Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt joined us for breakfast – they brought fresh squeezed orange juice and some hot potato pancakes that were really good. Mama had made omelets, link sausage, cheese grits (yes, it’s a Southern thing) and biscuits. Oh man! I could barely breathe after finishing all that – but boy, was it ever good!
The Schmidts are originally from Munich although you’d never know talking to Mrs. Schmidt – she has no trace of an accent at all. She has family in Montana that she spent summers with growing up and said she didn’t remember not being able to speak both German and English. Mr. Schmidt was in manufacturing – he sold parts to machines that manufacturers use. They moved to NYC in their twenties and were both citizens now. But they told us how they met in Munich as teenagers – very romantic!
Jack was hoping there wouldn’t be much of a direct confrontation but he wasn’t taking chances. No creature is a match for a command slayer – they have no way to fight. And a werecat isn’t a match for a normal human unless the person is in their sway (under the creature’s natural spell). Mr. Schmidt wasn’t as powerful as he’d once been but he promised Ayami and Kagome faithfully that he would protect her if necessary.
Ayami and Mr. Schmidt borrowed the parlor so Ayami could take on her seductress form and Mr. Schmidt could teach her how to sense and find him if need be. Slayers aren’t vulnerable to a creature’s spell. I mean, a warlock could levitate something heavy and drop it – that would work – but creatures cannot cast spells on slayers, not even witches. Which is why it was safe for a man to see a werecat as a seductress – a normal man would fall under her spell and – it gets gruesome from there, trust me.
It took a bit longer than I’d have thought. When they came out, Ayami was beet red and Mr. Schmidt was trying hard not to laugh. I figured Ayami has succumbed – it happens. Creatures are driven by very powerful instincts and Ayami in her seductress form would want to seduce and kill. Once in human form again, she’d be herself and probably horribly embarrassed. It was a good theory – just happened to be wrong.
The Schmidts left and we girls got moving – all of us had classes. Mama got stuck with the entire clean up because she wouldn’t let Mrs. Schmidt help and she shooed me out rather than let me risk being late.
At dinner, Jack didn’t risk coming to my house again and I didn’t risk going to his. I’m pretty sure that was all it was – I did want to see him but I also had – well, my feelings were different, stronger and I had to sort that all out – which I’d had zero time to really do. But if I could have just walked across the street normally, I’d have been at the Scarlotti table that night, I’m sure.
He did call after dinner. Tresmayne had identified the creature on the roof as a vampire but wasn’t sure if it was modern or traditional – it had fled the instant he set foot on my side of the street and he hadn’t even transformed. Jack agreed with me that sounded more like the timid modern than the chicken hearted Mycroft but we couldn’t be sure – and there was always the possibility of another we didn’t yet know about.
Then we stopped talking shop. I was in the parlor with everyone but I didn’t notice them any more. Sometimes the slayer needs to be a girl, you know?
Daddy finally tapped me on the shoulder and I saw how late it was. Jack and I said good night and I joined the cousins in my room. Another round of girl talk – Ayami owned up that what had embarrassed her was that she had a difficult time transforming into her seductress form – she’d avoided it and never done it before. The first two tries weren’t exactly seductive – evidently that is a learned skill – and the final was an improvement only in that is was human and female.
Kagome took it easy on me about my call with Jack so I let her off easy when she told us Jason had asked her out in class today. Unlike shutter bug Ayami, Kagome didn’t even have a picture of Jason yet. She did promise to introduce us as soon as possible – I wanted a face to put with the name.
Except for classes, the next two days were boring.
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