Masquerade in Chaos: Kable VonSable

by M J Hutto

  I laughed and Jaylin wiggled her eyebrows. His befuddled expression and mournful exhalation was out of character. Kent rarely broke a sweat or worried. The hardest I’d ever seen him work was when he and Vera were starting out and then when he proposed. I doubted he was in any real distress.

  I gently pushed him into the room. “Go save your wife Romeo but keep that shit over there. I don’t want any of it.” He snorted and went towards Vera and Mother.

  I found an open chair at the end of the large table near Father. It was covered in a white lace cloth and the dishes were arranged as if for a formal dinner, complete with all the silver and crystal glassware. The food was in the center of the table and smelled divine; roast chicken, mashed potatoes, tiny green peas in butter, thick gravy, cranberry chutney, and yeasty rolls with melted butter dripping off the sides. At least we would eat well while we were being tortured.

  My father was already seated, and I kissed his cheek before seating myself. He stood briefly until I had myself situated. He never looked up from his newspaper. I arranged my face into an appropriate mask of contented boredom before looking up. My mother was smiling, and my mask almost slipped. I glanced around and realized my mistake. The mysterious gentleman was sitting directly across from me. Touché mother, touché. She knew me too well.

  I met her eyes and she smiled enough to glimpse her teeth, how intriguing. “Kable, I don’t think you’ve met our guest. This is Achlys Aether, he works with Dorian at the police department. He is fairly new to town and has a limited knowledge of the city. Perhaps you could show him around later.”

  To be fair, Dorian looked aghast at being included in this set up. He had stopped moving at the mention of his name, slowly brought his eyes to meet mine and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.” Mother continued to look pleased with herself. This was nothing new to me. She attempted to ambush me like this every few months if I wasn’t seeing someone. I didn’t often date or subject those I did date to family dinners.

  Mystery man was quite lovely to look at, especially with a hot blush on his cheeks. Jaylin was right, they were high and sharp in his lean face. His eyes were dark, almost black and fringed with black lashes. The heavy lids made them look lazy and sinful. I raised a brow when those orbs met mine. There was a glint of something he quickly hid. Too bad Mother had introduced us, there was no choice but to quash any sparks. She mustn’t be encouraged.

  “Officer Aether, pleased to meet you.”

  He grinned and the lean hardness of his face broke into playful charm. His charcoal black hair was long enough to curl onto his forehead and around his ears. His full lips produced a wide grin that showed off his teeth, two of which were slightly crooked. It took away just enough from his perfection to make him human. I bet he played havoc on the criminals.

  “I think perhaps you were as shocked as I about today. It was very kind of Dorian to invite me to dinner. It smells delicious. And it’s Detective ma’am, I’ll be in charge of the new investigation unit.”

  The corner of my lips curved upward as I nodded to him. I wondered if my mother had known anything about him before having Dorian invite him. My father cleared his throat and bowed his head to pray over our meal. Jaylin was making obscene gestures behind Achlys while she licked her lips in an equally obscene manner. She leaned forward to lick him, and he jumped when she did. She jumped back as well and frowned.

  My father cleared his throat and finished his prayer with a round of Amens. Achlys rubbed his neck and his arms. I narrowed my eyes and asked if he was cold. Jaylin walked up to Victor and put her hand on his arm. There was no reaction, not even a small grimace. She looked in askance at me, and I shrugged my eyebrows. I glanced at Achlys to find him watching me closely. I should probably be paying attention. Jaylin could test theories on her own. I had a feeling Detective Hottie saw everything.

  His dark eyes were focused on me, watching my movements and my face. The attention only faltered when someone clearly addressed him and then it diverted directly back to me. It was unsettling and slightly thrilling.

  Dinner progressed without any further incident, unless you considered my mother bringing up tourist attractions every few minutes as incidental. I didn’t. And the others tried to ignore her blatant attempts. When dessert arrived, I’d finally had enough and asked Achlys if he’d like a tour of the city. He had accepted and my mother finally stopped her onslaught. I would tell Dorian later to let him know he didn’t need to come. After today I’d be surprised if he’d ever come anywhere near this family again.

