“Then let me wake up Tanya. The girl is a nympho. She and Jared are like rabbits. You said so yourself. They never sleep.”
Aiden coughed, loudly. “Ears bleeding here. I don’t need to know what my brother and sister-in-law do behind closed doors.”
Gabrielle stuck her tongue out at him. “Prude in wolf’s clothing.”
“Aiden is nothing of the sort. Trust me.” Raven winked at her mate. “He’s just private about our proclivities.”
“I don’t care if he likes you to ride him monkey style while swinging from the drapes, can we get back to this witchy walkabout you want me to do in your head?”
“C’mon, Gabs,” Raven tried again “You’re not one to shy away from anything. You’ve watched Capiria do it, and you watched both Tanya and her mother do it. Like the saying goes: See one. Do one. Teach one.”
Luke walked in with an abalone shell and loose white sage. “Sounds dirty. Who are we doing, and what are we watching?”
Aiden hmphed. “Don’t get them started.”
“That’s what they tell student doctors, not witches.” Gabrielle took the sage and the shell from Luke.
“Why are you two arguing? This is supposed to be an easy process,” Luke replied.
Gabby spread the loose sage leaves across the bowl part of the shell, and then lit their edges with a match. The leaves caught, and soon fragrant smoke rose in a thin wisps.
“Supposed to be is the operative phrase.” Chewing on her lip, Gabby looked at Luke for help. “You know I’m not afraid of much, but tramping through my best friend’s head while trying not to leave big muddy footprints is one of those things.”
“Raven’s right, bébé,” he replied to her unspoken ask. “Between you, Raven and the blood witches, I’ve never met braver women. You come from different branches of the paranormal tree, with varying backgrounds and beliefs, yet you are a sisterhood.”
Gabby grumbled. Strong, yes. They were all that, but she was out of her element with what Raven asked. She could call down thunder. Open a chasm in the earth that would swallow the chateau whole, and then fill it with flood waters churned by a maelstrom. All of the above with a wave of her hand, but steer a mental search through her best friend’s head? No way.
Tanya was the anchor Raven had trained with all month. Had she been jealous of Tanya at first? Sure. But now she saw the reasoning behind why she was chosen. Capiria knew what was needed. Her and Alain. Aiden was the head of the Sentinel Brotherhood in strategy and order, but the elder witch and the elder wolf from New Orleans held knowledge that would help them win.
She’d voiced her concern, but no one listened, so she busied herself wafting sage smoke around the room. Raven first, then Aiden, Luke, and the space they set up for Ray’s walk down memory lane.
“You’ll be fine.” Luke reassured again, taking the shell from Gabby’s hand to smudge her last. “You’re doing exactly what you did earlier in the basement. You’re their anchor, and I’m yours. We need you, Indestructo.”
She pinched his arm. “You promised!”
“What? I promised I wouldn’t call you Bebe Unbreakable, and I haven’t.”
Gabrielle squeezed his cheeks with one hand. “You’re lucky you’re cute, you know that?”
He grinned, kissing her again. “Cute. That’s not what you said when I had you begging earlier.”
“Grrrr.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Totally TMI, you two.” Aiden exaggerated a wince. “Can we do this before the sage hits Aunt Marie’s nose, and she comes down with everyone in tow?”
“Facts, cuz.” Luke nodded, placing the smudging shell on the grate in the fireplace to vent the rest.
Raven settled further in her chair, leaning back with her eyes closed. “Ready when you are, Gridley.”
“Ready for what?”
The overhead lights snapped on, and the four of them turned to see Capiria and Marie standing in the great room doorway.
“What do you four juvenile delinquents think you’re doing?” Marie asked.
Capiria tied her robe tighter, and then walked toward them at a faster clip than thought capable. “Aiden, I know you’re the head of the Sentinel Brotherhood, and an alpha in your own right, but this looks and smells like the start of a ritual, and that, my good wolf, is my charge.”
“We need Raven to remember something from her childhood,” Gabrielle interjected.
“Are you telling me you’re trying to attempt a regression? Alone?” Capiria’s face said it all.
Raven sat forward. “Regression. We never considered that.” She explained about the witnessed exorcism as child, and what they were attempting to do.
“If you weren’t attempting a regression, then how were you planning to accomplish this feat?” Capiria asked, incredulous. “Traipse through twenty years of memories hoping to stumble across the right one?”
“What else are we supposed to do?” Raven lifted a hand, unsure. “We need to dig the name of the in spiritu demon out of my memory.” She explained the deal she made with Moe.
“And this incarnate agreed?” Marie asked. “You’re absolutely sure.”
Luke nodded. “Yes, but only if Raven recalls the true name.”
“We need to get the others, especially your father. They’ll want to know what’s happening.”
Luke moved to stop his mother as she turned, holding her arm. “Please, don’t. It’s bad enough you and Capiria interrupted.”
“You may be a sentinel and next in line as our alpha, but this is still my house.” Marie pulled her arm back from her son. “We’ve not only housed and fed you and your forces, but allowed a demon into our home. You can grant me this one boon. Your father needs to know what’s
