by Kimbra Swain
“Momma said Santa Claus wasn’t coming this year anyway,” she said.
“What? Why not?” Levi asked.
“She said he didn’t come to the poor houses,” she said without a hint of disappointment. She’d accepted that there would be no presents.
“That’s not true,” Dylan said. “I talked to him yesterday, Winnie. He told me he was excited to bring your gifts.”
“Mr. Dylan wouldn’t lie,” Winnie said looking at me.
“No, sweetheart, he wouldn’t,” I said. At least not to her.
“Yay! I’m sorry for my smart mouth, Aunt Grace! I want Santa to come,” she said. She went over to Dylan on the couch and told him what she wanted for Christmas so he could tell Santa the next time he talked to him.
“I can’t believe Bethany told her that,” Levi growled.
“Bethany isn’t right in the head most of the time. She is poor. I always make sure Winnie gets a visit from Santa. Bethany protests when I bring the toys over after dark. But this last time, I told her that I never wanted to hear her complain about it again. Apparently, she and I need to revisit the discussion,” I said.
“Probably best you don’t do that now,” Levi suggested.
“You are right. You go tell her,” I said.
“I think I will. Only she has a visitor at the moment,” he said.
“Fucking whore,” I muttered.
“Grace,” Dylan warned. Sometimes I thought he had super hearing. I wanted to reintroduce him to my middle finger, but I just turned my back.
Levi joined them sitting in my recliner. My cell phone rang as they spoke.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Miss Bryant, this is Deon Tucker. I have a patient here that I think you should come and speak to, if you could,” he said.
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Keith,” he replied.
“How did I know?” I smirked.
“Pardon,” Deon said.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Tucker. Just call Sheriff Maynard to come and get him,” I replied.
Dylan’s eyes turned from Winnie to me. I shook my head.
“He’s pretty insistent on talking to you. He’s here for an anger management session, but he says he won’t do it until he talks to you,” the doctor informed me as I heard a door slam.
“What was that?” I asked.
“He just stormed out,” he said.
“Call the sheriff. Tell him what happened. We knew that Keith would be next on our list,” I said.
“What list?” he asked.
“Trolls. He’s a troll,” I said.
“Oh, okay,” he replied. “I’ll call Sheriff Maynard.”
“Thanks,” I said hanging up the phone.
“An angry troll just left Dr. Tucker’s office,” I explained to Dylan and Levi.
“I’ll go see if I can track him,” Dylan said grabbing his jacket.
“You don’t have to go. Let Troy handle it,” I said.
“Troy’s hands are full. I need to help,” he said.
“You don’t have to rescue everyone. You aren’t the sheriff anymore,” I protested.
“I know that, Grace. Thank you for reminding me,” he said storming out the front door.
I followed him into the yard. “I’m sorry, Dylan. I know that’s my fault that you aren’t the sheriff. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave mad.”
He stopped, putting his hands on his hips. It lifted up his jacket giving me a nice view of his ass. I forgot about his anger and stared at it.
“I don’t blame you, Grace,” he said jarring me back to reality.
“Oh, hum. Okay,” I stammered.
He turned to look at me. I blushed looking away. “Were you staring at my butt?” he asked.
“It was right there! How could I not?” I said.
He quirked a smile climbing in his car, “I’ll be back soon. I know you’ll miss my ass.”
“I got my fill for now,” I said.
He laughed as he shut the door, firing the red Camaro up. Pulling out of the drive, he waved to me as I watched him exit the trailer park heading toward Main Street.
As I returned to Levi and Winnie, she was now telling Levi what all she wanted for Christmas. I checked on the cookies, pulling them out to cool.
“Oh! Are they ready?” Winnie asked.
“Yes ma’am, but they have to cool before we can eat any of them,” I explained.
“I want a snowflake with some milk,” she proclaimed. “What kind do you want, Uncle Levi?”
“I think I’ll have a Christmas tree,” he replied.
“What about you, Aunt Grace?” she asked.
“I want a phoenix,” I said.
“Gross,” Levi said.
“You just wish I’d said a bard!” I replied.
“Well, no, but maybe,” he blushed. Damn that was adorable.
“What’s a phoenix?” Winnie asked not missing anything.
“It’s a bird,” I replied.
“Not any birds like that around here,” she said. Levi laughed.
“I’ll have a candy cane cookie,” I said drawing her attention away from the bird.
“With milk?” she asked.
“With milk,” I confirmed.
Dylan returned that afternoon with the story of chasing the door slammer through the doctor’s office complex near the med center. He enjoyed cookies at Winnie’s insistence. We laughed at all the nonsense involved. The troll kept demanding to see me.
“He said that he had to get you before his brother did,” Dylan said.
“Which one?” I asked.
“He didn’t say. Of course, by that time, I had him on the ground as Troy cuffed him,” he said. “He was stronger than Phil.”
“He slammed every door in the building multiple times. Like he had a door fetish,” Dylan said.
“What’s a fetish?” Winnie asked.
Dylan’s eyes widened as the color drained from his face. I held back a laugh.
“I’m not touching that one,” Levi said.
“Fetish is a word that little girls who want presents from Santa Claus does not say,” I said.
