Blessed

by S. J. West

“It’s so good to see you again, Allan,” I told him. “Thank you for inviting us back to your home. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

  A genuine smile graced his face. “I’m glad you’re here.” He put one of his hands on top of the one I had on his arm. “Shall we go out and join the others?”

  I stood by Allan’s side, never taking my hand off his arm and letting him keep his hold over mine as we left his self imposed prison cell.

  When we stepped out of the room and joined the others who were still standing in the foyer, I thought I saw tears shimmer in Angela’s eyes. The pride she felt for her father couldn’t have been more evident. I felt a small sense of pride in myself being able to help give her hope for a brighter future.

  From the way Allan looked at things inside his home as we made our way to the dining room, I had to assume it was the first time he had ever seen them himself. He scrutinized every detail and told Angela where he thought things should be changed. She didn’t seem to mind his direction at all. In fact, she more often than not completely agreed with his assessment.

  Dinner was an easy, comfortable affair and everyone had a great time together. I sat beside Allan and touched him on the arm casually if I felt he was slipping away from us and becoming obsessed over something. He still held onto some old habits like wiping his utensils ten times each with his napkin before using them for the first time, but it seemed like a small enough indulgence to let slip by. He was making such wonderful progress and seemed to enjoy our companionship and light conversation.

  By the end of the meal, it was time for us to go back home. The sun was just setting and the moon was sure to follow in its wake.

  “Perhaps,” Allan said as we were getting ready to make our departure, “you could show me where your home is one day soon. I think it might be too much for me this evening, but I would like to give Angela the opportunity to visit Abby on occasion.”

  “Of course, Allan,” Brand said with a smile showing how extremely pleased he was by Allan’s simple request. “Any time you’re ready.”

  We made our goodbyes and promised to come back for another visit soon. When we phased Abby and Sebastian back to Malcolm’s house, Abby said, “Well, I think that went better than Angela could have hoped for. And she owes it all to you, love.” Abby gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’m glad I could help,” I answered. “I just wish I knew why I can.”

  Chapter 19

  Will called us Saturday morning to inform us he went to Jackson on Friday but wasn’t able to find Dr. Lucas Hunter. Apparently the doctor was on an unexpected vacation. The nurse Will talked to was quite flustered about it saying she had never known Dr. Hunter to go on vacation in the ten years she had worked for him. It was uncharacteristic of him to dump all of his patients onto another doctor while he took time off. He didn’t even leave a way for them to contact him. Will was able to get the address of Dr. Hunter’s home but found the place empty. From the information gathered, we were all pretty sure Lucas Hunter was no longer himself but a body possessed by one of Will’s kind.

  The rest of my week was pretty normal by my standards. I met all my classes, went to work, and came home to Brand in the evenings. I tried to enjoy the lull of normalcy in my life while I could. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t last for long. I also found time to go to the gynecologist my mother recommended to get my first prescription of birth control.

  On the night of the Halloween dance, Tara and I got ready in our apartment. I wanted to be there when Tara’s date came to pick her up. I still hadn’t met him and wanted to at least check him out before she left with a complete stranger. Tara just rolled her eyes at me when I told her why I wanted to meet Aaron.

  “Girl, he’s just taking me to this dance. I don’t plan on marrying the boy.”

  “But is he someone you might end up dating? If he is, I’d like to get to know him.”

  Tara shrugged. “Can’t say for sure. I don’t know him all that well. I just wanted to go to this dance and he offered to take me.”

  Seeing that I wasn’t going to get a lot of cooperation from Tara, I decided to bide my time and check Aaron out for myself.

  I told Brand I would phase to his house after I met Tara’s date.

  When I showed him the costume he would be wearing to the dance, the first thing he said was, “I assume Tara picked this out?”

  “Of course she did,” I told him. “You are Prince Charming after all.”

  “You won’t disappear on me at midnight will you?” He teased.

  “I’ll try not too,” I told him.

