Blood Circus: A Junkyard Druid Urban Fantasy Short Story Collection (Junkyard Druid Novellas Book 2) by M.D. Massey

Author:M.D. Massey [Massey, M.D.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Modern Digital Publishing
Published: 2017-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

18

A well-worn path led from our villa up into the foothills. Crowley and I walked the trail, along with an escort that consisted of Fabiana and another of my cousins, Julieta. Julieta had still been a kid when I’d left, a fourteen-year-old beanpole with a wicked spin kick and a gap between her top front teeth. At seventeen and fresh out of braces, she was a raven-haired knockout—in more ways than one.

Mother had insisted on the escort. After the incident at the airport, she feared that the duende and mouros were getting bolder, and that they might even attempt to attack us openly in our territory. Thankfully, Alicia wanted nothing to do with us, so she’d stayed back at the villa with the rest of the clan. As we ascended the path to the Anjana’s home, the girls peppered Crowley with questions.

“What’s it like, living in America?” Fabiana asked. Apparently, her defeat at Crowley’s hands hadn’t injured her pride at all. To my cousin, it merely meant he was good breeding material. “Are all Americans as fat and stupid as they say?”

Crowley’s head swiveled as he scanned the surrounding pine and eucalyptus trees. “Not all of them, no.”

The wizard’s answers had been curt and polite, but not encouraging of their interest in him. How curious. Crowley had once considered himself to be quite the ladies’ man. Either he had changed, or he had other interests.

Julieta snickered. “I read that two-thirds of Americans are overweight. That must make them easy prey for the fae and other supernatural predators. Not like us, eh, Fabiana?” She did a sort of one-handed cartwheel into an au batido, a banana kick from capoeira. Showing off for Crowley, little cousin?

Fabiana glanced over her shoulder at me. “The fatness appears to be catching. Our prima looks to have gotten fatter during her stay in America.”

Bitch! My cousins were all tall and willowy, while I was built more like a gymnast—short, with powerful hips and thighs. Colin certainly hadn’t complained about my Shakira booty, but during my childhood I’d been teased by my cousins for being short and “fat.”

I kept my voice calm and steady as I replied. “I’ve put on some muscle since you last saw me, Fabiana. And I can still kick your ass.”

Fabiana snorted. “Not without the magia de serpientropía. I too have become stronger in your absence, cousin.”

“But not smarter, apparently. Need I remind you that I deal with ’thropes all the time in my work? Believe me, I don’t need magic to deal with the likes of you.”

Fabiana gave me a dirty look. Julieta waited until she wasn’t looking, then smirked at me and rolled her eyes at Fabiana’s back. The kid was alright. Fabiana chose to remain silent for the remainder of the hike to the Anjana’s glade. I chatted amiably with Julieta until we arrived at the entrance, then the pair left us and took up posts to await our return. No one entered the Anjana’s presence unless summoned.

I led Crowley

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