by Raven Rivers
He walked across the room to a chair near his fireplace. Timur and Miss Jade kneeled down facing each other to inspect the damage.
Bethany stood over them. “I can see the damage from here. Looks like you might have to replace it.”
Timur tilted his head to Miss Jade. “That would be a shame. Remember, this is the one we bought at the Romanian auction.”
“I do remember that trip. We played chess and even got to tour the Romanian antique shops. We brought back several pieces, as I remember. It would be a shame to lose a valuable piece of history and the primary memento of our trip together.” The woman seemed genuinely sad about the loss.
“There’s nothing for it, I’m afraid. Perhaps we can look for another Romanian acquisition. What do you think, Miss Jade?”
“I would be willing to assist you in locating a replacement, though there is another option. We might just locate a suitable fabric from that time period and have it recovered. Romania is renowned for exacting restorations.”
They both sat staring at each other.
Bethany cleared her throat. “I hate to be a killjoy, but what’s to keep the hell cat from tearing it up again?”
“I’m far too fond of the evil creature to ever give her up. I suppose I’ll end up replacing most of my precious pieces before it’s all said and done.”
Miss Jade murmured gently, “The heart of being a gentleman is accepting such adversities with good grace.”
“Strangely enough, I find myself drawn to the qualities that make her unique. I believe she is simply being who she was meant to be.”
“You know, many would cast her aside because of such.” Miss Jade’s eyes dropped and her bottom lip quivered. It led Bethany to wonder if they were still speaking of the kitten at all.
Timur placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her face up to look into her eyes.
“I care not at all what others think. It is a great source of pride for me that I can see her value in her fiery spirit where others cannot.”
Bethany felt as though she was witnessing something intimate between the two of them…something far too personal for others to witness. She sensed Valisy move up behind her. He gently drew her back and quietly out of the room.
The next thing she knew, he was holding her coat open for her. She smiled at him and they opened the front door.
“You should be very happy with your day of meddling. It seems you were correct in thinking them well matched.”
“They’re drawn together like magnets.”
“Much as we once were.”
Shooting him a grin, she quipped, “It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.”
“You still think we could be drawn together?” The slight smile was back.
Grabbing his hand, she pulled him out of the mini-mansion. “I think there’s only one person who knows the future and we should ask her.”
Walking along the icy roads, Valisy complained. “You are being more cryptic than usual tonight, my new little love. Care to tell me where we are going?”
Fishing the keys to the SUV out of his pants pocket, she felt him starting to get hard again. Jesus, the man was incorrigible. “It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait and see.”
Chapter 16
Reversed Card
~ Bethany ~
Twenty minutes later, they were standing in front of Madam Zoe Dradalen’s Tarot readings.
Staring up at the neon sign, Valisy muttered to himself, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
When they entered, the older woman looked up at Bethany and she smiled. Her eyes drifted over to Valisy and the smile dropped from her face.
“You are different, Bethany. What have you done?”
Tilting her head, Bethany’s eyes sparkled. “The last thing you would have ever imagined.”
The woman automatically glanced down to her ring finger, and her eyes grew large at what she saw wrapped around the tiny bronze digit. “You have taken this man for your husband?”
Nodding, Bethany took a step forward. “I came for your official blessing.”
“I sense danger, but we will see what the cards have to say. Come, sit, and we will sip tea and the Tarot will speak to me.”
Bethany pulled Valisy over to a small table. “Thank you, my friend.” Bethany went through a basket of healing stones and talismans while she waited for Zoe to make their tea.
Returning with a tiny pot and three small cups, Zoe poured out the steaming clear brew. Inhaling deeply, Bethany enjoyed the aroma of Camellia. After passing out the cups, Zoe sat quietly with her fingers barely touching her cup. “What do you wish of me, my dear?”
“You said you sense danger. Find the danger.”
Reaching into her pocket, Zoe took out her old and withered stack of tarot cards. “I’m going to do a three-card spread. The first card will tell us which of you the danger is related to. The second will represent issues from the past that might pose a danger in the present. The third represents the future.”
Bethany looked the older woman in the eyes. “Understood.”
Flipping the first card over, it was the knight. Zoe glanced over at Valisy, who in turn appeared uncomfortable. The next card was a pale lion with a long blonde mane. “It is not your new husband who is in danger. It is his protector.”
Valisy’s hand tightened around her waist. Without looking at him, Bethany spoke. “Find her, Valisy. Do it now.”
“Are you certain?”
“You know that I am. Be careful. I’ll meet you at home, baby.”
“Let me drop you off.”
“No.” Glancing at the older woman, Bethany replied quietly. “I have something to talk to Miss Zoe about.”
“How’s your sister?”
“Fine, thanks to you.” Looking into Zoe’s eyes, she saw her own blood looking back at her.
“What do you wish of me, child?”
“Same request as before. Find the danger, Auntie. I can almost feel it on top of me, but every time I look up, it’s gone.”
