Magic Shifts

“She’s right,” Desandra told me, biting into a chunk. “It’s really decent. Tastes like grass-fed Angus to me. So kind of your fiancé to tenderize it.”

That was it. I was done. I just didn’t even care anymore.

I marched my way up the driveway to the house. An enormous white tiger sprawled in my driveway, flicking her tail at a small flock of butterflies that bounced on bright wings around her brilliant white fur. I circled Dali and the butterflies and went inside. Curran sat on a couch in the living room. He was back in his human skin. The couch was covered in blood. That was fine. I was having second thoughts about the color anyway.

I sat next to him. Watching him rip the bull apart wasn’t just frightening. It was one of those things I would never forget. It was imprinted in my brain. Curran’s control was absolute, so when he opened the door and the feral lethal monster shot out and reveled in unrestrained destruction, it made your blood run cold. He’d had less outlet than usual since we moved out of the Keep. There people recognized what he was. If he wanted something, he had only to pick up the phone and people would run to do his bidding. Here, he was trying his best to be a good considerate neighbor. To be a normal human, not in the true sense of the word, but in the meaning other suburban families would accept and find nonthreatening. I hadn’t fully understood how hard it was for him until now.

It was over. People saw it. They stopped and stared, and there was no going back. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

“Julie asked me if we are getting a divorce,” I told him.

No response.

“I told her that we couldn’t get one since we aren’t married.”

Silence.

“I understand now,” I told him. “You left the Pack for me and threw it all away, because you thought we would have a happy peaceful life together. You’ve been so good and assumed this calm, nice role of a man who lives in the suburbs with his family and instead this messed-up crap keeps happening. I—”

He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him.

I shut up.

We sat together on the couch.

“I didn’t touch the giant. I didn’t use any power words. I only threw some undead blood at it. I just got splattered with gore.” I almost said I promise but held my tongue.

“I will kill anything that tries to hurt you,” he said, his voice quiet.

“I know. I will kill anything that tries to hurt you,” I told him.

Curran looked at me. “I just can’t figure out what to do when you hurt yourself. Who am I mad at?”

I opened my mouth. Nothing smart came to mind. “If anyone can figure it out, it would be you. You’re the only one who’ll put up with me.”

He didn’t answer.

“I have some bad news.” Might as well drop all of the shoes at the same time.

“Tell me.”

“The Order claimed the earring that houses the ifrit. They won’t let anyone examine it. Eduardo is being held in some abandoned building. He is starving and we have no way to know which building he’s in. I saw him in a vision. He doesn’t have long.”

“Anything else?” Curran asked, his voice even.

“Yes. My father is building a tower near Lawrenceville. He wants to have dinner tonight. At Applebee’s.”

The arm holding me shook. I glanced at him. Curran was laughing.

“I love you,” I told him. “I don’t give a crap what anybody thinks or says. You don’t have to be anyone or anything but you, Curran. Don’t do this for me, because I just want you.”

“You realize all of the neighbors are going to move, right?”

“Screw them. Good riddance. I couldn’t care less if we fit in with them or don’t. I never wanted the ‘good’ neighborhood or to be seen as ‘normal.’ I just wanted to live in a house with you and Julie. You can be yourself. You let me be myself, so it’s only fair. Stop trying so hard to fit in. I love you because you don’t.”

He kissed my hair.

“Anything exciting happen while I was gone?” I asked.

“Remember how we sent George to have a subtle conversation with Patrick?”

Oh no. “I’m afraid to ask . . .”

“He tried to lecture her on her duty to the Clan and she told him to shut up. He told her he would take her in hand for her dad.”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds. “Is he alive?”

“Oh yes. She didn’t kill him. Both of his legs are broken, but he is alive.”