“Yeah, I tried to keep her clean. So what’s the story in here? You got everything under control? I was thinking of taking her back to the house and getting her changed. We’ll probably just hang out there unless you need me here,” Del said, using a napkin to try to clean most of the ice cream off Ariel’s face.
“Everything is good here. We’ve figured out exactly what is needed to be done and he says that it will be up and running within a week and a half. That’s pretty good and the inventory wasn’t damaged as much as I thought that it would be.” Raelin leaned over to kiss her wife, tasting a slight chocolate flavor remaining on her lips. “Mmm, I like that.”
“So is that an excuse to eat more ice cream?” Del chuckled.
“It’s an excuse to put the ice cream somewhere else and eat it very slowly.” Raelin leaned back in for another quick kiss.
Del stole another kiss, and then laughed when she looked down to see Ariel with both sets of fingers crossed and her eyes closed tightly. “I’m going to take you up on that someday, but for now we should probably behave so we don’t traumatize Ariel any more than we already have.”
Raelin laughed as she leaned down to pick up the small child. “Did you hear something that you didn’t want to, Sweet Pea?”
“Heards the scary groany monsters,” she said, wrapping her arms around Raelin’s neck.
“Excuse me; I just had a question about the building. This your daughter? She looks just like your wife,” the contractor said with a smile as he approached with the buildings blueprints.
“Uh, what’s your question?” Raelin ignored the second question that the man had asked, and she glanced at Delaney and Ariel to see how they were taking it.
“Nopes, my Mommy is a big lawyer and she is workin so I is staying with my Aunt Delly and Aunt Raelin till she is dones,” Ariel said proudly with a big grin.
Delaney let out a sigh of relief when Ariel didn’t catch on to the truth.
“Oh, I was just wondering if you’d had any new wiring done in here or if it’s all original. It looks like it’s in pretty bad shape so we might need to rewire the whole store,” he said kindly, tickling the giggling toddler in Raelin’s arms.
Readjusting Ariel on her hip, Raelin sighed. “How long will that take and what’s the cost?”
“I’ll tell you what. You’ve done a lot of good in this town and me and my family’s been awfully grateful. I’ll return the favor. I can’t do the work for free, but I’ll do it for half the cost we originally talked about. That work for you?” He smiled, pulling a quarter from Ariel’s ear.
“That would be great.” Raelin made up her mind to give the man the difference as a bonus.
“Fantastic. I’m going to go back to work now; you need anything else you just let me or one of my boys know.” With that he tweaked Ariel’s nose and headed back to his team, smiling at Ariel’s careless laughter.
“That was awfully nice of him.” Del smiled, watching as Ariel turned the coin over, trying to figure the trick out. “We should probably head out to the house now if there’s nothing you need me around here for.”
In deference to Ariel, Raelin just smiled. “Okay, I need to stay here for a while longer. I’ve got my journal so I’ll have plenty to do,” she turned the small blonde in her arms. “You have fun with Aunt Delly and I’ll see you after a while.”
“Kays. Delly promised me that we could plays hides and seeks,” she giggled, giving Raelin a kiss.
“Okay, well I’ll have supper ready for you when you get home,” she said softly, stepping into Raelin’s personal space under the guise of taking Ariel from her.
She reached out to grab the tiny blonde, her hand brushing subtly over Raelin’s breast before wrapping around Ariel’s ribs and settling the toddler against her hip. “You call me if you need anything,” she said with a wink.
Raelin gulped. “Hide and seek huh? That’s one of my favorite games, and I will. I love you both,” she sent a quick mental picture of where she could hide her hand to her wife and smiled.
“Love you too,” Del whispered, letting her lips brush against Raelin’s. Mindful of the group of men on the other side of the room despite the image of Raelin’s hiding hand making her want to deepen the kiss.
“Okay Team Blondie...Have a good time.” Raelin placed a sloppy kiss on Ariel’s cheek. “Love you Sweet Pea.”
