courtly about this thing between them. Though he wanted her, all of her, they’d been taking it very slow and it seemed to suit them both.
The sexual tension banked, getting hotter, and when it finally did happen, he knew it would be worth it.
He leaned in to kiss her, grabbing her bottom lip between his teeth a moment as he pulled back. In the corner of his vision he caught sight of his mother coming out onto the porch and waving.
“My mom knows we’re here. Just yell for me if I’m not near and you need saving from the crazy.” He squeezed her hand before he got out to take her inside.
The place was wall-to-wall Satos from his eight-month-old niece to his grandfather. And every one of them went out of their way to make Delilah feel welcome. He hadn’t really worried that they wouldn’t. She was pretty fabulous and they’d know he wouldn’t have brought anyone to an event this important if he didn’t really like her. But it was a good thing to see, as well as the way Delilah interacted with them. Open. Smiling. Joking. Asking questions and actively listening to answers.
“Stop watching her like you’re worried we’re going to ask her to change into a werewolf at the dinner table or something.”
He turned to his sister, who grinned at him like a fool.
“Quiet you. I’m not worried like that. I just want her to feel comfortable.”
His sister Suzanne laughed at that. “Wrong family event. Dad’s already tipsy, Grandma’s all high with babies and having a full house. Delilah’s getting the full brunt of us. If she survives and takes your call tomorrow, you’ll know it’s meant to be. She’s gorgeous, by the way. And I saw her speak a few days ago at a press conference. She’s sharp. Needs to be, I wager, given the way things are right now. And really, to manage you too.”
“Hey. I’m easy.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are anything but easy, Toshio. I worry about you with all this insanity. Her too, now that I know her.”
He shrugged. “I wish I could say you were overreacting. But what else can I do, Suz? Huh? Shut up and let all this happen without speaking out?”
She shook her head. “No. You’re doing the right thing. We believe in the work you’re doing. I have to admit how shocked I am by what some people are saying. I guess I thought we were past that. You know, aside from the weirdos. But this isn’t just weirdos and fringe people.”
“No. It’s people I never thought would say such things. People who can look me in the eye and advocate for putting people in camps. Or worse. I’ve lost friends over this. I still do not believe it is the majority of humans, though. But for the Others, well hell, how much more should they have to lose? Delilah’s sister lost her business. They ran a dry cleaning service that worked out of the hotels in downtown Chicago. One by one they told her they’d found a new dry cleaner until she had no clients left. And that’s not even the people who’ve been physically attacked or killed. They need to be represented by their government, protected, and it’s not happening. I don’t think I’m doing enough. But I don’t know what else I can do.”
Suz took his hand and squeezed it. “You’ll do all you can because that’s who you are. And no one expects anything less. And now you have someone, and it’s probably not the most convenient time.” She snorted. “But love works that way, I guess.”
“I think it’s early for love. But I do like her a great deal and I have since I first met her. She makes me laugh and I can talk to her. I respect her and the job she does. It’s the big bright spot in my life right now. And I’m not above grabbing it with both hands and not letting go.”
“Good. Don’t let go, Tosh, because that’s rare enough you’d better cherish it.”
FAINE had been working in the conference room adjacent to Helena’s office for all of twenty minutes when The Gennessee came in and turned on the large television in the room. “Hayes is doing a press conference in five minutes.”
Faine sighed heavily. They knew it would be coming any day, but it had been three days of relative peace. No one they knew had been injured or killed. Helena slept at his side each night without bruises or stitches. It had been a good thing.
But that would fade, he was sure, after this statement Senator Hayes would make. So he braced himself.
The room filled quickly and Helena settled, her hip against his chair, attention on the screen.
“Meriel is watching in Seattle and we’ll patch in after this is over.” Rebecca was distracted and Faine understood it.
Hayes, flanked by Carlo Powers, PURITY’s leader, came onto the screen. “We’re here to start a dialogue on this issue. There will be no questions.”
“Someone needs to buy the man a dictionary and help him look up the word
“Over the last months, some Others have been cooperating with my office and with PURITY to help us uncover the true nature of the Others living in our midst. These creatures are not the kind souls they try to pretend to be. We’ve been given information by the Others themselves that has revealed a world you would all be sickened by.”
The press in the room began to shout questions and Senator Hayes just shook his head. “No questions. This is too serious for questions.”
“This human male is absurdly stupid.” Rebecca sniffed, clearly indignant.
“We have learned there are demons. You can all recall they denied the existence of demons in front of my committee in the United States Senate.”
Not true. Molly denied that Others called demons. Not that there were actual demons. But Hayes was on a tear, the light of a zealot in his eyes. Demons didn’t give a crap about humans or this plane of existence. They had their own world and their own complicated set of rules and organization. Earth was far too loosey-goosey, as his mother would say, for most demons. They liked order.
But he knew there was an ingrained fear of demons based on totally incorrect folklore about them. He understood that ingrained fear and that’s why the Others had kept the Veil and anything on the other side of it secret.
“These patriotic creatures exposed to my office a world of vice. Of evil so strong it made me sick to my stomach just to hear about it. Private armies in training to kill all humans. Bloodletting and Satanism. These creatures are not Americans. They are a threat to our very existence. And now the Others who’d been helping us have all disappeared.”
Helena lifted a shoulder and a surge of desire rushed through Faine at the sight. Mmm, vicious.
“It is imperative that we pass the Domestic Safety Act and as soon as possible. We must identify and place every last one of these abominations in secure facilities they can no longer harm humans. If we can’t do that safely, they need to be eradicated.”
The room, instead of getting loud, went very, very quiet. There was so much magick in the air that the hair on Faine’s arms stood.
“I will personally be taking this to the floor this coming week. I urge all Americans to call their senators and representatives to tell them to vote this bill into law so that we may deal with this threat as soon as possible. We have left this long enough. The Others are a threat we cannot overlook another moment. We will also be urging an investigation into the disappearances of the Others who had been helping us.”
He turned his attention to Carlo Powers. “Mr. Carlo Powers, a fine American and a guardian of our way of life, has a few words.”
Powers stood forward, sending a smarmy smile out over the room. “We’ve tried our hardest to turn the other cheek with these monsters. If you all recall, it was PURITY who began the first steps in uncloaking the so- called Others. Though it was only from the goodness of our hearts and the purest of motives, they decided right then to try to destroy us and any who got in their way. You saw the way their minion, Molly Ryan, stood up on camera and threatened all of humanity.
