is your task, Nikki. You're the Magi here, not me. The twins won't say anything either.'
`I bet they won't.' Nikki grinned at her. `And how did they seduce you into their world?'
`Only one of them did, little one.' Tashia flashed a smile. `Jealous, are we?'
`No,' she said, looking around as they reached the resort. `I wish we had our unit further away from the main section of the resort.'
`Let them look,' Tashia said, slowing her stride as other people stopped to stare. `Miekia said to say I was a basketball player from Ukraine if anyone asked. The purple hair is my trademark.'
`So very modern of her.' Nikki opened the door to the unit and Tashia ducked as she followed her in.
`Mmm, much better.' Tashia stripped off in the air conditioning. Nikki watched, still amazed by the fine silver lines covering Tashia's body, remembering how they glowed when… `Sure you wouldn't like to join me before the ceremony?'
Nikki blinked and blushed. She had been fixated on Tashia's smooth body. `Uh, you already have company.' She nodded at the sounds from the room next door.
`I'm sure she wouldn't mind.' Tashia slipped over to her, putting a hand on Nikki's face. `If we're going to war you should have some time with us. It's been so long, little one.' She traced a finger down Nikki's neck and into her blouse.
`Tashia.' Nikki pulled her hand away. `I can't. Not now.'
Tashia smiled. `Mmm. There's another.'
Nikki fell onto the couch. `Maybe. It's sudden, but intense. So intense it hurts.'
`Is she here? With the others?' Tashia sat down beside her.
`She is here but,' Nikki ran her fingers through her hair, thinking of Ruth, `she's not one of us.'
`Hmm. But she is different enough to—'
`Yes, very different. More dangerous than intriguing.' Nikki glanced at the conjoining door between their units, which had crept open. `Enough about me. I have to call Mother and Big Ears is waiting for you.'
`Yes.' Tashia glanced at the door and leant forward, her lips brushing Nikki's ear. `Follow your instincts, little one. Listen to Eleanor, but it is your decision whether we stay. Either way you have my support.'
`Thank you.' Nikki kissed her on the cheek. `Go, and don't be late at the club tonight.'
`No chance. Can't wait to meet our unexpected guest — and his wife.' Tashia winked at her.
`Go away.' Nikki threw a cushion at the door as Tashia slipped behind it. `Can't keep anything from you, can I?'
The door closed and Nikki lay back, eyes closed. `All this and it's not even nightfall. What next?' Ruth's face filled her mind's eye.
`Mother is calling. Mother is calling.' Her mobile phone chirped. She sat up and stared at the phone. `Mother is calling. Mother is calling.'
She picked it up, holding it for a moment before answering. `Mother.'
`Are you leaving yet? Have you warned the others?'
`No to both.'
`You need to leave now. Only Tashia and the elder Flowers sisters have any combat experience. Bloodells do not take prisoners, child. Abandon the island.'
`Mason Douglas is here with his family.' Nikki felt odd saying it, almost excited. The silence on the phone unnerved her. `Mother?' Silence answered her and Nikki checked to make sure the call had not been lost. It hadn't. `Eleanor?'
`I did not foresee this.'
`Believe me, it was a surprise for us.' Nikki took a moment, not sure how her mother would react. `Um, Renee and I bumped into them today.'
`Bumped?' Eleanor's voice pitched upwards and Nikki held the phone away from her ear, ready. The tirade didn't come. Just the even sound of breathing. She frowned. This was not expected.
`Mother?'
`What was he like?'
`Sorry?' Nikki nearly fell off the couch in surprise.
`Mason. What was he like?'
`I'm sorry,' Nikki sat up, and took a breath, `I just told you we met Butcher, the one human everyone of our kind hates, and you want to know what he was like?'
`You're alive. That says everything to me, daughter. You met the man, not the monster.'
`Kind of. We sensed something unusual lurking around on the island and went to find it. The entire Douglas family arrived just as we did. He was pissed off to see us, to say the least, and Renee found out she wasn't a match for him. Not even close.'
`Yet you survived.'
`Yes. Gaia intervened.' Her mother went quiet again. `She broke all the rules. Pulled us all back through time to when the Douglas family was attacked in the UK, at the funeral. It's from her Mason draws his strength. Her intervention saved them all.'
`What else did she show you?'
`Ruth, Mason's wife, spoke for her, like an oracle. Gaia has warned of a war, one that will affect all those who live here in her world. A treaty was made between us and the Douglas family.'
`A treaty was made, brokered by Gaia? Will Mason honour it?'
Nikki smiled. `Ruth believes in it, so Mason will too. She has Gaia's touch and voice, one that Mason listens to. It is Ruth who will hold the treaty true until he feels the full touch of Gaia.'
`Daughter, you speak as if… Where is your sister?'
`Having a swim.' Nikki rubbed her forehead, the day's events settling on her. `She needed to calm down.'
`Why?'
`Mason is immune to her curse.'
`Oh.'
Nikki let the information soak in.
It was a lot for Eleanor to accept.
`You're staying, then? On the island? Yes, of course you are.'
`There's a lot we have to understand about today and I'd have no chance of getting Renee to leave anyway. And with Gaia revealing her hand today of all days, we have to stay.'
`The Bloodells that are coming, it was Mason who warned you, wasn't it?'
`Someone called Max, from the Douglas Fund, called him earlier today. I believe the Fund is coming here in force, Mother. To deal with any Bloodells.'
Silence filled the phone and Nikki swallowed, uncomfortable with it. `Mother? Why are you so quiet? What's going on?'
`Are you alone?'
`Yes, and none can hear our conversation,' Nikki said, letting her natural defence energies thicken.
`Wait
