"No," she said, her passion glowing in her blue gaze. "Life is an adventure. It's thrilling and scary. Sometimes it's even a bit boring, but it should never be serious."
Tabitha saw the hesitancy in his eyes. He was so unused to trusting people and for some reason, she wanted him to trust her. "Come with me, General Valerius, and let me show you just what life can really be and why it's so damned important that we save the world."
She watched as he opened the door handle like a man who was touching a baby's dirty diaper. She'd never seen anyone sneer more. It was quite impressive.
But he didn't say anything more as he got into the car and she dropped it into gear and squealed away from the curb.
Valerius wasn't expecting much to come of this night; but he had to admit that he did like the vibrancy of this woman. The zeal with which she lived. She was fascinating to watch. No wonder Ash had befriended her.
When one was an immortal, the freshness of life had a way of dying even more quickly than one's body had. As the centuries blended together, it was easy to forget the human side of oneself. To remember why humanity needed saving.
It was hard to remember how to laugh. Then again, laughter and Valerius were virtual strangers. Until Tabitha, he'd never really shared a laugh with anyone.
Tabitha had the enthusiasm of a child. Somehow she had managed to hold on to her youthful ideals even in the face of a world that didn't entirely accept her. She truly didn't care what he, or anyone else, thought of her. She went through her life doing what she needed to do and handling everything on her own terms.
How he envied her that.
She was a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Valerius laughed in spite of himself.
"What?" she asked as she whipped the car around a corner so fast that she practically threw him into her seat.
He righted himself. "I was just thinking someone should name you Hurricane Tabitha."
She snorted. "You're too late. My mother already did. Actually, she named me that the first time she visited my dorm room and saw the chaos of me without my sister Amanda around to pick up after me. You should be grateful that after twelve years of living on my own, I finally learned to pick up for myself."
He shuddered at the thought. "Truly, I am grateful."
She cut the car sharply into the Jackson Brewery parking lot and whipped it into a parking space that wasn't really supposed to be a parking space.
"The police will tow the car."
"Nah," she said as she shut it off and placed a small silver medallion on the dashboard that had her name engraved on it. "This is Ed's route and he knows better. I'll get my sister to hex him and his brother if he tries."
"Ed?"
"One of the cops assigned here. He keeps an eye out for me. We used to go to high school together and he dated my older sister, Karma, for years."
"You have a sister named Karma?" Valerius asked.
"Yes and it's very apt. She has a nasty tendency to come back and hurt anyone who does her wrong whenever they least expect it. She's like the big, black spider, lying in wait." The words weren't nearly as amusing as the gesture Tabitha made where she held her hands up and nibbled like a rabid mouse. "Just when you think you're safe from her wrath... bam!" She slapped her hands together. "She knocks your feet out from under you and leaves you lying on the floor, bleeding profusely."
"I do hope you're joking."
"Not at all. She's a scary woman, but I love her."
Valerius got out of the car, then paused as a thought occurred to him. Every time he turned around, she pulled out another relative. "Just how many sisters do you have?"
"Eight."
"Eight?" he asked, stunned at the number. No wonder he couldn't keep them all straight. He wondered how she did.
Tabitha nodded. "Tiyana who goes by Tia. Selena and Amanda you know. Then there's Esmerelda, or Essie, as we call her. Yasmina or Mina. Petra, Ekaterina who goes by Trina mostly, and Karma who refuses to have a nickname."
Valerius gave a low whistle at her roll call.
"What?" Tabitha asked.