  My eyes were drawn back to Jaylin standing near the detective, wiggling her fingers in anticipation. No one else had responded to her in the slightest. She was about to try him again. I had a bad feeling and was going to tell her to leave him be when Karmine caught my attention. She was trying to tell me something with her eyes. Jaylin reached out and ruffled his hair at the same time my mother stood up from the table, so I missed his reaction.

  “As you all know, Kable’s birthday is coming up. I’d like to have a soirée for her.”

  “Oh, just hell!” I blurted out.

  “Well, Kable, really. It can’t be a surprise your family wants to celebrate your life.”

  I bit my tongue, lifted my chin to one side and breathed deeply as I closed my eyes. I counted to five and then to ten. We hadn’t celebrated my birthday in at least ten years. So yes, I was honestly surprised.

  I smiled. “You’re right Mother. What were you thinking?”

  Karmine’s eyes widened minimally and within a half a second, she had her face back to bland interest and looked at our mother. Kent was busy ogling his wife. I couldn’t blame him; she was smoking hot from the top of her strawberry blond head to her red-tipped toes. Add in her crystal blue eyes and supermodel figure and who wouldn’t stare? To be fair, she had dripped chocolate into the V-neck of her blouse, which is what had distracted Kent.

  Mother was talking but the plans would change a half dozen times, at least, so I didn’t really need to pay attention. Besides all I really needed to know was what time to arrive and what to wear. She was sitting again so I felt safe in the assuming she would be talking about this for a while. I glanced around to see if Jaylin had figured out anything, but she was nowhere to be seen. Detective Hottie was watching me with a puzzled look. Good, he kinda puzzled me too.

  I wanted to see what was going on with him, but Mother could always tell when I was looking at an aura, otherwise I’d have looked at it already. She was a pain in the ass when I used magic around her. Ordinarily I’d do it anyway or maybe to spite her, but I didn’t feel like having that conversation in front of Victor or Detective Hottie. She always acted like I’d just masturbated in front of people or dry humped the president when she caught me. Sometimes it was entertaining. Granda and Babushka had always admonished her for admonishing me.

  She sighed loudly and plaintively. “For heaven’s sake, Kable, are you even listening to me?”

  “Of course, Mother. You want this to be tastefully Christmas themed, no ugly sweaters. You want a silver theme. I should blend right into the background. Won’t that be nice?”

  “I said green and silver. Do listen dear,” she said with a thread of annoyance. “And you should wear something to stand out. Perhaps a pale blue.”

  “I stand out enough and I’m not Elsa, I’ll figure something out.”

  “Honestly dear,” she replied frostily. “I know who you are. What has gotten into you?”

  I opened my mouth to speak and Jaylin, who had reappeared sometime in the last few minutes, shook her head. “We need to talk,” she mouthed. What was up with her? Why was she whispering when no one could hear her? I must have had a look on my face because she pointed at Detective Hottie. He was watching me again and I smiled innocently. Jaylin rolled her eyes; he lifted a dark brow, but the corners of his lips turned up slightly.

  My mother had Vera and Kent pinned in their seats and Karmine was no where to be seen. Interestingly, Victor had said little
during the meal and nothing during the party planning session. The latter wasn’t surprising, just an observation. He didn’t seem very talky for a politician, maybe I was being presumptuous. His phone was out, and he was pecking out a reply to either an email or the longest text ever. I waited for him to finish before attempting to draw him in to a conversation. Jaylin could wait a little bit; she wasn’t getting any older.

  “So, Victor, Karmine says you might be running for Senator of Southeast. That sounds exciting. I heard it on the news too so don’t think she’s spreading state secrets or anything.” I was smiling when I said it.

  His perfect features turned toward me and he smiled. Of course, the man had a dimple. “Not at all, not at all. We are planning to make a run for Senate in the next election, it’s still two years away so we have a little time. I actually met Karmine at one of our fundraisers. Your family donated to our cause.”

