by Rain Trueax
“No, a human murdered her is what I believe, but what was behind the murder was not of this world… at least not as you think of it.”
“You know, of course, that I think you are fooling yourself. Maybe your mother taught you to use your natural skills in ways that made you feel you were a witch, but real deal witches don’t exist. Nor do vampires, demons, elves, Santa, the Tooth Fairy—or for that matter, heaven and hell.” His smile irritated her.
“And you would know.”
“I know something about hell. It is on earth, not in some fiery grotto. We make it for ourselves—maybe heaven too. I know less about that.”
“All right.” She rose. “I guess we should get back.”
“Does this mean you won’t see me again?” he asked as he picked up the reins of Jock and leaped into the saddle.
“No, I don’t need you to believe.” Yet anyway. There would come a time he’d be ready to see what she had told him was true, and more with it.
“Good because I want us to continue what we started here… before the woo-woo stuff.” He grinned with what seemed real amusement.
She mounted Maret and turned her toward the trail. “Would you do me one favor?” she asked as they came to the broader trail and could again ride side by side.
“Maybe. Depends. No dancing naked around a campfire connected to it, is there?”
She laughed. She actually felt rather freed. She had told him. “Not unless you want to,” she said. “But don’t shut off your instincts. I understand a desire to shut off memories for someone who was in the military and what you experienced. But don’t shut off the instincts when you feel more is there. And remember the white light.”
He chuckled. “That much good against a bullet?”
“I wasn’t thinking you’d be facing that although…” She could block a bullet but not with white light. That took something more.
“All right, I will try to stay aware.” He smiled again. “How about dinner tonight? Maybe we could practice some light making of our own.”
She smiled thinking it sounded good, when she felt darkness surrounding them. The horses reacted by shying. She got a tighter grip on the reins, saw Nick settling down Jock. The wind was around them and it bent the palo verde on the left almost to the ground and then let it bounce back to strike Nick’s horse. A less steady rider would have been unseated. Then she heard the laughter. “So can’t come here, huh?” it said, speaking through the wind. More laughter and the little tornado disappeared as rapidly as it had come.
“What was that?” Nick asked looking at her as he stroked down Jock’s mane.
He would just have to accept what he couldn’t understand. “A visitor I hadn’t expected.”
“You think it wasn’t just a big dust devil?”
“If a dust devil talks maybe.”
“You heard a voice?”
She wondered if the dinner date was off. “Yes, I did. It said, ‘Can’t come here, huh?’”
“And what was that supposed to mean?”
At least he hadn’t yet said he thought she was insane, schizophrenic. Some did about those who heard the other side. “It meant I had been wrong. I thought the whole ranch was under a protective shield. If it had been, that could not have happened.”
“Storms don’t get through shields?”
She wasn’t sure what he meant by the question. Was he ridiculing her? She’d had that experience as a child but been much more selective, as an adult, as to whom she told her secrets. “Shields are for spirits, ghosts, beings you don’t want to even know exist.”
“All right.” She looked over trying to decide what he was thinking. His stern profile gave away nothing. She turned back to watch the trail ahead. The demon hadn’t been intending to do more than the other night. Was this the one behind the murderer? She didn’t think so. So two elements out there—along with a human being used for murder. Maybe two of them as she considered again Nick’s stepbrother. She was glad Nick had said Pete wouldn’t be staying with him. Soon enough she’d know if Luke had hired him.
><><
At the barnyard, Nick dismounted, praising the steady Jock. “He’s a great horse,” he said as he ran his hand along Jock’s withers. “Strong, not easily thrown off his game.”
“I imagine he enjoyed today as much as you did. Your using a hackamore says a lot. Many riders want a bit.”
“Horses hate them, and for a horse like this, don’t probably even need the hackamore. Like Luke said, he responds to body language.”
“Luke is a good trainer,” Denali said. “He learned from my father. Dad rode Shadow, our stallion. Shadow is getting old now but Mom still rides him. I guess it keeps her connected to him.” He saw the sadness on her face. He wondered if a loss of her father had led to her need to believe the supernatural world was there and could be managed. If he had believed it was there, he’d know it could not be managed. He preferred to think it was all nature, like the powerful dust devil. No voice except the one in a person’s head.
Luke and Pete came out of the lower barn. “Good ride?” Luke asked as he watched Denali and Nick rub down and then curry their mounts.
“It is beautiful country. Paradise for a ranch,” Nick said.
“It is.”
“He said no job,” Pete said, a dour expression on his face.
“There are other ranches who use horses less than we do.”
“Horses were a problem?” Nick asked as he put Jock in his stall and gave him a portion of oats before turning back.
“He’s rough with them. If I hired him, Maria would fire me.” Luke smiled.
“You didn’t learn that from Rance,” Nick said going over to the sink at the back of the barn and washing up.
“I wasn’t rough. Just the horse took a dislike to me.”
“Tried to nip him,” Luke agreed. “It’s how you handled it that went against the grain. No need to slap her. She doesn’t like men anyway.”
