Juliet Dark - The Angel Stone

“I’d have thrown it, but I was afraid the contents might explode,” I explained to Frank when Red slumped on the gazebo bench and started snoring.

“Good to know you’ve been carrying unstable explosives all night, McFay,” Frank said. “How are you going to activate it from here?”

“I planted a correlative fuse inside. It’s magically connected to this one.” I held up half a shoelace—the only thing I could find to use. “I just have to light it when Ralph drops the ball.”

I peered into the yard and saw Ralph drop the ball at the feet of Adam Sinclair. He was beginning to run back when Slutty Vampire shrieked, “A mouse! A mouse! A real mouse! Shoot it!”

Adam wheeled around in a circle, one foot crunching the pomander, and spotted Ralph, clearly visible by the white patch on his chest. He lowered the gun and aimed it at Ralph.

I lit the fuse. Just as Adam pulled the trigger, the pomander exploded in a cloud of smoke, throwing him off balance. He fell backward, right into Slutty Vampire and Slutty Nurse. The girls giggled and shrieked at the sudden closeness of a half-naked frat boy, but when the smoke from my pomander reached them, they both pushed him away.

“Ew,” Slutty Vampire said, wrinkling her nose. “You’re kind of gross.”

“Yeah,” Slutty Nurse agreed. “When was the last time you showered?”

Both girls rearranged their costumes to cover a few extra inches of skin. The other girls at the party extricated themselves from the arms of the frat boys, with similar comments on personal hygiene.

Frank wrinkled his nose. “What was that, McFay?”

“An anti-aphrodisiac,” I said. “It makes any male within a hundred-yard radius repellent to any female. The Alphas won’t be luring any girls to their parties anytime soon.”

Red Riding Hood murmured in her sleep, “Boys stink!”

“I’ll get Red back to my house,” I said. “You’d better go home and take a shower.” Frank shot me an accusing look. “I just mean that you’ll want to get rid of any traces of the spell. I’m not sure how long it lasts.”

“Thanks, McFay. Like I wasn’t having a hard enough time in my love life.”

We half-carried Red Riding Hood out of the gazebo and across the street to my house. The Alphas were too busy fanning smoke out of their yard to notice us. I took the opportunity to grab a couple of Diana’s gnomes off the back fence. I knew she was fond of them and that she’d be devastated to see them serving as target practice—especially since I was pretty sure they were partly sentient.

Frank helped me get Red into my house and then excused himself when she woke up enough to tell him that he reeked. I watched Frank walk down Elm Street toward his downtown apartment, then I got Little Red Riding Hood settled on my library couch, tucking my afghan over her. Asleep, she looked as young and innocent as the girl in the fairy tale. As I turned off the lights in the library, I reflected that the big bad wolves had been smoked out of their house and Red was safe and sound. Kind of a mixed-up fairy tale, but, I would have told Adam Sinclair, the kind I believed in.

I was in the Greenwood, stretched out on a bed of heather beneath the beech trees. The ruins of the vine-covered stone gate framed one side of the glade; deep, impenetrable woods bordered the other. I had the uneasy feeling there were presences in those woods— boggles and haunts .

“Ye never want to stray in there, lass.”

I turned to look at the man who lay stretched out beside me. He was wearing slim brown trousers of heavy sueded cotton and a soft white shirt opened to reveal smooth, tawny skin dappled a golden green by the beech light. Sunlight and leaf shadow tangled in his hair. His face was in shadow .

“Bill?” I asked. “Liam?”

He laughed. The sound seemed to shake the leaves in the trees. I felt its vibration deep in my belly .

“Most men would no’ like their lover not to ken their name, lass.”

“Since when do you have a Scottish accent?” I asked dubiously, squinting through the glare at his face. I saw Liam, then Bill, then my demon lover, and then a young man whose face was both utterly familiar and startlingly new. “You’re William Duffy,” I said. “Is that who you were first?”

“First, last—I’ve been so long in Faerie I hardly ken myself anymore. But you, lass …” He touched my face and moved closer, his eyes filling with the emerald light of the Greenwood. “I’d know you anywhere. I’ve been waiting for you to come and save me.” He stroked his hand along my cheek and then down my neck, his touch making me tremble like the leaves in the beech trees. He lowered his head and pressed his lips against my skin. With his head ducked down to the hollow of my throat, I saw the ruined door behind him. The fluted pillars on either side were carved with strange creatures—dragons and griffins, unicorns and gargoyles. Something about the gargoyles struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t think why. The things that William was doing with his strong hands and soft lips were distracting me .

“Um … William?” I said as he undid a button on my blouse. “Is that the hallow door?”

“Mmmm …” he murmured, kissing my breast and sliding himself on top of me. “Don’t worry yourself about the door, lass, for you may not open it until All Hallows’ Eve.”

“But where …” I began to ask, but the question turned into a moan as he pushed my skirts up and stroked the tender flesh of my thigh .

“William Duffy,” I said, digging my hands into his hair and pulling his head up to look into his green eyes. “How will I ever save you if you don’t answer my questions?”

“Ah, lass,” he said, pushing himself into me, “the answer is here.”

I woke up in a tangle of bedsheets and early-morning sunlight, the scent of heather lingering in the air—and not just its scent. Strewn across the tangled sheets were sprigs of purple heather. “Damn it, William Duffy,” I said aloud. “What the hell did you mean, the answer is here ? Could you be a little more specific?”

A loud thump came from downstairs. Could it be …

I jumped out of bed. Maybe when William Duffy said the answer was here, he’d meant he was here.

I raced downstairs, smelling coffee in the air the way I would in the mornings when Liam got up early and made us breakfast … but instead of finding my dream lover waiting for me, I found a redheaded girl sitting on the library couch. I’d forgotten about Little Red Riding Hood. And that I’d set the coffeemaker on automatic last night.

“Professor McFay?” she asked, rubbing her eyes. “Oh, thank God! I thought I might be at Alpha House, but then I didn’t think it would be this neat. What happened?”

“How much do you remember?” I asked, sitting down on a chair and sliding my arms into a cardigan that I’d discarded there. “Miss …” I peered at her, willing her name to pop into my head, but it was too early in the semester for me to remember all my new students’ names.

“Ruby Day,” she said, then with a grimace she added, “Ruby Tues Day. My parents were big into the Rolling Stones. I’m in your Intro to Fairy Tales class, but I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this getup.” She looked down at her low-cut frilly blouse and turned as scarlet as her cloak—although, in truth, it wasn’t nearly as revealing as the outfits worn by some of the girls she’d been with. “I’m so embarrassed. My suite mates, Jessica and Debbie, talked me into going. I’ve always loved dressing up for Halloween, and I thought it was a good chance to use my Little Red Riding Hood outfit early. That’s the fairy tale I wrote about in your class yesterday.” I glanced guiltily at the stack of unread papers on the table. “But I didn’t know that the girls would dress up so … sexy … or that the boys would be so aggressive. Oh—” She clamped her hand to her mouth. “I do remember a boy trying to paw me. He didn’t … I didn’t …”