“Loves you too, Aunty Raelin,” she said over Del’s shoulder as they headed for the Jeep.
Del got the toddler settled in her seat and was soon back at the house and heading to Ariel’s room. “So, my little partner in crime, what shall it be? The cute little shorts and t-shirt set?” she asked holding up the two pink garments in question. “Or the jeans and tank top?”
“Jeans and t-shirt silly. Cants wear the shorts wifs it cause that’s too much pink,” Ariel said, already having ditched the ice cream covered shorts and t-shirt she’d been previously wearing. She let Delaney dress her and then they took the dirty clothes to the laundry room putting them in the sink to soak so they wouldn’t stain.
“So munchkin, you wanna play now or play later?” Delaney asked as she piggybacked Ariel down the hall. She nodded to Rori who informed them both that Tasha and the kittens were both just fine and continued towards the back door.
“Play now, of course,” she giggled, from over Del’s shoulder. “Can we play tags instead thoughs?”
“Sure we can, baby,” she set Ariel down on the porch and then raced off into the backyard. “You’re it though,” she called as Ariel gave chase.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Raelin sat in the tearoom as the contractors worked, reading her journal. They were waiting for a shipment to come in whose supplier demanded payment upon delivery. The information in the book was a wealth of knowledge in the world of magic. Raelin felt so very lucky that her family had decided to write everything down.
She was reading a spell for teleportation when her phone rang. Without looking at the caller id, she answered, “Hello...”
“Mrs. Delacroix, I’m glad I reached you. I heard of your stay in the casino last night and I just wanted to apologize that I did not greet you personally. I was not informed of your arrival until after you’d already left I’m afraid,” came the smooth voice of Mr. Bisanti.
“Mr. Bisanti, I am sorry that we could not have stayed longer, but had something arisen back home. It was just a spur of the moment decision that we could not take advantage of. Thank you though for calling.” Raelin leaned against the back of her chair.
“Yes, well I also heard that you were not given the proper room someone in your position would normally be given. I will see to it that the employee responsible is properly taken care of…” he said kindly as if it were no big deal.
“I would rather you didn’t. The front desk clerk Tia offered me the executive suite but I declined it. I saw no need for us using it.” The brunette wiped her hand over her eyes.
“Oh, very well then. Listen, since I have you on the phone, I was wondering if there was any chance that you had reconsidered our offer? We are willing to double the price we originally offered,” he put out. Truthfully the price was of no consequence. They made enough money at the casino to make the money back tenfold in just a year.
Shaking her head even though she couldn’t be seen, Raelin declined. “No, my answer is still no. Like I said before, my father left the casino to me for a reason, and I haven’t discovered why. I will keep it in mind for a later date, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
“Once again I am saddened but you can’t blame a business man for trying,” he paused before a low chuckle escaped his throat. “Although, I’m confident you will reconsider soon enough.”
With that, the line went dead.
Raelin pulled the phone away from her ear and shook her head. Some people just didn’t know when to quit. She put the phone down on the table and resumed reading from where she left off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Del laughed as she and Ari
el trudged to the front steps, she was trying to catch her breath. They’d just spent the last hour running all over the backyard and keeping up with the energy of a four year old was certainly a work out. Just as she was about to take a step, she heard a vehicle pull into the yard and turned to see who it was.
Before she could react, she felt a sharp pang in her chest, a burning that signaled she’d been hit with something. She looked down to see a dart embedded in her flesh and knew she’d been hit with a tranquilizer. She tried to take a step, but her feet already felt heavy and when she tried to yell at Ariel to run, her tongue felt swollen in her mouth. As her vision blurred, she caught the sight of a group of men in black wearing ski masks running towards her and she knew she was in trouble.
Desperately trying to get the words out of her mouth, she collapsed to her knees as she felt darkness start to encroach on her mind. She saw Ariel being carried; crying and screaming towards a van and soon after felt rough hands grab her arms. She tried to struggle desperately trying to get to Ariel, but to no avail her entire body was fighting against her mind.
