Mad Woman Rambles

“Wait! How do you know him?!” We exclaimed in unison.  

“You first,” Krystal demanded crossing her arms again. I opened my mouth to respond but then shut it. I didn’t think I should divulge my sordid past to her but her glare cut through any resistance. There was hurt and a measure of insecurity in the heat of her stare. I knew that look all too well.  

“Frack,” I swore under my breath. “He and I have a long, sordid history,” I explained waving her hand dismissively.  

“Go on. I have time. I am not going anywhere. You don’t get out of this that easily,” Krystal demanded, stalking closer to the image of original self. “This is my body, and he will….” 

“He will what?” I retorted uncrossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips.  

“Nothing,” Krystal halted her approach and looked away from me. I returned the glare she had given me earlier.  

“He and I have a sordid history as well,” Krystal sighed.  

“Hey, Earth to dummy,” Misty snapped her fingers in front of Krystal’s face. We blinked back into the present.  

“What?” I complained focusing on the irritated face in front of me.  

“Your client is waiting, and he creeps me out. You need to stop acting like a ditz and get rid of him. I think he is looking for something,” Misty said rubbing her arms looking to the back room. The curtain with the giant peacock on it shifted and shimmered momentarily.  

“Yeah, he does, doesn’t he?” I replied. “I’ll take care of him.” I made my way from behind the counter towards the back room. Before I got back there, I grabbed a huge colorful crystal before stopping in front of the curtain. I will definitely take care of him. Taking a deep breath, I pulled back the curtain and stopped short of entering the small space. Jona lounged on the plain chair. No, not lounged. He draped himself around the chair like a big jungle cat. All grace and low-key power.  

My breath caught in my throat. He was beautiful. All the high fae were. Being one of the high-crowned princes made him even more irresistible. Our eyes locked once again, and the corner of his mouth quirked up again causing things down low to tighten in very familiar ways. Bastard!  

“You are a beautiful creature,” Jona whispered in my ear. Somehow, I had been pulled into the room, and he stood behind me. Away from prying eyes, the curtain was drawn and the crystal discarded on the floor, completely forgotten. Something so familiar about him and not because of my sordid history with him. It appears Krystal’s history with him may have been just as scandalous. His tall stature overshadowing Krystal’s smaller frame. However, he managed to mold himself around her body. His arm a warm and heavy presence around her core, holding her tight. His sweet breath tickling her neck. “I have missed you. It has been far too long, Minerva,” he whispered. 

“Who is that?” I laughed as I tried to pry Jona’s hands from Krystal’s body. His grip tightened and we were pressed together tighter. I could feel every hard-won muscle in his body as it burned along the softness of this body.  

“Don’t play coy with me, Minerva,” he hissed smelling my hair. “I would know your essence anywhere.”  

I laughed and began to struggle again. “I don’t know who that person is. My name is Krystal, and you are in my shop. State your business and be on your way,” I stated as he loosened his arms, and I slipped out of them. I tried to put as much space between us as possible by moving to the other side of the tiny room. Breathing distance so I could think.  

“He knows it isn’t me. You might as well confess so we can end this,” Krystal said, sighing and crossing her arms yet again.  

“Absolutely not, Krystal! He is the reason we are in this situation in the first place. His jealousy made me into a vampire in the first place. I will not let him know where I am. I spent the better part of a millennium keeping my distance from him,” I finished, pacing in Krystal’s mind.  

“I don’t know what to tell you. He knows you are here and since you won’t let me take back over, I can’t help us,” Krystal replied trying to look bored.  

“Then that is what we will do!” I announced rounding on Krystal’s mental image.  

“What?” she asked when I reached out and grabbed her by the arms.  

“Minerva, I don’t have all day. Actually, I do but I don’t want to waste it here. Come out, so we can talk,” Jona called.  

“You can take over,” I said flinging Krystal’s conscience to the fore front.  

“Holy Hells!” Krystal yelped as she blinked trying to refocus to her own eyes. Brilliant green eyes stared back at her, a little wider than before.   

“Krystal?” Jona questioned, testing the air before doubling over with laughter. Krystal scrubbed her face and ran her fingers through her blonde hair.  

“What’s so funny?” she asked annoyed at the whole situation.  

“Where do I begin?” he said returning to his seat as before. “First, my dear cousin comes and visits you and drama ensues. Secondly, her visit to you gets you in trouble with Korbin and the Peach Kiss. Something you didn’t need. Third, when your aunt comes to rescue you, you find yourself the pack mule for a djinn. It’s rather amusing. I had to come see for myself. Though the whole pack mule thing I didn’t know about until just now. How interesting. You were never a dull person; I will give you that.”  

Krystal stood there, arms crossed, maw agape. “How could you possibly know any of that?”  

“Why do you think I am here, my dear?” he replied, flipping his braid over his shoulder. “You have the relic, and we need it. Seeing who your hitchhiker is simply ices the cake. She and I have some catching up to do. Would you like to get rid of her?” 

“Yes, please,” Krystal replied without thinking.  

“Frack!” I shout as Jona stands from his chair and lays his hand on Krystal’s forehead. Not again, I think before darkness envelops me for the thousandth time. 

