Glenn walked in and grumbled a greeting.
“You okay, Glenn?” Cece asked, concern for her teen employee causing a set of lines to appear between her brows.
“I’m good, sorry. Had to talk to Sheriff Kasun until around eleven last night. He says they’re gonna catch the guys who did that to Meghan, but I don’t know. They could be anywhere by now.”
“Oh, I think you need to trust Rusty and Sheriff Kasun. No matter where those guys go, they’ll find them. You know how they are about protecting the town. No gangs, no thugs, no troublemakers—that’s their motto.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Glenn didn’t sound convinced.
“You let the sheriff and his people handle this, Glenn,” said Cece seriously. She locked eyes with him. “They’ll get them.”
Glenn nodded. “Where are you guys off to so early? Oh, sorry I didn’t run you back to the cabin last night, Brett,” Glenn said. “I forgot.”
“All good,” Brett said. “I understand. You had more important things to deal with. I was fine.”
“Good,” Glenn said, not seeming to realize that Brett had spent the night with his boss. Or just not caring.
Either way, Brett was relieved he didn’t have to defend Cece’s honor.
“Coffee, scones? Let’s go. Glenn, you’re good here until we get back?”
Glenn nodded, already going around the store and restacking items that had been messed up yesterday.
Coffee and scones in hand—they were lucky enough to catch a batch just out of the oven—Cece and Brett walked around. Cece took him to get some ski clothes, and Brett was ready for the adventure.
“You’ll have to change at the lodge. They have lockers you can put your clothes in when you change. That okay?
Brett nodded. He looked up the mountain and smiled. He’d always wanted to learn to ski. He thought it looked like a lot of fun.
An hour later, he wondered why he ever thought hurtling down a mountain, at God knows how many miles an hour with only two sticks on his feet and flimsy aluminum poles in his hands, would be fun. He held his breath and tried not to close his eyes as trees rushed past him at abnormal speeds.
This boy, he told himself, is never doing this again, no matter how much it might impress the girl.
When he limped his way back to the lodge, he was not surprised to see that Cece was an expert. She was helping a little girl who was taking the bunny hill course like a champ, but got stuck where the snow had drifted up, and her ski went in point first.
The mound of snow was slightly icy, and the ski was definitely stuck. Brett limped over, setting his skis down next to the observation area where parents stood while their children took lessons. He grabbed hold of Cece’s waist, and she grabbed hold of the little girl’s waist, and slowly walking backward, they were able to free the little girl. Just as Brett stood to raise his hands in a victory salute, his foot caught on some ice, and he started to fall.
Cece, seeing what was about to happen, grabbed him in an effort to help him keep on his feet, but instead, both of them fell. She landed on top of him, hard enough to take away his breath.
“Well,” Brett said with a lascivious wink. “I love when the woman takes the top.”
Cece’s eyes grew wide, and her mouth parted to say something back, but Brett, overcome by blueberry scones (he would claim later that they were an aphrodisiac), kissed her.
As his lips claimed hers, he thought, I know these lips, and he felt her body press into his as she kissed him back with just as much passion.
“Uh, folks, you want to take that to a room?”
Brett broke the kiss as Cece rolled off him. Gaining his feet, he nodded as the crowd around them clapped their approval.
“This is the kiddie hill. You want to romance your girl,” the pimply faced kid with the yellow guard badge on his sleeve said, “there’s cabins at the lodge you can rent.”
Heads down and holding hands, Brett and Cece ran through the crowd to collapse laughing against some trees lining the walkway to the lodge.
Brett’s lips were still tingling as they made their way down the street to the square. As they walked to the shop, neither spoke. Brett was still puzzled by how familiar her kiss had felt to him, but didn’t know what to say about it. Or if he should even say anything. Would she think she was being compared to other women and found wanting? Or worse yet, would she think he thought she was just like everyone else? That was so far from the case that he wondered about that too.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Cece teased as they stepped into the warm interior of the shop. Customers were perusing the stacks, and Glenn was chatting with Laine as if they were old friends.
Seeing them enter the shop, Glenn broke away and hurried toward them.
“You just missed Sheriff Kasun. He said to give you this.”
Glenn handed Cece an envelope on which her name was scrawled.
“Excuse me,” she said, taking the envelope and disappearing up the stairs.
Once she got into her apartment, Cece opened the envelope with shaking fingers.
Cece –
You know the rules.
Court of the Sun and the Moon
9pm tonight
Don’t be late.
SK
P.S. we caught them. A couple demons out for some fun. All taken care of.
“Well,” she whispered to the empty room as she tapped the letter against her chin, “at least they saved me the trouble of contacting them, but how did they know?”
Those demons who attacked Meghan had not done it randomly. They’d gone after someone she knew, and they’d done it on someone’s orders. She knew this as surely as she knew Sheriff Kasun hadn’t wanted things to go this far. He’d warned her—told her that she needed to handle her own shit or the Court would.
Well, now it was in the Court’s hands what happened to her. She could only hope the benefit of the doubt would land on her side.
