Masquerade in Chaos: Kable VonSable

by M J Hutto

  “So, a few things you should know,” I said taking a breath. “I’ve got cats and they like to chase and hunt. They eat what they kill, and I don’t want them getting you. I also have dogs, but I doubt they’ll bother you. I don’t know what lightning bugs eat so you’ll need to tell me so I can try to make sure you have food.”

  His voice was back to softly accented southern speech. “You don’t have to feed me. I’ll manage with your lovely garden and the surrounding wooded area. The felines and I will have to come to an understanding. I’ll bring gifts for them and for the canines for that matter. I’m the newbie and I should present gifts for allowing me to join the family.”

  I nodded and motioned for him to follow me inside. I’d look up what lightning bugs ate later so I could make sure he was taken care of. I’d need to figure out a habitat for him too. I wondered if he slept or if the four hours in the InBetween was all he needed.

  “I’m so glad you’re here Thibbs, let’s find a place to get you settled. Do you know my friend Jaylin? She’s in the InBetween too.”

  “No, cher, we don’ all know each other. There’s a lot of us.”

  11 Read That

  I got Thibbs settled in the house in one of the potted plants until we could find something more permanent. I had a small fountain in the library with quite a few plants nearby. He chose the fern that was right beside the burbling fountain. It was near the window and got lots of warm sunlight, but I pulled the blinds as he might not really be a sunlight kinda guy.

  I went over for plant duties, and he came to check out the greenhouse. He helped me sing and dance and asked the plants for their blessing of sharing their pollen and nectar. It was certainly fine with me. We finished and split ways, he to the house and me to the shop.

  I did all the mundane things required for opening the shop and chose oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the special of the day. Today was one of my reading days so I set up the reading room but in case it was busy, I also made sure the area in the other section was clutter free and cleared the air of any residuals. I’d have to look over my appointment book, I thought I had a few appointments for this morning.

  My mind kept wandering back to Thibbs and his situation. It was too sad he was stuck here and in the InBetween. It didn’t sound like he got to see his sweet Melisande. I’d have to ask, if not, maybe I could help him. I didn’t know anything about crossroads demons, but I was willing to learn.

  I walked the shop, clearing away any impurities or negativity as I went. I unlocked the door and turned the sign around. It was almost time to repaint our signs and the outside of the shop. I alternated years for indoors and outdoors. I usually waited for late spring, still several months away.

  I looked over the supplies and went to check the cookies and other baked goods. My tea was steeping on the counter. The baking was done so I pulled it onto the cooling racks, careful not to burn myself. I seemed to do that once a week.

  I heard the bell over the door chime and went to see if my first appointment had arrived. They weren’t due for another hour but sometimes they came early. As I walked around the corner, I noticed a silence that was unusual when people were present in a room. The next thing I noticed was Troy Boltin, or whoever he was. I’d finally remembered where I knew that name, a character from High School Musical and likely not this person’s name.

  “Mr. Boltin, welcome back. What can I do for you?”

  I stood firmly behind the counter while I checked my tea to see if it was ready. It wasn’t. He was shifting his weight from one leg to another and not meeting my eyes. His clothes were wrinkled and might have been the same ones he’d been wearing the last time I’d seen him.

  “I’d like to order a cup of tea and something to eat. Do you accept credit?”

  I nodded and told him about his options. He made his choices and paid with his card. The name on the card was Zeus Olympian. Another fake but it went through. Who was this guy? He paced, twitched, and continuously looked over his shoulder towards the door.

  “You waiting on someone?”

  “No.”

  I brought him his things and he sat back in the corner with a solid wall at his back. His eyes never settled, and he was sitting on the edge of his seat as if he’d need to jump up at any moment. When a car backfired on the street outside, he narrowly missed knocking over the table in his haste to get under it.

  “Dude, what the hell? Are you on something?”

  He shook his head and climbed back into the chair. Jaylin walked in at that moment. I tried to think my thoughts to her, but I seemed to be failing miserably when she started laughing at my facial expressions.

  “What’s going on then? You need the cops? I know a few.”

  He shook his head again and took a bite of his food. Jaylin walked over to his table and stuck her finger in his tea. The steam evaporated and the tea froze. He jumped up out of his seat, planting his back to the wall.

  “Let me heat that back up for you. It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you here.”

  Jaylin snorted and ran her hand down his chest. His face drained completely of color and he hit the floor. Hard.

  “Damnit Jaylin, what the hell are you doing?!”

  “That motherfucker is lying. He’s investigating you. He has a file on ME too!! His name isn’t Troy Boltin and he’s NOT a good guy.”

  “I figured out the name is a lie. Also, the name on the credit card is Zeus and I’m pretty sure that’s not him,” I said pointing at his frame on the floor. “I don’t think gods pass out after being touched by ghosts. Where have you been and what have you been doing?”

  She filled me in on her exploits investigating this guy and his own investigations. He had files on me, her, my parents, my siblings, her mom, her boss and multiple of her exes.

