in charge of the statue and the sacrifice.”

“Ariadne? As in the daughter of King Minos? I’ve heard so much ’bout ya.”

“She’s one and the same,” Kat said.

Ariadne nodded.

“Can’t the poor lady answer for herself?” Tammy scoffed. The witch turned toward her with her back to Kat. “Aria, do you mind if I call you Aria? You can go on and call me Tammy. It’s nice to finally put a name to the face.”

“Yes, it’s nice to finally meet. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“All lies,” Tammy said with a chuckle. “Though that one about Nico … that story’s true. I skewered his big behind.” The witch winked. “And if I get my say, Stavros will have a long and painful death just like his fat, piggy brother.”

Ivan laughed, his sound low and menacing.

The waiter returned with three steaming cappuccinos. He took his time as he set down the cups, one in front of the witch, the elf and Kat. His eyes never strayed from Kat’s overly-perky breasts.

Ariadne’s hands clenched tight around the coffee cup in front of her. “Stavros told me about Nico.” Ariadne paused, unsure if she should congratulate the woman, or hate her for killing Nico and wanting to kill Stavros.

Nico had always been known for his playboy behavior and his lack of settling his debts. Stavros had always cleaned up his brother’s messes, and it had been a source of contention between her and Stavros. But, like any story, there had to be two sides. “What did Nico do to make you that angry?”

“Greek men are like dogs, they are always grumbling when they don’t get their way. Nico couldn’t handle a cat speaking her mind about what a fool he was; so he killed my teacher, the leader of my Coven, Angelica … ” Tammy raised her hand in each direction. “Blessed be.” She dropped her hand down into her lap and smiled wickedly. “Can’t say I’m real sorry about ridding the world of him. This old alley cat still has a little bite left in her.”

Ariadne’s laughter echoed through the sparsely populated courtyard.

“While you have been in hiding, we’ve been busy,” Kat said, interrupting.

Tammy looked back at Kat. “I wasn’t hiding … I was just on a lengthy vacation.”

Kat’s eyebrow rose slightly. “A lengthy vacation involving killing, stealing, learning spiritualism, and hiring the elf, Ivan, to do your dirty work?”

“We all relax in our own ways, I suppose … But it is real sweet, you’ve been checking up on me. You’re gonna make me blush.”

Kat rolled her eyes with a huff. “I can’t believe I had to resort to working with you.”

Tammy smirked. “Ya were lucky I needed a bit of extra cash.”

Ariadne turned just in time to watch as Ivan’s coffee cup slipped from his fingers. He tried to catch it, but missed and the sound of glass breaking echoed through the almost empty courtyard surrounding the café.

Ivan bent over and started to pick up the chunks of glass dripping with coffee. “Shit.”

Tammy dropped down to her knees and Ariadne followed. She scooped a bit of the glass together into a little pile. When she reached up to the table for a napkin, a pained “ouch” sounded from beneath the mesh table.

Tammy sat up. “Stupid glass, I shoulda known better.” She held out her hand, where a long gash ran down the length of her finger. “I’m such a klutz sometimes.”

Ariadne wrapped the napkin around the witch’s finger and held it there to stop the bleeding. Tammy looked up and stared at her. “I once heard your sisterhood was able to heal. Can you fix this?”

Her question sounded more like an interview rather than a plea for help. Ariadne looked over to Kat, who was busy eyeing a passing man. She looked back to Tammy and leaned in so she could whisper. “We used to be able to heal, when our goddess was with us. But now all we have is our shift and our seduction. Sorry.”

Tammy grabbed the napkin from Ariadne and squeezed. “Ah, don’t be worrying, I can fix this right up. I was just wondering.”

She and Tammy sat back up at the table. Ivan scooped the last bit of glass up, piled it in his napkin and sat it to the side. Tammy took a long swig of the coffee, plunked the cup down on the table and stared back at Ariadne with her almond-shaped, golden eyes. “Now ya never told me, how’d ya get yourself roped up under this one?” She pointed back at Kat.

Ariadne snickered. “I guess I’m just lucky.”

“Ha! Real lucky.” Tammy slapped her leg. “If ya are working under this one, you and me, we need to talk.”

Kat glared at the witch. “The only thing Ariadne needs to worry about is the job I’ve given her.”

The black phone sat on Beau’s desk next to his worn leather wallet. Should he call Stavros and let him know about the tablet? The governor had said he wanted to be notified if anything of importance was found. On the other hand, the tablet could be nothing — or it could be exactly what he had been looking for.

The morning light filtered into the room and made a bright line across the foot of the bed, where Kaden lay with his face down on the pillow.

He spun the little black rectangular object and watched it slowly come to a stop. Reaching over, he grabbed his thin wallet and pulled the dusty card from behind his ID. Flipping open the phone, he punched in the numbers and held his breath. He didn’t need someone else to answer to, but it was better to have the authority on his side — even if the “authority” was an asshole.

“Governor Kakos’ office, Bunny speaking,” a perky voice answered.

“Hello, Bunny.”
What kind of name is “Bunny?”
“This is Dr. Morris.”

“Oh, Beau, yes, we met the other day. How can I help you?”

Then he remembered the blonde that had tagged along at Stavros’ elbow.
Bunny, huh? Well, now it made a little more sense.

“Well, my team and I just a made a small discovery I thought Governor Kakos needed to be informed of.”

“Here, let me transfer you.”

“No … wait.” But the other end of the line was already taken by Greek elevator music. He groaned.

