Hayden now looks irate, “I knew we couldn’t trust that slimy piece of filth!” She yells, “LIN! Get yourself in here, you need to hear this!” Linnette comes running into the room, “What? What happened?” Hayden looks at her, “He was harassing her in the parking lot! He did an astral projection thing and scared the crap out of her. She was pale like these fucking walls when she got up here.” Selena looks at the white walls of the apartment with some skepticism as does Linnette. Linnette turns to Selena, “He really did that? Just appeared in front of you and then disappeared?” Selena is becoming suspicious now, “Yes, he did. Why is this so important? What don’t I know?” The two women suddenly look guilty and Hayden says, “Well, we um, we actually know where he is because he is here.” Selena bolts up off the stool knocking it back and looking around the apartment, “What do you mean he is here?” Linnette makes calming motions with her hands, “Not here as in this particular apartment. Here as in he is in this complex with his girlfriend…” Selena goes from angry fear to puzzled in one quick sentence, “He has a girlfriend? Then why is he bothering me?”
Linnette glares at Hayden before saying, “That is why we were so confused. We were certain you were telling the truth but he was pretty convincing and Hayden here,” giving her another side-eye, “was certain we should give him the benefit of the doubt. He swears you haven’t let him see Kya at all and all he wants is to get to know his daughter without you interfering. I said it didn’t sound like you and he swore that you were still wildly in love with him and terribly mad at him for being with Jemma. I knew that couldn’t be true, but we had to give him a chance. His girlfriend lives a couple buildings over and he just moved in with her.” Selena shakes her head, “Hayden, that hurts. I can’t understand why you wouldn’t believe me. Oh no, does he know where all the kids are?” Hayden looks down at the floor, “Uh, I might have told Jemma…” Selena frantically grabs her phone and dials Dwayne. He answers on the second ring, “Hey, what’s up?”
“Where are the kids? Can you see Kya? You all need to be inside now!” Selena is frantic and Dwayne says, “Whoa, calm down. We are all in the house watching Pocahontas in my living room. Brighid is laying here on the floor in front of us. All the doors are loc—“ Brighid growls in the background, “Wait, Brighid just growled. She says Gabriel is at the barrier. He hasn’t begun to work at breaching it just yet.”
Selena grabs her bag, “Hayden, if anything happens to my daughter I will never forgive you.” Moving toward the door she tells Dwayne, “Sit tight, I will be there shortly.” She hits end and drops it in her purse as she grabs the doorknob, as she turns to shut the door she finds Linnette and Hayden are right behind her. “What are you doing?”
Linnette says, “We are coming with you. This particular bit of mess wouldn’t have happened if not for us. We need to make it right.” Selena presses her lips together, “Fine, let’s go. We can talk about this later.”
Five minutes later they come to a stop in front of Dwayne’s place, and Hayden speaks up, “Jemma does illusion. He is probably right here and we just aren’t seeing him.”
Selena narrows her eyes and lifts her right hand, she creates a little ball of spell death in her hand. Getting out of the truck she throws the ball at the one spot that doesn’t look quite right. Linnette and Hayden get out of the truck behind her as the illusion dies to reveal Gabriel and Jemma. “Whatcha doing here Gabriel?” Selena’s right hand holds another ball of spell death and her left has a ball of energy.. Behind her Hayden has snapped a picture of Jemma with her Instax.. She and Linnette are working to bind her using the picture and a bit of yarn from Hayden’s pocket. Gabriel looks at Selena with fire in his eyes, “I’m here to see my daughter and you can’t stop me. I have backup as well.” He gestures smugly at Jemma who has been desperately trying to cast a spell. Linnette and Hayden wave the bound picture at her before slipping it into a pocket. Jemma grabs Gabriel’s arm and he angrily shakes her off. “Gabriel! They bound me, I can’t do anything!” Gabriel’s smug face falls. Dwayne steps outside his door. “Hi Gabe! Since you weren’t invited here I went ahead and called the cops to come have a talk with you. I like to use mundane means to handle little irritations like this. They should be here any time now.” He crosses his arms on his chest and leans back on the door jamb to wait. Selena lets the energy in her left hand dissipate and then digging them out of her pocket she tosses her keys to Linnette, “Put my truck in the driveway please.” Linnette deftly catches them and runs to move the truck. Hayden stands just to the right of Selena, spelled cords in hand. Jemma is begging Gabriel to please go, he has been watching Selena, never looking at her. “You think you’re so smart? Got it all figured out don’t you? Just you wait. You’re going to pay for not wanting me.” Jemma yanks her hand back from his sleeve like she was burnt, “Did I just hear you right?” Gabriel turns to her as though just remembering her presence, “What? I am going to make her pay for not letting me see my daughter.” She says, “That’s not what I heard. I am going home now. You stay your ass here and wait for the cops if you want.” With that she walks off toward her car. Gabriel looks back at Selena. She grins, “Run along now. You shouldn’t keep your girl waiting.” She laughs as he turns and jogs to catch up with Jemma. Selena and Hayden turn and step into Dwayne’s yard and the safety of the barrier. The cops pull up just in time to see Gabriel and Jemma arguing in the street next to her car, one heads over to talk to Dwayne and the other heads over to the arguing couple.
