"Haven Cont." by Harlequinn

1. Chapter 2

2. He was vile and obnoxious, if I had half a mind I’d tell him so right when I kicked him out on his *****, but of course I didn’t. Rent had to be paid and all my supplies were not cheap. I supplied him with protection and he supplied me with….protection. Fair trade.  When I first got a job back in town a glimpse of hope rose in my mind. I could be free of this….ugh could I even call him a man? And be free to do what I pleased. But the truth of the matter was I wouldn’t. Now working for Haven I was under their thumb, their rules, the only glimmer of freedom I had was in here working my spells wreaking what little havoc I could with Drusus. Everyone called him Drew.

3. Drusus Tilenis, pompous ***** is more like it. A morbid little freak of nature; he wasn’t evil per se but he wasn’t good by Haven standards. What bugged me most about him was that unlike everyone else he knew my real name, Dementia Ash. God I thought he was morbid. Although considering the things my mother named her children I was grateful that was as disturbing as mine went.  You didn’t have to know my family to know what I was. Just the sound of my name gave away my true self, my demon side.  It was why I could see the path but never walk it. I was good enough for them to use but never to accept into their precious sanctuary. That was another thing Drew and I had in common, we were both on the outside looking in except in his case he didn’t even have half a sliver of the witch genes like I did. He was all demon and all outcast, for the most part.

4. Doug knew what I was, he didn’t seem to mind. He dealt with enough people who were evil by choice despite their upbringing. If that’s what you’d call people who kill one another for sport. I was good by choice despite my upbringing. So I had a demon mother and a witch father whom she killed after conceiving me, it’s not like I told her to do it. None of my other siblings were like me. They were all pure bred demon, the best of the best, like Drusus.

5. God that ignorant ***** had left a sink full of dishes again!

6. “And you used my spell pot to make macaroni and cheese!” He just grinned at me from the sofa, bowl in hand, shoveling the Mac and cheese in moaning with delight at every bite. “I hope I didn’t clean it properly last time and you get the remainder of some curse or….or….indigestion!” That was truly the best I could hope for. Even if something had been left over, which I never allowed, Drew was ***** near impervious to any spell I had created in it. He was pure demon, and an old one at that. No, I’d have to put blood, sweat, and life force into a spell that would make even a dent in his giant idiot head!

7. “I heard that!”

8. He wasn’t psychic but I had once used him as a familiar after my snake Mongo died. The spell had been for him anyway and it seemed right to make him my pet for a few hours. Instead all it did was allow him a free pass to my emotions and even some thoughts.  Although I had taken on a new familiar some minor connection had stayed open between us allowing him to find new and interesting ways to torment me. “Ugh!” I shouted at the ceiling praying for my neighbor to complain and my landlord to come up and kick one or both of us out so I could give myself a reason to get away from him. Too bad I had spelled the place to avoid such things whilst I was doing smells or Drew was doing demony things.

9. “Love do be a pet and fetch me some seltzer I feel a bit parched.” Leveling him with my best death stare I walked to the dish drain picked up a cup walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of seltzer. Once it was full to the top I walked over to his extended hand and smirking face and proceeded to tip the glass over with a smile on my face now. Shaking out every last drop onto his head and lap he smacked his lips then looked up at me with his Popeye face. “Refreshing.”

10. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

11. “Oh frightfully so. Now, come give daddy a kiss.”

12. “No!” He was up out of his seat in a second chasing me around the table with arms extended. I almost made it into my room when he landed on me tackling me to the ground. Lifting up slightly he shook his head like a dog come in from the rain splattering me in Raspberry seltzer and then he rubbed his face over mine. All the while I pushed and shoved at his iron grip around me. His back was twice the width of my body and his tree trunk arms could circle me twice. I fought knowing very well once I was in his grip that I was at his mercy until he saw fit to let me go. Give me any retched shifter, vamp or otherworlder and I could knock them flat on their ***** but put me up against a full blood demon and I was no match, not like this. “God I hate you, you stupid dog!”

13. Pulling back to look at me again he gave me a mock insult, “Psha! I am no shifter Dema and you’d do well to remember that.”

14.  Dema was his pet nickname for me. He liked tormenting me with my true name but he never liked anyone else to know it so he avoided using it as much he could. Dema was his way of tormenting me without relinquishing his own personal hold on said torture. Some days I wanted to shout off the Empire State Building that my name was Dementia Ash just to spoil his day. But god only knows what new form of torture he would cook up for me next. So I was ***** Dema.

