Chapter 10
Vicki and Mike sat on the couch making plans for their future with Henry while Bettie sat there, barely keeping her mouth closed as she listened.
Dear Lord, let Coreen get here soon before I tear out my hair. Or perhaps, I believe the kids call it hurl. Whichever comes first. Her head turned as she heard a stirring in the bedroom through the door, as did the duo on the sofa. They looked at each other and jumped up, ran to the doors, opened them, and smiled as they saw Henry sitting up in bed.
He held out his arms, fingers bending to bring them to him and said, "Loves!" and they joined him. He smiled and reached for Vicki's mouth with one hand while reaching for Mike's with the other. He kissed her right and properly, staking his claim on her and then Mike in turn.
Bettie just sat in the living room, silently pounding her fist against her forehead, not daring to get up and go see what was happening. I don't want to know. I'm old now, I get tired. She didn't have a choice when it came to hearing, and hear she did. The sounds of kissing and heavy breathing and "Henry" and "My Loves" in both male and female voices reached her ears and she felt herself grow nauseous.
She wasn't jealous, per se, it was just so strange thinking about Henry in the other room, having "fun" with both Vicki and Mike, considering how many times he had mentioned he would have no problem ripping off vital parts of Mike's anatomy at any given point in time. She knew Henry wanted Vicki and she knew Henry was bisexual, but it was still disconcerting.
A knock on the door startled her out of her own thoughts and brought a Thank God to her lips. Racing to the door, she opened it, "Core-" and stopped when she saw it wasn't Coreen at all, but a dark haired woman she thought looked familiar, standing there with a panicked look on her face. "May I help you?"
The woman took out a pad and pen and wrote,
I need to see Henry. Is he here? It's important. Someone's aft-.The pen stopped moving as her jaw dropped and Bettie turned to see what she was looking at, even though she was pretty sure she already knew. As she turned, her hand moved to the side of her head. She didn't bother to cover her eyes, because, really, there was nothing she hadn't already seen.
She did however, step between the girl and the vision of Henry and Mike shirtless with Vicki wearing Henry's brown and blue striped shirt. She hated that shirt.
Henry had his arms around the both of them and when he saw Bettie and then Sinead, he said, "I'm glad you're both here." He nodded. "Yes, even you Sinead. I think it's only proper you two should be the first to know that Mike and Vicki are moving in. We're going to live together!"
All Bettie could do was stand there and stare at the three half dressed people in front of her and the woman who clearly was unable to speak. So this is Sinead, she thought, well, she has a certain floozy appeal I suppose, but Henry, you could have done so much better.
"Well?' Henry said, almost giddy. "Say something! Aren't you excited for us? We're going to have a great time, now that we're together. I love them so much, I can't wait until we get settled. I think I'll open up the condo next door and expand this place, perhaps add a sitting area to the bedroom." Bettie had never actually seen the gay side of Henry, and while it didn't bother her per se, it had never really been that overt before.
"Henry!" The sharpness of the tone, along with the look on her face, stopped Henry's babbling.
"Yes, Bettie?"
"Have you noticed anything unusual about your friend Sinead?"
"She's not his friend, and she almost got me killed last year," Vicki spit out,
"Mike and Henry as well." She wrapped her arms around Henry and kissed him. "That's not gonna fly. Nobody hurts my Henry and gets away with it."
"Be that as it may, Vicki, she has been struck dumb and she's trying to tell us something. And, if her hopping up and down like a deranged tree frog is any indication, I would say it's quite important." Bettie had come to like the detective a lot, and had been hoping she and Henry would get together, but really, this was beginning to wear.
"Fine," Vicki said, "What is it Sinead? What trouble are you here to stir up this time?"
While they had been talking, Sinead had been busy scribbling furiously and finally finished, tearing the note paper off the spiral and handing it to Bettie.
"What does it say," the three of them looked at Bettie.
"Oh, my. Well, this could be a problem."
"What, Bettie?" Henry had a slight look of concern on his face, but not much of one. He was too busy wiggling under the touch of his two humans to be really concerned about such mundane things as notes and the problems that could be told by them. Bettie stood there, shaking her head while she watched Henry, Vicki and Mike basically pet on each other.
She shook her head, "Sinead says there is a rogue witch out there named Lucy, who has "the hots" for you, Henry. She's the one who's thrown the spell that has the three of you all over each other, and she's determined to make you her vampire lover." She paused for dramatic effect. "FOREVER."
