Haint Blue (Fairy Tales of a Trailer Park Queen Book 9)

by Kimbra Swain

  “Hey, honey, what’s wrong?” I asked. She just buried her face in my leg. I bent down to look at her in the face. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she shook her head back and forth. Luther appeared at the door with Levi who had stepped back inside.

  “She’s okay,” Luther reassured me.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I hurt something,” she said.

  “What did you hurt?” I asked.

  “An animal,” she said.

  “It was a roach,” Luther said.

  “Well, I think that can be forgiven,” I said.

  “It scared me, and I flamed it!” she exclaimed.

  “We were out in my shed looking for some wood to practice her fire on, and the damn thing ran out on her. I probably would have done the same thing. Creepy little shits,” Luther said.

  “You didn’t burn the shed down, did you?” I asked.

  “Nah, just a little hole in the wood. She’s controlling the spread, just not the knee-jerk reaction,” he explained.

  “I’m sorry, Momma,” she whimpered.

  “Winnie, listen to me. Sometimes we make mistakes. It’s going to happen. I think if a bug would have jumped out on me I might have frozen it to death! Plus, you need to remember that there are some bugs in this world that need to be squashed. The hard part is learning which bugs to kill and which ones will help you out in the future. It’s tough now for you, but we are here with you as you learn. Okay?” I explained.

  “Okay, Momma,” she said hugging me tightly.

  I made eye contact with Levi who had waited behind to see if he was needed. He nodded, then slipped out the door.

  “Thank you, Luther, for all of your help with Miss Winnie as she is learning,” I said.

  “Yes, thank you, Mr. Luther,” Winnie said. She rushed across the room, and he bent down to hug her tightly.

  “You’re welcome, dear child,” he said. “Grace, my friend will be here tomorrow. I would like you to meet him as soon as possible.”

  “Are you going to tell me who or what he is?” I asked.

  Luther grinned, “Nope. I want it to be a surprise. Plus, I think there might be a clash of personalities. We will just see.”

  “You devil,” I said. “You want to stay for dinner?”

  “No, ma’am. If I don’t get back to Betty, she will accuse me of sleeping around on her,” he said.

  She would probably accuse him of it anyway, but I knew good and well that she didn’t mean it, and he loved every minute of it.

  “Have a good evening,” I said as Astor opened the door to let Luther out.

  “So, what’s for dinner?” Astor asked.

  “I was thinking cheeseburgers,” I said.

  “Cheeseburgers! Cheeseburgers!” Winnie chanted.

  “Burgers it is,” Astor said.

  “I’ll help,” I added.

  “I’ll go play,” Winnie said.

  “Ella, are you staying for dinner?” I asked.

  “Yes, please,” she said. “I’ll set the table.”

  Just as we sat down to eat, another car approached outside. Levi shifted in his seat, and I knew that suddenly he felt uncomfortable.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “My father,” he said rising up to go to the door.

  “Invite him to dinner,” I said.

  Levi grunted, then reached the door as his father knocked. Levi opened the door without saying anything and his father peeked inside.

  “Oh, I’m interrupting dinner,” he said. “I’ll come back later.”

  “Okay,” Levi said.

  “Levi! William, why don’t you join us? We have plenty,” I said.

  “I don’t want to impose on your family dinner,” he said.

  I stood up and walked to the door where Levi was trying to control his seethe. “William, you’re part of this family. I would like it very much if you would join us more often,” I said.

  When I looked at him, I realized something different about him. His eyes weren’t bloodshot, and he didn’t smell like alcohol. He looked very much like Levi sober. Very handsome with deep blue eyes.

  “He’s sober,” Levi said.

  “I see that,” I replied.

  “Are you sure, Grace?” he asked.

  “Yes, of course,” I said waving him inside. He stepped inside timidly. Astor, Ella, and Winnie smiled at him. Astor stood up, pulling the spare chair to the dining room table.

  “Nice to see you, Mr. William,” Winnie said. My proper little girl. So proud.

