God Burned in the Everglades
The path of the righteous man
- Ezekiel 25:17
There was a burning.
One car. Three people. Two didn’t walk out. Elide couldn’t breathe in the flames. Elide kept crying for her mum and dad. Elide couldn’t breathe.
There was an inferno.
There was a deep swamp. She couldn’t crawl out of the drowning land, it rose up around her and she could not rise.
Snakes in black water.
Vernon shoved her down the stairs. Elide walked up the stairs. Vernon shoved her down the stairs. Elide fell down the stairs. Vernon laughed. Elide screamed. It all burned.
She couldn’t claw her way out.
In the dank reaches of the Everglades there is an old house, Uncle Vernon let her bring one backpack and he waited for her on front steps and he smiled like the alligators do.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am eight years old and I want my mom and I want my dad and please let me go home please let me go home please let me go home. My name is Elide Lochan and I am eight years old and I want my mom and I want my dad and please let me go home –
Uncle Vernon told her to stop talking. Uncle Vernon punched the wall and she stopped talking.
(There will be a reckoning)
(There will be a burning)
Bow before the Powder King.
The cocaine runners came. The cocaine runners went. They saluted the King with moonshine and whiskey. Uncle Vernon held court and pulled his gun out and pointed it at their heads one by one by one, I am the sheriff in this goddamned town, and he pretended to shoot them one by one by one.
Rain the white gold.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am nine years old and I will do as I’m told and sit in the basement and count the drug money and I will survive.
(There are snakes in this black water and they swim for shore)
(There are alligators in the tall grass)
Vernon shot a man. Kaltian drove her back from summer at Aelin’s and said, you’ll see a freshly dug grave and don’t you dare go near, don’t you dare. Elide didn’t dare. She twisted Manon’s friendship bracelet tighter and tighter around her wrist, she borrowed every book in the school library, she kept her head so low that the earth practically inverted.
She sat in the basement and counted the money.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am eleven years old and I have to survive.
(There are unmarked graves in the Everglades and don’t you dare go near them, don’t you dare)
(There will be a reckoning)
Bam. She hit the counter. Vernon pushed her. And bam she hit the stairs. And Vernon pushed her. And bam it was all just a wonderwall of red.
Kaltian put a gun in her hand and bam bam bam, you shoot that tree and you don’t miss, you shoot that target and you hit dead center, there are graves out here in the Everglades and bodies don’t rise like Jesus.
This is what you need to know. When you fall get up, when you go down don’t let them see you rise, and you shoot to kill and you don’t miss.
Don’t miss.
Vernon tried to put Kaltain’s head through a wall and Kaltain screamed every word the lord said not to use and Elide did not leave her room for three days. That’s how long it took Jesus to die and rise. That’s how long god flooded the earth. Three days, three nights.
And on the fourth day, she walked into the field with Kaltian’s guns and hit the targets one by one by one.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am thirteen years old and I do not miss.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am fourteen years old and I will rise.
My name is –
There will be a burning.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am fifteen years old and I made a mistake.
Vernon threw her down the stairs and she couldn’t breathe. The cocaine runners had come and Elide counted her breaths in the basement. The cocaine runners had left and she crawled her way up the stairs.
The cocaine runners hadn’t left.
I didn’t know. She held up her hands. I didn’t know. She showed surrender. I didn’t know. White flag white flag white flag. But Vernon never cared.
He threw her down the stairs and this is how little bird bones break, with a snap, with a crackle, with a catastrophe.
She didn’t move for three hours. That’s how long it took Jesus to die and rise. That’s how long god flooded the earth. Three hours.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am fifteen years old and I cannot walk.
She did not go to Aelin’s that summer. Vernon laughed and laughed when she asked, laughed and laughed, it sounded like the snap like the crackles like the reckoning.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am fifteen years old and I will not die here.
There were so many flames. The night it all ended, there were so many flames. A wall of water, rising. A catastrophe of tides.
Vernon knew. Elide dragged her gimp leg down through the house step by step by step. Vernon knew. Elide dragged herself down into the basement step by step by step. Vernon was going to try and kill her. That fucking asshole hadn’t paid attention to her a day in her life and couldn’t tell you her middle name if you held a gun to his head but he knew. All it took was stealing her diary, the hidden one, the secret thing. All it took was reading it out loud in the kitchen, the cocaine runners laughing like jackals at a feast, I think I love Manon, that’s what she wrote, that’s what he read, that’s what made them laugh and laugh and laugh.
Vernon was going to kill her. This much I know is true. The house has been empty for three hours now and that’s how long it took Jesus to die, Jesus to rise, and if I stay here I am going to die.
Elide stood in the basement and helped herself to the kerosene cans.
She smiled like the alligators.
My name is Elide Lochan and I am fifteen years old and I know how to start a fire.
Elide dragged her gimp body through the house step by step by step. The kerosene followed in her wake. Like blood. Like water. Like the creek rising. Step by step, drop by drop, down by down. Into the night. There, standing in the gapping black maw of a gaping black house in the deep swamp, Elide held up a match.