  Tara’s date picked her up at a quarter to eight. He was dressed as what I could only categorize as a pimp. He was wearing a black velvet looking long coat trimmed in fake tiger fur at the collar with an oversized matching pimp hat and tiger skin platform boots. He wore a pair of black slacks but no shirt. There was a large gold chain around his neck with a dollar sign medallion. To top off the costume, he wore a pair of red tinted sunglasses trimmed in gold with dollar signs at the corners which covered almost half of his face.

  I wasn’t sure I cared for Tara going out with someone dressed in such a get up. I mean seriously, if he was the pimp, what was she supposed to be?

  After making pleasant conversation with him for a few minutes while Tara finished getting ready, I decided the costume was just a costume. Aaron was definitely not a Leroy. Whether he was a Simon was hard to say since the former didn’t show his true colors until well into their relationship. But Aaron seemed a decent enough guy. He even took off his hat and glasses while he talked with me which definitely earned him some brownie points for politeness.

  “I’ll be staying here tonight,” I told Tara. I didn’t want her out with a stranger and not have someone waiting at the apartment for her. It also gave me a chance to make sure Aaron knew someone would be expecting her back home safe and sound and at a decent hour.

  “Ok, girl,” Tara winked at me, understanding my motives for saying what I did in front of Aaron. “I’ll see you and Brand at the dance.”

  After they left, I went to my room to put on my Cinderella costume. It was a lot larger and more cumbersome than I had originally thought when I first saw it in the store display. It was about a third of the size of my wedding dress but still, for a dance, it might give me problems. The dress was made of light blue satin with white satin brocade peplums on either side of the waistline. The costume came with a multilayered petticoat, long white gloves, jeweled choker and rhinestone tiara. The low cut top half of the dress had me worried at first. I was showing a lot more cleavage than I had intended to. But Tara assured me it wasn’t so low it made me look indecent.

  Tara helped me put my hair up earlier that evening in the same up-do Malcolm had designed for me the night Brand proposed. My hair bore no resemblance to Cinderella’s since my hair was the complete opposite of blonde, but it did look elegant enough to belong to a princess. When I studied my reflection in the mirror, I really did almost feel like I belonged in a fairy tale. It made me think about what would be happening in only three more weeks. I would be at my wedding walking down the aisle to marry my Prince Charming for better or for worse. I was praying we would have more better than worse though.

  I quickly put on a pair of ballet style slippers on my feet. I knew if I had to deal with the petticoat all night, I didn’t need to add high heals to an already precarious equation or I might end up looking more like Alice in Wonderland, falling down rabbit holes all evening.

  When I phased to Brand’s house, he was adjusting the gold sash which crossed from his left shoulder to his right hip. The costume was simple but the way he filled it out made my heart miss a beat. The white jacket was trimmed with gold satin fabric at the cuffs and neckline. On each shoulder was a black epaulette trimmed with gold fringe. It even had a couple of fake medallions pinned to the left side of the gold sash. There was a small maroon leather belt around the waist which matched his pants in color which were piped with
a matching gold stripe down the side.

  “You really do look like Prince Charming,” I told him, unable to move for fear my legs would betray the effect he was having on me.

  He grinned at me and I watched as his eyes traveled over the length of my costume only to come back up and openly stare at the cleavage the dress freely displayed.

  “I definitely like your costume,” he said coming to stand in front of me with an appreciative grin on his face. “I like it a lot.”

  I felt my cheeks flush as I looked down at the tops of my breast. “Do you think it’s too much?”

  “No, my love. You look lovely,” he told me leaning down to kiss my perfect red stained lips lightly. “Shall we go, my princess?” He asked offering me his arm to take like any courtly prince would do.

  We drove Brand’s car to the dance. I almost wished we had just phased there. The parking lot outside the indoor stadium was so full we ended up parking almost a quarter of a mile away from the entrance. Luckily, Brand had been there before to watch an exhibition basketball game before school started and was able to phase us to the entrance so I wouldn’t have to walk so far in my cumbersome dress.