“You dared to slap Bliss?” Nick heard the anger in Denali’s voice.
“She bit at me.”
“If she had wanted to bite you, she would have,” Denali retorted. “Mom would have your hide for that. Bliss was abused before Mom got her. She is naturally afraid of someone new.”
“I didn’t know that.” Pete sounded defensive.
“You know it now, and if you want to work on ranches anywhere around here, treat the animals with the respect they deserve.” She clenched her teeth against what it looked to Nick she wanted to say next.
“I’m sorry.” His brother sounded anything but.
Denali looked back at Luke. “Thank you for giving him a chance.” She didn’t add what Nick was sure she felt—to thank him also for not hiring him.
“Sorry but just couldn’t have him on the place. You know your mama.”
Nick heard the tenderness in that last sentence. He looked up and met Luke’s level gaze. “I’d like to come back and ride again. How much do you charge an hour?”
“Good rider like you. I saw how you handled him when you rode out. I oughta pay you for working them.” He grinned.
“I’ll call before I come, if you give me a number.” He punched the numbers into his cell. “Look forward to seeing you again,” he said as he stepped into the truck.
The drive back to town was quiet. The traffic was heavier. Pete was sulking, with Denali still angry. He himself felt mystified at what she’d told him in that enchanted spot, unsure what to make of it.
At his house, she stopped the truck but didn’t get out. He leaned toward her forcing her to bring down her window to be polite. “Dinner at seven. I’m cooking.”
“With him?” she asked making no secret of her disdain.
“No, he’s going.”
She nodded then, still not smiling and drove off.
“Not even tonight,” Pete said as they went in.
“No, find a job in a McDonalds or an In ‘n Out. I don’t care where you go or what you do but don’t come
back here for at least a month. Maybe by then I’ll see if I should give you another chance.”
“Don’t do me any favors.” Pete grabbed his bag and stomped out of the house, starting up his car and burning rubber as he put his foot too hard on the pedal.
John came out and watched. “He’s got something bad in him, that one. You know?”
“I figured it out. Troubled at the least.”
“Got something in him. Needs it out.”
Another mystic. He didn’t need that. What he did need was a long cold shower and then to get started on the dinner he’d promised Denali—if she actually showed up.
As the water pounded his body, he went over again what she’d told him. She seemed way too serious a person for him to imagine her having fun with him. She believed in what she had revealed. When the dust devil had enveloped them, nearly broken off the palo verde, and spooked their horses, she had been genuinely afraid. He’d seen enough men in combat to recognize it even with a woman who kept herself under control as much as she did. He saw something more. She had steeled herself-- girded for war. Girded for battle with what? She said there had been a voice. He hadn’t heard it. He tried to go back over what had happened in the mini-storm. Was it there, and he refused to recognize it?
He dressed in shorts and a tank top, put on sandals and walked to his neighborhood market.
“Hey there, handsome,” Ruth said with a huge grin. “Finally decided to make an honest woman of me.”
He laughed. “You are an honest woman. Do you have any of those organic chicken thighs and breasts?”
“For you, of course. She went to the meat counter and wrapped up two of each. He went through their fresh vegetable counters for a head of fresh looking butter lettuce, capers and firm bell peppers. He had tomatoes, onion, and garlic. He tried to remember what else he’d need as he picked out a good red wine and added a bottle of champagne to the basket.
“You celebrating something?” she asked as she punched in the items.
“Just a guest for dinner.”
“No more being a recluse, huh? It a pretty lady?” She laughed. “Of course, it would be.”
“No telling you. You’d alert the neighborhood.”
“I will anyway even if I have to make it up. Just wish I wasn’t thirty years too old for you.” She giggled again. “Yep, going to tell them all-- that handsome artist fella finally got himself a girlfriend… or is it a boyfriend?”
He chuckled and handed over the necessary money, before he headed out the door.
At home, he cut up the vegetables before he pulled out the heavy sauté pan. When Harvey came in and rubbed around his legs, he opened a can of Tender Vittles before turning up the flame on the stove to medium. Browning the chicken, he transferred it to a plate, then threw the vegetables into the hot pan.
Pouring himself some wine, while he waited for the onion to be tender, he thought again about his ride with Denali. She had to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and when she was riding that white mare, he itched to paint her and at the same time, make love to her. He felt equal lust for the woman and capturing what he’d seen with his oils. He’d never painted anything representational but now he wanted to do it—but not as much as he ached to have her in his bed where he could stroke her beautiful body and have her writhing under him. He wondered how long it would be before that might happen—if it ever did.
Adding salt and pepper, he poured the wine over the vegetables and simmered until it was reduced by nearly half. Adding the cut up tomatoes, some broth from the refrigerator, the capers and a dash of oregano, he returned the chicken pieces, coated them with the juices, and simmered the whole pan. Glancing up at the clock, he saw it was 6:15. He was ready but it was a real question as to whether she would come.
