Page 3 of The Party (Witch Queen)

The sword-playing girls stopped fighting, expressions of horrified delight dawning on their faces.

“Uncle Haruki and Uncle Leah are being lewd again!” the one with the pigtails hissed conspiratorially at her sparring partner.

Her companion nodded solemnly. “We should take notes.”

Mila muttered something under her breath and started across the foyer.

“You can put your coats in that closet,” she told Mae and Nikolai over her shoulder, indicating a door on their left.

Mae walked over and opened it.

A pretty girl with blonde hair stood on a stepping stool inside the storage room. She had her hands braced against the wall on either side of a pale-faced, dark-haired, dread-stricken teenage boy and was leaning up to kiss him.

Nikolai made a choking noise.

Mae slammed the door shut.

Yup, that was Jacob Schroeder about to have his lips violated by a girl.

He looks a bit weak to be the Hydra’s host, my witch , Hellreaver observed suspiciously.

Mae wasn’t fooled. The beast inside the kid was a fearsome creature, albeit one currently frozen in the face of an amorous advance.

Mila stopped halfway across the lobby. “What’s the matter?”

Mae chewed her lip. “There’s some kind of situation going on in there.”

“Amelia is at it again,” Oliver muttered without looking up from his page.

“Big Sis is a hussy,” Lola declared solemnly beside him, except she lisped the ‘hussy’ and it came out ‘hutthy’. The dog woke up, yawned, and went straight back to sleep.

Suspicion darkened Mila’s eyes. She retraced her steps, dumped her bags in Nikolai’s arms, and yanked the closet door open. She sucked in air at the sight of Jacob desperately holding the blonde girl at bay.

So did Pig Tails and her sword-fighting companion, who’d followed her.

Jacob glanced wildly their way. “Help me!” he gurgled.

Mila lowered her brows.

“Amelia Storm, unhand that guy right now!” she growled. “And you,” she snarled at Jacob, “—how about you grow a pair? You’re the bloody Hydra, for Christ’s sake!”

“No cussing in front of the kids, Mila,” Lucy reminded mildly.

“But,” Jacob glanced at Amelia, “—I don’t wanna hurt her.”

“It’s okay, Jacob,” Amelia crooned. “I don’t mind a little pain.” She closed her eyes and puckered her lips with a smooching sound that made the Hydra’s host shudder.

“What is wrong with these kids?” Nikolai asked Mae in a horrified whisper.

I like their spirit, my witch , Hellreaver said.

“Uncle Tomas and I have a bet going on whether Amelia grows up to be a dominatrix or not,” Oliver informed them nonchalantly, still reading.

William grimaced. “Do you even know what a dominatrix is, kid?”

Oliver looked up with narrowed eyes. “This is why you should read more books, Uncle William.”

William’s mouth flattened to a thin line. “That kid has an answer for everything.”

“He really does,” Leah muttered.

“That’s because his father is the Sphinx,” Haruki explained wisely.

A haughty half-smile curved Oliver’s lips.

A toddler in a cowboy hat and diapers chose that moment to shoot out of a side passage and cross the foyer at a dead run, high-pitched squeal echoing across the hall.

A bear of a man came barreling out after him.

“Marcus, stop right there!” He slowed at the sight of Mae and Nikolai. “Oh, hi. You must be our guests from New York. I’m Asgard. Asgard Go—” He faltered, wariness creeping in his face. “What are you all doing in front of the closet?”

“Amelia is trying to jump Jacob again,” Pig Tails blabbed. She pointed helpfully.

Asgard drew a horrified breath. He came over and scowled at the accused. “Why, you little—!” A crash, followed by an excited squeal, came from a room opening off the foyer. “Dammit! Sorry, gotta run! Amelia, you better unhand Jacob before your father sees you!” he warned over his shoulder.

A familiar figure appeared at the rear of the foyer just as Asgard vanished after the little boy.

“Did I just hear Asgard and Marcus?” Madeline Godard-Black asked in a harried voice. She was holding another kid in a cowboy hat and diapers under her arm. Her expression brightened at the sight of Mae and Nikolai. “You made it.”

Mae smiled faintly. “Hey, Madeline.”

They’d met the scientist and Mila in Philadelphia a few months back.

“Asgard and Marcus went that way,” Lucy indicated for Madeleine’s benefit.

Madeline’s charge took this opportunity to slip out of her hold and his diaper and make a run for it. She gasped, outraged.

“Leonard, get your sweet little tushie back here, right now !”

They watched her dash after the naked fugitive.

“Aunt Naomi!” Bow Boy finally wailed. “My brother is being mean to me!”

A brunette with blue eyes popped her head out of another room, a half-blown up balloon in hand.

“That’s probably because you did something to deserve it.”

It was the witch whose core Mae had sensed.

Naomi Wagner Lancaster’s face lit up when she spotted Mae and Nikolai. Her pregnancy bump stretched her dress as she came toward them, a white cat with yellow and blue eyes at her feet.