15. “Christ Drew I have to get to work, get off!”

16. “Not until you say you’re sorry.” He pouted like a three year old and I again asked myself why I put up with the likes of him.

17. “Fine I’m sorry, happy now?”

18. “Now give me a kiss.” I squealed as I put my hands up to block his lips from my face, pushing at him as hard as I could.

19. “No Drew that wasn’t part of the deal, get off of me you big oaf!”

20. He pulled back and straightened himself up then grabbed me by my waist and plucked me off the ground without a hint of effort. Placing me back on my own two feet I beat his hands off my waist and turned to go into my room to grab my bag and jacket for work. “I don’t know why you work in that place, you know they’re never going to accept you as one of them.”

21. “I’m not looking for their acceptance I just want to help my people.”

22. He had sat back down, on a dry chair, with his bowl of Mac and cheese in hand again. “They aren’t your people though Dema, they don’t even know what you truly are sans your Boss and the head honcho.”

23. I came out of my room, jacket on, ***** near strangling my purse in my hands. “They feel it’s better if everyone doesn’t know what I am, that they should get to know me first.”

24. “Oh so that way they’ll like you and then hate your guts even more when you tell them you’ve been lying to them.” Drew waved his spoon at me as he spoke and flung some Mac and cheese onto the seat and floor next to him.

25. “I did not lie! I am part witch.”

26. He scoffed at me as he went back to his bowl. “Part, and trust me sweetheart they will not let ‘part’ slide when they find out what else is threaded into your chromosomes.” I hated when he was right. It didn’t matter who my father was he could have been the worst witch in the world and they would have accepted me so long as I was pure, and in the same instance they wouldn’t care if my daddy was the best witch and most revered in all the world, because I was still not pure. Everywhere I looked everyone fought for diversity and equal rights. I helped so many people who were being persecuted yet if one person found out what I truly was my own coworkers would turn on me.

27. “Equal rights my eye.”

28. “What was that?” Drew looked up from his Mac and cheese licking his lips.

29. “Nothing just talking to myself. I’ll be back later.”

30. I headed for the door and was about to close it behind me when Drew shouted out, “On your way home can you pick up some more Mac and cheese?” He smiled at me and all I did was growl at him as I slammed the door. I could hear a faint shout from behind it, “Was that a yes?” I stomped down the stairs and out the front door mumbling to myself trying to think if there was even a small curse for acne or athletes foot that would work on Drew without me having to drain myself. 

31. I was down the block from Haven when my phone started to ring. It was the kind of place you didn’t find but rather it found you. Tempted to ignore it thinking it was just Drew pestering me about his Mac and cheese or something else he wanted me to bring home. When I pulled the new sidekick out of my back pocket though I saw the name Aldatrude Morgoth, oh goody gumdrops it was Grand-mama. Hitting the green phone button to answer the call I pressed the phone to my ear. “Grand-mama! How are you? I’ve missed you so!”

32. Her gravely smoker’s voice came out loud and clear, she had never smoked a day in her life but spending as much time as she did around fire pits and demons she fried her lungs just the same. “Don’t you lie to me girl I’m not stupid like your mother who falls for that pleasant, chipper little….” I had already pulled the phone away from my ear when she started her tirade of insults on me. “Don’t you ignore me young lady!” Crap! I put the phone back to my ear and listened to her continue. Grand-mama Aldatrude was not my mother’s mother but rather my father’s mother. You would think she wouldn’t want to speak to the woman or the offspring of the woman who killed her son. No instead she told us that he was weak for allowing her to kill him and that she wouldn’t see any grandchild of hers shunned from her heritage. Grand-mama was not your average witch either, she was very active in demon circles, dating and even marrying a few. The last marriage made Drew and I second cousins, I shivered at that thought. Thankfully that marriage ended with him cheating on her and therefore allowing her to siphon all his powers from him as was stated clearly in the pre-nup. If he had taken the time to read it instead of underestimating his ‘dear lil witch’ he would’ve watched his ***** better. Grand-mama was old in years, but young in appearance. If she and I were to walk down the street together the most they would call her is my mother and even that would be a stretch. It was all the demon powers she had obtained over the years. I guess either way you look at it I would have been an outcast due to either side of my family.

