Chapter 13

It took another hour and several cups of tea for me to feel strong enough to hunt Mulan down. Both vehicles were still in her driveway so I knew she hadn’t run far this time. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be chasing her all over the property, either.

I patted my chest on my walk to her house and thanked the Dagda stone for its help. It buzzed against my fingers instead of answering me in words. I was just fine with that. We were learning to communicate, which didn’t mean always having to speak to each other.

Goddess, I wish I’d talked to it twenty years ago. It might have warned me about Jack.

If my dragon mage teacher had been around to witness what had happened, I think Zenos would have approved of my new Zen-like acceptance of my artifact. But there had been no sign of the dragon mage during all the chaos. Like Rasmus, Zenos had a habit of simply disappearing when the mood struck. Being irritated about that tendency in one male was all I could manage. I refused to do it with any male I wasn’t sleeping with... and Zenos was definitely in the latter category.

One day soon, I was going to not do it with Rasmus, either. I was going to teach myself not to care if he read books while I fought a demon. Or that he watched me get thrown at a wall without bothering to stick around and check on me after it was all over.

Maybe I needed to face the fact that he would never be the romantic hero who rescued me from myself. No, he was going to be someone who stood by and watched me make mistake after mistake without saying one damn thing to stop me.

But he’d certainly grill me later about why I did what I did and what I thought it meant—the stoic alien bastard. And that was how I saw him. He was a little green guy but he wasn’t human either. He wore a handsome human skin suit but repeatedly failed to convince me we were alike.

I found Mulan in her kitchen slumped over a cup of her calming tea. I let myself in and slid into a chair while I waited for her to acknowledge my presence.

“Do not look at me,” she ordered. “Look away from my shame.”

I rolled my eyes at the drama. “Cut it out. Ya stopped the demon, Mulan. I have a new statue in my foyer to prove it. So where’s the shame in that? Gale told me yer family begged ya not to end his treacherous life. They’re yer weak spot. Fiona and Ma are mine. I understand.”

Mulan shook her head. “I failed my family and failed you. I brought dangerous demon into your home.”

“Ya didn’t fail me, so let that go. The demon was mirroring me and I couldn’t make a fast enough decision about how to fight him. Ya need to stop talking about the past—we both do. Ya need to be thinking about what ya’re going to do once yer demon brother-in-law unfreezes. And I have a bigger problem. Zenos gleefully warned me that Ezra was going to unfreeze soon as well. Goddess knows, I can’t count on guardians or angels to freeze him back again. Rasmus barely put down his damn book when I got thrown at the wall.”

“I froze demon in place. Your guardian added his magick to mine. Rasmus said frozen state would last two days or maybe three. My family begs me to do nothing to harm old demon. I told them I was Wu Shaman. They say I am unfair and taunted me about Conn. I say at least Conn never tries to possess them. I say he bought back their property. Nothing I do ever pleases them.”

I paused arguing to nod. “Ya’re right. They’re unpleasable. I’ve seen that for myself.”

I leaned back in my chair and tried to see the situation from Mulan’s point of view. Ma and I often argued over things I did, but even when she disapproved, she was always there for me when I needed her. Love made ya tolerate things. I tolerated Jack because of love, even when I shouldn’t have. Similar to Mulan, I had been driven to be as good to my husband as possible.

But maybe Mulan’s parents didn’t actually love her. Or worse, maybe they loved that old demon more. I had a feeling they were using him just as much as the demon was using them.

Unfortunately, I had zero proof of my theory. I couldn’t understand a single word of what they said.

A cup of Mulan’s calming tea suddenly slid in front of me. I hadn’t even seen Mulan making it. Maybe I should have stayed on the couch in the foyer longer. Maybe I shouldn’t be here checking on her, but instead, resting up for the bigger fight that was coming.

Mulan was right. Any action she took about the old demon was going to seem like an action against her family’s wishes. Technically, no law said ya couldn’t allow yerself to be demon-possessed if ya wanted to be. The law only said that the demon had to restrain his inclinations to possess humans and make them slaves.

Any action I took toward the demon now was going to make Mulan’s family openly hate me but it might be worth it. I suspected they disliked me anyway. They whispered and glared whenever I was around. They had absolutely no awareness of their rudeness.

Goddess, they were the worst guests ever.

I’d think twice before offering to host a family of strangers next time. For sure, I wouldn’t be inviting Dylan’s disloyal parents here. He could book them into a hotel in Salem if they ever got over themselves enough to make amends with him. Maybe I’d invite them to dinner. Maybe. It would depend on how much groveling they did.

I broke the silence between us with gratitude. “Thanks for the tea, Mulan.”

“You are welcome.”

I watched as she carried her own cup to the sink and poured the cold liquid down the drain. I felt better when Mulan made herself a fresh cup and brought it back to the table to sit across from me again.

“Before this, my life was calm and yours was chaos. Now I bring chaos,” she said without meeting my gaze.

I grunted at her comment. “That’s not true and ya know it. Ya bring amazing and unique skills to our work. Plus, ya entertain me with crazy things like yer foolish determination to be the first human with a pet tiger cat. And I still refuse to be responsible if the demon wolves end up eating it.”

Mulan snorted at my warning, just as she always did. “I forgot to tell you. Troll sent note about tiger cat.”

I chuckled because I didn’t even know Bo could write. “Goddess, I love that troll. He’s trying so hard to be a good business partner to us. What did Bo’s note say?”

