Bloodline (Paranormal Romance, Dark & Twisted) Saving Demons Series Book 1

Unsure of what was more painful, the ripping of my neck or the fire burning in my veins, I screamed. But the only thing that escaped me, besides blood, was a hissing, gurgling sound that had come from, not my lips, but the gaping hole in my neck. Terror glazed my eyes, or maybe it was the rapidly approaching death. Whatever it was that made them look so spooky, I didn't like it. I had to turn my head away so that I wouldn't look at my self anymore.

  This was when I realized that something wasn't right. How could've I been staring at myself, growing in shock at the sight of all the blood that was pulsing from my open flesh?

  And it just kept getting weirder.

  I was holding myself. The word free kept thrumming through my mind in deep, malevolent sounding voices, and this horrific, consuming desire to drink my own blood until I was drained, held me captive. Drink! Drink! Drink! Was the chanting in my head. And yet, there was a place within me, a place so small, compressed by these very voices that seemed stronger than anything in the world. A place where love resided.

  I loved me.

  No, Bane loved me.

  Confusion washed over me, drowning the desire to drink, the chanting voices, the image of my bleeding neck. And then, somehow, I understood. My mind was finishing what Bane could not do. I was inside of his mind. For a short period of time, I was him and me at the same exact time.

  Just as soon as this realization spun through my thoughts, I was sucked into blackness.

  "Luna?" I heard Izzy's voice, and this surprised me because this blackness seemed like nothingness. Izzy being here, wherever here was, just wasn't right. I felt a sliver of panic. I wanted to yell at her to go away. I wanted to tell her that she didn't belong in this wrong and empty place, but my voice wouldn't work. Was there really a hole in my neck? Was this what it was like to die? Slipping into dark, measureless emptiness? If so, this would suck! And if so, why was Izzy here? That sliver of panic grew. Izzy was too good to be part of this nothingness.

  Unless, Izzy was an angel, too.

  But if Izzy was an angel then how in the world was she able to hide her big wings in those feminine dresses she wore all the time?

  Maybe they folded up strangely like Bane's wings did.

  "Luna, are you all right? You're bleeding," Izzy sounded freaked out. I think it was this emotion that triggered something in me to awaken fully. It was like the light in a tunnel I knew I should follow.

  "Luna, say something. Please, just---"

  I felt hands and short, warm fingers take my shoulders. I felt my upper back rise upward a little, felt the gritty, cool pieces of sand on my arms as air licked my skin.

  "Luna?" It was Izzy's hopeful tone that made me realize I was trying to open my eyes. I could feel my lashes fluttering against my cheeks. I just couldn't quite figure out how to open them.

  Then I remembered that Izzy had said that I was bleeding. So, it wasn't a dream. Bane had opened up my neck and left me here to die.

  Where was here? And why was I not feeling any pain? Was I in shock?

  "Luna!" Izzy shook me by the shoulders.

  Instantly, I opened my eyes. The world seemed so extremely bright and full of sharp colors. I had to squint because of this visual assault.

  "Oh, thank God, you are all right!" Izzy hugged me tightly. She smelled like baby powder. And her wiry hair tickled and prickled my nose. "What happened to you? Why are you bleeding? Why are you lying on the beach?" Izzy held me by the shoulders as she examined me.

  If I really did have a gaping hole in the side of my neck, I was sure Izzy would be freaking out a whole lot more than she was. I wasn't feeling any pain. I cupped my hand carefully around my throat. It felt intact. It didn't feel slick or slimy with blood. I looked at my palm. A little bit of blood was on my skin, but that was it. Confusion swelled my brain. I suddenly felt queasy. Then dizzy. Then the world around me tipped slightly to one side.

  I looked at Izzy, desperate for answers, desperate to understand what the heck was going on.

  That's when it hit me. Bane had come to me. He caught me as I was falling. I remembered looking up at him, seeing into those loving, beastly eyes. I remembered his wings. Though drenched in Snow Melt, they were massive and unfurled. They were so black that there were purple hues in the sheen of his feathers. How awestricken I was.

  "Oh, Luna," Izzy hugged me to her, seemingly having read my expression. She was warm and safe and so full of light. Yes, I could feel the light. It had an incredible vibration of strength and courage. It hummed with peace and surety and a tranquility that felt alienated from this world. Otherworldly, that's what it was. I had actually hoped that by her hugging me this light would trickle into me as well. But it didn't. The darkness within me was impenetrable.

