"There are types who can do it," the blonde woman said, "but mostly those who cannot." She smiled at Elyssa. "Do you believe me now?"
Elyssa shook her head. "So what? We had a similar dream. It doesn't prove anything."
"About what?" I asked.
The blonde woman took a few steps toward us. "Far enough," Elyssa said in a low, threatening voice.
The other woman stopped and smiled. "Justin, I am Vallaena, your father's sister. Your aunt."
"What, none of that hierarchical first of house stuff you lectured me about?" Elyssa said. "You're not making yourself dirty by talking to him?"
"I have already sullied myself by speaking to my brother. It is of no further consequence if I speak to Justin."
I was confused. Obviously these two had spoken before and not become BFFs. From everything I knew about my dad's family, this woman could be a very dangerous and unscrupulous person. But she seemed kind of nice to me. And she was way too hot to be my aunt.
"All right, you're my aunt. What do you want from me?"
"I want to protect you, Justin."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I already have a badass ninja girlfriend. What else could a guy need?"
Elyssa smiled at me just before tossing a see-I-told-you-so smile back at Vallaena.
Vallaena didn't seem to notice. "It's very important we protect you, Justin. There are indicators you are a person of import. You may be the key to preventing a disaster from occurring."
"You gotta be kidding me," Shelton said. "Who brought Nostradamus with them? Are you talking about a foreseeance?"
"I am," Vallaena said.
Shelton rubbed his hands together. "Let me get some popcorn. This ought to be good."
Blue fire flashed in Vallaena's eyes. "Do not mock me, magic man. You hide behind lies and half-truths, earning money from other people's misfortunes, and have no right to cast judgment on me."
Shelton's mouth dropped. "Who—"
"I know all about you Harry Shelton. I know about Aerianas. Unless you wish me to elucidate further, you will keep your mouth firmly closed."
I hadn't known Shelton for long, but considering his abrasive and uncaring nature, it amazed me anything could turn his face white and render him speechless—well, except for his beloved antique lamp. Elyssa had also gone very still as she watched Vallaena, but I couldn't see her face to know if it was a wary kind of stillness or if she saw something in my dear aunt's face that gave her serious doubts. Vallaena's tone sent a shiver down my back as well. I caught a faint whiff of something, a sweet smell lingering with the odor of burnt tires. But it didn't stink, not in the way it should have. Instead, a part of me liked it.
Vallaena turned back to me in the shocked silence of the room. All eyes were on her. Then Dad caught my eye and shook his head ever so slightly. I guessed he was telling me not to trust her. Or maybe he just thought she had bad manners.
"Back to the subject at hand," I said, trying to grin and possibly lighten the funereal tone of the room, "even if I'm supposed to prevent a disaster, what do you want from me?"
"I am the first of House Slade. I wish to officially take you under my protection."
"She wants to do it before Kassallandra has the chance," Dad said.
"Uh, who?" I asked trying to figure out how to spell such a fancy name.
"Your father's betrothed," Vallaena said with a wicked little smile.
"She's the one who attacked us at the restaurant," Elyssa said. "She's the one sending the hellhounds."
"Flaming red hair?" I asked.
Her eyebrows shot up. "How did you know?"
"I caught a glimpse of her hair back at the house when all this mess started."
"This mess, as you call it, started long before this," Vallaena said.
"Kassallandra wants to put me under her protection?" I said. "She has a funny way of doing it."
"Anae Kassallandra also wishes to exact a measure of revenge on your father for abandoning her and…" She shuddered and looked like she was about to become ill. "Marrying and mating a human."
"Is she his sister too?" Dad had told me some nasty things about spawn breeding. Men were rare and had to mate with a lot of females to keep the bloodline going, even if it meant doing it with their own family members. I didn't want to think about how many uncle-daddies or aunt-mommies were in this family.
Vallaena shook her head. "She is from another house and young like your father, Daevadius, and also a direct descendant of the patriarch and matriarch of her house. The marriage was to unite the firsts of our houses by blood."
So Daevadius was Dad's real name? It sounded cooler than David though a lot more pretentious.
"She's leaving out the good part," Dad said. "Not only would I mate with Kassa, but also her mother and sisters while she would mate with my father and brothers."