Distantly she heard the angry hissing of Rori as he ran over and tried his best to defend her, but she knew he was no match for the men and her heart sank when she heard his pained cry when he was kicked away. Eventually she could no longer fight the blackness and the last thing she saw before she passed out was Ariel struggling and reaching out as they were loaded into a van.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Raelin suddenly felt cold as the link that she had gotten used to having with Delaney snapped closed and she fell to her knees with a cry. Her eyes went wide but she saw nothing but darkness.
Hearing a cry followed closely by a thud the contractor turned and noticed that Raelin had fallen to her knees. He ran over and kneeled quickly beside her, concern clouding his features. “Raelin? You okay? What’s wrong?”
“I need...I need Kasey...go get me Kasey.” Raelin put her hand over her heart. She felt empty. Hanging her head, she took a deep breath to pull from the lines and reached towards her home. There was nothing...she couldn’t feel her wife or Ariel’s energy. She sobbed in pain.
“Shhh Sweetie. Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay,” he turned to his crew, all who were watching worriedly. “Jake, go grab the deputy and be quick. It’s just a few doors down.”
He turned back to the despairing woman in front of him, trying to figure out what the problem was. He saw her clutching her heart and asked about it. “Is it your heart Raelin? You having chest pains or anything like that?”
“There’s nothing there...they’re gone,” Raelin mumbled.
“Who is gone?” he asked just as Kasey came barreling through the door. She immediately kneeled on the woman’s other side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“I got it guys, thank you for getting me.” The contractor nodded and took his leave leaving the deputy to handle the situation. “Raelin, honey tell me what’s wrong?”
“They’re not there...something is wrong Kasey. My heart is empty...” Raelin leaned forward as if she was in pain.
“Okay, I don’t know what that means. Let’s call Delaney and have her come get you okay? We can figure things out from there. We need to get you up off this floor though,” she suggested, wanting to get Raelin away from the eyes of the men however well-meaning they were.
Picking up her head the witch looked at her friend with tears in her eyes. “She not there...I can’t feel her. She and Ariel are gone.” Raelin reached out and grabbed Kasey’s shirt. “They’re coming true.”
Hearing the desperation in Raelin’s voice, Kasey knew things were serious. “Okay, let’s get you out of here first. Okay? We’ll figure out things from there. I don’t think you want to deal with this in front of people you hardly know,” she said softly.
Forcing herself to stand, Raelin instinctively grabbed her family’s journal and Kasey all but carried her out to her truck.
Kasey quickly started towards the house. “Okay, Rae I know you’re really upset right now, but we need to get you home. Do you want me to swing by and grab Jenny on the way?” she asked, reaching over and squeezing her friend’s hand.
“No, go straight to the house. Just call her and have her meet us there.” Now that the witch was in the car, she felt that she couldn’t get home fast enough.
Kasey nodded and flipped her phone open, waiting impatiently for Jenny to answer. They were just pulling into the yard when Kasey finished explaining the situation to her fiancée and she quickly hung up as she parked the truck. She opened the door for Raelin and helped her out, pausing when she saw that the door was still open. She motioned for Raelin to wait and unholstered her gun quickly going through the house and coming up empty.
Rejoining Raelin in the yard, she gave the witch the bad news. “There’s no one here Raelin. I’m sorry. Whoever it was left a note on the door and I found what looks like a tranquilizer dart at the bottom of the steps next to a little bit of blood. I need to call Carmen and get her team out here to comb for evidence.”
“No! What did the note say...? What did it say Kasey?” Raelin moved from foot to foot nervously.
Kasey really didn’t want to tell her, but knew the witch was going to find out anyways. “It says ‘Have you changed your mind yet? Call the cops and your blondes never come home.’ Look, kidnappers always say don’t call the cops. Raelin, we need to get help on this,” she said, squeezing the witches shoulder.
Raelin put her hand on Kasey’s arm, quieting her. “Shhh...Rori? Where are you?”