  "The Lord so loves you, Luna. Invite him into your heart," Izzy said in a soft voice

  I finally figured it out. This was it. This was her light, her Lord, her God. He was the incandescence within her.

  What if He was my God, too? Would I still feel so much anger and pain? Was Izzy's God so merciful, so all-mighty that He would be capable of taking that away from me? Could He slay the monsters beneath my skin? And would these be selfish reasons to want Him as my God, too?

  I shivered. Not because I was soaking wet, but because these thoughts had given me the goose bumps. Not those freaky-feeling ones, but ones like I had never felt before. They were warm and comforting and, for one fraction of a second, I swore I could feel a sliver of light inside of me. Like Izzy's God was right here, sitting on the beach with Izzy and me, silently inviting me to believe, proving to me with that sliver of light that His light could, indeed, live inside my darkness.

  "No, Izzy," I pushed out of her embrace, swaying from the return of dizziness. "Your god couldn't possibly love me. What kind of god wants us to live in hell? The devil has certainly proved to love me more. He definitely gives me more attention than your god does," I said, bitterly. She had no idea just how true this was for me. I wished that she could see the hell I'd lived so that she could understand how there could be no god in my world.

  Except for Bane. He was my god. He would be the only man, or being, I would ever worship.

  "God doesn't want you to live in hell, Luna. He wants you to believe, He wants you to invite Him into your heart. He is not going to be there for you if you are not there for Him. John, Chapter Three, verse sixteen says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Nowhere in that verse will you find, except for Luna Lanchester! The world! God loves all of us. That means including Luna Lanchester!"

  I wasn't so sure why this made me so upset, but it did. I rose to my feet, hoping I could just leave all this Lord and light stuff down in the sand. "I don't want to talk about this, Izzy," I snapped at her, but right away I felt guilty about it. It really wasn't her fault that the Lord and light stuff followed me up from the sand.

  Izzy took me gently by the elbow to steady me. "Come on," she said, genteelly, which made me feel even more guilty for having yelled at her. Izzy was nice to me, even though I was being rude to her. This alone set Izzy apart from the rest of the world. I had to wonder if this was because Izzy loved her god. Was this the way all god-lovers lived? In kindness? She did so happen to have the Owners Manual. Maybe somewhere in there it said something about being nice to others, even when they are not being nice to you.

  "We need to get you out of these wet clothes. Maybe put something on those cuts. I can make coffee. But then we need to talk. There are some very important things you need to know."

  As Izzy led me to the porch, I noticed the Mercedes was gone. The loneliness that punctured my heart had almost caused me to stop walking. But I kept going, like I always did, telling my self that it did not matter that Addy had left me to fend for my own emotions. It did not matter that she knew and didn't care that I could have gone off and did something stupid, like jump off a cliff, or something.

  The pain in my hand mad
e it difficult for me to change into a warm, fuzzy pair of pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt. Izzy kept her back turned, or at least I thought she had kept it turned. But then I heard her gasp, just before I pulled the sweatshirt over my head, and I knew she must have seen the burn scars that completely puckered my flesh and marred my back. Izzy didn't say anything, at least, not until later when she was cleaning the cuts on my neck that looked like fang scratches. They were deep, but not deep enough to hit any arteries or veins.

  "What happened to your back, Luna," Izzy asked. There was sadness in her voice.

  I didn't answer her. It really was none of her business.

  "You have scars on your arms, too," she probed deeper. "And your legs." Izzy set the washcloth aside and turned my palms up. She looked at the scars there then looked at me with the same kind of sadness in her eyes that was in her voice. It was difficult to deny her the answers she was seeking, especially with those big, puppy-dog-looking eyes looking at me with genuine sincerity. But the answer was not simple. So, again, I ignored her.

  Izzy got the point that I was not going to talk about my badly scarred body. We went down to the living room and sat down. The sun had been up for a little while now. It spilled in through the wall of windows and was baking the black couch. It felt so good that I wanted to burrow deeper into the warmth, but the couch just so happened to have a molecular structure that was resistant to bodily burrowing, darn it.

  "I know you are a private person and all, but it's really important that you tell me what happened at the beach. Luna, it is really important. You have to trust me," Izzy said.