“Frack! My head,” I mumbled to myself. “Where am I?” I questioned looking around the dank darkness. My head swam as I tried to sit up from my prone position on the floor.  

“You can’t be serious,” an angry voice came from the darkness. I blinked slowly allowing my eyes to adjust. A young blonde woman with piercing violet eyes was staring daggers at me. She approached me, stopping in front of me, crossing her arms and continued to glare. I shook my head only to regret it a second later as the pounding increased from a dull throb to a rock concert.  

“I am serious. I don’t know,” she replied talking to something off to the right of me though I didn’t think anyone was in this place with us.  

“This is really, off-putting. Who are you?” I asked as my world started to come back into focus.  

“I am the person whose body you just hijacked when Korbin killed you,” the blonde huffed. “Which I do not appreciate. You might want to apologize because now I can’t seem to function with you in my head.” Things cleared up quickly as I scrambled to my feet and looked around the darkness.  

“Frack! This is not good,” I muttered to myself. I thought he would miss me more than he would want to kill me. I thought to myself with a sigh.  

“That’s the understatement of the century! What are we going to do?!” the blonde shouted at me before she took up pacing in front of me.  

“He shouldn’t have wanted to kill me,” I stated feeling indignant. “You think you know someone after a couple of centuries.”  

“That is your takeaway from this situation?! He shouldn’t have wanted to kill me,” she mocked me not breaking her pacing. “You are a piece of work. No wonder he killed you,” she stated.  

“Who are you again?” I asked as I tried to remember the last time I found myself in this situation. It had been at least a thousand years. This is such an amateur problem. I would get laughed at by the other djinn if they ever found out.  

Korbin killing me again was a setback I didn’t count on. Honestly, I didn’t think he had it in him. He was such a simp the last time we crossed paths. I had him wrapped around my pinkie finger. I guess I should have expected it. Our last parting was not the best and I suffered the consequences then when he killed me the first time. Some people just didn’t know how to share with other people. Time should have healed that old wound. He is such a baby.  

“My name is Krystal. Krystal Waters and I would love it if you left my body,” the blonde replied with a stomp of her foot.  

“Huh? Oh, yes. I will as soon as I—.” I responded realizing she had answered my earlier question. Then it dawned on me. “Wait, you are the witch I have been looking for!” I smiled, perking up and staring at the image of Krystal.  

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” I finished before blinking up into the bright sunlight trying to focus my new eyes. Something was different. There were fast moving blurbs rushing past my vision.  

“What the–?” I whispered pushing myself up into a seated position again. I couldn’t go very far though. This body was being restricted in some way, and I had to figure out how so I could get free.  

Once I fully gained control over this body my surroundings came into sharp focus. I could feel the steel around me and the battered well-loved cloth of the seat I sat in. The scent of patchouli filled the space and burned my nose as the sunlight streaming into the windows blinded us. We were moving at a high speed. I got the sense we were traveling in a car down the highway.  

“Thank the gods you are back,” the strange yet familiar voice sighed in relief.  

“Uh yeah,” I replied, realizing it wasn’t the voice I was accustomed to hearing at least not in this body. I touched my shared face, expecting wrinkles only to brush against smooth, soft skin, an upturned nose and large round eyes.  

‘Holy Hells! It worked,’ I thought to myself. All these years I didn’t think I was strong enough to keep the body of a witch especially with her still in here with me. The power thrumming through her is so immense. I could go back and bring Korbin to heel. Make him pay for killing me again. That bastard! 

 “Are you okay, Krystal? I came as quickly as I could. Aunt Stormi couldn’t hold Korbin for long. We had to bounce,” the stranger relayed with concern coloring her voice. 

I just shook my head, pulling the seat upright. I adjusted to get more comfortable and pulled down the sun visor. A quiet gasp escaped my bow lips as I looked into the tiny mirror. Startled violet eyes stared back at me, large and filled with fear. I blinked again and smiled. The face was a little dirty and had some blood spattered but it was young and fresh. I fought the urge to cackle. I was going to have a lot of fun with this one. 

 “Yo, Krystal?! Earth to fartknocker,” the stranger said breaking my fascinated admiration of my new toy.  

“Yeah, I’m good,” I replied a little confused at the name calling. “Who are you again?”  

“Great, Aunt Stormi did say you would have a little bit of confusion,” she replied slamming on the breaks. The stranger turned to me flipping her dark hair.  

Not a bad dye job but not her natural color. I thought. Pale purple eyes stared back at me. Shared nose and facial features, even though she looked a little older around the edges.  

“You know how to get yourself in all kinds of shit, don’t you? I. Am. Misty. Your older, bolder, more beautiful, well-travelled sister,” the stranger announced. “Now let’s get in the store before people start to mistake you for the homeless,” Misty finished and opened her car door to leave.  

“A sister, huh? This complicates things. I will – “I muttered to myself.  

“Don’t even think about it. She is my sister, and you won’t be able to fool her long. Get into my shop, so we can find you a fracking body. This ends today,” Krystal’s voice interrupted my thoughts as she turned her head to glare at her reflection in the mirror. 

“We’ll see about that,” I replied with a smirk before closing the sun visor and leaving the car.