Chapter 108
More hours, more pages. I wasn't finding the right Zaubertrank, but I could make a potion to change eye color, gain weight, grow taller, and a few that would produce an extra body part. None of these had Detective Swagger falling for a Hexenbiest. I glanced over at Monroe, who was curled up asleep on the cushioned bench in the corner. After being awake for almost two days, he couldn't keep his eyes open and had finally passed out. I briefly thought about Nick. Hopefully he was okay and had gotten a good night's sleep. He'd had such a horrible day. They both had.
Rosalee was massaging her temples as she pored through another book. I was trying hard to keep my eyes open as I sat across from her at the table.
"I found it," she softly said.
My ears perked up, and I looked in her direction. Had I dreamed her saying it?
"I found it!" she said louder this time.
"You did?" I asked to be sure I heard correctly.
With eyes wide, she nodded slowly. I stood up as Rosalee spun the book around in my direction. "Le mort pour l'amour," she said with worry etched in her voice.
"Death for Love," I gravely replied. French I had no trouble with, but regardless of the language this one was in, it didn't sound good. Oh, poor Detective Swagger was in over his head. I woke up Monroe.
"What... Where am I?" he murmured, but then he saw my face.
"Rosalee found the Zaubertrank," I exclaimed. "It's bad. Really bad!"
Monroe got up and read the book. "Oh, dude. Hank's knockin' on heaven's door if we can't cure him soon." Monroe ran a hand though his wild, curly hair. "You know, I've heard the phrase, 'kill 'em with kindness,' but, man, killing someone with love? I mean, that's some twisted, mumbo jumbo she's pulling." He turned to me. "You gotta call Nick. And can you please spare me all that lovey-dovey stuff?"
"I'll just call him," Rosalee interjected. We both nodded at her. That was probably for the best, because I really wanted some lovey-dovey stuff.
Turning the book, I looked over the Zaubertrank again while Rosalee talked with Nick about coming back to the spice shop. Amongst the list of ingredients was blood of the deceived and deceiver. Blood? How disgusting!
"He'll be here soon," Rosalee said as she hung up the phone. "We need to work fast on this antidote."
I glanced down at my watch. It was almost eleven in the morning. Fortunately, I was supposed to be working from home today. I really wanted to confront Adalind. What she had done to all of us was beyond evil. Maybe I could grab some lunch and have a little chat with the Bitch Witch myself.
I turned to Rosalee. "What can we do to help?" Detective Swagger needed help, and fast. Maybe I ought to stay here instead.
"Nothing right now. The beginning portions I can do on my own. It's going to take some time to make."
"How much time?" Monroe asked.
"Hours, maybe seven or eight," she replied. "So the sooner I start, the better." Monroe and I looked at each other. It was going to be a long day.
"I need to go to work for a bit, but I'll be back soon," I said while walking toward the door. If Rosalee didn't need me here, then I'd see Adalind. My hand froze on the door handle. Crap, my car was at Nick's trailer. He brought us over here last night. I turned to Monroe. "Could I get a lift?" I asked sweetly.
"Uh, yeah. I suppose." He stretched out his back as he got up. He was missing his routine today. Not good. Not good at all.
"We'll be back soon," I said to Rosalee, who was already pulling ingredients from the shelves.
Monroe grunted as I latched my seat belt, and I turned to his red eyes. "You smell like him," he said with a growl. "It's all over you and, you know, this small space amplifies it. And it's, like… Well, it's driving me a little batty right now to be honest, man. I'm really having to control my instincts."
"I'm sorry," I replied almost in a whisper. "We're going to be able to move past this once Rosalee gets the antidote, right?" I asked as Monroe began to drive. If only Monroe had a visor mirror so I could see what was on my tongue.
Monroe scratched at his head. "I dunno, Renée. I mean, for you to have feelings for someone else... especially for Nick... Oh man, I don't even wanna wrap my head around what else you guys have already done with each other... or, uh, to each other." He briefly squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. "I'm trying to understand it's the Zaubertrank, but, man, it's brutal."
"I'd never hurt you like this purposefully." I reached for his arm. "And even with the Zaubertrank, my feelings for you stayed true. That has to mean something, right?"