  "I can't remember what happened. Why? What's going on?"

  "I'm going to try to explain that to you, but first I need to know what happened."

  I thought about this for a minute, wondering what Izzy knew, and why she was looking so nervous and uncomfortable. "I, ugh---" I started to tell her, but changed my mind. For some reason I didn't want Izzy to get the wrong impression about me. Telling Izzy I jumped off a cliff to try to kill myself wasn't something she would understand. Besides, this was inside stuff. This was the kind of stuff that would give Izzy access to the meaty substance within me. Aside from Dammon, Bane was the only person in this world I had ever wanted to let inside, not that I really had a choice about that, but still. And yes, there was Sean but that only lasted for like a fraction of a second or so.

  And now there was Izzy. I realized maybe I did want to let her inside.

  "So, if I told you that I am suicidal, would you still be my friend?" I asked.

  Izzy's nervous expression changed before my eyes into something that looked a lot like pity. On anyone else, I would have thought it was ugly. Maybe even cruel. But the way Izzy wore this pity for me was actually comforting.

  "Of course, I'd still be your friend! And even if the animals in the coffee shop were talking back to you, Luna. I'd be your friend no matter what," she said.

  "Ok. So, I have suicidal tenancies. Like, a lot. So, that being said, I jumped off a cliff this morning. I was hoping to land on the rocks and---"

  Izzy crunched her face up, and I decided to leave the rest of that sentence to her imagination.

  "So, I jump and, darn, my dream-guy shows up. Flying. Yes, with wings and whatnot. Big, fluffy black ones. We hurled through the air, landed in the lake, and the next thing I knew, I was inside his head, watching myself, feeling myself want to drink all my blood so that I can be free. I came-to, thinking it all actually happened. That's when you found me."

  Izzy's eyes were growing in size as I continued on, explained all that I could about the strange experience, spanning from the time Bane had collided with me in midair, to when I woke on the beach.

  "So, I just tell you that my dream guy has wings and flew to my rescue, and your not looking at me like I'm a lunatic?"

  "You were the one who told me that it wasn't possible for a man to up and fly like that," Izzy reminded me.

  "Oh, yeah. That's right. Well, never mind that. I was totally wrong about that. So, this kind of thing is normal around these parts, then? Cuz, seriously, Izzy, we didn't have flying men where I came from."

  "I'm afraid you did, Luna," Izzy said, sounding sad.

  "Pretty sure I would've noticed," I argued.

  "If you think about it, Luna, you probably know what I'm talking about."

  I thought about it. Nope, I had no flipping clue as to what Izzy was talking about. There were no flying men in my life before.

  Unless. . .she was talking about the one in my dreams.

  "You're talking about the one in my dreams, aren't you?"

  "You and Bane are connected, Luna," she said. "Your blood ties you to him and his brothers. Except, the blood-tie between you and Bane is unique. He has spent your entire life experiencing the world through your thoughts and feelings, seeing the world through your eyes. How you were in his head, I have no idea. And maybe you weren't. Maybe he was in your head, showing you something he wanted you to see."

  "Wait," I stopped her from saying anymore. "You can't just go around telling these kinds of stories, Izzy. It's just not a very good way to keep friends." I said this, but something inside of me knew Izzy wasn't just telling me stories. I had had monsters or demons or boogeymen living inside of me my entire life, and I knew this. Of course, I never imagined that it was literal. I never imagined that the demons were real. Just like I never imagined Bane was real.

  "The demons are real," I said, in a barely audible voice. Then I thought about Barron. It made perfect sense now. "They are real!" I was utterly shocked by this. Everything Addy was telling me this morning, everything I remembered from my childhood about Barron and my grandmother was starting to make sense. But only starting to. And as this happened, I began to realize that there was so very much I did not know. There were many dark mysteries that had been shrouding my existence.

  "Bane is a son of Lucifer," Izzy said, as if the firmness of her voice was enough to convince me that the man I'd fallen in love with in my dreams, my Dark Angel, My Protector, was actually evil incarnate. Sure he was pretty intense, but the son of Lucifer?

  I laughed. I couldn't help it. It was funny to think that after all I had gone through that I would end up falling in love with Satan's son.

