I pushed the unfolding drama to the back of my thoughts and smiled at my audience. "Good evening, everyone. You may have heard that it's my friend Eileen's birthday today..."
ALEXANDER
Tressa had changed. I noticed it earlier in the day. She had lost the wariness she had assumed whenever I was around her. Instead of averting her eyes, she looked directly at me. She appeared relaxed and comfortable.
I didn't want to scare her by being too aggressive, but the impulse to touch her was intense. The sense of connection I felt when holding her hand was deeper than anything I had felt during the entirety of many of my past relationships.
Eileen asked her to sing, which annoyed me because it meant she had to let go of my hand and leave my side. Evidently she often performed for the bar patrons. Their anticipation was palpable as she took the stage.
She took the guitar from one of the band members and sat on the tall stool he offered her. She looked at the instrument, plucking the strings individually and then in various combinations. The room held their collective breath, exhaling when she looked at the crowd and smiled.
"Good evening, everyone. You may have heard that it's my friend Eileen's birthday today. If it's okay with you, I’d like to play one of her favorites for you tonight. What do you say?"
The audience whooped their approval; then became quiet when she strummed the first note.
As she played the song's introduction, she looked down at her fingers again. Her reddish gold curls fell across her shoulder. Then she lifted her face and sang, pleasure shining in her eyes.
Her voice was mesmerizing—an effect, I realized, the entire audience experienced.
"My god, she's fabulous," Matt said.
"Outstanding," Kendra agreed.
When the song ended, the audience let the last note fade before breaking into thunderous applause. Several people in the crowd called out requests. Tressa let them talk her in to a second and then a third song before begging off.
"Sure, and it's the band we all came to hear tonight," she said. "I'll not be taking any more of their time."
The audience thanked her with applause and cheers as she made her way back to the table. There was an ethereal quality to the way she moved. She nearly floated across the floor.
The band started their next set with a slow song. I asked Tressa to dance before she could retake her seat.
I wrapped one arm around her waist and hugged her close. Her body was warm and soft against mine. I took her hand and curled my arm until I held her hand next to my heart.
We didn't speak. She laid her head on my shoulder as we moved our bodies with the rhythm of the music. We fit together as if designed for each other. When the song ended, I waited until the couples around us fell away before I reluctantly released her.
She smiled up at me. "You're full of surprises. What a wonderful dancer you are."
"That's right; you never know what I might come up with next," I agreed with a wink.
A new song began as I followed her toward our table. I stopped short of colliding with her when she stood still and cocked her head to one side.
"Tressa, are you okay?" I asked.
"It's not me. Fred's bothering Holly over by the restrooms."
I looked in the direction she gestured, but I couldn't see through the crowded dance floor.
"How can you tell?"
"I can hear them."
It seemed impossible that anyone could hear anything over the music, let alone a conversation on the other side of the room, but I turned and led Tressa in the direction she had indicated.
The restrooms were in an alcove at the far corner of the dining room. I maneuvered around the packed dance floor, clearing the way as Tressa followed behind me. As we got closer, I heard raised voices.
"Holly, come on. You know I didn't mean to hurt you. We're going to be a family now. It's time to come home."
"Fred, please just go away." Holly pleaded.
"Not until—"
We stepped into the alcove just as Eileen bolted between Fred and Holly, who had streaks of black mascara smeared across her face.
"Holly, go ahead to the ladies room," Eileen said. Holly didn't move, though she seemed to shrink into her sister's protective shadow.
Tressa hurried past me, hugging Holly and shepherding her towards the restroom. "Come lass, let's get you cleaned up." They disappeared into the ladies room.
I stayed in the doorway, monitoring the situation. I didn't want to intervene in a family squabble, but I would not let him hurt any of the women.
Eileen held her ground, blocking Fred's path. Though she was much smaller than he was, the look of determination on her face made it clear that he wasn't getting past her.
"Fred, I'm telling you for the last time: leave Holly alone. Find someone else to abuse," Eileen hissed.
"She's my wife, she's having my baby, and we're going to be a family."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
Fred's voice dropped. "You don't have a say."
He grabbed Eileen's wrist and twisted it, trying to wrench her out of the way, but she held fast to her footing.
"Let me go," she yelled.
"Hey, don't touch the lady," I warned, taking a step toward him.
"Fred, what are you doing, man?" Tom Lynch yelled as he came onto the scene.
"Oh good, the cops have arrived." Eileen's tone was mocking.
"Give it a rest, Eileen. Come on, Fred. Let's go back to our table."
He put a hand on Fred's arm and attempted to usher him away. Fred jerked away from Tom but finally released his grip on Eileen.
"Don't you get it? This bitch has turned Holly against me," he said.
He balled his fist and stepped toward Eileen. She stood her ground, unflinching. Tom and I both moved toward Fred. He dropped his fist when he saw us, looking at us with contempt.
"Man, I'm out of here," he said.
Tom trailed after him. "Fred, you're drunk. Let me take you home."
"Screw you."
