Brigid stepped back and studied her handiwork. “How do you feel, then?”
“Awesome.” Dove’s eyes fluttered open. “Thank you.”
“An’ you’re welcome.” Brigid turned to me. “They hit you harder, seems like.”
“Well, I really pissed them off.”
She laughed. Then she placed her fingertips on my jaw, the tattoos swirled once again, the gold light drifted from her fingers. I closed my eyes as the tingling sensation of warmth penetrated my sore jaw and my aching head and neck. After a while the sensations faded, and when my eyes opened, I felt perfectly fine.
“There now,” said Brigid. “All better.”
“What kind of paranormal are you?” asked Dove.
“Oh, not a paranormal like you’ll find in Broken Heart,” said Brigid. “I’m a goddess.”
Dove blinked. “You’re the Brigid? The Celtic goddess of healing?”
“Among many other things,” said Brigid. “All you need now is some food and sleep.”
“I’m already asleep,” I muttered. Seriously, it had to be a dream. Brigid the goddess of healing, wisdom, poetry, keening, and metalsmithing had just healed me. I could not be awake. I’d been bored senseless at the gala and was no doubt collapsed in a corner of the room, snoring away while people stepped over my prone form.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” The other redhead set a cup of tea on the table next to me. “Chamomile,” she said. “To soothe your nerves.”
“I might require something stronger than tea,” I said.
“Trust me. It’ll do the trick.” She offered a hand, and said, “I’m Lenette.”
“Moira. And Dove,” I replied, nodding toward my friend. I shook Lenette’s hand, and then I peered at her. “You don’t seem to be dead or among the furred ones.”
“Oh, no,” she said, “I’m a witch.”
“Of course you are.”
“Welcome to Broken Heart.” She placed a cup of tea next to Dove, who picked it up by the delicate handle and sipped.
“This is wonderful,” she said. “Thank you.”
I took Dove’s lead and pretended that everything was normal, even though I was currently taking tea in a room with a witch, a goddess, a werewolf, and some vampires. The tea was very good indeed, and I did feel my tension loosen as I sipped the fragrant liquid.
“You’ll need these,” said Drake. He placed something warm and sticky on my shoulder. I looked down and saw a heart with a sword through it. The tattoo glittered briefly before disappearing into my skin.
He did the same to Dove’s shoulder.
“The Invisi-shield requires that all within the town’s borders have these emblems,” said Drake.
“The Invisi-shield?” asked Dove. “That sounds like the brand name of tampons.”
Patsy, who was currently getting her feet rubbed by her husband, snorted a laugh. “Well, it was that or Maxi-shield.” She grinned. “You’ve been issued temporary invitations to Broken Heart. Then you spend tomorrow evening solving the mystery of the pyramid.”
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
Patsy looked at me, her expression grave. “Then it’s the end of the world.”
Chapter 13
“No pressure there,” said Dove. She glanced at me, and I could see then she wasn’t as cool a customer as she appeared. Her eyes were shadowed with a combination of fear and excitement. So far, I hadn’t run screaming into the night, either. Go, Team!
“The end of the world?” I sputtered. I eyed Drake and found him studying my generous cleavage. He glanced up, saw that he’d been caught, and offered me a wicked grin. Talk about waking up the ol’ hormones. I’d never wanted anyone like I wanted him, not in my whole life. Whew.
“The world world? As in the planet we’re currently on?” asked Dove.
“Well, the world as we know it,” said Patsy. She yawned, as if apocalyptic talk was more boring than discussing weather patterns. Her expression was like that of a purring kitten. Well, if I had a handsome man rubbing my feet and calves, I’d be purring, too. And there was Drake just inches away, standing like a sentinel with his crossed arms and legs spread apart. Oh, if only he would get down on bended knee and take those big ol’ hands and . . . my imagination went awry. I shut down the erotic images. Wow. Who knew my imagination was so vivid?
“If Karn has his way,” said Drake, “then the world will know that parakind really exists.”
“Yeah, that’s been mentioned.” I resisted the urge to fan myself. It seemed really, really hot in here. “If you need this tech patch to get past the Invisi-shield, is it impossible to sneak inside Broken Heart?”