"Stop it, Gladys," Tabitha said, referring to the nosy neighbor from Bewitched, the show that had given Tabitha her name. "There's no bonus round here for Twenty Questions and I've got stuff I need to do. See ya."
"Tabitha!" Tia followed her toward the street. "It's not like you to be secretive about anything. It makes me nervous."
Tabitha took a deep breath and faced her older sister. "Look, he was just someone who needed some help and I gave it. Now he's back to his life and I'm back to mine. We don't need a family powwow over it."
Tia made a noise of disapproval at her. "You are so aggravating. Why can't you just answer my one question?"
"Good night, Tia. Love you." Tabitha kept walking and was grateful her sister stopped and went back toward her shop.
Relieved, she headed for Bourbon Street with no real destination. She'd pick up some food for the homeless and then do her rounds.
"Oh, it's Tabitha!"
She turned at the distinctive singsongy voice she knew extremely well. Rushing up behind her was Ash's demon, Simi, who externally appeared to be a nineteen- or twenty-year-old woman. Tonight Simi had on a black miniskirt, purple leggings, and a risque corset top. She wore a pair of black thigh-high stiletto boots and carried a PVC coffin purse. Her long black hair was loose about her shoulders.
"Hey, Simi," Tabitha said, scanning the street behind the demon. "Where's Ash?"
She rolled her eyes and let out a disgusted noise. "He got waylaid by that old heifer-goddess who said she had to speak to him and so I said I was hungry and that I wanted to eat something. So he said, 'Simi, don't eat no people. Go to Sanctuary and wait for me while I talk to Artemis.' So here the Simi is going to Sanctuary all alone to wait for akri to come and get her. You going to Sanctuary, Tabitha?"
It always amused Tabitha that the demon referred to herself in the third person. "Not really. But if you want me to walk with you that way, I can."
A man whistled as he walked past them while he eye-balled Simi.
The demon gave him a sultry glance and a small smile.
He headed back toward them. "Hey, baby," he said. "You looking for company?"
Simi huffed. "Are you blind, human?" she asked. She gestured dramatically toward Tabitha. "Can't you see the Simi has company?" She shook her head.
He laughed at that. "You got a number I can call and talk to you sometime?"
"Well, I do have a number, but if you call it, akri will answer and he will get all angry at you and then your head gonna explode into fire." She tapped her chin. "Hmmm, come to think of it, barbecue... It's 555-"
"Simi..." Tabitha said in a warning tone.
"Oh, poo," Simi said as she let out another disgusted breath. "You are right, Tabitha. Akri just get all mad at me if the Simi makes him make this man barbecue. He can be so particular sometimes. I swear."
"Akri?" the man asked. "Is he your boyfriend?"
"Oh no, that's just sick. Akri my daddy and he get all upset whenever a man looks at the Simi."
"Well, what Daddy doesn't know won't hurt him."
"Yeah," Tabitha said, stepping between them. "Trust me, her 'Daddy' isn't someone you want to mess with." She took Simi's arm and led her away.
The man followed. "C'mon, I just want her number."
"It's 1-800-get-a-clue," Tabitha called over her shoulder.
"Fine, bitch, have it your way."
Before Tabitha could blink, Simi broke her hold and lunged at the man. She grabbed him by his neck and threw him up against the side of a building where she held him effortlessly while his feet were about a foot off the ground. "You don't talk to the Simi's friends like that. You hear me?"
He couldn't respond. His face was already turning purple, his eyes bulging.
"Simi," Tabitha said, trying to pull the demon's hand away from the man's throat. "You'll kill him. Let go."
The demon's brown eyes flashed red a second before Simi released him. Bending double, he coughed and wheezed as he struggled to breathe again.
"You better never insult another lady, you stupid human," she said. "The Simi means that, too."
Without another word or thought about the matter, Simi swung her purse over her shoulder and sashayed down the street as if she hadn't almost killed someone.
Tabitha's heart was still pounding. What would have happened had she not been there to stop Simi?
"So, Tabitha, do you have any more of them yummy mints that you gave to the Simi when we went to the movies?"
"Sorry, Simi," she said, trying to regain some composure as she watched the poor guy stumble down the street. No doubt it would be quite awhile before he tried to pick up another woman he didn't know. "I didn't bring them with me."
"Oh poo, I really liked them. I especially liked that green tin. It was very nice. The Simi needs to make akri buy her some."
Yeah, and Tabitha needed to make sure Ash didn't let his demon loose unattended anymore. Simi wasn't evil, she just didn't understand right or wrong. In the demon's world, there wasn't such a concept.
Simi only understood Ash's orders and she carried them out to the letter.
But at least they were headed somewhere where most of the people knew and understood Simi. Sanctuary was a biker bar at 688 Ursulines Avenue that was owned by a family of Were-Hunters. Unlike the Dark-Hunters, the Were-Hunters were cousins of the cursed Apollites and Daimons with one profound difference: They were also half-animal.
Aeons ago, the Were-Hunters had originally been half-Apollite, half-human. In an effort to save his sons from dying at twenty-seven as the Apollites did, their creator had magically spliced animal essence with his sons' bodies.
The result had created two sons who possessed human hearts and two who held animal hearts. Those who were human were called Arcadians and those who were animals were called Katagaria. The Arcadians spent most of their lives as humans who could take animal form, whereas the Katagaria were animals who could take human form.
Even though they were related, the two groups warred against each other because the Arcadians thought their animal cousins were lesser beings and the animals fought because that was their nature.
It was a Katagaria bear pack who owned the bar. Inside the walls of Sanctuary, anyone was welcomed. Human, Apollite, Daimon, god, Arcadian, or Katagaria. There was only one rule: You don't bite me and I won't bite you. Sanctuary was one of the few sacred areas on this planet where no paranormal being could attack another. And the bears would gladly keep Simi occupied until Ash was able to rejoin her.
Simi chattered endlessly until they reached the saloon-style doors of the bar.
"Are you coming inside?" she asked Tabitha.
Before she could answer, Tabitha saw Nick Gautier I headed toward them. Since Nick's mother worked at the bar, he was an almost constant visitor there.
"Ladies," he said with a charming smile as he joined them.
"Nick," Tabitha said in greeting. Simi smiled warmly. "Hi, Nick," she said, twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "You going into Sanctuary, too?"
"I was planning on it. What about you two?"
Tabitha's phone rang. "Hang on," she said to Nick and Simi before she answered it. It was Marla in hysterics.
"What?" Tabitha asked, trying to understand Marla's words that came out in staccato between her sobs.
She glanced at Nick, who was watching her with a frown, "How about Nick Gautier-"
The question was cut off by Marla's scream of terror. "Okay, okay," Tabitha said, realizing immediately why Marla was upset. Nick was wearing one of his heinous Hawaiian shirts along with ragged blue jeans and a pair of tennis shoes that looked as if they'd been fed to a garbage disposal. "Stop crying and get dressed. I'll get someone, I promise."
Marla sniffed. "You swear?"