“I smell sex.”
Maya yelped and spun around, immediately going into a defensive stance, and found herself face-to-face with Lottie, who was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down her face. Feeling totally embarrassed, Maya dropped her hands as Shane appeared behind her with his gun drawn. He immediately tucked it into the waist of his jeans when he saw Lottie guffawing and leaning on the back of a chair for support.
“Yup.” Swiping at her wet cheeks, Lottie shook her head and plopped her leather messenger bag on the table. “It’s in the air, and it’s thick like the fog on the bayou. Damn.” She winked at Maya. “I may need a cigarette just from standing near you two.”
Maya folded her arms over her breasts, at a total loss for words. Mor-ti-fied.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Shane slipped past Maya and glanced at Lottie with a look on his face that resembled embarrassment. “I should put this bag away properly so everything is ready for tomorrow’s training. Maya, I’ll be taking a shower and then heading to bed. The sun will be up soon, and you will need your rest for tomorrow. We’ll be adding weapons to the hand-to-hand combat, and you’ll be learning to access them from the sentry coat.”
“How romantic,” Lottie said with a roll of her eyes.
“Okay.” Maya glanced at Lottie, who had opened the refrigerator and was cracking open a can of beer. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Good night, Lottie.” Shane tilted his head. “Thank you again for hosting us.”
“You bet.” When he walked past her, Lottie smacked him on the ass. “If she needs sleep, then you better make it a cold shower.”
Shane paused for a moment before silently exiting the kitchen through the swinging door. Maya fought to keep from laughing.
“How was work? Are you always out this late?” Maya asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
“Shit.” Lottie shook her head. “You kidding me? We got ten different conventions in New Orleans this week, which means things are hoppin’ down there on Bourbon.”
“What is it that you do, exactly?”
“I’m a fortune-teller. I work at a few little pubs in the Quarter. I used to have a table in Jackson Square, but the weather can be a bitch, so I picked up some indoor gigs.” Lottie removed the colorful scarf she had tied around her head and draped it over the bag. Obviously stiff from sitting for a long time, she stretched her back.
“I do what it sounds like. I can read the future, but it’s nothin’ that special. Most gypsies are taught the magic when they’re children and pass it on to theirs. I never did have kids.” She made a face. “Couldn’t find a man I could tolerate for more than a roll or two in the sack. Coulda done it on my own, I suppose, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Too bad, though.”
“Why?”
“My magic will die with me. I don’t have any kin, so our gypsy line will go the way of the dinosaur. Serves us gypsies right, I suppose. We are all so damn secretive, you know. The clans don’t share their magic with other clans, so when one clan dies out…that’s it for their family’s magic.”
“There are different kinds of gypsy magic?” Maya asked with genuine curiosity.
“Sure.” Lottie belched after taking another swig of beer. “There used to be a few hundred clans, but who knows how many are left? Not me. For all I know, I could be the last. Up until a couple of centuries ago, the clans used to gather, but after a lot of bickering and petty crap, that stopped. Us gypsies have powerful magic, but damn if we aren’t a stubborn lot. Anyway, like I said, my clan’s magic is about seeing the future.”
“Can you read the past?” Maya asked tentatively.
“Not usually, but sometimes I can.” Lottie took a big sip of beer and looked Maya up and down. “Why?”
“I don’t remember much about my human life, and it didn’t really bother me until recently.”
“Recently, huh?” Lottie jutted her thumb toward the ceiling. “Your sudden desire to uncover your past wouldn’t have anything to do with the six-foot, four-inch hunk of man upstairs, would it?”
“Some, yes.” Maya lifted one shoulder. “But it’s not just because of Shane. How can I move forward if I can’t let go of the past? It haunts me, Lottie. Not knowing where I come from haunts me.”
“Well, you do still have that glimmer thing going on. It wasn’t my eyes playin’ tricks on me. Nope.”
“Shane thinks that I might have—”
“Stop right there.” Lottie held up one hand. “Not another word. I don’t like to have any preconceived notions because it can mess with the reading.” Lottie grabbed her bag and gestured toward the door. “Come on.”
“Where?”
“The living room.” She bumped the door open with her butt, making the charms on her skirt jingle. “I like to work in there when I’m at home.”
“Work?” Maya looked at her quizzically.
“Let’s see what we can see.” Lottie drained the rest of her beer, and disappearing through the door, she shouted, “Come on, baby girl. You ain’t got much time. That sun won’t wait just ’cause you’ve got questions you want answered, and I’m tired.”
Maya steeled her courage. The possibility of learning more about her past was actually rather frightening now that she was faced with it. But hadn’t she just been asking Shane to help her?
“Jeez, Maya,” she muttered to herself. “Stop being such a baby and get out there.”
Shane. Maya tentatively reached out and touched his mind with hers. Lottie is going to try and use her gypsy magic to read my past. I—I know you’re tired but—
Before she could finish her sentence, Shane was pushing open the door to the kitchen and gesturing for her to come with him. “No time to waste. The sun will be up soon.”
Smiling and blinking back tears, Maya ran to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him quickly before popping up on her toes and brushing his lips with hers. “Thank you.”
They walked into the living room hand in hand to find Lottie seated on the far end of the couch and tying her long hair back into a bun. She smiled and patted the empty cushion next to her before rubbing her hands together briskly as though warming them up. Shane gave Maya’s hand a reassuring squeeze before she sat down, and she shifted her body so that she and Lottie were face-to-face.
Shane stepped aside and stood on the other side of the coffee table with his hands at his sides. Maya couldn’t help but notice that he always looked ready for battle. The man was never off duty. She wondered if he’d ever actually been a little boy, or if he’d come out of the womb looking like that.
“Now,” Lottie began with a look of caution to both Maya and Shane, “like I was sayin’ before, I usually can only see the future of a person, and I’ve never tried readin’ a vampire before. So this could get us a whole lot of nothin’. Everyone understand?”
“Yes.” Maya nodded and straightened her back.
“Okay, girl.” Lottie clapped her wrinkled hands and extended them, palms facing up, toward Maya. “Give me your hands.”
Maya placed her hands in Lottie’s. The gypsy’s eyes widened with surprise, and she gripped Maya’s fingers tightly. “I’ll never get over it.” Lottie laughed.
“What?” Maya glanced at Shane for reassurance.