Page 48 of Destined for Eternity
The woman was relentless. “Fine, but no lingering afterward. I want to make a quick getaway once it’s over.”
Melena smiled triumphantly. “Great, we can certainly do that. Oh, and there’s Emily’s graduation as well. You got the invitation in the mail, right?”
“Oh, yeah.” Cori smacked herself in the forehead. “I got that weeks ago and forgot all about it.”
Dang pregnancy brain. The teenager had only been talking about it non-stop for months, so how could she have forgotten? With some pressing from Melena and Lucas, Emily had agreed to stay in Fairbanks for college for the first two years before transferring elsewhere—the future university to be determined once she chose a major. She was excited and planning to stay in the dorms on campus since she wanted some independence from her family.
“When is it again?” Cori asked.
“On the 17th.”
That was two weeks away and somewhat close to her baby’s due date. “I’ll try to make it.” She rubbed her belly. “Barring any complications from this one.”
Melena smiled. “That is the one excuse we’ll totally understand.”
The teenager in question came bursting through the shop door. She wore a pair of denim skinny jeans, a purple t-shirt, and black boots. The girl had far too much make-up on with her eyes lined especially dark, but that was her latest look. At least she left her shoulder-length brown hair simple and hanging free. “Oh, good, Mel. You’re here!”
“What’s wrong?” The sensor turned to her adopted daughter, suspicion in her gaze. “Why aren’t you in school?”
Emily’s cheeks were flushed and eyes filled with anger. “Some of the kids and parents started a protest. It’s getting ugly.”
“Over what?” Cori and Melena asked at the same time.
“They don’t want supernatural kids going to my school anymore.”
Ginny stiffened. “What about the elementary school? Is there a problem there, too?”
“That’s why I came here first.” She turned toward the pixie. “You might want to go get your girls right now. There isn’t anything going on at their elementary school yet, but the protests are spreading across the district.”
“Sorry, I gotta go.” Ginny grabbed her purse and rushed out of the shop.
Cori shook her head, sorry for the pixie having to go through this again after fleeing it in Oklahoma. “Why are they starting this now?”
“The demons,” Melena replied. “All the stunts they’re pulling across the country are getting worse, and we’re still not allowed to tell people who the real culprits are, so everyone thinks sups are doing it.”
“Do you think it would matter if they knew?” Cori asked.
The sensor shrugged. “They might appreciate us more if they were aware we can at least fight back against the demons to protect people.”
“I swear this is never going to end,” Cori muttered.
“You probably shouldn’t open today.” Melena glanced toward the shop door. “Once these sort of things start, they tend to spread.”
Normally, Cori would be defiant and keep her place open, but pregnancy had changed the way she operated. Plus, Ginny would be gone the rest of the day, and Asher was off work until next week to spend time with his new baby. His girlfriend had given birth to their little boy at the end of April. No way could Cori run this place alone, especially since the baby’s kicks had grown so hard that she didn’t do much tattoo work anymore. The only exception was her vampire project, but she’d just failed the third attempt yesterday with another one burning in the sun. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with the design. It was just tough working on vamps who deserved to die anyway for hurting humans, so her heart wasn’t in it.
“Okay, yeah. I’ll close up the shop,” she said.
Melena got on her cell phone to call work. “I’m going to be a little late coming in, but I’ll be there soon.”
Cori overheard the sensor’s boss argue they had a lot to do with the protests going around town. “I’ve got a pregnant friend who needs an escort home. Everything else can wait.”
He started to argue that someone else could do it, but Melena hung up on him.
Cori laughed—the first time she’d done that in days. “It’s amazing he puts up with you.”
“He doesn’t have a choice.” The sensor grinned. “No one can handle the job better than me, and he knows it.”
Most people who worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s supernatural branch were human. While they’d learned a lot since forming a couple of years ago, Melena was a true asset for them since she’d had her whole life to gain experience and make contacts. Plus, her sensor skills came in handy more often than not.
Cori hurried to get her stuff and lock up the shop. As she pulled the keys from the door, she turned to her friend. “Follow me? I don’t want to leave my car.”
“Yeah, that works,” Melena said.
They were on their way a few minutes later. Their vehicles passed by one of the schools on the way out of Fairbanks, and it was chaos. Hundreds of people stood on the lawn with signs, protesting that supernaturals and humans shouldn’t attend classes together. She caught a glimpse of a fight between several men at the edge of the crowd, noting one of them had the brown aura of a werewolf.
He was facing two human men at once. They kept punching him, but she noted he only used defensive moves and tried not to hurt his attackers. Cori gripped the wheel hard. Under any other circumstances, she might have pulled over and stepped into the fray, but she couldn’t now. She could only hope the werewolf got out of there without getting too badly injured. He was blocking punches as best he could, but it wasn’t easy against two big men. His nose was bloody and his lip busted already.
Someday, her child would have to go to school, and Cori didn’t want to be worrying about him or her being accepted there just because they were different. Why couldn’t adults keep their bickering amongst each other and leave the kids out of it? Except at the beginning when sups first came out, there had been few problems between them and humans in their town. Those incidents that did happen were minor fights that were easily resolved. She prayed the protests didn’t get worse or spread to the businesses. Fairbanks had been her home for most of her life, and she just wanted to live there in peace.
