Jowendrhan Read online

  Jowendrhan

  A short story based on Seithe

  (Seithe is Book 1 of the Pravus series)

  By

  Poppet

  Copyright 2012 Author Poppet

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine or journal.

  Ebook First Edition

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to Erin and Sali (happy birthday girls!)

  and to the members of the Poppet Pushers.

  Thank you girls for all your love and support

  xx

  Chapter 1

  Slamming my hand against the steering wheel I burst into tears.

  That's just the last straw.

  My hands are shaking, the windows are misting, and as I hold my phone up against the light of the headlights I have no signal.

  Nudda.

  This isn't happening to me.

  Shit!

  Sniffing, trying really hard to be brave, I press the window down to judge how severe the downpour is. The car sounds like a tin can full of munching termites on speaker in here, and yep, sure as sugar-pops it's stormin' out there.

  Damn it. Damn it all. This is such a horrific toad choker and now I have to get out the car and change my own damn wheel.

  Where's a hero when you need one?

  Wiping my eyes, my mascara already streaked from my outburst, I take a deep breath, shoving the door open and squealing non stop all the way to the back to get the jack and spare wheel.

  Well now I'll look like a bedraggled orphan anyhow. No use cryin' over what ya can't change.

  Good god ya'll this thing is so heavy! Huffing and puffing I manage to just tip the wheel over the edge of the trunk, dropping it on my perfect white stiletto and smudging black all over the patent finish. My toe is so sore I just leave the wheel lying there.

  Crouching down I try ta wipe the mark off and it ain't budging for no one. I spent a small fortune on these, and now...

  Sitting my ass in a puddle, I curl my arms over my knees and bawl my eyes out. It's just not fair. I'm telling ya there's a god out there who has it in for me.

  My hair is straight as a pin and it takes me forevah ta get it done in the mornin', and just like that it's gonna be flat and awful.

  Sniffing, I stare at the wheel, slick and dirty.

  What a stupid system. They sure don't make cars for womenfolk. You have ta have muscles for this. I don't have muscles, I have a gun. I have a gun because I don't have muscles.

  Maybe it'll help if I try and undo the wheel first?

  Determined, I get up, almost crying again when I look at my purty pumps all messed up, stomping the two steps ta get that jack thing and the spanner thing.

  Good lord above this thing is just as heavy as the wheel!

  It's slippery now from the rain and I struggle with it with both hands, heaving the thing to the back wheel on the driver's side. Dropping it, I leave it there. It's probably broken now but hell that was heavy.

  Sloshing on tiny tall heels, I get that four spoked spanner thing, and even that is heavy enough to knock a stud out cold.

  Teetering back ta the wheel, I wrestle ta get the thing on the nut, and then I try turn it.

  Oh my gosh, this just ain't happenin'. It's stuck! That little sucker ain't budging an inch.

  Now what?

  Now ya see, this is why every belle needs a brother. Ya'll shouldn't be having chilrun if you can't give ya lil angel a big brother ta call on. Though knowing momma and pop's, if I did have a brother he'd probably be a womanizing alcoholic hell bent on working for Jim or Jack just for the freebees. And he'd be a no damn good fool any old how.

  Now if I could just get a signal on my phone I could call Sally and she could send that sweet son of hers ta come and help me.

  Oh bless, there's a light!

  Over here sweetheart!

  “Yoohoo!”

  Waving madly as the light gets closer, at the last minute I recognize it's a biker boy. Ah hell Sherry, he could be a serial killer and now yer just putting your stupid ass in danger.

  As he slows I skid back 'round ta get my purse, fumbling through it ta get the Colt.

  I'm not into sissy guns. When I pull the trigger I need that boy ta go down and stop coming, and I don't care if I end up chippin' a nail in the process. It's just a cute little 380 Mustang, I got it cos I just love mah horses. It fits just right in mah hand and I think a lady needs protection ya know?

  There's a hundred shades of crazy drivin' around these days and lord above I'm not risking my virtue for a freak.

  This ain't the Houston I grew up in, times have changed. And it's nuthin like mawmaw's place out in the sticks.

  At least out there your biggest worry is a rattler, or losing your footin' and fallin' in the creek, but this is the big bad world and well I juss ain't takin' any chances.

  Oh sweet Jaysus, he's a tall un. He's all wet from the rain and it's pouring hard enough to fill hell with the great flood, and that boy just swaggers like he's fresh in from the rodeo, all wide shoulders and long legs.

  He nods to me, giving me a chaw chewing grin, “Howdy ma'am. You be needing a hand here?”

  Oh sweet Jaysus this boy is fine. He's got eyes that sparkle and ya just wanna melt. He's a charmin' son of a gun that's without a doubt.

  Nodding, I feel like a damn fool hiding behind the door with the Colt in mah hand. Surely an evil man would look it, ya know? He wouldn't be this tall and heartbreaking, surely?

