by Dale, Lindy
After a minute or two Lacey, pulled away and sat up. The sun had reached the sky fully now, having made its way over the hill. It was shining down on Angel’s Bend like it did every other day. It was just like every other day, Lacey thought, except her life was now so different. She had her own personal angel and her friend was dating a slayer. She’d discovered her mother had made a pact with the devil and her father had been too weak to stop it. Her life couldn’t be more different.
“So, what’s the plan?”
She looked over at Cam who had been studying the sunrise too. He looked very serious, which was understandable, she supposed.
Cam’s fingers moved from her knee and dug into the pocket of his hoodie. He drew out a small square of fabric and handed it to her.
“First things, first. Happy 18th Birthday.” He kissed her cheek.
Lacey looked at the parcel in her hand. Geez, with all that had happened she’d completely forgot it was her birthday. And how the hell had Cam found time to go shopping?
“What’s this?”
Okay so that had sounded a bit lame.
“A present.”
Equally lame.
“Haha.”
“Open it.”
For some reason, Lacey’s fingers trembled as she unwrapped the gift. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if she was in any doubt that Cam’s present would be exactly what she wanted, even if she didn’t know she did. He had that knack of seeing into her soul and interpreting her thoughts. He should be good a buying gifts. She looked down into the scrap of fabric.
There, nestled between the folds was a pair of the most gorgeous teardrop shaped earrings she had ever seen. Made from the clearest crystal, they were the smallest yet most perfect things she had ever been given. Lacey was overwhelmed. She thought she might cry.
“Oh Cam, where did you get them? They’re beautiful.” Picking one up she examined it, watching as the light caught in its facets and winked.
“You like them?”
“I love them but where did they come from?” James from the jewellers didn’t carry any stock that vaguely resembled this. His window display consisted of replicas of Princess Diana’s engagement ring from 1980 and gaudy cubic zirconia necklaces.
“I had them made for you. While you were sleeping the other night, I crept into your room and collected some of your tears. The Ellerwoman cast her magic over them, freezing them into crystals. Then I took them to a man I helped many years ago and he set them as earrings.”
They were so delicate. Lacey still couldn’t believe it. “That must have cost you a fortune. I don’t deserve it, really I don’t.”
Cam smiled and lifted one of the earrings to slip it through the naked holes at Lacey’s lobes. He sat back and admired them.
“It cost me nothing. I called in a favour, that’s all. I wanted to show you how much I cared. And you do deserve it, Lace. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
Lacey smiled. It was unbelievable that Cam would do all this for her, not because he was her protector but because he truly cared. No one had ever cared that much before.
“Thank you.”
“Now, grab your back pack, we have to get moving before the day gets any further advanced. We’ve a lot to do if we want to find the demon.”
“Where are we going?”
Cam pointed down to the thickest part of the valley. “The Ellerwoman is waiting for us. We can stay at her cottage for as long as we need.”
“But you said she doesn’t like people.”
“I know, but I’m not people. Anyway, she’s leaving after we arrive. Every year she goes on a quest up the mountain gathering rare herbs for her spells. Some of the plants she uses only bloom at this time of year, so she has to go now. Often it takes her weeks to find what she needs and return home.”
“By which time you’re hoping we’ll have done what we need to?”
As in she was going to transform into Buffy and slay the freakin’ demon.
Cam took Lacey’s hand and led her down the path that lead towards the forest. “I hope so. This has gone on long enough. You need your life back.”
*****
The Ellerwoman, Indriel, was not at all what Lacey had expected. She’d thought the woman who greeted them would be stooped and wrinkled like a witch from fairytales she’d read as a child. They had trudged their way through the forest for the best part of an hour after all and the clearing they’d come too looked remarkably like a picture from a story of Hansel and Gretel. Yet, here was this ethereal faery creature, standing in the doorway of the little stone house.
Indriel was taller than Cam and thin, very thin. She had wispy black hair that hung down past her waist and was decorated with wildflowers. It moved as she walked out to greet them, like a gauze curtain drifting on the breeze.
“Chamuel.”
Indriel held out her hand, taking Cam’s in her long thin one. Lacey noticed the chunky silver signet ring on her middle finger, carved with symbols and the extreme length of her thumb nail, a contrast to the shortness of the rest.
