Page 34 of Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
“Sorry we’re late. The traffic at this time of day is insane!” Allie and Christian appeared at the door. “I don’t know why I expected there to be no traffic jams in London, but it seems like that’s all we encountered.”
“And yet, you wish to stay here for four months,” Christian told her. “Now you see why I say it is better to remain at home, where we can travel without putting up with such strife.”
“I love London,” Aisling and I both said at the same time.
“So do I, and next time, we’ll take the tube,” Allie told us as Christian and she settled onto the love seat opposite Aisling’s. “What have we missed? Is Parisi here safe and sound? Did she have any helpful information? Does she think Jim’s father can tackle the thane?”
“Not a lot, yes, not really, and she doesn’t really seem to have an opinion on it,” Aisling answered, fussing with a laptop that she placed on a sleek ebony stand against the wall, spinning it around so that it faced us all. “Right, this should be set to auto-accept people as they sign in for our meeting. We can chat until everyone is present.”
“Has there been any news on the thane?” Gabriel asked Christian.
“Very little,” Christian answered, his brows pulling together in a straight slash. “We have several Dark Ones hunting for him, but since we don’t know what part of the world he emerged into, it’s been difficult finding news of him. Our Horsemen have split up to lead teams of searchers throughout the continents.”
“Horsemen?” Aisling asked.
“They are kind of an elite police force for the vampires,” Allie answered. “They were originally four—and yes, they named themselves after the fabled horsemen of the apocalypse—but now there are five of them.”
“Finch has been handling research from his end, and I’m sure will update us with any news he—ah. There he is.”
“We are here, indeed,” Finch’s face popped into view on the screen, accompanied by his wife, Tatiana. “And I’m afraid if you are counting on us for information, we are sadly lacking in anything but the barest of scraps.”
“Finch tried to get any details he could from the other three thanes, not that Deacon—or rather, Cadell—is being cooperative, but the other two simply refuse to talk to him.”
“They claim I am one of the reasons they tried to destroy Abaddon, which is simply nonsensical, since it was their actions that resulted in them being cursed into the first Dark Ones, but they refuse to admit that,” Finch said with a thinning of his lips.
“They are generally being asshats,” Tatiana said with a decidedly glum air. “I think they’re being stubborn on purpose. I know Deacon is. But how we are supposed to get any information from them is beyond us. You can’t torture someone who’s already dead.”
Finch shot her a look.
“Not that we’d torture anyone,” Tatiana added with a wide smile. “We’re so totally not that sort of a lord and lady of the Hour. Although I wouldn’t mind getting Deacon alone in a room with a couple of Tasers and a nice solid length of a rubber hose.”
Silence fell at that pronouncement, a silence that was almost pregnant in unspoken thoughts.
“Yes, well, that goes without saying,” Finch said smoothly. “What news do you have of the demon dog’s mother?”
“She’s upstairs enjoying unthrottled Internet access,” Aisling answered. “Evidently it’s a bit spotty in the Beyond, so she has a hard time streaming. I believe she said she was going to binge all seasons of Lucifer until she was needed.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about my mom having the hots for a demon lord—wait ...” Jim’s face scrunched up. “Never mind.”
“I know exactly how I feel about her wanting to binge Tom Ellis,” Aisling said. “Mmrowr.”
“I second that mmrowr,” Allie said, then giggled when Christian shot her an outraged look.
“Thirded,” I said, leaning into Gabriel, my fingers drawing a ward on his leg. “Not that I need eye candy when Gabriel is around, but it was a good show.”
“Fourthed, not that it’s needed, and stop it, Finch. You just got done telling me how much you admired Mary Berry’s ability with pastry, so you can’t yell in my head about me liking Tom Ellis’s acting.”
Tatiana’s lips twitched a few times as Finch protested, “I did not yell in your head. I simply pointed out that Beloveds are supposed to put their Dark One first and foremost in their thoughts.”
“Which I have done, currently do, and will continue to do,” she answered, pressing a kiss into his cheek. “You know full well I’m insanely in love with you.”
He looked mollified, and evidently was also doing the mind-talking thing, because she stifled a couple of laughs.
“—really going to have to control it, because if I have to explain to the man at the hardware store why we need four more fire extinguishers, I will go stark, staring mad. Brom! I’m not done speaking with—by the rood, that boy is going to be the death of me. Oh, hello, everyone. Baltic! The video call has started. Would you mind putting out the chair in the corner? Brom got too close to it when he was having his hissy fit.” Ysolde, who had been looking to the side, ignored a small child as he raced around the couch upon which she was seated. “Sorry for the chaos, everyone. Brom is evidently upset by something to do with you-know-who and is especially fiery of late. Also, Pavel and Holland and their baby have gone away for a long weekend break, since things have been dramatic here at Dragonwood, so Anduin is running amok. Here, lovey ... you can play dragons and knights, and gut the evil Saint George. Oh! We have news! Baltic found his missing older brother.”
“That is good news,” Aisling said. “Was he lost, or just on his own doing Firstborn things?”
“Sounds like a bit of both,” Ysolde said, glancing at Baltic as he took a seat next to her. He nodded at the men present. They all responded in kind. “I gather he was a bit overwhelmed at being out of whatever purgatory he’d placed himself. He’s in the southwest US right now.”