After 45 minutes of talking with the officers Gabriel and Jemma are gone, having been instructed that coming to the property again would result in an arrest. The two officers pull away from the drive and Dwayne, Selena, Linnette, and Hayden go in the house. Selena goes to the living room to see all the children. Kya hops up, “Hi mama! Pocahontas was over so we put on Lady and the Tramp. We thought Brighid would like to see other dogs on the tv.” Selena kneels down and hugs Kya, “I am sure she is loving it. Everyone needs representation, even puppies. Are you guys having a good time?”
“Yes,” Kya looks over at Nathan and Aspen, “We got a little scared when Mr. Gabriel got here. Brighid growled and Dwayne put a bubble on the room, but we could hear him whispering mama. He wanted me to come outside. He said he had a present for me. I felt like he was pulling me outside.” Selena’s face pales as she listens to her daughter, “But I told him NO! And I stayed here like Dwayne said. Because Dwayne is good to Nathan and he’s good to me and he never gets angry like Mr. Gabriel. He kept whispering and then he just stopped and we watched the movie. It was much better without him whispering at us.” Selena hugs Kya again, tightly this time and tells her, “Any time you hear him whispering to you, you tell one of us. We will make it stop. It was mama that made him stop this time. I think Dwayne could make it stop too. We are making it so you don’t have to see him anymore. He is too much and you shouldn’t have to deal with all that.” She hugs Kya again, “All right, you go back to your movie. I will stay here with you guys tonight, who needs girls night anyway? Linnette and Hayden might stay tonight too. For now, we will get you guys some snacks. Sound good?” All the kids chant “Snacks, snacks, snacks!” as Selena heads back to the kitchen. When she gets to the kitchen Hayden, is hanging her head in dramatic misery while Linnette fills Dwayne in on everything. “I promised the kids some snacks, what have you got that I can poach for them?” Dwayne smiles at her, “I have some rice krispy treats in the cabinet there and some milk boxes as well.” She flashes him a smile that has Linnette studying the two of them as Selena gets the treats and milk out, setting three of each on a large plate to carry into the living room to the kids. Dwayne watches her as she prepares the snacks and leaves the room again, only noticing Linnette when he can’t see Selena anymore. Linnette grins big at him, “And what news do you have to share Mister?” Hayden lifts her head, curious about the abrupt change of subject. Dwayne blushes and Linnette laughs, “Oh boy, you do have things to tell. Spill it bear boy!” Selena walks back in,
“As entertaining as that would be I think you all need to hear what the kids told me.” She quickly relays what Kya told her about Gabriel whispering at her from outside the barrier. Hayden lights up, “I can fix that! I can make them some little woven necklaces to block him from exerting any influence over the children. I mean, it won’t stop them hearing him, but he won’t be able to compel them to come to him or anything. It will just be whispers, annoying but not overly dangerous. Maybe it could kind of make up for how stupid I was to give him a chance knowing that you are the one that has never been false to any of us and he has shown how awful he can be too many times. I am so sorry Selena. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Selena walks over and hugs Hayden, “I forgive you. I don’t want to believe the worst of people either. Sometimes even after they have shown me they are absolutely awful. The necklaces would be great. Can you make it so he can’t take them off of the children or hurt them with it?”