  The inside of the stadium was decorated with a myriad of orange, gold and black mylar balloons, streamers and fake headstones. There must have been at least one or two smoke machines in operation because the floor was covered with a thin layer of wispy white smoke to give the dance an added feel of graveyard spookiness. The spotlights were covered with red and blue filters, casting an eerie glow across the room. There was a band playing on an elevated stage underneath the scoreboard.

  I immediately searched through the large crowd to locate our friends. It didn’t take me long to find Tara and Aaron. They were boogying on the dance floor keeping in character gyrating like they were at a disco party. Tara waved at me when she saw me looking at her and pointed over to one of the tables set up with refreshments.

  I’m not sure what I expected Malcolm to show up as. To be honest, I guess I thought he would wear a black cape and come as a vampire. The ironic statement of wearing such a costume would have fit his personality. But, as usual, he surprised me.

  Malcolm and Will were standing beside the refreshment table Tara had pointed to, talking to a couple of girls I didn’t recognize, not that I knew many people on campus anyway. Will was dressed like Lancelot resplendent in a costume of chain mail and black tunic with a gold griffin embroidered across the front. Malcolm was dressed like an Egyptian pharaoh. Dressed is a loose term for how he was clothed. All his costume consisted of was a knee length hieroglyphic print skirt, large leather collar with gold-colored trim and matching armbands and headscarf. It looked like he was carrying a riding crop of some sort in his hands. I understand why he had picked the costume. It showcased his muscular upper torso and legs since there wasn’t any cloth to get in the way, but I instantly noticed there was something different about Malcolm. His skin color was darker than it should have been. I remembered him telling me that one of the ways I could tell if he had broke our bargain and consumed human blood was a change in his skin color. I was instantly worried he had done something very bad.

  The blonde and brunette Malcolm and Will were talking to were dressed a bit trampy for my taste. The blonde had on a naughty nurse’s outfit which looked more like a corseted white teddy with red piping and three inch lace trimmed skirt. She wore white fishnet stockings and three inch red stiletto heals to complete the look. The brunette was dressed in a slim fitting black faux leather mini-dress which zipped up in the front and a pair of three inch healed knee-high boots. I assumed her outfit was supposed to resemble a cop uniform since she also wore a cop hat and had a pair of silver handcuffs dangling from her hands.

  Malcolm must have felt me looking at him because his eyes soon met mine. He said something to the girl in the cop costume and handed her his riding crop before making his way toward us through the crowd.

  “We wondered if you were going to show up,” he said as he approached us. “Will and I have been perusing the delicate young flowers here for almost half an hour.”

  “She doesn’t look all that delicate,” I said nodding toward Malcolm’s admirer who was openly staring at us, apparently offended to be left alone holding something for Malcolm like a servant. “You better watch out. She might use those cuffs on you if you misbehave.”

  “Well I certainly hope so,” Malcolm’s cheeky grin irritated me for some reason. He held out his hand to me as the band began to play a slow song. “Could I have the first dance fair princess?” he asked.

  I looked at Brand to make sure he was ok with it.

  “Go ahead,” he told me. “I need to speak with Will anyway to see if he’s been able to find out more about Lucas Hunter.” Brand looked at Malcolm with a silent warning in his eyes.

  “I promise to be on my best behavior,” Malcolm held his hands up as if to prove he had nothing up his sleeves, if he had been wearing sleeves that is.

  Malcolm took my hand and led me onto the dance floor.

  “You look lovely this evening, dearest,” he said, holding me as close to him as my bulky dress would allow.

  “And you look a bit too tan,” I quipped. “You haven’t been doing anything you shouldn’t, have you?”

  Malcolm actually looked hurt by my accusation. “I promised you I wouldn’t do that anymore, Lilly. Why would you think to even ask me such a question?”

  I immediately regretted having jumped to the wrong conclusion; but how else had he developed such dark skin in such a short amount of time?