  Smiling, I say all friendly like, “I'm such a ditz! I thought I could get the wheel off but it's done stuck. And I can hardly see a damn thang it's so dark, and the rain's just making it so slippery I can't get a grip.... and oh my lord I must look a mess!”

  Unzipping his jacket, he holds it out to me, offering me his free hand, “It's awful nice to meecha, I'm Jo.”

  Where are my manners! Momma would just tan my hide for bein' so rude.

  “Sherry. Sherry Archer. It's wunnerful ta make your acquaintance, Jo. I was just fixin' ta get a call out fer help.”

  “If you could just hold this, I'll get that wheel changed.”

  Taking his jacket, I almost twist my wrist it's so heavy. When he lets it go I almost drop the thing. Hefting it up I hook it over my shoulder, following him back around, “Do I need ta get mah phone so ya'll have a light ta see?”

  “Nah, I should be fine. My brother will be coming this way any moment and I'll just get him to help if I need it.”

  “This is a real bad toad choker, ain't it?” I say ta make conversation.

  “Yes ma'am, it sure is.”

  He bends down, the rain making his black leather pants stick to those long lean legs with bulging thighs, and straight away the rain goes right on through his white tee, and oh my gosh he's just enough to make a girl need a drink and a double helpin' of mud pie.

  Wiping under my eyes, I probably look like I got mah makeup done by ole Alice Cooper ya know. I must look a tawdry mess.

  Oh, so that's how you do it. He stuck that wedgey thing under the car and hooks that metal thing in and starts spinning it around, making it go up in like a diamond shape. He makes it all look so darn easy, and it's not. I know it's not!

  Smiling at me, his arms all flexing and slicked, the muscles hopping all over and being totally di
stracting, he says while he's spinning that thing, “You have to be careful where you put the jack. There's a beam running under the car...”

  He holds his hand up to me, “C'mere, let me show you.”

  Holding to the paintwork on the door, I sit back on my heels, really wishing I wasn't wearing a skirt now. But a lady should look like a lady, I think anyhow.

  Nodding, I nearly squeak when his hot hand grabs mine and he makes me touch the filthy underside of the car.

  “Feel that hard bump there?”

  I nod, my dirty mind immediately thinking about hard bumps. Ya'll can't blame me for thinking such things cos this boy is just covered in hard muscle. The wet tee isn't helping me think about the bake sale. I'm thinking that my oh my this boy is dang fine!

  “You want to rest the jack on that ridge. If you put it too deep in you'll end up denting the floor of the car.”

  “Oh honey, I doubt I could it do it on my own anyhow. I couldn't even get that heavy thing up.”

  He gives me the naughtiest grin I ever saw on anyone, letting me take my hand back.

  Still smiling, he says in a deep drawl, “Don't try undo the nuts with the car up.”

  I nod, knowing how bad this is sounding. I don't mean ta be thinking such dirty thoughts, it must be the rain messing with my brain.

  “Sherry, you have to leave the car on the ground to do that.”

  Be still my heart, the way he says my name. I could just sit here and listen to him all night.

  “If you jack the car... up,” he gives me that bad boy smile again, “Then you're trying to undo a ton of resistance. If you loosen the nuts first, there's no resistance.” He looks up at the sky pouring down on us, then back at me with those sweet molasses eyes, “No matter how wet it is.”

  I do declare I'm blushing.

  The sound of a deep drone makes him twist and look behind us, “Here comes my brother now.”

  Sitting, getting sopping wet next to him, I notice he's steaming when his brother's bike backlights him. He shuts his bike down but leaves the light on, and all I can see is the silhouette of another tall man with long legs and wide shoulders strolling to us.

  “Car trouble?” he says, and his voice is exactly the same. I swear on my pounding heart it is!

  “Yup,” says Jo, standing. “Sherry, this is my brother Seithe. Seithe, I'd like ya ta meet Sherry.”

  I dunno why but I stand too and feel like I need ta give a lil curtsy, ya know, the way we did in the pageant when we were lil uns.

  He takes my hand, “What a pleasure to meet you.” Then he gives it a kiss and my knees get a lil wobbly on my ass.

  Dang and goshdarnit, he's not from around here. Oh my gosh, his accent is just to die fowah. His voice is all rough and gravelly, deep and throaty, it comes out of him like he's peeling silk stockings down ya legs with his teeth.

  “Howdy. Where all ya'll from?”

  Jo answers, “I've lived in Texas going on ten years now, Seithe's just visiting.”

  He smiles at his brother, and I promise on Uncle Chuck's grave they're twins! Two of them!

  “Seithe, hand me that wheel would ya.”

  Seithe looks at me, nods politely, and follows his brother's example, unzipping his jacket and handing it to me. Lord above I'm not strong enough ta hold two of them! Wet leather is darn heavy. I wasn't raised bailing hail. Have you ever tried liftin' a bail of hay? Ya'll need a bulldozer those thangs are so heavy. I'm worried all this extra weight on my tiny shoulders is just gonna snap the heels on my stilettos.