  “Good to see you, too, Miss Winnie,” he said as he sat down.

  “You okay?” I asked Levi.

  “I guess,” he replied. I dared to look. Yep, he was brooding. God bless it.

  Dinner went by with a tense, but happy conversation about the upcoming Halloween holiday. I grew up calling it Samhain, but Winnie called it Halloween. We deferred to her young judgment on the matter. We discussed costumes and traditions. She seemed to be very interested in the traditions of honoring the dead. We had already honored Dylan, but it was traditional to do it for the holiday. We were more than happy to allow her to do it again. It was a good coping mechanism not just for her, but for myself as well. William kept quiet most of the night but joined in the conversation occasionally.

  After dinner, Levi helped me clear the table while Astor took Ella home.

  “Be back soon,” he said in a low tone while standing next to Levi and me at the sink.

  “I’d rather you not come back,” I replied.

  “Why? What have I done wrong?” he said.

  “Nothing. Yet,” I said with a smile.

  “Grace,” he blushed.

  “She’s right,” Levi said. “Don’t come back.”

  “You two are incorrigible and hypocrites,” he smirked, then met his lady at the door.

  “Are we hypocrites?” I asked Levi.

  Before he could answer, Winnie asked, “What’s a hypocrite?”

  William who had been sitting in the living room coloring with her laughed at the question. He had a deep rich laugh, and I kinda liked it.

  “It’s when someone tells you that you should do something, but they don’t do it themselves,” I said.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  Levi started giggling. I flicked soapy water at him. He dodged it but kept laughing.

  “It’s like if you told someone to be kind to a friend, but then you were mean to the friend,” William said, helping out with the explanation.

  “Oh, okay, it’s like a liar,” she said, then went back to her coloring. It was enough of an explanation for her. William looked up to Levi, and Levi nodded thanks to him. I had the sudden urge to repair the relationship between father and son, but I had no idea where to start. It seemed that William was trying.

  “Stay out of it, please,” Levi begged.

  “I just know that I miss my father, and you’ve never had a good one. You might give him a chance,” I said.

  “I’ve given him plenty of chances,” Levi said. “He can hang around or do whatever, but I’m not ready to forgive him.”

  I put my hand over his wrist. He shuddered at my touch. “Don’t wait too long to say the things you should.”

  He shook his head, gently pulling away from my grasp. Levi had no connection to William except for blood. I was thankful that William was trying, but it hurt to see him hurting over Levi’s rejections. I understood Levi’s perspective too. I’d lived many years despising my father. Only to realize lately, that perhaps I was wrong in hating him so intently. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a reason. I had come to learn that reason wasn’t enough when a life drew to a close. There was a bond between a child and their parent that cannot be severed. It could be twisted and torn, but never completely broken. William and Levi had time to mend things. I hoped.

  I spent the morning at the office while Levi ran some errands for Mayor Jenkins. He was much more involved than I had realized. Even the Mayor was leaning on hi
m for things now. Luther would be coming by soon with his ghoul hunter. My plan was to meet this hunter, then pay my dear friend Mable Sanders another visit. I wanted to know who the third ORC was. I believed it important to our survival. The potential for that person to be inside the wards was very high especially since she refused to tell me who it was.

  Leaning back in my chair, Aydan sat on my lap clapping his hands and playing with a plastic truck. He moved it back and forth over the desk making raspberries as it moved. He was slobbering everywhere, but it was too cute to stop him from doing it.

  A shadow moved outside the window, and I jumped. Aydan sat very still in my lap. I lowered him down behind my desk into the little playpen that I had there. Someone was here.

  A dark form drew up out of the floor, then solidified in front of me. The same ghoul from the night at my house stood inside the protected walls of my office. My power was already charged, and I stared at him. Don’t mess with a mother.

  “Good morning, Queen of the Exiles, I have come to request that you allow us to take what we came here for with a promise to move out of your town with no incidents,” he said. His voice drifted out of his blackened body. He looked as if he were a charred piece of wood, brittle and ready to break.

