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Barters N Garters Library
Lovers & Other Strangers
by
Moon Mistress
a/k/a
Lisa Beth Darling

Chapter Two

And if you said
“This life ain’t good enough”
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Because you’re so smooth
Smooth
Written & Performed by
Carlos Santana & Rob Thomas

Sometimes she heard people say ‘SSDD’ and Calla knew what that meant and ordinary she might even agree with it but the DD did not have the SS with it, no this was SS of a different variety. Which of course makes it just S rather than SS, because it’s new.

NSDD?

Yes, New Shit Different Day. That seemed to work.

A bit earlier, Dr. Adams’ called with bad news and that coupled with all the yelling, screaming, bickering, bitching and fighting, general tiredness, well it left Calla with one massive migraine. What the hell did Ares think he was doing with that damn clone? The rolling thunder in her head and the stabbing pains in her stomach were more than enough to make her want to break down and cry. Calla turned on the tap, drew a cup of water and put three of the large white pills into her mouth with her dry throat it was a hard swallow but she managed it.

Standing here in the bathroom, all she wanted was a truthful answer to that question and Calla knew it probably would not be easily forthcoming. Looking down in her hand she saw the new bottle of painkillers in her hand—the ones neither Daniel nor David had yet to see—and staring in the mirror at the reflection of a face so ragged and worn that she hardly recognized.

“Calla, you all right?”

“Fine, my love. I’ll be out in a moment.”

Yesterday. No wait. Was it yesterday or the day before that they woke? Like her time on Ares’ Island, Calla just couldn’t remember it very clearly. What does it matter? Grandfather will come. In fact she was surprised that Zeus had not already come to collect his unruly Granddaughter and bring her back to the beach below his palace. Why hadn’t he done that? What was the hold up? For that matter, why was Grandfather helping Ares? He hated his Son! Why do this for him? Why help him with his horribly devious plot against her?

One more pill and then she tucked the bottle between two towels way at the bottom of the pile. Now that Daniel was awake she’d find a better place to hide it later. It was sunny today and the temperature was climbing. The snow was melting…finally, it was going away and soon small patches of brownish/green would be revealed.

Calla breathed a hazy sigh of relief. She loved spring and maybe this year it would be a good one, well, if she got through the remainder of winter’s icy chill. A little light went on in her head, dim though it was it was still there. Day before yesterday, yes it must have been. Because suddenly David had moved into the guest room and Daniel and I slept alone last night but the night before David was there and he had been awake, both of them had. Staring harder into the mirror and putting her thumb nail into her mouth she concentrated as fiercely as she could in order to remember her time on the island. Remember where the bruises came from and why she was wearing Ares’ shirt instead of her own clothes. Why her body and mind were sore fractured. Still….nothing came to her. Just a lot of dark black nothingness was what she received for her most earnest efforts.

Nicholas. Where is Nicholas? Why doesn’t he come home? Closer to the mirror until the tip of her nose was pressed against the glass. What’s wrong with me?

“Calla?”

The unexpected sound of Daniel’s voice and the sharpness contained within made her lurch forward bumping her head harshly on the glass and exploding that already pounding headache. “Yes, yes, right away.” She called back and smoothed out the front of her hair as she backed away from the mirror not noticing the trickle of blood beginning to ooze from her forehead. Calla opened the bathroom door to find Daniel and David standing there.

“Oh Jesus H. Christ.”

Was what she heard.

**

Daniel and David were also expecting a visit from Zeus and who knew how many others. The one thing Daniel noticed when he finally came out of the daze he’d been in the last few days was that there were blankets and pillows on the chaise. At first he thought Calla must have slept there but then he noticed that two pillows were at her feet. Then he noticed those pillows were stained with blood. Not only that but there was a new pharmacy bag in the trash and the instructions stapled to the front announced that the contents were painkillers. There were no contents just the bag.

Yesterday, Daniel asked Colleen about all of this but she declined to answer him directly. However she did tell him that Adams had a look at her while he was here, perhaps he might know something about how the Ichor (she corrected her Father) got on the pillowcase. Annie followed Colleen’s lead by side-stepping his questions and looking very nervous. Several times both of them asked Calla about it but she said she was sure she didn’t know.

