Sweet Menace Read online

  “It's curious! A man cannot bet to get a woman’s love but, on the other hand, this woman bets for his love.” -I looked at him extra ashamed. My ears buzzed like a train taken away by a tornado. -“Well, that’s what I’ve heard. How much would I cost you or Connie?”

  My tongue had been pulled backwards and in its place I could just feel the taste of sour lemon and salt. How did he knew about that? Did Connie told him everything?

  “Oh, I see. You have nothing to say either. I know exactly how this feels. And you? How much or what, if money wasn’t the price, I would cost any one of you?”

  My lower lip should be bleeding thanks to my sharp teeth and the strong bite I gave. I could recall Sam calling my attention and scolding me for the action. He even dismissed the conversation but I wasn’t over it yet. Maybe my embarrassment was overgrowing the humiliation.

  “Connie stood in my shop the other day after you left. She noticed something going on between us and she took me by surprise. She said you’ll be marrying her before the end of the year otherwise she’ll pay my full service food for the activity of my choice.” -I confessed.

  “I’ll cost her a catering?” -Sam asked with funny repudiation. -“And what would I cost you?”

  “Connie wanted my services of catering, cake, decoration and host for her new year eve party.” -I confessed covering my numb face. The only thing I wanted was to cry. -“This is so wrong. I’m sorry.”

  “Whydoyou have to pay more than her?” -Sam asked with humble curiosity.

  “Because I’m the limp baker. The defective woman in town. She was more than certain to win so she made sure of aiming for a bigger prize.” -Humiliated and angry, I allowed those things abandon my insides. It was time already to let this feelings go. -“Don’t you see? Women like me, people like me, never get to live the happy ending. Love never appears. Fairies don’t twinkle in our windows at the edge or the morning. Sparkles of happiness, the perfect first kiss, romantic dates, pretenders. Those things are forbidden by this antiquated society.”

  Perhaps not all those things were true. Maybe it was just this town living in the prehistoric era. But I was so tired of the limits, the repudiation, and what I was allowed to do by others who thought to be perfect.

  “Wasn’t our first date romantic and special?” -Sam asked in nervous expectance. I looked at his eyes, gleaming with a tear born barely a second ago. Remembering that night I recognized it had been the happiest day of my life.

  “Yes. It was.”

  “And what about with the guy flirting with you at the wedding? The architect.”

  “What about him?”

  “He asked you on a date, didn’t he? I saw it in your eyes. You felt fascinated with the idea. But you refused.” -The words didn’t sound like a jealous claim but somehow he was waiting for a statement.

  “I’m not interested. This town is full ofantiquate men. But city guys had their heads on space. For them, city women tend to be easy prey. Village woman equals easier preys. Do I look desperate to flee to the city? I know what guys like him want.” -I answered confided.

  “And whatdoyou think about me.” -Sam pushed the questions farther. To give an answer to his question I had to expose my feelings for him and I wouldn’t.

  “You’re a man. You’re aiming to get the same other men look for.” -The twist in my heart was a signal I was lying to myself. Sam was somehow different.

  “You don’t know me then. How many times I have slept in your house? How many nights I had cuddled with you in your own bed and never had I made a foul move. I have seen you naked. I have bathed and healed you. And never I had taken advantage of you.” -Sam defended from accusations.

  “I know you’re right. But didn’t you bet with Jerome to just get lucky with me?”

  “He bet I couldn’t take you to bed. I, on the other hand, wanted to take you to bed the first moment I saw you. Take you there the right way. After bowing in front of God to love you and cherish you forever. You’re the girl I’ve been looking forever.”

  My soul was broken again. Just when I thought I had nothing left to be destroyed.

  “Don’t you like me? Love me?”

  Words didn’t come and I was so embarrass I wanted to disappear right away. There was so much of me he didn’t know. Many things of us would never allow us to be happy. Maybe it was just easier to let it all slip away and grow apart. Grow apart but together? I gave myself this silly option. That doesn’t even exist, Morgan.

