Sta.sh
“The audacity of that little bitch! She thinks she has the right to just spit back in my face the gift I gave her! Can you believe that?” He whirls around, his eyes wild, angry, and indignant. Harmony takes her cue…this is the point where she is supposed to participate in the “conversation” they are having.
“Yes, love, it is rather difficult to believe. I mean, after all, you wrenched her from the streets, kidnapped her, sank your teeth into her veins and then turned her into a monster. I really cannot begin to imagine why she’d be so upset.” She flashes a sweet, devilish smile at him. A smile that makes her ice blue eyes and her whole face, really, just light up.
Jedahl’s eyes blaze for just a moment before a sneer twists his lips, “Well, she certainly spent enough time enjoying it before that mortal boy of hers died.”
“True.”
“And it is her own fault that he died anyway. She could have saved him. Made him immortal like her, but no! She had to have a moral opposition to creating her own child. He died, and she killed him and she knows that. Now she’s lamenting her decision and feeling guilty and it is that guilt that is causing her dilemma today. She wouldn’t be wishing for mortality again if she would have just listened to reason.”
Harmony chuckles, shaking her head, “Do you want to know what I think your problem is with all of this, love?”
Jedahl raises an eyebrow, “Hmmm?”
“Your problem is that a woman is standing up to you, talking back to you and, in your opinion, trying to step beyond her ‘place’ in your little, narrow-minded world.”
“What? Are you saying that I’m a chauvinist?”
Harmony smiles, nodding, “Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Women are like property to you. Speak when spoken to. Women aren’t capable of having valid thoughts and ideas of their own because they are simply too emotional – a woman could not possibly have a thought that is not driven by a hormonal outburst.”
Jed puts a hand over his heart, a look of genuine shock and hurt on his face. “Good god, Harmony. Such harsh words. You wound me.”
She sticks her tongue out at him, “Sometimes the truth hurts, my dear.” With that said she gets up and kisses him on the cheek. “You know I love you, dear, but sometimes I think you need to be reminded that not all women are as weak as you think and that underestimating them will get you in trouble someday.”
Jedahl grabs her around the waist, pulling her closing and kissing her deeply on the lips, “I never underestimate the important women, my love.” And she laughs, knowing full well that that is a lie, and at the same time, makes up her mind to prove to him that a woman can be just as devious, if not more so, than he can be.
________________________________________
Harmony sets her bags down by the door and hugs and kisses Jed’s scowling lips. “Don’t worry. I’ll be home before you know it.”
He snorts and makes a face, “I don’t see why you have to go alone. It is dangerous.”
Harmony shakes her head, chuckling, “You worry too much. It’s just recording stuff. All perfectly boring and besides, you hate the Colonies and you’ll be positively miserable and a bear to deal with if you come along.”
“You have a point, I suppose, but here, take this,” he says as he hands her a locket. “It will protect you from, well, from bad things. My enemies should not be able to see your true self, even if you were to transform before their very eyes. Wear it every day...never take it off.”
“Yes, dear,” she says, with a teasing sigh. “I will, but I’m sure I won’t need it.”
“It never hurts to be safe.”
“I’ll see you in a few days, two weeks at most,” and she kisses him again as she flies off toward the airport like a demon…for she would travel no other way.
________________________________________
The first thing she does upon entering her manor in New Orleans is to head for the servants’ stairs. Though they’ve not been used in that capacity for a very long time, they have been made use of over the years. Mainly to hide the doorway that leads to a very private portion of the plantation house.
She had found the room quite by accident one afternoon as she was whirling around in a mad cleaning spree. As she was stretching up to clean a particularly neglected corner of the hallway, her hip pressed against just the right spot on the wall and voila! She had found a secret room that, no doubt, at one time was used by the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape, but had since fallen not only into disuse but also neglect and disrepair. Her first thought was to leave it alone, but it nagged at her. The thought of leaving any portion of her home in that horrible condition just didn’t sit well with her, so she set about restoring it.
Once the room was finished, she had to decide what to do with it. It took a few weeks, but then, when she was at a local auction, she figured out exactly what to do with that room. She made a habit of attending specialized auctions. Auctions that sold rare, historical and very mystical items. This room was the perfect place to keep them from roving eyes and anxious claws, namely, Jedahl’s. As much as she loved him, she knew that items like the ones in this room could be very dangerous in his hands.
As she looked through some of the things in the room, all of which were neatly placed on shelves and catalogued in great detail as to origin, last known owner and what, in particular, each artifact was purported to be used for, she found a few of the things she was looking for. One was another locket that matched the one she was wearing. She must have had half a dozen of these particular amulets at one point or another. Jedahl was always giving them to her because he was constantly afraid of what might happen to her when he wasn’t around if someone were to detect what she was, and, more importantly, whose blood she shared. Another was a cloak that afforded the wearer an impenetrable disguise, so long as the cloak was not removed. And then, on the very furthest shelf in the room, on the very top, hidden all the way in the back was the most important item, the reason she was even in New Orleans at all. A golden goblet, encrusted with some simple gems and beautifully hand-etched with a scene depicting what looked like some sort of ritual with robed figures cavorting around a dead body. The Goblet of Life. Purported to give life to the dead and bring the mortality back to the undead, it was this very item that Harmony planned on using to prove to Jedahl once and for all that he makes the mistake of discounting women far too often.
Enjoy!
I love what you're doing with it so far...you've got a way with words and I can definitely visualize the whole thing going on in my head.
Now, for me to try and start doing story panels to go along with your excellent writing....
*blushes* Thanks for the complement. I don't doubt you could get story panels together easily enough. And, hey, I'm sure I could try and re-work it so that it breaks down more comic book-ish if I had to. Less detail in words, but more in the actual picture, so it would balance out. Pretty much, the only thing needed would be dialogue at that point, I would guess, right?
I'm hoping to get some more written soon enough.