  “Maybe your mom hired him to investigate your death. He hasn’t asked me for anything. He just came by to get food and before to ask for directions. Looking back, he probably just wanted to meet me, but I don’t know why. Maybe if you could not stick your ghost hands on him I can ask him some questions.”

  “He’s not a nice man, Kable. He has some really disturbing pictures in his things and the porn he was looking at was,” she closed her eyes, turned away and swallowed audibly, “different. I spent the last several hours checking out his room and making him regret his choices.”

  “I guess that makes him a sensitive. Which means he knows how to hide his aura since all I got was a big bland nothing. So that’s where you’ve been instead of answering my calls. I had some important things to tell you.”

  “You mean about the murder, yeah I saw it on his TV. Looked pretty rough. Last I saw it was a homeless man and they didn’t know how long he’d been dead. Sounded like he’d been tortured first though. And it was an Orokkian. I bet its tied to why I’m here and how you’re gonna bite it.”

  I blinked slowly several times. “I’m hopeful I won’t bite it. But I do think I’ll end up a part of it. It feels like I’m connected already but I don’t know how. Were you with this guy when they found the bodies?”

  She shook her head. “No. I just got there last night around eleven. I tried to talk to you but you were out for the count. Management sent me there I guess, it’s where I manifested. I was surprised to be there and then more surprised when I found all that stuff about us and our families.”

  He was starting to come around and I reheated his tea. I walked over to him and made concerned noises while I tried to figure out what he was up to. I mean, sure, he was scared because of Jaylin’s antics but why’d he come here? What could he possibly want from me and why was he investigating all of us? Or, I guess, who was he investigating for? Too many questions and not enough answers.

  “You okay? You seem to have passed out, ever done that before? You want an ambulance?”

  He jerked his head in a negative answer and climbed back into the chair. His hands were shaking, and he smelled strongly of sweat and fear. In case you didn’t know, it has a di
stinctive odor.

  “I’m just tired. Working late and not sleeping or eating enough.”

  “Oh yeah, what is it you do?”

  He grimaced and shook his head. “I can’t tell you about that. I’m sure you already figured out the names, but I can’t tell you about that either.”

  My teeth tugged on my lower lip as I thought about what he was saying. I felt like he was trying to tell me something with the things he wasn’t able to tell me. Or maybe he was just scared. Or maybe he was clever and trying to get me to trust him. Or maybe I was overthinking this.

  “So, what can you tell me?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and darted glances around. Jaylin was grinning evilly and inching closer to his side. He shivered and scrunched up his nondescript features. I gave her a stern look and she backed up a step with her hands held up in surrender. I doubted it would last long.

  “I’m here looking into some things.”

  I nodded once and stared at him. He didn’t fidget any more than he had been, but he was already acting so oddly it was hard to tell what he was about.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I don’t know. I had to get out of that hotel, and I knew you’d be open this morning. I didn’t think you’d be here though. I wanted to look around and talk to…”

  He drifted off when he realized he was talking too much. His cheeks had a little color in them as if he was embarrassed and I wondered if he was using a potion to disguise himself. Maybe he was better at making them hold up under scrutiny than I was. It certainly wasn’t inconceivable.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, “You a Chaotian?”

  He laughed abruptly, “Nope. Not even a little bit.”

  He could be lying or more likely someone could have made him potions. I hadn’t gotten any sense of Orokkian from him and the only chaos I sensed was what would be with any non-practitioner.

  “Well, I’m here and you are free to look around and buy something if you like. I have a client coming soon for a reading and I don’t have time for this, whatever it is.”

  “You do cold reads?”

  “I do tarot reads. I don’t read people or items here. My skill isn’t consistent enough to charge people for it and I don’t like doing it. People are cruel and they leak all over their things. I don’t want to know most of the things I find out,” I said with distaste.

  “It’s not like the cards, like watching a movie, it’s like living it. Doing the things, suffering through them, hearing them,” I turned my head and swallowed audibly. “Tasting them, smelling them.”

  He asked for a reading, and I glanced at the clock. “My client should be here any minute. If you still want one after they leave, sure.”

  He ate his streusel cake and drank his tea with a few grimaces. I gave him a refill and he paid for another streusel and half a dozen assorted cookies. My client arrived and as I walked them to the reading room, he slipped out the door. Jaylin followed him out with a nod and a wave.

  That had been a very odd encounter. I wasn’t any closer to figuring out what he was about, but I had another candidate for the lead of my downfall drama. I went through the reading, which went as smoothly as always and set up an appointment for the next reading in two weeks.

  I had several more clients over the next few hours and was basically on autopilot. The conversation from earlier continued to play through my head, over and over. A continuous loop with me trying to figure out what was going on and how this might fit in with my situation.

  My last tarot reading was with one of my least favorite clients. He was temperamental and more than a little skeezy. I was teetering with him, thinking seriously of cutting him off but it was usually okay. He was always my last appointment but usually I had other people in the shop, so his advances were socially acceptable.

  But it was just the two of us and he was more forward than normal. Nothing even remotely rapey but most assuredly crossing a line. He was trying to hold my hand while I dealt the cards. He interrupted his reading to tell me how dreamy my eyes were and then complimented my figure flattering blouse (it was a tank top with scarf shawl around it), my flowing skirt (“I bet your boyfriend really loves that!”) and even my sandals and toenail polish. He also liked my toe rings and moonstone thumb ring.