  “Get out of my office. You were not invited here,” I said.

  “I expect no hospitality from you, but I am not afraid of you either,” he smiled. The darkness split at his lips revealing red bloody teeth. His eyes flickered for a moment, then Levi stood behind him. “Your bard is powerful.”

  “Damn straight, I am,” Levi growled.

  I wasn’t going to negotiate with a being that decided to pop into my office unannounced.

  “You can make an appointment, and I’ll be happy to discuss this with you when I have an opening in my schedule,” I said.

  He chuckled. “I’ve heard that you were, how did they put it, sassy.”

  “I haven’t even started sassing you yet,” I said.

  “You need to leave,” Levi said.

  “I see. I will not set an appointment. I will just take what I came here for. Just remember, the dead belong to me. You may rule this world and the one under it, but those who have left both are mine.”

  “Anything living or dead in this town is mine, and I dare you to take it from me,” I growled. Aydan responded by stomping in his playpen. A clap of thunder shook the trailer when he did. I tried not to act surprised, but it was very hard.

  “Just the same. See you soon,” he said slipping back into the floor.

  “Good golly, Aydan!” I said spinning around to look at him.

  He looked up at me with a grin and clapped his hands together. Levi peered over the desk at him.

  “What’s worse than having an adolescent with new magical powers?” Levi asked.

  “Having an infant with them,” I responded.

  Within a few moments, the office was filled with my knights, except Luther who called. He said that he and the visitor would be arriving soon.

  “I’m fine. We are fine,” I said.

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” Astor said.

  “I’m a fairy queen,” I said.

  “Who shouldn’t be alone,” he countered. Finley stood against the far wall but didn’t join the conversation.

  “I agree,” Tennyson said as he lounged in the other chair in the room besides my own. He leaned back in his fine suit, puffing on a vape mod that was cylindrical making it look like a cigar.

  “Get that away from my child,” I said.

  “Your child just shook the whole town with a clap of thunder. I’m pretty sure this won’t hurt him,” he said.

  “Levi, call Remy. Dylan said something about some of their folk coming to bless him. I don’t know what that means, but we should probably look into it,” I said. Remington Blake was a star folk of the Native Americans. He had connections all over the United States with the remaining First People. If anyone could help us with Aydan, it would be them.

  Levi fished the phone out of his jeans, then stepped into the other room to make the call.

  “What did the ghoul want? Was he specific this time?” Troy asked.

  “No. Just demanded that I comply,” I said.

  “And you said?” Tennyson asked.

  “I told him he could make an appointment.” They all snickered lightly.

  “Damn, Grace. You do beat all,” Tennyson said. “You’ve got balls.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” Levi said from the other room which caused them to all laugh harder.

  “Levi Rearden, I am going to knock you into next week,” I said. “I have balls. They are just lady balls.”

  Astor grunted, and Tennyson continued to laugh.

  “I think I’ll go check around town and make sure everyone is alright,” Troy said. “Keep me updated.”

  “Will do,” I said as he left.

  “Remy said he will make some calls, and Tabitha is coming over to check him out,” he said.

  “I think he’s fine,” I said. “He was feeding off of me. I’ve just got to be careful not to provoke him. I think.”

  “What was this about lady bits?” he asked.

  “Not lady bits. Oh, never mind.” He had flustered me because when I looked at him, I realized he was just prodding me.

  “I do believe she mentioned something about knocking,” Tennyson said adding to the tease.

  “Seriously, a ghoul came past all of our protections, into this room with my child, and you guys are too busy trying to get me off-kilter.”

  “It’s working,” Levi grinned.

  I huffed a long sigh and leaned back into my chair.

  “Grace, I believe that he couldn’t have harmed you had he tried. He crossed the wards without permission. I’m willing to bet he had no power. You probably could have destroyed him,” Tennyson said.