“Oh,” Winnie replied thinking about my answer. “But what is it?”
“Never you mind,” I said pushing her toward the bathroom to wash her hands for dinner.
“Sorry,” Dylan muttered. “She picks up on everything!”
“I know. I’ve let a few slip in front of her,” I admitted. “But that one is a doozy.”
Levi made a pot of stew from a Yule recipe he found online, and we enjoyed it along with more cookies.
“What’s the next brother?” I asked.
“This one is weird. He eats yogurt,” he said.
“I guess we should watch for him at the Food Mart,” I said.
“That would be logical, but I’m thinking it won’t be that easy,” Levi said.
“You are probably right,” I replied.
“Alright, Winnie, are you staying here tonight or are you going home?” I asked her.
She snuggled up next to Levi and said, “I’m staying here.”
“Are you afraid to go home?” I asked.
“Yes, mommy acts weird sometimes,” she said.
I felt bad because Winnie was getting old enough to understand when her mother wasn’t right. “Sure, you can stay here,” I said.
Levi scooped her up taking her to the front bedroom. She giggled as he tossed her up in the air.
“I wish there was a way to convince Bethany to let her stay with you all the time,” Dylan said.
“You think the vulgar mouth fairy queen is better than her mother?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Infinitely better.”
“You would help me with her?” I asked.
The smile that always weakened my knees crossed his face, “Yes, of course.”
“You would make a good father,” I said.
He sat down in my recliner and leaned back. “I’ve never
thought of having children.”
“Never?” I asked. “Why not? You have to have an heir.”
“Yeah, I know. To be honest, I have been pretty negligent in the heir department. Never found the right mother,” he said watching my reaction.
As I leaned on the kitchen counter, my platinum locks swept down my cheek in front of my face. I pushed them away locking eyes with Dylan. “You can’t possibly mean me,” I said.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Look at me. I’m a mess. Half fairy queen, half trailer trash. I’m not exactly ideal mother material,” I said.
He leaned up in the chair, sitting on the edge. “I see the way you are with Winnie, and I know that if anything ever happened to Bethany, you would take her. In fact, I’ve seen the records where you convinced her to list you as Winnie’s guardian,” he said.
I pursed my lips. Of course, Dylan Riggs dug around in my private matters. He was a former lawman, and future private investigator. Feeling no anger toward him, I said, “I think you have better options.”
“Would you just stop? Jeremiah has always said you don’t belong in a trailer park, and he’s right. I don’t know why you insist on staying here now that everyone knows who you are. You’ve taken on this huge responsibility. You’ve handled it like true royalty. I know that we’ve not made any future plans together, but you’d make a wonderful mother,” he said.
“You would,” Levi said from the door of the front bedroom. I hadn’t heard him enter the room.
“You stay out of this, Levi Rearden,” I said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, plopping down on the couch.
“Grace, we don’t have to talk about this now, but you need to start seeing yourself differently. You’ve taken on responsibilities, and it has created something new in this world. A haven for exiles. You are a mother to all of us in a way. Protecting us, and spanking us when we get out of line,” he grinned.
“You!” I said pointing a finger at him.
“Me, what?” The smile grew wider.
“Don’t sweet talk me, Dylan Riggs,” I protested.
“Two days, Grace,” he said holding up two fingers as Levi laughed.
Two long days.
December 19th
Dylan and I left early the next morning to stake out the Food Mart in hopes of pre-empting the yogurt fiend. We sat in his cruiser eating biscuits that Luther packed up for us along with two cups of coffee from Nestor’s bar.
“Sorry, if I pushed too hard last night,” he said.
“I’m fine. I don’t see myself that way, but you didn’t make me mad,” I admitted.
“Just uncomfortable,” he said.
“Yes, some, but I don’t want to see myself as any sort of hero or anything. I’ve done my fair share of fairy mischief over the years,” I admitted.
“Like what?” he asked.
“You don’t want to know,” I replied.
“Sure, I do. You weren’t cow tipping, were you?” he laughed.
“No, most of my mischief involved men,” I said.
“Oh, you are right. I don’t want to know,” he said. I glanced toward him hoping to see if he was angry, but a playful light danced in his eye.
“You aren’t innocent either,” I said.
“Whatever. I am a bastion of virtue,” he said.
I almost sprayed coffee all over his dash. He laughed. “I doubt that,” I said.
“Why?” he asked.
“You are too damn good looking not to have women falling all over you for however many years you’ve been on this earth,” I said.
“I was born in 1542. I became the phoenix when I was 18. There have been women, but none like you,” he said.
“Flatterer! Damn, you are old!” I said.
“You are older than me, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Yes,” I muttered not giving him anything. I wasn’t sure what year I was born because I was born in the Otherworld. Time wasn’t the same there as it was here. I knew I started roaming with the gypsies in Europe in the late middle ages. He knew better than to ask. “Thank you.”
“For?” he said while chewing on the last of his biscuit.
“Saying none of them were like me,” I said.
He grinned. “It’s the truth. You are my first fairy queen.”
“Oh, just another notch on your belt,” I teased.
