Supernatural Seduction (Book 2 of the Coffin Girls Series) (19 page)

“I hadn’t,” Vérène confirmed. “I felt that
you were in danger and came to help.”

Hearing that made him feel more like a douche
bag; their separation had hardened him. Guilt consumed him. He
doubted that he would have felt it if she was in danger as he had
perfected the skill of blocking her out over thousands of
years.

Sensing Sylvain’s internal conflict, Sophie
stepped forward and extended her hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m
Sophie.”

“Vampire, witch, empath,” Vérène categorized
her.

“Yes,” Sophie said brightly, putting all the
welcoming she could muster into her smile. She waved a hand at the
rest of the room’s occupants. “Anais, vampire, head of the
household and royal witch. Rose, fire-witch, and vampire. Miss
Suzette, our kitchen magician and friend.”

“Voodoo queen,” Vérène acknowledged with a
nod. She received the same from Miss Suzette. The Cajun mama did
not stand on ceremony in her own house and stood her ground.

“Conall is the Prince of Witches and Anais’
blood-bonded fiancé,” Sophie ended the introductions.

“There are more supernatural beings here,”
Vérène stated looking upwards as though sniffing the air.

“Yes,” Anais confessed, stepping into the
awkward greeting. “We have many weres who are both allies and
neighbors.” Anais decided to omit the presence of the girls for
now. She did not know Sylvain’s sister and given their obviously
tumultuous relationship, she erred on the side of caution.

“What is your name?” Miss Suzette asked
bluntly. The pussy-footing happening in the room put her
uncomfortably on guard and she hated feeling awkward in her own
home. The one concession was Yves. She suppressed a shudder at her
memories of Anais’ maker.

Vérène gasped and glanced in shock at
Sylvain.

Smiling suddenly, he stepped forward and
faced her, “They do not want to know your faerie name, sister. I’ve
explained that our true names are like a spell and hold power so
they cannot be spoken.” He looked to the others who confirmed his
statement with a round of nods.

“Oh,” she shrugged then blushed. “Forgive me,
it has been too long since I’ve been amongst others. The name I use
is Vérène.”

Miss Suzette felt her heart go out to the
woman. She was so strong, yet just as equally vulnerable, nursing
an old hurt, she reckoned. If she wasn’t right about that, Miss
Suzette continued her mental monologue, then she wasn’t Cajun or
worthy of her gift. Sylvain’s sister reminded her of her own girls
when she’d first met them. They were all stubborn, beautiful, and
in need of a good dose of mama.

“Last I heard,” Miss Suzette interrupted the
silent mulling, “we had a wedding to prepare for. Vérène,” she
stated in a voice that would brook no argument, “you can come sit
in the kitchen while I cook and I’ll fill you in on the shenanigans
that happen in this place.” Miss Suzette sent the rest of them a
look to demand that they trust her judgment. “The rest of you get
to work. I’m with Sophie. I need a bit of romance and happy endings
myself.”

Holding onto Vérène’s hand, half-dragging her
along, Miss Suzette passed by Sylvain and cuffed him a second time
against the back of his head.

“What was that for?” Sylvain scowled, rubbing
the back of his head.

“My girls have manners,” she huffed proudly.
“Best you learn some from our Sophie.”

The others laughed at his expense and he let
them, joining in. He had caught the look of understanding in Miss
Suzette’s eyes and darn if he didn’t feel like a kid who got the
class award.

Sophie was seated at the large, oak kitchen
table at Papillion with Anais, Rose, and Miss Suzette.

“Why, if he knew he had a severe pollen
allergy, would he agree to a wedding in a plantation garden? In the
Bayou!” Sophie clutched her stomach as she laughed.

“I don’t know,” Anais said in between barks
of laughter. “One minute he was saying his speech, quite a sweet
and romantic one, and the next he sneezed. It wouldn’t have been
that bad except that his sneeze was big and the chunk of green that
flew out of his nose was bigger.”

“And of course,” Rose interjected, wiping at
her eyes, “Murphy would see that it landed square on said Bride’s
face!”

Sophie choked on her café and snorted,
bringing more howls of laughter. Anais handed her a tissue. “We
don’t want a repeat,” she said, her tone dry and lips
twitching.

