by Kimbra Swain
“She is on the way,” I said.
“Beats me why you stay with the other one,” she said.
“Blackmail,” I replied. It felt like a truth kind of day.
“If there is anything I can do to help, you just let me know,” she said.
Grace walked in the door drawing the attention of every person in the small diner. Just like the night I’d first seen her walk in the bar. I was sure she could stop traffic just by walking down the street. She wore the shortest cut of jeans I’d ever seen. Her tank top fit tightly curving around her breast. It was light pink to match her lips and nails. However, the bra straps poking out of the tank were jet black. Hot damn, she looked good.
She slid onto the stool beside me and muttered, “Don’t stare, Dylan.”
“You look good,” I said.
“I look better than good,” she smiled.
I gulped. Sitting next to me, I could see clear down her shirt. I turned my eyes away, but Betty caught it. She died laughing. “Oh, hush!” I said.
“What ya want, Grace?” Betty asked.
“My usual,” she replied.
“How about you, Dylan?” Betty turned to me.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” I said. They started giggling, and I blushed. This wasn’t how I saw this conversation going.
“What’s the question?” she asked me as Betty turned our order in.
“What question?” I asked.
“You said on the phone that you had a fairy question,” she reminded me.
My brain was a jumbled mess. I kept thinking about Nestor and if he was okay. I tried to remember the question. “Um, I can’t think of it,” I said.
“Give me your jacket,” she said.
“What?”
“This conversation isn’t going anywhere until I remove the distraction. Give me your leather jacket,” she said.
“Okay,” I said shrugging it off. “I like the distractions though.”
“I bet you do,” she laughed.
Grace
Sliding into his jacket felt right and comfortable. The smell of mint and something manly spread around me. My fairy hormones kicked it up a notch. I had intended to distract him with the girls, but I didn’t know it would leave him speechless. The fact that he even looked surprised me. In all the time he’d been here, it felt like he never really looked at me. He was suddenly looking, and I didn’t know what to do about it. He was still with Stephanie as far as I knew, but I hadn’t seen her in town in a while. I didn’t want to ask him either, because it was a touchy subject for him. I decided the best thing I could do was just to wait. Maybe one day, I would have Dylan Riggs all to myself.
“Sorry,” he whispered in my ear.
“For what?” I asked.
“For leering at you,” he said. “I shouldn’t.”
“No, you shouldn’t, but thanks all the same,” I said.
“Thanks?”
“It’s nice to be appreciated,” I replied.
“I definitely appreciate it. All of it,” he said.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked.
“How about that new library?” he blurted out.
Betty giggled from across the room. She knew he was off his game and found it amusing. I wondered what had changed.
“I didn’t know there was a new library,” I said.
“Yeah. I can take you over there after lunch. If you want to see it,” he said.
“Sure,” I replied.
We spent the rest of lunch talking about nothing and everything. Mundane topics. He never once mentioned fairies. As he walked me out, he asked, “You don’t really want to go to the library, do you?”
“No, but if you want me to go, I will,” I said.
“No. I just had to think of something to say to avoid a conversation I don’t want to have,” he said.
“What conversation?” I asked.
“The one I’m still not going to have. Did you walk?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“I’ll drive you back. It’s going to rain,” he said. The clouds were growing darker, so I agreed.
“Thanks,” I said. He opened the door for me, and I settled in for the short ride to the trailer park. He rode along quietly. Something deeper was bothering him. I wanted to know what it was. I hadn’t seen him in a week, and to be honest, I missed him. By the time we reached the trailer, it was pouring rain.
“Sit here for a minute before you go in,” he said. “It will slack up in a minute.”
“Okay. Did you remember the fairy question you were going to ask?”
“I was going to ask about Selkies, but I think they only live near salt water. Have you ever seen one around fresh water?” he asked.
“No, but kelpies are similar. They are most definitely freshwater fairies. But if you are looking into one, be careful. They will lure you to the water and make you drown,” I said.
