The Light Who Shines

by Lilo Abernathy

  I jump over the piles of books still remaining to open the door. Varg butts his head through before I can even get it fully open. Alexis’ eyes open wide at the sight of the apartment behind me. Stepping back, I allow her entrance, waving my arm at the mess. “Welcome to my very, very humble abode.”

  Alexis demands, “Now what in God’s green Earth took place in this apartment?”

  “I won a contest and got a free home makeover.”

  Alexis tilts her head at me and squints her eyes in disbelief.

  “I had a huge party, and it got a little out of hand?”

  Alexis raises one perfectly arched eyebrow at me while pursing her lips and plants a hand on her curvy and cocked hip.

  “Okay, it’s the case I’m working on. I think one of the perpetrators did this. They’re looking for something.”

  Alexis looks at me questioningly. “Did they find it?”

  “There’s nothing here they’d want.”

  She looks around and squares her shoulders. “Well, let’s get to it. This mess isn’t going to clean itself.”

  “You don’t have to help me!”

  Alexis gives me a sideways glance, and this time she raises both of her eyebrows, clearly meaning that I have no say in this. How could I possibly say no to a pair of arched eyebrows? Obviously I lost this battle before it even began.

  She smacks the bottle of dewormer on the table and says, “Give him a tablespoon with his food once a day for two weeks.”

  I nod obediently.

  She plops a bag on the table. “I also brought you some banana bread and some peanut butter canine cookies for Varg.”

  I break into a grin. I love banana bread! Suddenly things are looking a bit brighter. “Thank you so much!”

  Alexis takes a deep breath and says, “I’ll take care of the kitchen since you probably don’t even know what you have in there anyway.” She forges off and starts washing the pots and pans and silverware that are all over the floor. Self-cleaning dishes would be great right now.

  I turn back to the bookshelf to continue trying to rescue my books. After a few minutes I glance over and see that she’s filled up an entire trash bag with broken cups, plates, and glasses. On the top of the pile I see the remains of a broken ceramic cheese and cracker dish shaped and painted like a penguin. Yep, I definitely don’t recall having that.

  It is amazing how much easier it is to tackle this work when a friend helps. Before Alexis finishes the kitchen, I complete the living room, and I move on to the bathroom. Just as I’m done in the bathroom, I hear another knock at the door. As I approach the door I feel a roll of intense rage flowing through it. I ask, “Who’s there?”

  A deep, growling voice yells through the door, “Jack.”

  My heart does a little flip, and I open the door. It’s very unusual for me to feel Jack’s feelings at all, so I’m surprised by the amount of rage coming from him. He pushes past me and without preamble does a perimeter check. His nostrils are flaring and his gaze is thunderous as he sees the mess still in the bedroom. He turns to me. “Was anything taken?”

  I shake my head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  Jack gestures toward the bedroom and asks, “Was it all like that?”

  I nod.

  Still staring at the bedroom, Jack spits out, “They were looking for something small.”

  I look at the ripped open pillows and the feathers littering the floor and have to agree. However, his statement makes me nervous that he’s going to say something in front of Alexis that he shouldn’t. I quickly intercede. “Jack, please meet my good friend Alexis.”

  At that, Alexis steps into the living room, which is all of five steps away from where she was. She smiles slyly and gives a little wave.

  Jack nods and greets her shortly, hardly giving her a glance.

  I could kick him for his abrupt rudeness. He is such a Neanderthal sometimes.

  Jack looks back at me with narrowed eyes and somehow manages to spit out between his clenched jaw, “The ward specialist can’t come until tomorrow morning. That’s the best he can do. He has another big job right now. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  I start to protest, but at the look of steel in Jack’s eyes I can see it’s useless. I sigh and move to the kitchen to help Alexis finish up.

  Alexis nods toward the other room where Jack is still examining the damage and mouths, “Hot!”

  I nod back and mouth, “Neanderthal!”

  When we’ve finished cleaning up the last few things Alexis announces loudly, but with a sly wink my way, “Well, I need to get going. I have some prep work that I need to do for tomorrow.”

