Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss (15 page)

“I want Vance, Portia, and myself stationed
at the store,” he continued. “Once the camera is in place, I want
everyone out of there to avoid any detection. The three of us will
monitor things and call in any additional support if it is
needed.”

Dad looked up at each of the people
surrounding him.

“Any questions?” he asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

“All right, then I want my mom to lead the
group that’s going to attempt the roof. She’ll check for any
magical barriers. If all is clear, then Brad and Shelly can go to
the top to place the camera. Once we verify the feed is coming
through okay, I want all of you to leave the area as quickly as
possible,” he said, looking seriously at each one of them.

“Understood,” Brad said, as Shelly nodded her
head, and I could see what looked like anticipation on their faces
at the idea of their role in this.

“And my job will be to have delicious food
ready for all of you people,” my mom piped up with a laugh,
breaking the serious mood.

Dad stood and went over to give her a
hug.

“Which, of course, will be our favorite
part,” he said with a smile. “I appreciate everything you do for
us, Stacey,” he added quietly.

“Like I’ve always said, I leave the magic to
the experts.” She smiled brightly. “Besides, I like cooking for
everyone.”

“Speaking of food, let’s all pitch in and get
some lunch together,” I said. “I think we’ve had a pretty
productive morning.”

“Sounds good,” Dad agreed turning to Mom.
“What can we help you with, honey?”

“Well, we’re in Mexico.” She smiled. “I got
stuff for burritos, enchilada style. The tortillas were made fresh
this morning. They’re still warm.”

“Delicious!” Dad said, rubbing his hands
together. “Let’s get to it. I’m starving after all this
planning.”

I was soon grating some cheese, while Vance
stood at my side shredding lettuce. Brad and Shelly were across the
counter from us, dicing tomatoes and onions, and Grandma was
getting some serving dishes out of the cupboard.

Mom mixed up the meat to go into the
tortillas, while Dad stirred the enchilada sauce in a saucepan.

Soon we were ready to serve the main dishes,
along with a large pile of chips and salsa. After a quick blessing
on the food, everyone formed a line down the edge of the counter
buffet style and started dishing up their plates.

“Oh! I’m getting a call,” Babs said as her
phone started loudly vibrating in her pocket.

She reached her hand into her clothing and
pulled it out, answering it quickly. We could all hear someone
speaking loudly and excitedly on the other end. Babs listened
intently on this end, occasionally speaking a couple of words in
Spanish during the conversation.

“Okay. Thank you,” she finally said, in
English this time, and hung up, turning to the rest of us. “That
was Juan. He says he just saw a truck which hauls for Cummings
Enterprises pass by outside his store. It turned at the corner and
is headed down the street toward the warehouse. He believes that
Damien is receiving a new shipment.”

“Dang it!” my dad said, pounding his fist
down on the counter. “We need the camera up there on that building
now!”

“It’s too risky to do it in the daylight,
son,” Grandma said, shaking her head to discourage him. “We would
be like sitting ducks.”

“I know, I know,” he replied, before
beginning to tap his fingers against his head repeatedly. “Think,
Sean! Think!” he said, mostly to himself.

“I know how we can get in,” Vance suddenly
piped up, looking at Dad seriously. “But you aren’t going to like
it.”

“Tell me,” my dad demanded. “We can’t afford
to waste any more time with this.”

“Send Stacey,” he replied, motioning over
toward my mom. “She isn’t magical, so she won’t set off any type of
detection. She can call the realtor and tell her she’s interested
in seeing the property, but it has to be this afternoon. She could
also talk to some of the people from Cummings.”

A look of horror passed over my dad’s
face.

“Absolutely not!” he responded firmly,
shaking his head.

“I told you that you wouldn’t like it,” Vance
said.

“I think it’s a great idea!” my mom popped
up, walking into the middle of us. “Let’s do it!”

“No, Stacey! It’s too dangerous!” my dad
said, putting a hand onto her shoulder and turning her back to face
him.