Hayden thinks, “Well, I could make it so that if he touches it the necklace burns him and only him. Like even if one side is on the child’s skin and he has his hand on the other, he will be the only one burning. I can’t really do anything about the smell though.”
Selena says, “What? What smell?” Hayden looks at her, “The smell of his flesh. If the necklace burns him, well that is like cooking meat. There is a smell when flesh burns. It would only be if he doesn’t let go. I could make it stretch on the children some if he tries to snatch it, but only enough to keep him from hurting them. I think that would be good, right? That and the block to him being able to compel them.”
Selena paces, “Is there a way to make it so that he can’t physically touch the children?”
“Well, yes, but I don’t know how effective that would be. Even if he can’t touch them himself, he can just have someone else pick them up. I can make it so that no one can take it off because they can’t see it! That would make it much less likely that he would be able to find the source of why he cannot make her obey. I think that may be the best we can do, barring just keeping him from getting access to the children. Especially Kya. Everyone can see that she means the world to you. Gabriel is obviously after her in order to control you. I may have wanted to give him a chance but after his slip earlier there is no denying that it is you he wants and Kya is just a means to an end for him.”
Dwayne walks over to Selena, she has stopped pacing and is motionless staring at the wall. He places one hand on her shoulder and gives it a careful squeeze. Selena spins around and throws herself at his body, the tears soaking her face now wetting his shirt as they become full on sobs. Dwayne wraps his arms around her and rubs her back, waiting while she gets it all out. Linnette stands and goes to Hayden, holding her wife for comfort.
A little later Selena has begun to calm. She leans back out of Dwayne’s embrace, “I’m sorry, I got your shirt snotty. I didn’t mean to cry on you it was so much to deal with, all of this that has happened—”
“Don’t worry about it.” He takes his shirt off, tosses it in a corner and with a shake of his chest he holds his arms open for her, “Here, I clean up a lot easier.”
They all laugh, Linnette grabs a paper towel and hands it to Selena, “Here, try this first.” Selena wipes her face and is thankful she is not wearing make-up today. Balling up the damp paper towel she tosses it into his garbage and steps into his waiting arms. Her face pressed against his chest, eyes closed she sighs, “Guys, I don’t know how I would make it without you. Dwayne, can we all stay here tonight?”
“Of course. I have a spare room that Lin and Hayden can use, all the kids can bunk in Nathan’s room. You… well, you have options on where you can sleep.” Dwayne blushes, Linnette and Hayden snicker. Selena, her eyes still closed, “I think I would like to sleep right here.”
Dwayne’s face crinkles, “In the kitchen?”
Selena laughs and leans back to look at him, “On your chest, that is one of the options I hope?”
Dwayne’s blushes are suddenly brighter, “Y-yes, um, yes, that is definitely an option.”
“Don’t worry, I just want to sleep next to you. I’m not trying to ravish you while I have so much going on. When that happens I want to devote my full attention to all that.” Linnette and Hayden fall into gales of laughter as Selena gestures to all of Dwayne’s body.
“On that note, I am going to go get a new shirt and get the kids sleep space ready, it is way past their bedtime and they are probably asleep in the living room already.”
“We’ll go tidy up the living room and bring them in after we get done. That should give you time to return to a normal color.” Selena grins at him as he leaves the room shaking his head and grabbing his soiled shirt on the way.
She looks at Linnette and Hayden, “Ready to get those kids to bed?”
They both snicker, “Not as ready as you are!”
Selena shakes her head at them and heads to the living room telling them as she leaves, “Come on guys, we can be twelve some other time. I am beat and I need some sleep.” They follow her still giggling.
