Precious Anathema (4 page)

“
So Ella, I want the dirt.”
I turned my head to see Eris had moved her way to put her head
between the front seats, looking at me with a big smile. Carna
looked at us and laughed as she turned down the radio.

“
Dirt, I don’t have any
dirt Eris.” I looked forward hoping she would stop, but sadly she
tapped my shoulder and winked at me.

“
I mean, tell me about boy
dirt. Selene tells me just to try rubbing in my face because I
happen to like girls, but I really am curious.” I shrugged my
shoulders and looked at Carna, before I realized it I was blushing,
and Eris squealed to see that I was having a reaction. “You
do
have dirt!” I laughed
and shook my head.

“
I am sure that my two
minutes of joy are really worthy of storytelling Eris, and I don’t
mean I had a great two minute nights either, I mean two guys one
minute each.” Carna couldn’t help but laugh and then tapped my knee
with a wink. My embarrassment was radiating from me as the sun
became so bright Carna had to pull down the shade and put on her
glasses.

“
Ella, honey I know exactly
what you mean. I don’t think I had a real sexual moment until I was
almost twenty three and he was much older than I so he knew what to
do, guys your age have a goal and sadly it’s not to get
you
off, but to get
themselves off. Don’t worry honey it gets better.” Selene laughed
from the backseat and I almost sighed out loud as her face popped
next to Eris.

“
I give it a week before I
have a guy. I hear Maine men like a little mystery in a good fuck.”
Carna yelled for her not to say that word and Selene rolled her
eyes sulking back to her cave. That didn’t stop Carna from looking
at her from the rear view and finishing her statement
though.

“
Selene, if your mother
were here right now she would
literally
zip your mouth shut
again
.” Carna looked
serious and I smirked as I pictured Selene with an actual zipper
across her lips.

*

The scenery went from busy green to
boring green in a matter of an hour, and more of a solemn green
twenty minutes after that until all I could see were the lush woods
of Maine as we exited the main road and any sign of life. From the
ramp you could see the whole town, a big white church on a hill of
a quiet little town. It was something you see in sappy love
stories, the setting was delicate and old, no hustle, no speed as
the sun reflected from the ocean blinded us the closer we got to
Main Street. I decided blinking was out of the question or I may
miss everything. Carna stopped at what appeared to be the only mom
and pop gas station and I stepped out to stretch my legs, as Eris
and Selene got out of the Van and stood beside Carna I could see
people inside the station begin pointing and ladies were whispering
to one another, while men actually backed away. No one would come
out and help us, and the sign clearly said that it was a full
service station. I turned to Carna, who looked just as confused as
I did, but handed me a credit card and asked me to go in and pay.
At first I said no way, I wasn’t walking into the lion’s den. She
tossed the card to me and pointed in the store as she began yelling
so they could hear her.

“
They are acting this way
purely on how we look, and the history the family has here, nothing
more Hun. They probably think we stole you for a sacrifice, I mean
really people come on!” I shook my head and walked into the station
to get away from the ranting’s of a mad woman more than anything
else. I stood at the counter and everyone was staring, but with
questioning eyes. No one got up to help me, so I began tapping the
card on the counter, a little louder as each minute passed by that
I could still hear Carna yelling from the parking lot. Finally I
felt a tap on my shoulder, turning around I was face to face with
an amazing black leather jacket that seemed to be at least six feet
something given where my eyes rested. I could smell a wonderful mix
of chainsaw oil, sawdust and grease coming off the jacket and knew
I was in trouble if I looked up. Instead, I quickly glanced down,
and it was worse. Tight jeans and a big ass belt buckle where the
perfect frame for his caged animal. I shook my head, what the hell
was I doing? I didn’t think like that ever. I picked my head up and
before me stood a blue eyed, dimple cheeked God.

“
I don’t work here but I
can help you with that, my name is Xander you must be new here.” I
looked around and no one would meet my eyes so I looked back at the
gorgeous man before me. “Because small town means everyone knows
you or no one does. Since I don’t know you I assume you are new.”
He smiled and looked me up and down with a reddening in his cheeks.
“I would certainly know you.” He smiled, showing off the matching
set to his dimple and I felt my knees buckle under the weight of
tension that had suddenly built inside me.

“
That’s credit.” I didn’t
know what to say and I panicked. He laughed as he swiped the card,
and waved it an older woman on the other side of the counter who I
took to be the owner.

“
I thought it probably was
since its plastic and not paper
darlin
.” I felt my cheeks get warm
and then heard more whispers from the other side of the station. I
made a face at them and he began to laugh.

“
The crazy old bats think
that your friends look like some people they know that’s all.” I
shook my head and let out a little sigh of relief.

“
That makes me feel better
since this is the first time any of us have been here.” I made sure
to say it loud enough for the room to hear me.

“
First time any of you have
been here?” He asked as the whispers quieted down and Xander handed
me back my card with a smile he said the one thing that would seal
our doom in this town.

“
I will come out and pump
the gas for you Ms. Grace.” One of the ladies gasped, and the elder
men took two more steps away from me. I looked at him almost afraid
to ask, but it came out before I could shove a boot in my
mouth.

“
How do they know me?” He
took my arm and we started to back out of the station, Xander
opened the door for me, I never turned around though. I couldn’t’
take my eyes of these crazy people. I could hear Carna still on a
tear as we got closer to the van.

“
Seriously don’t people
have better things to do than judge us on something’s that happened
here over a hundred years ago, none of that has anything to do with
us?” Xander smiled at everyone and began pumping the gas during
Carna’s speech and then she turned to him for a second opinion.
“Young man don’t you agree?” He smiled back at her, and Selene’s
whore sense began twitching as she began to slink around the van to
get a better look at the incredible specimen before us.