"It means something, yeah, but it doesn't make the rest go away," Monroe said with an odd frown.
My heart dropped to my stomach. "I know I can't erase it." I leaned into his shoulder.
"I realize this isn't your fault, Hun." He grabbed my hand. "But the Zaubertrank didn't make you lie to me every time you went over there and..." he growled instead of completing his sentence.
"No, you're right," I replied solemnly. "It didn't."
"That just exacerbated the situation, you know?" he said in a barbed tone. "And it goes back to the whole trust thing. I mean, if you'll lie to me about this, then, you know, what else will you lie about?"
He was right. I played a horrible game when I should've just told him. Maybe if I had, we could've already figured out what was really going on before it got out of hand.
"But how do you tell someone you love someone else when you also…?" I sucked in my breath. No, now was not the time to tell him. He was too frustrated. "Every feeling I have for you is still here." I touched my heart reflexively. "None of those feelings ever went away. This Zaubertrank ripped my heart in two directions, Monroe. I've been beside myself with guilt and regret and so many other feelings. And even now… Even though I know it's a potion, those feelings are still there, and that makes it ten times worse." I held back my tears. It wasn't fair to cry when he had every right to be angry.
"You could've tried at least, man. I mean, how did you expect to keep this going if you hadn't found out it was a Zaubertrank? Were you just going to keep sneaking around indefinitely?"
"No. But, my head was too jumbled to come up with a safe solution. If I'd told you, then you would've just tried to kill him. But that happened anyway, so…" I let out a sigh. "This hasn't been fun for me, you know that, right?" Okay, some of it was, but now was not the time to display it.
"Well, it definitely wasn't fun for me either walking in on you two." He growled again. "Nick should've killed that damn Hexenbiest when he had the chance."
"You mean he had an opportunity to kill her?" Nick never mentioned that part, either.
"Yeah. There was some case involving Mellifers murdering Hexenbiests, and she was one of the ones they were, you know, trying to murder."
Oh, wow. So, that was the story Adalind had told me about a guy saving her from a bee sting. Hank. It all made sense now.
Monroe continued. "The Mellischwuler herself tried to warn Nick about impending dangers, but instead of taking out the Hexenbiest, he iced the Mellischwuler instead."
"He killed a Mellischwuler?" I gasped. "Oh, that's real bad."
"Well, he was kinda new at the time, and he viewed the situation like any cop would; the Mellischwuler was about to kill someone, so, you know, he took out the offender and saved the victim. Too bad the victim in this instance was a Hexenbiest that's bent on making his life a living hell. And our lives, too, for that matter."
"She's not very grateful, obviously," I chided. "We'll fix this though. Well... Rosalee will fix it."
"I just gotta know… Well, I really don't wanna know, but I'm going to ask anyway…" Monroe stammered. "Did you and Nick, you know… Umm…?"
I knew what he was getting at. "No." The heat crept up my cheeks. "We barely made it to second base." A home run would have been better, but I shook my thoughts away. This was a potion, not real love.
"Oh… Ohh!" Monroe let out a relieved sigh. "Good. Okay then." He slapped the steering wheel and smiled, then turned toward me quickly. "Second base still means clothes on, right?"
I awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, the good parts remained covered."
He nodded. "Then that's good."
"You'll forgive Nick, right? This isn't his fault either."
"I'm helping him, aren't I?" he replied with a slight growl. "I mean, I know he didn't deliberately fall for you or anything, but right now I'm just trying to… Hell, I don't know what I'm trying to do, actually."
"He's your best friend, so you gotta let this one go," I said calmly. "Threatening him won't stop the Zaubertrank. I wish it did, but that's just going to cause another fight."
"Man, I've told you before, he's not my best friend. Good friend, maybe, but best friend? Nuh-uh." He shook his head adamantly. "And, you know, he started it with acting like he and you had these, like, private conversations I wasn't in the know about."
"Be the better man, and don't let what he says affect you," I reasoned. It took everything I had to say that. "Even with Rosalee's help with the concentration cure, neither one of us are still thinking clearly. So however you want to define your relationship, Nick is still your friend, so please don't lose that because we were poisoned, either."
