A Cure for Moonlight Ch. 07

She pulled at her essence, and spit a pearl sized bead into her hands. Gasping at the effort of it, she braced herself for a moment to stop the spinning room. She went over to her sleeping captive and dropped the glowing red jewel under his eyelid. She couldn't guarantee his sleep otherwise. She could falter and he would wake and ruin everything. She slung the padded closet door open and then folded him into the space. This apartment would be just fine for right now.

She called his office and said, with his voice, that he would be taking some time off. She explained a family emergency and then she hung up. Tapping her finger to her lips, she flicked the blackout curtains back and looked across the street. According to the notes, Stella should be on her way out, this would be the second night in a row her routine was shattered. It must mean something. Perhaps her protector was finally teaching her about her birthright.

As she cried, gasped, and railed against everything, he stood in the hallway to give her a bit of space. She'd had a little too much to drink and her entire world view was shattering. He knew this was coming, he just didn't know he would end up being the crack in the dam. She seemed to be calming down a bit when her front door opened and Amelia stepped in. Her caramel colored skin set the honey color of her eyes off. She surveyed the room as if she had just walked in on someone doing something bad. Her eyes went to Stella and then to Caed. She dropped her keys and Stella looked up. She saw the exchange of looks between her best friend and... well... whatever Caederyn was to her and one more reality slapped her in the face.

"You know each other?" she sniffled, "Of course you do. Of fucking course."

"What have you done?" Amelia hissed at him rushing to her best friend.

"What has he done?" Stella asked incredulously, "What have YOU done? You're a lie too? You and I? I loved you, you were my only family!"

"Sweetie," Aimes began, the tone was soft as if she were talking someone down from a ledge, "You and I were never a lie. I'm just not as... ordinary as you thought. Neither are you though. He's been here, how long? With the box. Caed... you've given her the box and no one thought to have me here? I had to walk into her going through this all alone?"

"She's not alone," Caed defended.

"She doesn't know you and you swoop in with that BOX and tear her whole life down? She has no one here with her to help her through it."

"I'm here!" he repeated.

"As am I," Stella wiped her eyes, "I'm here and you are talking about me like a child."

"No," Amelia locked her gaze on to her best friend, "no you aren't a child, but you shouldn't have had to go through anything like this on your own. How much has he told you?"

"The boogey man is real," Stella smiled despite herself.

"Well he's a big fat liar," Caed threw his hands up at the sudden course of estrogen turning against him.

"Just that most mythical creatures are real, except for possibly El Chupacabra. That kinda killed my Mexico trip, ya know? Oh and I'm not human."

"What with you and that goat sucker thing? You're seriously miffed that it might not exist?" Aimes poked her and then hauled her off the floor, "I'm a cambion and a witch, if it makes you feel better."

"I have no idea what that means, where's Cambi-whatever? It has a nice name."

Caed and Amelia laughed and now it was Stella's turn to be exasperated. Caed set about making coffee and Amelia and Stella lightened things up talking about Aime's day subbing in on the Psych floor. The antics of some of the patients always manage to cheer them both up. Stella felt tired of the vastness of the realitys of her world. After about a half hour of completely avoiding the subject at hand, Aimes looked at Caed.

"We should take her to the cottage," Stella's eyes flashed back and forth between them.

"We could," Caed nodded.

"But my skin!" she interjected.

"I have a van," he said, "It's got a nice dark back. No windows."

"That's at least a 12 hour drive!" she felt like no one cared what she said. She was going to the home of her childhood.

The girls packed while Caed went to get his van. When he met them outside, even in the dark, Stella couldn't help but nearly pass out from laughing so hard. He was meticulous in his mannerisms, his clothes, even his hair. Apparently that same meticulousness had applied to this monstrosity in front of them. It had shag carpeting in the back in brown and orange shades. Mirrored panels alone the inside wall, a sleeper sofa back seat. Stella half expected a disco ball or some dice on the rearview.

"Dear god, Caed," she cackled, "Were you a hippy?"

"Wrong decade. I got this in the 70's, but yes, I was a hippy too," his pride in the care he'd put into his van was deflated, "It's come in handy. Don't knock it."

Stella settled herself in, sitting on the floor between the driver and passenger seat and ran her toes through the carpet and giggled some more. Is that an 8 track? She couldn't quite believe it. Next to the CD player was a cassette deck and an 8-track slot. She had now entered the 1970's. Dr. Who had a TARDIS, Caed had a shaggin' wagon.

"Are you going to have us jamming to Journey?" she asked crinkling her nose.

"Are you making fun of Journey?" he looked back at her, mock appalled and she clamped her lips shut to stifle another laugh. He really was a relic.

She unfurled her MP3 player from it's earbuds and was shifting through looking for a particular song. Finally finding what she was looking for, she stuck the buds in her ears and fished around in her bag for her crochet hooks and the pattern she had hastily printed up. No sooner did she put the mp3 player down, did Caed snatch it up and plugged it in to the van's stereo. He made an approving, yet surprised face, as he listened to her music.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"The XX," Stella said, "What were you expecting something horrible and girl-poppy?"

"Yeah, I think I was," he grinned and she got chills from how beautiful he was in the passing lights of traffic. It was hard to picture him as a hunter-gatherer of a caveman or whatever he was originally. Aimes got up and went to the sleeper sofa in the very back and Stella climbed into the front. Her yarn and hooks hastily shoved back in her bags. It was night, glorious night time and she was going to savor it.

When they reached a red light, Stella was intently staring out the window, Amelia snored softly in the back and Caed couldn't take his eyes off her profile until someone came up behind them, got impatient and began honking for the beast of a machine to get going again. Her eyes met his again and they both shivered on the inside.

She'd taken her eyes off the building for just a moment, but the slivers of light between the heavy curtains had gone out. She cursed herself and ran down to the street below, snow catching in her hair, once again blanketing the world. She ran over to the girl's building across the road and she saw footprints, vehicle tracks and nothing else.

Screeching into the night with rage, she vaulted up the stairs and unlocked the door. The apartment had been shut down. Extra electrical things shut down, hangers on the bed. Stella had left and she had no idea when she would be back or where her quarry went. Walking back into the living room she stood in the darkness, thinking. Something caught her eye under the edge of the sofa. A white business card. It read Edmund Branwell, Attorney at Law. She grinned to herself, locked the apartment back up and went back to her stolen home for the night. This lawyer would know something and if there was one thing she could do, it was make men talk. Tomorrow would be fun. She loved scavenger hunts. Any hunts really. Her teeth sharpened a little and her scars pulsed.

Game on little one.