by Sam Cheever
I was a little surprised he didn’t eat me for disagreeing with him but he seemed to have something else on his mind. He stood staring out of the window for a few more seconds.
“The demons do not concern me in and of themselves.” He turned finally to face me and continued. “I would not have them join with the witches though.”
I stared into those swirling eyes and felt my knees weaken and my heart step up a bit. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from little ole me but it quickly became apparent from his continued glare that he felt it was my job to do something.
Finally, in a desperate effort to get that disturbing gaze off me, I said, “What exactly do you want me to do about it?”
I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. He actually appeared to be shocked by my response. “I want you to fix it of course!”
Déjà vu, my constant companion, visited me again and I heard my angel’s dulcet tones saying the same thing that very morning in my personal hygiene room. So I went with it and said my lines as scripted by fate. “How am I going to do that?”
Suffice it to say he was not as patient as my angel. Yikes! Did I just say that? I have the world’s crankiest guardian angel.
“Do not play games with me, halfling! I know you have connections in the coven. Use them!”
I gulped as the temperature in the room started to climb. Thank the big Him I didn’t have to be queen to the guy. His temper was...combustible to say the least.
Thinking fast, I ran through my options. I’d already talked to Raoul and he’d promised me he’d do what he could. I wasn’t hopeful though, he’d looked like a beaten man when I’d left him. However, the goal of the moment was to survive the current audience.
“I’ve spoken to my connection in the coven and he will help as much as he can.”
King Dialle cocked his head, his eyes swirling faster and with more red than usual. “He will have to do better than that. He needs to reign himself in and stop this nonsense or the Royal Court will declare war against the coven as well.”
I tried to picture Raoul as the instigator of the current problem but I just couldn’t do it. I was also a bit perplexed that Raoul had become italicized.
Dialle the First suddenly moved and was standing just inches from me, his disturbing gaze churning with anger and impatience. His power pressed against my bubble, creating pressure on my chest that was beginning to challenge my ability to fill my lungs with air. His hot breath washed my face and he spoke in measured tones, as if he were conversing with a mentally challenged individual.
“Stop playing games with me, Mx. Phelps. I am not a patient creature.”
Really?
The king growled as if he’d read my thought. I tried to lean away from him but discovered that he held me with his power.
“Use your connection with the High Supreme Witch or I will kill you. Is that clear enough for your simple mind?”
I frowned at both the threat and the insult. My hands clenched into fists and I tugged my power forward, thinking about the best way to use it.
He tensed, the red swirling in his gaze taking on an orange tint, like fire.
Oopsies, deep mental breaths.
I had no frunkin’ idea what he was talking about. I certainly had no connection to that witch. I’d never dealt with the covens before. But knowing that my life was hanging from a very small pin on a porous and moisture-rotted wall I simply nodded, thinking it would be best if I didn’t allow my mouth any wiggle room at all.
His swirling gaze stayed on my face for a few beats more and then he leaned into me until my power bubble popped with an audible whoosh. His lips claimed mine just long enough to cause my blood to begin a slow boil and then he pulled away with a twinkle in his eye. “It appears you do have a brain after all, Mx. Phelps. I would advise you to use it more often when in my presence.”
With that he simply waved one long, elegant hand and I was back in my office. After quickly checking to make sure my pants were dry, I turned and stormed back out the door. Something was going on that I didn’t understand and I had a sneaking suspicion I was the only one in the dark. That was gonna end.
Somewhere beyond the roar in my ears I heard Emo calling my name but I was beyond caring and incapable of stopping. I hate to be the only one at the party who doesn’t know the secret ingredient in the fairy pudding and I would just have to start killing people until somebody told me what it was. Metaphorically speaking of course.
~SC~
The Viper and I sped toward DD Raoul’s girly house and dropped into hover by his front door, which was, of course, a very feminine beige.
I exited the Viper and stomped to the door, pounding on it with my fist and trying to catch my breath. I was so mad I could barely breathe.
He opened the door on the second pound. His face told me he was less than happy to see me. “Astra, I can’t speak with you right now. We’re just days from the waning moon and I have rituals to prepare.”
I looked at him like he had a supra demon hanging out of each nostril, mating on his upper lip. “I’m sorry. The world is just ending. No big deal. Shall I come back when you aren’t so busy lighting candles and snorting moon dust?”
He scowled at me but heaved a giant sigh and stepped back so I could enter.
I brushed past him and moved into the main living area, where I promptly began pacing back and forth, energized by rage.
He came to the archway that separated the entrance space from the main living space and watched me pace, a frown burrowing deeper into his face with each lap around the room. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “What is it, Astra? You look like you’re ready to hurt somebody.”
I stopped and looked up. I very nearly stomped a foot in frustration. “What do you know that I don’t? What does Emo know? And that frunkin’ devil king too for that matter? My aunt was even cryptic in my dreams. There’s a piece to this puzzle that nobody’s sharing with me and I’m sick of it. I want to know.”