The three of them looked at Sinead, then Bettie and said in surroundsound, "What spell?!" Mike piped up, "Is it so wrong for us to be together? Between the three of us, we're the perfect couple."
"Did you miss the part where the witch cast the spell and wants you, Henry? She doesn't want Vicki or Mike, she wants YOU and nobody else. And if this note is true…" She paused as Sinead stomped her foot, "I apologize, dear, of course it's true. She'll be here soon to free you two" pointing at Mike and Vicki, "or possibly kill you, I don't know what exactly, and enslave Henry forever."
She dropped her arms to her side, "We really need Coreen to get back here with the book so we can free you three and deal with this situation." She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers, "And could you please stop fondling each other, it's …..distracting.." Sinead handed her another note, "And Sinead says it's just 'gross' and while I don't particularly care for the word, I see her point."
The five of them stood in the foyer, our heroes continually touching each other, refusing to believe all that good stuff was the result of a spell. Bettie was silently praying for Coreen to get back with the book and Sinead, well, Sinead was pissed that she couldn't talk, and really pissed to have to stand there and watch Henry, Mike and especially Vicki touching each other while she stood there mute and unwelcome.
Guess what happens next? That's right.
There was a frantic knock at the door, Coreen on the other side calling out, "Hey, guys, I'm back and I've got company."
Chapter 10
"Oh, thank God." The words slipped out unbidden from Bettie, and she headed for the door, only to be stopped by Sinead. "What dear?" Sinead was scribbling madly, and handed the note to Bettie with a look of both panic and fear. "The witch is with Coreen? Are you sure?" Sinead rolled her eyes, while she wrote, "There's no need for all the eye rolling, young lady." But then she looked at the dynamic trio, still standing there, basically ignoring their surroundings.
"Guys! I really hate standing out here in the hall way with my company! Could you please open the door for me and my company."
Henry could hear Coreen outside, "I don't know, Lucy, I'm sure someone's home, the sun hasn't been down that long. He's probably getting dressed before he comes to the door."
"You said he'd be here, Coreen. You don't want to disappoint me, do you?"
"Of course not." Henry could hear the nervousness in Coreen's voice and the underlying tension in Lucy's.
Henry spoke, "She does have someone with her Bettie, I can smell her. I can't tell if she's a witch though. And she sounds a little tense."
"All right. I'll answer the door, the four of you will go into the bedroom and wait until I call for you."
"I don't know, if this woman is as dangerous as Sinead thinks she is, perhaps I should stay out here and protect you."
"Henry," Mike placed a hand on the vampire's arm, "I don't want you taking any chances of being hurt by this whack job. There's no spell, clearly, but she might think there is and who knows? She might have something that could do you harm."
The concern in Mike's eyes touched Henry, and he reached up to cup the detective's face. "That's so sweet of you, love, but I think I can handle some addled female."
Vicki agreed with Mike, "He's right, Henry, crazy people can do things 'normal' people can't. You should come with us to the bedroom. Nothing can happen to you. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't live without you." Even Bettie rolled her eyes with that one.
"Fine my loves, but only because you asked me too. I'm a prince, I don't run."
They turned to head to the bedroom, and Bettie called after them, "while you're in there, why don't you put on some clothes, instead of taking them off." Bettie watched until the quartet was in the bedroom with the door closed, shook her head and turned to the door.
Putting on her best I'm a Professor, I wouldn't lie smile, she opened the door.
"Bettie, hi!. I'd like you to meet Lucy. Lucy this is Dr. Sagara. She's a friend of mine and Henry's. He would be very unhappy if anything bad happened to her."
"Why would anything happen to her?"
"No reason. Just thought I'd mention it."
"Where's Henry? You said he'd be here." Lucy's eyes narrowed.
Bettie spoke up, "He'll be right back, he just went out to get a bite to eat. Would you like something to drink my dear, a water, perhaps some tea?" Bettie could see Coreen was trying to angle herself around behind Lucy, and kept talking, keeping her distracted.
"No. Thank You. I just need to see He-" The witch hit the floor like a brick and when Bettie looked up, she saw Coreen standing there, with the statue Henry had sitting on the sideboard.