“Yep. Damn fine notch,” he replied, but his face changed quickly. “Grace, look at that woman.”
I turned to see a woman dressed in tall black boots, black jeans and a long black duster. “Goth emo tweaker?” I asked.
“Look at her with your fairy eyes,” he said.
Drawing on the power in my tattoo, it flared blue in the car illuminating the inside. I looked at the woman who seethed in a black smoky power. “What the hell?” I muttered. “Do you recognize her?”
Dylan, while the sheriff knew every person in the county, shook his head. “Witch.”
“What?” I said staring at her through my normal sight.
“She’s a witch,” he said.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“We talk about the phoenix, but the thunderbird in me knows evil when it sees it,” he said. “Don’t draw attention over here. Call Levi and get him down here. You go home with him.”
“No way. I’m not leaving you here,” I said.
“I can handle her. Grace, if she’s one of the coven, then she’s here to make sure you die,” he suggested.
“You think that is Lisette?” I asked. Levi had never described her to me, other than she looked exotic, which translated to fuckable in my fairy brain. This woman didn’t have anything exotic about her. In fact, she looked like she was trying to hard to be gothy.
The woman had pale skin and deep expressive eyes. She paced on the sidewalk just outside the entrance to the grocery store. She was talking on a cell phone, gesturing with her right hand.
I picked up my phone to call Levi. If it was Lisette or any of her coven, he would know. It rang several times, and he answered breathing heavily.
“What?” he growled.
“There is a witch here at the Food Mart. Dylan thinks it might be one of the Cane Creek Coven. I need you to get down here,” I said.
“Tell her to fuck off,” I heard a female voice in the background.
“Oh, Levi, I’m sorry. Don’t worry about it,” I said hanging up the phone.
“Why did you do that!” Dylan yelled.
“He’s fucking Kady at the moment. It’s bad enough they are fighting because of me. I can’t call him down here now!” I said. “I want him to be happy.”
Dylan growled and dialed him back on his own phone. Before Levi even spoke, Dylan said, “Get your ass down here now!”
I heard Levi mumble something, and Dylan hung up on him.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” I said.
“Look at me,” he said. I turned to meet his eyes. “If they are here, they are here to kill you and take him. We have to know.”
“I don’t disagree, but poor Levi,” I said.
“If she is that immature, he needs to get away from her,” he said. If I looked at it that way, he was right. Kady seemed to flip flop, but I thought it to be pretty typical of the young women I knew. Ella Jenkins was the same way. She was the mayor’s daughter and notorious in her sexual exploits. Of course, she was half-fairy like Levi. He wasn’t interested in her.
We watched the woman as she spoke on the phone. “I’m going to talk to her. Just friendly like until Levi gets here. You stay in the car. Please, Grace.”
“I will. I promise.”
“You owe me so many minutes right now,” he grinned as he got out of the car.
“We can negotiate the total in a couple days,” I said smiling.
“Stay!” he said shutting the door.
I watched him grab a cart from the corral, pushing it toward the door. She hung up the phone as he approached. I wished I could hear their conversation,
but it seemed like she was charmed by his smile and friendly manner. Turning to look at the main road, I waited to see if Levi had arrived yet. When I turned back around, the woman had latched on to Dylan’s arm. He seemed more transfixed with her than the other way around.
I grabbed for the car handle to get out and pulled. It wouldn’t open. I started jerking it as hard as I could. “Dylan!” I screamed.
She leered toward me struggling in the car as a knowing smile grew on her face. A green Camry pulled up to the curb. As she shoved Dylan into the back seat, she waved at me. Levi entered the lot driving my truck, stopping in the middle of the road. I slammed my fists on the window of the car. I didn’t care if it broke and cut me. I had to stop them from taking Dylan.
Seeing his face through the window as they drove by, his eyes looked blank. The woman driving the car didn’t look toward me because her eyes were fixed on Levi who stood in the middle of the road blocking her exit. The driver slammed on the gas as Levi jumped out of the way at the last second.
I started screaming at him. Running to me, he watched the direction of the vehicle as it turned out of the lot. He opened the door from the outside like it wasn’t locked.
“Why didn’t you stop them?” he asked.
As I bounded out of the car, I said, “I tried, you idiot. The door was locked by a spell.”
“You couldn’t have frozen it or something?” he yelled chasing me toward the truck.
“I don’t know!” I said thinking I should probably consider spending time practicing battle magic. It seemed more and more these days I’d need it.
“Let me drive,” he said, as I climbed into the truck. I slid across the seat, and he jumped into the cab with me. He tore out of the parking lot as I dialed Troy Maynard.
“Troy! A witch just kidnapped Dylan at the Food Mart,” I said trying to catch my breath.
“When?” he said.
“Just now. Levi and I are chasing them down Hwy 114 south toward Mt. Hebron. We are losing them. Hurry up, Levi!” I shouted.
“I’ll follow as quickly as I can. Be careful, Grace,” Troy said as I heard the siren on his cruiser come to life.
Speeding down the two-lane state highway, I gripped the seat as Levi accelerated to catch the Camry. The car turned a curve as if it were on rails. Once we got to the curve, the car had disappeared, but there were no turn offs nearby.
