Chapter Eight

I padded around my kitchen without any idea what to do. Work from home? What was that? I gnawed on my lower lip while pacing. How infuriating. I worked at a book store for Christ’s sake. I couldn’t exactly manage the cafe or bakery portion of the business from home, nor could I handle inventory or organization here either. Sighing, I texted David and asked what, exactly, he expected me to do.

I’d been so stunned by his involvement in the supernatural that I hadn’t even thought to question him while I was still there.

“Mayar, shouldn’t you be relaying a message to…whatever his name is?” I glanced over at the large black hound. He tilted his head, a glimmer of confusion on his fluffy face. “Your master. He didn’t tell me what his name is.”

“He…oh.” Mayar tilted his head further. “Does it bother you that I can talk?”

I shook my head. “I think I’m beyond worrying about that, of all things. It explains why you were able to understand everything I’ve been saying, too.”

“Names are a fickle thing. My master has many, and many of them could bind him to you.” Mayar wandered over and then sat against my legs. “I should report to him, but…I don’t trust that woman and her skydweller won’t come looking for you.”

“Skydweller?” I raised an eyebrow. “So, he wasn’t an ‘angel?’”

“Not in the sense surface dwellers think of, no.” Mayar shook his head. “We’re lucky the woman is too weak to bind him to her fully. He would have given you away, otherwise. This David person you work for…”

Mayar and I both fell silent when there was a knock at my door. I glanced down at him, then strode to the front of the house with him close behind me. I peeked through the hole in the door and let out a small sigh when I saw Emily and Richard standing there.

“Celia!” Emily grinned at me and thrust a huge basket at me when I opened the door. “We brought you lunch! Can we come in?”

“Oh, thanks.” I stared at the covered basket in my arms before moving out of their way. “How’d you guys know I was home?”

“We were driving through and saw your car in the driveway.” Emily poked my nose. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work? You feeling okay?”

“David sent me home early. We had some weirdos poking around the store and he didn’t want to deal with them.” I followed them in the direction of my kitchen and set the basket on the island. “Driving through, you said?”

“We’re house hunting!” Emily grinned. “There’s some nice houses around here for a new family, and it’s closer to schools than our current house. We were on our way to get lunch when I saw your car here, so I decided we’re bringing you lunch too.”

“The usual.” Richard shrugged at me. “There’s no changing her mind. I told her you probably weren’t feeling well or something and didn’t want to be bothered, but that just convinced her more.”

“Sounds about right,” I remarked dryly.

“Oh, look! The shop next door had super cute cupcakes too!” Emily ignored her husband and pulled a box of cupcakes out of the basket. “Barbecue and cupcakes are fine for lunch, right?”

“As long as you’re not going to put pickles and peanut butter on yours again.” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Hey, it’s good! I swear.” Emily pouted.

“I don’t know if I believe you.” I couldn’t help but grin. At least she hadn’t brought canned cat food or something. Pregnant women were scary.

“So, what are your plans for the day?” Emily probed. “If you’re not working, wanna come tour some houses with us?”

“David wants me to work from home.” I shrugged. “I’m waiting for him to message me back with what he wants me to work on.”

“Seriously?” Emily grimaced. “How’s business, anyway?”

“Decent. People come for the food, drink, and floral portion—they stay because the occult stuff catches their interest.” I pulled some plates down for us and set them on the island. “The crystals are a hit as usual, as are the candles and incense. We’ve started selling more books lately, too, though I think some of the teens have been rearranging the books on me. I keep finding things out of place.”

“Ghosts!” Emily declared.

“Ems, please.” Richard groaned.

Emily grinned. “Come on, it’s a super old building! It’s gotta have ghosts! We should ask David to let us do a paranormal investigation sometime.”

‘…now that I know he’s an odd one, I wouldn’t be surprised if he constantly trolled her if he did let her investigate.’ I sighed, shaking my head. “You and what equipment? That’s a lot of money that could be going toward baby clothes, your house, nursery, and whatever. Weren’t you already saving for baby’s school costs too?”

“Yup. Emily’s already chosen a private school for K-12.” Richard threw his hands in the air. “With how my job’s going, we’ll probably be able to cover whatever university the kiddo wants, too.”

“So, work’s good, then?” I questioned.

“Boss promoted me.” Richard grinned. “It’s a good promotion, too. Less work, more pay, and more focus on the side of business I actually like. Got a few competitors trying to steal me away, but none of them are willing to pay me as much as he does.”

“Awww, I’m sho pwoud of youuu!” Emily pinched her husband’s cheeks and giggled.

‘Barf.’ I kept the thought to myself and poked through the options of food, deciding on a pulled pork sandwich.

“You hear back from the police yet?” Emily finally turned serious, her eyes narrowing. “Really. If you don’t feel safe here, we don’t mind if you crash at our place until they hunt down Andrew.”

“It’s fine.” I shook my head. “If he steps foot in my house, I’ll shoot him. That’s the point of having a gun for protection, right? As far as the police go, they can’t’ find him. Everything they could track him by is just…gone. They said they saw a few signal blips a few hundred feet below ground, but then nothing—probably a glitch. Oh, and they confirmed that he did indeed shoot at my car. The apartment complex has security cameras.”

“Useless.” Richard shook his head. “You call us if you need anything, got it?”

“I will, I will,” I reassured them before taking a huge bite out of my pulled pork sandwich. It was true, sort of. With Mayar around, I hoped I wouldn’t need to call on either of them for help. Plus, if more weird stuff happened…yeah. I didn’t want to involve them in that, if I could help it. Especially not with Emily being pregnant. She was due in just a few months, and I really didn’t want to stress her out with any of the weird stuff happening in my life—if she’d even believe me.

