Courting Crazy

by J G Jerome

  She continues to look at me like she’s sucking on a grapefruit rind.

  Since she doesn’t answer I share my guess, “Okay, I’m going to say that based on the function of your organs you’re either a 300 year plus Sidhe, or a 45 year old human. Which is it?”

  Her eyes look like they might pop out her face. “I’m a 57 year old Sidhe.”

  I shake my head, “No dear, not possible unless you have a degenerative disease I’ve never heard of. However, your body looks ten years younger than it is. Your mother died just a couple of years ago, correct?”

  I see her anger build, “Yeah. That bitch Corrina killed her!”

  “I know you probably miss your mother and are angry at Corrina as the instrument of her demise. I will tell you that all of the Ravens that have spoken of Corrina are grateful that she ended your mother’s reign. She was your mother, and I suspect you loved her, or you love the memory of her. However, from everything I’ve heard, she was not a good person. I’m hopeful that she treated you better than she treated the Ravens under her command. I have to ask, did she also serve the Dread Lord?”

  She looks off into the distance, and tears well in her eyes again. “I don’t know. I think so. She sent me to meet him in Spain.”

  “Did she give you potions or elixirs to drink periodically?” I ask. She nods absently. “How often?”

  She shrugs and looks at her hands, “Once a year from the time I turned 18 until I was 35. After that, it went to once a quarter. I know she took one every week. She was over 100, but she never told me exactly how old she was.”

  “Did she tell you you were Sidhe?” I ask.

  “Of course! I was raised in the Springfield Sith. I went to school with the other Sidhe. I went to Raven training and passed it! No human could do that!”

  Daphne adds, “I have to agree, Jack. No human could pass that training. You would have had a hard time of it, and you were one of the toughest humans I’d ever seen. Actually, you’d already begun to transform when I met you.”

  I shrug, “Well, depending on what was in those elixirs, she may have been able to perform in the range of a Sidhe. Did she ever specifically tell you that you are Sidhe?” Selene shakes her head. “What abilities have you demonstrated?”

  Tears stream down her face again as Selene shakes her head again. “I never was able to even raise a glow in my eyes or conjure a shadow.”

  I ponder my next words carefully.

  “Selene, you have a tough choice to make. You have no friends within my family. I think Kristina, Tiphanae, Chelsea, and Supreet are probably the only ones that don’t know you or know much about you...maybe Christie and Cholley. We are a tightly knit family and growing closer every day. I tell you this because one choice is basically serve my cause, which means for the immediate future you will have to live and work with all of them. If you choose that option, you have a lot of relationship repair and building to do. You won’t be held to the Sidhe standard of physical performance because you’re either human or Verdic, but we all will expect you to give 100% of your effort.”

  I pause for a moment to let her absorb that idea before adding, “The other option is I repair your body back to where you were at 18 years old, wipe your mind, give you a new identity, and turn you loose in the human world. I can’t have you going back to work for the Dread Lord, so when I say wipe I mean total lack of recall and a deep fear of the Dread Lord embedded in your psyche. I suppose a third option is for me to make you drowsy until you fall asleep and then shut off your body, but that is not the kind of tactic I really want to use. I only mention it to show that I am trying to identify all possible options.” I pause for a moment.

  “Can you think of any other options, Selene?” She ponders for a moment, then shakes her head. “Okay. Choose.”

  Selene looks at me suddenly. “Can I think about it?”

  “No.”

  “What?” she screams. “Choose your fate for the rest of your life?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re a sonofabitch!” she yells.

  “Yes. And I would like you to serve my cause. Choose please. Now.”

  Selene sits there and shakes her head.

  “Ladies, if you have anything you would like to say to Selene before she chooses, now is the time. I need to go pee.”

  I get up and walk into my bedroom and into the bathroom. I relieve myself, wash my face, and then lean against the vanity and think about what I am going to do to Selene. I wish I could see another option, but I’m not coming up with one.

  Christie walks into the ensuite and wraps me in a hug, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I think we may have another option, Jack. Megan is talking to Kristina to see if she could take Selene on until we get the house built. That would give her some time to adjust.”