“Welcome.” Naomi beamed. “It’s nice to finally meet?—”

Something drew her eyes. She stopped, her smile fading. Her expression grew flinty.

“ John David Dante Lancaster, what are you doing up there ?!” she hissed at the kid on the chandelier.

“You must address me by my superhero name, Mother,” the boy proclaimed disdainfully.

Naomi gritted her teeth.

“I’m not calling you Commander Underpants, son. Get your skinny ass on the ground before your father sees you and puts you in time out in the mausoleum!”

The kid clutched his chest dramatically. “Oh, the mausoleum! Be still, my terrified heart.”

The sword-fighting duo clapped at his acting.

“Bravissimo!” Pig Tails gushed.

The boy grinned. His smile froze at a soft metallic whirring.

The chrome and gold birdcage elevator under the stairs pinged. The accordion door opened, revealing five men. The one in the lead was talking as he stepped out.

Mae stiffened a little when she discerned the presence of the incredible beast inside him.

He must be the Sphinx.

Hellreaver vibrated nervously on her chest.

“As I said to Otis, no one knows the origin of that?—”

Sebastian Lancaster rocked to a halt at the sight of the chaos inside the foyer.

The men with him stopped and stared.

Mae could tell two of them were Immortals and powerful ones at that. She studied them cautiously, Nikolai equally alert beside her.

The one with the snake mark on his forearm must be Conrad Greene . And the other guy is Ethan Storm judging from that pentagram birthmark on his hand.

“Did you get everything?” the man with blonde hair and blue eyes behind them asked Mila jovially.

“Yeah.” Mila leaned toward Mae. “That’s Zachary Jackson, my dad. The guy behind him is Otis.”

Mae stared. Otis Boone was just as ordinary looking as Violet had described him to be in his human form. Yet, the divine power of the seraph inside his soul was so bright it almost seared her vision.

“We were gone for twenty minutes,” Conrad said to no one in particular.

“And they were the longest twenty minutes of my life, dad,” William declared leadenly. “I’m never having kids.”

Conrad rolled his eyes.

Ethan smiled. “Hey, Lola. Did you miss me?”

The little blonde girl with the ringlets threw herself at the Immortal, the dog padding after her. “Daddy!”

The Immortal caught her, propped her on his waist, and kissed her cheek. She giggled and hugged him.

“Where did Lucas and Anna go?” Conrad asked.

“They’re getting stuff from the attic,” Lucy replied. “Serena and Drake went with them.”

“And Alexa?”

William made a face. “In the kitchen, helping.”

Conrad stiffened. He looked over at Mila.

“Is someone supervising your mother?”

She sighed at his tense tone. “Relax. Olivia, Laura, and Daniel are keeping an eye on her. Callie and Nate are there too.”

Conrad looked unconvinced.

“Should we pre-empt things and call the fire department?” he asked Ethan.

“My mom has a habit of burning the kitchen down when she cooks,” Mila explained at Mae and Nikolai’s stares.

Mae sensed she might have found a kindred soul in Alexa King.

Conrad spotted the kid on the chandelier. “When did he get up there?”

Sebastian lowered his brows at the sight of his son. The boy gulped.

“John,” the Sphinx said in a steely voice.

“Yes, father?” the kid quavered.

The Sphinx’s eyes flashed white. “Down, now .”

John floated to the ground and alighted sheepishly in front of his father.

“We should ask him to babysit when we have kids,” Nikolai whispered in Mae’s ear, clearly impressed.

Brimstone and I want to babysit too , Hellreaver protested.

Mae pursed her lips.

I bet you two would let our kids eat junk food and watch the late night shopping channel.

Hellreaver flinched guiltily.

Nikolai cut his eyes to the weapon. “What’d he say?”

Things were getting frosty over the way between the Sphinx and his son.

The divine beast pointed imperiously at the staircase. “Go upstairs and put your party outfit on.”

“I don’t wanna,” John said sullenly.

The Sphinx narrowed his eyes. “This is not a debate.”

John swallowed convulsively. “Okay, I’ll go,” he mumbled. “But I refuse to wear that outfit.” He straightened, the stubborn light of defiance brightening his eyes.

That kid has a death wish, my witch , Hellreaver remarked.

Mae hushed him.

The Sphinx crossed his arms. “It’s either that outfit or you go naked,” he declared coolly.

John deflated.

“Do I have to wear the vest?” he asked sullenly.

“Yes.”

John sighed like he’d been given a death sentence. “And the bow tie? Can I at least lose the bow tie? And the checkered socks?”

Mae bit her lip.

Naomi swallowed a snort behind a fist.

The Sphinx’s shoulders quivered slightly.

“The bow tie and the socks stay,” he managed in a strangled voice.

John sagged. “But I’m going to look like a complete twerp, father!” he wailed.

“You were born a twerp,” Oliver said in a matter of fact voice.

John stuck his tongue out at his younger brother.