33. “Grand-mama I hate to cut this short...” Cause I just love all the ways you find to tell me that I’m just like my mother and how if things had gone your way I would’ve been raised the right way in her care learning the best way to trick demons not become family with them. “But I was just on my way into work, new job, and I’d hate to be late my first month.”

34. “Well dear if you had let me get a word in edge wise you would have known that’s why I was calling.” Oh yea because I just didn’t stop talking now did I?

35. “I’m sorry Grand-mama what was it you were trying to tell me?”

36. “Well aside from congratulations I wanted to tell you to watch yourself around those people.” That got me to stop short. Thankfully I had finished crossing the street and was standing on the corner a few stores down from Haven.

37. “They don’t know what I am Grand-mama.”

38. “That doesn’t mean they can’t figure out. You honestly think the only reason people don’t know what you are on the inside is because you haven’t told them, come on girl I thought I taught you better than that.” She had. There were people who could smell my kind, witches couldn’t, but some of them who had come across a demon or two in their time could spot one.  Me being half witch confused them and sometimes made it harder for them to pinpoint what I was but if they were smart they’d eventually figure it out. “I’m watching over you as always but I can’t keep my eye on you round the clock and I know my angel Drusus can’t either.” Her angel, god I hated how much Grand-mama loved Drusus. For some reason she had taken a liking to him the day they met and no matter what I told her about him, the spells he made me do or how he treated me she still kept him high up on that pedestal that he loved to sit upon.

39. “I know Grand-mama don’t worry I am being very careful with these people, I promise I won’t get close.”

40. “You better not, you know what they’d do to you and they’d do it in a heartbeat. I don’t think I could bear to lose you.” Now I was really in shock, Grand-mama never ever told me she cared about me, much less that she worried about losing me.

41. “I’m strong Grand-mama I learned from the best they won’t hurt me.”

42. “Ya ***** right you learned from the best, I wouldn’t have it any other way. No go on to your job, don’t want them to pay any close attention to you.”

43. “Thank you Grand-mama, I love you.”

44. “Yea, yea.” I heard the click of her phone as she hung up on me and I tucked my phone back into my pocket. That was about as emotional as she would get and in some ways I was grateful for it. I needed to learn that life was tough and that no one was going to hold my hand. I could get killed just for being myself and if I went through life with my head in the clouds then I’d die a hell of a lot quicker.

45.  

46. The bells over the door gave a cliché jingle as I walked through the door. Dika was behind the counter looking under a bottle to see the price, probably trying to decide if she could swipe it without anyone noticing that it was missing. Nicu and Mihai were in the back, Mihai placing items on the new shelves he installed while Nicu appraised each one before handing it to him. This store may just be a front but like everything in their lives they treated it wish respect as was expected with fairies, or simply put The Fae. I was just heading towards the back when Nicu strode towards me with a stern look on his face. Suddenly my heart leaped into my throat pounding a thousand beats a minute in fear that they had learned what I truly was.

47. “You little brat.” He scooped me up in his arms and spun me around before placing me on the ground. “You didn’t tell us it was your birthday!” He swatted me on the butt before turning away from me and saying. “Wretched little witch.” I let go out of the breath I had been holding in fear as Nicu walked back to Mihai who just smiled at me. Dika blew a kiss at me as she rang up a purchase for one of the customers I hadn’t seen standing there. Donka and Nadya came out from the back room with boxes in hand placing them on the floor beside Nicu before turning and smiling at me.

48. “Oh the birthday girl is here!” Nadya the petite little thing she was with her chin length red ringlets skipped over to me and had to stand on tip-toe to give me a kiss on my cheek. If I didn’t know any better Id swear her mother had slept with a pixie to have a child so small. She was barely five foot where Donka was an inch taller than me at 5’6 and Dika the tallest stood at a, compared to us, towering 5’8. Hell even Mihai was only 5’10 and lucky for him he married the smallest of the sisters. Nicu was their cousin who put them all to shame with his surprising 6’1. But were as Mihai had muscle Nicu was slender, not to say he wasn’t strong but he didn’t give the appearance of a big threatening man.