She wanted to stay in Havenwood Falls. She had a feeling she had more to do and leaving now would not be in the best interests of the town.
But how could she convince them that she had not invited Gregoire here, that his being here was not her fault?
“Well, girl,” she told herself sternly, “you’d better figure out a way, or you’re in big trouble.”
Cece finally came downstairs and asked Glenn if he could drive Brett to the cabin, telling them both she had something she had to do tonight and wouldn’t be available.
Brett, realizing Cece wasn’t going to let him stay the night again, cursed the letter she’d received. One benefit of the letter, though, was finding out that the gang that had attacked Meghan had been caught and was no longer in town.
Glenn, his face set in a stern line, didn’t keep it secret that he still wanted to find them and beat the living tar out of them, but Cece wisely counseled him that even if he did find them, and even if he and Laine both tried to take care of it on their own, there were still more members of that gang than the two of them could handle.
“Meghan’s fine. A little shook up, as we all are, but she’s made a full recovery, and she’ll be good. So no harm, no foul, and the guys are gone,” Cece said.
Grumbling, Glenn and Laine agreed, but still wanted to take out their anger on them.
“Forget it,” Brett advised them. “Cece’s right. Nothing will come of any more violence, other than someone else might get hurt, and might get hurt worse. We let it go. Agreed?”
With great sighs, as if Brett had asked them to clean their rooms, they both agreed to let it go.
“Now,” Brett said to Cece, “what’s this about you going someplace after dark in a town with thugs like these around? At least let me go with you, wherever it is.”
Cece declined Brett’s kind offer and once again asked Glenn to run Brett and Laine home. Glenn grabbed his keys and coat and told them both to head to his car.
“You sure you’ll be okay, boss?”
She nodded, keeping wor
ry from her face, lest he see it. “Yep, I’ll be fine.”
She kept the smile plastered on her face until she saw Glenn’s car leave. Then she collapsed against the wall and took a few shaky breaths until she felt her pounding heart calm.
“I cannot tell a lie,” she said to the empty store, “but I might have just stretched the truth a little thin.”
Looking around the store, a place she’d come to love and enjoy working in, she headed upstairs to change before meeting with the Court to decide her fate.
Would they let her stay?
Would they offer help?
Or would they tell her to leave, knowing the kind of chaos Gregoire could wreak?
Judgment
(Brett Rhys-Falwyck YouTube single)
Written and sung by Brett Rhys-Falwyck
A right must be avenged
Darkness must be revenged
A curse must be lifted
A talent must be gifted
Old meets new in a flash of light
Tomorrow becomes yesterday’s night
The world twists upside down
for the girl in snow-white gown
A celestial judgment fixes all wrongs
A lover must leave where he doesn’t belong
A heart lies wasted
too broken to be pasted
Adrift on a sea of forgetting
a lover seeks a last kiss, letting
it linger until time passes on
and the insatiable need is gone
Time takes its due
Me without you
Hearts beat again
Memory wanes
Chapter 16
Under cover of night, Cece left her store, and huddled inside a cloak, she made her way carefully down the block, past several storefronts now closed, as it was almost nine, and around the square until she faced City Hall.
Going around to the back of the structure, she found the door. A small sliver of light was revealed as she stepped inside. Her feet sounded hollow as she walked down the hallway to the room for the meeting she was being summoned to. No one was nearby, and the building felt narrow and confining. She wished, for just a moment, that she could free her wings and fly into the meeting.
That would be spectacular, she thought. Would they let me in? Would they be impressed to see me in all my angelic glory? Probably not, she decided. They see supernaturals for what they are. I would be just one of many, since they are mostly supernaturals themselves.
She slowed her steps, breathing in and out in a conscious effort to calm her racing nerves.
The Court knew her story. A supernatural couldn’t be in Havenwood Falls and not be known to the Court, so she wasn’t sure why she’d been summoned so harshly. As an angel, she was more powerful than anyone on the Court, which put her beyond their reach, but she didn’t want to test them like that. Ever since she’d come to town, she’d wanted only to be a blessing and a friend to them. What had she done wrong?
You know what they want. You know what happens if you give it to them.
She shivered, then straightened. Her story was not much different than anyone else’s, and she kept repeating that to herself in case any of the Court members were reading her mind. She metaphorically shoved that dark voice into a filing cabinet and slammed the door closed. She would not allow them to read her. She would not allow them to invade her privacy. Thoughts of Brett intruded, and she pushed them away. She could not let them know what he was coming to mean to her.
“I am stronger than I look,” she whispered before opening the door to the room where the members of the Court waited for her. She heard the faint bongs of a clock striking nine as she entered. “I am stronger . . .”
Her voice faded into silence as she saw each face rise up to meet her gaze.
Oh shit, she thought, I’m as weak as a kitten. It took all her willpower to walk into that room and not take wing and fly away. That would serve them right, she thought, keeping her face straight. If I did fly out of here they probably wouldn’t know what to do.
And then a voice intruded, gruff and old. The room is charmed, dear. You can’t fly, but I don’t blame you for wanting to.
