…what I cared about. I cared about him a lot.
We pulled up in front of my trailer in his Mercedes. Jeremiah was sitting on the steps of my trailer with a scowl on his face.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite zealot,” I teased.
“Afternoon, Grace. Remy,” he said dryly.
Remy didn’t respond.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I need to talk to Remy,” he said.
“You just assumed he would be here?” I asked.
“Let’s get this straight, Grace Ann Bryant. You have an agreement with the Sanhedrin. I know where you are at all times. I know who you are with. In fact, I know you are wearing black panties. There is nothing you do or say that I don’t know about,” he growled.
“Asshole,” I said shoving past him into the trailer. I hated it not because he was mean. I hated it because he was right. They owned me, and I had allowed it to happen.
Living on the run had begun to wear me out. Looking over my shoulder. Never staying in one place for very long. The only peace I had found was living in a trailer park before this one. A nice neighbor adopted me like I was one of her own children. I’d never had a parent show so much love and kindness to me.
Mrs. Sharolyn taught me things that I never thought necessary in my life. She made me want to settle down and stop running. She was the reason I approached Jeremiah about a deal. He quickly jumped on the idea and I signed my life away to the Sanhedrin in my own blood.
Outside I could hear Remy and Jeremiah talking in muffled tones. Pulling on my power, I tuned out all the world around me. I focused on the two men only to hit a brick wall of magic. Jeremiah didn’t want me hearing what they were saying.
I slumped down on the couch and resolved to tell Remy that we needed to move on with our lives away from each other. Deep inside of me, I felt an ache that I’d only felt once in my life. I wasn’t in love with Remy, but the promise that I could have a normal life shattered before my eyes. It was a lie I had told myself, and it hurt to the depths of my soul. Sharolyn had ruined me by giving me hope. Making me feel when I shouldn’t.
Remy’s car rumbled to life. I jumped up to look out of the window as Jeremiah came inside uninvited.
“He said he will call you later,” Jeremiah explained.
“Probably best if he didn’t,” I sighed.
“You breaking up with him?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Why?” he asked.
“You were right,” I mumbled.
“Well, those are words that I never thought I’d hear, but why don’t you explain yourself,” he pushed.
I slumped back down on the couch as tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I refused to cry. This wasn’t a crying moment. I was admitting to myself that I was wrong.
“I can’t have a long-term relationship. I guess you know that I used my power yesterday.”
“I do, but you did it to protect him,” Jeremiah said as if it were a good thing. Questions must have filled my gaze because he continued. “Grace, I’ve never wanted you to not be who you are. Yes, you have to keep your power in check. Yes, I think a long relationship with one person is a bad idea, but I admit that it’s nice to see you happy with him. It’s nice to know there is a part of you that is willing to break the rules to protect someone you care about. It means there is a heart in there somewhere.”
“I’m not a cold bitch,” I snarled.
“No, but you can be,” he said. “Either way, I’m not telling you what to do about Remy. Do whatever you want, but I warn you now, this won’t end well.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I just can’t, Gracie. It’s not the way of your world,” he said.
“I hate my world. My world kicked me out,” I huffed.
“They are worse off for it,” he replied.
“Huh?” That statement surprised me.
“I think your father would have you come home if you wanted.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Not lately.”
“Jerry, you never told me you know my father.”
“Grace, everyone knows the King of the Otherworld. He wasn’t happy about our agreement, but you signed it in blood. There is nothing he can do about it,” he said.
“He wanted to change it?”
“He wanted to nullify it.”
“Why?”
“I suppose it’s because he loves his daughter,” Jeremiah said.
“Bullshit,” I laughed. “My father is the main one that kicked me out. He was the king. He could have overruled them all. He does not love me.”
“Perhaps he thinks he made a mistake,” Jeremiah suggested.
“You are a comedian, Jerry. My father doesn’t love me. If he did, no oath to the Sanhedrin would stop him from taking me home. He gets what he wants,” I said.
“I suppose,” Jeremiah admitted. “Just the impression that I got from him.”
“What were you and Remy talking about?” I asked.
“It doesn’t concern you,” he said.
“You can leave now, Jerry,” I said.
“Grace, I have another trailer prepared for you in Shady Grove whenever you are ready to go. Just let me know and we will make the move. It’s nicer than this one, and the town is great. It has a diner and a bar. You will like it,” he said.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll let you know,” I said, feeling defeated. I just wanted him to leave. After the emotional day with Remy, the last thing I needed was Jeremiah Freyman talking about my father.
My father, Oberon. The one who cursed and banned me from my home. I wasn’t forsaken, but I was thrown out which was almost as bad. Nothing Jeremiah said made me believe my father had changed his tune. I hadn’t seen him since I left that world ages ago. He was the king of his realm. If he wanted to talk to his daughter, it wouldn’t be very hard. He could appear before me right now, and no one would know. There was nothing Jeremiah could say to make me think that my father still loved me.