  It’s clear she’s purposefully leaving me alone with Jack. I’m not sure if I should smile at her or kick her. I settle on giving her a hug. After all, you can’t really be mad at the bearer of banana bread. That outweighs most evils.

  “Thanks for the dewormer and the banana bread and the cookies for Varg. And a big, huge thank you for helping me out.”

  Alexis hugs me back. “I really approve,” she says, shifting her eyes toward Jack, “of the name Varg, of course. Excellent choice.”

  I quirk a smile, and Varg and I see her to the door, dead-bolting it behind her.

  “I need a break!” I announce to Jack. I plop down on the sofa, stretch my legs out, and pat the sofa next to me. “Come sit with me and I’ll give you my updates.”

  Jack sits down at the far end of the sofa, stretching his long legs out in front of him. His body is deceptively languorous, but his eyes are the deep shadowed green of a rainforest at dusk and are filled with a gleaming, hard glint. His face looks steely and distant. He reminds me of a panther, savage and silent, waiting to spring. Jack gets so angry he scares people sometimes, but for an unexplainable reason I trust unequivocally that he will never hurt me.

  “We caught the guy who hit the boy with his car. He’s at the precinct signing a confession now.”

  A little brightness returns to Jack’s eyes. I can see the thoughts flickering behind his eyes as he works out what this means. He says, “So a different man is looking for the amulet or they were working together.”

  I shake my head. “I felt this guy. He’s a drunk who has likely made a string of mistakes in his life, but his soul doesn’t have the capacity for the sort of evil the torturer must have.”

  Jack accepts my judgment without question and replies, “A second man, then.”

  I nod.

  “I have another lead. Jason’s best friend remembered that Jason was going to an interview to volunteer for the Sun Flare Celebration Fireworks and Magic Show. His friend said that Jason’s gift was one of amplification. He could make any magic stronger by multiples just by being present.”

  Jack whistles and shakes his head, making his gold curls shimmer slightly with the movement. “That is a powerful gift!”

  I nod in agreement. “Fire Chief Mack leads the Fireworks and Magic Show committee that organizes that part of the festival. He was there for part of the interview and remembers seeing Jason there. So that makes the interview the last place Jason was seen alive.”

  Jack nods slightly at this, the implications clear.

  “Chief Mack is getting me a list of everyone who was at the interview, both the committee members and the candidates.”

  Jack says, “Excellent news.”

  I consider how nice it would be to just reach over and run my fingers across the hard, angular planes of Jack’s face. Instead I launch myself off the sofa and declare “Back to work!” as I head to the bedroom.

  I pull back the curtains that separate the bedroom alcove from the rest of the apartment. When Jack steps through the doorway to help me, it suddenly feels very intimate to be in my bedroom with him. Thankfully I have a huge disaster to distract me. First, Jack and I right the mattresses. Then I get a large garbage bag and start stuffing the torn pillows and feathers in it. I look over and see Jack dubiously eying the pile of clothes on my floor, particularly my lacy, pink,
black, satin, bowed, and animal print underthings.

  I laugh and say, “Why don’t you get the feathers and I’ll get that.”

  Jack looks slightly embarrassed but very relieved as we switch spots. I chuckle to myself because finally someone saw my fantastic underwear, but not in quite the way I imagined.

  I heap handfuls of my frilly underthings on the dresser and start folding them one at a time. After finishing a few, I suddenly feel Jack behind me, only inches away. His emotions are much more muted now, but I still feel them softly. Waves of concern radiate out from him, intertwined with lust and rage and some other subtle emotion. I can feel the heat of his body behind me. I’m in the middle of folding a pair of red satin panties with lace side panels, but I pause and slowly lower my arms. Is he going to kiss me? What will he do?

  Suddenly hundreds of feathers drift over my head, sticking to my hair and face. I whirl around, and Jack steps back with laughter in his eyes. He stands there holding an empty pillowcase.

  “Jack!” I glance around, seeing nothing close at hand but my lingerie. I fold up a pair of panties and whip them at him.

  Jack easily snatches them in mid air, smiling.

  “Hey, now that is not fair!”

