“That’s awesome of you.”
“Not a problem at all. I want them stopped; I’ve seen too much pain.”
Sophie and Luuk lived below the radar. They both repaired antiques for a living, as well as Sophie having her nanny and tutor gig with us. Not many people knew she was a witch, and she didn’t do much with her magic. For her lifestyle, there was no need.
She also had a love of fantasy books, like me.
“Anyway, how’s Dragon Queen going?” I’d lent it to her after being blown away by the epic saga—set to be eight books when the author was done.
“Marvelous,” she said. “I love the princess. I’ve never laughed so much.”
“Yeah, she cracks me up. I do love that elf, though. He’s a fucking riot.”
She chuckled. “I’ve just read the moment when he was caught stealing the bread.”
“Ohmygod! I nearly choked on my tea!”
“Me too!”
“Glad you’re enjoying.”
“I cannot wait for her to usurp her step-mother,” Sophie added. “She’s awful.”
“Yep. Now, I’m keeping my lips zipped.”
“No spoilers!”
I laughed as I heard a motorbike approach, then the engine cut. A few moments later, the front door opened.
Dean entered the living room, keys jangling in his hands.
“Hallo, Papa.”
“Hallo, darling.”
Lou was too busy being engrossed in her toys to go for hugs.
“Hi, Sophie,” Dean said.
“Hallo. Cold, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say.” He looked at me, shadows passing across his already dark eyes. “Can I talk to you, Jake? In private.”
“Yeah. Excuse us a minute, Soph.”
I followed Dean into the kitchen. “Look, I—”
“Don’t, Jake. I’m not pissed off with you. Not at all.”
“You sure? I mean, you can be, but then you’d have to get over it.”
He smiled. “You love being right too much.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do. Anyway, we need to be out in the streets later, see if we can find anything.”
Here came the spanner in the works.
Oh, balls!
“It’s our job, Jake.”
Fuck our job and all that we were charged to do! I didn’t say that to him, though he could probably guess I was thinking it. “Now it’s your turn to bask in the being right.”
“I don’t want to be,” he said, “but here we are.”
I knew this was coming, ignoring it until this moment. As a PIA, I had to be out in the thick of things, not hiding indoors while the perp carried on doing its thing. Another life could be lost. I had to play my part.
The struggle to balance family life with duty was so bloody real.
“Where do we start? And why later? Why not right now?”
“I need to speak to Mr. Visser,” Dean answered. “I’m going to question him before we hit the streets.”
“I’m coming too.”
“What? No. You stay here. I’ve got this.”
“Last time I checked, both our names were on that PIA license.”
“What about Louise? All your plans? At least let me do this for you, then we’ll head out, so you get some home time.”
“Are you listening to yourself, Dean? Home time was supposed to be for us—all of us. Everything is shot to shit now. What’s the point? We don’t have any choice now but to investigate together. We’re a team. Why prolong the inevitable? Might as well get the hard bit of letting Lou down out of the way now.”
I sounded like a brat, but I was disappointed. What else could I do, though? I’d signed up to this, wanted this just as much as Dean. Man, I was by his side no matter what. I’d follow him into the fiery pits of the deepest Hell if I had to.
But this was supposed to be family time.
And a woman is dead. Get over your friggin’ self!
The inner voice of bloody reason was strong and true. Again.
“You can’t keep doing this stuff alone,” I said.
“Jake …”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to say to Lou.” Tessa’s face flashed before my eyes, my chest tightening. “Crap.”
“What?”
“Lou. How can we leave Lou?”
“Mila came over, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it’s fine. She’ll be safe. I don’t want to leave her either, but we have to do this.”
I closed my eyes, mentally setting fire to Tessa’s face. This was only the beginning, but she was already making my blood boil just by existing.
“I know. I know.”
“You can stay home if you want.”
“Don’t even go there. I’m not shirking my responsibilities.”
He nodded. “I know.”
I hugged him, fell right into his arms. The cold was all over him, and I didn’t care. I needed him to hold me.
“It’ll be okay.” He smoothed my hair. “Screw tradition. We should just make our own.”
“You told me to stick to it,” my muffled voice said into his coat. “Stop confusing me.”
“Tradition is always good, but maybe we need to make our own now. We don’t have to keep missing out like we always do. If we take control, we’ll do St. Nicholas Eve whenever we want, even Christmas Day.”
“That’s not right.”
“Why not? Who says we can’t?”
I hugged him tighter. “Tradition.”
“Let’s make our own rules.”
“But, I like tradition.” My soft, babyish voice came into action. It did when I was in cozy proximity to my man.
“I know you do,” he replied.
All I wanted was a normal life for Lou. But this world wouldn’t allow it. I wasn’t an idiot, I knew I couldn’t offer her more than I could, that there was no way of sheltering our daughter from all that went on. She’d already seen both of us take down a creepy pod-born while she’d sat in her buggy. Her mind was already open to the darkness.
“You should call Lars,” I said.
“We can do the presents now.”
“No. Call Lars. I’ll cancel the party. No one gets in this house when we’re not here.”
“Yes.”
They were only Lou’s friends, but it didn’t matter. “As things stand now, the new rule is, if we’re not here, then no one gets into the house, and no one leaves via the front door.”
“I agree to that rule.”
“Until this Tessa mess is dealt with,” I added.
“Agreed.”
Our hugging ended. “Go call Lars. I’ll talk to