As they faded out of sight, Eileen took in a deep breath and let it out in an audible whoosh, slumping as the tension rushed out. After a second deep breath she looked at me.
Thank you," she said.
I shrugged.
"No worries."
The restroom door opened slowly; Tressa and Holly stepped out. Holly had washed her face free of makeup. Her fresh face and petite size made her look more like a child than a grown woman.
"I'm sorry," she said. "This is so embarrassing."
"Please stop apologizing for that jerk, Holly," Eileen said. "You're not responsible for what he does."
"Yeah, well, that's not the way it feels."
She looked ready to cry again. Her sister hugged her.
"Come on, forget him. Isn't this supposed be my birthday celebration?"
Holly looked at her fondly. "That's right. Let's go have a party."
When we returned to the table, the rest of the group did a great job of joking around and teasing the funk out of Holly's mood.
The ladies got up to dance when the next song started. I begged off, as did the other men, when they asked us to join them. Conversation was impossible with the loud music, so we sat in a comfortable silence and watched the people on the dance floor.
While Tressa danced, I appreciated how her hips moved to the beat. The soft drape of her blouse emphasized her curvy chest.
After a couple of songs, Rachel came over and insisted that her husband join her on the dance floor. Eileen soon followed, grabbing Matt and playing the birthday card to get him up and dancing.
I suspected I would be next. I quickly reconciled myself to the idea, though I would've preferred to continue to watch Tressa from where I sat.
She came over just as the band started a new, slower song. My reluctance vanishing, I grabbed her hand when she held it out to me.
I pulled her into my arms again, happy for the excuse to hold her. I placed her hand on my ch
est and then reached up to run my fingers down the cascade of curls on her head—an experiment to see if they felt as soft as they looked, which they did.
Curiosity satisfied, I placed my hand back on top of hers. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of her shampoo.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw Matt and Holly sitting alone at the table. Matt had moved around to sit next to her. He leaned towards her, intent on their conversation.
I looked around the dance floor for the rest of our crew. The Singers were laughing at something while they held each other close. One of the local boys had claimed Kendra for a dance.
Where was Eileen?
The minute her name passed through my thoughts, I knew she was in danger. My body stiffened, and I stopped moving. Tressa stepped away from me.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Where's Eileen?" My tone had a sharper edge than I had intended.
Tressa looked confused, but she dutifully scanned the restaurant. "I don't hear her anymore. Maybe she left."
I raced over to Matt and Holly without letting go of Tressa's hand. "Holly," I barked. "Where's Eileen?"
She squinted and appeared to think about my question. Matt, accustomed to my outbursts, was quick to answer. "You just missed her; she said something about going to a friend's place for the weekend."
"We've got to stop her," I said. Anxiety weighed on my chest as I spun toward the door.
"Xander, wait. I'll go." Matt was jogging through the crowd toward the door to the parking lot before I could argue.
"Alexander, you're scaring Holly," Tressa whispered. "What's happening?"
Torn between answering her question and going after Matt, I settled for keeping my eye on the door as I explained.
"I don't know—a bad feeling. Something about her truck," I thought for a minute then nodded. "Yeah, something is wrong with her truck."
Nothing more came except that I had to stop her from driving a truck. I cursed myself for being so useless.
"Well she wouldn't be driving her truck now, would she, Holly? I mean, she wouldn't have the truck if she isn't working, right?"
"No, she didn't bring her rig here," Holly agreed.
I took a deep breath. Perhaps we had time to get to her.
Matt reappeared at the door. He shook his head, telling me he hadn't been able to catch her.
"Okay, so she didn't leave in her truck." I said as I concentrated, trying to get a better sense of what was happening.
Holly's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Well, she didn't leave in her rig, but she drives a pickup truck."
Pure panic rose inside me. "Call her cell. Quick, call her cell. Tell her she needs to pull over."
Flustered, Holly pulled out her phone but her hands shook so badly that she fumbled as she tried to make the call. Matt took the phone from her and pressed the screen several times.
The band ended their song at that moment, so we all heard the buzz of a cell phone vibrating. Holly dug around until she found Eileen's cell phone, forgotten in the mess on the table.
"I'm going after her." I looked at Tressa. What an awful way to end such a beautiful night. She looked sympathetic; maybe she wouldn't hold it against me. "Matt, will you take Tressa home?"
"Don't worry about me," Tressa said. "I can get myself home."
"What do you want me to do, boss?" Matt asked.
"Wait," Holly said. "Somebody explain what's going on here."
Matt sat next to her again and tried to sooth her. "It's probably nothing. Xander gets these gut feelings sometimes, but it could be anything. This could be nothing more than indigestion."
"Okay, so no need to be worried?"
"None at all," Matt said, but over her head, his eyes told me a different story.
"You had better take her home," I said. Matt gave an almost unperceivable nod.
I couldn't rush out without saying goodbye to Tressa. I pulled her away from the table. There was so much I wanted to say, but I didn't have time. I curled her hand to my lips to kiss it.
"How will you get home?"
"Not to worry. Go."
