Chapter 13
Micheal Deveroe wanted to reach out and comfort his daughter; He took some comfort in the fact that her mate was Noah Lucas, a well-known Tiger shifter from a prominent family.
Not that status mattered to him. No, he likes that should trouble come their way, he would have resources to give him back up and keep his little girl safe.
Enid recognized him in his shadow form, but she didn't give him away. There was a bad feeling in that chapel, and he would have liked to go and investigate what it was, but he didn't want to alert anyone of his presence.
He had a pretty good idea who the Killer was; he was not happy; that dog was supposed to be put down long ago. He wanted to know who freed him, and he knew that it wasn't going to be easy to go after The Ghost.
He did it once he would do it again. He knew something else as well; if he needed help, he could go to the sheriff.
He isn't of their world, but he does know of it; it has been a long time, but perhaps he should introduce himself. Give him some much-needed information to help him along in the investigation.
Now granted, he wasn't going to let the fiend go to prison; he was going to kill him in the worst way possible. He would not rely on the council this time to do justice; he would hand it out to that sick fuck personally.
____________________
Daisy was in her own little world at the moment; the people came and went. However, all she could see was her Aunt Clara and all the happy memories they shared.
The Saturday night cookie-making and pizza party. Watching old movies and even tossing popcorn at each other and spent a day on the shore of the lake looking for shells or anything they could to make a collage for the day.
Learning to ride her bike and Aunt Clara teaching her to drive a car. So many things, bedtime stories, climbing trees, making forts in the forest. Just memories. All of them were floating by on a sea of her tears.
She vaguely remembered Noah getting her to the car and Enid sitting next to her in the back seat. It was time to see Aunt Clara to her final place on this earth. She didn't want to go to the cemetery. It felt so final.
It had to be done, and she was going to do it. She felt strange all day, she knew she could feel several strange auras, but she didn't have it in her to pay them any attention.
She made a mental note of them in her mind so she would know if she ever came across them again.
______________
Sheriff Thompson wasn't sure what to think when Mr. Lucas came up to him and told him that there was a dead body in the choir balcony of the Chapel.
When he went up there through the back way so no one would get alerted during the funeral, he knew who it was as soon as he saw the body.
Edna Johnson looked like she had been through hell before she died. Her face was stuck in a pose of pain and horror. It was as if the killer wanted her to look that way and froze it just so.
The red dress was made of silk, very expensive, and outdated in today's fashion. She was embalmed, but it wasn't professionally done. It looked odd in places like it wasn't finished. It made her look bumpy, and the areas that didn't get embalmed were decaying.
He called for his deputy, and they waited till the funeral proceeded to the cemetery before calling the coroner to come and investigate and take the body away.
In all his years, he had never seen something so grotesque; only the hands of evil itself could do it. He wasn't sure if even the devil could be this cruel. This was the work of someone who had killed before and not just one or two times.
This was done by an evil killer that was getting bored with his usual manner of killing and needed more now to get excited.
God, he wished that the world would stop creating these sick fucking monsters. Hasn't the world got enough assholes in it?
___________________
Enid chose to bury Aunt Clara in a peaceful and beautiful place close to a majestic old oak tree. There were also wild forget-me-nots scattered around the base of the tree. It was perfect, and it lightened her heart a little to know this is where her Aunt would rest.
The service went by in a blur as she stood there looking down at the coffin in the ground; she tossed a white rose and some forget-me-nots on top as others came to do the same.
The ride home was quiet and sad. No one felt like talking, though, for different reasons. Noah didn't want to tell them what he found on the balcony; Enid didn't want to talk about Daisy's parents. Daisy didn't want to talk.
____________________
As soon as the car came to a stop at the front steps, Daisy was already on her way to her room, she wanted out of her clothes, and she wanted something comfortable to wear while she just sank into the big plush sofa in her room.
That is precisely what she was doing when Noah knocked on her door. She didn't answer. She wasn't sure she wanted to be around anyone right now.
