Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

"
    "Susan is a dermatologist, not a pediatrician. She's also perfect. No one can live up to Susan's standards, not even Susan." Hard as it had been to grow up with a perfect big sister, Lily had finally realized it was even harder being the perfect big sister.
    Cynna snorted. "Pot and kettle, Lily."
    "Oh, come on. I'm nowhere near as bad as she is."
    "Are you kidding? You wore a white dress to a barbeque, and - "
    "Cream. It's cream, not white."
    " - and didn't get a spot on it. You hang up your clothes by color and type. I've seen your closet," she added darkly. "You line up your jackets according to the spectrum - red to orange to yellow to - "
    "That's anal, not perfect, and besides, I don't have any orange jackets. Orange makes me look sick. The point is, you've got to stop taking everything Susan says as gospel."
    "I don't, but additives are evil, right? Organic is good. Fresh and organic is really good."
    "This is California. You can buy organic baby food." Lily was pretty sure it was available in the rest of the country, too, but it had to be available here. You could buy organic rope in California, for God's sake.
    "I can?" Relief warred with doubt on Cynna's face. Relief won. "I could buy a bunch of it. I could buy a blender, too. See, the Rhej gave me this steamer thingy. It's for vegetables, and all you do is dump them in and put water in the base and set the timer, and they cook. It's real easy. It probably wouldn't be a big deal to blenderize steamed veggies if I ran out of organic baby food or something."
    "There you go." Lily patted her friend's arm. "Between blenderized veggies and organic baby food, it will work out."
    "Yeah." Cynna turned to survey the crowd. For a moment they ate brownies in silence.
    It was good to see Cynna like this - obsessing over silly stuff, more like her usual self. The acquisition of a couple of the early memories had been hard on her, but tonight she'd shaken that off.
    Lily finished first - she'd ended up with a single brownie after all - and fingered the little object in her pocket. She needed to find Cullen and give it to him. And there was another way lupus parties were different. No one wrapped presents - lupi were such guys sometimes - nor was there any set time to hand over your gift.
    The presents themselves were different, too. Lupi considered it tacky to buy a baby gift. They were either handmade, hand-me-down, or "for the baby jar" - which meant cash. Most gave cash. Lily could relate to that. Cash gifts were a Chinese custom, too, though not at baby showers, and the money was tucked into red envelopes, not a big glass jar.
    But the close friends of the father-to-be were supposed to either make a gift or pass on something with a story attached. The story was part of the present, a tale of all those who had slept in the cradle, gnawed on the blocks, or been warmed by the quilt.
    This was one lupus custom she hadn't needed explained. With their hand-me-downs and handmade presents, the clan claimed the child. The objects were made by clan, used by clan, woven into the history of the clan. They didn't come from the external, human world... which had made it hard for her to decide on a gift, because she did come from the external, human world. And she didn't know how to make anything except an arrest.
    Cynna ate the last bite of brownie with a sigh of pleasure. "That was good, but now I need liquid. Not water and not milk - I'm ready to party."
    "Dr. Pepper?" Lily smiled at Cynna's current definition of partying.
    "Right. If there's anything left. Man, there must be a thousand people here. Come on."
    Lily smiled as she followed. Cynna hadn't come to the FBI via conventional law enforcement the way Lily had, so she'd never learned to estimate crowd size. "Roughly half that, I think, counting the kids."
    "Still, that's a lot. Lots of presents, which is good." Cynna patted her protruding belly. "Lots of work for you, though."
    "Not really." They'd reached the tubs filled with melting ice and soft drinks. Lily dug out a can of Dr. Pepper for Cynna and took a Diet Coke for herself. "Rule and the Rhej handled almost all of the baby party stuff."
    "Yeah, but you did the shower, too, and then there's all those weirdo calls you've been getting."
    "At least those cases are easy to clear, and otherwise things are pretty quiet right now."
    "You know you shouldn't say shit like that."
    Lily snorted. "You're superstitious?"
    "Of course not, but you're never supposed to say things