It made a great light.
Vernon came home as the roof fell in. He screamed. She smiled. He screamed. She smiled. Behind her, god burned in the Everglades.
He grabbed a baseball bat. She pulled out a gun.
My name is Elide Lochan and you will never touch me again.
Kaltian taught her well. Aim for the knees. Kaltian showed her. Bam. Right there, hit him right there and don’t you dare fucking flinch don’t you dare fucking bow. Bam. Kaltian always said that two knees is better than one.
There is blood in water. There is blood in the trees. It isn’t raining but we’re drowning in the high tide. A red flood up to our knees, a catastrophe of light.
Vernon lay in it screaming. She didn’t flinch.
Watch the little bird bones snap watch the stairs rise watch the counter fall, do you believe in flames as holy symbols? Well let us make it so.
The fire roared like it lived because it lived.
My name is Elide Lochan and the flames on my face is the blood on my face is the iron underneath my skin. The metal of witches unbroken.
Too many hours later, she collapsed on the driveway to Aelin’s house. Fuck. How had she driven that far, driven at all, no license, no bones left, no nerves either, just shaking hands and shaking feet. There’s .2 milligrams of gold in the human body and it’s the only thing holding me together right now.
There was no sunlight, there in the driveway, and it was quiet. She didn’t mind the stillness, or the light when it came. It touched her skin. It touched the blood. It burned on the gold.
She ignited. All the saints do. The heretics too. Welcome to the pyre.
My name is Elide Lochan and I will stich myself back together again and this time I will use nails.
This time I won’t fail.
That’s how Manon found her, burning alive. Right in the middle of her morning run and breathing hard and shaking hands, they were only in high school but they’d already seen too much, but this was worse than the too much.
Manon didn’t leave.
Atheists praying on the morning of flame memories and two perfect shots.
My god. My god. Deliver us and protect us and preserve us from harm. My god. My god.
+
You should know that I do not believe in god.
But on the long nights, I find myself whispering the words of my mother, and her mother, and her mother.
Amen. This I say to you. Amen. Amen. Amen.
+
Manon heard the nightmare before she saw it.
Sitting in the kitchen with Sorrel, Ghislaine, and Imogen, neck-deep in plotting how to make (re: force) the six remaining board members turn on her grandmother, and she heard that faint whimper. A little flicker of sound. Whipping her head around, Manon saw Elide curled up on the couch, a ball of tension, of shaking limbs, of ragged breaths about to spill out into full-on panic.
Stop.
“Shit.” She didn’t even know that she’d exhaled the word, didn’t pay any attention to the cousins sprawled through the apartment as she walked over to the couch and slipped her arms around Elide’s body, cradling her carefully, so fucking carefully.
Please stop.
Going into their bedroom, Manon swiftly kicked the door shut and prayed that this wouldn’t be a night where Elide screamed. “Shh, El it’s okay, you’re okay. I’m right here.” Manon whispered the words against her temple again and again for all the good they did.
Curling their bodies together on the bed, Manon tucked soft blankets around Elide’s shaking limbs and and held on and held on.
She remembered.
That morning. She’d found Elide in Aelin’s driveway, covered blood and sunlight like splatters of gold. Elide had grinned at her, a cracked smile, teeth coated in red and face streaked in smoke and wild and terrible and beautiful. Unbroken. Manon hadn’t been able to inhale as she’d knelt on the asphalt beside Elide Lochan, saints burn alive, heretics do too, I swear on the holy vows that I will not leave your side.
She couldn’t breathe.
The night of that call, when her whole heart fell apart. Please don’t leave me, Elide had begged her and begged her, I think I’m bleeding, Lorcan pushed me, he hurt me, Manon why? Manon threw-up after Elide finally had fallen asleep, over and over until nothing came up but bile, she’d thrown-up but she couldn’t burn out the sight of Elide’s face splattered with a bruise like a fucking modernist painting.
I will never leave you.
She’d broken that promise, once upon a time. But some things still endure.
Settling Elide against her chest, Manon burned at the fragile whimpers that escaped the other woman, the careful flinches that clawed free of her nightmares. “It’s okay El. Shh, it’s okay. You’re right here with me. We’re at home. We’re in our bed. I’m right here. No one is going to hurt you. You can wake up.” Manon repeated the words like litany, like prayer, you’re safe, you’re home, you can wake up now.
Finally, Elide shivered awake, her body tense like a livewire.
“Hi El.” Manon carefully pressed a kiss against her hair, keeping the movement slow and steady. “You had a nightmare.”
“No shit.” Elide groaned, voice rough. And then she shoved out of Manon’s arms, stumbling towards the bathroom. When Elide hit her knees and grabbed the toilet bowel with white knuckles, Manon just pulled her hair back and smoothed a hand down her spine and waited there as Elide’s body tried to burn the memories out.
“Fuck.” Elide finally gasped, her shoulders slumping, her body titling to the side until she lay across the cool tile. “Fuck.”
“Bad one?”