Dr. Adams called late this morning and delivered bad news to Calla. He didn’t want to do it over the phone he begged her to come into the office but she refused. Standing there in the front foyer with Daniel and David and Colleen and Annie and the phone on speaker, Adams told her that she was still riddled with Xerinium and insisted she come in to see him.

“Calla we found someth---“

Calla just clicked the speaker button again to end the call. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled turning to them on her way up the stairs. “Really I’m very sorry.”

Daniel started after her. “Let her go, Dad. Just for a few minutes ok?” Colleen tugged on his arm. “Half a cup of coffee then you can go up.”

She always did have a very level head. “Half a cup.” He agreed. “She expected this didn’t she?”

“Yeah, I think so.” They all went into the kitchen and let Calla cry for a few minutes because it was best to allow her that before barging in. “She wouldn’t hug me. She looked so good when you guys came to the house, she was smiling and, oh, she just looked like Mom again, ya know?” Colleen was now fighting back the tears while she poured cups of coffee.

Too much like her Mother for her own good. “You ok, pumpkin?”

“Sure.” She mumbled. “It’s Mom you gotta worry about not me.” Putting the coffee pot down on the table. “She was beat to shit when you came back from the island.” It all came out in one rush of air with no breaks between the words.

“Cole! We promised her!” Annie scolded with wide eyes.

“She what?” Daniel asked.

“I know Annie but I’m sick of keeping secrets especially from you, Dad. Aren’t you tired of secrets, Annie?” Colleen didn’t know if Annie would ever come forward and lay down the news about Nicholas to Mom and Dad although Cole certainly felt that she should. They had a right to know about their Son; especially Dad. Looking at him with his big blue questioning eyes she didn’t want to say it again because she didn’t like thinking about it so instead of speaking to her Father she laid her hand over his Third Eye and projected the image of Calla in the bath tub directly into his head. “Holy God!” Daniel stood up and back away blinking his eyes and rubbing his temples.

“Wot?” David asked while watching Daniel stumble around with his hands to his face.

If he was going to stick around—an idea she still wasn’t sure about—then he might as well know too. Cole did the same with David who had an equal reaction to what he saw.

“Head to toe,” Cole muttered through tears and tight lips. “I don’t know who and I don’t know how or what but that’s how she was when I found her two nights ago in the bath tub.”

Two nights ago. Well she didn’t look anything like that now. Little bandaged feet hanging over the side of the tub, there was a long gash on her flank very similar to the one David left her with, deep and jagged. As bad as that was, those things were not what bothered him most, not what bothered him most was her eyes, they were so distant and sad coupled with that deep purple bruising around her neck. “She lied to me.” Daniel mumbled to no one in particular. “I told her I saw her in the Underworld and she said no.” No, now she was fine and pink if still sad inside. How did she manage that? Daniel’s eyes narrowed on David sitting across from him at the table. Calla’s body was mended by the time they woke she used David to do it even though he was just as out of it as Daniel had been.

“Callie was there, I saw her Danny, yew know I did.” David reminded him just as the two of them started out of the kitchen.

“Wait!” Colleen hissed. “Stop! You don’t get it, she doesn’t remember. Don’t go up there yelling at her and making accusations and demanding answers….”

“I wouldn’t do that to your Mother,” Daniel said in a voice which tried to sound insulted but didn’t quite make it. For a moment he sat back down at the table. “What do you want me to do, Cole?”

“I just wanted you to know ‘cause ya should, ya know. Both of you, you should….know.” Colleen was tired and frustrated as she too waited for the hammer to fall. “But Mom, you should have seen her stumbling around here like some type of zombie Florence Nightingale taking care of the two of you …I mean, she like, didn’t even notice that there was something wrong with her. I had to point out to her that she needed a bath and to get out of Umpa’s shirt, she thought it was a dress…”

“Get outta what?”

Shit. Oh well, cat’s out of the bag on that one. “When I got here after the three of you came home she was stumbling around in one of Umpa’s black tunics. She really thought it was a dress, Dad. She doesn’t remember what happened to her and maybe that’s best,” Cole closed her eyes and saw an image of her Brother there, “for everyone.” If there is any God then they wouldn’t let Nick do that, they just wouldn’t let him do that to our Mother.

Daniel grabbed the kitchen phone and dialed Adams’ office. “What else did you find?” He barked when Dr. Adams picked up.

“Thank God someone in your family has some sense!” Adams said sounding relieved. “We found Rohypnol and a massive dose of it, Daniel. That’s not all. She really needs to come in, do you get me?”