  “I felt him outside before he came in,” I said.

  “And inside?” Levi asked.

  “I dunno. I was too busy being momma bear,” I said.

  “The wards are stronger at home. You need to stay there,” Levi said. “And I’ll make arrangements to be with you.”

  “You have taken on responsibilities,” I said.

  Tennyson cut his eyes to Levi, and Levi winced. “Finley told you,” he said.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “I wasn’t hiding it from you,” he said in his defense.

  “I’m not angry, Levi. I’m proud of you. I’m thankful for you,” I said. Then I pointed a finger at Tennyson, “However, you’re encouraging him. Tread lightly, Knight.”

  “He needs very little encouragement, Grace. Just support,” he said. “I knew a man just like him once.”

  “Don’t say it,” I said.

  “I won’t, but the similarities are uncanny,” he said. “Your father even had a knack for music. Do you remember?”

  “I remember,” Astor added.

  I thought back to my childhood, and I did remember my father playing the lute as well as other instruments. Taliesin had taught him how to play some of them on their long journeys. It was something to do as they traveled. He had nowhere near the musical talent that Levi had, but I didn’t think that Tennyson was sold on Levi’s music. He saw Levi as a potential leader.

  “If I promise to stay at home with the kids other than to go out with one of you, will you continue your duties?” I asked Levi.

  He questioned my intentions, but he answered with his heart. “I would like to continue what I’m doing for the town. You know that if there is trouble, I can be with you in an instant.”

  “Very well. No more office hours until the ghoul problem is solved,” I said.

  “Thank you, Grace,” Levi said.

  “You’re welcome, Dublin,” I replied. Tennyson seemed quite happy with the situation. He stood up straightened his coat and retrieved his sword from beside the chair where he had leaned it against the wall.

  “I would like to know things when the two of you are up to so
mething. No more surprise sword fights,” I said.

  Tennyson nodded. “He is very good. The best I’ve ever taught, but as you wish, we will keep you informed. We weren’t slighting you, my Queen. We were just giving you room to grieve. We are here to back you up and cover the holes that you cannot.”

  “Thank you, Tennyson,” I said.

  “Finley, come with me. I have a task for you,” he said. Finley pushed himself off the wall.

  “For the record, I think you can handle yourself,” he said with a smile.

  “Sucking up won’t get you anywhere, Finley,” Tennyson scolded.

  “I got your back,” Finley grinned. He didn’t mean it. He was just disagreeing with them to disagree. He thought I shouldn’t be alone here without protection, too. He followed Tennyson out the door who left in a cloud of vape smoke. Levi picked Aydan up from the crib and sat in the chair that Tennyson vacated. He bounced Aydan on his knee. The little man giggled and clapped.

  “Astor, I told you not to come home last night,” I said turning to the ginger.

  “Um, I’ve got something I need to go do. Call me if you need me,” he said as he hurried out the door.

  “Trouble in paradise?” I asked.

  “More like he’s frustrated, and you aren’t helping,” Levi scolded.

  “Perhaps,” I said.

  “Mayor Jenkins has asked me to take over his job,” Levi announced suddenly.

  “What?”

  “You said you wanted to know everything. I’m telling you,” he said. “I’ve never lied to you, Grace. I won’t start now, but I have been working toward forming relationships just in case he really decides that I become the mayor here. The guardian of the Vale.”

  “This shit just gets deeper and deeper,” I said.

  “Aydan, it’s a good thing you can’t talk, because your mommy would teach you all sorts of bad words,” Levi said.

  “Sorry.” Levi just laughed. “Mayor?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Isn’t there supposed to be an election for that? We aren’t having any more elections in this town,” I said. The last one was a disaster which resulted in my father’s death.

  “No, he’s not really mayor. He’s the protector of the Vale, and he said since I had warded it with the spell from the book that maybe I would be the best candidate to keep it protected. I can feel everything that moves in an out of it from the smallest rabbit to the biggest troll. It only makes sense,” he said.