Masquerade in Chaos: Kable VonSable

by M J Hutto

  I shook the bracelet out and walked out the door. I set the protective wards and walked to the back door of the shop. Once inside, I called out to Reva and Maxine so they’d know I was there. I made myself a cup of hot tea in a paper cup with a lid and snagged a blueberry muffin. I glanced at the clock on the wall to see how long I had to enjoy my food and, ugh, I’d forgotten the potions for the shop. I’d need to bring those soon or we would run out.

  I put my things down on the table and checked the stock. There was only one of the Placement Potations left so I left and brought them back. When I returned, Detective Hottie was sitting at the table I’d left my tea and muffin at. Reva gave me wagging eyebrows and an “oh-la-la.”

  I rolled my eyes and he, of course, chose that moment to look over at us. He motioned to himself with a grin and I raised a brow shaking my head. I had a feeling it was going to be a long few hours.

  “Reva and Maxine, this is Dorian’s coworker. He’s a detective for the police department and will be leading a new division. Dorian and my mother graciously thought I could show him around.”

  Reva walked forward and nudged me sharply with her elbow. She was smiling beautifully, and her dark curls shone in the lights. She swayed over and took his hand in her own. She turned and showed me wide hazel eyes, “Don’t be rude Kable. Who’s your friend?”

  What a little brat, I thought only half jokingly. I was about to tell her what a little shit she was when I noticed Maxine standing in the corner. She was studiously looking away and her hands were shaking.

  “Detective Aether, as I’ve already mentioned this is Reva and that is Maxine. Reva is starting her first semester of college in a few weeks and Maxine went to high school with my siblings and is working with me at the shop.”

  He smiled at them both and Maxine smiled back. Her trembling had stopped. She walked over and while she didn’t touch him, she also didn’t appear afraid. They exchanged pleasantries. I didn’t like how she was shying away, had something else happened? She seemed to sense my concern and smiled encouragingly at me.

  “I’m okay. Just a bad memory snuck up on me. I’m good. No, I’m great. Reva is great and is letting me stay with her in the guest house at her parents’ house. We are thinking of getting an apartment or something.”

  “Oh, wow. Okay. Well, since we’ll be out looking for places today, we’ll keep our eyes open for something for you, too, if you want.”

  They nodded at me and I thought how wonderful it was for Maxine to have someone to lean on. They seemed to have become quite close very quickly. I was worried about them, they both needed someone to lean on right now.

  “Any news about your dad, Reva?”

  “No. Hoping to hear something today, tomorrow at latest. Dad’s holding up but Mom is cleaning everything in sight. I had to tell her to stay out of the guest house. She’s thrown out all kinds of things, has polished all the wood and is moving on to the silver now…for the second time.”

  “Aha. Well, let me know when you find out something, okay?”

  She nodded. I looked at my tea and realized it was probably cold now. I nodded my chin towards the detective.

  “Anything for you from here? We’ve got tea, muffins, danishes and scones, I think. Whatever else they baked this morning.”

  “I’ll have whatever you’re having. Surprise me.”

  I grinned. “Brave Detective.”

  I tested my tea, it was lukewarm. Instead of microwaving it I cheated and pulled a little chaos into my aura to focus on the tea and warm it. It wasn’t hard to do with something small, I simply refocused the warmth from a small pocket of air into the tea. It was steaming nicely when I poured another cup for Detective Hottie. It was my own blend for energy and focus. I added sugar and honey to his and put in a stirrer.

  I handed him the tea and a blueberry muffin while I inhaled the scent of ginger and cinnamon. The tea had cooled enough to drink. I pointed him out the door as we said our goodbyes to Maxine and Reva.

  “Are you driving, or am I?”

  “Hold that thought,” he replied as his phone rang. “Detective Aether.”

  He listened intently and gave yes, no answers to the caller. His face lost the relaxed smoothness and his jaw hardened with tension. As I watched his posture became more rigid and his eyes began to scan the sidewalk. Something was clearly wrong. I had a feeling our house hunting plans were not happening. He hung up the phone and shrugged.