49. Donka came over as well and planted a kiss on each of my cheeks. In her supremely thick Russian accent she said with all the sexual allure of Brigitte Bardot, “Happy birthday little one.” Not only was she an inch taller than me but she was also more than half a century older than me which was why she insisted I was little. She was a modern day version of Brigitte as well, but whereas Brigitte was blonde Donka was brunette. All of them were much older than me. Dika being the youngest only had 25 yrs. on me putting her somewhere around 51. Being Fae they didn’t really age. All three of the girls looked to be about my age. No one would think they were more than a few years apart and that being only because of the way they carried themselves and acted around each other. Donka of course was oldest and Nadya was somewhere in the middle. She and Mihai said they had grown up together which I assumed meant they were the same age seeing as how Donka treated him the same way she treated me and the way they all treated Dika. I didn’t even dare ask Nicu how old he was. I so did not want to be fired my first few weeks here.

50. “So…”

51. Snapping back to reality I looked over at Nadya who was looking up at me, her face splayed with confusion. “I’m sorry what?”

52. “Why didn’t you tell us about your birthday! I didn’t even get you a cake.”

53. Dika was waving to her customer as she walked past me and out of the shop. “Yes Nadya loves to bake.” Rolling her eyes she turned around to pick up some items that needed price tags and placed them onto the counter. Nadya stuck her tongue out at Dika before turning back to me.

54. “I’m sorry I guess it kind of slipped my mind.”

55. Nadya stared at me dumbfounded. “Forgot your own birthday! What kind of people were you raised by, wolves?” Then she stopped short. Hand over her mouth she moved it to her chest when she asked, “Oh no, were you?”

56. Laughing I replied, “No Nadya I wasn’t. My Grand-mamma and mother raised me amongst my kind; no wolves there.”

57. “Oh thank heavens.” She waved her hand and walked away thankfully forgetting why she almost insulted me.  Donka just winked at me and she walked into the back with Nadya, probably to get more boxes. Figuring I should start working I headed to the back to drop my things and follow them.

58. Much later on in the evening after all the boxes had been emptied, priced and placed on the shelves Nicu decided it was time for some lunch. Most of our clientele ran on an odd schedule. During the day Dika and Deacon ran the store to make it look like a simple charms shop. My shift didn’t start until almost dusk and continued on until close to sunrise. Some people did flit in and out of the shop, the random straggler who was looking for something to pass the time waiting for a bus. The drugged out moron who was debating on stealing something or the fanatics who tried to adjust their schedule to creatures they only knew about, never actually crossed. So for us, lunch was sometime around midnight. Dika and Deacon had left not long after I arrived, tired since they had been here since nearly 6am. I’m sure they’d prefer the winter shift when they could leave much earlier than during the summer when they stayed on longer than I ever would. As it was the day was split almost evenly between the two, the sun rose at 5:58am and set at around 5:03pm. I had been in the coat room, a small little walk in closet between the bathroom and employee lounge. It was like a human elementary school with names over the hooks and everyone’s coat and bag just hanging out in the open. Checking my phone to see if I had any missed calls I heard Nicu call from the lounge that lunch was here.

59. “Be there in a sec!” The little trackball on my phone blinked green telling me I had no missed calls…from anyone. Not a text or email, not one person had tried to get a hold of me all day. I scoffed as I threw my phone back in my bag, “And Nadya wonders why I chose to forget my birthday.” Walking to the right which led me deeper into the back of the store and towards the employee lounge I made another right at the doorway. To the left was a staircase that led up into our stock room and a mini office for Deacon to run on weekends to help with the trafficking of all the people we helped. Normally the inventory would have gone in the basement but that was Nicu’s apartment, he liked to always be close just in case anyone needed him. The only way into his apartment was through the door all the way at the end of the hall which led to a staircase into the basement. There was also of course an emergency exit door that only Nicu had the key and spell to open but he didn’t have much of a social life so that door stayed closed.

60. When I stepped into the lounge everyone had their backs to me and they were all huddled around the table in the middle of the room. I guess they were really hungry.  As I walked in further they all turned around and yelled surprise as Nadya turned around with a cake in her hands. The lights immediately shut off and the only light was the candles burning bright on my birthday cake. They erupted into a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ which almost lapsed into ‘How Old Are You Now’ by Mihai but was silenced with a slap from Donka. “A true lady never tells her age.” She winked at me before saying, “Make a wish.”