“Soon,” Mulan replied as she sipped her tea. “That was all. Just one word.”

I laughed at her dry response. “I doubt Bo knows either. It probably took him a whole day to come up with it. Bo is a live-only-in-the-moment kind of troll. But he always keeps his word. If he still has yer tiger cat, it’s because he wants it trained right before he returns it. He’s not very articulate in our language, but he really, really cares.”

“I know. Troll is like you,” Mulan said softly.

I nodded in agreement to her comment even if she thought the articulate part applied too. “Yes, I do care. Yer friendship fills a hole in me that was empty for many years. I wouldn’t trade having ya in my life for all the tea in China, Mulan.”

Mulan grunted. “That would be bad decision for you. China has best tea in world. It is worth many fortunes.”

I laughed. “I meant that I valued ya more than the money I could make selling the tea.”

Mulan grunted again. “I know. This is why I say you are bad businesswoman.”

I rubbed my temples. I loved the woman but sometimes she gave me a headache—or worsened the one I had. What I needed was to soak in a bath.

I wished Henry had gotten that sauna we talked about getting for the basement. A few minutes in a sauna and a nice soak in a hot tub sounded wonderful. Not that I could let down my guard to do those things right now, but it would have been nice to know they were available.

“I always forget how literal ya are. And I am not a bad businesswoman. I’m a cautious one who values her friends above money.”

“Yes. I suppose that makes you good friend.”

“Ya suppose?”I repeated in my snootiest voice. “What does that mean?”

It was her burst of laughter that clued me in that she was teasing me back.

“Well, I’m glad to see yer family hasn’t stolen yer sense of humor. It’s bad enough they emotionally hammer at yer dignity and ethics all the time.”

“Their hammers hurt and cause dents in ego, but they do not break me.”

“Thank the Goddess for that,” I declared as I drank my tea. “By the way... Gale says yer family’s demon has never regenerated. She’s apparently seen this situation before. Regeneration teaches demons about mortality and helps them realize they’re just as fragile as humans. Can ya force the old demon to regenerate?”

Mulan pondered it for a moment. “I can cut off a limb and give him reason to do so.”

Conn was right. She was more bloodthirsty around me.

“I could do too. All it would take is removing that sword hand of his,” I said as I softly chuckled. “When Conn is well, the matter may get settled for us. Gale said he was very upset.”

Mulan nodded. “He is upset with me. I am weak female to him now.”

“Did he say that to you?”

Mulan shrugged. “No, and I prefer not to hear it. I just know.”

No, no, no... I couldn’t—make that wouldn’t—do the whole brooding thing again. What kind of freaking animal form would Conn take on a property this size? That brooding nonsense she and Conn both did would not be happening again if I had any say.

“Don’t make too many plans for yer pity party, Wu Shaman. Conn isn’t mad at ya. He’s mad at himself for not believing me when I warned him about the demon. The only thing ya did was make him promise to be extra kind to a bunch of people who don’t deserve it. No, we’re all equally to blame for this mess. The moment Zenos told me that one of yer family was keeping a big secret I should have confronted all of ya with it.”

Mulan put her head in her hand. “I feel shame that refuses to go away. My family is selfish. I am weak for feeling sorry for them.”

“Shame goes away with the right action. Trust me, I’ve kicked myself enough for my mistakes to have learned that lesson. Yer demon situation is not over, Mulan. So please stop moping and start thinking instead about how we can force yer sister’s demon husband to do the one thing that might reform him.”

“If he regenerates for long time, my sister will die before him.”

“I know. He needs the shortest, most effective version. Conn can probably tell us what that is. Ya think the bastard would want to throw away his cane badly enough to volunteer to do it.”

Mulan looked at me. “How would Conn know what is best? He does not regenerate.”

I shook my head. “Yes, he does. He regenerates every day. It’s a silent, painless process for him. All he needs is a couple of hours of sleep. Magick does the rest.”

“I did not understand that. I thought he was exempt from normal demon life.”

“No, but he looks no older or younger. He says he is the same physical age now that he was when he signed the contract with The Dagda. His parents look that age as well. Henry and Gale plan their regenerations to keep themselves in their current conditions.”

“Conn has good family.”

“Yes, he does. I’m getting more attached to them every day. It worries me a little.”

“They like spoiling you. They like how you open your arms to strangers.”

I rubbed my nose to hide my smile as I carried my now-empty teacup to the sink. “Well, a woman has needs and Rasmus is about as strange as a lover gets.”

“I have demon lover. I make no joke about your man.”

I waved her statement away as I went to her door. “So does yer sister and look where that’s gotten her. Yer sister is close to being demon-possessed. But ya’re not. Conn’s method of possessing ya is far more ethical.”

Mulan giggled. “How do you know he possesses me?”

“Because Connlander loves to brag about being with ya.”

“About being with me?”Mulan asked with a squeak.

“Not like that. Conn likes you too much to tell tales. He just said it had been a very long time since he sincerely liked a woman as much as he did ya. He also mentioned that the two of ya were perfect in bed. I was jealous when he bragged about it, but now I understand. A perfect bed partner is a rare find. Liking someone outside the bedroom is a greater treasure.”

“Then I am rich woman,” Mulan said. “Thank you, Aran. You truly are good friend.”

I put a hand on my chest and sighed dramatically as I left a laughing Mulan.