Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(40)
“I suppose. I don’t care for it myself. Why does he need a bride? I’ve heard that he needs a child so he can continue with his job. If he doesn’t find one, then he’s killed?”
Bill nodded and frowned. “Not entirely true. He will die, but it will be over the period of time he has reigned as lord. For my lord that would be about…seven thousand of your years. She will take that long to kill him. He heals, you see. Not quickly as you do, but he heals. She will wait until he is healed enough. Then she will begin again. I can only imagine what horrors she has in store for me. As I have said, she dislikes me a great deal.”
“And now you come here hoping we’ll help you?” Monica shook her head. “I don’t know why you think we’d raise a hand to help a demon, but I have to give you credit for trying.”
“You love him.” Corrine startled them all by speaking. “You’re in love with him and you’re here to save him. That’s right, isn’t it? You’re in love with your boss.”
“I have been for many years. It has only been recently that he has come to be my friend. I do not wish to lose him so soon after he has made such changes in our lives.” Bill took a sip of the tea and smiled. “This is very good. So sweet, too. May I have the recipe? I believe my lord will enjoy this as well.”
Ama looked at Monica, who stood there with a glass of tea in her hand. She reached for it and drained the glass and asked for more. She and Sebastian had brewed three gallons of it last night, and she figured that it might be enough. By the time she was on her fourth glass, she felt she could talk to the little man. He grinned at her.
“You are a faerie and need the sweet tea to help you. You should also try standing with your feet in the dirt. It’s very good for you as well. That is why you are named for the earth.” He nodded and stood up. “I am sorry, my ladies, but I must go. My master is looking for me. I do wish you’d consider helping us.”
“Helping you how? I’m not going to leave my mate, and I certainly am not going to have the demon’s child. I like it here just fine.”
He nodded at her and bowed. “My lady, all I ask for is a safe haven for him before the Lady Darkness returns to kill him.” Then he was gone. She looked around the room and then stood up to pour herself another glass of tea.
“I forgot to give him the recipe for his tea.” Monica sat down with the box of bags in her hand and started to laugh. “Christ, that was the strangest conversation I think I’ve ever had.”
Ama had to agree. The man had actually asked for her to find a demon lord a place to hide. She looked at the chair he’d been sitting in and picked up the paper that lay there. It was a list of names and neat check marks by each name. She turned it over and read what it said.
“It’s a list of names of beings. It says that the check marks indicate that they have been given a name tag. There are only two that have not. One called Benny and the other Jetts.” She looked at the other two women. “They all have names of bands or cartoon characters from the television. Bill’s full name is Bill the Cat. And here’s one called Johnny Bravo.”
Corrine started laughing. She was laughing pretty hard by the time Ama joined her. Then when Monica joined them as well, they were crying and laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. When they picked up the list again and began reading each name, they were nearly hurting from it. Then when the cook came into the kitchen and looked at them, shocked, the three of them started again. There didn’t seem to be any name that was safe from the beings in the underworld.
Ama and the women went to the mall. They were just sitting down to lunch when Ama felt someone touch her mind. She frowned when she realized it was her father.
“I have been to your house to look for you.” She wanted to tell him that she was a grown woman and didn’t have to answer to him when he spoke again. “There is the scent of demon all over your house. What the hell have you been up to?”
She didn’t want to answer him and decided that she wasn’t going to. Looking over at Monica, she took out a pen and asked her to contact Sebastian for her and ask him to call on her cell phone. She took a deep breath before speaking to her father.
“I can do what I want, when I want. I haven’t answered to you since birth, so I’m pretty sure your parenting privileges are revoked. And just what the hell were you doing in my house with neither Sebastian nor I there?”
She heard Monica speaking on her phone just as her father began to sputter and speak again. “You’ll not talk to me that way, young lady. I am still your father and you will respect me.”
“I most certainly will not, you pompous ass. If you can’t speak to me any better than this, you can’t contact me at all. If you do, then…then I simply won’t answer you.”
She wrote another note and asked if it was possible to block someone from contacting her. Monica nodded and told her to think of the person enclosed in a small room without any windows or doors and then walk away. Closing her eyes, she did that and felt the connection to him severed. Smiling, she took the phone from Monica when she handed it to her.
“My father is a shit and a pain in the ass. If he comes there, I hope you have him thrown out of your store and then have him arrested.” Sebastian laughed. “I’m serious. If he comes there demanding to tell you how I mistreated him, you have to show him out.”