61. I was flabbergasted. I honestly didn’t even know what to wish for and then I looked over at Nicu and saw something….different about him. He looked happier than usual, he was always in good spirits but never truly happy about anything. That look both pleased and scared me and right then I knew what to wish for. With one big breath I blew out all the candles. Everyone clapped as the lights came back on and Nadya placed the cake on the table handing me a chef sized blade.

62. “Whoa am I cutting a cake or remaking Halloween.”

63. “It cuts easier and is better for serving the cake so you don’t need a spatula.”

64. “Whatever you say cake lady.” She giggled at that as I made the first good luck cut into my cake. After the pieces were served and everyone had a chance to try Nadya’s delicious cake I turned to her and gave her a one armed hug. “I really appreciate this Nadya, it means a lot to me. Truly.” I knew better than to thank a Fae and by the smile on her face she was grateful for it. After the cake and our lunch were finished Nadya and Donka both went up into the stock room. They now had to decide what to order next seeing as how the front of the shop was almost completely full but the stock room itself was ***** near bare. Mihai had only stayed for cake before retreating to the front with his lunch. He seemed to like being by himself even when his wife was around. They truly did make an odd pair. Leaving just Nicu and I, I picked up the plates and forks and threw them in the trash then grabbed the cake to put it into the fridge.

65. “Hey stop that it’s your birthday, let me.”

66. Shocked at his offer I shook my head as I continued to clean up, “You are my boss. I am NOT letting you clean up for me.”

67. Grabbing my hands as I reached for the last of the garbage on the table Nicu looked me in the eyes. “Katya…” I almost winced when he called me by my modern name. Somewhere deep inside of me I wished just once I could hear him call me by my real name, what would it sound like? “I am not anyone’s boss. Yes I do own the building and Doug put me in charge of seeing things through but we are all equals here. I can’t fire you anymore than I could fire Dika or Deacon or any of the others.”

68. “I know but…you know them, they’re kin to you.” All Fae were considered related to one another, at least if you were Seelie. Although, the UnSeelie considered anyone kin regardless of their life choices.

69. “Deacon isn’t my kin. Does that mean I treat him any different?”

70. Shaking my head as I looked down at him still holding my wrists I simply said, “No.”

71. “Then why do you act as if I’m some tyrant lord from the Middle Ages?”

72. Because if you knew what I was you wouldn’t touch me for fear of the ***** I may have acquired. Instead I said, “I don’t know I guess I just assumed with you running the place that you were head honcho.”

73. Smiling at me he looked down at his hands on my wrists. His grip wasn’t tight, I could break it without a second thought but I liked the way his hands felt on my skin. I so rarely had any contact with anyone….besides Drew of course. I mentally shivered at that thought. “Come on birthday girl get back to work while I finish cleaning up in here.” At this time of night work simply meant wandering around the shop, straightening and dusting anything while waiting for some needy person to wander in here looking for help they didn’t know they needed.

74. As the night went on my mind kept wandering back to Grand-mama’s call this afternoon. She had known it was my birthday but made no mention of it. Granted we weren’t the sobby weepy ‘Like oh my god it’s your birthday’ family but we weren’t cold hearted….well most of us weren’t. My mind was definitely up in the clouds because it wasn’t until Donka called to me that I realized the sun was about to rise. *****. The witch in me didn’t mind the sun after all I was mainly an earth witch but the demon in me tended to get grouchy when the sun came out. That was what made this job so great. Walking towards the coat closet I was stopped by Nadya who had been standing there waiting for me.

75. “Hey Dya what’s up?”

76. With her hand on her hip she watched me as if looking for something, “You alright love?”

77. “Fine why?”

78. She eyed me with a critical eye before shaking her ringlet curls and pulling on her jacket while walking by me. “No reason.”

79. Ignore it. That was how you got by in life just keep looking forward and don’t stop to ask questions. That’s how people got hurt. I had my jacket on as I headed for the front when Nicu called to me. Turning around I saw him come towards me with a plate in hand. “You almost forgot the rest of your cake.”

80. “Oh no wouldn’t want to forget that. My roommate will absolutely love it.”

81. Taking the plate from him I could have sworn his hands intentionally ran across mine and then he did even more. Leaning forward he gave me another kiss on the cheek as he said, “Happy Birthday again sweet one.” then smiled as he turned away and headed off towards the stock room.

82. Could it have just been my imagination? Was I just overtired and paranoid…or did my boss have a thing for me? The real question was, did I want him to?

83.