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Mom shrugged. “I’d tried to hide us in almost twenty of the regular United States, and he’d gotten close to finding us several times. In the end I thought maybe New Nebraska would be the last place he’d look for us. After all, like you said, it doesn’t seem logical for us to seek refuge here.”
A suspicion flashed through my mind. “Then are you amplifying Mr. Font—Pascal’s powers for him too? What’s to say he’s not just using you, like you’ve always feared?”
Mom jerked her head back. “Ceci, don’t be rude. It’s not like that at all.”
Pascal interjected, waving the comments away with his hand as if they were harmless fruit flies. “A perfectly reasonable question, Cecilia. And no, in my case the attraction is something deeper. For one thing, I must flatter myself—without wanting to blow my own trumpet—that my powers, having reached a near pinnacle, after many decades of dedicated study and practice, cannot be exponentially increased in the same way as some of your friends here at this table.”
Aaron made a face. “With all respect to you, and to Ceci’s mom, you keep speaking as if you know things we haven’t told you. How—”
Pascal tapped his nose twice, knowingly. “Research, observation, allies. I have many—let’s say—friends in the city who keep me informed.” His grin was wry when he said, “But don’t worry, you haven’t had your privacy infringed to an obscene extent. Rest easy, professor.”
Aaron’s cheeks flared cherry red. “Uh, I see. Well, thank you for that.”
I was thankful too, especially after our special moment at the party before the chaos broke out. “So, erm, anyway, how did you meet each other?” I asked.
“Pascal had sensed my gift, my proximity to him here in New Lincoln. It seemed the weaker I’d gotten, the more my gift had called out, like a beacon to those that could sense it—one reason I decided to keep my distance from you when Pascal advised it. Anyhow, he knocked on the door, early that morning when you were still asleep.”
Pascal joined in. “The greatest morning of my life.”
She blew him a kiss across the table, Pascal caught the invisible kiss in a theatrical way, then placed his palm on his cheek. When he took it away, there was the smudged mark where a woman’s lips had just been. Smiling, he said, “It is as if your blessed lips were there themselves, my love.”
Xander, apparently still high and excitable from his rejuvenating feeding, clapped enthusiastically. “Bravo, Grand Master! Does that work on other body parts too?”
“Xander!” I chided him. I changed the subject briskly, glaring at Xander as if to remind him this was my mom, not one of the fangirls who lusted after him. “And your health, Mom. It’s so improved. This is from Pascal’s powers?”
“Yes, definitely. There was an instant attraction, the moment I saw him. I was swept off my feet. We only intended to spend the day together, but time just flew by. Then the more we talked, the more we both became convinced it would be better if I stayed with him and kept my distance from you until I was stronger. And his energy has affected my blood in a way modern medicine never could have. In fact, what little my gift gives to his powers is returned to me tenfold. It’s like I’ve been waiting for him my whole life.”
I pulled away from Jax so I could lean over and hug her. “I’m so glad you’re healthy again.”
“And I’m so glad you’ve found the people that you’re supposed to be with too.” She looked around the table at each of the guys individually. While the others beamed and thanked my mom, Osric looked at his watch, intensely interested in the time all of a sudden. She continued, “I’m especially glad because it seems a part of our amplifying ability is we deteriorate faster than normal people, if we’re kept away from who we’re meant to be with. Think of it like soul mates who yearn and suffer without each other.”
Xander stood. “So, what you’re saying is”—he blurred, walking along the balcony wall, arms out like a tightrope walker—“you think that our merry bunch of guys”—he blurred again, back in his seat—“need to be with your daughter forever, for the sake of her wellbeing, and ours?”
I wasn’t angry, but I wished he wouldn’t show off so childishly. “I wish you wouldn’t do that. But Mom, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, dear. You’ve found four life partners who will not only keep you healthy and happy, but vice versa, for a very long time.”
“Ah, I don’t know—” Osric stood, excusing himself in a business-like manner. “That is, I’m sorry to rush off. I have one or two things to take care of.” He turned to Aaron. “Don’t worry, I won’t go near the places we discussed last night on my own.” Then he smiled at my mom and Pascal, saying, “It’s been a pleasure to have you here, and of course, to see Ceci reunited with her mom.”
And off he went, throwing his jacket on and clunking the door behind him.
I was slightly taken aback by Osric’s exit, but I guessed I should’ve been used to his abrupt departures by now.
Was he upset my mom had assumed he was like the rest of the guys and romantically involved with me?
“Mom, so going back to the other matter. This…Jack 2. You know he’s still after me, right?” I reached over for Jax’s thigh again and Xander suddenly blurred in behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders, grounding me with their comforting weight.
Pascal sighed, nodding. “Yes, I have contacts in the NLPD, so we know about the note he left on the last victim. And we saw his pathetic message on the news too. It seems he’s obsessed just because you’re human and got away.”
“And he’s not giving up,” Aaron said, standing and striding over to Jax, Xander and I.
“You’re right.” Pascal drained his teacup and looked into my eyes. “But he’s forgetting one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s only one of him, and a whole army of us.”
Osric
