Two weeks later, Jeriel, Alec and I found ourselves sitting in an upscale Italian restaurant named Angela’s, staring at the menus. The scents of starched linens, fresh herbs and many different meats provided a pleasant atmosphere as well as a building appetite.

“You know, this is my first time in New York City. Overall, I’m impressed,” I said with a nod.

“Are you certain we’re safe here?” Jeriel asked, placing her right hand on mine. She was in a teal silk jacquard wrap midi dress. The color of the dress brought out the rose highlights in her hair, and it was almost sheer enough to share her secrets with the world…. almost.

Alec, to my left, was in an italian-cut tuxedo, sporting a green bow tie and cumberbun that perfectly matched his hair. He definitely could make an entrance.

I was in a white, backless, long-sleeved dress. My stiletto-heeled shoes, and nails matched Jeriel’s dress, while my make-up and the beads braided into my hair were emerald green. We wanted to make a statement, and with the heads that turned when we walked in here, I was sure that we succeeded.

“Thank you for visiting us, Miss Tannin and company. Mr. Serra has spoken highly of you. May I offer some Bruschetta to start things off? Mr. Serra recommends the spaghetti ala carbonara with the 2016 Barbera d’Alba. He said to tell you that it’s ‘to die for’.” We glanced at each other, then handed the young gentleman in a white shirt with a black clip-on tie and black slacks. He was brown-haired, and seemed to be happy to be here. It’s nice to see people who enjoy their jobs.

He soon returned with the Bruschetta, which smelled divine. The olive oil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes.. fresh parmesan… I’m a lover of meat, but the scent of this… sent me to the moon. I was on my second slice when the waiter poured a sample of wine into a glass. I handed it to Alec, He knows more about wine than I do. He did the swirly, sniffy tasting thing that you do, then smiled at the waiter, who blushed slightly. Glasses were poured for all of us.

As the waiter walked away, my phone rang. Alec pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me. I answered.

“Hello lizard breath,” I heard Chaz say.

“Well hello handle-head. What’s up.? How’s the bar?”

“The bar’s jumping. Been full all night. Look I have some info…” he growled. He wasn’t happy again.

“What has you growling now, besides me up here? We’ll be flying back tomorrow night.”

“Not that. The police got SImon and Ralphie Chavez before we could. To make matters worse, Simon got extradited back to Miami, but Ralphie rolled on him. They fessed up to planting that shit in Raze’s car..”

“So he’s free and clear?” I asked.

“Not exactly. He still has that deal with breaking out. He turned himself in. Thirty days…”

“That sucks. John and Tony can’t do anything for him?”

“That was them doing something for him. He was facing 6 months. Speaking of Tony, he and his wife left for the mountain house today. I told them you’d be there soon. Finally, you know Guillermo Delgado?”

“Of course, that’s Raze’s dad. What about him?”

“He’ll be in town the first of next week. He has something important to discuss. Didn’t ask.”

“Any word of that damned shifter?”

Chaz sighed loudly. “The fae Alec had me work with haven’t been able to find him. We can do more when you get back.”

I looked up to see movement across the restaurant. “I understand. Hey, we’ll talk later,” I said, then ended the call and tossed the phone back to Alec.

Not long after, Mr. Serra approached, with 4 waitresses behind him. He looked almost harmless in his white chef’s outfit as he sat across from me, as plates were set in front of each of us. I looked at the waitresses, all dressed in the same uniforms as their male co-worker. Their only differences were their ponytails and the curves that, well, a man doesn’t have.

“I was surprised when you replied to my offer, though the lack of your friend’s presence does not.” He chuckled as the waitresses left. The waiter poured Mr. Serra a glass of wine, then left as well.

“We thought that it would not be ... .tactful,” I replied, choosing my words. “This looks and smells wonderful though.”

Mr. Serra beamed proudly. “Carbonara is one of my favorite dishes to make. The flavors of the Pecorino Romano and the Guanciale make love on the hints of black pepper. Here, have a taste.” He gathered some creamy noodles and a couple pieces of meat from his plate on a fork and fed it to me. I could not argue. Garlic, rosemary, a rich creamy cheese, the pepper… I was officially in heaven!

“Oh, my… I swear I could eat this every day…” I almost moaned.

“Why did you serve off of your plate, Mr. Serra?” Jeriel asked. Her words were soft, and to those casually listening, would have sounded timid. There was an undercurrent of displeasure, almost anger, in her voice.

“No disrespect, Lady Jeriel. I wanted her to taste it as it should taste. Hers is different.”

Different, he said? I tasted my dish, and it didn’t taste the same. It tasted gamey, unrefined, and an odd taste that took a moment to identify

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“It has the undertones of…” I whispered. The seasonings finally yielded the hidden flavor Human. I was eating human. Mr. Serra smiled as the realization took over my face. I don’t have too much of an issue consuming humans. I make it a practice not to, but in the slight chance this was who i thought it was, i would have no problems.

“I have a butcher who sometimes does things that my mother wouldn’t be proud of, but after we found Shaun O’Duffy in an airport in Charleston, West Virginia I chose to prepare a present. The rest of the kill is in a meat truck, headed to your friend’s home.” He raised his hand, snapping twice. “This, however, I thought would make a nice housewarming gift.”

I was handed a large box by the waitress who delivered my food. I then got a whiff of her, and noticed the scent of clay. She left soon after.

Opening the box almost took my breath away. In the box was a brown bear’s head, along with its pelt. “How did you…?” I started to ask.

“It was alive, in its wereform when it happened. They told me the head was tricky, but I wasn’t there. ”

“So Chaz and you plotted this together?”

“After we located and captured him, of course. He said he’d take the body of your attacker in exchange for the souls of my sons. I thought it a more-than-fair trade.”

“So what does the Vatican think of this development?” Alec asked, as Jeriel ate silently, watching everything.

“I haven’t really been close to Rome in years, but now they’ve washed their hands of me. My sons still have ties, but family first. Right? So how are things on your end? I heard you threw a black tie pre-opening event. How’d that go?”

I found myself opening up. I could feel a divine air, but decided not to fight it for tonight. We were guests, after all. “It went a lot better than I expected, to be honest. I didn’t find out until later that Ronald Ashleigh, the food critic we had there that night, was the host of ‘Asheville Foodie’ a weekly segment on the evening news. He had taken some of the video footage and spun it into his segment. He described us as ‘A fresh taste of the divine that everyone needs to experience at least once in their lifetime.’ After I saw that, I gave the staff a nice bonus. They deserved it.”

“Take care of your staff, and they’ll take care of you. Mama would always say that.” He added.

I ate more of the pasta before continuing. “We only had one little hiccup at the event. Asheville’s commerce secretary busted into an allergic reaction at the table. Thankfully my new general manager had an Epi-pen and was able to settle things down. No one, not even the reporter who helped set it up, knew she’d react like that. She went to the hospital, but was apologizing throughout the whole ordeal. She did give me the name of a couple of local gluten-free manufacturers, and I passed those along to Alec.She also mentioned some vegan and non-meat alternatives as well. Those I’m not sure about… we dragons love our meat, ya know? “ I smiled at my little joke, but the smile faded to sadness.

Mr Serra saw my face and paused. “Something not so good happen, I take it?”

“This entire ordeal was orchestrated by an angel, did you know that? He had a family and a shifter pack wrapped up in it. The nephilim sister was killed, the adopted dragon sister was deceived, and the red-headed cop sister was used to get close to me, which she did, biblically. After everything went down and the angel was handled…”

“By your friend, no doubt…” he added.

I nodded, continuing. “Needless to say, April, the cop, turned in her badge. I’ve offered to help her make amends, but with everything that’s happened to her, she’s lost. It’s sad.”

“Was she infected?” he asked.

“No. My detective friend was. He’s preparing for his first change. We’re hoping he chooses wolf or fox. I’m close to a local pack, who has volunteered to take him in.” I sighed, shaking my head. “So many lives have been destroyed or turned upside down because of the damned angels… it’s fucked up.”

“Sounds about right. In my youth, the Vatican had given me some assignments that destroyed families, even villages., but claimed that they were ‘Divine Will’. Back then I believed I was doing the right thing. As I grew older, I tended to see things from a different set of eyes. So there’s no love lost between me and the Vatican. I never claimed to be a saint, and I still do things that my mama would not be proud of, but there comes a time you gots to look out for your own. Angel’s aside, God’s will be done.”

My phone chirped an alert. Alec handed it to me, but Jeriel took it, since i was eating. She looked at it briefly, then showed me a message. “Of course they can come overI,” Jeriel whispered, giggling, as she clutched my hand. “ But don’t forget. Zeva wants to meet you too. Now, back to the subject..”

Jeriel’s dreamy face instantly grew somber as her eyes fell on Mr. Serra. “Pardon me for being curt, but you doing all of this… can we assume it was not solely out of charity?” Jeriel asked, grabbing her glass. all of our plates were empty, save mine. I finished up as she took the floor.

“You have to respect a woman with a sharp wit,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve learned to never negotiate from a place of weakness, but I honestly did this for a chance to ask a favor.”

“What favor?” Alec asked.

“Despite what you’ve seen and heard on the news, everything here in New York is turning to shit, and I’d love to move my restaurant to some place nicer… quieter.. like Asheville. I’m not looking to make it rich, but I do enjoy serving my mama’s food.”

I placed my fork on the empty plate, raising my head and eyes to meet his. “Just open a restaurant? That I can handle. You leave your old life and your sons here, though. There’s only one ‘off-books organization’ in Asheville and they answer to me. If you can accept those rules, and one other, I don’t see an issue.”

“What other rule?” Mr Serra asked.

“The non-humans you’ve collected come here, and get put under my umbrella,” I interjected.

Jeriel looked at him, sneering. “Don’t think we wouldn’t be able to tell. You have dragons and fae here, and I'm picking up on at least 2 elves.”

I picked where she left off. “I won’t allow you to exploit those who outlive you.” There was a group of 15 or so employees now around the table. Apparently the energies we three were giving off drew them to us.

“Well I wasn’t exploiting them, sheesh. I treat my staff real good.” He started to mutter, “Now I can see how you earned your nickname.” he said, quietly.

“What, Madrecita?” Jeriel asked, looking around.

“No,” a soft feminine voice said as her voice came from my right. I looked to see it was the same waitress that served me, and brought me the box. “From the stories we’ve all heard about you, we started to call you the Brood Mistress.”

“Are there shifters among you?” Alec asked.

“There were rumors of some, a few years back, but they were hunted mercilessly. After the hunters left, there were no shifters left in all the boroughs. That’s why we are more prevalent here. No shifter competition.” The female bowed her head softly.

I looked from her to Mr. Serra. “Asheville is my home. If you can abide by the law, or my rules, then you are welcome. You mess with me and I will take it to your ass. You mess with mine and I will devour you…”