“I am just asking in general,” he said.
“You bought me lunch for that?” I asked.
“No, there is more, but I’ve chickened out of it,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” I replied.
“I know. But one day, I’ll explain. Thank you for having lunch with me. I feel better than I did earlier today,” he said.
I decided today wasn’t the day to push him. We had a good lunch with no fights. I was tired of fighting with him. Of course, that meant I wanted to do something with him that I couldn’t. One frustration to the next.
“You are welcome. I enjoyed it,” I said. The rain had slowed to a drizzle. I pulled my arms out of his jacket. I missed the warmth of it. The smell of him. Handing it back, I smiled, because for just a little while I got to have a piece of him. I had been an idiot. I liked Dylan Riggs which is why I fought with him, keeping him at arm's length. If only he weren’t already taken, I might consider settling down with one man.
“If I think of any other questions, I’ll call you,” he said.
“Sure. I am at your disposal, Sheriff Riggs,” I said.
“Grace, I don’t want you to have lunch with me because you feel obligated by the Sanhedrin. I’ve only asked you to lunch because I enjoy your company. I’d like to keep them out of our relationship,” he said.
“Relationship?” I asked.
“Friendship. I know you don’t call it that,” he muttered.
Reaching over, I clasped his hand with mine. “Friendship,” I said. If that was all I could have, I would take it.
He smirked, “Thanks, Grace.”
“I’m still not telling you what happened with Joey Blankenship,” I said.
He laughed. I knew he would. “You will tell me one day,” he said.
“Did you find the moonshiners?” I asked.
“Shiners? Oh! The ones making the absinthe. No, we haven’t,” he said.
“Okay. Call me if you need me,” I said, climbing out of the car. “Don’t get out. There’s no need in both of us being wet.” His eyes widened. I realized what I had said, and how he took it. I bit my top lip. His eyes turned a wild shade of blue like the hottest part of a flame. If I wasn’t wet before, I was then. Because I was standing in the rain staring at a beautiful man, of course.
“Call you later,” he said sounding strained.
“Bye, Dylan,” I said, as I shut the door.
He waited for me to get inside the trailer before leaving. I sighed because I was worked up and had no relief other than what I could provide myself which was getting pretty damn pathetic.
The next couple of days went by, and each night I would get a call from Dylan. We would talk like teenagers who weren’t allowed to date. There was flirting and talking about nonsense like favorite ice cream and favorite sex position. I sat watching a sitcom while eating a bowl of his favorite ice cream, chocolate, when the doorbell rang.
“Coming,” I said.
I opened the door to a man in khaki slacks and a green button-up shirt. His eyes were pleasant. “Hello, Gr
ace. I’m Matthew Rayburn, the Baptist preacher in town.”
“Oh hell,” I muttered. His eyes widened at my response. “Forgive me, sir. Would you like to come in?” I figured if I didn’t invite him in I would pay for it somehow down the road. I was a firm believer in Karma, even if he didn’t believe in such a thing.
“Thank you, Grace,” he said stepping into the living room.
“Have a seat. You are welcome here. Would you like food or drink?” I asked providing proper hospitality even though I doubted he knew what it was.
“I’d like a soda if you have one,” he said looking over at the orange soda I had sitting next to my half-eaten bowl of ice cream.
“Sure. Orange or cola?” I asked.
“Cola, please,” he responded as he sat down on the couch.
“What brings you to the trailer park, Mr. Rayburn?” I asked.
“Just visiting townsfolk. I’ve seen you around town, but we’ve never had a chance to speak. I wanted you to know that you are welcome to come visit us for services on Sunday. In fact, I’d love it if you would join us,” he said.
“I’m not really a churchy kind of girl,” I said.
“I think you will find that our church is a bit different. I’m sure you would love it if you gave it a chance,” he said.