"Jeez, I didn't kill her did I?" She bent down to check Lucy's pulse. "Nope, thank God. Not that I didn't want to, you should have heard the trash she was talking on the way over. Henry loves me, blah, blah, blah. We're destined to be together forever, yada, yada, yada." She pointed at the girl. "She is totally delusional."
"Clearly." Bettie said, then spoke towards the bedroom, "You can come out now. We need to secure her somewhere before she wakes up."
The doors opened to the bedroom, and Henry, Vicki and Mike stepped out, buttoning shirts, tucking them in, zipping pants.
Sinead came out behind them, a little green around the edges, and walked to Bettie, "I am never doing that again. Those three are disgusting! They can't keep their hands off of each other and they don't care if they have an audience or not." She rubbed her tummy, "Blech. I need some Pepto. I'm going home." She looked at Henry and company and said, "I'm done with you lot, you're nothing but troublemakers. Don't ever come to my shop again, unless you want me to turn you into plants." With that proclamation, Sinead left.
"Well, obviously the no talking spell has worn off. Probably when Lucy became unconscious and could no longer control it. Henry, get out the cuffs and secure her. And don't forget to tape the mouth so she can't speak."
A few minutes later, Mike and Henry exited the bedroom, Lucy secured to the place of her dreams, Henry's bed.
Mike said, "She looks harmless enough. Is she the one who thinks she put a spell on us?"
"THINKS? THINKS she put a spell on you?" Coreen sputtered. "Mike, you are under a spell whether you want to believe it or not. You all are!"
Three voices spoke as one, "NO! We're not." Henry continued, "and I really wish you two would stop saying that. It's beginning to annoy me." The three of them sat down on the sofa.
"Fine. There's no spell, bat boy." Coreen flounced over to the chair by the fireplace. She heard the words, "Quiesco dormito," and watched in awe as Mike and Vicki fell asleep, heads resting on Henry's relaxed shoulders because he, too, and had closed his eyes.
"That is so cool! Can you show me how to do that?"
"Coreen, focus." She looked around, "Where is Henry's computer?"
"I don't know, but mine's right here," she pointed to her bag, and pulled it out.
"Good. Power it up, please. We must work quickly, the sleeping spell won't last long."
Bettie stood in front of Vicki, Henry and Mike. She sat gently down on the coffee table and settled the lap top in front of her. Holding Vicki's hand, she spoke the words, "Tollo sustali sublatum, nam retineo." Then moved down a little and repeated the words, holding Henry's hand. She moved to Mike, took his hand, and said, "Tollo sustali sublatim, nam alieno."
Coreen looked at her, "Why did you say something different to Mike? What did you do?"
"Do you really think Mike would be able to live with knowing that he not only fell in love with Henry, but had sex with him as well? We want the good detective back, but not suicidal. Or homicidal."
"True that." Coreen nodded vigorously, "Good thinking."
When she was done with the three on the couch, she turned to Lucy, trussed up in the bedroom, and looked down on the now semi-conscious woman. "You caused a great deal of trouble, my dear, so what do you say we try to make your life a little better?"
Bettie spoke the words over the witch, hoping that the invocation to go forth from this place, not remembering what had happened or who and what Henry Fitzroy was. When she was done, she removed the tape from Lucy's mouth and the handcuffs and gently shook her awake. "Child, are you all right?" She patted the girls arm. "You fainted and the door man helped you. If you're feeling up to it, you should go home and rest. We called a cab for you."
Lucy sat up, looking around and shrunk back from Bettie. "Who are you people, are you some kind of stalker psychos, kidnapping innocent people off the street?"
"Not at all. In fact, if you feel up to it, you can head downstairs now. Greg has a cab waiting for you."
"All right." Lucy climbed out of the bed, eyes never leaving Bettie or Coreen and moving so quickly to the door, she never even noticed our heroes on the sofa. She would have a lot to talk to her therapist about come Wednesday at 3 p.m. Especially once she got home and saw how she'd decorated her apartment.
Bettie closed the door behind Lucy, and let out the breath she knew she had been holding, but couldn't make her lungs seem to expel. "All right. Now we just need to wake them," she pointed at the sofa, "up and see if it worked. Cross your fingers."
"And my toes."
Bettie and Coreen each perched in a chair and waited.
Mike was the first to awaken, and looked around in confusion, a look of worry crossing his face, "Why am I holding Fitzroy's hand?"
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