“Well, that’s some trick right there.” Palmer.
“You just misted.” Vaughn.
“That’s a fae thing, right?” Briggs.
“Your bag is pink?” Novak.
Stone turned to Novak. “That’s what you want to know? She just appeared as a silhouette of water in the middle of the kitchen and you’re wondering about her pink bag?” His tone was incredulous.
I flashed an impish look at them before addressing the elephant in the room. “Yes, my weapons bag is pink. No one has ever stopped me about my suspicious looking pink gym bag before. Imagine an officer pulling me over and seeing my bag in the passenger seat.” I deepened my voice to imitate a man. “Uhm, ma’am, that pink bag definitely looks like it’s holding enough weapons to take down a commercial aircraft. Can I take a look inside?” Returning my voice back to my normal rasping tone, I continued. “Ha. Yeah, that’s never happened before.”
“I have so many questions about that statement.” Novak’s delighted laugh rang out through the silent kitchen. “They can wait for the car ride, though. I do have an important one that just can’t wait.” He held up his index finger, indicating his one question.
“And what’s that?”
“Do you have a ouija board on your kitchen wall that says “Drink Coffee & Hail Satan” or am I imagining that?” He blinked a few times and turned his head in the direction of said decor.
“Oh, that was a housewarming gift from Papi. He thinks that stuff is funny and it aggravates his father. You see, Satan was Lucy’s second-in-command before he tried to overthrow him a few millennia ago. It did not end well for Satan,” I informed them with my brows raised, fighting with every ounce of self-control I possessed in order to keep a straight face at their confusion.
“Who is Lucy?” Vaughn’s intrigued tone had me twisting my head to him and giving up my fight.
“Lucy is what I call my grandfather. I couldn’t say Lucifer or Lilith when I was little so Papi told me to call them Lucy and Lil. You know we can talk about this in the van, right? We should really get on the road.”
Franklin finally spoke as I started heading for the garage door. “Everything else you should need is already in the van. We’ll take two vehicles to two different locations. I’ll drop three of you off a block from the van and you’ll pick the other three up.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Franklin,” I sang back to him when I made it to the door. A thought nailed me right in the face as I placed my hand on the handle. “Palmer, can you show me that spell real fast?”
“Yeah.” More confusion rolled across his handsome face as he reached for his phone. He opened the photos app and turned his phone to me. Oh, that would be simple.
“Thank you,” I exclaimed cheerfully, already mentally reaching out for my hellhounds. They might be helpful today. I was already preparing the spell as they appeared in the garage doorway. I’d turn them into puppies. They were still big when I got them, but only a fraction of their size now. I scooped them up and set them in the backseat between Palmer and me. Franklin took the driver's seat and Vaughn climbed in the passenger side. Then we were off.
Next destination, please.
The van was roomy and super white outside the tinted windows. Vaughn drove, and Briggs sat up front with him. Stone and I sat in the middle with Novak and Palmer behind us in the third row. The first two hours progressed in comforting quietness while everyone rested up for our miles-long hike through the wooded terrain.
All was well, until the hellhound puppies woke up and began climbing around the van. Atlas was barking and yipping at Novak, who snatched him into the back to play. Cronus ended up with Briggs in the front since I was ignoring him. Stone and I struggled to contain Helios. He’d do the most damage. It was called priorities, okay? Did we want the inside of the van to catch fire? No. Then this was the one I chose.
“Sloane, would ya tell me why the hounds are taggin’ along again?” Palmer irritatedly questioned as Atlas tried to lick the side of his face.
“We might need them,” I admitted as the wiggling puppy wedged his way out from under me.
“Doubtful,” Vaughn muttered. Helios growled at him before lunging across the consol into his lap and huffing little gray smoke clouds at him. “Fine, but make them smaller,” He conceded.
“Okay,” I snapped my fingers and three flies landed on his face. “There you go.”
“Smaller, not annoyingly annoying,” Vaughn argued.
“Fiiiiine,” I dragged out in a sarcastic tone as kittens landed in his lap. I almost changed them into Boston terriers. I was so close, but the kittens had claws. Next time, definitely.
“Are you serious?” Vaughn raised his voice at me and everyone broke out in laughter at his expense. The kittens clawed up his chest and hung from his arms, turning the large fae into a playground.
“You change them then, Oh Great and Mighty Mage. Oh wait, you’re not a mage, so you can’t.” It was hard to be condescending whilst giggling.
“Fuck. Just keep them back there. I’m trying to drive,” he growled out.
“They’re cats. They do what they want.” Novak cackled harder.
“Turn them into turtles so they’ll just fucking sit there.” Vaughn’s voice was laced with exasperation at the situation currently crawling all over him.
“Have you ever been bitten by a turtle?” Briggs inquired, but I was already making the magic happen with snapping turtles in mind.
“FUCK! That hurts!” Vaughn shouted. We were all gasping for breath as we laughed hysterically.
I tried to compromise, but I was having too much fun with my new trick. “Okay, okay. Just hand them to me.” When he started to grab one of them I changed them to butterflies. Another bout of laughter settled over us as they landed in his hair.
“Now you look like a fae,” Stone teased.
Vaughn spit out, “Yeah, a fucking summer fae.”
“They look so pretty in yer hair, though.” A mock girly voice came from Palmer.
“I’m going to pull over--” Vaughn started
“And what? Spank me for being a brat?” I waggled my brows at him.
“Give you over to Palmer and Stone,” he threatened seriously.
“Is that supposed to scare me out of my bad behavior? We can do that right here without stopping the van.” I wiggled in my seat and twisted to wink at Palmer and Stone. Palmer smirked back at me. Stone rolled his eyes at my antics but couldn’t hide the small lift of his lips.
Vaughn pulled over at the next gas station, and I got a little anxious about whether or not I was actually gonna get spanked in the parking lot. It didn’t happen. I’ll admit, I was pouting pretty hard about the missed opportunity. “Ye can put yer lip away, Love. I’ll spank ya when we get back home.” Palmer’s low whispered promise had me groaning my displeasure about waiting. He leaned over the back of my seat and skimmed his hand up the side of my neck. His lips brushed the edge of my ear as he added, “Patience, Love,” so softly that I felt the words more than I heard them. They did nothing to help my patience, though. Don’t tease me with a good time and then leave me hanging.