Friday Excerpt - Perchance to Dream - Chapter Twenty-two

There would be plenty of time to get our act together. I took Shadow by the hand, past the kitchen where Daisy and John were eating breakfast, and to my bedroom. We lay down on the bed and made love until we fell asleep in each other's arms.

We didn't speak of love. Not now. Not until we had made our little home and family safe. Shadow had told me of his father's obsession with power until when Shadow was in his early teens, the demon who had been courting his father, finally took over his father's life. He didn't know if his father was even in there anymore.

That night Shadow showed me the chain on his arm. When he was eighteen the demon masquerading as his father, put him in the pentacle and forced a gate into Shadow's head. But Shadow had been prepared. He had found a tattoo that would chain him to his own body and when the demon tried to take over his body, Shadow possessed the demon. It now powered Shadow's magic.

He told me all of his secrets. How he had had to do evil things in the service of the demons just to gain his freedom. He had established his tattoo shop to find people will the fight the Magii church. It was a small group who were willing to die for their beliefs.

I had looked at him and asked, "Are you willing to live for your beliefs?"

A smile broke from his lips, and I knew at that point that Shadow had not thought of living until now.

I felt his hands cupping me as the bed sunk under our hips. I would not push him away this time. I feel asleep.

THE CLATTER IN THE KITCHEN WOKE me up. A warm spot next to me on the bed was the only evidence that Shadow had slept beside me. It was late afternoon and we would have to get his sister to a safer place.

I stretched, and felt a headache from not getting enough sleep. Well, a shower would take care of that problem. Shadow found me dressing, my hair wet. He pulled me to his chest and his hands wandered over my body. I smiled as I tried to untangle my hair.

"Daisy will be one the road in the next few minutes. You want to say goodbye?"

I sighed. Daisy had been my enemy for a long time. Now she was my almost sister-in-law, I was not into these lightning fast changes. But, she carried a child that would change our world for good or evil. I would rather we had some influence over Daisy and this girl child.

Maybe we would learn to be friends or at least friendly enemies. I nodded. "Yes, I want to say goodbye." I pulled away from his arms. We would have more mornings like these, more time to be together, someday.

Daisy was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, eating breakfast. John was cooking bacon and slipping eggs onto Emily's plate. Emily was chattering at Daisy. We couldn't understand what she was saying, but Daisy nodded at the right places.

After surveying the kitchen, I took over the cooking and added more eggs and bacon so that there would be enough for Shadow and Nonie. Nonie was making toast and Daisy at like she had been hungry for a long time.

Her belly had dropped and she was resting her hand on top of the belly. I looked at Nonie significantly and sighed, "Doesn't she have three more months before the birth?"

Nonie looked carefully at Daisy. "She should, but the father was possessed when she was impregnated. The demon may have influenced the sperm."

Nonie could help with the birth, but Daisy needed someone who could help with a supernatural because it was obvious that the baby was not normal, at least not a normal human. I wanted both mother and child to survive.

The smell of the bacon wafted through the kitchen. I put some of the bacon on Shadow's plate and then a few eggs. Nonie handed him some buttered toast. He ate like he had been handed gourmet food. I laughed at his silliness. Emily tried to copy him and then got back to eating. She had quit talking and was now humming.

By mid-morning, Daisy, Nonie, John and Emily were packed and ready for the van to take them to a more secure location. John had objected at first to being sent off to a small cabin in the mountains about two hundred miles north of the city, but after Shadow took him outside for a talk, John had quit objecting.

He still glared at John and me, but I was sure that he would watch over the women of his party. Nonie made sure that she had enough medical supplies in case Daisy gave birth. Better to be safe than sorry, she told us. I had to agree. Nothing in the last year had been the same. My grandmother had died, I had become close with the Magii leader's son, and his sister was in my house ready to have a child with too much power.

When I helped load up the baggage, and then waved as the white van drove away, I asked Shadow, "Are you sure they will be safe?"

His words were almost prophetic. "If my organization hasn't been infiltrated, they'll be fine."