CHAPTER1
“I promiseyou it will be fun.” Darcy pouted as Cate scrubbed the remains of black wax off the slate countertop.
I believe your idea of fun differs heavily from mine,Cate mused, rolling her eyes.
“It’s a full moon, so you know the place will be packed with interesting dates,” Darcy pleaded as she elbowed Cate gently in her ribs. Cate flashed her heterochromic eyes skeptically at her.
“I know what phase we’re in. You of all people don’t have to remind me.” Cate stared her down, but Darcy didn’t even flinch. “Besides, a full moon is exactly the opposite of interesting. All those poor walking cucumbers, with their emotions running high…” Cate twisted her lips and raised her eyebrows.
Humans are the worst when the moon is full, and don’t even get me started on the shifters.
“Just because you are Hecate, Goddess of the Moon and all that jazz, doesn’t mean you can’t havea littlefun. Especially on a full moon.” Darcy waggled her eyebrows as she took the textured sponge out of her friend’s hand and held it above her.
Spike perked his large, black head up from his nap on the floor and Cate smiled.
“Give me back my sponge, Darcy, or I’ll sick the hellhound on you.” She kept her gaze cold, stoic, but Darcy knew her too well.
“If you kill me, then who will drive the van? Someone’s got to take all the rescues to their new homes, and we all know how much youlovedriving into town.” Darcy smiled mischievously.
True, Cate did hate going into Applewood Falls, the only town left in existence on Earth which still used payphones and had an operating Blockbuster Video, but only because the van didn’t likeher. Every time she got behind the wheel of the damn thing, it made all sorts of strange noises, elicited awful smells, and was bound to break down at least once in the short trip from New Haven Animal Rescue, her pride and joy. Spike looked up at them with big, glossy red eyes, panting like he was nothing more than an average German Shepherd.
“You make a fair point. I’d rather see the van go before you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not above torture.” Cate twitched her fingers, and the sound of nails on a chalkboard rang in the air despite there being no chalkboards in sight.
“Boy you really will try anything to get out of this.” Darcy handed the sponge back with a frown.
At that moment Belle pranced in, her black fur gleaming in the candlelight glow from the array of candles spread about the cottage.
Cate’s shoulders fell as she registered the frown on her friend’s face.
She’s just trying to help.
She’s worried about you.
Cate set the sponge down and sighed.
It was humans who chased you here to begin with,Cate mused.
It was not entirely untrue. The shifters had started to break away, forming tight knit packs, and it seemed humanity itself had started to entertain themselves with false idols, the trappings of technology, and societal importance. They’d gotten angry, frustrated. Irritable, she told herself.
But it isn’t humans who are keeping you here now, is it?
Cate sighed. She’d grown rather accustomed to her current way of life. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with a little respite from the dramas of humanity. But Cate knew as she looked at Darcy, resistance was truly futile. “If I go with you just this once…”
Darcy threw her arms around Cate in a hug that went well beyond worshipping. “We are going to have so much fun!” Darcy squealed.
A warm flush crept into Cate’s cheeks, and she couldn’t help but return the smile. For a human, Darcy was pretty damn endearing, and perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to stretch her legs just this once.
She’d ventured into the forest on a dare to cross the border, which separated Cate’s cottage from the human realm. A feat meant to confuse humans, who had wandered too far into her woods—and in the face of ancient wisdom and godly presence, a rather clear-headed Darcy looked right at her, unafraid, and asked if she was really a witch. The utter gall and audacity of this human, to cross the border, to be somewhat resistant to her wardings, to be so bold and stupid, actually made her smile. She’d only been a child of ten years old, but Cate knew greatness when it walked up and knocked on her door.
After all, her door was covered in a wreath of skulls, feathers, and crystals.
“This is it, Darcy, I mean it. I’ll go with you just this once, and that’s it. You have topromiseme you’ll not speak of this 'going out’ again for as long as you live.” She said the words as sternly as she could, as Darcy held her at arms length, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement.
“If you don’t meet someone at this shindig, then yes. I will leave you alone to be a creepy witch in the woods with your pets and never speak of this again.” Darcy’s smile reached her eyes; she looked as if she plotted the world’s demise.
“I highly doubt anyone will be interested in this.” Cate gestured to herself as she donned a handkerchief style grey skirt with black boots, a layered white leopard animal print top, and a grey cable knit cardigan wrapped loosely around her arms, and had fallen haphazardly in the mad kitchen cleaning session. Her dark black hair was pulled back from her face in a loose ponytail with feathers and braids interspersed. Her long silver streak fell forward, blinding her vision in her one blue eye. She tucked it back nonchalantly.
The eyes always freak them out, anyway.
Truth be told, she hadn’t really cared for humans even in her goddess youth. They just didn’t have the same appeal other entities, like herself, had. Humans were frightened of every little thing, always praying and seeking guidance from her or the other deities in search of meaning, or even for the most trivial of requests. Vampires, shifters, demons, and angels didn’t require such reassurance. They were long past believing in higher powers because theywerethe higher power. They didn’t fear death; they only feared perpetual loneliness.
Cate was no stranger to the latter, but, for the most part, she preferred it that way. Sure, she’d missed the comfort of a mortal’s warmth on cold winter nights, but Spike was as big as a human and much softer. He was also quite a cuddlebug—for a hellhound, anyway.
Too many humans had come to her with their prayers, with eyes full of tears, and hearts broken by love, seeking wisdom and divine intervention. Through the years, she’d come to learn of the ills of human men, those who did not care for their lovers as they promised, did not fulfill the needs and desires of those as they claimed they would, and who turned on their professed loves for any number of reasons.
But perhaps Darcy was right. Perhaps her isolation had made her truly cynical. Perhaps it was good to see how things had progressed since she’d last crossed the border into the realm of the humans.