"Gross!" Felicia said about the same time others chimed in their exclamations of revulsion.
Meghan heaved and I was sure she'd just thrown up in her mouth. I knew I felt like doing it.
"Why bother with marrying?" I asked.
"It is a formality," Vallaena said. "And before the rest of you judge us, you should know our blood is not weakened by a small genetic pool. We operate on a completely different level than those of human stock."
"In other words, your crap don't stink," Ryland said with his trademark wolf grin.
"I didn't come here to engage in a symposium on Daemos breeding rituals," Vallaena said. "Justin, if you accept my protection, then Anae Kassallandra will have to go through proper political channels to get you."
"Either way you cut it, it sounds like prison to me," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not interested. Why don't you use your power to stop Kassa instead?"
"Her power comes from House Assad. I cannot force her to stop. And since you are considered Castratae, there is no political solution unless you ask for asylum."
I really wanted to get up and pace, think about this crazy situation, and come up with a great idea to get out of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't as good at getting out of messes as I was at getting into them. That was why I had Elyssa. She could usually reach into her pouch and pull out a tissue, a candy bar, a sword, or whatever the situation called for. But she didn't have her pouch with her at the moment.
"I need to heal and think," I said. "But I've got to say this foreseeing thing sounds pretty thin."
"The number you and Elyssa spoke of, forty-three eleven."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"That is the name of the prophecy. Foreseeance four-three-one-one."
Chapter 21
My mind flashed back to the scene after the green demon had killed Meghan's mom. I saw the bloody scrap of paper in Meghan's trembling hand. Her current self in the here and now looked down at her own hands as if seeing the same thing, as if suddenly recalling something terrible she'd forgotten. I knew the exact feeling. Elyssa's hand tightened on mine.
"Let me see this foreseeance," I said to Vallaena. "I want to read it for myself."
"I don't have it," she replied. "I explained to Elyssa that every variation of it which has been spoken and recorded has vanished over the years."
"Sounds like a conspiracy," Smith said.
Felicia groaned. "Oh crap, not this again."
"Conspiracies exist!" He threw his hands in the air. "Why are you so opposed to the idea?"
"Can't you just let our parents rest in peace?" Felicia jerked herself off the couch, face red. "Not only did I become an orphan, but I lost my brother because he's so damned obsessed." She stormed away, though not far since the hideout wasn't very big.
Smith looked embarrassed. "People conspire all the time. I mean, who wouldn't want to at least find out who murdered their parents?"
"Who were your parents?" Dad asked.
"The Nostis."
"Phillip and Maryann?"
Smith nodded. "You knew them?"
Dad shook his head. "I remember Alice talking about them."
"I remember Phillip and Maryann," Meghan said. "They met with my mom sometimes."
"Did they meet with my mom too?" I asked.
"I think so. Like I said, my mom didn't allow me into her meetings and I think she might have blurred some of my memories."
"What was the date the green demon attacked us?"
Meghan furrowed her brow. "I couldn't say exactly. Though the memory is pretty clear now, some details are still blurry."
I concentrated, trying to recall something, anything that would give me an indicator of the date. I'd been fairly little at the time. Seven, maybe eight? It seemed about right, because Mom told Meghan's mother, Sandy, that she was pregnant. It amazed me how clear some of those details were now, as if the horrible event had just happened yesterday. If my sister Ivy was almost eleven now then, yeah, my age guesstimate would be about right.
"How old were you when your parents died?" I asked Smith.
He looked up from his tablet computer and took a moment before answering. "Eighteen."
"Roughly five years ago?"
He nodded.
Utilizing the power of math, I figured the attack on Meghan's mom had happened nine or ten years ago, four years before the murder of the Nostis. Were the two incidents connected?
Smith ran the numbers as well. "Four years is a long time to wait if they were trying to wipe out your mom and her acquaintances," he said. "Why not all at once?"
"Might look too obvious?" I couldn't think of another reason, though I felt certain some diabolical mastermind out there could figure it out in a second.
Dad arched his eyebrows. "Wait a minute, Justin. Are you saying you, Meghan, and your mother were there when Sandy Andretti was killed?"