Raoul stared at me for a beat and then looked away. Before his chocolate-brown gaze dropped away I could have sworn I saw guilt in it. He turned and walked toward the food service area of the house. “Can I get you something to drink, Astra? Juice, H2O, a tranquilizer?”
I scowled at him and stood my ground. “Spill it Raoul.”
He dropped his butt into one of the stools at the counter and turned back to me. “I have no idea what Emo knows or what King Dialle knows but I don’t know anything that will help you, Astra. If I did I would certainly tell you.” He scowled at me then, “I am your friend.”
I didn’t miss the qualifier in that statement but I decided to take another tack.
“Why does King Dialle think that you are leading a revolt against him with the demons?”
Okay, he did look shocked by that piece of information. His dark eyebrows climbed toward his scalp. “That’s absurd!”
“Is it? That’s what I thought too. But since we seem to have secrets between us I’m not sure anymore.”
Raoul looked longingly toward the bottle on the counter across the room but didn’t move off the tall stool. After a minute his gaze swung back to me. “I have nothing to do with this mess, Astra. I’m just trying to survive. You need to believe me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what—or who—to believe anymore, Raoul. Everybody seems to be speaking in another language, using a script that I don’t have. If I’m going to fix this mess I need all of the pieces of information.” I finished off this statement with a glare in his direction. He just shrugged.
“King Dialle is prepared to go to war with the coven if he needs to.”
That little nugget brought him off the damn stool.
Shooting to his feet he began to pace. “I knew it! I told her. Damn! I don’t know what else I can do...”
I watched him and felt cold, raw fear sliding down my spine. “What aren’t you telling me, Raoul?”
He ignored me and continued to pace. E
very once in a while he would mumble something I couldn’t hear but he refused to respond to anything I said and, in fact, acted as if I had already left. No matter how much I scowled at him and yelled at him I couldn’t get Raoul to tell me anything more.
I finally stomped out of the girly house a few minutes later, no less angry and no more informed than when I’d gone in there.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Visit from an Angel
When family ties begin to pull, dark specters from her youth,
Our lady struggles to discern, a modicum of truth.
I was too wound up to go back to the office so I climbed into the Viper and pushed the directional lever to climb straight up until we cleared the traffic flow and touched a few clouds. Then I slammed it into hyper speed and sat back, taking deep breaths to try to push the tension out of my chest, deciding that I would have to take a more direct approach.
That meant I needed to address the one variable which kept coming to the surface. The Supreme High Witch of the Angel City coven.
Having finally made that decision I felt better. I allowed the Viper to settle back down into traffic and made my way home. As I entered the dark, quiet space I tensed, sensing another presence.
A quick vision of a time not that long ago when I’d been visited by something foul and smelly in my living space flitted through my head. Simultaneously, I reached for my power and one of the long knives I kept in my boots..
A small sound came from the direction of the food service area. Clasping the knife in one hand, I surrounded myself with a power bubble before moving silently toward the place where the sound had originated.
I approached the corner of the wall that hid the food service area from view, my heart pounding and my gaze swinging back and forth across the visible area to make sure I wasn’t being observed. As soon as I turned the corner I relaxed, lowering the knife and letting my energy bubble lapse with a small pop.
“Hello, angel.”
Myra turned her angelic countenance to me and frowned before taking another sip of hot, black coffee. Although angels are not supposed to have human vices, they all seemed to hold onto the ones they’d had when they were part of the human race. For Myra, the vice was coffee. The stronger and blacker the better.
“You’re almost out of coffee.”
I nodded, “I’ll order some today.” I moved past her and dispensed a cup for myself. Taking a sip of the aromatic, black stuff I leaned back against the counter and closed my eyes in pleasure, sighing. Myra wasn’t the only one in the room who loved coffee.
I let the hot, black liquid warm my insides for a few beats before I opened my eyes again and focused them on my guardian angel. Myra had been watching me closely, concern touching her delicate, porcelain features until she saw me noticing and then she looked down at the steaming cup in her pale hands.
We’d been together since my first awareness and before that. Myra had been given to me—or I to her—at my birth. She’d been a cranky bitch for as long as I could remember but she’d also been my dearest friend and closest ally. Aside from Emo of course. Despite her prickly exterior, I knew she loved me deeply and would always be there for me when I needed her.
I returned the sentiment.
“What’s up, angel?”
Myra focused clear blue eyes on me and frowned again. “You look tired.”
“Saving the world, fighting off horny devils and running a successful demon vaporizing business. You know.”
Myra gifted me with a small grin. “Just another day in the life of Astra Q Phelps.”
I grinned back.
Myra studied her coffee silently for a moment. She appeared to be weighing something in her mind before speaking. Finally she looked back up and, whether she’d made a decision or not, I couldn’t tell. What she said certainly didn’t seem worthy of deep consideration.
“So where are you on this devil-demon war? Any progress?”
I took another sip of my coffee and studied her. “You tell me. Prince Dialle declared war on the demons and his father has threatened war on the witches. Raoul is involved somehow but I can’t get him to open up to me about it. Oh and Emo knows something he’s not telling me.”
