Whiskey Storm (Whiskey Witches Midnight Rising Book 1) Read online

  “Does he have good reason?”

  “Yup.”

  Danny’s face twisted with concern. “But you’re doing it anyway.”

  She didn’t say she was being rational. “Yup.” The momma bear in her wasn’t going to allow her to leave her darling little terrors behind.

  She finished up the rest of the conversation with Danny, which involved him talking to Mandy, who thought she wanted to be a reporter when she grew up. Paige wasn’t done making the rounds, though, so she piled the kids into the car and went to the Walmart parking lot, where she told the DoDO agents on the other side to get their fearless leader.

  Mario came to the ward and gave Paige a guarded smile. “I’m hoping you’re ready to see reason.”

  Paige hooked her thumb in her belt loop. “Your people are free to come in.”

  “That’s excellent news, Paige,” Mario said, his voice warm. “We’ll begin registering everyone immediately. Things will go back to normal again very soon. You have my word.”

  “We’re not registering.”

  His expression cooled around his eyes while his smile grew slightly. “I see.”

  Paige didn’t like that look. “There’s a town hall. You can come. Speak your piece. But registering will be a choice.”

  He nodded, narrowing his eyes. “That seems fair.”

  She gestured for him to step through the wards. “I’ll give you a ride.” Which was probably a bad idea, but she didn’t want him bringing his escort with tanks and Humvees into town. She decided she wasn’t going to warn him about their wards. She’d let him figure that out on his own.

  The twins were still in animal form. They napped for long periods of time, which was good for her because that gave her time to do things. She shoved Mandy and Leah to the backseat with the twins riding in their laps, the car seats stashed in the trunk.

  Mario looked around the small car. “Cozy.”

  Paige grunted and drove him into town.

  The “town hall” was actually out on the street. There were too many people who wanted to be a part of it, similar to the last time they’d had a meeting like this to discuss how the town was going to handle Sven. The mayor had a microphone set up by the museum at the far end of the street. The shops had little tables out on the sidewalks. It wasn’t that they were trying to make money, but they offered things the townspeople needed.

  Like coffee and donuts.

  And spells in bottles and soaps.

  The basics.

  Suzanne greeted Paige on the flatbed she’d had set up. It was very impromptu and well-thought out. Maybe just very workable. It was amazingly very workable. “I hope we can calm the crowd. They’re very nervous. Don’t forget that a lot of humans stayed behind to create a life living with your kind.”

  No pressure. “I won’t.” She stopped herself midway to the podium. What the hell was she doing? She didn’t have what it took to lead these people. All of them. They looked to her—well, they were mostly facing her, but looking just about everywhere except for at her, which was okay—but they were expecting her to know how to answer the threat against them.

  And she just didn’t.

  She composed herself and stepped to the podium, confident on the outside.

  She glanced at Mario, who looked rather pleased with himself. She wanted to hear what he had to say, so she introduced herself quickly before moving to the important stuff. “Look, guys, I know we’re all scared. But we’ve got someone from the agency who started this. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

  Mario looked a little surprised and then he climbed up on the flatbed and smiled down at everyone. “Good evening, everyone,” he said in his slight English accent. “I just have a few words for you.”

  Half an hour later, his few words were still going. The president had issued a warning to all paranormals throughout the nation. They needed to register with the government—like sex offenders—so they could be monitored. They’d be given a device to keep their paranormal powers oppressed to keep their neighbors safe.

  The more he spoke, the more uncomfortable the people in the town got. And it wasn’t just the paranormals who were showing concern.

  Paige gave the crowd a tight smile and gently pushed Mario out of the way. “He’s certainly given us something to think about, hasn’t he?”

  “What are you doing about this?” a woman shouted at her.

  “I’m going to D.C. to talk to the president.” Mario’s speech had managed to push Paige’s fear aside, so at least there was that. She knew she was the right person for this job, not because she was skilled or good at it but because she had experience with terrible situations. “I’m hoping this is just a simple misunderstanding. That once she realizes we’re not horrible people, things will settle down again.”

  “And what if they don’t?” a man shouted from the front. “What if they decide shooting is easier?”

  Paige didn’t want to have that discussion in front of Mario, but she had no way of politely getting him out of there.

  Luckily, Eldora did. She took Mario’s arm, opened a door to ink-black nowhere, and pushed him through.

  Good enough. Paige just had to hope he didn’t have any other ears there, even though she knew there would be. There had to be. That was just the law of averages.

  “Then we’ll face it like we have everything else.”

  The man looked more irritated.

  She could understand that. “There’s something you don’t know. My family have been fighting bad guys for generations. My grandma—the woman who died saving all of us just—” She couldn’t continue past the lump in her throat. It had only been two weeks since Alma had died fighting Sven. It was too soon to be this flippant about it. “She fought evil during the World War. My sister and I have been fighting evil since we were in high school. My kids? Her kids? Since they were in grade school.”

  A couple people she could focus on directly in front of her looked worried, turning toward each other or putting their hands to their heads.