  I shake my head. “I think we need to keep an eye on her. She was committed to the Dread Lord. She needs to earn my trust. That means lots of eyes on her. Kristina doesn’t have the training of the Ravens or Valkyrie. I think I need to keep them massed as much as possible until we rescue the rest. I suspect that Cholley can be very competent if he needs to be, but he needs to earn Trina’s trust back, so I can’t send him with Selene. That means she stays with the Ravens. I think Marisol is used to babysitting her. She was melancholy when she showed up at Thanksgiving because Selene finally fucked up bad enough for Corrina to fire her.”

  “By the way, I think we will have an Elven maiden joining us full-time before long, too.”

  Christie raises her head, “Premonitions, my Love?”

  I chuckle. “Maybe? L’liana is going to join me in Hartford, and I assume she will escort me to rescue Myra, Corrina, Liesl, and Geri from there. I suspect she won’t be far from us long after that.”

  “Jack, I feel for her. Selene, I mean. My situation isn’t very different from hers. She knows her mother was a monster, but she loved her. I have a sister and mother who are both in the same scenario. I’ll take her under my wing.”

  I nod. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard so far. How’s Georgia adapting?” I hear Trina and Sowie return.

  Christie kisses my cheek. “Thank you for asking, Jack. She seems fine. Her parents didn’t treat her well, nor did the court. She gravitated to me because she has an ability for precognition and extraordinary hearing even for a Sidhe, and I was nice to her. She has always been nice to me, and she eventually asked if she could be my lady in waiting. Neither of my sisters had recognized ladies in waiting. Laurel got insanely jealous and went on a recruiting binge. It was funny watching Laurel attempting to recruit what essentially are trusted friends. She doesn’t promote trust or friendship.”

  I chuckle again, “Yeah, I can see that after my interaction with her. How strong is the Dread Lord’s connection to her?”

  Christie steps back and looks at me in surprise before asking, “Laurel?” I nod. She responds, “I hadn’t considered that, Jack.” She considers this possibility a moment as her eyes roam my face. “I’ve never sensed the kind of malevolence from her that I did from Selene. My mother either, for that matter. I think they are both just exceptional examples of how Sidhe desire for power can go wrong. Laurel learned it from Mother, and has taken it to new levels.”

  I nod as I stare into her eyes. “Okay. Have you broken from your family?”

  She gives me a confused look. “Not officially. I’m just never going back. Do you need something else from me, my Lord?”

  I reach out and slide my fingers over the bite mark I left on her flesh right after I planted my child in her womb. She shivers as I speak, “I need you to be clear, Christie. I don’t want to watch you tear yourself apart later. I hope to avoid killing them, but I will if they leave me no choice. Just like I took Selene’s hand. You have to be okay with that now.”

  She looks at me, “I understand Jack. If that becomes necessary, I will hand you the knife. I will ask that you hold me afterwards while I mourn them.”

  I open my arms, and she rushes into
my embrace. “Of course, my Love,” I whisper into her ear as I inhale the scent of her. “We need to arrange for you to take a bite at some point.”

  She looks up at me in surprise. “That’s not necessary, my Lord. I can easily be the first concubine to bear a child.”

  “I know, Christie. Don’t worry about lines of ascension. The Green Lord was historically chosen from all of the line that showed the aptitude. That’s a tradition I want to keep. I just want you to be my wife. You tell me if that is what you wish. If you would rather marry Megan, I will support your decision and love you. I love you. I love her. I see how difficult it has been for the two of you to not touch each other.”

  She buries her head in my chest as she shakes it. “It’s not that simple, Jack. I’m in love with her, and I have been for years. I have never had any attraction to another female, but I love and crave Megan. I love and crave you. Maybe I can marry both of you.” She looks up at me. “For now, I just want to be with both of you and deliver our baby in healthy condition. Is that okay?”

  “Of course, sweet Christie. I’m hopeful that I can make love to you more gently before I leave tonight, but I’m not sure if I will be able to.”