"Just give me a little time with all of this, okay?" He let out a hard breath. "This has been kinda, like, traumatic, you know?"
"I understand," I simply replied. Best not to push the issue anymore than I already had.
We continued to drive in silence. The car was just too quiet, so I sang 'La Vie en Rose' in French as Sabrina did with Linus in the car.
"Des yeux qui font baisser les miens.
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche.
Voilà le portrait sans retouche.
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens.
Il me dit des mots d'amour.
Des mots de tous les jours.
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
C'est toi pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie.
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie.
Quand il me prend dans ses bras.
Il me parle tout bas.
Je vois la vie en rose…"
"Back to 'La Vie en Rose' again, huh?" he asked. "You know, you sing that beautifully."
"It's a beautiful song, and it holds quite a bit of meaning." I replied softly. "Bogart's bowtie in Sabrina made me think of you when I was watching it last night."
"It was plaid, right?"
I laughed. "Yeah, it was."
"I told you they were cool. You know, I own a few solid ones too, though," he added.
"Maybe I'll see the whole collection sometime." Perhaps they were in the same closet with all the whips and chains. "So, do you really have Edith Piaf on vinyl?" I asked with a grin, changing the subject before I thought any more about his closet.
"Oh, yeah." Monroe smirked as he turned left, the steering wheel sliding through his fingers. "I wouldn't make that up. I have quite a bit on vinyl actually." He had all those records under his player, but Edith Piaf? Yeah, that was still really sexy. "So, umm, did Nick not even pay attention to the movie?" he grumbled out. "I mean, he sure didn't seem to recognize that song."
"I didn't watch it with him," I awkwardly replied. "Besides, that's not his kind of movie."
"Yeah, I'm sure he's more of a Die Hard fan... Well, okay, that's a bad example, 'cause I kinda like that movie, too."
"His movie preferences are completely different than mine," I said with a shake of my head. "Nick thought The Maltese Falcon was about a live bird." I frowned. "It's a classic detective movie, and he knew nothing about it."
Monroe laughed loudly then said, "Yeah, well, you know… not everyone has good taste." He gave me a sideways glance. "I'm pretty fond of Bogart movies, too, you know?"
"What about Casablanca?"
"It's, like, one of my favorites."
"Mine, too." I nodded with a grin. That was also really sexy.
Monroe pulled up to the trailer, and I lingered in the VW. "We'll get back to our lives in pink, right?" I asked as I faced him directly.
"I dunno yet." He breathed out a sigh. "Just give me some time with this, okay?" My fallen heart dropped from my stomach to my toes. I leaned in to give Monroe a kiss, but he put a finger to my lips instead. "Not yet," he said. I leaned back in the seat. "Just not yet. Not with you smelling like him and…" He shook his head as his words trailed off somewhere.
"Well, umm, I'll be back at the spice shop soon," I said with an air of nonchalance, holding back tears. "I just have a lunch meeting I need to catch."
If I'd told him what my plans were, he'd have never brought me to my car. But my recklessness was in full force, and the woge was taking over. As Monroe pulled away, I reached for my phone and texted Adalind's cell.
Having lunch at our favorite place at noon. Care to join me? :-)
I received a text back a few minutes later.
Sure. I'll meet you there. Can't wait!
Even her texts were artificial. Stupid Hexenbiest! I had time to freshen up and put my plan in place with plenty of time to make it to the café. Pulling open my visor mirror in my trusty Malibu, I examined my tongue. There it was… a small black heart toward the back. I sighed and took off my jacket, which I'd been burning up in.
"No more red again," I said aloud as I drove home. "To the back of the closet it goes."
A/N: More story mode at the beginning. Rosalee finds the Zaubertrank for Hank.
Renée's recklessness is getting the best of her again. Oh, boy!
Renée had little heart-to-heart with Monroe, now that she can actually hold a conversation again since the fog has cleared a bit. But Monroe's not ready to go back to "normal" just yet.
I still love Monroe in a bowtie! I was so happy the other night when he was sporting another one. Maybe they'll dress him in a plaid one sometime. My heart might literally stop if that ever happens! LOL!
So... 4 more chapters today. Next up a little lunch time with Adalind. (: