“From your expression, that wasn’t a good thing.”
“It rarely is.” Really, how many times had the raising of the dead been good beyond the one time? “To make this long story short, she was evil, had to kill her.” Along with her zombie-like friends.
“That seems to happen to you a lot.”
“And it’s probably going to keep happening,” I muttered. “Right now I’m a dhampir, a vampire, and a skinwalker.” I tapped my tattoo with one ginger finger. “I can shape-shift.”
Understanding flashed in Megan’s blue eyes. “Like the baby?” I nodded. “But she isn’t yours?” I shook my head. “Yet you slept with her father.”
I spread my hands and didn’t answer.
“The tattoo allows you to become a bird,” Megan said. “Handy.”
“So far.”
In the distance, a doorbell rang. Megan stood and handed me a sleeping Faith. “Showtime,” she said.
“I have to leave early and head west, talk to Faith’s dad.”
“Why don’t you just call him?”
“He’s dead.”
Megan rubbed a thumb between her eyes. “That doesn’t even surprise me.”
CHAPTER 5
Megan left to answer the front door. Faith curled into me like the kitten she could become. Her soft breath brushed my arm; the dark sweep of her lashes and the sharp slope of her cheek reminded me so much of her father, my heart contracted. No one would ever hurt her while I was around.
Minutes later Anna, Aaron, and Ben spilled into the backyard. Eight, six, and five respectively—or maybe I should say nine, six, and five, as it was Anna’s birthday.
“Aunt Liz.” Anna gently stroked Faith’s knee. “Where’d you get a baby?”
Her voice was soft, the expression on her face rapt. Did all little girls stare at babies as if they were the best dolls on the shelf? Not me, but then I hadn’t been much of a little girl.
“What’s her name?” Ben shouted. Shouting was Ben’s normal volume.
“Shut up, dummy!” That was Aaron, who hadn’t spoken any more quietly than Ben. “You’ll wake her.”
Anna smacked both of them in the back of the head. Right hand. Left hand. Whack. Whack. They turned on her, mutiny in their eyes, and Megan came out the back door.
“Stop,” she ordered, then pointed at the football in the grass. “Go.”
The boys shuffled off, though they threw glares at their sister over their shoulder. She didn’t seem worried.
“What is her name?” Anna asked.
“Faith.”
“Pretty.” I wasn’t sure if she was talking about the name or the baby. “Where’d you get her?” Anna repeated, as if I might have ordered Faith off the Internet and she wanted to know how.
At least Anna wasn’t looking at me as if she thought Faith were mine. Megan’s daughter might only be nine, but she knew how the whole baby thing worked and that it took humans a bit longer than a month to have one. What she didn’t know was that Aunt Liz wasn’t quite human. I planned to keep it that way.
“I’m babysitting for a friend,” I said.
She continued to stroke Faith’s knee. The baby sighed and smiled in her sleep. I barely stopped myself from saying, Aw.
“Why don’t you take her upstairs?” Megan asked as she came up behind my chair. “Put her down for her nap.”
I wasn’t sure if the kid should take a nap or not. Wouldn’t she then stay awake all night? I would. I also wasn’t sure if I should let her out of my sight. Who knew what Faith could do besides shape-shift.
“Come on.” Megan took my elbow and drew me into the house. “I’ve got a playpen left from when the kids were small. She can sleep in there. She won’t get out.”
I snorted.
“Oh.” Megan paused. “I also have a baby monitor. You’ll be able to hear her as soon as she wakes up.”
“I don’t know—”
“She has to sleep. Then she’ll need to eat.” Megan eyed Faith. “She’s probably still on formula. What have you fed her?”
“Tuna.” Megan’s face took on such an expression of horror, I muttered, “She didn’t eat it.”
“What on earth possessed you—?”
“She was a kitten!” I glanced furtively over my shoulder at the kids. The boys were playing, but Anna stared at me with curiosity, so I lowered my voice. “What was I supposed to feed her? Mice?”
“Hell if I know.” Megan opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen, where she pulled a can out of a cabinet. “Powdered formula. My cousin left this behind when she visited with her new baby. You can take it, along with some bottles.” Megan eyed the diaper-clad Faith. “I’ve also got a bag of diapers, and I’ll find some of Anna’s old clothes.”
“You kept all that crap?”
Megan shrugged, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. In a burst of clarity, I understood that she couldn’t bear to part with anything that reminded her of the life she’d shared with Max.