  I scrunch up a bra and whip it at him. While he unfolds the panties to admire them, the bra hits him in the face. He picks that out of the air as it bounces off him. Seeing that my strategy needs to be altered, I take a whole armload of underthings and throw them at his face. Jack laughs and fends off the flying lingerie with his hands. Then I lean over the bed to grab another torn pillow and shake it at him, but the feathers fall in a miserable heap at his feet, so I ball up the rest of the pillow and throw it at him.

  “Hey!” he laughs.

  I grab another pillow and jump on the bed. I reach inside the rip to grab handfuls of feathers and start tossing them up in the air over Jack. Feathers stick out of his golden curls, and I start laughing as he makes a game out of trying to catch individual feathers in the air. I laugh so hard I am out of breath, and I plop down on the mattress. Jack smiles and sits next to me with his hands on his lap.

  We sit there silently for a while. Jack’s warm body just inches from mine is so tempting that I have to forcibly keep myself from leaning into him. To break the awkward intimacy, I say, “From the moment I came into the apartment I sensed a violent rage and frustration. It covered every inch of the apartment, and I don’t like feeling it. Unfortunately, that is all I could glean.”

  Jack turns to me and asks, “You okay?”

  I reach out and gently squeeze his hand and look into his shimmering green eyes. “Yes. I’m much better. At least the bedroom is filled with a feeling of fun now. Thank you.” I give his hand one more squeeze, then hop off the bed and start picking up my lingerie again. With Jack’s Vampire speed, we quickly put the room to rights.

  By the time we are done, my stomach is rumbling. I look at Jack and ask, “Do you eat at all?”

  Jack smiles and says, “Not food. But you are starving. I can hear it from here. Let’s get you something to eat.”

  “I don’t have any bagged blood for you. I’m sorry.”

  Jack twitches his lips as though he has a private joke with himself and says, “That’s fine. I had some before I came over.”

  I wonder what he is laughing at. Ohh! To him I am bagged blood. I should be more careful of what I say.

  I head to the kitchen with Jack and Varg following close behind. I put a small amount of kibble in the bowl and pour some of the deworming medicine on it. Varg seems to like the taste because he wolfs it down. When he’s done, I give him a small cut of beef from the freezer. Varg happily brings his treat to the rag rug in the living room, which is a relief because there isn’t enough room in my narrow galley kitchen for Jack, me, and Varg.

  Jack leans against my kitchen wall, watching me, and says, “It’s good you give him meat.”

  “He’s a wolf. I figure he needs more than just kibble to feel satisfied. I consider it an insurance policy.”

  I look in my fridge and pull out some vegetables and chicken. Jack reaches over me, grabs a knife, and quickly cuts up the meat while I clean and cut up the vegetables. A splash of olive oil goes in the pan with the heat turned on high. Just as the oil starts to waver, I throw all the meat and vegetables in, stirring it quickly. Jack searches my cabinets, and using Vampire speed, he sprinkles some spices in so fast I can’t see what he’s using. When the food is done, I sit down at the table, and Jack somehow manages to fold his long legs under my table too.

  I look at him. “Isn’t this awkward for you, watching me eat?”

  Jack’s lips twitch again as he watches me. “Not at all. I’m enjoying myself.”

  I don’t know what else I can do. I have to eat, so I dig into my chicken, broccoli, asparagus, and mushroom stir fry, and the savory flavors fill my mouth. “Holy smokes! What did you put in here? It is so unbelievably good!” I look up at Jack in surprise.

  Jack smiles devilishly. “It’s a secret.” I give him my very best pouty lower lip, but he only smiles wider and refuses to budge. I vow I’m going to search through my spices to figure it out.

  So I dig in. And I dig and dig and dig until only two bites remain on my plate. I push my plate away in finality. “I can’t eat another bite. I want to! It was so delicious. But I can’t.” Jack chuckles and stands up, taking my plate and utensils to the kitchen. While I clear the rest of the table, Jack quickly washes the dishes.