“We’ll be there in an hour.” Daniel hung up the phone. “Come on.” He said to David. “They found Rohypnol, that’s why she can’t remember.”

“The date rape drug?” David asked expecting something witchier than a man-made chemical would be used by Olympians in this type of circumstance. “The same thing Hartley us—“ he clamed up as he saw the look on Colleen’s face.

“Hartley?”

One more secret out in the open. “Sorry, kiddo, yeah, Hartley he done used it on your momma when she was in New York City.” David said as he rose and then followed Daniel out of the kitchen. Up the stairs he didn’t say anything as all the thought running around in his mind wouldn’t let him but when they got into the bedroom David knew he’d figured something out. “She was fine.” He said grabbing Daniel by the upper arm. “I know she was. We got dat shit outta her.”

“Obviously not.” Daniel retorted trying to escape David’s grasp and get to the bathroom where the door was closed.

“Look ‘a me!” He shook Danny hard until he turned around. “She….was…..fine. You know it, I know you do. That stuff was gone.”

“What are you saying?”

“Someone is poisonin’ dat gurl, Danny. We fixed her, you kain’t tell me no different and then someone….”

“Slipped her more Xerinium.” Daniel finished the thought. “You’re a freakin’ genius.”

“I got my moments.” David agreed with a grin. “Wot are we gonna dew about it?”

“Calla, you all right?” Daniel called through the closed bedroom door.

“Fine, my love, I’ll be out in a moment.” She called back.

“Who do you think it is?” David asked.

Daniel’s first answer was the obvious one. “Ares.”

“She’s his Daughter, why would he do that to her?”

“If he can’t have her then no one can.” The empty white CVS pharmacy bag was laughing at him from the trash can; Daniel swore he heard it laugh. “Calla?” He banged sharply on the door and raised his voice.

The door opened.

“Oh Jesus H. Christ!” The twins exclaimed. “Look at you!”

Old habits are hard to break and it’s even more difficult to develop new better habits but David was working on it. Everyone is allowed a little slip now and then. He reached out grabbed the nightgown she was wearing and ripped it straight down the middle. David’s intent was not to hurt or harm or anything nasty like that, he just wanted a look at her, which was something Daniel had been privy to but he hadn’t since waking.

Calla, blood dripping from her forehead where she’d smacked it against the mirror, dropped to her knees as her eyes went wild. “Master Daniel! Master Daniel! What have I done? No….please.”

“Stop it!” Daniel hissed at David.

It was too late. The pretty green nightgown that matched her eyes was nothing more than a rag it fell limply to the floor around her. Despite the image Colleen sent him earlier David’s eyes said there was nothing wrong with Calla’s body, well, that was, except for the new cut on her forehead.

“No, yew tell me wot’s goin’ on and yew tells me nah gurl!” David shouted and Daniel pushed him back away from Calla.

“Knock it off!” On the floor at his feet she was quaking as she wrapped her arms around her nakedness and tried to protect herself. Daniel knelt down. “Kitty, its ok, he’s sorry.” Her eyes turned toward him filled with doubt and suspicion. Daniel glanced back over his shoulder. “Apologize.”

“No,” David said defiantly. “No more a’dese secrets, Danny, it all stops right here.”

In his own way David was trying to help, Daniel knew that and he also knew that David was right, it all had to stop and here was as good a place as any but this wasn’t the way to do it. “Say it.”

David rolled his eyes, tossed his hands in the air and very grudgingly said “I’m sorry, Callie. I didn’t mean nuttin’ by it.”

That said it could be dealt with more effectively later on. “How many did you take? Where are they, Cal?” Those suspicious eyes were wild with fear but still they were dull and hazy. “Tell me.”

“Now.” David said from behind him.

“F—f---four.”

Daniel reached up to the bed and pulled the quilt from it so that he could put it around her shoulders. “Four? Just now?” She nodded her response. “Where’s the bottle?” Calla hitched her thumb toward the open door behind her. “Towels,” she mumbled.

“Go look.” He said to David.

Within twenty seconds David was in and out of the bathroom with a small amber bottle of large white pills. “Here,” he tossed the bottle to Daniel and stood back.

“This is it? There are no more?”