The door opened anyway, and there stood Noah holding a big tray of different kinds of finger food and snacks. There were also two bottles of Pepsi and what looked like a movie disc case.
He set everything down on the table in front of her and then sat next to her on the couch.
"I know you want to be just left alone right now, and I understand that, but I think you have been alone long enough. It is time for you to come mingle with the rest of us."
"I brought us a bunch of anything I could find and a funny movie to watch, what do you say? Want to binge on some bad for you snacks and watch a movie with me?"
She did something he wasn't expecting; he expected perhaps a small yes or a no. I want to be alone. Instead, she leaped into his arms and wrapped herself around him.
"Please, I know this is very forward of me, but please, Noah, please..."
"Please, what, Daisy, what do you want me to do?"
"Please, Noah, make this pain go away, take away this coldness that is in my soul. Please help me to stop crying. Just hold me and don't let go."
He wasn't sure what she wanted him to do, but he tightened his arms around her and tried to move his body around hers as much as possible. It was then that Raja started to purr.
She stopped crying for a minute and listened. She looked at Noah and his chest. She shrugged her shoulders and put her head on his chest. As soon as she was comfortable, she was lulled into sleep by Raja.
****Mind Link****
"Raja, why did you do that? She is going to freak out once her mind clears, and then what are we going to do?"
"I don't know. I couldn't stand to see her in so much pain, she needed sleep, and she needed comfort. We provided that for her. Now hold her while she sleeps. We will figure out what to tell her when she asks."
"There are some very dark things going on in this town, Noah; I don't like for our mate to be in the middle of it."
"I know, Raja, I think once things get calmer, maybe as soon as tomorrow night, we are going hunting to see what we can find. We also have our mother to worry about as well. There is something wrong with her. She isn't playing with a full deck anymore."
"We are going to have to protect our mate from her, Noah. She would go crazy if she knew that we have our mate, and it isn't one of those sluts she likes to pick out."
"I know Raja. That is why I want to claim Daisy as soon as possible without her thinking I took advantage of her in her time of weakness. That way, it won't matter. Mother could do nothing about it."
_______________
Raymond cringed when he was told who was here to see him again. Judith Lucas, the wealthy shifter socialite, was back for more. She was just here a month ago. Is it wearing off that fast for her? That could only mean one thing, the bitch was already crazy before she took the Elixir.
She walked through into his office like she owned the place; he laughed to himself; she had bought so much of the Elixir that her money was the benefactor of his new office.
"Mr. Deslaires, I know it is sooner than usual, but I need more Elixir, at least three bottles of it this time."
"Three more bottles? Mrs. Lucas, It hasn't even been a full month since the last delivery. Is there something wrong?"
"I NEED THREE MORE BOTTLES OF THAT ELIXIR. ARE YOU GOING TO SELL THEM TO ME OR NOT!"
"Of course, Mrs.Lucas, relax. It was only a simple question made out of curiosity."
She let out an impatient huff noise as he went to his room safe to take out three more bottles. Smirking to himself, he grabbed one more bottle.
He set all four down on the table as she handed over the money.
"I only needed three."
"Yes, I know Mrs. Lucas, but you are such a good customer that I decided to give you a free bottle; soon, my assistant will bring me purer ingredients that I will need for my supreme Elixir."
She looked at him in intense interest as if he said he could bring God down from the heavens to sit with her.
That familiar twinkle lit in her eyes, and he knew he had her hook, line, and sinker.
"How much is the new Elixir going to cost?"
"For you, Mrs.Lucas, since you are such a wonderful customer, I will give you a discount on what you pay now plus ten percent more."
"I will pay you now in advance to reserve me the first two bottles."
She put the money down on the table.
"Very well, Mrs. Lucas. I will reserve the first two just special for you."
With that, she left the office.
He chuckled to himself; she wouldn't make it through the last four bottles she had with the symptoms she was displaying. Just a matter of time before things turn ugly for the Lucas family.