I held out my hand to shake his. “It’s a surprise to me as well. This trip was sort of sudden. But let me introduce the people with me.” I thought I knew what Adriana was up to and hoped I wouldn’t get it backward. “Back by the door are my friend Laka and her daughter, Okalani.” It wasn’t quite accurate, but what else could I say except friend?
Mick took the two extra steps and shook their hands, playing the good host. I was betting in normal circumstances his wife would have, too. But she couldn’t take her eyes off my cousin.
I touched Bruno’s sleeve. “This is Bruno DeLuca. He’s been a friend of mine for years and is a very talented mage.”
Bruno offered his hand, keeping absolutely silent, and Mick shook it. I touched my own chest. “Of course, I’m Celia Graves. I met Mick Murphy at the Will signing of my best friend, Vicki Cooper.”
Now his wife’s eyes turned to me. “Oh!” Her shock turned to a friendly smile. “Finally we meet, Ms. Graves. I’m Molly Murphy.” She motioned at a redheaded girl of about twelve with pigtails. “This is our daughter Beverly and this little scamp”—she reached across and affectionately ruffled the blonde curls of the younger child—“is Julie.”
“Mom—” Beverly had the look that screamed, Please don’t embarrass me! I’ve worn it many times myself, so I took a moment to smile directly at her.
“Whoa,” she said with a suddenly shocked expression. “You really do have fangs!”
Mick turned and gave her a furious look. “Beverly! That is quite enough.”
“It’s okay. Really. I know it’s a curiosity.” I stepped away and held out a hand toward Adriana, who was starting to get a little antsy. “And this glorious vision is my cousin. May I present Adriana, crown princess of the Pacific siren clan, prime minister of the Isle of Serenity, and future queen of Rusland.” I was hoping I got all that right. I hadn’t a freaking clue what her full title was, but at least what I’d said was all true and hopefully sounded impressive enough. I’d seen the prime minister part on a document in her mother’s office. It made sense, I suppose. The queen couldn’t do everything.
The blonde girl stood and walked forward as though hypnotized until her father caught her by the hand to stop her from actually touching Adriana. “Are you really a princess?” Julie’s voice was a bare whisper.
Adriana gave her a smile that was both kind and loving—just the sort of expression you want to see on a queen on her throne. She must practice to have it down that well. She touched the girl’s hair. “Yes, child. And I believe there’s a chance you are as well.”
Whoa. Come again? I bent forward until I caught Adriana’s eye. “Excuse me?”
Instead of answering me or responding to the shocked looks on the faces of father and daughter, Adriana turned to the old man in the corner, who’d stopped looking frightened but was, instead, staring at the interaction with interest. “Would you care to explain, Mr. Fulbright? There’s a reason you offered your land to the Murphy family, isn’t there? My siren blood can feel yours … and the children’s.”
There was silence all around the restaurant because … well, frankly, she’d managed to stun us all. Fulbright narrowed his eyes and let out a harrumphing sound. When he spoke it was with such a thick southern accent that I could barely make out the words: “So, you’ve found me out, heve you? A royal of the blood, come to finally look for us? Well, y’all are a thousand years too late and I ain’t hepping you. Go tell your mother I said the earth could just eat ya up. You and your bloodsucking cousin, too.”
Adriana’s eyes narrowed dangerously and so did the old man’s. Thin skin all around. Sheesh.
“Okay, hold it. Everybody’s talking in circles here and I’m getting lost.” Adriana opened her mouth to shush me, but I wasn’t going to shut up. I didn’t care that the situation needed to be handled “just right.” I wanted explanations and we didn’t have time for a song and dance.
I stepped away from them all to address the old man: “Look, I’m just a poor California bodyguard who discovered about a month ago I had siren blood.” I lifted my upper lip to show him the full fang view. “I got attacked by a vampire but didn’t die. After that, I discovered that my blood wasn’t only siren with a touch of vampire, but it’s also royal.” I held up my hands like a revival preacher, but my words were sarcastic: “Woo! Lucky me! But guess what? I don’t care. Whatever old score you feel you need to settle with the whole of the siren race, Mr. Fulbright, isn’t my fight. I only want to find out how to stop a demonic rift from eating up my hometown and the people I love. Because if we can’t close it, eventually it’ll be your hometown and the people you love that will disappear. My cousin believes you can help us. The only question is whether you will.”
Fulbright stared at me for a long time and then stood slowly. He was hunched by arthritis and leaned heavily on a plain wood cane. There was nothing fancy about him, from his faded jeans and beat-up boots to his stained straw hat. “Mr. Murphy, I believe you and I should discuss this matter … away from the wimmin folk.”
Wimmin folk? Excuse me? Maybe my face gave away my anger, because I felt Bruno’s hand on my arm. He squeezed like he used to when his mother would talk past me like I didn’t exist. It asked me to please let him handle it. He put the straps of the duffel bag in my hand. I narrowed my eyes and let him have the full force of my outrage. He shrugged.
Fulbright walked out the door and Mick followed after releasing his daughter’s hand. Bruno was the last and closed the door after him.
Molly’s eyes went to the floor and Beverly’s expression was outraged. Poor Julie bolted back to her mother, crawled into her lap, and buried her small face against her mother’s chest. I was betting Julie was picking up either thoughts or emotions from the “men folk” and didn’t much like them. Mick had said she had all the talent in the family.
I gave the others in the room a Pollyanna smile. Brilliant but empty. “Well, that went well.” I snorted. Molly offered a shy smile. Then I touched Adriana’s arm. “Was this the part of your vision where we got killed? Does he come back in here with a shotgun and mow down us wimmin folk?”
One corner of Adriana’s mouth curved up. “Actually, this is the scenario that went well. In the other scenario, I spoke first and he ran out of the restaurant screaming in fear and we never found the cave. I was hoping he’d manage to offend you. You can be quite … forceful when angered.”
“Gee. Thanks.” My smile was more a baring of teeth. Then I turned to the outraged redheaded girl who was stabbing her sandwich with a fork like she wished it was a certain elderly gentleman. She looked humiliated and hurt. “Beverly, I know you’ll still have to live here after we’re gone and will have to deal with people like him every day. You’ll be forced to ignore it for now to keep the peace. But please know most of the rest of the world takes offense at what that man just did. It’s not okay for people to treat you like you’re a second-class citizen just because of your gender.”
Laka finally spoke up from near the window, and there was fury and pride in her beautiful face with its strong African influence: “Or your race.”
“Or your … disability.” Adriana’s voice was as strong as I’d ever heard it. “Let no person tell you you cannot do something. You are siren. And you are human. Be proud of both.”