“
No disrespect intended at
all, but all of you
except
her.” He said, pointing at me, “Look just like
the witches described from my childhood bedtime stories. The fact
that you share the same name doesn’t sit well with some of the
older folks here in town, but don’t worry it will be yesterday’s
news in an hour when someone walks in with a tattoo.” He laughed,
showing his beautiful dimples and I swear I saw Selene try to
pounce on him. I rolled my eyes at her and got into the van before
I was a casualty in her mental assault. Carna got in and yelled for
Selene to get her ass in the van. I buckled myself in when I heard
a tap on the window. Xander was standing on the other side of the
door looking at me, he must need a tip. I rolled the window down
and grabbed a few dollars to hand him, instead he handed me a piece
of paper. I looked down and saw a gorgeous handwritten name and
phone number. I looked up and smiled.

“
You can call me anytime
and I can show you around town if you like, or I can just see you
over there later.” He winked at me and I was about to ask what he
meant as he smiled and asked, “Can I get a name?” I closed my hand
tight as I felt Selene’s eyes burning into the back of my head and
looked up at him with a smile.

“
Delilah, my name is
Delilah Grace.” Carna started the van and we drove off. I wondered
what he meant by “see you over there” where was he going to see me?
I couldn’t help myself and watched him through the side mirror and
he just stood still, watching us drive away. Carna grabbed my knee
and squealed with delight.

*

The air became heavy and the sky
darkened on the horizon as she drove away from me, clutching my
phone number in her hand. I knew that this meant the prophecy was
true, we all had our parts but mine was one I had dreaded since
childhood. Part of me had hoped this day would never come. I walked
back to my truck glaring at the faces inside the gas station; they
all knew who she was and why she was here. They should feel relief
at the sight of her fire red hair, but they still showed her their
fear. Starting the truck with a load of supplies for the Estate I
couldn’t help thinking of her face as she saw the looks from the
others, she had no idea what awaited her here. As a child my father
had told me the stories of the release of our curse, it was a
prophecy told by his father and his father before him. The legend
stated that one day a child would be born from lies and deceit,
this child would grow up in the dark of her path until such a day
came that the curse would take her mother from her, and she would
return to us. I had to get to my father and tell him that the day
had come. I drove out of town and began the scariest trip of my
life, I wasn’t sure I could hold my end of the bargain. Seeing her,
so sweet and kind made me question everything. I had never doubted
that as much as I hated my part, I would do it without a second
thought. She would be a Grace woman after all, it would be easy. I
never expected Delilah to be so innocent, and my father would see
my hesitation all over my face.

TWO

“
Oh honey, you have him
hooked and it may be a new record for a Grace woman. We have only
been in town ten minutes and you got a phone number girl good job.”
I smiled for maybe the third time in a long time and put my head
back to relax as we turned onto an old dirt road on the edge of
town. It had been worse than I thought as we had now made it
clearly through the entire town, no chain stores, no movie theatre,
and no hang outs. I was submerged in New England hell. The
brochures I had looked at said nothing about this, I checked my
cell and could almost make out one bar, I was going to end up
sending smoke signals to Ally, and they might get to her faster
than a text from here. The driveway we were now in was long but not
nearly as overgrown as I had expected after almost a hundred years
of no one living here exclusively. It made me think of what Xander
asked me about our first time here, something didn’t seem to add up
as we made our way through the perfectly landscaped road, was this
the first lie I had to question?

“
Carna, I thought you had
said that no one has lived here for decades?” She smiled as we
stopped in front of a very large, very grand gate.

“
We have a groundskeeper
that lives here with his son and has taken care of the property for
as long as I can remember, his whole family has been employed by us
over almost a hundred years, and they have a house on the estate.”
The estate, no one told me I would be living in an estate. “His
wife like his own mother passed away shortly after giving birth,
but we don’t’ really like to talk about that.” How did she know
about the grounds keepers’ family history if she had never spent
time here? Carna looked into the rearview and smiled at
Selene.

“
I believe his son is about
your age sweets, so don’t be too bitchy about the guy in town. You
can have this one.” She winked at me and then laughed as the gate
opened and we began our way into the estate. The hedges were
immaculate, I stared out the window trying to make out the hundreds
of animals and designs that lined this perfect driveway, Carna
tapped my knee and I looked up at my first sighting of the Grace
estate. It took my breath away, large fountain in the front with
two statues of naked male gods beside it. The house seemed as long
as a football field and looked to be four stories high in places
with a widow’s walk clearly visible from the ground. I suddenly
felt very small and insignificant. My nerves got the best of me as
I spun my ring feverishly and said the first thing that came to
mind.

“
Do I need to find a golden
ticket to get in?” Carna laughed and tapped my knee
again.

“
Believe it or not Ella
this is technically my first time here as well so I think we are
all a little awestruck at the moment.” Technically her first time
here, what the hell did that mean? I was getting more confused by
the minute, and spoke again before thinking.

“
I thought this was
the
family
home,
how is this
technically
your first time here?” She winked at me again and
took a deep breathe.

“
Ella you are going to
learn so much over the next few days I can only tell you that our
ancestors were not nice women, we have had to keep many secrets and
that’s why this house has been empty for so long, not until now did
we think it was safe to come here to stay. Only my mother remembers
this place as a child and even that was for a short time.” I opened
the door so she didn’t see my panicked face as my imagination began
to run away with me, she had said before that she didn’t know much
about this place, but now was telling me that she had to keep
secrets, and technically this was her first time here? I took a
deep breath and kept spinning my ring as I was almost run over by a
goddess running at me, she looked like she could be Carna’s twin
only her hair was longer and she had much larger breasts that
almost popped out as she ran at me. From behind me I heard Selene
yell out.