Clearing the table, she gently shuffled the cards. “This time, you’re doing your own reading.”
“I don’t have the gift. You know I don’t.”
“I’ll help you. We’re doing a simply four-card spread.” Fanning the cards out, Zoe held them out to her. “Choose the card that best represents you.”
Bethany ran one finger along the edges, plucking one from the deck. Turning it over, she saw it was the priestess. It was the powers that be slapping her in the face with the fact that she’d lied about having the knowing. Like many of the women in her family, Bethany had that little wormy feeling deep in her gut, giving subtle cues when something wasn’t quite right. She’d been ignoring hers for years.
Picking the next card, she placed it face up in front of her. A shiver ran up her back. It was the death card. “I’m going to die?” Placing her hand over the strange feeling in her gut, she shook her head. “That doesn’t feel right.”
“The card is upside down…reversed, if you will,” Zoe clarified.
“Shit, I’m going to kill someone?”
“By accident or design, yes. The major arcana card has spoken.”
“Look, I’m not killing anyone.”
“Choose the card that represents the nature of the danger.” Zoe’s calm voice was a strange juxtaposition against the wild panic quickly building in Bethany.
Quickly snatching the next card, Zoe grabbed her hand before she could turn it over and forced the card back into the deck. “Chose with caution if you want a true reading, child.”
Running her finger through the battered edges, she chose the one that felt right. Turing it over on the table, she stared down at the brightly shining moon. “It means nothing to me, Auntie.” Looking up into the older woman’s lined face, she asked, “Shouldn’t it mean something?”
“It is not always so easy. Often, the meaning becomes clear with time. You must pay close attention, because the danger will peak when you recogn
ize the moon symbol.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“Draw your final card. This is the one meant to tell you the way through the danger.”
Carefully going through the cards twice, she pulled one carefully from the spread and turned it over slowly. Laying it face up on the table, she stared down at the ten swords card. “This one I know. My boss has ten men close to him. They are his managers, most are fighters. The swords represent them.”
“Successful resolution of the danger is caught up with those ten swords. Manage your knowledge and your ten swords well, priestess, and you may yet live to see another day.”
Shaking her head, Bethany frowned at her auntie. “Do you get that kind of stuff from a book or just make it up as you go?”
“Doubt the speaker if you must, child, but never the words. You know better than most the Tarot seldom leads us astray.”
“I’m not certain I believe.”
“You do.” The older woman’s voice was low and quiet, but confident.
Bethany waved her hands across their handiwork. “Not necessarily in the cards. You probably could have told me most of that yourself without even breaking open the deck.”
“The cards are not a way of gaining information. They are a way of explaining the knowing in ways that others and ourselves can understand.”
“What’s the knowing telling you right now?”
“Sending your protector away was a very bad idea. If you walk out my door right now, you die.”
Reaching instinctively for her cell phone, Bethany mumbled, “Best call in a sword or two.”
Mishka answered his phone. “Hello, wife of Valisy. What can I do for you tonight?”
“I am alone and in danger. Can you come for me?”
“I come right away. The GPS on your phone puts you near a psychic. Is this correct information?”
“She’s my aunt. Don’t come alone and be really careful.”
“We come right away. Do not open door or go near window.”
Hearing his gruff, broken English was all Bethany needed to feel a little safer. “Mishka, don’t call Valisy. He’s taking care of something really important and he can’t be disturbed.”
She could almost hear him frowning over the line. “It will be as you say, wife of Valisy.” Staring at the darkened screen, she imagined Mishka rustling up a couple of guys to ride with him.
The older woman rolled her eyes. “Wife of Valisy? What’s up with that?”
“It’s some kind of alpha Russian thing.”
“I’ll just bet it is.”
Getting back to the subject at hand, Bethany queried, “Do you really believe all this?”
“I believe in my gut because it’s never let me down. Old-timers used to say it’s some kind of leftover instinct from primitive times. Others believe it’s nothing more than a woman’s natural intuition. Modern thinkers seem to believe that some of us are just using parts of our brains that others don’t. I can’t say for sure why some of us have the knowing and others don’t, but I know it’s real for me.”
A car came to a screeching halt outside. Bethany spoke before she thought. “That must be Mishka.”
Looking sad, Zoe shook her head. “No child, it’s not.” Gathering up the cards, Zoe handed them to her. “No matter what happens tonight, I want you to know that it wasn’t your fault.”
“Oh, hell no, you’re not just giving up.”
“It’s my time.”
Something kicked in Bethany’s gut. “The priestess says it’s not. Do you have an attic, basement or anywhere we can hide?”
“No one can hide from the reaper, girl.”
“I’ve had about all the hocus pocus I can stand for one night.” Grabbing her aunt, Bethany didn’t even make it to the doorway leading to the back of the house before the front door swung open. Men she didn’t recognize came pouring into the room. There were five of them.
“Get the girl, ice the old lady, and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Bethany stepped between her aunty and the men. “I’ve got a better idea. How about you get the hell out of here before we curse you to a never-ending damnation?”
