Mortal Sins

TWENTY-THREE

THE man on the porch had eyes the unlikely blue of the Aegean Sea. His hair was cinnamon and spice, his features a marvel of symmetry, with the sensual mouth balanced by a jaw firm enough to keep all that beauty from leaning toward the feminine. As for his body . . . well, most women would agree it deserved an hour or two of study, like any work of art.

Of course, the perfect jaw was stubbled, the spicy hair hadn’t been combed, and the flawless body was clad in jeans worn to threads in spots and a T-shirt that supported people’s right to arm bears. His athletic shoes were almost new, however—and muddy. No socks.

He hadn’t worn socks on his wedding day, either. Or shoes. Or a shirt.

The ocean eyes were amused. “Hello, love. If you’re not going to shoot me today, would you mind putting your gun away?”

Lily slid her weapon back in place without apologizing and stepped aside. “Good to see you, too. Louise, this is Cullen Seabourne. Cullen, this is—”

“Cullen’s here!” Toby cried. “Hey, Dad, Cullen’s here!” The thud of running feet proved that not all lupi moved as quietly as drifting snow. Toby darted around Grammy and Lily to hurl himself at the scruffy demigod on the porch.

Cullen caught him and swung him up to ride on his shoulders. “You’ve grown again. Just keep doing that, don’t you?”

Toby grinned. “It’s my habit. I like growing. Maybe I’ll be taller than you when I’m finished. Did you bring Cynna?” He peered around, as if Cullen might have stashed Cynna someplace close by. “Where’s Cynna?”

“In San Diego by now, if her flight wasn’t delayed.”

Toby twisted to say seriously to his grandmother, “Cynna’s cool. She’s having Cullen’s baby in a couple or three months—I forget when, exactly. She an’ Cullen went to Edge, then when they came back they got married, only I couldn’t go to the wedding, so I missed seeing the dragon. Some people in the clans are mad about him getting married, but I’m not. Dad’s not, either, but Cullen says Dad’s jealous ’cause he’d like to get married to Lily, too, only he can’t because he’s Lu Nuncio and all, but I don’t—hey!”

Cullen had turned Toby upside down and was holding him by the ankles, shaking him gently. “Way too much information, short stuff.”

Toby giggled and tried to climb up his own body to right himself.

“I see.” Louise’s response, delivered in a faint voice, said she didn’t see at all. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Seabourne. Rule told me you were coming, but in all the confusion I’d quite forgotten. Do come in.”

“Take off those shoes first,” Lily said. “Did you walk here in the rain or something?”

Cullen glanced down at his shoes as if he’d forgotten he was wearing them. “Hmm. No, I made a stop along the way. Down, sport,” he said, depositing Toby on the porch. He bent to untie his shoes.

“We’re gonna go run, then kick the ball around some,” Toby said excitedly. “Maybe Justin and Talia can come, too. They’re my friends. Maybe you can come with us.”

Cullen glanced up from wet, knotted shoestrings, smiling. “Not right away, I’m afraid. I need to talk to your father about some clan business, and I suspect Lily means to snag me for some assistance with her case.”

“Now?” Toby’s face fell. He looked at his father. “Do you have to do clan business now?”

Rule hesitated only a second. “It can wait until after lunch,” he said as easily as if he weren’t desperate to hear what Cullen had flown here to tell him. “But I don’t think Lily can postpone her business as easily as I can. We’d better let her have first shot at him.”

“Hey,” Cullen said. “No shooting.”

That made Toby giggle.

“Go,” Rule said. “Call your friends, see if they can join us. Whether they can or not, we’re headed for the park. Oh, and bring me my shoes, please.”

“Okay.” Toby took off for the stairs.

Cullen gave Rule a thoughtful glance. “You don’t mind waiting on our business?”

There was a longish pause, and Lily saw Rule’s lips quiver once, ever so slightly, before he said, “He needs to run.”

That telltale quiver meant he’d been subvocalizing. It was the way lupi communicated when they didn’t want others to hear, speaking softer than a whisper without moving their lips. For a brief period several months ago, Lily had been able to hear subvocalizations, too, but it hadn’t lasted. The mate bond giveth and the mate bond taketh away. Capriciously.

Rule smiled at Louise. “I’ll order pizza for lunch. If Toby’s friends wish to join us—”

“By all means,” Louise said. “Justin and Talia are always welcome.”

