Thesweltering heatwas barely above fifty-seven degrees. “Aunt Sophia, you are here.”
Lucifer took the scarf and wrapped it around his neck with a wink at Sophia. “Thank you for your kindness,” he said and then trotted down the steps and off my property.
Aunt Sophia blushed like a virgin schoolgirl. What was happening?
She gazed at me. “Are you going to let me in, or should I make my bed on the porch swing?”
I stepped back and allowed her entry. Aunt Liz was already out of her seat and rushing toward us. “Aunty,” she said, wrapping her in a hug.
Aunt Sophia squeezed her and then pushed her back. She poked me in my ribs and grunted.
“Ow,” I mumbled.
She eyeballed me and then Aunt Liz. “What have you been eating, you are both skin and bones?”
I assumed she meant we were underweight, which we weren’t, but Aunt Sophia solved problems with food, and I could get behind that strategy. My stomach rumbled in agreement.
She tutted. “Cabbage rolls.”
Dave groaned from farther in the room. “That sounds like my worst nightmare.”
Aunt Sophia poked her head around us and eyeballed the supernaturals in the parlor.
“My cabbage rolls are glorious.”
Dave didn’t look convinced. Hudson stood, and Aunt Sophia’s eyes widened as she took in the size of him.
“Is this him?” she asked, bumbling into the parlor.
She circled the sofa, eyeballing him from head to toe. “You could do better, but I see the appeal,” she said, eyes glued to his ass.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Aunt Sophia had no filter.
Hudson huffed a laugh.
Aunt Sophia turned to Rebecca. “Lovely to see you again, my dear.”
Rebecca offered her a smile and Aunt Sophia regarded Dave next. “You think you are good enough for my niece?”
He shook his head. “No, actually, I don’t, but I’m too selfish to let her go.”
She harrumphed. That was a positive noise, he might yet live to see another day. Lastly, she regarded Sebastian. She stepped toward him and squeezed his shoulder.
“All will be well, stay the course.”
My aunt was a powerful empath, and a little psychic. It was an erratic gift though, we couldn’t count on it to warn us of impending doom.
Sebastian’s composure slipped as she hit the mark. “Get my bags for me, dear,” she said to Dave.
Aunt Liz smothered a laugh behind her hand as Dave got up in a daze and went to retrieve her bags.
Maggie bounced into the room and offered him a key. “Room thirteen,” she said. Dave took the key and shoved it into his pocket before trudging up the stairs with a heavy suitcase and her knitting bag. Maggie then handed me the post. “For you.”
I flicked through the bills and groaned. Saving the world from my grandmother’s quest for domination was draining my time when I should be paying bills and doing my taxes. Another black card fell out from between the white and brown envelopes. I flicked it around. Still no address, no indication of who had delivered it, either. The words ‘Are you strong enough?’ sat in elegant scrawl on one side, and on the other, another line going in the opposite direction of the last, still at a forty-five degree angle. The magic felt a little stronger, and when I ran my thumb over the gold line, it shimmered.
“What’s that?” Aunt Liz asked.
I blinked and shoved the card in my jeans pocket. “Nothing, just a weird promotional thing.”
