An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Lifting the Veil

  ISBN 9781419914751

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Lifting the Veil Copyright © 2008 R.G. Alexander

  Edited by Briana St. James.

  Cover art by Dan Skinner.

  Electronic book Publication April 2008

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/)

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Lifting the Veil

  R.G. Alexander

  When my time has long gone

  And the gods that once sheltered and

  Governed the earth have turned away

  When the human race has forgotten Magick,

  Forgotten themselves

  Complacent in their ignorance…

  That is when the danger will strike.

  Translation from the Ogham Book of Veils, as prophesied by Áine, High Priestess of Danu.

  Dedication

  To Cookie—love is the reason.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my husband and sister for their unconditional love and support. Eden Bradley, Crystal Jordan and Lillian Feisty for hand-holding above and beyond the call of duty. Robin L. Rotham—advisor extraordinaire. And to The Romance Divas—for everything—thank you.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Super Bowl: NFL

  Wolverine: Marvel Comics

  Chapter One

  “A singing strip-o-gram?”

  Meru Tanner dogged her aunt’s steps as the tall, slender woman searched behind the counter for her purse.

  “A choir of drunken off-duty police officers serenading me with raunchy ditties at two o’clock in the morning? What, Aunt Lily? What morally corrupt and thoroughly humiliating plan has Sheridan cooked up to celebrate my official descent into spinsterhood?”

  “Aha!” Lily pulled the elusive handbag from under a pile of order forms and Meru huffed her exasperation. “Sorry, dear, your cousin swore me to secrecy. Besides, thirty is not the end of the road, thank you very much.” She tried to look down her nose indignantly, spoiling it with a mischievous wink. “I think I’d better leave before you torture it out of me. Anyway, all this talk about your birthday reminded me how much I have to do before tonight.”

  “Tonight?” Meru tilted her head.

  “Yes, silly goose. Tonight at midnight, just like every August first at midnight, we form the circle in the yard behind the shop. To celebrate Lugh’s Wedding.”

  Meru’s eyes rounded in barely concealed horror. She had forgotten.

  She hadn’t been around on the anniversary of her birth in years, hadn’t lived in the tiny one-room apartment above the store since they’d first moved to Houston and were getting her aunt’s metaphysical shop, The Willow’s Knot, off the ground.

  Now, however, she was renting the space while she decided what she was going to do with her life since she’d left graduate school, and her career in academia, behind. She should have remembered.

  Four times a year, Aunt Lily faithfully formed a Druid circle, honoring her ancestors and communing with nature. There was Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and Lughnassadh, or Lugh’s wedding. They were celebrated on and around the dates of each solstice and equinox.

  Meru’s birthday just happened to fall on one of them. According to her birth certificate, she was born at midnight on August first. At the last stroke of midnight, if Lily was to be believed, a fact she loved telling her fellow pagans. From the awed and interested expressions on their faces when they looked at her, she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to sprout horns or turn water into wine.

  “Should I go hang out at the house?”

  Thankfully, Lily was oblivious to the hopeful note in her voice. “Well, we’re all meeting there after the ritual. But you’re more than welcome to join us, love. Everyone is always asking about you.”

  Meru’s shoulders hunched in defeat, though she had to smile. Eleven excitable New Age Druids and one audacious hostess—a mosh pit might be a bit more relaxing. At least the shop was closed tomorrow.

  “All right, I’m off.” Her aunt put on the shoes she only wore when forced by the hot Houston asphalt. “My friend Izzy said my aura has been full of purple lately, so she offered to dye a few streaks to match before the ceremony.”

  She held up several strands of her light brown hair and Meru laughed. “Have fun.”

  “I always do, my dearest.” Lily blew her a kiss and then disappeared in the cloud of sandalwood and happy chaos that always surrounded her.

  A few hours later, after serving several dozen customers, Meru walked the perimeter of the store, straightening and dusting as she went.

  She still blushed to think about the odd little man who’d bought out their entire stock of Horned God Elixir. Of all the things she’d ever imagined herself doing, hawking an herbal remedy for erectile dysfunction that advertised itself as “the perfect way to RISE to the occasion” was definitely not among them.

  Aunt Lily really had something special in The Willow’s Knot. In keeping with a Celtic theme, the store was imbued with rich tones of purple, gold and green. The trim was alive with swirling and complex Celtic knots. The chairs and shelving were made from a warm, knobby wood. It had always felt so magical in here. If the popularity of the shop was anything to go by, the customers felt it as well. It was home.

  Her aunt had added new merchandise in the last couple of years. There were rows of crystal chakra bowls near the old mortar and pestle. Shelves were lined with healing herbs, bronze censers and small colored candles for spell-work. On the opposite wall, books, music and subliminal self help tapes climbed up from the floor, seeming cozy instead of cluttered.

