by Sharon Joss
#
Later that night, after I got Mina tucked in and sound asleep, my mind continued to race. I paced living room instead, waiting impatiently for Lance to call. When someone knocked at the front door, I jumped, thinking it was the guys from House of Cards. But when I peeked out the window, Rhys stood on the doorstep.
I spared myself a quick check in the mirror. Hair and lipstick okay, no stains on my shirt, and the living room picked up; okee doke. I opened the door.
He looked good enough to eat. He’d changed into black jeans and a matching tee shirt.
“Madame asked me to bring you this.” He handed me the green journal. “She thought it might come in handy tomorrow. You made quite an impression.”
“How did you find me?”
“Lance works on my bike. I’ve been here before. When you mentioned Mina, I realized you must be his sister.”
I flipped through the pages of the journal, dismayed at the cramped, tiny writing. Some of the pages looked to be written in French, or for all I knew, Greek. She’d made tiny drawings in the margins as well. This would take me a while to get through. I put the book down, figuring I’d read it later, and trailed Rhys into the kitchen. He helped himself to a bottle of beer from the fridge, and even knew where Lance kept his bottle opener. The mage took a long swallow, draining half the bottle. Nice arms. The room seemed unusually warm, and sweat trickled from the back of my neck into my shirt. I had a fan on in the living room, but the kitchen was stuffy.
“Here, I brought you something.” He pulled a vial out of the pocket of his jeans and unstoppered the brown glass.
I shook my head and frowned. “I don’t do drugs.”
“This is not a drug.” He waved the open vial beneath my nose.
“I’ve got teratosis, remember? All I can smell is demons. What is it?”
“Essence of sweet orange oil. Completely harmless.”
He covered the mouth of the vial with his thumb and gave it a shake. “You trust me?”
I tensed. “What does it do?”
“Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Close your eyes.”
My first instinct was to just say no to the mumbo-jumbo, but after my encounter with Oneiri today, all my internal compass points were out of whack. Why not?
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Rhys tilted my head back and anointed a spot in the middle of my forehead, just above my eyebrows.
“This is your third eye.” His thumb smoothed the oil gently into my skin. “Clear your thoughts.”
I cracked an eye open. “Easy for you to say.”
“Relax.”
Riight. I pretended I was relaxed.
“Now. Take a deep breath.”
I inhaled. The heavy dredge of putrid muck that clogged my sinuses suddenly evaporated, and cool tendrils of silvery relief reached into every cavity within my brain. My eyeballs relaxed into refreshing cool sockets, and even my inner ears tickled with the clarity of sensation.
I shivered with pleasure and grabbed Rhys’ hand; burying my nose into his open palm to gulp the heavenly scent of aged leather, beer and mocha spice cake.
Rhys’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “You should see your face,” he said. He restoppered the vial and handed it to me. “It’s yours. Once a day ought to do it.”
Tears of relief streamed down my cheeks. My hands trembled and I held the vial to my lips. “Oh my god, I can smell again. How does it work?” Even my eyesight seemed sharper.
“It doesn’t always. I’m glad it helped.” His eyes focused on my mouth.
“Thank you so much,” I closed my eyes and took another deep lungful of air. “You’ve saved me.” The muted scent of djemon still remained, but the intoxicating aroma of sexy mage dominated my senses now. This I could live with.
He licked his lips. “Come by the shop after you drop Mina off in the morning. We’ll go check out the cavern.”
Reality slapped my euphoria to smithereens. Not my problem. The idea of crawling around in some creepy old cave rated about the same with me as cleaning hair out of a clogged drain.
“Um, about the cave thing, you’ll have to go without me. I’m more of a fresh air and sunshine kind of girl.”
“You gotta be kidding. Caving is the best fun you can have with your clothes on. You’ll love it. You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” He leered at me suggestively and took another long swallow of beer.
I pushed him away. “I kill my own spiders.” I tried to remember the mage wasn’t my type, but he smelled too damn good, and I couldn’t keep the idiotic smile off my face. I felt too wonderful. And with my newly improved vision, I noticed for the first time that Rhys had dimples hiding beneath his Fu-Manchu. Not so badass after all.