“The worst.” Her eyes fell shut, the circles under them too dark, too fragile. She shivered. “I can still hear his voice. I try to forget but I remember everything.”
It takes time to stich a body back together with nails. So they sat there and sat there on the bathroom floor. When Manon started the shower, Elide stood up and leaned against her, let Manon strip off her clothes and lead her underneath the thundering water, the warmth. Mint shampoo, spice and madness, home and here with you.
Elide exhaled and smiled when Manon kissed her shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you too, El.”
“That sucked.” Nuzzling against Manon, Elide let her eyes drift shut. “So glad your cousins got to see it.”
“They didn’t notice anything.” Manon pressed the words against her skin over and over and over. No one noticed anything.
And Elide let herself slip into the warmth of Manon washing her hair, taking her careful time, turning the water off and wrapping their bodies in towels with sure, steady hands. Pressing a kiss to the underside of Manon’s jaw, Elide murmured, “Do we have any chamomile tea?”
Huffing out a laugh, Manon replied, “Do you want me to make you some?”
“Only if you feel like it.”
“I love being engaged to you.”
“Good. Because you’re stuck with me Blackbeak.”
“You’re just marrying me because this bathroom has a towel warmer, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” Another kiss to Manon’s jaw. “And your suits. And your HBO. And the fact that you’re the love of my life.”
“Well there’s my silver lining.” Manon pressed their foreheads together. “Because you’re the love of my life too.”
+
Once Elide settled into bed – curled up in Manon’s old pajamas and quietly chatting with Aelin on the phone – Manon slipped out of the bedroom and carefully shut the door behind her. Walking into the kitchen and starting the tea water, she sent the eight cousins (all in various stages of acting completely innocent and uninterested) a fucking death glare. Her voice low, near-vicious, Manon said, “Anyone says shit to El about that nightmare and I will personally remove your tongue.”
“Manon,” it was Kaya who braved death, Kaya who met her gaze without flinching, “she’s family. You don’t need to worry about anything.”
Storm King
We’re in the endgame now.
What we had was just the eye of the hurricane and despite my thoughts and hopes and dreams – all the words I whispered against the quiet of your body – we’re in the endgame now.
“El.” Manon smoothed a hand down her back as the ocean boomed before them, sky a tumbling gray. Let me meet you for lunch she had texted. I’ll eat whatever healthy shit you want. And that should have been the warning sign, the signal flare. Storm in the waters.
“Manon.” Elide sighed, resting her head on the other woman’s shoulder. There, sitting on a bench, toes in the sand, eyes of the horizon, they braced for the end of a world.
Don’t take her. Dear god not her.
“When do you need to head back to the office?” Elide asked softly.
“Soon.”
“Okay.” A half-hour. That’s all they had. It didn’t feel like enough – how could it ever be enough? Elide hadn’t touched her lunch. Manon didn’t ask why. Manon knew why.
I thought we’d have more time, before … Elide had said, eyes on the storming sea.
It is time, babe. It’s now. I head to Switzerland tomorrow.
Okay.
But Elide didn’t mean okay. She meant – I want to curl close to you and protect you. I just want you. Life keeps hitting you and you keep getting back up but then it hits you again. Can you blame me for wanting to block the blow? Just once. With my skin, with my body, with my blood. Just once.
“Okay.” Elide said again, meaning I love you.
And Manon nudged her chin up, brushing their noses together until Elide smiled. And Manon kissed her, soft and sweet, like they still had time enough for this. Maybe so. Finally leaning back, Manon brushed a thumb over Elide’s bottom lip, breathless. Maybe so.
It took Manon a minute to come back to herself, a blink, a shake of her head, eyes refocusing on the earth as we know it. Clearing her throat, she said, “I really need to kick the hyenas out of the apartment.”
“Yes, you do.” Elide groaned softly in reply, her body thrumming with an ache that they hadn’t been able to settle in a week because the cousins were fucking everywhere.
Wincing slightly, Manon said, “When this is all over, I’ll take you on vacation. You. Me. Private room. Locked door.”
Gripping Manon’s face, Elide replied with mock seriousness, “You fucking better.”
That earned her a short laugh. “One day soon, baby. No cousins in the apartment plotting Matron’s demise. No cousins coming into the bedroom whenever they have another terrible idea. Definitely no cousins wandering into the bathroom whenever they damn well feel like it.”
“If one of them did walk in on us … oh my fucking god can you imagine?”
“El, don’t even joke about something like that.” Manon shuddered. “You should see the group chat. There’s a running bet about who will catch us first.”
“Vesta?"
“Ghislaine, actually. But Ves is a close second. She’s crafty.”
“Fuck.”
“Fuck.” Manon agreed, quite emphatically.
Running her hands through her hair, Elide sighed and said, “Okay. We can do this. Keep our hands to ourselves. Plot to overthrow Matron. Overthrow Matron. Reveal in the corporate bloodbath. Fuck, I’m making cookies.”
“Snickerdoodles?” Manon lit up, such hope in her eyes.
