Her mom was just on the other side of the courtyard, playing fetch with her hellhound, Maleficent, and it was tempting to see if she had a few minutes. But Scotty didn’t want to put her mother in an awkward position with her father by confiding something she’d have to swear to keep from him.
Maybe Dawn or Leilani was available.
She sent missives, but they were both busy. Which left Aleka as her next best choice.
Okay, she could work with that. Aleka already knew about Scotty’s idea to end her virginity, so the fact that she had wouldn’t be a surprise.Whohad ended it, however, might be. Scotty sent a message, and while she waited for a reply, she showered and scarfed down a plate of leftover spaghetti. Aleka replied as she was rinsing the plate.
I’m at the office. Come on by.I’ll let security know to expect you.
Figured. Aleka was always at work. In a way, Scotty got that. She loved her job. But Aleka’s job at the London Museum’s Centre for Demon Anthropology and Archaeology wasso tedious.
Scotty took the employee entrance to the building where Aleka worked, and as Scotty stepped inside her sister’s office, Aleka looked up from her desk.
“You look like hell.”
Scotty would have laughed if she wasn’t so exhausted. “It’s good to see you too.”
Aleka plopped a book that had to weigh twenty pounds on top of a stack next to her chair. “I was surprised to get your message. You don’t usually visit me in here.”
Scotty glanced around the dark, dreary space. “It’s creepy.”
“You fight demons in haunted houses, but myofficeis creepy?”
So creepy. “Everything in here is old. As in, ancient. You can just…feel the vibes. Gives me the willies.”
Aleka moved the delicate, steaming porcelain teacup she’d always treasured a little closer. “You are very strange, dear sister.”
“I’m the strange one? You’re the one who sits around in all this old crap all day.”
Aleka sighed and removed the tea bag from the cup. There was noEarl Grey, hotwith her. It was alwaysboring chamomile, tepid. If she was feeling adventurous, a mild green tea. “So, why are you here?”
“To the point. Cool.” Scotty took a seat across the desk from her sister. And then shoved aside a stack of books so she could see her. “I need some advice.”
One perfectly manicured, reddish-blond eyebrow arched. She and Leilani had standing monthlygirl daysfor manicures and whatever it was called when you had your eyebrows done. They’d invited Scotty a couple of times, but she was fine with her browsgoing feral, as they called it.
“Advice?” Aleka said. “From me?”
“Weird, right?”
“Yes.” Aleka didn’t miss a beat. “Is it about work?”
“Kind of.” She sank back in her chair and tried to figure out how to begin. She finally settled on starting at the beginning. “Last week, Ky sent us to Alaska to hunt a wendigo. While we were there—”
“A wendigo? Seriously?” Aleka sprang forward in her seat, practically panting with excitement. “Did you actually see it? Did you get pictures?”
“Yes, yes, and yes,” Scotty said. “But the images are of dead wendigos, and they’re gruesome. You’ll puke. Anyway, long story short, Blade and I got trapped together and had sex.”
Aleka’s eyes shot wide, and she sat there, stunned, before sinking back in her seat. “Um, okay. Wow. I guess you lost your virginity, after all.” She took a sip of the tea. “So, are you together, then?”
“It was a one-time thing to save his life,” Scotty said. “Nothing more.”
Aleka pondered that as she watched Scotty from over the rim ofher cup. “Does Mace know?”
“Yeah, and that’s the problem. He’s not handling it well. And Blade is being weird too.”
The cup made the tiniestclinkwhen Aleka set it on its matching saucer. She’d always been so freaking proper, and living in London had only made her waxed, stiff upper lip even stiffer. “You said this wassort ofabout work. I’m guessing the tension is affecting your job?”
One could say that.