“I know you aren’t interested in your father, but he is and always has been interested in you. Granted, he hasn’t been a very good father, but I have no row to hoe in that measure. But that is neither here or there. This contract will prove to be good for you in the end. The Sanhedrin no longer want to kill you. Since you signed the paperwork, they trust me to keep you in check,” he explained.
“Jeremiah, right now, I don’t care. Just go away,” I said.
“Grace, you deserve some happiness in this world,” he said.
“I don’t need your condescension, Jerry.”
“It’s truth, Gracie. Just truth.”
10
Remy
“More?” Judy asked.
“One more,” I replied. I’d been drinking since I left Grace and Jeremiah. He’d given me the ultimatum. He was moving Grace to Shady Grove as soon as possible. Either I could go with her or let her go.
“Where’s your girl?” Jenny asked.
“At home,” I replied.
“Wanna talk about it?” she asked.
“I love her,” I said.
“And that’s a problem?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She deserves better. She has to go,” I lamented.
“Go with her,” she suggested.
“I could, but it wouldn’t work out. I have too many secrets.”
“We all have secrets, honey. I’m sure she has a few,” Judy offered.
“Not like mine,” I said, slinging back another shot. “Another.”
“I’m cutting you off, Remy. Go have your pity party somewhere else. You come in here all flirty with me and every other woman, but we always knew she was the only one in your eyes. Now you are going to give her up. Just like that? Then it wasn’t real in the first place, and you are a fool. So, get out,” Judy said.
I dug money out of my wallet leaving Judy a hefty tip.
“Thanks, Judy. You are a sweethe
art even when you are fed up with me,” I muttered, then walked out into the cold night.
It was time to choose. I’d have to give up my entire life establishment to follow Grace to Shady Grove. It wasn’t a good place for a fairy or the like to end up. A curse rested on that town and its inhabitants. If I stepped into that town, I’d be cursed too. Forever.
I needed to see her. Even if it was just one last time, but I needed a little more courage. I hoped that the other bar on the county line was open. Liquid courage.
11
Grace
Settling back into my recliner to watch the television, I sighed trying to decide what I wanted to do. After Jeremiah left, I thought perhaps I needed a fresh start. If I stayed here with Remy, then my enemies would more than likely come after him. That was just another reason I shouldn’t have a boyfriend.
Looking down at my tattoo, I watched the power make the inked jewel sparkle with life. I had gotten the tattoo on a whim, but it proved to be a perfect implement to store power from the Otherworld. It also kept me off the radar of the fairies. Only an occasional blip when I would pull magic through the nearby trees.
My eyelids fluttered as I drifted off to sleep. Only to be awakened by a knock on the door. I stumbled to it half-asleep.
“Alright. Alright. I’m coming,” I fussed at the door knocker.
Slinging open the door, I found Remy leaned over bracing himself on the door frame.
“Hey, Beautiful,” he slurred.
“Are you drunk?”
“I didn’t think I was when I left the bar, but then I went to another bar and another. Maybe I am now,” he said.
“What do you want?”
“You. I just want you, Grace,” he muttered.
“Lord have mercy! Remy, you don’t even know what you are saying.” I reached out to steady him, and he leaned on me stumbling through the door. I had no choice but to lead him to the couch where he plopped down unconscious. “Well, dammit!”
I lifted his feet placing them on the couch and removed his shoes. After a quick trip to the bedroom, I returned with a blanket. Laying it over him, I listened as his snores filled the room.
“Goodnight, Remy.”
A long groan from the living room woke me up the next morning. I rolled out of bed, then wrapped myself up in a plush robe. Walking through the kitchen, I punched the button to start the coffee maker.
“I swear to the gods that I will never drink alcohol again,” Remy muttered.
“That’s a shame. I particularly like alcohol, but have fun with that,” I said.
“Grace!” he exclaimed, bolting up on the couch.
“Morning, Sunshine,” I grinned.
“How did I get here?” he asked.
I laughed because this was a rare moment of confusion for him. He generally was the kind of guy who had everything in order.
“All I know is the part from the door to the couch. The rest you will have to remember yourself,” I said. “But if the cops come looking for you, I want nothing to do with it.”
He groaned laying back on the couch pulling the blanket over his head. I giggled at his despair. I’d never been in his position. Alcohol had never affected me that way. I’d played drunk a time or two when I dared to escape an unwanted suitor.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Yes,” he groaned.
“I didn’t know you could get drunk.”
“I can. It just takes a lot,” he murmured. “A whole lot.”
“Why did you drink so much?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know,” he replied.
I sat down next to him on the couch. He lowered the blanket to look at me with bloodshot eyes. Pushing up from his prone position, he took the cup of coffee from me.
“I know what you said when you got here,” I probed, hoping he would remember something about his night before he got here.
He sipped the brew quietly without responding. Finally, after a few painfully silent moments, his deep green eyes met mine.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“Huh?”