“Yeah, babe. Snickerdoodles.” Elide replied, leaning in to kiss the love of her goddamned life, and Manon kissed her back with a fierce hunger, hands cradling her face.
Raise the levees. Here comes the rain.
When Manon’s phone started ringing, she ignored it till the last possible second, finally pulling back just far enough that her lips brushed Elide’s cheek when she said, “What Sasha?” and then, “Fuck. Fine. Tell them I’ll be there in ten.” Hanging up, she kissed Elide one last time and said, “I have to go, babe.”
“Tell them to suck it.” Elide kissed Manon, one more one last time.
“Oh believe me, I will.” Standing up with a groan, Manon said, “You want me to walk with you back to the clinic?”
“I’m a big girl. I can walk myself.”
“Yeah, but,” Manon tugged Elide close, “then I can’t kiss you in front of Jeffery. And it’s so funny to watch him freak out.”
“Go to work, Blackbeak. And behave yourself.” Elide stepped back, the movements reluctant, a magnet tugged from north.
Dragging her eyes down Elide’s body, Manon said, “No promises.” Then she turned to walk away, winking over one shoulder. And Elide … Elide had no idea how she was going to survive this.
Leviathan
“Jesus Christ, Manon!” Asterin gripped the car door handle and triple checked that her seatbelt was in fact securely fastened. “This isn’t Miami, you have to actually follow the traffic laws.”
“The Swiss love me.” Manon replied nonchalantly.
“You really want to have to pay off the cops again?”
“You want to watch me try?”
Ignoring Manon’s grin, Asterin punched her in the shoulder. “Play nice. If we end up getting arrested with those papers on us, you can to explain it to the CIA.”
“The CIA won’t give a shit.” Manon paused. Thought about it. Shrugged. “Probably won’t give a shit. Besides, I know people who know people.”
“I’m going to replace your shampoo with Nair.”
“I’m going to tell Petrah about that time you dyed your hair blue and then decided the carpet should match the drapes.”
Punching Manon again just because she could, Asterin shot back, “Does Elide know about your stamp collection?”
“You are dead meat.”
“It’s why she sleeps with you, right? The raw sex appeal of those binders.”
Manon threw the car into park and glanced from the bank to Asterin to the bank. “You done?”
“No.” With a wink, Asterin stepped out of the car and carefully smoothed her hands down the only respectable suit she owned. “Think these nice bankers want to know about the time we accidentally did LSD?”
Flicking her hair over one shoulder with a snort, Manon walked up the marble steps, Asterin at her side. But right before she pulled the door open, Manon caught Asterin’s gaze and held it. “Are you ready to do this?”
“I’ve been ready my entire life.”
Price
Elide made so. many. fucking. cookies. It was not, in fact, enough cookies. Because Manon and Asterin were off opening Pandora’s box in Switzerland and everyone else was handling that by being stressed as fuck.
Lin sat at the kitchen table rhythmically pounding her head against the table and muttering Milton, Milton, why am I writing an essay on Milton? Who even is Milton? Who am I? and Imogen had commandeered the living room floor with Sorrel, spreadsheets and laptops and calculators sprawled around them.
Elide didn’t even dare go into the guest bedroom where Briar, Edda, Kaya and Thea had set up a war room, cataloguing every employee’s loyalty to Matron versus Manon. There was a lot of red string. It looked like a murder scene, the kind that will land you in the only in Florida section of the local newspaper.
Wincing at the ache in her ankle, Elide slipped a fresh batch of cookies into the oven and picked up Pickles, cuddling her close. When Vesta wandered over, Elide passed her the cat without comment. Snagging a cookie at the same time, Vesta took a bite and mumbled, “You know if Manon doesn’t marry you, I will.”
“Oh good. Because that wouldn’t make poker night awkward.”
“Not as bad as the time Ghislaine and I both hooked up with same girl without knowing it.”
“You did what?” Elide choked on her tea.
“Honestly, no regrets.” Vesta shrugged and grinned. “She was fantastic in bed. She did this thing with her tongue – ”
“Okay Vesta thank you!” Elide shoved another cookie into her hands, praying for salvation.
“Thanks babe.”
And Vesta might have been distracted by chocolate and sugar, but Elide couldn’t stop her thoughts from spiraling, tracking over the cousins and the tension that hummed in the air, everything they fought to keep and ached to lose. “This is going to get messy, isn’t it?” She softly exhaled, “If Manon isn’t able to get Matron voted off the board and fired.”
Vesta stilled, the laugh that always lingered at the edge of her mouth going quiet. “Yeah. It’ll be bad. I mean, Asterin’s been cut off since she was twenty-two, and Faline and Fallon don’t work for Matron … but everyone else? Lose our jobs, lose our money, lose our freedom via Matron digging up all the illegal shit she’s made us do. That level bad.”
“A bloodbath.”
Nodding, Vesta eventually replied, “A fucking bloodbath."
Black Water
Iskra leaned over Manon’s shoulder, her voice a nasty, little purr, “Awww, Manon. Who’s that?”