  I stopped laughing. Maybe this wasn't so funny after all. "If the devil had a son, Izzy, he'd be much meaner than Bane," I protested, remembering the gentle touch of his hand, the passion in his embrace.

  "He has only shown you what he wishes you to see, I'm sure. He can charm you, if he so desires. He can make you feel anything he wants you to feel, or make you think anything he wants you to think. You have no idea what he is capable of. You saw what he did to Isis Blackhawk."

  "You don't know that Bane did that!" I shot back at her. But she did, somehow. And so did I.

  "Yes, I'm afraid I do know." Izzy said this with such confidence that it was hard to convince myself that she had no idea what she was talking about.

  While my memory flashed a picture of Isis's mangled corpse, my body responded to the violent way Bane had kissed me on the porch last night.

  "Luna," Izzy took my hand in hers and squeezed firmly. "Remember when I told you about that special blood The Coven of Hallows needs in order to both summon and gain control over the sons of Lucifer?"

  She was going to say it. I just knew it. It was my blood.

  "Yes?" I crunched-up my face, waiting for her confirmation.

  "Well," Izzy said, struggling for the words.

  It was coming. That awful truth.

  "It's your blood, Luna. It's the Lanchester bloodline."

  There it was. That awful truth.

  And of course it was the Lanchester blood, because, hay, I did have one of those anything-can-happen lives.

  Inwardly I grumbled.

  Izzy let go of my hand, took a deep breath and then began to explain. "Long ago, after the flood, when the earth began to populate again, a coven of witches called The Hallows sacrificially mur
dered Jebadiah Lanchester, summoning a son of Lucifer. Bane. The Lanchesters had been hunting and brutally slaying members if this coven for as long as the earth is old, practically, and at one point had nearly killed them off. After the witch burnings in France had finally come to and end, somewhere around 1777, The Coven of Hallows went into hiding. They feared the warrior Lanchesters, for they were held responsible for the accusations that led to numerous, heinous prosecutions. And, the Lanchesters themselves were the prosecutioners. With the spotlight on exposing witches and witchcraft, the Lanchesters went from secret slaying, to public slaying. They became more like heroes than the murderers they actually were. Some of their methods for convincing the witch to plead guilty were some of the most gruesome acts of torture our history has ever recorded.

  "By the late seventeen hundreds, women feared the Lanchester warriors, while men grew to idolize them. Armies from all around the world sought to hire them. But the Lanchesters had one goal, one desire: To rid the lands of all who consorted with the devil. They meant well. They just went about it all in the wrong ways, I believe.

  "But, during the Quiet Times, when The Coven of Hallows went into hiding, The Coven was actually growing in numbers. After a long and exhausting investigation, the Lanchesters had learned that if a Lanchester willfully allowed The Coven to sacrifice him or herself, The Coven could summon a son. It is not known how Jebadiah or the three other Lanchesters were coerced into willfully allowing The Coven to murder them. Some believe it was Magical Compulsion.

  "It wasn't until a century later that The Coven somehow learned the magical formula for gaining control over the sons. The key was in the Lanchester blood. There had to be a special bond through the blood tie. A Love-Bond, like the one you and Bane share. The Coven tried, in numerous ways, to make this happen, but to no avail. It was a trick, they believed, because it was thought totally impossible that a son of Lucifer's would ever fall in love."

  My mouth was chalk-dry. I tried an extra swallow or two, but it only seemed to make it worse. Izzy was serious. All this sons-of-Satan stuff was true. I felt it in my blood. Where my desire for Bane flows like poison.

  Izzy was silent for some time, generously offering me the chance to let all she had said sink in.

  "This information about these secret formulas was heavily guarded. If the summoned sons were to find out about it, they would simply compel the Lanchesters into killing themselves until every last one of them were dead. Because this is their way to freedom, the only way they can break their bonds with The Coven. As long as a Lanchester lives and breathes, the sons are bound to The Coven of Hallows. And there is not any form of magic or any strength in this world powerful enough to stop the sons from setting themselves free if they were to discover this secret, Luna. So here's the second most important thing I have to say to you. Don't think about it. Keep it out of your thoughts. The sons have access to your mind. They will learn how to break their bonds and you will die, Luna."