“Hello, Dr. Morris. So glad you called.” He could hear the governor’s fake smile through the phone line.

“Yes. Well you requested that I inform you of any interesting finds.”

The governor cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. What did you come across?”

“It’s nothing too incredible, just a tablet with some early Greek writing and a painting. It might turn out to be nothing. It’s too early to know.”

Beau refused to mention the inscription or the possible petroglyph of the Labyrinth. The governor would snoop around again if he thought there was anything of real value, and Beau couldn’t afford to lose any more time.

“That sounds intriguing. Maybe I will have to come down and take a look.”

“No,” Beau said with a jerk. “I mean no, it’s really nothing that you need to take time out of your busy schedule to come see.”

“Hmm … then I’ll just send down one of the news reporters. We need to create a buzz. This might be a good start — ”

“No,” Beau interrupted.

“I’ll give them a call,” the governor continued. “They should be down there sometime either today or tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do. Hey, thanks for calling.”

“Yeah,” Beau groaned.
Great, more to deal with.

The line went dead and Beau clicked his phone shut.

Kaden rolled over and pushed his black hair out of his eyes. “Everything okay?” he asked his voice still groggy.

Beau forced a smile. “Nothing for you to be worried about.”

This is a burden only I can carry.

• • •

Vickie was on the other side of the dig, wearing a lower cut shirt than usual. Beau tried to divert his gaze, but with so much skin exposed it was hard not to notice.

“Hey, professor,” one of the male students called. “I’m done here.” He pointed at his square unit. “I’m gonna go over to dig four, okay?”

Of course the kid would want in dig four, Vickie’s unit.

Beau nodded. “Go ahead.”

Maybe this would be a good thing. At the very least, it would get Vickie’s attention away from him for a while. Maybe she just needed a man’s attention.

Beau looked over his notebook. He needed to get someone to translate Linear A. He had emailed a picture of it to Professor Ryan, but of course the man hadn’t responded. He could visit the museum in Heraklion, but that meant seeing Ariadne again. And a man only had so much willpower.

He tapped his finger against his notebook as he thought.

“Beau, you need to call her,” Kaden said with an exasperated sigh, as if he could read Beau’s mind.

Beau looked over at him and stopped thumping. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been acting all … uptight. You need to make a move.”

God, he hoped the kid was talking about Ariadne and not Vickie.

“On who?”

Kaden rolled his eyes. “That lady from the museum. You know … what’s her name.”

“You mean Ariadne Papadakis?”

“Yeah, that’s right … Ariadne.” Kaden smirked.

Since when did his son know how to manipulate him? He must’ve learned it from Lynda.

“I guess we’ll see. I have a lot of work to do,” he said as he flipped his notebook closed. “Where’s Trina today? How come she’s not around?”

Kaden shrugged and shoved the tip of the trowel into the soil. “She said she was busy.”

“Uh oh, trouble in paradise?” The moment the words slipped out of his mouth, Beau felt guilty. The poor kid didn’t need his old man to pry into his personal life.

Stabbing the ground again, Kaden grumbled something unintelligible.

“Sorry, kid. She seemed like a nice girl.”

Pulling the tip of the trowel from the ground, Kaden frowned and looked up at him with a look of confusion on his face.

“She wasn’t a nice girl?” Oh God, when he was a late teen he would have killed for that kind of girl.

“No, she’s nice … she’s just complicated.”

“You’ve lived with your mother how long, and you are just figuring this out?” Beau laughed as he tossed his notebook on top of his bucket.

There was the crunch of tires on the gravel beside the unit. Beau stood up and walked to the crumbling sides of the pit. Peering out from the depths he made out the white high-heel sandal, his gaze flickered up the long tanned leg to the bottom of the wrinkled yellow sundress.

Beau couldn’t find words. What was Ariadne doing here? She looked so beautiful, even more so than the day he’d met her.

The woman cleared her throat. “It’s nice to see you again, Beau.”

“Hey.” He wiped the sweat from his hands against his pants leg.

She looked over at Kaden, “Hi, Kaden. I’m glad you’re out here keeping your dad company.”

Kaden looked at Beau with a guilty grin. “Yeah, he needs company.”

Ariadne’s laughter filled the uncomfortable silence. “I got a call that you had found something. May I see it?”

Was that the only reason she had come to see him? Just to see the tablet? In an unexpected way, he felt deflated, and the revelation surprised him. Did he really expect her to have come for any other reason than to inspect the find?

“Um, sure I guess,” he stepped up and out of the pit and dusted off his pants with a slap.

“That’s great.” Ariadne played with the straps of her purse. “Sorry Kaden, I’ll have him right back to you.”

Kaden beamed. “Keep him as long as you want.”

Beau turned away to hide his warm cheeks. It felt awkward as he led her in the direction of the bagged catalog under the tent. “Who told you about the find?”

She flipped her shiny hair over her shoulder with a twitch. “Stavros called me and said I needed to come down.”

“You are on a first name basis with the governor?”

Her cheeks flushed. “Yes, he and I … I meant to say Governor Kakos. Governor Kakos is one of the museum’s benefactors.”

She glanced around, it was as if she was nervous or something. Jealousy flickered inside of him, but he tried to ignore it — she wasn’t his.

The tent dimmed the unrelenting island sun, but the heat in the shade was as sweltering as it had been out in the dig, or it could have been the proximity to the beautiful woman. He grabbed the plastic bin and pulled it out from under the folding table. She stepped closer, and his heart beat faster. A light breeze brought an aroma of flowers and citrus from her glistening flesh.