"Oh,that's cool. And sweet." He grinned at me and gave me a chaste kiss. Nosnogging in front of the customers. I didn't want them getting jealous orgetting any ideas. "How about tomorrow?"
Sure.If I survive, I'll take you all out for dinner. "Sounds good. See you later,Sweetie." I returned his kiss, but this time on the lips and a littlelonger. "I love you."
"Woah.You feeling okay? I love you, too."
Ineeded to leave before I started crying. "Yup. Peachy keen. I'll see youtomorrow."
"Okay.It's a date." He grinned.
Withoutlooking back, I headed for the coffee shop. Candace was still making coffee,but when she saw me, she sighed, stopped, and wiped her hands on her apron. "Isit time?"
Inodded.
Sheturned to Josie. "We are leaving. Do you need anything before we go?"
"Nope.Have fun! Pick out a winner." Josie grinned and waved to me. "Thanks,Dot. Best sister ever."
Sure.Write that on my tombstone."My pleasure." I returned her smile, a little half-heartedly andwaited for Candy to walk around the counter. When she was close enough, shereached out and took my hand and we headed for the back room, nodding at Sheaalong the way. The plan was for Candy and I to go back to my house and change,Shea would meet us there.
Assoon as we went through the door, I pulled the shadows to me and stepped outinto my living room.
Chapter 23
The shower felt divine. I let thehot water beat the anxiety out of me before I finally shut it off, dried off,and stepped out into my chilly bedroom to get dressed. I'd laid out my war gearon my bed before I hopped in the shower and frowned at the jeans, sweater, and tanktop. I would have felt better with a suit of armor and a flaming sword, but therugged gear was as close as I was going to get. It was harder than it needed tobe pulling the jeans over my wet skin, but we were in a hurry.
Stompingmy feet into the walking boots, I opened my bedroom door and gasped at thecrowd standing around angrily.
"Hey,guys," I stammered. "Whatcha all doin' here?" I asked, but I hada feeling I already knew. Somebody had ratted me out. Chief, Jimmy, Jason,Dennis, Dar, Yuki, Nana, Josie, Ellis, and even my mother were standing behindShea and Candace, with nothing but contempt on their faces. Shea and Candacewere looking everywhere but at me. The little snitches. Inarrowed my eyes at them.
"Snitches,even witches, get stitches," I said to the two of them.
"Forgiveus, Lady, but we could not let you do this."
"I'mdoing it."
"Notalone, you're not," Chief answered for the group.
"Huh?"
Mymother stepped around everyone and closed the distance between us, stopping infront of me with a sigh. "You're too fucking stubborn to try and stop. You'retoo fucking stubborn to ask for help. These two angels realized that andsounded the alarm as soon as you headed into the bathroom and gathered yourfamily to help you on your absurd quest." She put her hand on my face. "Youget your stubbornness from your father. I hope you know that."
"Sure,I do." I chuckled softly. Looking over her shoulder, I stared at the groupbehind her and started crying. "Damn it. I didn't want to get you involvedbecause this is going to be dangerous. If anything happens to any ofyou… I couldn't handle that."
"Andhow do you think we would feel if something happened to you? If you're going to do this, you'redoing it with all of us," Jimmy answered andlooked at the group for affirmation. All of them nodded, leaving absolutely no room for argument. To go, I neededCandace and Shea. The odds of getting them away from everyone else wasn'tpossible. Not with the death grip that Josie had on Candace and the grip Darhad on Shea.
"Fine.You win," I answered and let out the breath I'd been holding.
Smilesand nods graced their faces, but only for a moment. "So, what's the plan?"Chief stepped forward.
"Wego, get in, find my father, and hopefully get home in one piece?" Ishrugged, letting everyone know I was open for suggestions.
"Soundslike a plan," Chief answered. "So, how exactly do we get there?"
"Weshadow walk into the depths of hell. We have a map and a key." I smiled atCandace and Shea before looking around at the others. "Is everybody armed?"
Somenodded, most didn't. Jimmy grinned as he held up a tire iron. Chief pointed atthe gun on his hip. The gun he never carried. Candace produced a wicked lookingdagger while Josie made claw gestures with her hands. Ellis was the only onewith a sword. Hopefully, we wouldn't get our asses handed to us, but out of thethirteen of us standing in my living room, eight of us were witches, one was ademon, and one a vampire. We weren't exactly helpless without weapons, but itwould have certainly made me feel better if somebody had thought to bring acrate of assault rifles to the party.
"Guesswe're ready as we can be," I muttered and motioned for Shea.
Hepulled away from Dar and removed his overcoat and shirt before he stood infront of me.
"Let'ssee if we can figure this out."
"Iam sure you will, Lady," he said and turned, exposing the largest group oftattoos on his back.
Rememberingto breathe, I put my hands on his back and poured power into him. The entireroom lit like a blue star as they began to wiggle and dance over his flesh.
Everyonemoved closer, but Nana and my mother moved closest. "Try moving them,"Nana suggested, pointing at the randomly scrolling tattoo.
Keepingon hand on him, I touched the lowest point of his back and pushed upward,mesmerized as they swirled upward.
"There!That is Gehenna. Each plane is bordered with that