Miss Suzette stopped laughing long enough to
admit, “I’m trying not to puke, picturing it. I kept wondering why
all the oysters came back and why y’all didn’t want to eat them
too. It’s good Raulf’s weres will eat anything so that took care of
it. Made sure good food didn’t go to waste. Not that I blame y’all.
Darn idiot.” She shuddered at the image even as she chuckled.

Chuckles came through on the spider-phone in
the middle of the table. “Man, am I glad that I called in earlier,”
Marie laughed. “I sure miss all the craziness.”

“At least we know she is in love,” V noted.
“I’m not sure I would’ve agreed to ‘until snot us do part’.” A
collective “eeeww” broke out around the table.

“Wait,” Marie’s voice came through, “did V
just crack a joke?” A moment of silence followed, and then roars of
laughter ensued. V grumbled then chuckled along.

“I’m glad we didn’t cancel our post-wedding
de-brief,” Anais smiled once the laughter had died down. “But let’s
try to not postpone it again.” The evening of the wedding had been
preceded by the events concerning the changeling and Vérène’s
unexpected visit. The wedding had had some challenges – created by
human foolishness, so by the end of it, they had all elected to
break tradition for once and postpone the recon session.

“How did the meeting go with Yves and
Conall?” Sophie asked.

Anais shrugged, “Same old. I don’t know why
he insists on the formality. It’s pointless. We zap off to wherever
he is in the world, then sit, and exchange pleasantries for a few
hours. We’re no nearer to figuring out how involved he was in
Akeldonna’s blood bottling venture.”

“V,” Anais called out. “Well done on rescuing
those girls and on finding their families.”

“Yeah well,” V responded, “it would be better
if we could find this darn operation and intercept them before they
kidnapped the witches.”

“Agreed,” Anais stated, “but don’t
underestimate the good of what you and Raulf are doing?”

“How’s my nephew doing?” Miss Suzette cut in.
“Why isn’t he on the phone?”

“He’s good,” V assured her. She knew that
Miss Suzette’s gruffness hid concern. “He went for a run. There
were some weres there Miss Suzette. Their pack had all been wiped
out, so they’re orphans. They’ll need a home.”

“I’ll speak to them,” Miss Suzette offered,
referring to Raulf’s pack. “Niall can make the arrangements to have
them transported back?

“Already on it,” V confirmed.

The atmosphere had mellowed somewhat around
the table. They’d found and intercepted every kidnapping they had
gotten wind of. So far, they knew that what V stated was what was
needed. And they still needed to try and figure out the greater
game Yves was playing. Kidnapping young witches and she-weres was
evil and selling their drained blood was enterprising, but it was
too small an operation for Yves. It did not fit the authoritative,
power-mad, Vampire Council leader.

“I think Akhilleus is the key,” Sophie broke
the contemplative silence, referring to the ancient vampire that
they had rescued. A member of the Vampire Council and ruler of the
Greek fraction of vampires, he had become nothing more than a
mindless puppet when the Coffin Girls and their friends had rescued
the first group of witches. “He may have been under Akeldonna’s
spell,” Sophie continued, “but he is ancient and strong. His
subconscious, if tapped, may reveal critical information.”

Anais tipped her head to the side, thinking.
“I can buy that,” she agreed. “Will you talk to Niall about it,
Marie? He is with you at the Enchanted Island and so is Akhilleus.
He has access to magick we may not know of. Maybe he can shed some
light on how we can do this without further harming Akhilleus.”

“Yes,” Marie responded. “Good idea. I’ll also
chat with Conall’s sisters. The witches are like walking
encyclopedias of magick.”

Anais shuddered, thinking back to when the
sisters had helped unbind her powers. “They are that,” she
concurred. “Good,” Anais tapped the table with her hands. “I’ll
fill Conall in and Sophie, you see Sylvain more than we do, will
you let him know? We want to all be on the same page as far as
possible.”

“Sure,” Sophie nodded.

“Okay,” Anais stated, ticking things off her
mental agenda. “That takes care of the wedding and the vamp
businesses. Onto our magickal education.”

Taking their lead from Anais, they took turns
reporting back to the group. Anais turned to Sophie, “How is your
empath training going?”

“Good,” Sophie replied then gave a quick
rundown on the progress she’s made and the arrangements she’d made
with Brigid, Conall’s sister, to join their weekly sessions post
her training.

“And how are things at the hollow, Sophie?”
Rose prompted, trying hard to seem innocent.