“No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but I’m just not interested. No offense,” I said.
“None taken. If there is ever anything you need to talk about, just let me know. I’m willing to listen, and I’m bound by my oath not to speak to anyone else. You don’t have to be in my church to talk to me,” he said.
“That’s very nice, but I manage,” I said.
“I’m sure you do,” he said, taking a long sip of the cola. “Do you mind if I take this with me?”
“Are you leaving?” I asked.
“Yes, I just wanted to invite you to church. I don’t want your ice cream to melt,” he said.
“Um, thanks. Who sent you over here tonight?” I asked because I’d heard of the local preacher. Everyone seemed to like him, but he had never come to see me before.
“Dylan Riggs didn’t tell me to come, but he mentioned that you were a friend of his. I took it upon myself to meet you,” he said.
“Dylan,” I muttered. Just when I was starting to like him, he sent a preacher after me.
“Don’t be upset with him, Grace. I’m here on my own. In fact, he told me that you wouldn’t be happy to see me and that you would blame him,” he said.
“Likely story,” I smirked. The preacher laughed.
“I like you, Grace. Have a good evening,” he said, letting himself out.
I picked up the phone immediately to call Dylan. The moment he picked up I started to yell, “Dylan Riggs! Did you send a preacher here? What in the hell?”
“Grace, not now,” he muttered. In the background, I heard Stephanie. She was howling some nonsense that I couldn’t make out until I heard her tell him to get off the phone with that bitch.
“She really doesn’t like me,” I said.
He actually laughed. “I gotta go. I’ll call you later. I didn’t send the preacher. You should know that,” he said, then hung up.
He deserved better than her. The only thing I could think was that she was super good in bed. I bet I was better, but he’d never get the chance to compare. She had her hooks in him. I was just a distraction. He didn’t call back that night, or the next, or the next. In fact, it was almost a month before I talked to Dylan Riggs again. By that time, the fancy I had for him had worn off. I was alone and bitter. It was his fault for teasing me with friendship but leaving me hanging.
Dylan
Stephanie showed back up that night that Grace called about Matthew Rayburn. Jeremiah was with her. I was astonished to see both of them together. I already hated Jeremiah for what he did to Nestor who wouldn’t tell me the details, but that he couldn’t talk to me about Grace anymore. Jeremiah wasn’t the benevolent Sanhedrin I took him to be.
“Stephanie, please stop yelling for one minute,” I said, rubbing my head.
Jeremiah stared at me. “Tell him, Freyman. Tell him what you told me,”
“Dylan, there are pieces being moved in this world and in the Otherworld. We are trying to keep the two worlds from colliding. Grace must stay here. If Oberon catches her outside of Shady Grove, he will take her. If he catches Stephanie, he will kill her,” he said.
“Why would he want to kill you?” I asked.
“I may have tried to seduce him once,” she said.
“Is there anyone in this world or the Other that you haven’t fucked?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ve never slept with Jeremiah. Or Nestor. Or Luther,” she started.
“Shut-up. I’m sick of it. I want nothing more to do with you,” I said.
“What? You are kicking me out? You know the consequences of that!” she yelled.
“Do it! Tell her! I can’t live like this anymore,” I screamed back at her.
Jeremiah stood between us, “Sit down!”
We both sat immediately at the command. I growled at being told what to do. “Jeremiah, I swear to all that is evil in this world, I will kill you before this is over,” I said.
“You will do nothing of the sort. If you want Grace to live, you will do as I say,” he said.
“You are threatening her life? Isn’t she the precious one that keeps all the bad stuff away?” I asked.
“She is, but the Sanhedrin control her. That ink that she stole from us, for her tattoo, we can track her anywhere. It’s a permanent beacon. It doesn’t matter where she goes. I will find her. Not only that, but it has a built-in failsafe. Should she go off the deep end, well, it won’t be a pretty end to a beautiful woman,” he said with no heart at all.