“If the Sentinel Hill cavern has been compromised, I’ll need to inform the authorities.” He drained the rest of his beer in one long gulp and was looking at me like I was next on the menu.
My body responded with a rousing hand of inner applause. Rhys Warrick fairly oozed sex appeal, I realized. In fact, I was noticing all kinds of pleasant aspects of the mage I hadn’t considered before. Funny how getting one’s sniffer fixed can affect a girl’s libido.
“What’s so special about Sentinel Hill, anyway?”
“Good question. Four hundred years ago, the local tribes wondered the same thing.” He shrugged. “Let’s just say some places in the world hold an attraction for the supernatural, and Shore Haven is one of them.”
The scent of Rhys’ aftershave had me thinking wicked thoughts in spite of myself. I leaned closer. “You mean like New Orleans and Taos?”
He brushed a wisp of hair off my forehead. My hands automatically reached for his stomach, caressing solid muscle through the thin material of his shirt. Oh my. Rock-hard abs jittered beneath my touch, and he moved closer. I closed my eyes and breathed him into me.
“Yeah.” He whisper-kissed my neck, and I yearned for more. “Something like that.” He nibbled along the edge of my jaw, and breathed into my ear, sending me the shivers. I slipped my hands beneath his shirt and up his velvety chest; caressing soft hair and the hard buttons of his erect nipples. I sighed and he put his mouth on mine.
I was ready for him this time. That kiss melted me right down to my happy spot, and sent pulsations of pleasure though my body. My back arched and my toes curled in appreciation. Man oh man. It was over way too quick, and I opened my eyes to see him grinning at me. He lifted me back to my feet. Yowza.
He grinned. “Wear sturdy shoes tomorrow,” he said, and left.
I stood, dazed and motionless for a minute, reliving the memory. Hands down, that had to be the best kiss ever. Whew. I touched my fingers to my still-throbbing lips. He even kissed off all my Ravishing Red lip gloss. I wandered into the living room and stood in front of the fan to cool down. No sooner had I come to my senses, when another knock sounded at the door.
I smiled. Back for more, obviously. I wondered if bedroom aerobics would be an appropriate activity tonight. Definitely not. Especially with Mina sleeping in the next room.
I steeled myself and answered the door. I caught a glimpse of chinos before Hector sucker-punched me in the gut. I crashed to the floor, curled into a fetal position, gasping for air. My only thought was Mina. Hector grabbed me by my arm, lifted me clean off my feet, and backhanded me across the face. I saw my own blood spatter across the wall and sofa.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Hector sounded so calm, he might have been asking after his mother. He hit me again.
I had no breath to answer. I couldn’t have told him anyway, I didn’t have a clue. He hit me again. And again. And at some point, Mina ran into the living room and started screaming. It was a high, shrill panicked, keening sound. Her eyes stretched wide with terror. I tried to tell her not to worry, but I couldn’t catch my breath. I had never felt so helpless. Dimly, I hoped Mina’s screaming would bring help. I told her to run, but couldn’t get the words out.
Hector leaned over me and I tried to brace
myself, but my lungs were too busy fighting for air. Black spots closed in on my vision, and Hector’s voice came far away.
“Listen bitch. You better tell your boyfriend he’s got twenty-four hours to pay up, or the next time we’ll be having this conversation with the kid. Understand?”
I nodded wordlessly. Hector let go of me and I flopped to the floor like a dead doll. Out of nowhere, the idea dawned on me that as obviously lethal as Oneiri had been, the real monster was Hector. So much for normal. In spite of myself, I started to laugh. I squirmed and rolled; coughing, gasping for air, and laughing, unable to stop myself. Hector seemed offended by this, and after delivering a few more vicious kicks to my ribs, everything went black.
#
I came to, lying on Lance’s sofa. Mina leaned over me, holding my hand and sobbing, her sweet face all red and puffy. I pulled her to me.