  “I understand, my Lord. I want you, too. Honestly, we all want another turn with you.” She gives me that dazzling smile that caught my attention back in September. “From what Chelsea told me, at least Trina and Daphne should both be satisfied from what they got on the way home.”

  I chuckle, “Yeah. It was hectic, but nice. Well, let’s go wrap up this unpleasant business.”

  I hear Marisol tell Selene quietly, “Selene, I have been watching over you for so long that my life feels empty without it. Join our family, you ungrateful bitch.” Marisol has Selene’s head resting on her breasts with Mari’s arms wrapped around her shoulders, caressing her head. “You don’t have to make love to anyone in the family, but you can earn love and respect if you just open yourself to it.”

  Daphne is sitting on the right arm of the chair, caressing Selene’s back. “We’re all willing to forgive you, Selene. Supporting Jack in his cause and working to help him succeed will gain you much respect. So far it hasn’t been that tough, but I suspect that is going to change. We have to whip both courts into shape for our Queen and defeat the Dread Lord. None of that will be easy. After that, I suspect that Jack will turn his attention to the human world, and we all know no one is better at hate and killing than humans. There is important work today, and we need people of character to do the work. Are you a person of character, Selene? More importantly, are you willing to work to be one and stay one? I can tell you from my own experience, it’s easy to fall off the path. It’s hard work!”

  Trina pitches in, “It is work, Selene. Expectations change regularly as we evolve as a family. But the great part is that when we step off the path, we have our Lord, our Queen, and all our sisters and brothers to help bring us back with love. Have you ever been loved unconditionally, Selene? It’s humbling. I know in my heart I’m not worthy of such devotion, but Myra, Jack, Kristina, and now all my Raven sisters do just that. And it doesn’t stop there. I feel my bonds with Christie, Tiphanae, Chelsea, and Cholley growing in strength from minute to minute.” She pauses for a moment. “Imagine what that feels like,” she whispers. “Don’t you want that?”

  I take in the rest of the scene. I can barely see Sowie kneeling in front of her with her hands on Selene’s knees, because Tiphanae, Cholley, Megan, Georgia, and Chelsea are standing in a semi-circle in front of her chair. Apparently Cholley came out when I went to take a leak. There are a bunch of people stuffed back into that corner. Rottie is still laying in front of the door watching what’s going on.

  Selene whispers, “Why do you care? Why do you want me to join you?”

  Sowie picks up the case, “Right? You’ve been a right bitch to us all, and yet we want you on our team. We want you in our FAMILY! Why? The answer is simple. You are in the same position we were in just a few weeks ago. We were ostracized and unwanted. We would barely touch each other because our stigma was so great. Jack changed that. Megan changed that. Myra changed that. Trina changed that. Kristina changed that. You are a wounded bird, Selene. We don’t abandon wounded birds. We rescue them. We love them.”

  Daphne picks the case back up, kneeling next to Sowie. “Selene, I have not treated you with courtesy or respect. My reasons for that are irrelevant. Please forgive me. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.”

  I get a text as Sowie repeats it. The text reads ‘Can we come up?’ I send back, ‘Yes. Hurry!’

  Marisol squeezes Selene to her breast as she says, “Selene, I have not treated you with courtesy or respect. My reasons for that are irrelevant. Please forgive me. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.” Selene begins to openly weep.

  Cholley growls the same plea.

  Trina and Megan hug Cholley as Megan asks her to join our family.

  Chelsea jumps in, “Selene, I do not know you, and I am new to the family. I do know that our family values courtesy, respect, and love. I think we will all be poorer if you don’t join us. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.”

  Rottie jumps up and faces the door right before I hear a gentle knock. Christie goes to join the circle. Persimmon gives me a thumbs-up from her perch in front of the iPad. I open the door and hold a finger to my lips. I kiss Solange and Charli as they enter with Solange’s bags in tow. I point them to the corner where the rest of the household is gathered.

  Tiphanae echoes Chelsea’s argument. Georgia goes next. Amazingly they are all using the exact same words as Marisol or Chelsea, depending on their circumstances.