Cullen had finally gotten his shoes off. He set them neatly beside the door and padded inside barefoot. “Mrs. Asteglio.” He gave her the kind of smile guaranteed to melt anyone equipped with a double-X set of chromosomes. “I’m glad to have this chance to meet you.”

Louise pinked up again. “It’s my pleasure. You’re quite a favorite of Toby’s, you know. Do come sit down and let me know what I can get you. There’s some carrot cake left, and I can put on some coffee. Or would you prefer iced tea? It will take a few minutes to brew, but I refuse to use that nasty instant.”

“I never turn down cake, with or without tea. However . . .” He sent Lily a glance. “I’m afraid I have to be terribly rude and speak privately with Lily about her case first.”

“Of course. I’ll get the tea started.”

“In here,” Lily said to Cullen, gesturing at the living room. Louise wouldn’t intentionally eavesdrop, but the open arrangement of den and kitchen would make it hard not to overhear.

Rule put a hand on her arm and spoke quietly. “Cullen called me from the airport. I told him about the situation with Alicia and about Talia’s ghosts.”

She glanced at Cullen. “Did you—”

She was stopped by the herd of elephants on the stairs combined with Toby hollering out the great news that his friends would join them at the park, and here were his dad’s shoes, and could they go now?

Rule thanked him, slipped on the shoes and tied them, and looked at Lily. “You can have Cullen until lunch. I need him back then.” He said that lightly enough, but she had some idea of what it cost him to wait.

Lily put her hand on his cheek, rubbing the freshly shaved skin with her thumb. “Until lunch.”

He bent and gave her a quick, hard kiss. A moment later the door closed behind him and Toby, and Lily clicked back into cop mode. She looked at Cullen, who was no longer smiling. Somehow that confirmed what she’d suspected. “You have something for me.”

“I think so. I’ll need to see the last man who was possessed—he’s in the hospital, right?—and his house.”

“Hodge is getting his pacemaker replaced this morning, so that’ll have to wait, but I can get you into his house. It’s on the corner.” She pulled out her phone. “Go eat cake and flirt with Louise. I’m going to rearrange my morning.” She’d take Brown’s advice and delegate.

FOR once Cullen did as he was told. They left Louise smiling and telling him to be sure to join the rest of them for dinner that night. “Come at six thirty. We’ll eat around seven.”

Cullen thanked her and accepted before Lily could find a subtle way to warn him about the undertow he’d be wading into. Not that Cullen minded a little conflict, armed or otherwise.

Stepping outside was like walking into the bathroom after someone had taken a hot shower. The brief spat of rain hadn’t done much to clear the air of either heat or humidity. “That invitation you just accepted,” she said quietly to Cullen. “Alicia and her new husband are coming to dinner. He’s vegan, so it will be meatless.”

“I’d better eat well earlier, then,” he said. “Wouldn’t miss this chance to meet the new hubby. Alicia’s never shown an interest in day-to-day parenting—swooping in for the occasional weekend suited her fine, I’d say. I’m wondering if this sudden uptick in motherliness is due to him. Perhaps it’s his idea entirely.”

That seemed possible. “Did you bring any real clothes? Louise will be insulted if you show up in that T-shirt.”

He glanced down at her, amused. “Really, Lily, you don’t have to explain women’s expectations to me. I could demonstrate, if you wish, what I know about female . . . expectations.” He lingered on the last word with just the right hint of lasciviousness.

She knew he did that to annoy her. And dammit, it worked. “Tacky, Cullen.”

“No, it would be tacky if I groped you. I can’t flirt with most women anymore. They have a lamentable tendency to hope I mean it. And since I’m fast enough to dodge if you decide to belt me, I . . . Hold on a minute.” He interrupted himself as they reached his rental car. “I need to get something.”

“Cullen.” She chewed it over with her conscience while he opened the car door and delved inside. It was okay to ask, she decided. “What are you going to tell Rule about Toby?”

“Can’t tell you.”

She stiffened. “I know he deserves to learn it first, but he’s not here and I’m involved, too.”

“I meant exactly what I said,” he explained—patiently, for him, since he snapped out the words without burning anything. He straightened, holding a small brown paper bag in one hand and his backpack in the other, and slammed the car door. “I can’t tell you. I’m not supposed to tell Rule, either, but I will—if he promises not to repeat it to his father.”

She blinked. “You want him to keep secrets from his Rho? Is that allowed?”

“Of course not. Tell me about these ghosts the little girl has seen. Rule said they screamed at her.”