“Curses aren’t real.” The statement came from one of the younger two of their merry band.
“Shut the fuck up, Trevor, and execute the damn plan.”
“She can’t curse us, can she?”
The older man’s incredulous voice rang out. “Are you serious? If I’ve got to do everything my damn self, I’ve got no real use for you. You know that, right?”
“Got it, boss. I’ll get the little bitch and you get the old lady.”
Bethany stepped back, pushing the older woman towards the doorway. “This little bitch is going to knee you in the groin then curse your dick. Hope you don’t like having sex, ’cause it ain’t ever going to work again, Trevor.”
“Really?”
“Of course not.” Seeing Mishka’s huge form running towards the house from the open doorway, she snarled, “I was just keeping you busy for a while.”
Mishka and two other Russians came blowing through the door with guns blazing. They took out one each before anyone else could get off a shot. Mishka slammed into her, falling onto her and trapping Zoe under them both. Bethany watched in horror as her auntie’s precious Tarot cards went flying.
When the dust settled, Bethany felt numb. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She was kneeled on the floor, watching Mishka and another Russian performing CPR on her aunt. Lights were flashing: blue lights and red lights. A stretcher was pulled in and men in blue overhauls began working on her older relative. She was dead. Bethany knew because they were saying things like they couldn’t get a pulse. The entire place was riddled with bullets, but there was only one in her aunty. One stray bullet had found its mark. Still there was a feeling in her gut that they’d get her back somehow. Bethany had the strongest feeling that it wasn’t her time.
Suddenly, Valisy was at her side. Turning to him, she mumbled, “The cards…I need all the cards…every last one of them.”
Without him even asking, Mishka and his guys gathered up the cards and slipped them into her pocket. Everyone was so quiet. It felt like being in a dream. The police were talking to people and making notes. A huge hand tilted her face up. It was Valisy and his lips were moving. His hands grasped her shoulders and he shook. “Wake up, wife. You need to let go. Open your hand.”
The fog lifted and she felt a searing pain on her right palm. Looking down her arm, she saw her hand wrapped around an old-fashioned cast iron radiator. Letting go, she pulled her hand back. The entire inside of her palm and fingers were bright red and already beginning to blister. Cradling it close to her chest, it occurred to her that she must have grabbed it to stabilize herself and been in too much shock to let go.
One of the men in blue approached her and tried to look at her hand. Bethany snapped, viciously shoving him away. Valisy wrapped one arm around her, pinning her non-injured arm and body to his massive chest. He firmly held out the injured hand to be treated. Unsure what was going on, Bethany found herself fighting against him. She needed to get to Zoe, who was getting wheeled out the front door.
Valisy’s rough voice sounded in her ear. “Calm yourself, my sweet. This will be over soon. Can you give her something to help her calm down?”
After that, things got a bit blurry for Bethany.
Chapter 17
Fire
~ Valisy ~
Bethany laughed with her family as they made food. But being around them was anxiety producing. After spending most of his childhood in an orphanage, Valisy had briefly met his grandfather after he retired from the military. Those three years had been the best in Valisy’s life before meeting Bethany. His grandfather was the only family he’d known before her.
Her family was nice. The men all listened to jazz and argued about politics while they attempted to deep fry a huge turkey without burning the house down. Most of her family didn’t
quite know what to do with the Russian mobster, so they just ignored him. His cell phone vibrated, alerting him to a prior engagement.
Walking around the side of the house, he headed for the dark SUV. Mishka jumped out and opened the back door.
Zoe complained bitterly, “I told your man that I’m perfectly fine to walk. I don’t need to be manhandled by you two.”
“It is my honor to carry you, Madam Zoe. Will you not permit this?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Very well.” Bending down, he scooped her into his arms and began walking towards the house.
“Hell’s fire, you overprotective brutes just don’t listen to a word we have to say.”
“I’m sorry, but my wife says your feet are not to touch the ground until your physician says you are at one hundred percent.”
“Until I’m a hundred percent cured? I took a bullet to the lung. I might be down to one lung, but that doesn’t make me an invalid.”
Strolling through the door, he placed her on the end of the sofa and pulled a throw over her. Bethany came with a drink and propped a pillow behind her.
“Any ideas yet on who those thugs were who shot up my place?”
Bethany kneeled down in front of the older woman. “The police say they were local thugs with no mob or gang affiliations.”
Valisy sat beside the angry woman. “We have had repairs made to your place. I promise we are searching through all our affiliations to find out who might want to get to us though our families.”
“You’re wasting your time. This is something to do with Bethany, not you, or your men.”
Valisy frowned at that news. “Miss Bethany was not involved in anything dangerous, except him.” A soft hand came down on his arm.
“She’s right. What happened three weeks ago has nothing to do with you.”
“Did they say that?”
“Sure.”
His eyes narrowed, prompting a more honest response from his lovely wife.
“We know that, just like we knew Dina was in trouble. It has something to do with the moon. That’s all we know.”