  “Oh, how interesting,” I said, nodding encouragingly. “Tell me more.”

  “Well, we want to bring Southeast into this century. Much of our infrastructure needs repair or rebuilding, we should be using solar power instead of natural gas, our schools need support for the teachers and a revamp on curriculum. We are still teaching many things that are outdated and obscure. We need to make our children competitors in today’s world. Of course, they need to know where they came from but also, and more importantly, where they are going and what we need to do to make that happen.

  We’ve lost sight of our goals in this country, and I hope to help get us back on the right track. We need to focus more on what makes us the same instead of what makes us different. Our goals should be unity and prosperity.”

  Everyone was looking at him now. It had been a very impassioned speech. Karmine had not yet returned. “All right, I can get behind unity. How about you and Karmine? What was that meeting like?”

  “Oh, she’s a great girl. She walked right up to me and said, ‘So you’re what my family is spending part of my inheritance on’. We laughed and then she grilled me for an hour on my political views. I asked her to dance, and she turned me down. I brought her champagne and she swapped it for another after dumping that one into a plant.

  “She asked me more questions about myself, my family and my voting record. I answered them and asked her to sit with me to eat. She agreed and we talked for hours. We had breakfast that morning downtown and I asked her out. She declined. I called your father and asked for her number, she had refused to give it to me. He also refused.

  “She texted me a week later and asked me out dancing. We’ve been seeing each other since. We never made it dancing though.” His face held mild amusement.

  I lifted my lips in a small grin. “So, you are a determined man I see, don’t take no very easily as an answer. I can only assume that is a great trait for someone in the political arena.”

  He nodded. “Of course. But I would never have pushed the issue. I found her intriguing and wanted to know her better. I would never have pursued further if she hadn’t reached out. It is important to uphold boundaries.”

  I wasn’t sure I believed him but he’d done just that so I couldn’t say otherwise. It was interesting he’d told me his political views first and about his meeting with Karmine only after I’d asked specifically. I wondered if she knew his career would always come first and then wondered if he knew she was likely only in this for fun. They would figure it out. He seemed driven and idealistic, what more could America ask for?

  “Of course! Well, I hope things are going well for you. It sounds like you have a lot of great ideas,” I said standing up.

  “Mother, I really have to get back to the shop. I really enjoyed dinner; everything was delicious. Please tell Daphne I said so. Kent, Vera, it was nice to see you. Dorian, you as well. Achlys Aether, Detective, nice to meet you.

  “Father.” He nodded at me as I walked toward the door. “Please give Karmine my apologies. Goodnight all.”

  Jaylin was close beside me as I walked quickly towards the door. I noticed a shadow moving down the entryway hall and I sped up. I would not be foiled by my mother, I was leaving.

  The door was caught before I could fully open it. Detective Hottie was holding it and much taller than I’d guessed. Or perhaps it was simply my vertical challenge rearing its ugly head. I looked at him expectantly without smiling.

  He smiled wide enough for both of us. “When do you want to meet for that tour?”

  I shook my head. “That isn’t necessary. My mother is ridiculous. I won’t subject you to further time spent with us. Dorian is an excellent tour guide, and you are already forced to spend time in his vicinity, what with work and all.”

  The spark of sinful delight I’d seen earlier was back in his eyes. I clearly had not imagined it; he was definitely a handful.

  “I was fully aware your mother put you in a spot. I would love to spend time getting to know this city with you. Provided, that is, you would be willing.”

  I narrowed my eyes and lifted my chin, suspicious. “Why on earth would you want to do that? I don’t know half what you need to know as a cop in this city. Plus, I’m sure you can find much more…glamorous and agreeable guides.”

  He reached for my hand and slowly lifted it to his lips. I felt a tingle all the way to my toes. Oh no, ma’am! This is not happening. I did not have a connection with a person of my mothers choosing who I could now in no way pursue. Rude, universe, rude. It was the barest of touches from his lips to my skin and an absolutely ridiculous reaction. Like I didn’t have enough to worry about in my life. What the hell maybe he could help me figure out who was going to kill me. Hell, maybe it was him. I laughed out loud at the thought and that eyebrow was back in the raised position.