“I’ll do whatever you say, just don’t hurt her,” I said.
“Oh, gag me!” Stephanie said.
Jeremiah waved his hand in her direction, “Shut up, wench!”
Suddenly I realized that she couldn’t talk. “Teach me that please,” I said.
“Walk with me. Stay here, Stephanie,” he said. She wiggled in her seat trying to protest but couldn’t. It was great.
Jeremiah and I walked down the long lane of trees in front of my house. Once we’d gotten a safe distance from the house, he put a bubble of silence around us. He touched my shoulder to keep our conversation in private.
“Stephanie is part of whatever is going on with the destruction of Oberon’s realm. She was recruited because of her absolute hatred for Grace. I should have warned you before you came here, but by the time you had chosen her, it was too late. However, I need you to stick with Stephanie. Find out what you can. The Sanhedrin suspect that her boss, Sergio Krykos is involved, but we cannot pinpoint his dealings. We also have reason to believe that Grace’s lawyer, Demetris Lysander is tied up in it as well. Grace doesn’t know any of this. If she did, she would run. I wasn’t lying about the tattoo, however, there is one side effect. When she shifts to her fairy queen self, we lose track of her. Her power takes over ours. She cannot be that queen right now. She isn’t ready. She’s continuously flirting with that power when she is with you. When she saved you at the bridge, when she banished the troll, when she saved you again from the boggarts, who by the way would have eaten you, Dylan. Eaten you.” I grimaced at those words. No wonder his fingers were so boney. He took me to be finger food. “I need you to distance yourself from her for now.”
“No, we finally reached a point where she let me call her my friend. I can’t abandon her now. Please, I’m begging you, Jeremiah. Find another way,” I said.
“I know that you care about her. I do as well. She is different. I’m caught between two worlds. The one where a fairy queen will emerge to save us all, and the one where everyone wants her dead. I’m the only one standing in the gap. Do you want to kill me, Serafino? You’ll doom her if you do,” he explained.
“Isn’t there anything I can do to explain? Please,” I begged. I wasn
’t above begging. I’d never felt like this before in my life. This was the ultimate betrayal. I had just claimed to be her friend, but he was asking me to shut her out. “I don’t think this will work like you hope. She connected with me. I’ll keep her here.”
“You’ve done a piss poor job of keeping her settled, Dylan. It was your one task,” Jeremiah scolded.
“I am doing my best, but you cannot make me shut her out,” I said.
“You will, or I will tell her what you are. She’s already afraid of those who could kill her. Imagine the betrayal. You cozying up to her. Pretending to be her friend. What does she do when she finds out that you are one of the few beings on this earth that can snuff her out?”
“Don’t do this,” I said.
“You will stay with Stephanie. You will stay away from Grace. If a case comes up that you need help with, call me, and I’ll decide whether or not she can help,” he said. “Maybe someday when all of this is settled, you can make amends with her. You’ve seen by now that she isn’t like other fairies. She has a heart. For now, you will break it. Later on, you can fix it.”
I sank to my knees in defeat. The silence bubble around us fizzled out. “I only do this for her,” I said.
“You can tell yourself that Dylan. If it makes you feel better, but you are doing this because you are told to do it. You are doing this because every living creature on this earth depends upon it,” he said, then disappeared into the night.
I supposed it released Stephanie’s spell because she started screaming like a Banshee. My fucking ears hurt, but nothing hurt more than my heart.
Taking a vacation from the sheriff’s office turned out to be easier than I thought. Stephanie and I would live in Tuscaloosa for a little while. I could spy on her, and it would be easier to stay away from Grace. Except for the fact that Grace called me every day for a week. Then it dropped off to every other day. Now that a month had passed, she hadn’t called for seven days. Seven days, fourteen hours and twenty-seven minutes since she left a voicemail on my phone telling me to go to hell, and that she would arrange passage. I had to snicker at even that. I missed her.