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October 31, 1801

S imi sat at the ornately carved bar of the newly opened place called Sanctuary in New Orleans It was a fun restaurant where they served the best eats. Owned by a family of them BearWere creatures, Sanctuary was one of her favorite places to visit, she decided.

Even if the shape-shifting bear people weren’t so happy that akri came with her.

And not just him. The Dark-Hunters in general made them Weres nervous.

Even so, they were exceptionally nice to her. Probably because akri spent lots of monies with them for her to eat as much as she wanted, and that was a lot.

“How are you doing, Miss Simi?”

Simi smiled at Nicolette Peltier or Mama Lo as she was generally known. Tall and blond, she was exceptionally beautiful and was dressed in a thin high waisted gown similar to Simi’s except hers was a pale blue that matched her eyes. And it had little yellow flowers that were the same color as her short-sleeved jacket.

Mama Lo was the matriarch of the giant bear family who owned the place. But it wasn’t just bears who lived and worked here. There were lots of other shape-shifters, too.

And they was all the nicest.

“The Simi’s doing just fine, akra-Mama Lo. How is you today?”

“ Très bien, ma petite . Would you like more chicken?”

“Please! And more of the hot sauce.”

Laughing, Mama Lo motioned for one of the servers to bring what Simi asked for.

She patted Simi on the back and then gave her a kiss to each cheek. “ Bon appétit !”

Simi smiled at her kindness. “ Merci, Maman .”

Just as the waiter placed the food in front of her, a man sat down beside her. She paid him no heed as she started to eat.

Not until the human laughed. “You have quite the appetite, eh?”

Simi paused to pass an inquisitive stare toward the stranger. Older with a gray beard, he was decidedly human. Why he wanted to speak to her, she had no idea. “The Simi likes to eat.”

“Indeed. Are you here alone?”

“She is not.”

Simi looked over her shoulder at the sound of akri-Thorn’s deep voice. Not only was he angry, he actually placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and lifted him up out of his seat.

“You should be going. Now.”

The man took one look at the fury on akri-Thorn’s face and quickly scrambled away.

Simi arched a brow. “Should the Simi ask?”

“The Simi shouldn’t talk to strangers. I didn’t like the way he was looking at you. Or the thoughts in his head where you are concerned.”

Smiling, Simi licked the sauce off her forefinger. “It okies, Thorny-man. Akri says the Simi’s allowed to barbecue any human man who tries to puts his hands on the Simi without her permission.”

“Good.” He took the seat beside her. “Nice to know Acheron has some sense.”

There was a peculiar note in his tone that made Simi curious. “Akri-Thorn … you’re not jealous is you?”

“Of course not.”

“You sound jealous.”

Again, he scoffed. “I just worry about you.”

“If you say so. But it didn’t sound like worry to the Simi,” she teased. “Sounded like jealousy.”

To her amazement, he actually blushed. “Don’t talk to strangers, Simi.”

Before she could ask him about that, he excused himself and headed toward the stairs where a parlor was set up for card games.

Dev-bear came over to her. With long, curly blond hair he wore pulled back in a queue, he frowned at Simi. “You know Thorn?”

“I do.”

“Is he all right? He seemed a little flustered.”

Simi held her hands up and shrugged. “Guess he didn’t like the Simi teasing on him. Weird, right?”

Dev-bear tossed the white hand towel he was holding over his shoulder. “You want me to order you more food, Miss Simi?”

“Thank you, but the Simi’s finally getting a bit full.”

“I’ll let the kitchen staff know they can slow down now.”

Simi sat there for a few more minutes, thinking over Thorn’s strange reaction. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

They’d been such good friends for so long.

But then akri was the same way. He never liked for unknown men to approach her. He got extremely testy whenever someone new came around, especially now that she was looking more like a young woman.

Simi wasn’t sure what she thought about growing up. Charonte were very different than other species. Asides from being so slow to age, there were other things, too.

And it bothered her that she was the only one of her kind. She kept asking akra-Apollymi about her sissy and brother, but the goddess wouldn’t tell her anything other than she was unique and akri’s guardian.

Whenever she went to visit the goddess, there were never any other Charonte there like they used to be.

Simi was all alone.

Your job is to watch over Apostolos, Simi. He’s your family.

But it was lonely being the only one of her kind. She missed being able to speak Charonte and laughing about silly humans with her demonic brethren.

While akri and akri-Lexi were wonderful and she loved them, she did want to see other Charontes. Though akri could look like a Charonte sometimes. He just very seldom did it and it wasn’t the same as all time Charonte.

Simi turned her hand over and curled her fingers so that she could study her nails. They were actually more akin to claws. Thicker than human fingernails. Stronger.

Closing her eyes, she tried to remember what it was like to live in her nest, among her own. She could barely even remember what her brother and sister looked like.

Simi had long forgotten the sound of her mother’s voice and that hurt most of all.

She missed her mother and her family.

Like the bears here. She saw Dev fighting with his identical brother Remi. They shoved and then hugged. That was family. You might fight, but you always came back together. ’Cause family was everything.

She believed that.

A sudden wave of sadness went through her. That wasn’t like the Simi. She was always happy.

Well, she tried to be. There was enough sadness in the world. She didn’t need to add more.

But that awful heavy feeling had moved into her chest. She didn’t like it.

Was this what it meant to grow up? To stop being happy all the time? Most the adults around her carried awful sadness inside them.

She didn’t want that. They all seemed to have a part of them missing. A part of their soul that was so scarred that it kept them from seeing the good things in their lives.

The little things that made her so giddy. Like hot sauce and music. A pretty sunset. Good eats.

Simi didn’t want to fight or judge others. She just wanted to live in peace and find the unique beauty that surrounded everyone and everything.

What was it that killed hearts? Too much pain? Or living too many years? She wasn’t sure. Whatever caused it, she just hoped that she never had it. ’Cause the Simi liked to laugh, and she wanted to always appreciate all the different kinds of people and creatures around her.

If growing up stole that from her, then she hoped she always stayed young. Maybe akri was right. She just needed to be a little girl longer.

At least as long as she could.