"I'm sorry to end our evening like this."
She nodded, met my eyes, and smiled tenderly.
"Go."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TRESSA
Eileen's brakes failed while traveling down US380 on the way to her friend's home near Tannersville. The state police reported that, when she came down the last big descent, her speed climbed past one hundred and twenty miles per hour before she lost control—or so the paper said.
Eileen was the first friend I had lost since coming to live in the Human World. A tragedy for her family, but it broke my heart as well to see someone so young leave this world. She was a mere twenty-eight years old—a child by Sidhe standards.
A human's life span was woefully short. However, this girl had hardly any chance to live. My own parents' lives had ended too early, but they had lived more than a century longer than this young woman.
I didn't hear from Alexander in the days after her death. How many times had he had such a premonition without being able to remedy it? Not often, I hoped. How devastating, to know something awful was going to happen and to not be able to change things.
I tried to reach out to Holly. My healing abilities are mainly in the physical arena, but I hoped my presence would bring at least some comfort to her grief.
I bought one of Ida's shoofly pies and brought it with me to Eileen's apartment. However, Holly's father refused to let me in. When I asked after Holly, he nearly slammed the door. His rudeness shocked me; humans were usually enthralled by the fae.
I stayed for a moment outside the door, listening, hoping to use the timbre of Holly's voice to gauge how she fared. My breath caught in alarm when I heard Fred's disdainful voice instead. My only comfort was that Holly wasn't alone with him. Surely her parents wouldn't let him hurt her? At least she hadn't moved back to his house.
I decided not to reopen the store until after the funeral; I didn't have the heart to put on a cheerful face for customers.
To pass the time, I worked on a project I had been rolling over in my head for the last couple of weeks. Ever since meeting Alexander, I had been thinking about how to heal his damaged hand. It wasn’t going to be easy.
First, the injury was old. I hadn't been able to heal Mamó entirely after her stroke. In that case, not only had the injury been old when I got to her, but Mamó was old as well. I wasn’t sure how much each of those factors influenced her healing process.
Second, healing a wound required including my essence, my life spark. Once exposed to enough of a fae's essence, a human would be able to see through the glamour of all the fae. While not strictly forbidden, it was dangerous.
For my part, it increased the chances of my enemies finding my sanctuary here at Pine Ridge. For the human? Well, I was not the only fae living incognito here. Many fae felt threatened by humans who could see through their glamour. The danger lies in how they chose to deal with the threat. Not all fae had the same moral standard.
It had taken me a while to work out the details. After doing extensive research in my grandfather's library, I believed I had found a way to make it effective and safe by using a talisman to hold onto my essence and release small doses of healing power over time.
I took advantage of the seclusion of the closed and quiet store to create the talisman and make it beautiful. I disliked grieving in idle silence. At home, the family's Banshee would help carry the weight of everyone's sorrow with her keening.
I sang instead of chanting the required invocation as I worked. Breaking the silence with a song, though it wasn’t the same as a keening, helped sooth my grief.
The following Monday, Matt stopped by the store at the time of his usual morning visit. This surprised me; his visits were usually an excuse to spend time with Holly.
I opened the door and hugged him. He gave me an extra squeeze before letting go. He hadn't known Eileen
well, yet pain lined his face. It helped to have a companion to mourn with me.
I insisted he sit while I brewed a special tea for him. My yearning to heal someone needed to be satisfied. If I couldn't work on mending Holly's heart, I would try to help Matt.
I can't say if the tea was actually effective. We were a broody pair.
"Holly told me her parents think she should go back to Fred and try to work things out, now that she's pregnant," he said. "They think she's exaggerating about the beatings."
I nodded. I had guessed this when I heard Fred in the apartment with them.
"They won't let me in to see her." His voice cracked when he spoke.
"They wouldn't let me in either," I said, tears welling up in my eyes.
"I think they're keeping her isolated so they can convince her to return to that ass. After everything she's done to get away..." Matt said.
It was true. Without Eileen, Holly wasn't strong enough to stand up to both Fred and her parents.
"Well, he won't hurt her again if I can help it." Matt drank the last of his tea and stood to go. I walked him to the door, where he hugged me again.
"Thanks for listening, Tressa. You managed to make me feel better," he said.
Perhaps the tea had helped after all. I patted his cheek before he left.
I didn't see Alexander again until late Tuesday evening. He knocked on my door just as I was slipping into bed. I padded downstairs in my nightgown, barefoot. As I opened the door, a gust of wind swirled the flimsy fabric of my nightgown so that it wrapped close around my body.
Neither of us moved nor spoke. We consumed each other with our eyes. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it again without a word. I ached, seeing his pain.
He tried again, this time choking out some words.
"Sorry to come by so late. I took Sophia to spend time with my dad. I just got back."
His eyes carried on the real conversation. They spoke of sorrow, pleading with me not to blame him for being absent and out of touch. Mostly, they begged me to forgive him for not getting to Eileen in time.
Tressa's Treasures (The King's Jewel Book 1) Page 10