  “Then how do you explain why your skin is so dark?”

  “Have you ever seen a pale pharaoh?” he questioned. “I couldn’t come without a tan. There’s a salon in town that sprays them on.”

  “It’s fake?”

  “Yes, completely fake.”

  I felt bad now. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Will you forgive me?”

  From the lopsided grin on Malcolm’s face, I knew forgiveness wouldn’t come cheap.

  “I might if you do something for me.”

  “What?” I asked, completely suspicious.

  “I want to spend a day with you alone before you marry. Could we do that?”

  “Why before I’m married? It’s not like Brand has me on a leash, Malcolm. He’s not going to make me stop being friends with you just because I’m his wife.”

  “I’d rather not think about Brand when we’re together on that day and if we waited until you were married, that’s all I would think about. Please, dearest. Just one day?”

  I didn’t see why it was so important to him, but I also didn’t see what it could hurt to spend one day with my friend before I became a married woman.

  “All right, if that’s what you want. Now, do you forgive me?”

  “Yes.” Malcolm grinned in satisfaction and his eyes twinkles like he’d just won the lottery.

  When the song was over, he dutifully walked me over to Brand. I saw that the girl cop was eyeing my fiancé with more interest than she should have been. Not that I could blame her for practically salivating over him. He was the most handsome man at the party. Though, I guess I could have been a little prejudice in my opinion.

  “Hey, Lilly!” I turned around and saw Malik walking toward me with a pretty black girl on his arm. I assumed she must be Cheryl.

  Malik was dressed as Jack Sparrow, and Cheryl seemed to be dressed as a bar wench.

  “You look great,” he said as they came to stand beside us.

  “You too,” I told him, taking in the braided wig, tri-corn hat and brown leather duster he wore.

  “Y’all need to come on and dance,” Tara called from the dance floor. She and Aaron had danced their way over to us. I saw her give a side-ways glance to Malik and Cheryl, but her attention was soon diverted by Aaron as he swooped her up into his arms and twirled her around causing her to giggle.

  We all had a good time dancing and laughing together for most of th
e night. At least until I found out Malik and Tara were missing.

  It first came to my attention when I was making my way back to the dance from a short trip to the ladies room. Cheryl approached me and asked if I had seen Malik. It was getting close to midnight and she wanted to go home.

  “I’ve been looking for him for like thirty minutes,” she complained. “You have any idea where he might be?”

  “No,” I told her, completely confused by Malik’s unexpected absence. “I haven’t seen him.”

  “Hey, Lilly, you seen Tara?” Aaron came to join Cheryl and me.

  “No,” I told him.

  “You think you could go in the ladies restroom and see if she’s in there?

  “I was just in there. I didn’t see her.”

  “She’s been gone for like half an hour.”

  “I should have known,” Cheryl said crossing her arms in front of her ample bosom. “All Malik talked about was Tara tonight. They’re probably off together somewhere.”

  “You think?” Aaron asked, not completely sure he agreed with Cheryl’s assessment.

  “Yeah, that’s what I think,” she replied, completely miffed. “Hey, you mind taking me home since our dates are off together doing who knows what? I need a ride.”

  “Well, I hate to leave without knowing Tara’s ok. I just don’t see her as the type to ditch one guy for another one at a party.”

  “She’s not,” I defended, giving Cheryl a withering gaze for talking about Tara in such a defamatory way. “But, why don’t you go ahead and take Cheryl home,” I suggested. “It is getting late. I’ll look for them while you’re gone. I can probably find Tara before you get back.”

  “Ok.”

  Aaron earned a few more brownie points then as he took care of Cheryl for me.

  I was about to enter the room where the dance was to get the guys to help me search for Tara and Malik when I felt someone touch my shoulder. I turned to see who it was hoping it was either Tara or Malik. Unfortunately, it wasn’t either of them.

  “Hello, Lilly,” Robert said, grabbing me by the arm and phasing us outside the building before I could call for help.