you are being ridiculous.” She didn’t bother to look at the paper, which she knew was probably the equivalent of a bodyguard résumé. It struck her as sort of amusing. What would a résumé like that say? Took a bullet for so and so in 2005. Roughed up so and so in 2007. Fended off crazed paparazzi in 2009.
“And you’re overreacting,” she added.
Maksim lifted an eyebrow. “You do realize you live in a fantasy world?”
“If I can’t live in a fantasy world, who can?” She pushed the paper back toward him, trying not to disturb any of her notes. She’d just finished researching The Ritual of Restraint, which was a particularly involved incantation for binding the most powerful of demons, and one she was using in a key place in her next Jenny Bell, Demon Hunter, book. So she did not want to get her notes out of order.
And she prided herself on her accuracy. She might write fiction, but her demon knowledge was correct. It should be; she was half demon, after all.
She glanced back to her brother. Of course, she couldn’t always be totally accurate. Some things humans wouldn’t necessarily buy. Like how sullen demons often were.
Oh, they were evil and manipulative, sure. But oversensitive and cranky…
That just didn’t make for good fantasy adventure.
Her brother scowled.
Or maybe it would. His glare might border on cranky, but it was certainly dark enough to be seen as menacing too.
She ignored it.
“You are reading way too much into a few coincidences,” she said.
“Broken into. Not once, but three times.” He held up three fingers just in case she wasn’t clear on how many times that was. “In fewer than as many months, I might add. Your books and research missing. You call all that a coincidence?”
She shrugged. “I’d call it unlucky. Or maybe lucky, because I wasn’t home any of the times it happened. And nothing irreplaceable was stolen.”
“And the strange phone calls?”
“They’ve stopped,” she pointed out.
“Yes, about the same time the break-ins started. Coincidence?”
“This is New Orleans. I mean, crime happens. Come on, weird stuff happens here all the time.”
Maksim shook his head, the desire to shake her clear from his grimace and his clenched hands.
“And you were just nearly run down by a car?”
“Again, this is New Orleans. Drinking and driving definitely happens.”
“Ellina, you have to be smart about this. You are a famous author. What if this is some crazed fan? Or some religious fanatic who doesn’t like that you are writing about demons? Or worse yet, some other demon who doesn’t like you writing about demons?”
She’d thought about all these things too. She wasn’t that clueless, but a bodyguard? In her house?
It was a known fact that she was a bit of a recluse. A reclusive writer who created fantastical worlds filled with monsters and demons and the inexperienced, yet fortuitously savvy, cake decorator turned demon hunter who protected humanity from them.
She liked staying in her charmed and fictional world of writing, and while Maksim didn’t know why, it was necessary.
But lately it did seem that the altogether too real outside world was determined to come into her safe little haven.
“And what about being trapped inside a cat? For several months?” He raised his eyebrows, daring her to argue that one.
Well, that hardly seemed like the “real” world, but it had happened. And it was disturbing, to say the least.
Ellina sighed. “Well, that one’s a little harder to explain away.”
But actually she had; she figured it was one of her other half brothers. The twins, maybe. They loved practical jokes. Neither Andrey nor Pasha had owned up to it. Even after Maksim bullied them, and Maksim was a professional when it came to bullying—now being a perfect example. She definitely liked it better when he bullied someone other than her.
He glared at her, clearly frustrated.
“I think it was the twins,” she said as she had many times before. “You know they aren’t particularly fond of me. They love to mess with me.”
“They aren’t fond of anyone. But I don’t think they put you in the cat. They seemed altogether too disappointed that they hadn’t come up with the idea.”
She could imagine they would have seen that as a missed opportunity. But their disappointment still didn’t clear them. It’s not like either of them could be labeled the embodiment of truth. And while they tolerated Maksim, because he was a more powerful demon than they were, they didn’t have to be so careful with her. They somewhat tolerated her, because Maksim insisted they do so, but she certainly couldn’t rule them out as the culprits of the cat fiasco.
Being trapped in a cat was something she’d rather not repeat, but it hardly warranted a bodyguard. Okay, all the things he mentioned put together did perhaps necessitate something to keep her safer. An alarm system. A dog maybe. But a bodyguard?
She didn’t want some burly lunkhead following her everywhere. She had too much work to do. She liked her privacy.
Not to mention she was far behind on her deadline for her publisher, who was already calling every other day to see if her newest Jenny Bell book was close to completion. Which was great, because her publisher was excited about her books, but it wasn’t even close to being done. And how did one explain that the reason she was late on her deadline was because she’d been stuck in a cat for nearly six months?
Her editor loved the books and all her demon ideas, but she didn’t think Ellina was working from experience. She certainly didn’t know that Ellina was half demon. Like she’d believe any of it anyway.
So Ellina just had to buckle down and get the book done as quickly as possible and with as few distractions as possible.
Maksim pushed the paper back toward her.
“You might as well look it over. I’ve made up my mind about this.”
Ellina stared at paper bullet-pointed with dates and past jobs. Nothing about “taking a bullet.” How good could this guy be anyway?
“This is ridiculous,” she said.
“Maybe. But better safe than sorry.”
Ellina snorted, knowing the sound was inelegant—and so undemonlike. “Better safe than sorry? That hardly sounds demonlike to me.”
He ignored her. “Jo thinks it’s a good idea too.”
“What do I think is a good idea?” Jo said, appearing at Ellina’s office doorway, her very pregnant belly showing just slightly before the woman herself.
Maksim