“That’s the way Talia put it.” They fell into step together, heading for Hodge’s house. “The screaming is distressing or painful for her. What’s in the bag?”

“Grave dirt. She said the other ghosts were frightened?”

“Yes—at least, her main contact among them told her that. The one she calls the tall man. What in the world do you need grave dirt for?”

“A spell. Like I said, I stopped off on the way here. And let me tell you, it was not easy to find dry grave dirt. This child—Talia—said the ghosts call him a ghost-maker?”

“Yes.”

He frowned. “I need to talk to her.”

“If Rule’s able to bring them back to Mrs. Asteglio’s for pizza, you’ll have a chance to do that. Though I don’t know that the parents will agree. They’re not fans of lupi, from what the kids said last night.”

“Oh, Rule will probably talk to them himself. I told him I need to see the girl. Not only will he sound utterly trustworthy—”

“He is utterly trustworthy.”

“Which makes it easier for him,” Cullen agreed cheerfully. “I have to work much harder at it, and usually have to settle for appearing harmless. No one mistakes Rule for harmless, but he has that whole prince-of-my-people thing going for him.”

True. “Cullen, Talia said Toby keeps the ghosts away. Rule had never heard of ghosts being repelled by lupi.”

“Oh, that.” He tossed one hand, flinging away a foolish notion. “No, they aren’t repelled by us, but our innate magic suppresses the type of magic used by mediums. I’m not sure of the mechanism, but the Etorri Rhej . . .” He glanced at her, smiling. “You’ve met her.”

“Oh, yes.” Lily smiled in spite of herself, thinking of that wedding.

“She says the effect is heavily localized. She has to move only a few feet away from one of us for her Gift to function. Of course, she’s an extremely strong medium, so Talia’s Gift may be tamped down at a greater distance. But that’s what the girl is experiencing—a dampening of her Gift, not a repulsion of ghosts.”

A repulsion of ghosts. Was that like a gaggle of geese or an exaltation of larks? Lily noticed that her smile had lingered. Funny how Cullen could have that effect when he wasn’t making her want to punch him. “Is there any way you can make a shield for her, or something along those lines? I’m worried about those mind-ripping screams.”

“A shield, no. I haven’t deciphered the ones I was given enough to re-create them. But didn’t you say the sheriff here has a spell that damps down his Gift?”

“I don’t know if he’ll share it. He doesn’t want anyone to know about his Gift, so he won’t be happy I told you. Can ghosts do real damage to Talia?”

“Normally, no.” Cullen turned grim. “But these aren’t normal ghosts.”

“I seldom hear ‘normal’ and ‘ghosts’ used together. What’s different with these?”

“You’re going to have to wait until I confirm something. Is that the house?”

“Yes. You see something funny about it?” Cullen was like her, in a way. She touched magic. He saw it.

He gave a noncommittal hum and strode for the front door.

“Let me get the key.” She dug into her purse.

“Not necessary.” He wiggled his fingers at the knob—reached for it, turned it, and opened the door.

She huffed out a breath. “You did that to annoy me.”

“Certainly, but I also hate to pass up a chance to show off. No, don’t come in. Stay on the threshold for now. You don’t soak up magic like a dragon would, but you might have an effect on a spell this delicate.”

Startled, she stopped. “You think I can affect spells?”

“Undetermined,” he murmured, kneeling in the center of the living room with his little bag of dirt. He pulled a candle stub out of his backpack. “But possible, especially with spells that depend more on finesse than power. I’d like to do some tests, but . . .” He sighed as he drew out a square sheet of brown paper covered with arcane symbols, spreading it on the floor in front of him. “Not the time for that, is it? There’s never enough time.”

“You aren’t setting a circle.”

“Circles keep things out or in. That’s not the goal here.” He placed the candle stub dead center on the paper, frowned, and moved it an imperceptible fraction closer. “Now hush.”

She hushed. He began chanting, his voice soft, the words utterly alien. It was only a few phrases, she realized, repeated over and over. He did that awhile, then waved at the candle stub. It lit.

Still chanting quietly, he dug into the bag, then held his fist over the candle flame and cried out sharply. “Ka!”

He flung the dirt up. The candle flame sputtered—and sprinkled itself over the paper like burning dust. And the dirt he’d tossed hung, suspended, in the air. As Lily stared, it began moving, churning in a slow circle, as if stirred by an invisible finger.

Then it exploded in a single, soundless burst.

So did the bits of fire.

“Holy hell.” Cullen sat back on his heels. “It worked.”