“My fiancé.” Manon responded, not bothering to look up. Everyone else in the conference room began to studiously stare at the table, no, nope, not paying attention here, what desperately interesting conversation??
“And you set her picture as your lock screen? Look at you, she’s got you whipped. Next thing I know, you’ll be heading home in time for dinner.” Settling her sharp, sharp nails on Manon’s shoulder, Iskra breathed out, “Tell me baby, how does it feel to get topped by a girl who can’t even stand up straight?”
Gripping Iskra’s hand and twisting it back until the bones nearly snapped, Manon casually replied, “Are you still infested with fleas? Because I hear they’re impossible to get out of clothes. Tell me, darling, how does it feel to be a walking contagion?”
Very quietly, very subtly, and very definitely, every single person scooted their chair away from Iskra. By lunch, everyone in the office knew. By evening, someone had placed caution tape all over her office door. Manon never bothered to find out who (although, Camila did get her vacation request approved unusually quickly).
One Cut
Iskra didn’t expect to have her day fucked over. Iskra should have seen it coming.
She was just sipping her coffee on a quiet Tuesday morning in a quiet office when the Blackbeaks came to play. Kaya slipped up behind Iskra, casually draping her arms around the other woman’s shoulders (the moment Iskra realized this meant she was pinned to her chair was a moment too late.)
Smiling, all wolf teeth, Edda moved into Iskra’s view. And she casually picked up Iskra’s phone off the desk, absentmindedly toying with it. “Morning cunt.” Edda tapped the phone against the desktop once, twice. “Heard you had a run-in with Manon yesterday.”
“Aww.” Iskra’s voice would drip venom if it could. “And she sent you to fight her battles? How … pathetic.”
Kaya rested her chin on Iskra’s shoulder, letting bone dig into muscle. “You’re so fucking stupid, you know that? Manon didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. We know everything that happens in this office. Everything. And we’ve always wanted our pound flesh.”
Edda tapped that phone again and again and again. She smiled. “Time to start carving.” With a quick, vicious movement, she slammed the phone into the desk corner, completely shattering the screen. Giving Iskra’s new $1000 paperweight a philosophical shrug, Edda dropped it into her coffee. “Whoops.”
“You bitch!” Iskra spat, standing up fast but Kaya was faster. She shoved Iskra back down into the chair and wrapped an arm around her throat, the promise of a chokehold (the threat of it too).
Against Iskra’s cheek, Kaya finally whispered, “You ever heard of death by a thousand cuts? Because I’d suggest you get very familiar with the concept.”
Behemoth
Late on a Saturday night, Manon stood in an apartment that wasn’t hers, staring out over one of the most expensive views in Miami and sipping very nice scotch. She’d always liked Tabitha, her attitude, her style. And her prominent place on the board. Oh, Manon liked that too.
It’s too bad she’d never had a thing for older women, Manon mussed, running her eyes over Tabitha’s body. That dress didn’t leave much to the imagination, all long legs and curves. It might have been fun, fucking her once upon a time. It would have pissed her grandmother off to no end.
“So Manon.” Tabitha wandered close – hell, she probably wouldn’t say no to a fuck now. “You’re finally ready to take on that bitch. It’s about damned time.”
Manon just leaned against the window, sipped her scotch, raised an eyebrow.
“Oh I’ll throw my weight behind you. I like money, and I’ve never been fond of committing corporate suicide. Now drink up. Here’s what I want.”
Very, very late at night, Manon slipped back into her own apartment, a little dizzy on scotch and smiling. It wasn’t pretty one, all teeth. Crawling into bed behind Elide, Manon kissed her neck and whispered, one down baby.
The Heretic
“Hello Mrs. Blackbeak, how can I help you?” Petrah smiled, but she didn’t stand up from behind her desk. “Please sit.”
Matron did, eventually, and she looked … pissed. Her iron gray eyes fixed on Petrah’s face, predator stalking prey. “Call me Matron.” You wouldn’t expect it, her voice. Soft and deep. But it had resonance. It carried, filling a room and pushing out the space for any other sound.
“Oh I think Mrs. Blackbeak is just fine. Again, how can I help you?” Petrah just kept smiling.
Matron blinked, her expression going cold. “We never had a chance to speak before your engagement to my granddaughter.”
“Yes. That’s a pity.”
Tilting her head to the side, slow, like a snake, Matron said, “I’d like to know what your intentions are towards her. Asterin is so … fragile. With her delicate health, I certainly hope you aren’t planning on starting a family with her.”
“Mrs. Blackbeak, is there something I can help you with? It’s just, I am at work, and I am very busy. I don’t typically mix business and personal.” Petrah cocked her head to the side, her sharp blue eyes staring into Matron’s gray, “So unprofessional.”
“Don’t let me keep you.” Matron stood, her back ramrod straight beneath a dove gray suit. “But I should hope that if anything were to happen with Asterin, you would know to call me. After all, I practically raised the girl.”
