Wade banged on the table. “A’right, now that we’ve got y’all here,” he began, ensuring he had everyone’s attention. “Ah know better than to give a long speech or expect ev’ryone to stay together at a deal like this. Y’all got better things to do than to listen to me.”
“Kind of an interesting exercise, actually,” quipped Molly. Onyx swatted her arm, but Wade took it with a grin.
“Mah people have a tradition,” declared Wade with feigned gravitas. He raised his cup.
Alex gave Molly a conspiratorial nudge. “This tradition is like two minutes old,” he said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“Shuddup,” Wade countered without lowering his cup or relaxing his deliberately puffed-out chest. “It’s a tradition among mah civilized, cultured Southern brethren-”
“Hillbillies!” coughed out Jason.
“-who are taught somethin’ called manners, unlike y’all heathen savages of the Pacific Northwest.”
“You were born in Tacoma!” protested Drew.
“Hey!” Onyx countered. “Don’t be mean.”
“Thank you, miss,” Wade bowed, then resumed his stance.
“Nobody deserves to have something like that aired out in public,” Onyx finished. She flashed Wade a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, Wade. It’s not your fault.”
“Are y’all quite finished?” Wade asked. His eyes swept the group, settling on Rachel. “Okay, I know you got somethin’ to say.”
The angel tore her eyes off the newcomer leaning against Jason. “No,” she shook her head. “No, go on. Your people have a tradition.”
Standing behind Alex with her arms draped affectionately around him, Lorelei found herself far more concerned with her other lover. Their eyes met. Again, Rachel just shook her head.
“Yeah. A tradition y’all could’ve been done with five minutes ago an’ gone off to dance or get schnockered or whatever the hell y’all got in mind, if y’all hadn’t kept interruptin’ me.” Wade held his cup high and puffed out his chest once again. “But here we are now. We ain’t even gotta talk about what we been through lately. Ain’t gotta say thank yous or your welcomes. ‘cause we’re all pals. Old an’ new,” he added, nodding to Onyx and Molly, and then to Amber.
“An’ so ah just wanted t’ make sure we all got t’gether for a couple minutes to give a toast to both Drew, turnin’ twenty-one finally as of yesterday but who gives a shit about details as long as he’s legal here,” Wade said, gesturing to Drew with his cup. “A fine gentleman who’s still gracious enough t’ slum it with folks like us even though he could surely find more sophisticated company.”
An uncoordinated but happy round of “Happy birthday, Drew” came from the others, their cups raised as Drew accepted it all with a smile.
“An’ we also wanna say happy birthday to Alex, who for some fuckin’ reason thought he could be born on goddamn Halloween an’ never ever have anything creepy or spooky or weird happen to his ass,” Wade grinned. Alex hung his head in mock shame. Wade then added, calling out loudly above and beyond the group to a crowded hall of disinterested partygoers, “An’ Alex is totally twenty-one today in case any state, local or Federal authorities might be listenin’!”
Amber winced, but she drank the toast along with everyone else. She felt Rachel’s gaze and hoped she hadn’t somehow given anything away. Wanting to hide from it somehow, she turned to Jason and asked the first thing to come to mind: “When’s your birthday, anyway?”
“Two days before Christmas,” he grumbled. “And yes, that still sucks even though I’m Jewish.”
“Aw, poor thing,” Amber chuckled. She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.
“Babe, I gotta go for a bit,” Rachel told Alex, abruptly putting her emptied cup down on the table. “Duty calls.”
Alex tilted his head curiously. “Everything okay?”
She shrugged. “Can’t say.” She moved off, only to find her arm caught by Lorelei not five steps later. “Please don’t,” Rachel said.
“You are troubled,” Lorelei observed quietly. “What is it?”
“Leave it alone, Lorelei.” Her voice dropped and her shoulders sagged. “Please.”
“What bothers you?” She watched as Rachel’s distress flashed across her face. “Is it Amber? You were staring.”
“I can’t talk about it. I just can’t.”
“You don’t have to shut me out, Rachel,” Lorelei pressed gently. “You can tell me anything. I am not mortal.”
“No, but everyone else here is,” Rachel countered. “It might be okay for me to tell you what’s up, but you turning around and interfering doesn’t make it any less my fault if…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Lorelei. That’s not fair. It’s not even about trusting you. I do. I love you. But I’ve got my duty.”
Lorelei watched Rachel for a long breath. “What am I to do?”
“Just carry on?” Rachel asked. “Don’t worry about it. The sun’s still gonna come up tomorrow and we’ll all still love each other. Let me do my thing and I’ll be back when I can. No drama. It’s his birthday,” she shrugged. “Trust me. Anyway, you need to talk to the witches.”
“About?”
“I dunno,” Rachel said. “You’re all hot, bi and partially available. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” With that, she turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Lorelei scowled, naturally dissatisfied with Rachel’s lack of answers. She stood alone on the dance floor, considering the situation.
Trust what? Lorelei wondered. Trust her judgment? Trust her ability to handle whatever is wrong? Or trust her to follow Heaven’s ethics of allowing mortals to stumble and fall on their own?
That Rachel’s concern had something to do with Amber seemed reasonable, but Lorelei couldn’t be sure. Rachel’s reaction neither confirmed nor ruled out Lorelei’s suspicions. She knew Rachel’s could read people at a glance, but she also knew that such information was often incomplete or seemingly random. Rachel’s heart was every bit as big as one might imagine of an angel, too. For all Lorelei knew, Rachel saw some family tragedy in Amber’s recent past, or an undiscovered health defect… or something dangerous to Lorelei, Alex and their friends.
Trust did not come naturally to demons.
Love and the ritual binding them both to Alex compelled Rachel to defend him if he faced true danger. Lorelei had faith in her own abilities. She could never call Alex helpless, either. Her jaw set firmly as she fought with herself to put her love over her instincts, and found she could not entirely do either.
Lorelei had to trust Rachel to handle this, whatever it was, and to wait until she explained herself… and until then, Lorelei could at least expand her options and her resources. Rachel had just encouraged exactly that, whether she knew it or not.
“No, really, Alex,” Onyx goaded him, “you should totally tell Amber how we first met.” She leaned in toward him from across their table. Her grin said all sorts of teasing things.
“Oh, this sounds good,” Amber smirked.
“I did!” Alex protested. “We met in a photography class. That’s the truth.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the whole truth, is it?” Molly countered.
“C’mon, Alex,” pressed Onyx with wide, innocent eyes, “you can tell the story. It’s not like you did anything silly. Or desperate. Or middle-schoolish.”
“Aw, tell me!” Amber asked.
“Yeah, Alex,” Jason agreed.
“Seriously?” Alex frowned at his friend. “You, too?”
“Well, it’s not like I knew you were gonna do what you did,” shrugged Jason, “otherwise I might’ve told you it was dumb to begin with.”
“I’m not telling that story.”
“I know you’re not,” Onyx teased. “I just wanna hear whatever lie you plan on telling people instead.”
Lorelei slid in with the group. “My love, do you require a rescue here?”
Alex looked up with hope in his eyes. “Yes! Yes, I do!”
“Very well. Ladies,” she said, looking to Molly and Onyx, “shall we go powder our noses?”
“Sure,” Onyx said after a wordless query to her girlfriend. “Probably about that time for us.”