“And Lacey?”
“Yes. Thank you for letting us use your cottage. It’s very kind.”
“I am never kind. I do this because your aunt has shown me great compassion over the years. I merely pay her back.”
Lacey still couldn’t believe that aunt Beth was actually friends with a real life faery but given that Cam was an angel and Abbie’s mother, Linda, had turned out to be Lucifer, nothing seemed impossible anymore. Maybe Michael Jackson and Kurt Cobain weren’t really dead?
“Well, thank you anyway.”
Indriel didn’t smile but turned back to the house indicating that that they should follow. Her dress, of the sheerest green fabric, wafted over her body as she walked then settled around her feet like waves on a beach as she shut the door and faced them. Lacey had never seen a face so devoid of emotion. It was extremely hard to fathom.
“I will be gone for some weeks. Do not feel that you have to rush off. You may stay until the danger has passed.”
She reached to a hook on the wall and took down a floor length cape, the colour of the forest, wrapping it around her body and fastening it at her neck. Then she hooked a wicker basket that had been sitting on the table over her arm, and with a nod to Cam was gone.
Lacey stood looking at the door for a moment.
“Well, she’s not the chirpiest person I’ve ever met.”
“No. She leads a strange life. But in her own way, she’s good. She just has no feelings. As she said, she is repaying a kindness by your aunt, she’s not doing it to feel good.”
“So she never feels a thing? Joy, sadness? Nothing?”
“She has a hollow heart. Sort of discounts the ability to feel things.”
“I used to know people who’d have given anything not to feel things. Me included.”
Lacey began to walk around the tiny cottage. It was sparsely furnished, with simple wooden furniture that looked like it had been hand made from pieces of wood found on a forest floor. A large fireplace stood on one wall and in it a small fire had been set under a cooking pot.
“Please tell me this isn’t how we’re eating for the next few weeks.” Lacey’s nose crinkled at the thought.
Cam pointed in the other direction where a wood burning stove was already alight, giving a chuckle at the look of horror on Lacey’s face. “Indriel’s not quite that primitive. Hundreds of years ago she cooked over the fire but she’s moved with the times. We have heat, hot water and an oven. The fire is only lit when she needs it for a spell or just as a comfort.”
Lacey breathed an inward sigh. She may have grown up on a remote farm but she’d never been a fan of camping.
“So there’s no internet then? Or electricity?” she joked.
Cam merely rolled his eyes.
“Sorry. You’ll have to make do with my company and a few candles in the night or the gas lamp.”
Lacey considered the idea for a minute and decided it mig
ht be nice. Her, Cam and the romance of candlelight. Alone. No adults. This could be a dream come true.
“Don’t let your mind wander too much,” he admonished gently. “We’re not here for a honeymoon.”
Pity.
In another corner of the room Lacey spotted a small wooden bed. It was longer than standard, understandable if it had been made for its owner, but much narrower than her own queen sized bed at home. Now that could pose a problem. Unless they intended on sleeping cuddled up.
“You’re doing it again, Lacey.”
Lacey reddened. “Well, stop jumping around in my head. I can’t help what goes on in there. Anyway, I was simply being practical. You have to admit that bed won’t be big enough for both of us.”
“I wasn’t intending on sharing it with you.”
“What! Why?”
“I mean, I was going to let you have it. I can survive on little or no sleep. And I can’t keep watch if I’m laying there with you.”
Lacey stepped towards him. Her eyes were filled with mischief. “Sounds like you’re a little bit scared of being alone with me, Mr. Tough Angel.”
“Not in the least.”
She stepped closer and wound her arms around his neck. Her chest pressed against him and she could feel his angelic heart beginning to beat faster. “But the thought of being in that bed with me frightens you? Am I right?”
“The thought of losing control and something bad happening because of it frightens me. We can’t forget why I’m here.”
Lacey moved her lips within kissing distance of Cam’s. She could feel the electricity beginning to fly. “I have no intention of forgetting why we’re here but for the moment can we just act like two hormonal teenagers and make out for a while? This may be the only opportunity we get to be alone for a very long time.”
Cam sighed. “I suppose so.”
“I beg your pardon!”
“Joke, Lacey,” he grinned, and drew her closer.
LA Dale can be found hanging in the following places.
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