  I sneak a peek at him while he stands at my sink drying my plate. His tall form leans into the counter, and his big hands gently do the work. I can see the hard curve of his butt cheeks through his trousers. My belly does flips. He’s so handsome and so strong. It’s nice that he can be domestic too. I never would have thought he was like this. My heart joins the party by giving a little squeeze and pitter-patter. Jack looks over at me curiously. I look back at the table I’m wiping, feigning nonchalance, I’m sure I do it about as well as Jack does. Did he hear my heart go pitter patter?

  Chapter 32

  Belfry

  Bluebell Kildare: May 29, 2022, Red Ages

  It’s getting late by the time we’re done cleaning up, so I ask Jack if he wants to come with me to walk Varg. He obliges, and together we head out my green painted door.

  The evening air has not yet cooled the mountainside down, but a fog has rolled in. We walk through the white mist quietly together. Varg takes the lead, and we follow behind. As we take in the foggy scenery, Jack asks, “How do you like living here?”

  “I love it,” I respond.” I’m close to Alexis and Maud, and it’s just a few minutes’ drive to work. Plus the building is old and has character, which I adore.”

  Suddenly I realize I know very little about Jack, so I ask, “Where do you live?”

  “I have some land in the country not too far from here.”

  My mind’s eye conjures up the vision of a lonely farmhouse on some acreage.

  As we continue walking, a peaceful silence enshrouds us more tangibly than the mist. The night air is filled with only the sounds of my boots, Varg’s nails softly tapping on the sidewalk, and the occasional song of a city bird. Sometimes we hear a car go by and both Jack and Varg lift their heads to inspect it. Two fearsome warriors walk next to me, and I’ve never felt safer.

  After a few miles, Varg starts to lead us back toward home. When we get close to the apartment, I ask Jack, “Do you want to see the amulet?”

  Jack tilts his head as he considers this and says, “Yes. I think I do. But I don’t think we should visit it again after this. Tonight the mist will hide us, but whoever is looking for it may be watching you, and we don’t want to lead him to it.”

  I nod at this, as it makes good sense.

  We walk up the wide, white cement steps and enter the narthex of St. Michael’s Church. No one is there, so I peek into the nave. Father O’Brennen sits on one of his pews as is his wont, writing rapidly in a notebook. I stand there for a mo
ment until he feels our presence and looks up with a smile.

  “Hello, Father. This is my boss, Jack Tanner. Jack, this is Father O’Brennen.”

  Father O’Brennen stands up and clasps hands with Jack in a warm embrace. He says, “It’s good to see you again, Jack.” Then he looks at me. “We know each other, though it’s been a long time.”

  “Yes, it has,” Jack affirms.

  This surprises me. I had no idea they knew each other, though I suppose Jack is so old that he must know generations of Crimson Hollow residents.

  I see something unspoken pass between the two men, and then Jack says, “We wanted to take a look at your bell room.”

  Father O’Brennen smiles. “Sure. I’m about to retire. Please go through the front and lock up behind you when you’re done.”

  We say goodnight, and then I show Jack to the bell tower door. The mist obscures the moonlight as we climb, so it’s very dark in the stairwell. Jack walks behind me and puts a steadying arm on my waist. With no light, the heat from his hand feels even more intense than usual.

  After a moment, Jack gently pulls me to a stop and says, “We’re at the ladder.” His deep voice softly reverberates through the stairwell and through me.

  I nod. “It’s just above.”

  Jack turns toward Varg, who has been patiently trailing behind us, and says, “Guard the landing.”

  I hear Varg settle down close to the ladder.

  Jack puts my hands on the ladder. “You first,” he instructs.

  I proceed, acutely aware of Jack just behind me. He certainly has an eyeful of my backside.

  When I pull myself up to the bell room floor I scoot over, and Jack climbs nimbly up after me. The moon reflects off the shifting mist, giving us a low light to see by. I pat the floor next to me and scoot over to where the rock is. Jack sits so close that his knee touches mine. It’s a tiny space for two grown people, and his nearness ignites a smoldering flame in my body that I try unsuccessfully to ignore. A quick peek at his emotions tells me only that he has them tamped down securely now.