  Christie says, “Selene, I do not know you, and I barely know of you. I too am new to the family. I do know that our family values courtesy, respect, and love. I think we will all be poorer if you don’t join us. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.”

  Trina says, “Selene, I have not treated you with courtesy or respect. My reasons for that are irrelevant. Please forgive me. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.”

  Solange works her way through the circle to stand in front of Selene, dragging Charli with her. “Selene, you have been a true bitch in every sense of the word. I should not have treated your behavior as a license for me to misbehave. I have not treated you with courtesy or respect. Please forgive me. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please join our family.”

  Charli looks at me. I tell her, “Only if you can mean it, Charli.” She nods at me and looks down at Selene.

  She turns and walks to the master bedroom. About half-way Selene says, “Charlene, I have not treated you with courtesy or respect.” Charli stops with her head hanging, tears dripping from her face. “My reasons for tormenting you were childish and rooted in my own insecurities. Of all the people here, you have the most cause to shun me. I beg you...please forgive me. Please be my sister. Please love me. Please let me join your family.”

  Charli drops to her knees and falls into a Childs Pose towards the back of the apartment to hide her face from the circle of family behind her. Chelsea joins her and kneels beside her, caressing her back.

  Selene whispers to Marisol, “Let me up please. I have to own this.” I nod. She’s starting to ‘get it.’ She picks up on the motion and gives me a sad tentative smile. Selene gets up and kneels next to Charli.

  Wrapping an arm around Charli, Selene weeps, “I’m sorry, Charli. I tormented you horribly. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

  Charli sits back and looks at Selene with tears streaming down her face. “I hated you Selene. You featured in my nightmares every night, and I cringed inside whenever you came near me. I rejoiced when Corrina finally sacked you. As Jack has shown me and my sisters what love is about, I finally thought I could forgive you. Now you want to join our family?”

  Selene caresses her cheek with the back of her finger. “I deserve your hatred and sco
rn, Charli. I have been a horrible person. I have been serving the Dread Lord. If Jack has changed your outlook on life, imagine how serving the exact opposite of him for five years has formed mine. I’m trying, Charli. Just being here for the last 30 minutes has convinced me that I need to be here. I need your help to change, Charli. I need you to tell me when I’m fucking up again, because Goddess knows I will fuck up repeatedly.” Selene’s sobbing joins Charli’s, “Fucking up appears to be my gift. Please forgive me, Charli. Please love me. Please be my sister.”

  Charli backhands Selene hard across the face. Selene falls to the ground and looks up in horror at Charli’s sobbing face. Charli maneuvers to face Selene. “Get up,” she barks at Selene. Selene rapidly resumes her kneeling position in front of Charli, eyes warily glued to Charli’s face. Charli shakes her head slowly from side to side. “You better never make me regret this, Selene. Give me a hug, you insufferable bitch.” Selene rises to stand on her knees. She clasps Charli to her as they both sob out their pain and fear.

  Charli says, “I forgive you, Selene. Just so you know, the only women I have ever slept with are Myra and Kristina. Otherwise, I’m completely hetero, so you won’t be getting any of this sugary goodness.” All the other Ravens laugh, and eventually Charli and Selene join in.

  I add, “That’s a real shame for you, Selene, because she ain’t kidding about sugary goodness.”

  Cholley moans, “Lord Jack, please don’t tease me. I haven’t had a Sidhe woman in decades. Don’t tell me how sweet their charms are. I dream about them every night!”

  I put my hands on his shoulders, “We’ll have to do something about that. We'll find someone that appreciates you.”

  I look to Selene, “So, Selene. What is your choice?”

  She looks at me from her embrace with Charli. She kisses Charli’s cheek and works her way to prostrate herself at my feet. “Lord, I have been a minion of the enemy of all that is good. I didn’t know the difference before, but now I do. I am not worthy to join your cause, let alone join your family. Yet, I ask you grant me the boon of accepting me into your family. I will earn your trust and your love. Please allow me to select this option, Lord.”