The cherub made a gimme gesture at me. I rolled my eyes and spooned him out some of the filling into a small bowl. He shoved it in his mouth, slurping at the different colored cubes and whipped cream, smearing it on his face. He let out a long groan as his eyes closed. “Oooh, that’s even better than I remember. Orgasmic.”

“I hope not, dude.” Tad snorted.

I sighed, gave up, and handed out spoons to everyone. The four of us dug into the dessert, silent while we stuffed our faces. Ernie was right, the cake, if it could be called that, was amazing. Soft and fluffy and sweet, with the buttery graham-cracker crust holding it all together. Not high end, not French baked goods, but I knew already I’d be getting requests to make it again.

“You need to make this in the bakery,” Tad mumbled around a mouthful, and it was my turn to groan. I looked up at the clock above the sink. Ten in the morning.

“Poop, thanks for the reminder. I have to go. I have to meet Mom at the bakery,” I said.

Tad grimaced. “You want me to come?” We both knew he didn’t really want to. While I had taken the share of mom’s ire over the years, Tad hadn’t been immune to it either.

More than once I remember lying in my bed and listening to Mom tell Tad that he was going to go to hell for his taste in music. That it was rotting his soul, and she’d lose him. The strange mix of condemnation and fear she put together and used on us growing up left both of us reluctant to be with her.

I shook my head. “No, it’s just a taste test. Diana will be there, along with the two new girls she hired last week. They’ll run things, and I’ll deal with Mom in the back.” At least that was what I was hoping for. I sighed again, swigged back a big glass of water, and headed to the front door, but then stopped. “You two don’t have a car here.”

Tad shook his head. “I’m going to keep searching the house. Maybe Sandy can help me?”

She nodded a bit too eagerly. I narrowed my eyes at her, and she blushed again.

Sandy was my friend, but she’d sided with Beth when Beth had lost her marbles and gone after Theseus. I trusted Sandy, but at the same time I would put Dahlia and Tad above her every time. It was a hard truth, but one I recognized. I loved them all, but some were closer to me than others in our group.

It only took me about ten minutes to get to the bakery. Such a nice change from driving all the way in from the Wall, which was a good two-hour drive even without border clogs. I didn’t want to think about the reasons why I’d continued to live in house number thirteen after I legally regained possession of my grandparents’ house. Probably had to do with Remo. I snorted to myself, and Ernie raised an eyebrow at me. I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“Didn’t say a word.” He mumbled and stroked one of his wings forward. “What is going on with the vamps, then?”

“Nothing,” I said. “I told Remo I didn’t need him.”

Ernie laughed, and I glanced at him as I pulled onto the road where my bakery was. The place was remarkably quiet. Like I wasn’t liking how quiet it was. There should have been customers for the bakery, or at least a few cars parked here and there for the other businesses in the area. There wasn’t even a single picketing Firstamentalist.

I parked in the back lot and stepped out of the Charger. I took a breath, and a tingle of apprehension went through me. Then again, it could have simply been my mother’s tiny Camry parked there, waiting for me.

My mom wasn’t what I’d call the most open-minded when it came to me and Tad being Super Dupers. She wasn’t excited that we hadn’t died. In fact, she’d said more than once it would have been better if we had, because as it was we were going to hell, and any association we had with her would damn her as well. She was as Firstamentalist as one could get, hard core through and through. But she was my mother, and I loved her, and like always I hoped for the best while expecting the worst.

I squared my shoulders and headed in through the back door, Ernie right behind me. A sudden thought hit me. I had no idea how my mom would react to seeing a physical manifestation of a mythology she always said was stupid. I pointed to the ceiling, and Ernie shot up and out of the way. To be sure, I made a zipping motion across my mouth. Ernie grinned and crossed a finger over his heart. As if that would truly seal the deal.

I looked away from him. My mom was bent over a recipe book that had pictures next to each flavor. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun without a single hair escaping it. She was dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved dark-gray blouse that actually highlighted her slim figure. That was a first. Normally she wore clothes that hid her body.

Diana was beside her, pointing things out. “So you can see that we can do the cream-filled cakes pretty much with any flavor you’d like. We can do red velvet, chocolate, pecan, vanilla, anything you can come up with, and we can pair it with any flavor of filling too, from fruit to . . .” She glanced up and saw me, then smiled. “Well, Alena is here, so I’ll let her show you the different choices and some of the bakery’s best options.”

Diana winked at me, and I pleaded with her with my eyes, but she just hurried out to the front counter as I groaned quietly to myself. “Hi, Mom.”

She didn’t turn around but pointed at the page. “This red velvet, what does it taste like, Alena?”

I went to the fridge and pulled out the samples I’d asked Diana to make up for me first thing that morning. “Here, you can try all the different flavors.”