Myra’s blue eyes narrowed at mention of Emo’s name but she didn’t say anything. Generally she finds every excuse to be mad at my friend and partner. Her restraint was suspicious to say the least. “Sounds like your usual path to success.”
I nodded. It’s hard to argue with fact. Things always seemed to get worse before they got better for me.
Or they got worse before they got worse.
I never knew which it was until I was armpit deep in shit without an exit plan. Then I could usually figure it out.
“Can you at least tell me where the hostages are? If I could save them I’d feel like I was accomplishing something.”
Myra shook her head. “We’re searching but we haven’t found them yet. My guess is the demons have somehow taken them into the shadows. You know we have limited power there.”
“Could they do that? I thought it took strong magic to bring humans into the shadows. The demons don’t have that kind of magic.”
My angel threw me a sharp look, her beautiful blue eyes narrowing slightly. “Exactly.”
Aaaaand, we were back to the witches.
We sipped in thoughtful silence for a bit and then Myra broached the subject I realized she’d probably come for. “Astra, I don’t think you should be involved in this situation anymore.”
I choked on my coffee, coughing and sputtering until I could eke out a strangled response. “Why not?”
Myra shrugged, burying her nose in her cup.
I felt my temper rising. “You don’t think I can handle it do you? I’ve handled much worse, angel, I can handle this too.”
Myra looked up at me and the damnable creature actually laughed.
I slammed my cup down on the counter. “What’s so funny?”
She laughed even harder, almost falling out of the chair she was sitting in. Finally she regained control and, wiping her eyes, sat back in the chair and shook her golden head. “All these years I’ve been asking you to do stuff and you’ve been telling me you can’t do whatever I ask. Now I truly want you to give something up and you dig in your heels.” She chuckled again and shook her head. “If I’d only known, I could have saved myself so much grief.”
I scowled at her. “Are you playing mind games with me, angel?”
She toyed with her coffee cup and the smile slowly dissolved from her face. “No, Astra, I wish I were. It’s just not that easy this time.”
Okay, she was scaring me. I sat down at the small table across from her and grabbed one of her pale hands. “Tell me, Myra. What do you think will happen?”
She looked up and her clear blue gaze was filled with worry. She placed a warm, soft hand over mine and patted it before pulling away. Angel or no, Myra had never been comfortable with emotional scenes.
“Astra, my girl, you’ll just have to trust me on this one. I’ve known your family since long before you were born. I’ve been with you from the first day of your life. I’m just looking out for your best interests. It’s my job. I think you should walk away from this one.”
“My family? What do they have to do with this?”
Myra waved a hand in dismissal of my question and said nothing.
“Angel!” I said in my most intimidating voice.
She, of course, just shook her head at me.
I was at that party with the fairy pudding again and I was really getting sick of it. “Myra, I am damned tired of being the only one in the room who doesn’t know the secret ingredient to the fairy pudding and I’m going to do something really drastic if you don’t tell me what everybody else knows that I don’t.”
Myra scrunched up her face and looked at me, “What does fairy pudding have to do with anything?”
I blew my breath out on a frustrated sigh, “It’s a metaphor, angel. I’m tired of bein
g in the dark and I want some answers.”
She stared at me for a beat and then looked away.
I waited.
Finally she said, “Vodka.”
That stopped me cold. “Huh?”
“You wanted to know the secret ingredient in fairy pudding. It’s vodka.”
I frowned, “Really? That’s it? Vodka? Amazing.”
Then I reeled myself back in and slammed my hand on the table. Her cup jumped and spilled coffee all over her and the table.
Myra glared at me. “That was very mature, Astra. Now you’ll just have to get me another cup.” Then she focused her gaze on the spilled coffee and it disappeared.
I screamed in frustration but went to get her another cup. I added sugar to it though just to piss her off and handed it back to her.
She took one sip and grimaced. “Very mature.”
I did feel better. “I’ll fix it if you tell me why you want me to drop this case.”
Running a long, pink tipped finger around the top of her coffee cup, she said, “We are afraid that DD Raoul is dabbling in black magic.”
Well, that wiped the grin off of my face. My knees buckled and I dropped into the nearest chair. “That’s impossible.”
Myra looked up at me, a sad light in her eyes. “Astra, I know he’s your friend...”
“He’s not involved in this mess!” Even I was surprised at how shrill my voice sounded. I cleared my throat, took a deep breath and tried to reason with my angel. “Look, Myra, I don’t know where you got your information but it just can’t be right. I know DD Raoul like I know myself. He’s a good man.”
Myra nodded. “I would agree, Astra but this information came from a trusted source and we need to check it out.”
I stared at her for a few beats and then nodded. “Okay, then I’ll do the checking.”
Myra sighed and shook her head. “I knew you would say that.”
“I’ll take Emo with me. We’ll go tonight. Where will he be?”
Myra’s head swung back and forth again, “He won’t be out there tonight. He holds his black mass on Sabbath eve, in the wildlife preserve outside of town.”