  I laughed. Again, I couldn't help it. "Are you serious? Don't think about it?" I laughed some more. "Seriously, Izzy, here you are telling me that I've got Satan's sons crawling around in this head of mine, plus another coven of witches wants my blood, and you're telling me not to think about it?" I tried really hard to contain another burst of giggles. I crossed my arms in front of me, hopping that this would help hold my self together, because I was surely about to fall apart. "Ok, done," I said with a straight face. "This is me, not thinking about it."

  Izzy waited patiently for me to finish my little episode. I actually thought I'd get her to laugh. But she kept a straighter face than I did. "The sons are trapped within the confines of the coven-stead. They can only travel with a high priest's or priestess's escort. He cannot harm any of the high priests or priestesses or his chance for freedom will be severed until the end of the earth." Izzy looked deeply worried. And, truthfully, it was kind of contagious.

  "Izzy, Bane knows. He already knows how to break the bonds," I said.

  "Yes, I know. But his brothers---"

  "His brothers know, too," I said.

  "What? Are you sure? How do you know his brothers know?"

  "Yes, I'm sure. Blood-bond thing, remember? When I was in Bane's head, I think his brothers where in his head too. I really don't think that it was Bane's desire to drink my blood. Actually, I'm positive that it wasn't. Bane's brothers were somehow coercing him, or something. I could hear them chanting. They actually almost got him to kill me."

  Izzy covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes went big.

  "So, in a nut shell, the sons of Satan wanna be free from The Coven, like, in a really bad way, and the only thing that is standing in their way of freedom is me. And, since I am in their territory, some really bad stuff's about to happen. That, and we can't forget the largest coven of witches in the world is gonna want my blood," I said.

  "The Coven cannot find out about the Love-Bond between you and Bane," Izzy said.

  "Yeah, but I'm the last Lanchester. That means they can't kill me, or the sons will be free. So don't worry, Izzy." I patted her on the knee. "They won't want to harm a hair on my head."

  "The sons are who we need to worry about the most, right now," Izzy said.

  "Ya know? Here I was all worried you'd think I was crazy when I told you that my dream guy had wings. And yes, by the way, the animals in the coffee shop were talking back to me," I said stubbornly. "Which doesn't seem all that crazy to me anymore. Turns out there's crazier things out there than that! Like sparkly dead guys and whatnot." I giggled at the thought. Then I refocused my attention on Izzy. "You know, Izzy, my dad's a lunatic, which means, I'm not really all quite with it, if you know what I mean." I tapped a finger to my temple. "Besides, you couldn't possibly know stuff like coven secrets, or especially what they've written in their Grimoires! Stuff like that is nearly impossible to know. And isn't it possible that all of this is some long-lived folklore or something like that?"

  "Luna, your boyfriend has wings," Izzy said, pointedly.

  "So? What's your point? And actually, I can't be too sure I wasn't just imagining them. I do have sort of a messed-up head, you know. Maybe I just wanted to see them because I wanted the Bane in my real life to be the Bane in my dreams, even if it was stupid to think in real life Bane could have wings!"

  "Luna, your boyfriend has wings," Izzy repeated.

  I sighed, inwardly exasperating, and then I sank deeper into the couch. "All right! Gees! My boyfriend has wings. So how do you know all this stuff, anyway? Not that I actually believe you or anything."

  "Ashmodai," Izzy said.

  It was like a magic word that calmed my insides and slowed everything down to a more tolerable pace. It was like I was a ship, recklessly crashing against the waves, and there, off in the distance, through the fog, I could see the lighthouse that was Ashmodai.

  "He's an angel, Luna, The High Ranking Avenging Angel. He has told me all I know."

  When all else failed, and I wasn't quite sure what to think or how to respond, I just blinked. And that's exactly what I did. I just blinked at Izzy. A couple of times, actually.

  "Why? If your god is so mighty then how come he can't just strike the demons dead? Or, what about your idea on the Big Bang Theory? Why not god just speak the demons into nonexistence, and boom! they die?"

  "I can't speak for God, Luna. Most of the times His ways are utterly unfathomable to us. Just because we don't understand his ways, doesn't mean He doesn't. As a matter of fact, He knew we would be sitting here at exactly this point having exactly this conversation even before we were born. God definitely has plans for Satan. Revelation, Chapter Twenty, verses two through three says; And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. Then, in verse ten it says; And t
he devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

  "God is, by far, more powerful than Satan, Luna. After all, it was He who created the cherubim and anointed him for a position of authority before he fell through pride and was cast out of Heaven. Think about this for a minute, Luna. Do you really think we could even begin to comprehend a God so omnipotent, so infinite that He could speak the world into existence?"