  The large, circular display area in the middle was her favorite…the divination section. The lower part of the display was crammed with packaged fortunes. Tarot cards of every ilk, I Ching kits, runes and pendulums filled each available nook.

  The tabletop was one of Lily’s strokes of genius. People were immediately drawn to the open bag of Ogham runes and the Faerie cards spread out in an enticing fan. Anyone who passed could draw a rune or card at random and look at the tiny definition booklets that lay beside them.

  As a teenager, whenever she was worried about a test, hung up on a boy or simply out of sorts, she would always find her way to this display. Trying out whatever set of cards or runes her aunt had out at the time, searching for answers. Though she knew logically that most fortune-telling paraphernalia was more a clarifying tool than a clairvoyant one, it had always helped.

  Here I am again, she chuckled. A few hours from thirty, still unsure of herself and where she was going, still wondering if she would ever have something or someone special of her own.

  Her family was right. She should stop being so nitpicky about the men she dated. She should take Sher up on her offer and go out with Bob, the fireman she’d been trying to set her up with.

  They didn’t understand. Didn’t know how badly she had chosen not too long ago. She couldn’t make that mistake again. Oh, they’d known she was dating Allen for a month or two while pursuing her doctorate, but thankfully, they hadn’t questioned her when she’d told them they’d parted ways and decided to remain friends. Thank God. She was just too ashamed to tell them the truth.

  She knew real love existed. Even though they’d died in a car accident when she was three years old, she remembered that her parents had been madly in love.

  Aunt Lily had been in love as well. But three weeks before Sheridan’s birth nearly thirty-one years ago, Lily’s young husband had passed away. She had yet to be in another long-term relationship. And it wasn’t from lack of suitors. Everyone loved Lily.

  But whenever Meru asked her about it, Lily would just smile in a dreamy far off way. “You will realize soon enough, Meru, that the women of our family only fall in love once. And that fall lasts forever.”

  Then she’d shake herself sloughing off the morbid thought and winking naughtily as she added, “Lust, however, can strike anywhere and at anytime.”

  Meru placed her hand in the large hemp pouch and felt the cool, smooth wood against her fingers.

  These weren’t ordinary Nordic style runes like the small stone-shaped pewter pieces she was used to. Aunt Lily had actually purchased these from an artisan she met at The Renaissance Faire a few years ago. A giant of a man with the hands of Michelangelo, she’d claimed. Shaped like staves, or sticks, the carefully polished strips of ash were engraved with Ogham script.

  Ogham was thought to be the ancient written language of the Celts. Perhaps even of the Druids themselves. Meru had learned to decipher it

at a very young age, to impress her aunt mostly, but also because she had been fascinated by the markings.

  Closing her eyes in concentration, she pulled one from the bag. Even knowing what the symbol meant, she still dutifully leafed through the booklet until she found the divinatory meaning.

  “New Beginnings.” Her voice rose over the Andean flute music that played soft in the background. “Purification and Initiation. The start of a new adventure or project. Clean away the old and be open to all new possibilities.”

  It certainly did feel like she was starting over. Although the last few months she’d been in a sort of holding pattern, as if she was waiting for…something.

  The bell over the door chimed its merry tune. She glanced up quickly, a smile of genuine delight shaping her lips as she recognized the newcomers.

  “Professor White! What a wonderful surprise! And Fletcher too, of course, how are you?“

  The two older men nodded in greeting as they made their way over. Professor White had become a familiar and beloved face. He was always stopping by to purchase some little knickknack and he could rarely resist pulling up a stool and staying for hours to flirt with Lily or share a lively debate with Meru. They discovered shortly after they’d met that they shared one all-consuming obsession—mythology.

  He seemed to be an expert on just about every culture’s mythos, giving Meru many sleepless nights of research just to keep up with him. She loved it. It was what she missed most about life at the university—the heated debates and shared excitement of discovery, the sheer fascination with knowledge that, thankfully, the old man shared.

  Fletcher was some sort of nurse or companion to the aged professor. He hovered like a mother hen over his charge, always no more than a raised voice away as far as Meru had seen.

  She and Fletcher had always had a rather tense relationship, though she’d never understood why. She constantly tried to put him at ease, but though Fletcher was never exactly rude to her, he seemed to hold himself back from relaxing around her. To be fair, he seemed uncomfortable around everyone but the professor.

  Professor White took Meru’s hand and gallantly pressed it to his lips, his unique silver eyes twinkling up at her impishly. “Meru, you look lovely as always. Where is everyone? Has that delightful goddess abandoned you this afternoon?”

  She chuckled and wagged her finger at the older man. “Your secret is out now, Professor. You don’t come here to see me at all, do you? You’re really after Aunt Lily, just like every other Romeo who walks through that door. Well, you’re out of luck today, I’m afraid. She’s off dyeing purple streaks in her hair before tonight’s gathering.”