  “I guess I won’t be going house hunting today. I’ve got to go in to work. I’m sorry to cancel on you.”

  “Everything okay?”

  “No, but its nothing I can really talk about right now. Rain check?”

  I raised an eyebrow and lifted a corner of my mouth. “Okay, if you want.”

  His tension eased slightly, and he stepped forward. “I most definitely do.”

  I tensed a little not knowing what he was about to do. He touched my arm and walked past me striding towards a motorcycle, a red Ducati Panigale. He pulled on his helmet and straddled the bike. How incredibly rude it was for him to look that nice on it, stupid man on his stupid bike. He nodded at me as he drove off and I watched him go like the dumbass that I was.

  Pull yourself together VonSable! We don’t have time for any of this and remember, your mother picked this guy out. He’s probably a serial killer or something equally horrible. I had too many things to deal with already for stupid feelings for a dude I barely knew.

  I turned around and Maxine was standing in the door of the shop. Her face was drawn and pale. Her shoulders were rigid.

  “Did you hear? What did the detective say?”

  I shook my head slowly and waited for her to go on. Was something wrong with my family? I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

  “They just had it on the news. They found a body. It washed up on the bank of the river. They haven’t said who it is yet but they’re definitely Orokkian.”

  “Well, hell.”

  9 And So It Begins

  I walked back inside with Maxine and watched the small television in the shop. The news story didn’t give much information. I could only assume Detective Aether was going to be in charge of the investigation. What sort of experience did he have investigating murders? Was this something he’d expected?

  I gripped my wrist and thought Can you hear me at Jaylin. She didn’t answer and she didn’t appear. I tried several more times without success and decided to try again later. She might be busy? I was still sort of unsure what she did when she wasn’t in this plane, realm, reality…or whatever we were calling it. The InBetween was kinda hazy for me. Hopefully, we would have some time to explore that before I either joined her there or went somewhere else.

  I could only assume this dead Orokkian had something to do with my own looming possible murder, death, killing. Maybe I could get the detective or Dorian to talk to me about it. Maybe I could to a tarot reading in a bit, see if that revealed anything. I certainly couldn’t hurt.

  I sighed and realized both Maxine and Reva were looking at me quizzically. They had just announced the dead person they’d pulled from the river was a man. There was no identification yet but there was Detective Hottie on the screen, large as life telling them “No comment.” His features were closed and hard, his cheeks looked even sharper, and his full mouth was pressed flat; must be a rough scene.

  I waved them off and tried to reach out to Jaylin again. I got a nagging sensation of irritation and left her alone. She would come when she could. The news crew was standing around the river filming the crime scene but nothing new was coming through. It would likely be a while before there was anything new to report.

  I was suddenly very tired. I had been up since sunrise, and I hadn’t slept well on the couch. My body hurt and now my head as starting to ache as well. I hadn’t eaten my muffin and didn’t really feel much like food at the moment. One dead person didn’t mean more were coming or that I would be involved but I had a feeling both presumptions would be true. The fatigue
seemed to double.

  “I think I’ll go take a nap. If you want me to close tonight just come get me or call the house phone. I suddenly don’t feel very well but hopefully a nap will help. Y’all need anything?”

  “We’ve got this, and we’ll close tonight,” Reva replied. “You think we could have the morning off tomorrow to look for apartments?”

  “Absolutely! Take the whole day. We’re only open half the day tomorrow, like usual. You both deserve a day off. I’ve got it.”

  They both smiled and I thanked them for their hard work. Emma walked back with me and weaved in and out of my feet while I unlocked the door. The wards let me through without incident. I checked to make sure they remained in place and stumbled to my room.

  Emma jumped on the bed with me after I fell onto it, curling up by my side. She would sleep with me until she was ready to eat, and Lucy would take over. They didn’t let me sleep alone when I was this exhausted. I’d had those problems with precognitive dreams and also with astral projection in the past, so the kitties pulled dream duty. It was really very sweet. They took their jobs seriously.