  By the time we were halfway through I was seriously considering telling him to just leave but I decided to get this done and help him find another practitioner for the future. Maybe Desiree could take him on.

  She was about seventy and had cut the hand off the last customer that tried to touch her. One of her husbands had never been found, another just stared off into space and drooled; there were rumors they’d not been nice men. Her current husband was a lovely gentleman whose family had money and he took excellent care of her, and she only worked when she wanted. They traveled all over the world on his jet. She called him her silver fox. He called her Desiree, my darling.

  My mind had wandered, and I hadn’t noticed Jim moving around. He was walking up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders beginning to massage. I scooted out of my chair and moved his hands as I did. He walked forward and tried to corner me. I heard the bell over the door, but I don’t think he did. I was backing away from him when he reached out and grabbed my wrist.

  “I just want a kiss. I want to show you how much you mean to me. I want you to be mine and I know if you just let me kiss you, you’ll see how that’s meant to be.”

  I heard a delicate cough in the doorway, but my back was to it and Jim only seemed to have eyes for me. He was pulling me forcefully toward him and I was telling him to stop and “No.” It was not a great idea, but he kept up the pressure. At the moment I took the heel of my hand and sharply jabbed him in the nose, the person in the doorway jerked him by his shirt collar and pulled him from the room.

  I stalked after them and found Dorian and Detective Hottie standing over Jim. I didn’t really care who had pulled him off, but I wasn’t finished with this jerk yet. Tears were streaming from his eyes and his nose was bleeding all over his white button-down shirt and khaki pants. I felt immeasurably better to see his distress, however, more was required. I walked up to him and kneed him solidly in his thigh and then in the stomach.

  “When someone says no, asshole, that means no. It doesn’t mean try harder, it doesn’t mean they’re trying to play hard to get, and it doesn’t mean you get to prove yourself. It means NO!” I practically spat at him.

  “I don’t use dark magic, but I can promise if you ever come in this shop again, I’ll make an exception for you. If I hear your name in conjunction with ANYTHING like this again, I’ll make an exception and you don’t want me to start thinking what fun things I can do to you.”

  “You’ve been placed on trespass notice, and we’ll be filing for a restraining order,” Dorian growled. “You won’t be allowed within one-hundred feet of this place or Kable. I am officially telling you this now. You will receive a notice by mail in three to five days or if there are any further problems, or, honestly, if I don’t like the way the next few minutes go or if Kable wants to press charges, then you can pick it up when you get out of jail.”

  Dorian was furious and rigid. “This isn’t something we take lightly buddy. If I find out you have even ONE prior you are going in. You got any?”

  Jim shook his head and Dorian paced. “It’s up to you Kable.”

  “Just the restraining order and the trespass order please. And for him to go.”

  12 Seriously

  The whole situation took less than ten minutes. When things calmed a little Dorian took down Jim’s information and Detective Hottie ushered me to the table in the corner by the shelves. He went into the back and a few minutes later brought out a steaming cup of cocoa and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

  “Where’d you find cocoa?”

  He laughed and patted his breast pocket. “I used your milk, but I’ve found it sort of hard to find cocoa sometimes, so I keep a couple of packets in my pocket. I don’t
drink much coffee and yesterday was my first experience with tea.”

  I inhaled the chocolatey aroma and warmed my cold hands around the mug he’d found in the kitchen area. He gently pushed the cookies toward me while asking if he could sit. I agreed and watched him sit across from me, relaxed and smiling.

  “This happen often?”

  I shook my head and blew a sip of cocoa before drinking. “Ouch, still too hot. Better start with the cookies. How’d you guess they are my favorite?”

  He pressed his lips together and blew out, relaxing them while shrugging his brows. “It was nothing that fancy. I saw they had chocolate in them. Most people need a little sugar to combat the energy drain after this kind of thing.”

  I grinned and took a bite. How refreshing for someone to just admit such a thing. Dorian was still writing down Jim’s information while he spoke sternly about assaulting women and repercussions for such. I was sort of glad Jim hadn’t thought to press charges against me for assault. His nose was still leaking, and the right eye looked like it might be starting to bruise.

  Something flickered in my periphery, and I noticed Thibbs flitting around. I hoped he wouldn’t start talking in front of everyone, but it wasn’t like they didn’t already know I was weird. Dorian thought I was great, and Jim came here specifically for magic stuff, but I hadn’t done anything outright spooky in front of the good detective and I was a little nervous about how he’d react. Knowing and seeing are two very different things.

  Thibbs settled himself on the counter under a cake plate with icing drippings on the edges. He lifted off an icicle of icing and started eating it but remained quiet and watchful.

  I sipped the cooling cocoa and ate my cookies. He talked about mundane things like the weather and asked how I liked this area. I made appropriate responses and listened to him talk while my body realized I wasn’t under attack any longer and we could relax or fall apart. Hopefully relax. My hands shook a little but we both ignored that.