The interior of the car was so tiny compared to what he was used to that it was hard not to notice her. She drove like she lived: fast and on the edge.
"Why are you so intense?" he asked as she took a corner he swore left the car with only two wheels on the ground.
"My mother says I was born that way. She thinks Amanda must have gotten both shares of restraint while I took all the courage."
She turned serious as she shifted gears and whipped around a slow-moving car. "Actually, that's not true. The fact is that I'm what some call a magnet. My psychic powers don't lie in special abilities like my sister Amanda's do. Mine are more quiet. Intuition, psychometry. Things that are virtually useless to a human, but are highly prized by the Daimons."
She paused at a light on Canal Street and looked at him. "I was only thirteen when the first group of Daimons attacked me. I would be dead now if Talon hadn't saved me."
Valerius frowned at her words. She was right. Magnets gave off a powerful lure to Daimons. With her fierce nature and zest for living, she would be all the more alluring to them.
"Unlike most humans, I wasn't allowed to live in ignorance of your world. It was either learn to defend myself or end up dead. No offense, dead doesn't appeal to me."
"No offense taken. Having been dead for more than two thousand years, I can't exactly recommend it myself."
She laughed at that. "I don't know. Dead and in Armani. I think most people would be hurling themselves off buildings if they could come back loaded like you."
"I had just as much money as a mortal man and a lot more..." He let his voice trail off as he realized he'd almost said friends. That wasn't really true, but at least back then people who openly disdained him, with the exception of his family, generally kept it to themselves.
It wasn't something he liked to think or talk about.
"Lot more what?" she asked when he didn't finish his sentence.
"Nothing."
Valerius directed her to his house on Third Street down in the Garden District.
Tabitha let out a low whistle as they neared it. She pulled into the drive, which was shielded by a variety of greenery and stopped before the large, wrought-iron gate. She lowered her window and pressed the button on the security box.
"Yes?"
He leaned forward and spoke loudly. "It's Valerius, Gilbert. Open the gate."
The gates opened a few seconds later.
"Nice," Tabitha said as she drove down his circular drive and parked before the front door, right behind what appeared to be a run-down primer and red Chevy IROC that must belong to one of Valerius's employees. She couldn't imagine Val being caught dead in it and since he was dead...
"I take it that isn't yours, or did your brother just get really pissed off one day and nail it?"
Valerius didn't comment.
Tabitha paused to stare at the fountain in the bend of the drive that had blue lights at night. It was a tribute to the goddess Minerva and had been one of the reasons Valerius had chosen this as his home.
"Does Artemis know about that statue?"
"Since I'm still breathing, I rather doubt it," he said quietly.
He led her up the old stone steps. As soon as they reached the door, Gilbert opened it.
"Good evening, my lord." His butler didn't comment on the fact that Valerius was coming home wet.
There was something about the rigid, older Englishman that reminded Tabitha of Alfred from Batman.
"Evening, Gilbert." He stood aside to let the older man see Tabitha. "This is Ms. Devereaux."
"Very good, sir." Gilbert inclined his head stiffly to Tabitha. "Charmed, madam." Then he looked back at Valerius. "Would your lordship and madame care for something to drink or eat?"
Valerius looked at her.