“S’okay baby, s’all right. I’m fine.” My words came out on little puffs of breath. I attempted to sit up and immediately decided I was much more comfortable where I was. I wondered how I got to the couch.
“Hey there.” I recognized the concerned face of Lance’s neighbor, Hal Winslow, peering at me over his thick glasses. “You want to tell me what happened here?”
Oh boy. This would be all over the entire Shore about thirty seconds after the bakery opened tomorrow morning. I couldn’t tell Hal about Hector or House of Cards. One whisper of Lance’s troubles would give Violet all the ammunition she needed to regain full custody of Mina. I needed to think up a story real fast. I sat up slowly, stalling for time.
“Everything’s fine,” I lied. “Show’s over. Nothing to get excited about.” Mina clung to me as I got up. My ribs and back hurt, my left eye had swelled shut.
Hal’s wife Marie came out of the kitchen wearing her bathrobe over her nightgown, and powder blue slippers.
“Here you go, Mattie.” She handed me a wet compress. “You’re still bleeding.”
I nodded, and held the cool cloth to my bloody nose, my mind racing to come up with a plausible explanation.
“Let me just get Mina tucked in, and I’ll be right back.”
Marie and Hal exchanged looks, but I retreated with Mina into her bedroom and closed the door behind us. Mina had stopped crying, but her eyes told me of her fear, and she kept a death grip on my arm. I sat her on the bed, and put my arm around her.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, and started to cry again.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “I’m okay, but we’re not going to stay here tonight. Let me go talk to the Winslows, and then we’ll go over to my house to sleep.”
“Who was that man?”
“Nobody. He doesn’t matter. We’re safe now. I’m going to go out and talk to the Winslows and then we’ll pack you a bag and we’ll go over to my house. You can sleep with me tonight. Will that be okay?”
“He hurt you. I want my dad.”
“He’ll be home on Sunday.” It was as good a guess as any, if I didn’t kill him first. “You sit here for a minute.” I hugged her as well as I could and went out to face the Winslows.
They both looked pale as they huddled together on the sofa, Marie holding Hal’s hand, like a couple of wrinkled teenagers.
“I am sorry for all the bother, really,” I said. “Someone slashed my ex-boyfriend’s tires, and he thought it was me. He backhanded me and I fell. I guess it just knocked the wind out of me, that’s all. I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”
“That’s the worst lie I ever heard,” Hal said, and Marie nodded.
I sighed, knowing that nothing I said would make any difference. “Thank you for not calling the police.”
“The guy was already gone when we got here, or I would have. I know Lance is having problems with the ex-wife. Maybe this guy?”
“This had nothing to do with Lance. I’m sorry if my friend alarmed you.” I wiped my face and this time the cloth came away blood-free. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. I’m okay, and I’m sure my friend feels terrible.” I tried to smile like it was true.
“Some friend. You ought to think about a restraining order.”
“Well, thanks again; I’m fine, and Mina is settling down. I’m grateful for all your help. I appreciate it.” I eased them towards the door, and they took the hint. I waited until I saw their lights go out, then got Mina and I packed up and into the car. Five minutes later we were safe at my apartment. I called Lance again, but he still wasn’t answering. By the time we got to bed, I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep a wink, but Mina and I curled up like kittens and I was gone.
CHAPTER 17
I woke up hurting. My back and ribs had stiffened up, and I had to pee, but not so bad that I wanted to try getting up. The sick feeling in my stomach wasn’t from reliving the terror of last night’s attack, it was the total lack of emotion behind Hector’s promises to hurt Mina that ignited a cold fury within me. I couldn’t blame Hector; clearly, the man was a sociopath. No, the true villain here was Lance. If anything happened to Mina, I’d never be able to live with myself. How could my own brother put his daughter through this? How could he?
I sighed and looked at my alarm clock with my good eye. Almost time to get Mina ready for school. I braced myself and rolled over to the edge of the bed, trying to stifle my groans. Blix and Larry lay curled up next to me on the bed, while the rest of the herd gave me a glassy-eyed stare from across the room.
