TRUST ISSUES: By Lori Titus
February 1st, 2012The Marradith Ryder Series: The Art of Shadows, Part 69
Marradith socked David’s jaw with her right fist.
“I don’t have to use powers to knock the shit out of you,” she screamed. “Get away from me.”
He recoiled against the car window, holding his cheek. His lip bled. Despite that, Marradith was angry because she knew that he would heal quickly.
She got out the car and started walking. The rain was coming sown so hard she could barely see a foot in front of her. David followed her. He grabbed her arm, and this time she slapped him. When he grabbed her arm again they struggled. She pushed him off of her one more time, and he threw his hands up in surrender.
“I know you’re married. I know you love him.”
“Well what do you expect?”
“Whatever feelings… what I feel for you is beside the point. You need to know about Adam. He’s the authority behind Xia.”
“Then why didn’t you go through proper channels?”
He laughed. “As in Justin? Or Rafael? They don’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because my family went to them before, back when my Father fist died, and they were not believed.” David said. “Come on. Let me take you back to the house. I won’t touch you again.”
She turned and walked back to the car.
“If you want my help, you’re going to have to do a better job of giving me a reason to trust you. I don’t see any reason that I should.”
“I can tell you more,” David said. “But you have to hear me out. Don ‘t have them send me away before I can tell you…”
“Then you have to get out of my personal space,” she demanded. “And that includes my mind.”
**
Fiona received the pendant for Marradith that same afternoon.
The oval onyx pendant was encircled with a white gold setting. This object was spelled to protect Marradith against mind reading.
Fiona wrapped the box carefully and arranged to have it delivered the next day. Marradith had been very clear that she wanted the purpose of this jewelry to remain secret. She attached a card, saying that it was an early birthday gift and that she was to be open it right away.
She placed a phone call to Justin.
“I’m sure on some level I’m going to regret doing this, because if you leave New Mexico right now, it’s going to take longer for Rafael to come back home. But your wife needs you. I’m in her confidence, and I can’t tell you exactly why. But you need to head out to California on the next flight you can get. Now.”
**
Xia stood before Miranda Vega.
This was not the first time the demon had appeared to Miranda without being summoned. But it was the first time that she had seen her appeared since the night Miranda left New York.
“There’s no place on Earth that I can’t find you,” Xia said with a smile, crossing her arms. She looked like an ordinary woman, a beautiful creature with golden skin and dark hair. But as Miranda knew, this was a guise, just like the form of the other, Adam.
“What do you want?” Miranda stepped backwards. She was alone in her brother’s cabin, a small property in the mountains that stayed empty for most of the year, except for the weekend before and after the Fourth of July. She’d been lucky to find enough food to sustain her for the better part of a month. The Sojourners had not reached her, and Shannon had not found her.
Yet this monster had showed up, appearing in the middle of her living room, needing no door, and giving no warning.
“Don’t look so frightened, Miranda,” Xia soothed in a motherly voice. “You did what we required of you as far as Rafael Castillo was concerned. It turns out that was not your fault or mine. His soul was not properly harvested–the deal Adam made with him was beyond its expiration.”
“So he gets no punishment, even though my husband’s death was his responsibility?” Angry tears sprang to her eyes. Rafael was not directly at fault for Pablo’s death, but as a leader within the Sojourners, Miranda felt him accountable for not controling the Wolves that ran free in her city. She could not forget that he had been turned Wolf; or that he was killed twice, and died in front of her.
“I would not say he’ll receive no punishment. There are many forms of pain which can be inflicted upon him. But I need another favor.”
“What would that be?”
Xia smiled. ” I need a Lamia. A girl, named Marradith.”
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©2012 Lori Titus
Join Lori with her co-host Tonia Brown on their radio show on Tuesday nights (6pm PST/9pm EST) on tmvcafe.com . You can keep up with her other forms of debauchery on Twitter as Loribeth215, or via her blog, on: http://loribeth215.wordpress.com/