  Night came quickly in the heat of conversation and with it my worry that we didn’t have any news of Elizabeth. Sam pushed his question about my feeling and I was feeling tempted to say it all.

  I’m a witch, Sam. Would you love me after this confession? Would you stop been a hunter just to be loved by a witch? I can’t bleed myself completely and suddenly stop being a witch. Hunting is not in you ADN, unless you’re an animal .For good or bad, the words were finding its way to my lips.

  “Why don’t you rest for a while? Medications are making you delusional. There’s no need for this. Maybe tomorrow you won’t remember anything.” -I said, covering Sam with the thin white blanket provided by the hospital and tucking him with my warm quilt. I just left his face uncovered before placing a caring kiss on his forehead. -“Rest for a while.”

  Clever, cop after all, Sam restrained me with his right hand tenderly grabbing the back of my neck. The contact of his cold, trembling flesh sent chills through all my nerves, muscles and ligaments.

  “We still have a chance to be together. I’ll do whatever is needed. Tell me we canstillmake this work.” -The passion in his eyes was pure and it hurt me deadly as a gunshot to my head.

  “No.” -I answered with a few tears falling from my eyes and sowing themselves deep in Sam’s agitated chest. He held me firmly and I was almost certain he would protest my answer but he just wanted to see my eyes. -“I’m sorry.”

  Providentially, Elizabeth appeared looking troubled and kind of dizzy. I received her warmly but Sam was kind of distant with her. I knew what his trouble was; he hated to bother his family and to make them busy with his sickness. He was no dependent but an alpha man.

  “Is everything okay?” -I asked her. She was making me feel worried. -“How’s Mamma doing?”

  “What happens to Mamma?” -Sam asked but we ignored him.

  “She’s better but both Mamma and Lilly are in the car. Husband couldn’t get the day off. You think you can take them to Sam’s apartment while I stay here?” -She asked a little ashamed. I imagined poor Mamma unable to move, wishing to have Elizabeth to take her to the bathroom. And poor Lilly, hungry and tired, needing her mommy to cuddle her. I had no heart to leave them by themselves.

  “What if I take them home with me and take care of them while the doctor comes back? It will be only a few hours. They can rest and I’ll make them something good to eat and in the morning we’ll drive by to bring real breakfast. How does that sound?”

  “Would you do that? Take care of them for me?” -She asked relieved.

  “Of course. You have nothing to worry about. Anything you need just call me home, okay?”-I collected my stuff and hugged Elizabeth hard, reassuring her that her loved ones were under good care. What could happen if they were just going home to sleep? Besides, we live in the most boring of towns. Before going away I looked at Sam. -“You better get well soon.”

  Chapter 16: Forced Maghik… Not Good For The Soul

  Exiting the emergency unit, I found Elizabeth’s car quickly. It wasn’t difficult as she had parked right beside my van. Softly, I knocked on the window, hoping not to scare them. When they looked at me, both started jumping happily inside, forcing the car to swing from side to side like if an earthquake was happening. My heart gave a flip. Nobody in my whole life has been so happy to see me as these two ladies. And they aren’t even family to me.

  “I’m taking you home, ladies!” -I informed them while both hugged me so hard they almost took my breath away.

 
It was very late. Almost eleven o’clock when I parked my van in my garage. First I helped Mamma to the wheelchair to which she was confined until she recovered from the injuries caused by the fall. She was a tough woman, though, and while a dislocated hip threatened with taking her out of circulation, this old Mamma… She's the tougher of cookies.

  I know my house. Every part of it. Moreover, I know exactly where I leave every crock and spoon I have. The butter knife in the table warned me. Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe I was just confused and I had left it there myself yesterday when I came to take a shower to fly back to the hospital. Maybe I was just tired and was imagining things already.

  “Are you hungry?” -I asked Mamma and Lilly. They both answered that they were kind of snacky. They opted for grill sandwiches and I indulged them with a variety of hams and cheeses to choose from.

  “Can I cut the lettuce?” -Lilly asked. I was more than happy to allow her. She sat in front of the table and I gave her a cutting board and a butter knife, taking the one abandoned in the table and secretly throwing it to the garbage.