  “Can I promise you things are going to get better, that we’ll be able to return to normal? No.”

  A couple of people raised their faces to her.

  A few turned away.

  “They’re not going to stop hunting you,” someone shouted from somewhere in the middle of the street.

  He wasn’t wrong. “I know, and none of us wanted to drag any of you into this fight with us. We just want to live normal lives.”

  “What if we can’t?” Dexx demanded loudly. “What if they come in here and take us, our kids? What if they try to force us to submit?”

  She heard the underlying of previous conversations. He hated big government, and he wanted to simply overthrow it. “Dexx.”

  He looked at her, his green gaze solid and unmoving. “This is our chance to fight back.”

  She shook her head. “We have to try peace first.”

  “And when that doesn’t work?”

  She looked out over the crowd, not wanting to utter the next words out loud. “Then we may have to fight.” She took in a shaky, scared-to-Hell-and-back breath. “Go to war.”

  He shook his head. “You know we’re going to war. It’s what they want.”

  A few people in the crowd cheered this. A few of those were human, though, and it didn’t feel like they were cheering the idea of war but were showing their support of his idea, that this was the only play.

  “We don’t have to give them what they want.” She had to find a way to end this peacefully.

  “So, then, we surrender.” Dexx gestured to the crowd, his rising anger charging his words and dropping his tone. “And the nation follows our lead. Then all the paranormals will be tagged and rounded up, herded into jails and detention facilities. Tested on. Beaten. Tortured.”

  She hated him sometimes.

  “Our kids.”

  She knew he was right, but she had to believe in people. “We’re trying peace first.”

  “And when it fa
ils?” he asked again.

  “We’re going to war,” she growled.

  The crowd joined her, their voices rising and filling the street.

  This thing could go so badly, and everyone knew it.

  8

  Paige raised her hands for calm. “Okay. Some of you are worried about the wards. They’re designed to prevent anyone coming in from violence, and if they try, well, let’s just say they shouldn’t.”

  She didn’t want to go into great detail to explain what would happen to people who tried something harmful, only that they wouldn’t appreciate the outcome.

  She watched a few relax. Maybe a few felt safer. Maybe.

  Until Paige explained that those living under the ward couldn’t do anything harmful either. They could discipline their kids, but they couldn’t beat their husbands.

  “Is this for everyone?” one woman shouted. “Or just those who didn’t add to the wards? I couldn’t do that. I can now, if that helps.”

  Paige didn’t understand the reasoning behind that. Did the woman want the freedom to beat her husband or kid?

  No. That woman down there was an American who prided herself on not having her freedoms stripped, and unfortunately, they lived in a time when more and more of those freedoms were lost in order to protect the growing public.

  “Are you trying to force your moral intentions on us?” another man yelled.

  “No.” Her voice didn’t carry far over the growing din of voices.

  With Suzanne’s help, they did manage to get everyone calmed down.

  A woman stepped up and volunteered to take down the names of all the people who wanted to add themselves to the wards, people who’d opted not to before. “Willow Matthews,” she said, introducing herself during a small break in the crowd. “I want to offer myself as your personal assistant.”

  Paige wasn’t going to say she didn’t need one, but she’d never had anyone come up to her and just volunteer to be hired either. “I’m not sure I’m looking.”

  “You are,” Willow said, her eyebrows high as she turned back to the crowd. She fished something out of her pocket and handed it to Paige. “That’s my contact information. I’ll get these names to you after everyone leaves.”

  Paige didn’t even have a chance to say thanks or okay or bye. Willow just met the people and bought Paige some space.

  Paige tried talking to Dexx afterward, but the crowd swelled in around Willow, asking questions and pushing Dexx away. Her first instinct was to push them back so she could have some of her space. Instead, she texted Dexx and listened to the people around her.

  This was her new job. She just hoped she figured out what to do with it soon.

  Retirees who couldn’t move to a safer place because they couldn’t afford to and had no one to take them were worried they were now in the war zone. They had an entire retirement community she’d never known about. And they were all gloriously human. Not a lick of magick in them. They wanted their medications—which they each had a laundry list of—and internet. Not so they could do a lot on it, but so they could video call. And they wanted the cable TV turned back on so they could watch the news. It was the only way they could keep their finger on the pulse.

  And a lot of them loved the more biased cable news stations. A few even knew that it was false reporting, but it was like watching a soap opera called News, and they loved that. It made them feel like they were part of the action.

  She was letting the irritation of Dexx not texting her back get the better of her. So, she texted him a long string of grenade emojis to get his attention.

  At the house with the twins, he finally texted back.

  There were no emojis. Yeah. The man was still mad.

  She found Willow as the crowd dwindled. “I need to get home.”

  Willow nodded, her dark, curly hair pulled back in a full braid. She handed Paige a few pages out of her notebook, her dark skin a little ashy around the knuckles. “Here’s the list of who would like to add themselves to the trees.”

  That was just a weird statement. “I’ll show someone what to do and have them…” This was weird. Who was she going to get to do this? Leah. She’d get Leah to do this. “Should I have my daughter just call you when she’s ready?”