“Dangerous to you maybe,” my mom replied,
completely unfazed by his concern over the situation. “But not to
me. I’m no one as far as Damien Cummings is concerned. He would
rather swat at a fly than look at me. I’d be able to move in right
under the radar.”

“It actually makes sense, Sean,” Grandma
spoke up, seeing the possibilities in using Mom for this task.

“I don’t like it,” Dad replied, frowning
around at the rest of us. “Not one little bit!”

“Look, Sean, we’ll send everyone else to take
turns driving up and down the road outside the property. The
regular security guards are on during this time of day. Cummings
Enterprises isn’t going to try anything with the whole place
watching them. They’re trying to keep up appearances, not blow
their cover,” Vance said matter-of-factly.

Dad paced the floor letting Vance’s words
sink in.

“Make the call,” he said finally, handing the
realtor’s business card to my mom, before turning to face Vance.
“But if anything happens to her, I’ll hold you personally
responsible for it.”

“As well you should,” Vance agreed. “But I
think we have her covered. I wouldn’t have suggested it
otherwise.”

“Hola?” Mom’s voice broke into the
conversation, and we all turned to watch her talk to an unseen
person on the phone. “Se habla English? Yes, my name is Maria
Sanchez, and I’m looking to possibly rent a warehouse unit that is
located off Freemont Boulevard. Are you the listing agent for that
property?”

She paused for a moment to allow the person
on the other end of the line to respond.

“Well, here’s my problem. I’m only in town on
business for the afternoon before I go back to the States. I
wouldn’t be able to come back and see the property for several
months. Is there any chance you could squeeze me in this afternoon
before I have to leave? I would really like to be able to tell my
boss I found a place for him here in the area.”

She waited again before she started
speaking.

“In an hour? Perfect! Thanks so much! I’ll
meet you at the gate,” she said before hanging up the phone and
turning to my dad. “We’re meeting in one hour. I need to go get
changed, and you’ll need to come up with a convincing story for me
to tell.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek before she
sauntered out of the condo to head next door to the one she, Dad,
and Grandma were staying in.

“Story, people! Now!” Dad said snapping his
fingers consecutively at the rest of us who were left standing
there.

“Her boss is a supplier for all the tourist
trap shops around here. He needs to move from his current location
because the building is located on the wharf and has some mold
damage which needs serious repairs. Her boss has sent her here to
appraise the damage, make sure everything is legit and that the guy
running the warehouse here isn’t just trying to take him for a
ride,” Vance offered up.

“Did you just come up with that off the top
of your head?” I asked looking at him in wonder.

“Yep.” He smiled. “You might as well know I
happen to be a great liar.” He shrugged at my look. “It happens
after spending years on the run.”

“I think I’m going to have to watch you a
little more carefully,” I said, with a worried gaze.

He just grinned at me.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” he
replied softly. “I always do my best to be honest with you.”

“So let’s think of a company name, and I’ll
get a business card printed up for Stacey real quick,” Dad
said.

Everyone began to throw in their suggestions.
We ended up choosing one of Hal’s ideas.

The fake company would be called
International Tourist Treasures, and Hal even volunteered to be
Mom’s boss, putting his phone number on the card just in case
anyone decided to check out her references.

Dad printed out about five of the business
cards in the end to make it seem more believable.

“What do you think about this?” he asked,
when he was finished, handing a card over to me.

I took the card and it read:

International Tourist Treasures

Hal Breck and Associates

Maria Sanchez, Administrative Assistant

1-800-555-5353

It also had a small decorative set of maracas
in the lower right corner.

“It looks really good,” I replied, handing
the small paper back to him. “Not overly flashy but very
business-like.”

“Good,” he said, turning to look as Mom
re-entered the room. “Wow,” he added after he saw her.

Mom had her dark hair all piled in a chic
looking knot on the top of her head. She was wearing a very smartly
cut pin-striped suit in a dark gray, with nylons that were just a
shade lighter, along with pair of comfortable but sassy gray heels
with a pretty silver buckle.

