Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,84

dinner. "Sounds good. See you later, Sweetie." I returned his kiss, but this time on the lips and a little longer. "I love you."

"Woah. You feeling okay? I love you, too."

I needed to leave before I started crying. "Yup. Peachy keen. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. It's a date." He grinned.

Without looking back, I headed for the coffee shop. Candace was still making coffee, but when she saw me, she sighed, stopped, and wiped her hands on her apron. "Is it time?"

I nodded.

She turned to Josie. "We are leaving. Do you need anything before we go?"

"Nope. Have fun! Pick out a winner." Josie grinned and waved to me. "Thanks, Dot. Best sister ever."

Sure. Write that on my tombstone. "My pleasure." I returned her smile, a little half-heartedly and waited for Candy to walk around the counter. When she was close enough, she reached out and took my hand and we headed for the back room, nodding at Shea along the way. The plan was for Candy and I to go back to my house and change, Shea would meet us there.

As soon as we went through the door, I pulled the shadows to me and stepped out into my living room.

Chapter 23

The shower felt divine. I let the hot water beat the anxiety out of me before I finally shut it off, dried off, and stepped out into my chilly bedroom to get dressed. I'd laid out my war gear on my bed before I hopped in the shower and frowned at the jeans, sweater, and tank top. I would have felt better with a suit of armor and a flaming sword, but the rugged gear was as close as I was going to get. It was harder than it needed to be pulling the jeans over my wet skin, but we were in a hurry.

Stomping my feet into the walking boots, I opened my bedroom door and gasped at the crowd standing around angrily.

"Hey, guys," I stammered. "Whatcha all doin' here?" I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew. Somebody had ratted me out. Chief, Jimmy, Jason, Dennis, Dar, Yuki, Nana, Josie, Ellis, and even my mother were standing behind Shea and Candace, with nothing but contempt on their faces. Shea and Candace were looking everywhere but at me. The little snitches. I narrowed my eyes at them.

"Snitches, even witches, get stitches," I said to the two of them.

"Forgive us, Lady, but we could not let you do this."

"I'm doing it."

"Not alone, you're not," Chief answered for the group.

"Huh?"

My mother stepped around everyone and closed the distance between us, stopping in front of me with a sigh. "You're too fucking stubborn to try and stop. You're too fucking stubborn to ask for help. These two angels realized that and sounded the alarm as soon as you headed into the bathroom and gathered your family to help you on your absurd quest." She put her hand on my face. "You get your stubbornness from your father. I hope you know that."

"Sure, I do." I chuckled softly. Looking over her shoulder, I stared at the group behind her and started crying. "Damn it. I didn't want to get you involved because this is going to be dangerous. If anything happens to any of you… I couldn't handle that."

"And how do you think we would feel if something happened to you? If you're going to do this, you're doing it with all of us," Jimmy answered and looked at the group for affirmation. All of them nodded, leaving absolutely no room for argument. To go, I needed Candace and Shea. The odds of getting them away from everyone else wasn't possible. Not with the death grip that Josie had on Candace and the grip Dar had on Shea.

"Fine. You win," I answered and let out the breath I'd been holding.

Smiles and nods graced their faces, but only for a moment. "So, what's the plan?" Chief stepped forward.

"We go, get in, find my father, and hopefully get home in one piece?" I shrugged, letting everyone know I was open for suggestions.

"Sounds like a plan," Chief answered. "So, how exactly do we get there?"

"We shadow walk into the depths of hell. We have a map and a key." I smiled at Candace and Shea before looking around at the others. "Is everybody armed?"

Some nodded, most didn't. Jimmy grinned as he held up a tire iron. Chief pointed at the gun on his hip. The gun he never carried. Candace produced a wicked looking