“Oh yes,” Petrah murmured, “I’m aware. I wouldn’t worry. I know exactly how to find you. Good day, Mrs. Blackbeak.”
+
[That One Hot DJ]
Petrah: just as predicted, your grandmother paid me a visit
Asterin: cunt
Petrah: want thai for dinner?
Asterin: god yes pls
I will do unholy things in return
Petrah: that’s what I’m counting on
See you tonight
Sweet fuck! You can’t send me pictures like that while I’m at work
I need to focus.
A: love you too!!
Two Cut
Iskra drove a very expensive Bentley. Iskra was very fond of her Bentley. Iskra loved her Bentley like normal people loved their babies.
Iskra was not having a very good day.
Someone had slashed all four tires. And someone had keyed all the doors. And someone had smashed in the headlights.
(Iskra wouldn’t learn this until two weeks later, but someone had filled every single compartment in the car with wet dog food. And the Miami summer heat turned that little problem into a catastrophe.)
Whoops.
Don’t worry. It’s only death by a thousand cuts.
Tithe
It wasn’t a particularly long conversation.
It didn’t need to be.
Duval downed his second bourbon and Manon barely sipped her first. Easy, it was all too easy with him. Duval started on his third drink and even beneath the low, warm lights of a very expensive bar, Manon could see him slowly flush with panic.
Because first they’d discussed his children, Princeton and Yale, you must be so proud, those are expensive schools, aren’t they?
And then they’d chatted about his wife, off to Monaco again? and then Paris? I suppose somebody has to keep haute couture in business.
And then they’d circled to Duval’s little problem that kept getting bigger the more time he spent in …Vegas, isn’t it? I’ve never gambled but I hear it can be quite the addiction.
Duval started on his fourth bourbon. Drink up. Manon saluted the night. Drink up. “Now, Duval. I hear there’s been a small … mix-up with the FTC. These things can be so awkward. But what if I told you it could all go away.” Manon studied her glass and watched panic war with relief on a middle-aged man’s face. Relief won.
“Then.” He cleared his throat. “Then I would be very interested in what you had to say.”
“Good.” She smiled like snakes in the tall grass. “Here’s what I need from you.” And just like that, the fourth board member fell into her pocket.
Like dominos, they tumble down, down, down.
Zero Sum Game
It had been a long day and a long three weeks and Elide wanted to have sex with Manon so badly it left her shaking, shattered all the voices that told her this will end badly. So she dragged Manon into the bathroom and took a long, hot shower with her that left both of them wrecked. So she turned off the water and kissed her way down Manon’s body, following the trails of water droplets and softly nipping Manon’s skin every time a gasping slipped past the other woman’s teeth.
God it felt good, relearning the weight of Manon’s breasts and the curve of her hips and the long lines of her legs. Fuck, Elide had missed this, dropping to her knees and feeling Manon shiver in the breaths right before she fell apart.
“El.” Manon tangled a hand into Elide’s hair and nudged her where they both so badly wanted her to go. “Baby.”
“Soon love.” Elide tracked her lips across Manon’s stomach, biting softly and nipping to soothe.
“Stop teasing.”
“Start begging.”
Groaning, Manon let her head thunk back against the tile, because she knew that Elide would string this out, string Manon along, leave her an aching mess, until she got her way. “Fuck, please baby, please.”
“Good.” Finally settling Manon’s leg over her shoulder, Elide leaned in and –
bang, bang, bang. “Oy I need to pee! Do not make me break this door down.” bang, bang, bang. “If you’re fucking, do it faster!”
This time when Manon groaned, it came with the undercurrent of: I am going to murder you. “Imogen. Fuck. Off.”
“I” bang “need” bang “to” bang “pee.”
“Use the other bathroom.”
“The murder twins commandeered it and I refuse to ask why.” bang “Manon I need to pee!”
Cupping Elide’s cheek, Manon looked down at her with intensely pained regret. “El, I … I am going to kill all of my cousins when this is over.”
With a wink, Elide kissed the inside of Manon’s wrist. “You know, if this was happening to anyone else, it would be very funny. And yes. Death warrants on all their heads.”
Bang “OH MY GOD MANON.”
Salt
“Hello there, I’m looking for Elide.” Tim looked up from the reception desk, and seriously what the fuck was it with glamazons showing up at the vet clinic?
“Hi? You are?” He tried to smile and failed miserably.
“Iskra. Elide knows who I am.” Iskra tap, tap, tapped one long fingernail against the desk.
“Um yeah right I’ll go see if she’s free …” scrambling into the breakroom, Tim grabbed Elide’s arm and hissed, “Elide??? There’s an Iskra at the front desk and she’s freaking me out.”
Rolling her eyes, Elide muttered, “Just mention fleas and she’ll run scared. No, you know what, I’ll handle this.”
“Thank you.”
Cracking her neck and walking out to the front desk, Elide calmly looked Iskra up and down, “Does your dog still have fleas? Or is it the anal glands this time?”