“You brought that outfit with you?” Dad said
eyeing her up and down. “What could you have possibly felt you
might have needed it for?”

“A woman always comes prepared for any
situation which might arise,” she said with a smile as she did a
quick pirouette for him.

“Well, that explains the four suitcases you
had to bring,” he replied, a little under his breath.

“Hey! Be nice!” she responded, with a playful
slap to his shoulder.

“I was being nice,” he replied. “I didn’t add
the rolling tote and three purses you insisted on packing
also.”

“You can never have enough purses,” Mom said
as she looked at his hand. “Are those the business cards you were
making?” She reached out so Dad could place them in her palm.

“Yes,” he replied as she checked them out.
“Vance, I was wondering if she could borrow your car. It probably
says ‘money’ a little better than anyone else’s. No offense to the
rest of you,” he added with a quick glance around the room.

“No problem,” Vance replied, reaching into
his pocket to pull out the keys and toss them to Dad.

“All right,” Dad said with a sigh, and I
could feel the tension running through him. “Is everybody set?”

Everyone nodded their heads and began heading
to their respective vehicles.

Dad turned toward Vance and me, as we started
walking toward the door, opening his mouth to speak.

“Don’t even say it, Sean. I already know the
drill,” Vance said interrupting him with a sigh. “Portia and I are
to stay here and man the phones.”

“Good boy,” Dad replied, patting him on the
shoulder before turning to run out the door after the others.

“I’m really starting to dislike your Dad,”
Vance said facetiously, as he turned and wandered back down the
hall into the living room to sit on the couch.

He picked up the remote and turned on the
television.

“Well, there’s one good thing about all
this,” I said as I sat down and sidled up against him.

“What’s that?” he asked, without looking at
me

“They left us all alone,” I replied.

He did look up from the TV in interest
then.

“They did, didn’t they?” he said with a small
smile as he reached his arms around my waist and pulled me onto his
lap. “It seems like a long while since I had a good kiss from my
girl, too many prying eyes.”

He tilted my face up next to his and kissed
me passionately. After a moment he pulled away from me when the
phone suddenly started vibrating in his pocket. He shifted a little
so he could dig the phone out.

“Hello?” he said with a sigh at the
interruption.

“No hanky panky!” I heard my dad’s voice come
loudly over the receiver, followed by what sounded like
laughter.

“Dad!” I yelled, as Vance snapped the phone
shut and threw his hands up in the air.

“I can’t catch a break today,” he said, in
frustration, as he slouched back against the sectional.

“Don’t even worry about it. Just kiss me,” I
replied, placing his arms back around my waist. “Now where were
we?”

I leaned my head in, and he met me halfway as
we resumed what we had been doing before the annoying phone
call.

“How are you doing?” I asked, as we pulled
apart from each other a couple of minutes later.

“I’m okay,” he said, and I believed him as
his eyes were still his normal startling color of blue.

He kissed me again then, this time much more
passionately than he had the first time.

I reveled in the feel of him.

He had one of his hands tangled in my hair,
his other around my back pushing me closer to him, while his mouth
ravaged mine.

Shifting, he moved sideways so he could lay
me over onto the sectional without breaking our kiss. My arms
wrapped around him trustingly as he followed after me.

His lips moved expertly over mine, and I
could feel the intensity level of our exchange start to rise. It
was always like we couldn’t get enough of each other. I opened my
eyes to stare straight into the red demon eyes that looked back at
me this time, but I didn’t stop.

I let him leave my mouth to trail his kisses
down to my throat, and he licked the now fully healed, light scar
on my neck where he had bitten me before. I sighed slightly at his
touch, and I ignored the warnings that ran through my head when I
felt his teeth grazing there, moaning softly as he placed a small
nip there.

And then, of course, he was gone, leaving me
to stand at the window, looking out at the deep blue sea.

“I love you,” I said, sitting up slowly,
after a disappointed moment and running my fingers through my
disheveled hair.