  Willow nodded. “There are other things they had concerns about too,” she offered.

  Maybe Paige did need an assistant. “Organize them so we can attack them better.”

  “I’ll offer a few solutions, too, if you think that would help.”

  “I would.” Someone offering solutions? What a treat. “And go see Leslie about your hands and drink water.”

  Willow frowned.

  “Your knuckles.” Paige searched the crowd for any of her family. “Your skin looks like it hurts right now.”

  “Yeah, well.” Willow shrugged and turned away. “Call me.”

  Paige would. She really, really would. That woman might be the answer to a wish she hadn’t even known to ask for.

  She couldn’t spot any of her family still there. If she left a kid behind, she’d have to go find them again later or hope that they could make their own way. This was going to add a whole new element to their already crazy family life.

  She found Dexx at the house like he’d said. The twins were both sleeping, and Dexx was absolutely silent. No jokes. No attempts to make the situation lighter.

  Which only made it worse.

  She went up to Dexx, trying to kiss him.

  He accepted her lips. He didn’t give his in return.

  Ouch. “I’m sorry, Dexx. I just can’t leave them behind.”

  He nodded, his lips pursed and quirked down.

  She could almost hear his words as if he’d spoken them out loud. She’d gone into dangerous situations when she’d been pregnant, but she’d always left the kids at home where they were safe.

  Except they weren’t always safer at home away from her protection. “Do you remember the time DoDO came and shot up the house, not even knowing where the kids were?”

  He gave her a cold stare. “Do you remember how I handled that situation?”

  “Do you remember the time you invited our enemy to a BBQ and he nearly killed us?”

  His gaze dropped a few chilly degrees. “He didn’t even come close.”

  No. That’d been later, like the next day. “They’re in danger no matter where they are because they’re our kids.”

  “Yeah.” He finally looked at her, stabbing her soul with those brilliant green eyes, his lips so temptingly close to hers. “Our kids. But I never purposely tossed them into the lion’s cage.”

  “Hey, Mom,” Leah said as she bounced down the stairs. “I’m packed.”

  Dexx’s hackles rose. Technically, Leah wasn’t his daughter, but he treated her like she was and that mattered more. “Veto. Put your stuff away.” He more growled than spoke.

  She knew he was right. She was being irrational but saying that mind-loud wasn’t enough. She had to teach Leah the ways of the world because she was going to be an adult before any of them were ready. And Paige wasn’t leaving the two lives she’d just spat out into the world for a few days.

  Leah froze, not sure who to listen to, her blue eyes flicking from one parent to the other.

  Dexx shook his head, seeing the answer on her face. “And Bobby?”

  That was their other adopted son, a little older than the twins. “Staying.” But only because the Whiskey wards truly were the only thing protecting him from the angels and demons hunting him. Well, and the fact that the Heaven and Hell gates were almost impossible to open now. D.C. was not a safe place for their prophet child.

  “Why? Because he’s the one you don’t care as much about?”

  Oh, spicy. “Because I only have two arms.”

  “Leah brings another two.”

  “Those are the two I was talking about.” He needed to understand that she wasn’t stupid. The mother in her just wasn’t allowing her to consider leaving her babies behind. That
was all. And, besides, she didn’t care who she was talking to—their little hearts would melt at the sight of babies. And their babies were adorable.

  Did it make her better or worse to take them as political weapons versus taking them because her inner mother refused to leave them behind? She couldn’t tell.

  But she had a terrible feeling in her gut. It might be that she had to poop. Her hormones were still wildly out of whack. She knew things weren’t going to be good. She just hoped she could figure it out.

  He licked his lips and gave her a hug, his body stiff with anger still. “I love you.”

  She hugged him back with everything she had. It was all she could do. “I know.”

  “I hate you.” He pulled back, shaking his head.

  “I know.” She cupped his big, brick head in her hands and stabbed as much love as she could into his green eyes. “I love you… so damned much. Please know that.”

  He flicked a blond eyebrow and stepped back. “I’ll get the twins ready to go.”

  Merry and Eldora showed up not long afterward. The babies were strapped in their car seats. The diaper bag was fully loaded. Paige’s computer was ready, along with her go bag—a backpack she had at the ready for when she had to leave on unexpected trips.

  Dexx hugged Leah tight and whispered something in her ear. She whispered something back and hugged him harder.

  Eldora cut a door open, a dark void staring back at them.

  Dexx refused to look at Paige as they stepped through the door.

  Damn! That was like a knife to the soul. “How did the supply run go?” Paige asked Eldora in order to get her mind back to the matters at hand.

  “Well.” Eldora held out a silver coin that had what looked like a family crest on one side and a pentacle on the other. “Take this. When you’re ready to come back, we’ll get you out. Do not open your own door until you’ve been trained.”

  Paige took the coin and shoved it into her pocket. “Thanks.”

  Eldora handed one to Leah as well.

  Merry took Ember from Leah. “I’m not getting your bags,” she told the teen.