Iskra’s smile went sharp and brittle and her face got a constipated look, like she was trying to hold back all the swear words all at once. “Maeve is fine. I actually stopped by because I thought we could have a nice chat about our favorite Blackbeak.” Iskra rested a very friendly hand on Elide’s shoulder. “You know since I dated her, I have all sorts of little tricks on how to wrangle the witch.” And then Iskra winked.
Lifting up one finger and shrugging out of Iskra’s touch, Elide said, “Hold that thought.” It only took a moment to fish her phone out of her pocket, dialed a number, and – “Hey babe! You’re never going to guess who’s paying me a visit at work … mhmm yes it is our favorite Yellowlegs … you know what, she is such a cunt … okay love you, see you tonight.” Hanging up the phone, Elide blinked at Iskra all innocent like. “What? Oh I’m sorry, did you hear the bit where I called you a cunt?”
“Bitch.” Iskra hissed, playtime over.
“Next time you come by, find something more creative to call me. And really, get that dog’s anal glands trimmed.”
After Iskra stormed out, Elide blew her kiss and then flipped her off just for good measure. Because she knew how to burn a witch.
Three Cut
Tax. Fraud.
You know how the good people at the IRS feel about tax fraud? They don’t love it.
You know who has friends at the motherfucking IRS? The Blackbeaks.
Iskra is about to learn that the hard way.
Oops.
Don’t worry. The liars and the sinners know all about a death by a thousand cuts. And they say it only hurts a little.
Righteous
We haven’t heard from Lorcan Salvaterre in a while, wonder how he’s doing? Not well.
Not well at all.
You see, Elide had decided not to press charges against him, once upon a time. Elide had told Manon, don’t go after him. But Elide had not told Manon to keep the cousins in check. And so the thirteen bided their time and sharpened their knives and waited until they smelled blood in the water.
That’s when you strike.
You see, Vesta knew the clubs he haunted and Fallon knew the right cops and Lin knew how to play young and dumb and above all interested in the illegal little drugs Lorcan sold on those wild little nights in the dark corners of strobe-lit rooms.
And seeing Lorcan Salvaterre in the back of a police cruiser is what Manon calls poetic fucking justice. She slept better that night than she had in a long time.
Blasphemy
Manon settled next to Asterin on her couch, gratefully took the beer her sister handed over. “Thanks.”
“You need it.” They clinked bottles. Tipping her head back, Asterin carefully watched Manon’s face. “Sasha’s plan is a good one.”
“I know.”
“It will work.”
“I know.” Manon drank. “That’s the problem.”
“Why is everything so damn complicated when it comes to you?”
Giving Asterin a moderately offended look, Manon said, “Seriously? You do remember when you were dating Petrah. And then broke up with Petrah. And moved to Singapore for three months. And nearly became a Buddhist. And then moved back to Miami and started dating Petrah again. You remember all that, right?”
“Yes, yes, thank you.” Kicking Manon’s foot, Asterin drank her beer and grumbled something that sounded like you complete asshole into the bottle.
“Good. Just checking.”
“So when are you going to talk to Elide about it?”
“I’m talking to you about it.”
“Yeah. That’s lovely. And as much as I enjoy seeing your bright and shinning face on a random Thursday night, what the fuck are you doing here?”
Exhaling, Manon sank deeper into the couch. “Be honest with me. Do you think it’s worth it?”
Asterin exhaled too, settling her shoulder against Manon’s. “Maybe. But there’s going to be collateral damage. And Elide and Alessandra don’t have the best history ….”
“That’s a nice way of putting it.”
“I think you need to trust Elide. Tell her the plan and trust her.”
+
Elide was not amused.
She hadn’t transition to full-on pissed because Manon had gotten her bubble tea from her favorite shop, but it was a near thing.
Sitting on the couch in their apartment, Elide cocked her head to the side. “Let me get this straight. You call Alessandra. You ask her for a favor. That favor would be hooking up with Chaol. Board member Chaol. Family friend Chaol. And then you use photos of said hook-up to blackmail Chaol into siding with you against your grandmother.”
Pressing two fingers against her forehead, Manon replied, “That would be the long and the short of it, yes.”
“Manon, seriously?!”
“I know, I know. But I wouldn’t involved Liss in this unless I had a choice.”
“I’m not ticked about her.” Elide groaned, beyond frustrated with the idiot she called the love of her life. “How could you do this to Dorian? He and Chaol are finally in a good place and you do not get to fuck that up just to – ”
“Chaol cheats on Dorian on a weekly basis.” Manon replied flatly.
“Well fuck.” And Elide felt her heart splinter. “Fuck. Are you going to tell Dorian or …”
“I don’t know.” Settling her head rest on the other woman’s shoulder, Manon exhaled. “Maybe, after all this is over and I can think straight. For now – those pictures will be for Chaol and Chaol alone.”
“Then do it.”
“El – ”
“Do it.”
“You don’t … you’re not mad? About Liss?”
“Well, you’re not going to be the one fucking her, right?”
“No. No. God no.”
“Then call her.” Seeing Manon’s panicked, skeptical look, Elide sighed and quickly kissed her cheek. “Is this my favorite plan? No. Do I trust you? Yes. So do it.”