She snapped around, trying to decide who had spoken, but all the faces greeting her were solemn and serious. Not one looked like someone who would have invaded her mind.
She hoped they wouldn’t send her away. She’d come to love this place in her short time here. She’d made friends and was happy. Havenwood Falls was her home, and her heart was here.
Elsmed Fairchild, a member of the court, pointed to a chair. She sat, fully understanding his meaning. “No need to be afraid, dear. We just need to have a friendly little chat.”
Somehow Cece had a feeling that was not quite the truth. A chat with the Court usually held consequences. There was nothing friendly about their chats, in her experience. Of course, she’d only sat in this room once before, upon her arrival, when the town’s rules were explained to her and Addie had given her the small halo tattoo that graced her ankle.
As an angel, it had seemed appropriate at the time, and periodically she considered having a second tattoo added, but had so far kept her skin unmarked any more.
Cece looked at the faces of the Court, all people she knew from town. She nodded to Sheriff Kasun, who didn’t acknowledge her gesture at first, but then winked, oh so slowly, and she smirked in response. Always stern, it was amusing to see him let his guard down for those few seconds, and she appreciated his attempt to put her at ease.
There were a couple of empty seats, she noted, but it appeared they had a quorum, or perhaps, since they were just having a “friendly chat,” they didn’t need everyone there. She wasn’t sure what to expect, and folded her hands in her lap. Taking a deep breath, she waited for them to begin.
Sheriff Kasun cleared his throat, stood, and looking at everyone, said, “I asked for the Court to meet regarding the strange assault on the human girl, Meghan Gonzalez, by four teens whom later we found to be demons.”
Cece looked over at Ric, hoping his explanation would be enough to save her from too much trouble.
He continued, avoiding her eyes. “The girl was attacked in the mouth of an alley not far from the music store Cecelia,” he waved in her direction, “owns and runs. We believe the girl was headed over there and was attacked as she walked past. The demons who attacked her were apprehended, and the girl is okay. She suffered a few cuts and a bloody nose, but was otherwise unharmed. We don’t believe the intent was to hurt the girl . . . this time. Upon questioning the demons, we discovered they were the only ones who managed to enter through a portal. They were disguised within students, part of a group who came here to ski.”
The Court members looked at each other in surprise. Their wards should have prevented this breach. Saundra Beaumont and Mathilde Augustine, two of the three leaders of the Luna Coven, which was responsible for the wards, asked a few questions of Sheriff Kasun.
His frustration began to show. “We think they had possessed the bodies of these teens and then forced them to do this. We also believe they would have been unable to maintain their forms much longer. Two of the demons we were able to separate from the teens dissolved into dust as we questioned them. The other two dissolved a short while later. We videoed our interview and caught them as they disappeared into thin air. Even the dust from their bodies disappeared. It was strange, but they are gone. Rusty, Conall, and the rest of my men have been checking the boundaries to see if we sense anything else, but there are no other demons that have not been categorized or registered. We believe it was a one-time event and that there are no others around to be worried about. We think they were part of a lesser group of demons, called Berith, known to cause mischief. They are not in any way associated with any of the demons currently in town.”
Sheriff Kasun returned to his seat and waited for more questions to come. For the next fifteen minutes, he was grilled about the demons and his ideas for why they were there. He handled
the questions with his usual grace, answering everything they threw at him.
“Bottom line is they’re gone, and I found no others in town,” he said, keeping the annoyance out of his tone, though barely.
Cece admired his aplomb and wished she felt as sure of her own part, but her heart was pounding in her chest, and she marveled that no one heard it.
Elsmed looked over at Cece once the questions for Sheriff Kasun stopped.
“And what do you think?”
“I . . . I’m not really sure what you need from me,” Cece said truthfully.
“How do you think the demons got here?” The ancient fae leaned toward her, and Cece had the impression that his anger was only being held under control by sheer force of will. He might have been ancient, but he was no fool. She wondered if he could sense her fear, her uncertainty.
“I . . .” Cece licked her lips.
“They didn’t mention Cece at all,” Sheriff Kasun interjected. Every head on the Court swiveled in his direction, even Elsmed’s, although he was the last to look at the wolf-shifter lawman.
“That doesn’t excuse her from questions, Ric. You know that.” Saundra looked at Cece. Her eyes softened slightly, and Cece relaxed, praying it wouldn’t be too horrible. “Due to your previous encounters with demons and our own experience last Thanksgiving, it is only natural that we might like to question you and the other angels in town about these Berith. You understand, don’t you?”
“I don’t know anything about these demons,” Cece started to say before Elsmed interrupted her.
“But you know about demons, don’t you, Cecelia Eurydice Amundson? Don’t you?” He whispered the last two words, and she shivered.
Just how much did they know, or did they infer, about her story from the one she told them when she arrived?
Cece purposely kept her mind blank, away from thoughts of Gregoire Penumbra, the reason she’d come to Havenwood Falls in the first place. She slammed that cabinet drawer shut when she felt the gentle tug that meant someone here was trying to read her mind.
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