“Is it time to get up?”
“Yes, sweetie. And after school, today we’re going to go see your dad.” I got up and headed for the bathroom, swerving toward the living room when my cell phone rang. It was Lance.
“Well it’s about time. What the hell is going on,” I demanded. “And why haven’t you called me? Last night your buddy Hector showed up and beat the crap out of me.”
Dead silence answered from the other end of the phone.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me, Lance. Hector said that if you don’t pay up by today, they’re coming back for Mina. Now I want some answers, and I want them now.”
“Is she okay?” His voice was just a whisper.
“No, she’s not okay, she’s traumatized. She was all alone watching me get my ass kicked last night. I’m not okay either, thanks for asking.” I caught sight of myself reflected in the toaster. I had a shiner as big as Ralph Wilson Stadium. A scab crusted over my split lip, and my cheek was swollen red and purple. “And why the hell do you owe money to The House of Cards?”
“It’s not what you think.” He sounded bad, but I didn’t care. I was too pissed off.
“Well maybe you better tell me what’s going on, because I’ve about had it. Bunny Tacker told me she saw you shooting pool the other night. You lied to me. You’re not out of town. Where the hell are you?”
“I need to stay lost for a few days. I’m out at the faire.”
Of course. Lance worked weekends at the Renaissance Festival out in Sterling. He’d been out there every summer since high school and was one of the few actors that got paid to perform. I didn’t remember what role he was playing this year, but he was often the sword master or the Queen’s Champion or some such thing. The fair ran every weekend through the end of August. A few rustic cabins housed the paid actors.
“Mattie, are you still there?”
“Yeah.”
“You sound different.”
“Yeah, well I’m not the same person I was yesterday.” Mina stood in the doorway and I attempted to regain some measure of composure, for her sake. “We can’t stay at your place. For now, we’re at my apartment. I’ve got to take her to school in a few minutes, but I want some answers, Lance. After last night, I’m not sure she should even go to school today.”
“Is that daddy? Let me talk to him.” Mina’s scrubbed face looked so clean and eager, I wanted to cry.
“Just a minute. There’s Lucky Charms in the cupboard. Pour some for me too, okay?” Her face scrunched up, but I held up a finger. “You can talk to him in jus
t as soon as I’m done.”
I hobbled towards the bathroom, and shut the door. Lance said, “Let me talk to her.”
“In a minute. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m just helping out a friend, that’s all.”
“What kind of friend, Lance, a loan shark? Hector told me that if you don’t pay them, they’re coming back for Mina.” My voiced cracked. “They’re coming tonight, Lance. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Look, they’re not going to bother you again, I promise. Now let me talk to her,” he said.
I wanted to scream. “You’re not answering me. You’re gambling again. I know you are, so you can stop lying right now. You have no right to put your family through this. I’m not sure Mina should even be living with you. You are not safe.” I didn’t like threatening him, but I didn’t need to justify anything where Mina’s safety was concerned. “I’d rather see her with Violet.”
“I am not going to do this over the phone, Matt. Bring Mina out here after school and we’ll talk. Don’t tell anybody where I am. Please.”
“They probably already know.”
“Not these guys. They’re not local.”
My heart ached to hear him talk like this again, and scared me even more. “What are you doing with these people Lance?” If he owed money to the mob, I didn’t know what I would do. I couldn’t imagine my world without him, but I had to keep Mina safe.
“Look, I’ll tell you tonight, I promise. Don’t worry. Let me talk to Mina.”
#
As the warm water of the shower rinsed the dried blood away, I scrubbed at the black sickle mark on my hand. In spite of my best efforts, it wouldn’t come off. My whole body was black and blue. Fist-shaped purple and red bruises seeped across my ribs and back and upper arms. I got out of the shower and inspected the damage to my swollen face with my good eye. On one hand, the huge shiner overshadowed the split lip. On the other hand, the huge shiner overshadowed just about everything.