  “Excuse me ma’am are you laughing at me? I’ll have you know I am not accustomed to being laughed at to my face. Especially when I’m being charming.”

  That made me snort out another laugh. “I’ll just bet you aren’t. No, I wasn’t laughing at you so much as the situation I’m currently in.”

  “Oh, really. Please elaborate.” He looked genuinely interested, his eyes focused completely on me, his attention never wavering despite the others leaving the dining room and walking around us.

  I curled my lips into a smile and used his upper arm for leverage to pull him down as I leaned into him. I felt my hair brush his cheek as I mock whispered in his ear. “You aren’t planning to kill me, are you? It would save me a lot of time if you’d just tell me now.”

  He pulled away just enough to look me directly in the eyes and I felt the room shift minutely. “Damn, how did you know? Foiled again! It was those darn kids and that dog, wasn’t it?”

  “Mmm, gotta love a Scooby Doo fan. Alright, I guess we can do a tour. It might be a few weeks before I can commit though.”

  His face was still very close to mine and even more devilish up close, think Lucifer from that TV show. We were clearly from different planes of existence. His was a beautiful one and mine was…not.

  His voice held disappointment when he softly said, “Dorian thought you might be free tomorrow. I was hoping you could point me in the direction of a nice place to stay. I’m looking to buy a house here. I’m staying in the hotel downtown at the moment.”

  My eyes widened and my lips pursed. That little assahat had been involved all along. He had set me up. “Did he now? I’ll see what I can figure out. Have my sweet cousin bring you to the shop tomorrow around noon. We’ll grab lunch and I’ll help you find a decent property that might not get destroyed. Any idea where you were thinking about living; stay in the downtown area, something like this area my parents are in?”

  “Not sure.” He frowned and stepped back. “I don’t have a lot of capital to put into something at the moment. They don’t pay cops that much, even if they are starting a new Chaotian Investigation Division.”

  I frowned in earnest. “Yeah, I heard about that. Does that mean you’ll be targeting Orokkian people for practicing Chaotian or just using t
hem as scapegoats for anything that can’t be explained?”

  He held his hands up in a mock surrender. “I want the opposite, actually. I want Orokkian people to know they’ve got someone trying to make sure they get a fair shake in the eyes of the law. I studied some Chaotian, so I understand the principles and what is possible. I’d love to pick your brain at some point, maybe have you as a resource. Dorian seemed to think that it would be a great idea.”

  I smoothed away the frown and smiled. “If you mean that then I would be honored to be a resource for such a division. Is Dorian going to be a part of it too?”

  He grimaced and ducked his head. “Right now, I’m the only member, I’d love to have Doran join when I can prove mine and the divisions worth.”

  I opened the door and began to walk out. “Fair enough. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Until tomorrow, Ms. VonSable,” he called after me from the archway. I didn’t hear the door close until I was getting into my car. I didn’t look back. What have I gotten myself into? Freaking family.

  7 Developments

  The shop was already closed and locked up tight. The greenhouse was my first stop. I sang, danced, and watered all of my lovely green friends. The animals were surprisingly quiet tonight, but I heard them in their areas. I went inside and found Jaylin pacing in the kitchen.

  “It’s about time. What the hell Kable?!”

  “Jaylin, what is your deal?” I asked calmly as I put away my things.

  She closed her eyes and stopped pacing. “Okay, okay, okay. So that guy.”

  “Detective Hottie?”

  She grinned. “I like it. Yeah, Detective Hottie can sense me.”

  “Are you sure? He doesn’t look like us, Jay. Granda said if anyone had even the slightest bit of gift in them, they changed. The only reason he didn’t change is because he didn’t take the vaccine. Neither did Babushka for that matter. Did anyone in your family who was gifted not change?”