  I lay on the bed and blinked heavily. My lids didn’t want to rise back up, my eyes burned. I pulled the comforter up over us and tried to arrange myself into a less awkward position.

  I tried to think about my morning, but I couldn’t. My thoughts were fuzzy, and my head hurt so much I could hardly string words together coherently. What was going on? This wasn’t right. My last thought before the room going dark was…I blinked…

  10 Hello There

  I woke up with a start. The grandfather clock in the hallway was chiming three a.m., the witching hour. I had been asleep for over twelve hours, or thirty-six, which to be fair was definitely over twelve. Lucy jumped down when I got up. I had a strong need to empty my bladder and my mouth was super dry. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and went to figure out what day it was.

  I turned on the television and found the news channel. Whew, only asleep thirteen hours. I didn’t remember any bad dreams or premonitions so that was a plus. I got a glass of ice water and sipped it. My headache was gone, and my thirst was nearly quenched after my second glass of water. I’d need food but that could wait a little longer.

  I turned up the TV when the reporter started talking about the man they’d found on the riverbank. They had an ID, a homeless man from my area. They said his name was Drex Angelo. The name sounded familiar, and I wondered if he’d been in the shop. Could I have done something to stop him from getting killed? Had he suffered or known it was coming? They were saying he was murdered, not an accident; were saying his body was in pretty bad shape and speculating he had been tortured.

  Hyde nuzzled my hand and pressed his warm body against my leg. He must have come inside when Lucy went out. I absently rubbed his ears. He used his body to push me towards the couch and put his head in my lap. I hugged him and continued watching the news. The reporter was saying the police weren’t sure who was responsible but thought this might be an isolated event.

  That statement felt so wrong I knew if must be false. I hadn’t heard about any other murders recently. I wondered why I had such a strong feeling this wasn’t isolated or just one murder. Maybe it was time to pull out the cards. Maybe they would at least give me some ideas of which way to go and where to start. I felt to my toes this was connected to my situation.

  I performed a reading and felt more strongly that I was connected. But that my suspicions might inevitably lead to being a part of it. That seemed to be the way it worked when you tried to fix the future, you tended to provide the force that got you where you were trying not to go. It did, at least, look like I would have some powerful and strong support and also that I needed to take an honest look at the situation and trust myself.

  So, I was in this, and I wasn’t going to get around it. Powerful friends might mean Jaylin and her “people, bosses, friends,” maybe something else. And there wasn’t much room to interpret trusting myself.

  The grandfather clock chimed four o’clock and I went to my back porch to see the last of the stars before sunrise. Both would be lovely to see. I grabbed a sweater and headed out. Hyde headed in the opposite direction. I guess he figured I was fine now.

  It was cool out and the open porch offered a beautiful view of a small pond and gigantic old willow tree with moss hanging down. As I sat on the porch swing, I took in the story book picture in front of me, complete with a single lightning bug fluttering around. That was odd, they weren’t usually out right now and even more odd the light appeared to be more constant than normal.

  The light floated closer and closer until it was in front of my face and blinked out. The small flying bug bobbed up and down on the air currents just out of my reach. I looked more closely, was that bug wearing a hat? I shook my head and wondered if I was still asleep.

  The tiny flashing insect bobbed closer and removed the top hat with a flourish and a dip that made me think of a bow.

  “Mornin’, mon amie.”

  Both my brows shot up and I sat forward nearly falling out of the swing. I wiped my hand across my face and held onto the swing with the other. The little lightning bug remained in front of me complete with a steampunk style top hat; dark brown felt with rounded and upturned brim, a peacock feather, two tiny playing cards and a pair of tiny, banded goggles riding around the base. Where the hell had that come from? Was there a market for insect apparel?

  I lifted my hand to wave. I’d spoken to a wide range of animals: birds, dogs, cats, horses, a wolf, a gorilla, a very random boa and even a very bored tiger but I’d never even gotten a twinge from an insect. Could I have been ignoring them all this time? Was I a snob?