He left the chicken cacciatore to itself and walked out on the patio with his wine. Harvey followed, settling near him when he sat. He thought then about what Pete had said about dead cats. He had come to love Harvey. He needed to keep him safe. He knew how unpopular limiting his roaming would be. Nobody liked losing their freedom. He looked at the wall around his patio. How much higher would it have to be to keep Harvey with him?
How much of Pete was talk or was there a real threat and to more than his cat?
><><
As soon as she had left Nick, Denali had showered and changed into a tan, colorfully flowered sundress, with a hem that hit two inches above her knees. She drove straight to her mother’s office.
Her mother looked up as soon as Denali entered. “What’s wrong? You’re pale.”
“I think the spirit who visited me that night was at the ranch today when Nick and I were riding.”
“The same one? Are you sure?”
“Not certain, but I think so.” She had slumped into the chair. “I thought the ranch was under a ward.”
“Things have been a little strange. I haven’t been out there as often as I should, I suppose. The girls have been busy, haven’t met in the circle. We’ve been remiss. Something like that cannot be left untended. It wasn’t at the sacred meadow was it?”
“No. Edie would have let me know.”
“Did it attempt to hurt you?”
“I don’t think that was its intent. It created a big dust devil, scared the horses, but mostly wanted to tell me it was there.”
“And Nick didn’t hear it?”
“No. He’s in a state of not wanting to know more is out there. Maybe he’s had too much in his life with physical evil to want to believe spiritual evil also exists.”
“Possibly.”
“Is there something connecting Jane Elm’s murder and the girl attacking us at the boutique?”
“It appears that way. I am trying to find what. My hope is it’s not Azaziel.”
“He has hated our family.”
“He has, but he also has been distracted with others to hate.” Her mother smiled. “So many possible. It would not be him directly anyway.”
“Minions?”
“Yes.”
“Like Ornis?”
“That, to me, is more probable or even a minion beneath him. It is also possible your warnings, and now they have been two only directed at you, were intended to be friendly, to alert you and us.”
“Demons aren’t generally friendly.”
“There are layers.”
“Well, it felt more gloating than friendly. Claiming we don’t have the power, we thought.”
“I suppose that could be also. Be more careful.”
“I will. You know the possessed woman meant destruction.”
“When humans get taken over, looking for power, that’s the usual result. I’ve been thinking about the hierarchy. Someone on earth is teaching something, using powers from beyond, depending on the level. Demons seek chaos but also fear and rage. If that young woman was a pawn, she’s expendable. What she sought will destroy her.”
Denali sighed. She felt sorry for the young woman, but sometimes there wasn’t much that could be done. Explore the dark side at your risk. She rose. “I need to go.” She managed a smile. “I have a dinner date.”
Her mother’s smile was more real. “So that’s why the pretty dress. Nicholas?”
“Yes. He evidently cooks.”
Her mother laughed. “Good one of you does. Have fun.”
Back in her car, Denali stopped at a shop she knew carried good wines and found an Alcantara pinot noir and pinot gris, feeling a red and a white should be safe to go with whatever he had prepared.
When she parked in front of his home, the door was open. The fragrance drifting out smelled delicious. “You didn’t need to bring wine,” he said when she handed him the bottles.
“I know. I am not much of a wine connoisseur, but I wanted to bring something from Arizona.”
“These are fine—great vineyard and winery on the Verde River.”
“You are a wine connoisseur.”
“I admire art in any form.” He opened the pinot noir, pou
red a little into a glass for her to sample it. She knew the ritual and sniffed before sipping.
“It’s good.”
He poured each of them a glass. “Dinner is ready, but will only be better for setting a few moments. Would you like to talk a bit first on the patio?”
“I’d like that.” She followed him out where he had set a small metal table with plates, candles and napkins. It was a perfect setting for seduction or talking, whichever he really had in mind. She expected more questions regarding her sanity, but he sat across from her and just watched her as he sipped the wine.
“Are you allergic to cats?” he asked finally.
“No, is that important?”
“I have one.” It was then she saw Harvey. He was watching her a bit suspiciously. She supposed that was the case with any new acquaintance of his person.
“What’s his name?”
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“Look at that face, his muscular frame. Could it be otherwise?” She took a sip of her wine.
“Well, it happens he is, but he’s been unarmed.” He smiled when she looked back at him.
“That is healthiest,” she said. “Are you unarmed?” She wasn’t sure why she dared such a question.
“Don’t count on it.”
Chapter Nine
After the dinner, which she praised highly, they went back to the patio. The sun was just heading down. With the shade trees beyond his patio and the tall wall, his little space was cooler than she would have expected. She knew where this was heading as this time he sat next to her on the bench.
“I liked your ranch,” he said taking her hand in his and kissing her fingers.
“We are lucky to have it.”
“And be able to hold onto it. I suppose developers are after it.”
“A few. By now, most accept it’s not going to be sold, and it will remain a working ranch.”
“Your mother has never been tempted to remarry?” He dropped her hand. “I guess that was an invasive question. None of my business.”
“I don’t know. She dates sometimes. Father was dynamic, handsome, everything a woman could want in a man. It’s probably hard for her to find someone his equal. And some would just want the money.”