  “Purple, hmm?” the professor’s rich voice lowered. “How…intriguing.”

  Meru and Fletcher rolled their eyes simultaneously at the slightly glazed expression on his wrinkled face. She led the way back toward the counter, where several stools had been set to the side for her favorite visitors.

  “So, what brings you by today, Professor? I haven’t gotten any new orders with your name on them. Are you expecting anything?” She watched as he hopped on the stool with surprising agility.

  He caught her eye and raised one bushy eyebrow in surprise. “Are you sure, Ms. Tanner? Will you check once more, to put my old mind at ease?”

  She nodded and ducked down to the cabinet below where most of the customer’s orders were usually stored. Sure enough, sitting right on top of the pile, was a rather hefty square package for Prof. M. White.

  “I could’ve sworn…” she mumbled to herself before lifting it onto the glass counter “I’m so sorry for—”

  The professor waved her efforts away with a kind smile.

  “Dear girl, it is I who must apologize to you.” He assured her. “I sent away for this item ages ago. Only just remembered it was coming today. I know I’m getting far too old to bear when I almost forget the birthday of a beautiful young woman like you.”

  She looked up quickly. “How did you know it was my birthday?” As far as she knew, the topic had never come up.

  “I have my ways, dear Meru.” He chuckled at some private joke until Fletcher harrumphed quietly beside him, nudging him with a not-so-subtle prod of his elbow.

  “Sorry, dear,” he grinned unabashedly. “Leave me my little secrets and enjoy the gift in the spirit in which it was given.”

  When she reached for the brown wrapping concealing her prize, a gnarled, yet surprisingly strong hand, covered her own.

  “Unless I am mistaken, your birthday doesn’t officially begin until midnight.” She blushed and drew her hand away. What in the world had the professor gotten her? Her vision blurred and she felt a lump form in her throat. Other than her aunt and Sher, when was the last time anyone had gotten her anything?

  “What a wonderful surprise, Professor!” She came around the counter and gave him a quick but heartfelt hug. “I don’t know how to thank you.” She pulled away in time to see a rosy color suffuse the skin above his beard. He gave her an awkward pat, as if unused to physical affection.

  “That is more than thanks enough, my girl.” He responded gruffly before standing in preparation to leave. “Fletcher and I have a lot to do this evening. Not the hullabaloo Lily has planned, I’m sure, but we’ll bake some bread and invite our friend Raj over to join us.”

  She smiled and nodded. “How is Raj? I haven’t seen him in weeks.”

  Since getting to know the professor, she’d had come to his large Victorian several times for dinner and conversation. Very often they were joined by Raj, quite possibly the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

  He was also one of the most intelligent, and Meru often wondered why she couldn’t fall for someone like him. But even if he looked at her with as much interest as he did the old worn books that always surrounded him, she’d never felt anything beyond friendship for the quiet, introspective man.

  “He’s fine, just fine. Doing some research for a little project of mine.”

  Her interest perked—a little research would certainly take her mind off her lack of social life. “Anything I can help with, Professor?”

  The old man chuckled again as he turned and walked slowly toward the door.

  “Could be, Ms. Tanner, could be. Time will tell.” At the door, he paused, Fletcher patiently holding it open for him as he met her smiling gaze. “I trust you’ll be able to control your curiosity, at least until midnight.”

  He glanced at the package and then smiled at her look of consternation. “Oh, and try to have fun tomorrow. It is, after all, a very special day.” He walked away with a wave and Meru thought she heard him say, “A day of possibilities.”

  * * * * *

  “So, are they naked?”

  “What? No, Sheridan, they aren’t…okay, George and Helen are, but everyone else is decent.” Meru cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear, walking toward the microwave as it beeped. She took out the steaming bag of popcorn with one hand, holding it carefully by the edge as she grabbed a soda from the fridge with the other.

  “I’m not telling you anything else.” She paused to blow a dark brown curl away from her face in aggravation before plopping back into her front-row seat by the window and popping open the can for a sip. “This isn’t the Super Bowl. It’s a very serious, spiritual event.”

  “So is the Super Bowl, depending on who you ask,” Sheridan quipped.

  “Besides, I’m stuck in this stinky bachelor-mobile of Kyle’s on yet another boring stakeout. The most exciting thing our perp has done all day is clean out his cat box.” Sheridan’s partner responded rudely in the background and her cousin laughed.

  “I’m so sorry you’re bored, Sher. Those inconsiderate criminals! Don’t they know you have better things to do than wait on them…like driving your cousin crazy with ridiculous questions?”

  They both chuckled.

  “Speaking of questions, I heard you were trying, and not very successfully, to pry info out of Mom about your birthday.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

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