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“We will be there in in ten minutes,” she added.
“We?” I said, with a whole lot of dread. God, the last thing any of us needed was my father’s negativistic and superior presence looming over everything that we did.
“I’m talking about Henry, of course.”
I relaxed a little. Henry had been her chauffeur and bodyguard for as long as I could remember. He also happened to be a shifter and magic immune—very handy when both my parents had run up a good number of enemies over the years. “Isn’t he getting a bit too old for protection duty?”
“He’s only sixty. In shifter terms, that’s middle age more than over the hill.”
True enough. While witches did tend to have a longer lifespan than humans, shifters and werewolves outstripped us all.
“I take it Samuel and the HCI are aware of this development?”
“Indeed, they are. I believe Samuel is arranging for additional guards and defenses to be deployed around Henrietta’s premises as we speak.”
I could just imagine what he’d said about the whole situation, too. Something about “like mother, like daughter,” no doubt.
In less polite terms, of course.
“We’ll see you soon,” she continued. “We can discuss our plan of attack over coffee.”
“We already have a plan of attack, Mom.”
“Good. We’ll discuss it when I get there.”
She hung up. I shook my head, shoved my phone into my pocket, and headed for the kitchen. Belle remained in her bedroom organizing things, but Ashworth and Eli were there, the latter in the middle of making hot drinks.
“Coffee?” he asked, when I appeared.
“No, thanks.” I walked across to the kettle and flicked it on. “But you’d better add a fourth cup. Mom’s about to turn up on our doorstep.”
“To remonstrate or commiserate?” Ashworth growled. “Because if it’s the former, her ass will be back out the door so damn fast her head will spin.”
“Neither. She wants the wraith dead and has offered to help us achieve this any way she can.”
“And the HCI has approved this course of action?”
I smiled at the incredulousness in his voice. “No, and my father thinks it’s foolish.”
“I take it he’s not accompanying her, then?”
“No. He’s listening to advice and keeping safe.”
“No doubt to keep the family business viable if something does happen to your mom,” Belle said, as she came into the kitchen. “Don’t for an instant believe that he wouldn’t be leading the charge to find our wraith if he thought there’d be some personal benefit to the action.”
“I don’t like the man, but that’s a little harsh,” Eli said.
Belle shrugged. “True though. Did you find any new information regarding summoning our demon?”
“A couple of additional spells we can try.” Ashworth glanced at me. “And actually, your mother’s decision to help out is fortunate—we had discounted using the strongest spell we’d found because it was an interwoven one.”
I frowned. “We’ve used interwoven spells to tackle demons before—what’s so different about this one?”
“It requires the blood of a powerful royal witch in her prime.”
“Blood magic?” Trepidation curled through me. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Especially when I’d already dabbled in it to protect Belle from Clayton. These things tended to add up and have consequences further down the line.