After lunch and some pleasant chitchat, Richard and Emily left to go look at more houses, and I turned to look down at Mayar. “Want the last sandwich?”

“Certainly.” Mayar looked up as I unwrapped it. While he ate, I checked my phone again.

A small sigh escaped me when I found an e-mail from David. He wanted me to shop around for more things we could sell at his shop and find a new crystal supplier. Apparently, our current one was days late with their shipment. I made a face at my phone before standing up and searching my house for a laptop to use. Once I found it, I plunked down on the couch and began browsing the Internet in search of usable stuff. Buying crystals in bulk was pretty cheap, but we’d already gone through several suppliers because they’d turned out to be unreliable.

My phone dinged with another message from David. He wanted me to find a new supplier for incense, handmade soaps, and wax seal supplies too. I groaned and opened several more browser tabs. I’d have preferred to be stuck rearranging bookshelves. That, at least, I could turn into a fun puzzle for myself. We occasionally had eye candy come into the store looking for books too—or maybe they wanted pagan booty. I wasn’t entirely sure. Especially with some of the goth guys.

“Not helping, brain,” I muttered to myself when the Aloryi man’s face flashed through my mind. It drove me a little insane that my brain wanted to focus on him so much. Maybe it was because he was hot, maybe it was because confirmation of other races existing—and magic—fascinated me. Either way, I could have done without the constant imagery teases and dreams. I shivered. The dreams definitely needed to stop.

“Do you know anywhere we could go to meet with a messenger?” Mayar padded into the room and sat off to the side so I could see him around my laptop. “I would rather not leave you on your own.”

“Uh…somewhere secluded?” I frowned, watching him nod. “Not really. My family owns a lot of the forest and countryside around here.”

“Having the messenger come here wouldn’t be safe.” Mayar sighed.

“You put a barrier around my house, right? If it won’t take you long, I’m sure it’d be fine if you told him yourself.” I shrugged. “I’ve got my gun on me, so if that woman does show up and tries to start something, I’ll handle it.”

“You aren’t equipped to handle her servant—or anyone’s servant.” Mayar snorted.

“What if I turn out all the lights and pretend I’m taking a nap?” I suggested, earning an incredulous stare in reply. “What? You’ve got a short message to relay, and you’ve never been gone for a few minutes at a time.”

“That message isn’t a short one,” Mayar informed me. “This is serious! I must inform my master of David, the woman and her skydweller, and many other things that happen around you. It isn’t simply about the message the skydweller asked be relayed—and furthermore, he asked you to relay it.”

“Does it matter if I’m the one to deliver the message?” I frowned.

“Yes.” Mayar let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s important, but I can’t bring you to the Underrealm. The races there would attempt to eat you alive or corrupt you. Perhaps both. Humans are not welcome, especially not humans with ties to a family renowned for enslaving their kind. You are lucky my master is fond of you.”

‘Fond of…’ I shook my head when I felt my heart flutter. This wasn’t the time for rebound attachments. Nope. “And having him come here would be dangerous, right?”

Mayer tilted his head and was silent for a moment. “It…might be possible. If he were to appear inside your house, rather than approach via the door.”

I frowned at him. “You keep implying my house is being watched.”

“Because it is.” Mayar snorted. “I don’t know if it’s your family or someone else, but they have eyes all over your neighborhood. That’s why a messenger wouldn’t work. They would grow suspicious if an Aloryi came and knocked on your door.”

“Well, I don’t know how to invite your master to appear in my house,” I pointed out. “He’s welcome to, if you think that’s the best way to handle this mess, and if that message is really so important. But, didn’t the ‘skydweller’ say to tell the Moon—”

“My master is ‘the Moon.’” Mayar laughed. I just stared at him in confusion. “You are better off not knowing. I will see if I can call him here.”

With that, Mayar turned and trotted out of the living room. I stared after him for a moment, before turning my attention to my laptop. Though curious, I’d already tried researching “Aloryi” and “Moon Keepers” online. Nothing came up, and I didn’t want to try poking through the dark web for information. That would just be inviting more trouble I didn’t want. I shook my head and returned to work. That, at least, was something to distract me.

The next few hours were spent trying to find a crystal supplier. By the time my hours were over, I’d found a few options and sent them David’s way. I stood up, stretched, then let out a sigh. It was one of those days. My heart and my mind both felt empty, numb. I vaguely hoped tomorrow would be a better day, but anything more than a passing thought felt like too much effort.

When I walked out of the living room, I frowned and glanced around for Mayar. He didn’t respond, leaving me to wonder if he’d gone looking for food or if, perhaps, he’d gone to his master after all. I decided to take a bath in the meantime. There wasn’t much else to do besides that, or sleep.

Aloryi. Moon Keeper. A “demon” with long, silky black hair, striking eyes, and ethereal-yet-masculine features. Horns, a scaled tail, and vicious fangs. He was nowhere near as bestial as folklore portrayed demons to be, yet he didn’t look very human.

Still, he was a man—and for some reason his kind could be summoned. Like they were sub-human. A frown drifted across my face. The more I thought about it, the less I understood. David was right that the Aloryi could have killed me. Why didn’t he?

I sighed and started at my bathroom ceiling. Maybe my minor obsession was because he was a mystery. A puzzle for me to solve. I hadn’t thought I’d see him or anyone like him once I unsummoned him…and yet my life seemed intent on getting more crazy.

When finished with my bath, I dressed for bed and went looking for some wine. I figured I may as well enjoy the rest of my evening by watching TV or reading a book. My mind was too distracted to focus on something like games, and browsing social media was never my cup of tea. However, the moment I entered the kitchen, any thoughts of TV or books soon left my mind. A shimmering archway appeared between me and the fridge. At almost the same time, Mayar and his Aloryi master stepped through and into my kitchen.

I really should have put on a robe.