19
Selena gives all the kids one more forehead kiss goodnight and leaves the room, stopping to click the light before continuing down the hall to Dwayne’s room. Dwayne comes out of the attached bathroom and stops in place just as she enters the room. Suddenly shy, Selena wraps her arms around herself, “So, um, I can totally sleep out on the couch if you are uncomfortable at all. But maybe I could borrow some shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in?” Red blooms on Dwayne’s cheeks again, “No, I want you to sleep here. With me. I just never expected to see you walk into my bedroom.” He shakes his head, “Sorry, I wandered off. Please do sleep in here. I would love that.” He steps over to a chest of drawers and pulls out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Walking over to where Selena stands in his doorway he stops just shy of touching. She looks up at him, “Are you comfortable with me sleeping on your chest? Because I have to say, that is a really magnificent chest.” She smiles up at him. He shifts forward and puts his arms around her, closing the space between them. “I am really comfortable with that idea though parts of me are likely to be uncomfortable. Because there is no way that seeing you in my clothes will not be a huge turn on. I will not be pressuring you in any way, I agree with you that there is way to much going on right now for us to complicate things further with sex. So, you go get changed and we will cuddle up and sleep. Ok?” Selena sighs, “That sounds perfect.” She steps back out of his arms, “Give me those clothes, and get yourself in bed. I will be there in a minute.” Selena walks off to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her. Oh my Goddess, that man is so hot he should have a warning label. And I am going to ‘sleep’ cuddled up to that chest. I maybe did not think this through as well as I could have. Get it together Selena. She quickly gets her clothes changed. What is he doing with shorts this short? Does he wear these out? Oh geez, his butt is not near as big as mine, I have panties that cover more than these shorts do… The shirt is loose at least. Ok. Deep breath, go lay down and go the fuck to sleep. To sleep. Sleep. Nothing else, yet. One more deep breath and Selena opens the door and hears Dwayne suck in a breath. The light is off in the bedroom and she is silhouetted by the bathroom light. She quickly reaches over and hits the switch leaving them both in darkness. From the area of the bed she hears Dwayne clear his throat. “My old running shorts fit you a lot better than they ever fit me.” Selena starts slowly moving toward the bed, “I didn’t know you had shorts this short? Have you ever worn these in front of me?” Her foot touches the dust ruffle and she leans forward to pull the covers back and get in the bed. Dwayne chuckles, “Those shorts didn’t fit me near so well as they fit you. I ran in them in high school. I think you were at some of the meets, but you were wrapped up in Gabe back then.” Selena slides over next to him, he maneuvers his arm under her and pulls her closer, “I don’t think you noticed me beyond being my friend back then. And having you as my friend has meant a lot. I have always been glad to have you as my friend.” S
elena snuggles in to his shoulder. “That is possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. You’re right. I had eyes only for Gabriel back then. I thought he was the be-all end-all of everything. Now he is trying to kill me and kidnap my daughter. I never thought I would be in this position.” Dwayne rubs her arm in sympathy. Selena sighs. “It really is nice here on your shoulder. I hope we can have a date eventually.” Dwayne gives her arm a little squeeze, “I would really like to take you out on a proper date. I wanted to ask you out a while ago, I was too shy to do it. In a way, I am grateful that Gabriel gave us this time together. I wish he had been better to Kya, but I am grateful for the time spent with you and Kya. Maybe we could take the kids hiking soon?” Dwayne waits for a reply but all he hears back from Selena is a light snore. “Ah, sleeping already? That’s ok. I know you are tired with all that has been going on. I haven’t had much chance to talk to you alone, but most of what I want to say is silly anyway, and moving way to fast for the situation we find ourselves in right now anyway. I could profess to you how I have loved you since we were kids but never thought I would be good enough for you, but that would just make things really uncomfortable. I am really happy that we were thrown together more often lately and that you are actually interested in me. I was too afraid of messing up our friendship to make a move. Because our group of friends is a huge part of my life and you all mean so much to me, I didn’t want to risk fucking it all up. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am really glad you are here and I am going to try my best not to fuck this up.” Dwayne sighs and cuddles a little closer to Selena before he also succumbs to sleep.
Selena Rose: Daughter of the Moon Page 11