“Yes ma’am.”
+
It worked brilliantly.
It was almost pathetic, how quickly Chaol folded under pressure.
+
Three days later, Manon sat in a quiet bar, Alessandra across from her. “Thank you again for doing this, Liss.”
“Are you kidding?” Alessandra laughed, “It was, quite literally, my pleasure.”
“I owe you.”
“Invite me to the next company party and introduce me to that cute girl from accounting, Annabelle. We’ll call it even.”
Snorting a laugh, Manon saluted Alessandra with her whiskey.
Alessandra returned the gesture. “Now get out of here and go home to that gorgeous fiancé of yours. She’s out of your league and you know it.”
“It’s always a pleasure talking to you.”
“Bye bye Blackbeak. Take her somewhere good for the honeymoon.”
“Goodbye Liss.”
And for anyone who’s wondering, the second Manon got home she shoved Elide up against the door and her only response to Elide asking how did meeting with hergo was to kiss Elide breathless, fuck her senseless, to whisper against her flushed cheek, just so we’re on the same page, you’re totally out of my league.
Rubicon
Sorrel stalked into Manon’s apartment and grabbed Ghislaine’s wine without asking, drinking half the glass in one go. “Fuck. Her.”
Ghislaine flicked Sorrel’s shoulder, sympathetic-like. “Fun day with the bitch queen?”
Flipping off the universe in general, Sorrel grabbed Briar’s glass and downed that too. “You know what she did today? For fun? For actual, fucking fun? She fired one her minions because the idiot dared to ask for time to help her mother with chemo treatments. Matron laughed at this poor woman about her dying mom. Fucking brutal.” Very carefully setting Briar’s empty wine glass on the kitchen counter, that small clink reverberating through the apartment, Sorrel called out, “Manon, the second you take over the company tomorrow, I quit.”
Not even looking up from her laptop, Manon called back, “I’ll give you a 10% raise and three weeks of vacation if you stay.”
“20%”
“15%”
“Fine.” Flipping Manon off because she could, Sorrel muttered thanks when Elide wordlessly passed over a plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies. Then she ate three without even breathing between bites.
Dramatically draping herself on the couch, Lin rested her feet in Asterin’s lap. “When I officially join the company, can I also get a raise and vacation?”
“You’re not joining.” Manon replied, still not looking up.
“What the fuck do you mean? Of course I am.”
“Lin.” Shutting the laptop with a click, Manon caught and held her gaze. “You can do anything you want, anywhere you want. Graduate and move to Europe. Become a surf bum in Hawaii. Hell, join an ashram. But don’t come work here.”
“I want to work you with.” Lin sat up, pissed-off fire in her eyes, pure Blackbeak. “Fuck ashrams, I want to live in Miami with my family.”
Lips twitching with a faint smile, Manon finally replied, “Fine. But the second you change your mind, I’m buying your plane ticket out of here.”
“Deal.”
“Good. Now go do your goddamned homework.”
“Whatever.” Lin sprawled back across the couch. “Milton can suck my ass.”
Thea patted her head on the way to the kitchen, “That’s the spirit.”
“Why are we talking about ass sucking?” Kaya called out from the bedroom-now-war room.
“Faline’s new porn!” Thea yelled back, blowing said cousin a kiss and getting two middle fingers in return.
And that’s when Fallon felt the need to interject with, “Actually, speaking of porn, there’s a new BDSM Storm Trooper one that – ” And Sorrel felt the need to shut Fallon up by throwing a spoon at her. And Elide had to sit down before she collapsed laughing.
After the cousins had finished attempting to murder each other and someone (re: Asterin) had ordered enough Chinese food to mostly distract them, the apartment fell into a quiet lull as 9 pm bleed into 10.
Quiet. But not restful.
Because everyone knew. It’s tomorrow. We run out of time tomorrow. And there are no good answers about what’s going to happen next. No way to know if a board member would flip on Manon, if Matron would claw her way back from defeat, if they could actually burn the witch with nine lives.
Settling next to Manon on the couch, Elide felt the other woman breathe in, breathe out, breathe in. She watched Ghislaine carefully braiding Lin’s hair and Asterin standing at the window chatting with Petrah, her voice a low hum against the Netflix episode no one was really watching. Sorrell, Kaya, Thea, and Vesta sat huddled around the dinning room table, pouring over the board members even though there was nothing left to say, Imogen softly chiming every few minutes and passing around more wine where words didn’t work.
Faline and Fallon had left hours ago, but Elide knew they were still texting Manon, random shit that was as close as they could come to touching the emotional live wire of this room. And it looked like Edda and Briar had seriously considered taking the same route, but instead they stayed, collapsed across one of the living room chairs, drinking and watching the world with eyes half open.
Taking Manon’s hand into her own, Elide gently kissed her knuckles and smiled when she felt the other woman exhale. “You ready love?”
“I’ve been ready my entire life.”
Come hell. Come high water. Come for us.