“N-No—No more,” she stammered looking from one man to the other and back again while her mind ran free with itself adding to the mounting fear, little hands held up in front of her trying to ward off the two men. “I’m s-s-s-sorry. Please….sorry, sorry,”

“I know, Kitty. Come on, in the bathroom with me.” Calla let out a low painful moan. “Get up.”

Unsteadily she rose to her feet keeping the blanket close around her. The two went into the bathroom, Daniel shut the door and a few moments later the sound of her getting sick into the toilet bowl was clearly heard in the confines of the master bedroom. David nodded his head and gave a small grin as he realized Danny made her toss the pills out, whatever was left of them anyway. Not long after that Daniel came out of the bathroom. “Brush your teeth, wash up; we’re going to see Adams soon.” He shut the door behind him. “Why the hell did you do that?”

“I wanted an answer.”

“I could have told you those marks were gone. She must have had you do it in your sleep.” Daniel sat down on the unmade bed. “I know you haven’t been around here that long but you can’t do that to her. Another woman would slap the crap out of you…either of us…but not her. It’ll take her weeks to get over that.” He huffed. “You know what she thought was going to happen, geez, Davy, you terrified her.”

“I said I’se sorry,” David looked down at the deep green carpet. “I’ll say it again, k?”

“Just go get dressed, Adams will want to take a look at us too while we’re there.”

“You gonna tell her wot they found?”

“I’m going to talk to her for a while after we get back and then, well, we’ll just go from there. Colleen could be right, it could best not to…..”

The bathroom door opened and a shaky Calla still wrapped up in the warm quilt exited through it. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset anyone.” It was her eyes which were cast to the floor. “I won’t do it again. I just…I was just…I only wanted…to….”

“Kill the pain.” David finished for her.

“Go get dressed, Cal. You too.” Daniel said to David who didn’t another hint before leaving them alone. Approaching her on subjects like this was always so difficult he never knew just how to handle it or how she would react. David, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any difficulty just jumping right in with both feet, and both fists, as the case may be.

“Why do we have to go see him?” Calla asked as slipped into a pair of blue jeans and black hooded sweat shirt before proceeding to make the bed. “I heard what he said.”

Daniel took a breath. “What if…Kitty,” he turned around to look at her, “what if someone’s intentionally poisoning you?”

The blanket was in mid flight as Daniel uttered his words and instead of being snapped sharply and laying flying on the mattress Calla let it fall wherever it may. “What did you say? Oh, Daniel, why would anyone….want to….”

“Don’t you think it’s possible?”

“How?” She asked regaining her composure and smoothing out the blanket with her hands.

“I don’t know something you’re eating or drinking maybe. Who knows?”

Calla stopped making the bed. “Father? He would know.”

You bet your cute little ass he would. “Um-hum.”

“You think he’s responsible? That Ares is trying to kill me?” Now she drew in a shaking breath and looked up at him. “Is that it?”

Looking back at her Daniel realized the only thing she was looking for was confirmation. “Yes.” He expected her to break down and cry and for a moment he thought she’d do exactly that, he even got ready to comfort her but then she just stood up straight and went back to making the bed. “Calla, did you hear me?”

“Of course I did, my love.” The quilt was fluffed high into the air snapped sharply into place as the blanket should have been. Calla walked around the bed to make sure it was wrinkle free and she pushed up the pillows. “There, that’s better.”

Ok, so some of the percs had time to dissolve in her system before he made her throw them up, so she’d be a little loopy but this. “Calla?”

“You’re not going to allow Ares to do this are, you Daniel?”

“Keep poisoning you? No, I’m not.”

“Separate us.” She corrected and sat on the bed. “Surely this is his goal, no?”

“I’m not following you.” Daniel sat down next to her and took her chilly hand in his warm one. “What are you talking about?”

“I believe this is his way of forcing you to separate us, Calla and me.”

Calla and me. He should have known from the look in her eye and the tone of her voice. “Callestah?”

“I’m afraid David shocked Calla, she’s fine, but….”

“She’s gone for now.”

“Yes, will you risk looking upon me?” She asked with quiet grace.

Daniel didn’t think twice for himself but for the others in the house he did and so he shut the bedroom door. “Yes, I will.” He told her when it was closed tight and the lock turned.

End Of Chapter Two
Lovers & Other Strangers
Continue to
Chapter Three

This story and all stories in the Barters N Garters Library are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.