  Bellies full, I guided them to the free room and accommodated their stuff there. Mamma fell asleep almost immediately after I took her to the bathroom and gave her the pills.

  “You’re the best girl Sam can get. God bless you.” -Before falling asleep, Mamma said and pinched my cheek wildly. Lilly lied down beside her grandmother and hug her stuffed unicorn. I kissed them both in the forehead and whispered Lilly that I would be in the room next door and that she could call me whenever she needed me. Between yawns she managed to mumble a thank you before falling asleep.

  After a quick bath -almost a cat wash I may say- I put on some warm yoga pants and a t-shirt, just to realize that this was the clothes Sam had wore the first time he stayed to sleep. I fell asleep under the spell of his natural perfume to a dream so crazy cool, but crazy as well.

  Reality called me hard. It blew in my ears like train whistle. Not ready to cast the dream away, I opened one eye, hoping that the dream would stay with me when going back to sleep. A shadow moved in my bed, settling close to me. My blanket was dragged away and cold hit my toes. I was about to kick the lump crawling in my bed, fearing ghosts were as real as witches are, but a soft voice warned me to avoid the attack.

  “Mamma snores.” -I thought I was making things up but I remembered Lilly and Mamma were home with me. It was not a dream but a reality. Sam was in the hospital. He had betrayed me somehow, tearing my trust in him. I was all alone in the world, but accompanied by these women who knows nothing about me.

  “Oh.” -I acknowledged, cuddling her with the whole blanket. -“You can stay here with me.”

  Calling back the dream was a mistake. It only turned darker and difficult to bear. There was no paradise to witches. No heaven where Maghik was allowed. The curse I was born with was only prolific in hell. Love was just another blunder. The falsity of all falsehoods. In dreams and in realities.

  Her voice was distant now but I could hear her calling for me. Fear was embedded in her otherwise melodious voice. I ended sitting in my bed looking for Lilly but the bed was empty apart from me. She called for me again and I ran from my room. A sweltering heat covered the hallway, bringing fat sweat drops to my face. Fire. My house was on fire.

  Lilly appeared crawling in the hallway and I went to seize her. Seconds passed by and she was inches away from my fingers. Then she levitated over my head, a void sucking the air out of my lungs.

  “I warned you, witch. But you couldn’t obey a single order. Now this poor girl will pay for your sins.” -A woman yelled from between the shadows of my house. Could that be Mamma who was possessed? How could she? She was deep asleep under sleeping pills and she couldn’t walk by herself with the dislocated hip. Edora’s words bounced in my head. Mamma is not a weak old woman but a warrior hunter. -“You couldn’t even fulfill your plan. Not even with me pressuring you. How come this people matters so much to you? What about your own people? You care about us too?”

  Fire was getting bigger. My room walls were starting to burn and also the bathroom. Soon, the room where Mamma was sleeping would be on flames as well. Looking between Lilly and Mamma’s room, I considered what I should do. Move Mamma or go after Lilly’s kidnapper. If I go after Lilly, Mamma would die burnt in my house and I was the one to blame. If I stay to protect Mamma, Lilly would be taken away and it would also be my fault. I’ll be responsible for whatever was going to happen and it wasn’t something good.

  I ran but I slipped in a puddle of water Lilly spilled before going to bed and I forgot to clean. Falling backwards I hit my head. Lilly’s yells moved farther and farther. My legs got tangled up with the sink’s waterline and a fine spray of water splashed me over. Kicking hard I managed to break the pipe and water started flooding the bath. With difficulty I stood up, trying not to slip and die by breaking my own neck. The shower knob was very hot to the touch but I grabbed it anyway. I twisted it, turning the cold water on high. After I pulled the retractile hose to the max y stood close to the door and started spraying water to the room where Mamma was. Luckily that would avoid the fire to extend. Please, God. Make Mamma sleep like a tree.

  Outside the house, a motorcycle boomed hard. I ran, begging God again, but this time wishing it wasn’t Sam who had escaped the hospital and came home frenzied.

  “You’re not the only witch with a sweet ride!” -The crazy witch said. For second occasion I couldn’t see her face. The muffler of the motorcycle spitted fire when the witch speeded up, dragging Lilly like a kite through the air. A second after, everything had disappeared. The witch. The motorcycle. Lilly.

  Elizabeth was going to kill me.

  Sam was going to kill me.

  The witch was going to kill Lilly.

  Everything is my fault.

  What to do? What to do? How to save her? How to know where the witch took Lilly? How didn’t I realized this was going to happen? How I let my guard down? A couple of times I hit my head hard against my house’s front door just to find a message carved in the wood.

  I told you so.

  Who told me about this? Who warned me? Oh, of course. Edora.

  Running to the woods behind my house I yelled Edora’s name until my throat burned, and still kept yelling. I found Edora laughing close to the Lily pond, her hair twisted into an uncombed web.

  “Where is she?” -I yelled at her but she continued still.

  “I told you so.” -She sang. I pushed her hard and held her by the shirt to prevent her from falling to the pond.

  “Where is the girl, Edora? Where she took Lilly?” -I insisted. -“Tell me or suffer for your silence.”

  “Are you killing me too? As you did to the market boy and your cousin’s husband? She’ll make you pay for everything.” -Edora defied.

  “Pay for what? I don’t even know her. I don’t even know you. You’re nothing to me. What have I done to you?” -Pissed off, I wanted to know.

  “I have told you everything I know, witch. You just missed it all.” -Edora said before vanishing without leaving any trace apart from her evil laughter.

  There was just one place I could think about. A few people came to my mind but I started eliminating them as suspects. In the end I just had Edora. It all started with her showing up in my back garden. And it all comes to chaos with her, again, in my back garden. Somehow I wasn’t surprised by her vanishing act. I was expecting something like that to happen eventually.

  A siren blared through the road that led to my house. Thank God for his mercy. While the fire truck was coming closer, I jumped inside my van and drove outside the garage. By now fire had devoured almost my whole room but it seemed that the water inside the house was making a barrier for the fire to spread.

  The firefighter outside the truck was giving instructions to his team as I passed by their side. I stopped to tell him that Officer Whilhey’s mother was inside the house, deep asleep because of meds and she had a broken hip, so they must be extra gentle with her.r />
  “Was this an accident or you set fire intentionally?” -The firefighter chief asked me.

  “Seriously? Is everything in this stupid town my fault?” -I argued defensively. -“Someone is out there. Whoever set fire to my house has my niece. I got to go.”

  My niece? Sam and I were nothing and yet I was calling Lilly my niece.

  The fastest I drove, the more my insane imagination defied me. Could they kill Lilly? The more I asked this to myself, the more convinced I was that they or she or whoever was doing this won’t falter when the moment to raise magic wands come.

  If only I could have a way to protect Lilly while I reach her side… I’ll do everything. If Lilly were strong like me… If she could use my Maghik to protect herself, to use it as shield… We could have enough time.

  After detaching the rearview mirror, I rummaged in every drawer my van had, but no candles were available. Parking at the road side, I went to the back section searching for my usual spell artifacts. Yet no candles. I had honey and vinegar. Black and white coarse sugar.

  Then I stumbled with a bag in the floor. Some candles spilled from it. White candles and the dagger. The sharp blade was still stained with Patrick’s dried blood. I cringed in disgust, realizing I had never seen another human's blood in my life.

  Back in the driver’s seat, I arranged it all in the passenger seat and resumed the march. With my right hand I lit the candles and used its own wax to fix them in the mirror. A little pony Lilly has played with was representing her for this spell. Hey, I know! Don’t judge the witch. I knew what I was doing. Or at least I wanted to believe so.

  “To summon protection

  and resist this fight,

  allow Lilly to possess my powers

  for the length of this night.

  May evil spirits fall upon me

  and save Lilly from every curse.

  Allow me to be the shield,

  to send the bad witch her spell in reverse.”