“Great, thanks,” Sophie politely replied.
She’d been played, she realized. They did not want to know about
the hollow, but rather its dashing prince. So, they’d suffer first
before she satisfied their reality.

Miss Suzette, Anais, and Rose began staring
at her, making her feel like a worm under the scrutiny of a hungry
bird. Yep – they were dying to know the details. V and Marie were
still on the speaker phone. Apparently grilling her about her love
life was a serious enough affair to keep V from her witch-saving
missions and Marie from her necromancy training.

The silence stretched out uncomfortably.
Sophie let it continue. She was a vampire who had remained a virgin
for over a century. This was nothing she smirked inwardly.

“Uurgh,” Marie growled in frustration.
“Sophie, I swear, if you don’t give, I’ll sic Nick on you.”

“Why, Marie is that anyway to speak of our
charming resident ghost?” Sophie asked, feigning shock.

“Thank you, my dear,” Nick popped into view.
“It warms my spirit heart to hear you speak so of me. But, I too,
want to know of your…” Nick wiggled his eyebrows, illustrating why
he was affectionately referred to as Naughty Nick.

“So are you still a virgin?” Marie blurted
out.

“Subtle, Marie,” Anais grinned with the rest
of them. “So are you, Sophie, or have you sampled the fine
offerings of the fae?”

“You’re becoming corny,” Sophie grumbled.
“You spend too much time with Conall.” She huffed, and then glared
at them, including the phone. “Feel my grumpiness, Marie and V,”
Sophie growled.

V chuckled, “That I can. Your empath training
is going well if you can send emotions through a phone line.”

Better to get this over and done with, Sophie
thought. “Fine,” she said on a breath, “we did it.”

“Yay!” Marie and Rose exclaimed eliciting
giggles all around. Sophie groaned in response.

“Sophie, cher, we’re just teasing you. And,
happy for you! How are you?” Anais asked, her tone gentle,
caring.

“Great,” Sophie replied, smiling. “Sylvain is
great.” She shook her head in amusement at her inability to
articulate correctly when talking about him. “He was definitely
worth the wait,” Sophie grinned.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from that
hunk of blonde manliness,” Rose piped in.

“Uh-huh,” V agreed, “if his kiss was anything
to go by, I can only imagine what the whole shebang was like!”

Sophie growled at V, “He’s off limits.”

The others whooped. “Jealous, boo?” Miss
Suzette joined in the teasing. “I told you all you needed was a man
to warm your bed. It ain’t natural for a woman to be without some
for so long.”

“Oh Goddess,” Sophie groaned, laying her head
in her hands on the table.

“No details,” Marie yelled before anyone
could ask for just that.

“Why the hell not?” Rose scowled.

“You need to ask?” Marie sounded baffled.
“Sophie losing her virginity and snagging that hot piece of fae ass
is monumental! We need to celebrate! So we’ll do that when V and I
are both there and we have drinks, food, and each other for one
uninterrupted night.”

Anais looked around the table and saw the
nods - even from Sophie. “Sounds perfect,” she smiled. “We will
have something else to celebrate too.”

“We wondered when you’d tell us about the
babies.” Sophie smiled.

“You knew?” Anais asked in surprise.

“Of course,” Sophie nodded, “we’re connected
through blood and magick, remember? Besides, they’re healthy little
ones. We can hear their hearts beating a mile away.”

Anais grinned broadly, “I guess I have
porridge brain.” She seemed so excited by the supposed symptom of
pregnancy that they all laughed.

“Congrats on the porridge brain and babies,”
V’s voice came through.

“We are going to have ourselves one helluva
celebration when V and I are back.” Marie’s smile could be felt in
the room. “Congrats, Anais.”

“Thanks,” Anais inclined her head, her lips
curved widely. “We had no idea I could become pregnant. I am a
vampire, after all. But it seems that the witch half of us negates
that. We’re a bit scared about what our joint powers will do to the
baby and Conall is scared for me too, hovering like a guard. I
refuse to think negatively though. By Goddess, this is a miracle
and one I’m going to enjoy.”

“Hear, hear,” Rose stated then went to the
kitchen to pull out bottles of sparkling grape juice and champagne
glasses. Sophie watched Rose in amusement; sure, that she was
already concocting ideas for non-alcoholic blood beverages in her
head.