  I blinked at Izzy, thinking about what she had just said. Speaking something into existence? Now that was something. What could I say to all that? I didn't know enough about Izzy's god to rebuttal. I wished I had! But to be honest, I felt a little spark of interest for Him flickering into light in the depths of the darkness within me.

  If it bloomed, if I nurtured it, would I eventually glow like Izzy did? Would I become as beautiful and content within as she was?

  "Where is it you believe you are going when you die, Luna?"

  I shrugged my shoulders. "I never thought about it. I guess the most important part about dying to me would be the fact that I got the heck out of my freaking skin. Guess I'll worry about that when the time comes. And by the sounds of it, that time may be coming really soon."

  "But then it would be too late," Izzy said, sounding desperate, maybe even a little panicky.

  I shrugged my shoulders again. "Then I guess I'd have one more regret before I died. Look, Izzy. I don't wanna talk about this stuff, alright? There are more important things we should be discussing right now. Like---"

  "No!" Izzy said, looking strong and very warrior-like. "Nothing in all this worldliness could be more important than your salvation. Nothing! Luna, no matter what anyone in this world believes, the truth is, when we die there is one of two places we will go to spend our eternity. One of two! That's it. Period. Heaven or hell. There is no in between. There will be no opportunity to change your mind when you die. You can't just go to hell and realize how miserable it is and then tell God, Ok, it's hot! Can I come live with you now? It doesn't work that way. When you die, it's done. There is no going back. And there is no room for excuse. Everyone on the face of this planet is shown the truth at one point or another in their life. God reveals himself to all. Romans, Chapter One, verse twenty says; For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. It is our choice to believe or not to believe. You've been shown the truth, Luna. You will be without excuse! Heaven or hell. Period. You have to decided! You have to pick a side."

  I couldn't help but smile at Izzy's determination. "Keep the face, Izzy. You wear it well. It's much better than that ready-to-cry-warrior look you tried on in the coffee shop," I said. But Izzy was steadfast in her mood. My smile and jarring was not at all contagious.

  I dropped the smile. "All right, I'll promise you something. As soon as all this stuff blows over, we'll talk about your religion and your god and all this picking-sides stuff, ok? And I promise to keep an open mind," I said, but this didn't seem to make Izzy happy like I thought it would. Which made me realize she must really believe in all this sons-of-Satan-vampire-witch-Lanchester-warrior stuff.

  "You really believe I could die, don't you?"

  "Yes, I do. And this stuff is not going to just blow over. It's important that we discuss your salvation now," Izzy said. Determination set her green eyes ablaze.

  Following my heavy sigh, I heard a vehicle with a beastly rumble coming up the road. I went to the window and looked out toward the driveway. I saw the plume of dust in the air, choking the trees, before I actually saw the vehicle. Then a big, jacked-up jeep pulled into my drive way. It sat high on big, knobby tires. I couldn't tell what color it was because it was caked in dry mud. Unless mud was a color. It looked totally capable of handling any terrain set before it.

  "Rowdy," I said, totally impressed.

  Roman jumped down to the ground from the driver's side. His long strawberry-blond hair spiraled around his shoulders, waving in the breeze.

  Roman was just plain huge. He was not as big as Bane, of course, but bigger than Sean. I hadn't realized this in church Wednesday night because of the suit he was wearing. But now, he was in a sleeveless flannel shirt and some blue jeans.

  "Your god is trying to torture me, Izzy," I said, staring dreamily at her brother. Oh, if I did not have the guy-troubles I had, I would have certainly been totally interested in the guy that was now strutting his immense body toward my front door.

  "Sorry, Luna. I noticed he made you uncomfortable Wednesday, but, I thought we could use the muscle. That, and Roman's very stubborn. He won't stay out of someone's business unless he wants to. When he dropped me off earlier, he told me he'd pick us up around eleven o'clock. He wants to go have lunch with us, is that all right?"

  "Lunch? Witches and Satan's sons are plotting against me, and I'm going to go have lunch?" I thought about this for a moment then shrugged my shoulders. "Weird. But, all right. I am kinda hungry."

  ****

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Luna