Suzanne Johnson - Elysian Fields

Sanity returned midway between his mouth’s journey from my earlobe to my collarbone. We couldn’t have a relationship if I hid things from him—especially things he thought were dangerous. We’d been rehashing that same argument since the day we met.

“Wait.” I unwound my legs and settled to my feet. “I need to tell you what happened today. I summoned the Axeman.”

Alex rested his chin atop my head, his arms still wrapped around me. That meant we were touching, so I picked up his frustration even though he was shielding.

I stepped back. “I know you want to protect me, but that can’t be your full-time job.”

“Actually, it could be a full-time job.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. So much for the romantic moment. “I know you follow your heart and I admire that about you, but you take too many chances.”

I considered what he was saying. “Would it make you feel better if I told you I had backup with me when I did the summoning? And when I went to interview the necromancer this morning?”

“Jean Lafitte?” He looked only slightly mollified.

“No, Rene Delachaise.”

Alex smiled. “Yes, that makes me feel better. Good choice. I like Rene.”

Crisis averted for now, but I had a feeling this subject would bite us a few more times before we figured it out.

“Come on, I’ll fill you in.” He followed me to the kitchen since I only had the one white plastic chair. We spent the next hour catching up and debating theories.

The phone rang while I was dragging out leftover shrimp and potatoes to reheat. I’d set my cell on the lawn chair, and I heard Alex’s voice rumbling in the living room.

He had answered my phone without asking. This beinga-couple thing kind of made my shoulder blades itch, but I sure didn’t want to leave it behind to live in the Beyond. And I didn’t want to run away to save myself while the Axeman and his wizard buddy continued to prey on my city. There had to be a solution to both problems.

“Quince Randolph wants to talk to you.” Alex returned to the kitchen and thrust the phone at me, frowning.

I gave him a frown in return. “Can’t it wait?”

Broad shoulders up, broad shoulders down. “He says no.”

Oh good, a chance to chat with Mr. Creepy. I set the plate down and took the phone. “What’s up, Rand? I’m busy.”

“Sorry to interrupt.” He didn’t sound at all sorry. “Can you come over to the shop? I need to talk to you. Just for a few minutes.”

“You want to talk, you can come here. You know how to walk across the street.” Unfortunately.

“I can’t leave the store untended. It’s important. You wanted to know what I am, and I decided it’s time you did. But I want to show you, not tell you over the phone. It won’t take long.”

Oh, Moses on a mountaintop, as my granddad used to say. “Fine, I’ll come now, but I can’t stay more than ten minutes. I have plans.” Which didn’t involve him, whatever he might be.

I ended the call before he could respond, and stuck the phone in my pocket.

“What the hell does he want?” Alex loomed in the doorway to the living room.

I finished arranging the leftover potatoes on the plate and shoved it in the microwave. “He says he’ll show me what he is if I come over there now, so I’m going. Take this out when it’s done? I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“I’m going with you.” If Alex frowned any harder, his face would crack open.

I started to argue that Rand might not talk to me if Alex were there, but I rethought it. Hadn’t we just talked about me taking too many risks? And besides, if Rand was an elf, I didn’t want to be alone with him in case he turned into Mace Banyan Jr.

“He might not tell me if you’re there, but let’s try it.” I turned the microwave off and left the potatoes in there.

“I’ll stay in another room if he wants privacy, but he needs to know he can’t just snap his inhuman fingers and have you hop-to. If you run into trouble, yell or whistle and I’ll be there in two seconds.”

That sounded like a good compromise, and we’d avoided another argument. Maybe we could do this couple thing.

Darkness fell early since we’d gone off daylight savings time, and the late rush- hour traffic was heavy on Magazine, forcing us to cross at the light. I looked at Shear Luck as I walked past, and my annoyance at Quince Randolph swelled.

He was coming between Eugenie and me, and seemed to be doing it deliberately. I resented it. I needed to stop by her house tomorrow and make her talk to me. Try to make her understand that I not only wasn’t involved with her man, I didn’t even like him. Without revealing anything about wizards or other species or creepy stalker vibes, of course, which was a bigger problem. Eugenie knew I was shutting her out of big swaths of my life—bigger swaths than she could imagine.

“We had good luck telling Ken the truth about us,” I told Alex. “Maybe it’s time to clue Eugenie in about our world. She’d think it was cool.”

Alex rested a hand on my shoulder as we waited for the light to change. Possessive, but nice. “I don’t know. She might think it was so cool she’d get herself in trouble. The thought of Eugenie in a room with Jean Lafitte is just scary.”

He had a point. But I was going to give it serious thought. The Elders wouldn’t like it, but I’d never used their approval as the ultimate gauge for what I should and shouldn’t do. I was Gerry St. Simon’s daughter, after all.

The light at Magazine and Nashville turned, and we crossed the street to Plantasy Island. I’d never been in the shop, my own gardening efforts being limited to a few pots of herbs for potions and charms. I loved flowers but couldn’t grow them.

A bell sounded over the door when I pushed it open, Alex right behind me. The front of the store was stuffed with cuteness. Metal sculptures, fancy scrolled flowerpots, garden flags, even an entire wall of ceramic gnomes representing different occupations. I paused, staring at Attorney Gnome with his pinstriped hat and scales of justice. Who came up with these things? Plus they cost seventy-five bucks each.

“There you are, Dru.” Rand emerged through a wide door in back. Behind him I could see a large, leaf-filled space. “And . . . Alex.”

Was it my imagination, or was he less than thrilled to see my backup?

“Stop calling me Dru—that’s my great-aunt. Alex and I were about to have dinner when you called.” I peered around him. “How do you get enough light in there to grow anything?”

“I replaced the back walls and roof with greenhouse glass. It’s retractable when the weather’s good, but it’s too cool right now.” Rand glanced behind him. “Wait a sec.”

He disappeared through the greenhouse door for a moment, then reemerged with a terracotta pot holding three white lilies with wild purple spots on them. “For you, something unique.”

Alex mumbled something under his breath, and I’d lay odds it wasn’t a comment on Rand’s thoughtfulness. I took them reluctantly, wondering what he’d expect in return. I also wondered how he managed to work around dirt all day in his pristine white sweater. It should have made him look washed out but instead gave him the appearance of some pretty Russian snow prince. “Thanks.”

“Toad lily,” he said. “One of the few things that blooms here naturally this late in the season.”

“Pretty,” I said, “but we have dinner plans, so let’s talk about what you are.”

“So impatient.” He shifted his gaze to Alex. “I’d really hoped to speak to you alone.”

Alex crossed his arms and gave Rand his enforcer stoneface. “I’ll wait out here and you guys can talk in the greenhouse.”