“Oh Goddess Rae, I tried to help them.” He groaned weakly. “Near the porch.”
Running to the porch, Raelin cried out as she saw her familiar lying on his side with such pain in his eyes. “Did you see who took them? Are you all right?”
“It’s my leg, it’s broken I think, along with a rib. Delaney started screaming in her head so loud; I had to come see what was happening. All I saw were a bunch of men in black. One was carrying off Ariel as Delaney was struggling just to keep standing. I think they might have hit her with a tranquilizer or something. She tried so hard to get to Ariel, even as the drug was kicking in. I’m sorry Rae, I did as much as I could but one of the larger men kicked me away and I blacked out. They were all wearing masks,” he explained, fighting off the pain and exhaustion. “Are Tasha and the kittens okay? I told her to keep the little ones quiet in case they got into the house.”
“I think that they are fine. As soon as Jenny gets here, I’ll have her take you to the vet and we’ll get you all patched up. Don’t you worry about Tasha or the kittens.” Raelin directed Kasey to go into the utility room to get a box and a towel so that Jenny could transport the cat easier.
Doing as she was told, Kasey came out with the requested items and knelt down next to the witch. “Here, I brought what you asked for,” she said sighing in relief when she saw Jenny pull into the driveway. “Did he say if he saw anything? What happened?”
“I tried to contact you Raelin, but you were too far away I think even for us. There was nothing Delaney could have done, and even so, she fought as hard as she could,” he murmured.
“He said that they were wearing masks, but I know who it is. Bisanti called me earlier and asked me once again to sell. I told him no, but he said that I would be reconsidering my answer soon.” Carefully the witch picked up her cat and placed him in the box. “I didn’t hurt you too much, did I?” she gently asked her oldest friend.
“It’s going to hurt no matter what we do child, but I’m as fine as I can be. Please, tell Kasey that she better find out who did this and make them pay. I don’t often hold grudges or wish ill on people but there was no reason to take an innocent child,” he said firmly wincing when he tried to shift to get more comfortable.
“Okay, so we know who is behind this. That makes things a bit easier. I can have someone down their throats so fast they won’t know what hit them,” Kasey said, grabbing her cell phone and flipping it open, scrolling through
her contacts for Jacobs’ number.
“NO! WAIT!” Raelin stopped her friend from calling her ex-boss. “Let’s see if they contact me again. If I’m wrong and the FBI goes barging in there, whoever has them, may kill them,” she stood up and ran her hands through her hair. “Goddess, I don’t know what to do.”
Seeing the hurt, confusion, and desperation in her friend’s eyes she reached out and pulled the older woman into a tight hug. “We’ll find them Rae and we’ll make whoever it is pay dearly for what they’ve done.”
Resting her head on Kasey’s shoulder she sighed as she felt Jenny’s light touch on her back.
The young woman had been standing nearby, letting her fiancée and friend talk but had gotten the gist of the conversation by reading the note that Kasey had left on the door and the way that Raelin was acting. Seeing Rori, she walked over and carefully picked up the box. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You take care of Rae, Kasey.”
“I will. Be careful, and make sure he gets the best treatment available,” she said softly, rubbing Raelin’s back to try and sooth her. “Call me with any updates and get the both of you back out here as fast as you can.”
Jenny nodded her head and headed to her truck to place the feline inside before taking off.
Raelin remained on her knees for a while longer before she remembered that she needed to go inside to tell Tasha what had happened. After doing that and reassuring the new mother that her mate would be home as soon as possible the witch went into the kitchen and collapsed into a chair.
“Raelin, I need to know exactly what’s been going on and what you mean when you said they were coming true. What exactly is coming true?” Kasey asked carefully kneeling in front of the tired woman.
Raelin was twirling her wedding band absentmindedly and staring out the back window. “I’ve been having nightmares and recently Delaney and now Ariel have been having them too,” her voice trailed off.
“I know you really don’t want to think about it but what happened in those nightmares?” She knew the witch had abilities and she was not going to underestimate her friend or take any chances.
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