  “May I,” he asked as he landed on my knee. “Ya seem touched. Did dey pair me up wid a touched witch? I swear dey think dey so damn funny. Ya have ta tell a being if dere is special requirements. How you gon’ta send a talkin’ bug to someone what don’ know.”

  I realized my mouth had fallen open and then that he thought I wasn’t neurotypical. And that he was mad on my behalf at whoever or whatever had sent him. I closed my mouth and chuckled. Fair enough.

  “No, sir. I’m not neurodivergent. I was just surprised. Also, you can’t go around calling people touched. I know you didn’t mean anything but now you know.”

  He looked up at me with his little hat in his hands and nodded. “Names Thibideaux, and duly noted. When are we?”

  The question was odd, and he’d almost completely lost his accent which had been thick and strong; now only hints of a drawl slipped through. I wondered how that might change if he became upset again.

  “Like the time? It’s almost five by the looks of the sky. My name is Kable. Who sent you and why?”

  “What century are we in, girl?”

  “Um, the twenty-first.”

  He sagged a little and placed his hat back on his head. “Not my favorite but what do I know. I guess you could say the universe sent me. I’m to be your familiar, if you’ll have me.”

  I grinned. I was getting a lightning bug familiar that dressed in top hats. This was amazing for sure. I’d never really thought about anything like this before. I didn’t even know what to ask but I knew what to say.

  “Of course, I’ll have you. But, oh, don’t lightening bugs only live a few months after becoming adults? Don’t you want to spend that with your family?”

  “Well, now cher, it’s a little more difficult than that. First, I’m special. Second, I’m special. And third, I’m special.”

  We said the last special together. And he was, in fact. However, that didn’t really answer my question.

  He chuckled, “I know, that ain’t really an answer. I die at midnight, like Cinderella’s party dress. I spend four hours in the InBetween and the other twenty here.”

  “Do you go by Thibideaux? Are there others like you? Have I been ignoring conversations I should have been paying attention to?”

  “I’ve always been partial to Thibbs
or maybe Mr. T. There aren’t no one like me girlie but there aren’t many of us what talk neither. I am one of a kind, there ain’t no other talking reincarnatin’ lightning bug. I’m it!”

  He said it so proudly I smiled. He was flitting back and forth in front of me, no longer sitting still. His light glimmered when he was making a point or excited.

  “I won a bet. That’s how I got into this gig. I bet dat dere Crossroad’s demon I had the most beautiful wife in the world, and they promised me she’d nevah spend a day without me if it was true.

  “Tricky bastard kept the promise. Melisande died a few days later while I was gone for my four hours,” tears were streaming from his eyes. “I wasn’t there to hold her and comfort her. But she knew I loved her. I never told her what I did. It woulda broke her sweet heart.”

  “Oh, Thibbs, that is so sad. I’m so sorry. How long have you been doing this? How did you become a familiar?”

  He sighed and shone his light brightly, “Well, about a week after my sweet Melisande died when I came back, I appeared in front of this stone house in the forest. There was a ginger witch living there and I knew I was s’posed to help her. Dat demon came later to explain this was my part of the deal. I get to spend every day on earth, but I have to die for it. And help witches along the way.”

  “Wait. When did you make the deal? People haven’t lived in stone houses in the forest for awhile.”

  Thibideaux cackled and danced around, “Dats just it girl. Dat demon didn’t know what they was givin’ me. Dat first time, I went back in time to help dat witch.

  An’, you know what girl?! I been all over the world and I stopped that demon every chance I get. If I hear tell they out making deals I go talk sense into those people. I think I’m the only nonhuman they ever had dealings with. Guess they figured they got the short end of that one.”

  It was hard not to laugh along with his joyful, cackling. I felt bad about his wife and the roundabout deal he didn’t mean to make but I was glad to have him. He had a lot more experience with magic than I did if only by exposure and time.