Chapter 7

The tinny music from his cell phone jolted him awake. Goddess damn it. He should have figured that Jenna would call. Even though she was in Mexico, she could undoubtedly sense his bleak mood. Jen's spider-sense was downright scary sometimes. He adjusted his too tight jeans and told himself he could pick up the dream soon enough. He actually managed to smile as he flipped open his phone. His weirdly psychic sister would probably know somehow if he didn't. "Hey, Jen. How's Mexico."

"It was nice but I've been back in Arizona for two days now, you big goof. I sent you a present." Jenna and her wife Olivia lived in Sedona, which they both loved.

"Huh?" He'd opened the gifts she'd sent on the solstice, just as she'd opened his. The siblings celebrated Wiccan holy days together, while Christian holidays were more for the other people in their lives. They'd Skyped for an hour while they opened their gifts, their own private holiday tradition. "Did you have one too many margaritas and forget? By the way, I wore the sweatshirt you sent to Christmas dinner at Eric's. They loved it." It was his new favorite, black with white letters that read Think, it's not illegal yet.

Jenna sighed. "Listen to me. Not Yule present, idiot. Just a present. It should be there in a couple of days."

"Okay." He wondered what was up but knowing Jenna, he didn't bother to ask. If she didn't want to tell him something, a flock of bulldozers wouldn't be able to drag it out of her.

"I keep getting the feeling that there's something you need to do. Something you need to find. So quit over-analyzing everything and listen to your instincts tonight, all right?" Her voice told Dave that she was dead serious.

"Sure." What the hell was going on?

"And remember what I told you before," Jenna said. "Keep an open mind and be careful."

Dave hurried to reassure her. "O-okay."

"Love you, too, bro. I've got to go now. Liv invited the neighbors over for dinner."

"Love you Jen. Give Liv a hug for me."

He plopped down in his recliner, the earbuds still hanging limply around his neck. Something he needed to do? The only things he knew he needed to do were to open the damned puzzle box and he needed to find the black-haired belly dancer from his dreams. Was that it? The silver Celtic knot ring from Drake felt warm. Damn, something weird was definitely happening.

David shook his head. Today had just been too damn long and he didn't want to think about anything anymore. He snagged a beer from the selection in the fridge and walked toward the stairs, turning lights out on his way. Good beer was his one indulgence, his one way of admitting to himself that he'd made it in the world. He'd never be a wine connoisseur or a gourmet chef but he could appreciate the difference between an India Pale ale and a lambic.

Finally, he shrugged. Whatever was going on, the gods would reveal it in their own sweet time. He set the bottle on the milk crate beside the bed and picked up the box. With a silent prayer to every god of fools and lunatics, he gently brushed his thumb over the carved flowers on the lower left-hand corner of the box's top. He moved his callused digits over the delicate inlay and paused when he felt a tiny electrical jolt from the ring. He brushed back against a flower in the upper left-hand corner. Yep, there was the tingle. He could almost feel Anissa's warm sweet breath and hear her sultry voice in his ear cheering him on.

With just the tip of his thumb, he exerted pressure on each petal, one at a time. With an almost inaudible click, the third petal depressed. A heartbeat later, the box gave another, slightly louder click and a seam appeared, dividing the box into two uneven halves, following the flow of the pattern rather than a straight line. It resembled a rectangular Easter egg cracking open slowly from the inside.

His hands were big. They almost engulfed the box as he palmed each of the halves gently trying to separate them. He tested a couple of different motions, finally discovering that if he rotated the halves counter-clockwise, the tingle returned to his fingertips. That must be it, then. He twisted slowly, not wanting to accidentally break whatever treasure was inside. When he finally felt the mechanism give, he expected the box to come apart in his hands dropping whatever it contained onto the comforter covering his lap.

Instead, he heard a loud whoosh, as if someone had just launched a missile in the room. The box was hot. It singed his fingertips until he dropped it to the floor beside the bed. Then he coughed as he inhaled a cloud of lavender-colored, licorice-scented smoke. He closed his eyes against the sting of the wispy tendrils. A second later, he opened them again. The burning sensation and the lavender cloud were gone but the licorice scent remained.

And there was a woman kneeling on the comforter at the foot of David's bed. Her face was down on her knees in a position of full obeisance but the curly black hair that fell all around her to puddle on the comforter was a dead giveaway. Dave knew who he'd see when she lifted her gaze. He tried to speak but couldn't get the words to leave his throat. He stared in rapt fascination as she spoke without lifting her head.

"How may I serve you, oh master?" Her voice was soft and husky - pure distilled sex. Exactly as it had been in his dreams. Dave's cock throbbed just thinking about the possibilities. Maybe he was still dreaming, because here she was in his bed.

Then she looked up and saw him and all the color drained from her lovely face. Her tilted violet eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth as she shrieked.

"Who are you and what have you done to my hero?"