“To Shady Grove. I want to go with you,” he repeated.
“You have your law practice,” I objected.
“I will quit,” he said.
“I don’t understand.” I retreated across the room from him. I had decided to go without him. We needed to break up, so I could move on with my life. The urge to run hit me hard and fast. “No, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go.”
He sat the coffee cup down on the table. “Grace, I thought it over, and I’ve spent my whole life running from my past. I won’t do it anymore. Neither should you and if that means moving to Shady Grove with you, then that is what I want.”
My head shook involuntarily. “No,” I muttered. “I have enemies. I have secrets. You can’t go.”
“I can’t go?”
“No.”
“Grace, I know this scares you. You’ve never committed to anything in your life, and I’m not asking you to marry me. I just want to be with you,” he pleaded.
“I have committed to…” I exclaimed, then stopped myself. That was something I couldn’t explain, so there was no point in going there. “I’ll get tired of you, Remy. Just like all the others. There is no sense in you going.”
“I should have known you were going to be difficult,” he laughed. “I’m going with you, Grace.”
“No, you aren’t!” I yelled.
He crossed the room gingerly. I felt power move in the room, and suddenly the colors of the world around me melted and swirled into a soup around us. The sky turned dark as stars twinkled in the sky. We stood on a fluffy cloud. I gasped looking at the world around us.
“Gracie,” he said in a scolding tone.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“This is my world. Land of the Star Folk. I wouldn’t suggest looking down. It will make you dizzy,” he said.
I focused on him. Around his head, a crown of stars floated like planets around the sun. The age he normally showed in his life on earth had melted away with my trailer. He looked younger than me. Radiant with the glow of a celestial being. He looked almost angelic.
“Remy?”
He laughed. The laugh I knew.
“I know I look different here,” he said.
To be honest, I liked him better the other way. This way he seemed too good. Too perfect. Which was why I wore the glamour that I did. I hated my true form. It made me stand out in a group of humans, and I’d spend my entire life just trying to blend in.
“Why are we here? It doesn’t change anything,” I said.
“I wanted to show it to you. Have you ever been here?” he asked.
“Most certainly not,” I replied.
He swept over to me like he wore wings. I started to step back, but he grabbed me. “Easy there. You wouldn’t want to fall,” he said. Across the clouds, I could see other beings walking around with crowns of stars.
“Is that possible? To fall?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t let you fall, Grace. Unless it’s for me,” he said.
“Remy, this doesn’t change anything,” I repeated.
“Change for me,” he said.
“What? No,” I said.
“Please,” he said, brushing my cheek with his lips.
“Remy.”
“Grace Ann Bryant, stop being a pain in the ass and change for me,” he coaxed.
I dropped my glamour not because he asked, but because I wanted this to end. I was beyond my comfort threshold.
“You have things you keep hidden. I have things I have kept hidden, but we are the same. Two beings that don’t belong in either place. Here or there. I need you, and you need me,” he explained.
“Remy, you said yourself that you don’t have a lot of power. I have enemies that would use you to hurt me. It’s best if we part ways,” I said.
“You were going to break up with me,” he muttered.
“Yes,” I said.
&nbs
p; He hung his head. The stars faded, and the clouds dissipated. We stood facing each other in my trailer.
“I don’t care about any of that, Gracie. I just want to go with you,” he said.
I shook my head refusing to give in. “No,” I whispered.
“Moving to Shady Grove isn’t an easy move for me. I will give up my law practice. Perhaps I can open one there. I don’t know what I will do, but it won’t matter because I’ll be with you,” he continued.
I shook my head in disbelief. Something inside of me wanted him to go with me. A commitment to him in a way that I’d never allowed myself to admit. That hope of being normal. That spark needed to die. Right here and right now.
When I was younger, a gypsy fairy by the name of Fordele captured my interest, but I ran from him at the worst possible moment. Never once did I consider staying. I ran in fear. Here I was once again, presented with a choice. Run or stay.
“I need a drink,” I said.
“I’m not touching alcohol,” he snorted.
“You are a bad drunk,” I laughed.
“I am. I admit it wasn’t an easy decision, but I came back to the same answer every time,” he smiled.
“To be with me,” I said.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Alright.”
12
Remy
I almost fainted. It wouldn’t have been very manly of me, but I gasped for air when she said it. So simple. So Grace.
“Alright?” I asked.
“Alright,” she repeated.
I placed my hands on her cheeks, leaning into her forehead. My lips met hers. I felt the hesitation in her, but despite it, she had given in to me. I couldn’t believe it. I had prepared myself for the worst.
“Thank you, Grace,” I said.
“You look like you need a drink,” she suggested.
“I might. A celebratory drink,” I agreed.
Taking her hand in mine, I lead her to the front door. I hoped Judy would serve me after last night. When we stepped out into the darkness, several figures emerged from the shadows.
Relics and Runes Anthology Page 136