  It's one heck of a wet dream watching these two boys workin as a team, changing my wheel faster than ya'll can say who's yer daddy.

  Seithe puts the flat wheel in the trunk while Jo lowers the car back to the pavement. Scooping everything up, he hands it ta his brother, and then rinses his hands in the downpour, strolling back ta me with a glowing glint in his eye, gesturing to his jacket, “Thank you ma'am, I'll be needing that back now.”

  Seithe swaggers to us, doin' the same, “She should drive right as rain now, but it would be best just to get your wheel alignment checked when you go get that baby repaired.”

  It feels like a rock's been lifted off me giving their jackets back, but now I'm hella cold without them, “I don't know how ta thank ya'll. You're angels.”

  They look at each other, and then at the same time they look at me, both of them wearing wicked smirks, as if mawmaw just caught em lookin at naughty lady bits.

  Jo answers, “That's mighty kind of you to say, Sherry.”

  Seithe purrs, “We'd never leave a lady in distress. We were only doing what anyone with a heart would do.”

  “You look cold. Let's get you back in your vehicle. Do you need us to follow you home just to make sure you get there safe?” says Jo, putting his hand flat in the bottom of my back, steering me, and making me wish I could just stand here and indulge in it a lil longer.

  “Were you on your way out?” says Seithe.

  “I was gonna meet the girls at Pravus, it's downtown, but now I dunno,” I say, reaching the door which Jo opens for me.

  Gosh, I could just swoon for southern charm and manners.

  “You don't want to go there,” says Seithe, shaking his head.

  “Why not? I've heard only good thangs. Ya'll welcome ta join us.”

  “Phone them and tell them you won't be making it,” says Jo, using such a deep baritone I swear my toes just jiggled and curled.

  “I won't?” I frown up at him, rain getting in my eyes. Lord above I must look like a bedraggled orphan by now.

  “No ma'am, you're going to be joining us for coffee.”

  “No, ya'll can come to mah place fer coffee. It's the least I can do ta say thank you. I have a fresh cherry pie too.”

  “Perfect,” smiles Seithe, slapping Jo's shoulder, “We'll get on our bikes and follow you.”

  The two of them stand there like policemen, not letting me escape, making sure I get in the car, buckle up, and then they close the door for me.

  “Lock it,” orders Jo, pointing at the door.

  “Yessir,” I smile, locking it.

  What sweethearts!

  *

  Seithe:

  “What the hell are you doing?” I ask him the second we're alone, trailing her Tesla.

  “I don't want her going anywhere near downtown Houston.”

  “Why not?” I demand, damn annoyed.

  “Seithe, dude, where the hell have you been? The Sibitti are here with Erra right this fucking second.”

  “So?”

  “So! So what if they decide to visit Pravus tonight? And then? Then all hell is gonna break loose, plus we're no match for that dude or his twin brother.”

  “I don't give a flying fuck about Erra and his boys. They're just a bunch of asswipes from hel. Pravus belongs to us, Jowendrhan. It is ours! We decide who gets admission.”

  “But Ellindt is here too! She'll let them in. You can bet both nuts on that!”

  Gesturing to Sherry, I struggle to prevent my eyes from turning silver with anger, “What do you plan to do with that?”

  His smile could crack the pavement clean in two it's so powerful, “C'mon Seithe. When was the last time you just hung out with a mortal?”

  “What the fuck for?”

  “Redemption. It's time you loosened up and got back in the game.”

  “There's no point, Jo. I've been waiting for a mortal to get the bigger picture forever. The magic lady does not exist.”

  “You won't know that unless you keep knocking on doors with the welcome mat outside.”

  “When she finds out you and me are vampyres she's going to freak out. And then we have to bite her to shut her up, and then she becomes like all the others, after one thing only. I want a babe who can fall for my mind and my kind!”

&nb
sp; “Fine. You're tagging along for my sake then. I like southern girls, they have a guile about them which is a divine mixture between precocious and damned. Inside every one of these princesses playing the good girl card is a woman desperate for some wild attention. Why the hell do you think they like their horses and cowboys so much? It's the only time they get to just appreciate a bit of muscle without being made to feel like walking sinners falling from God's grace.”

  “But we have fallen from grace. How's she going to feel then?!”

  “Like a million bucks poured in perfume and set on fire. Don't be such a freaking sour puss. You might even enjoy yourself.”

  “Jo, in case you haven't noticed there are two of us and only one of her.”

  Wiggling both eyebrows, he says, “Exactly. She'll never forget this night.” Leaning over, wobbling his bike perilously close to mine, he punches my shoulder, “You heard the lady. She has fresh cherry pie.” Giving me his bad boy wink, he laughs into the rain, “And lord oh lord I'm mighty peckish.”

  Chapter 2

  Sherry:

  As soon as I got them comfortable with coffee and pie, I made an urgent beeline to my bedroom to try and clean up.

  Oh momma would just die ta see folks in my home for the first time, my heroes no less, and I don't even have lipstick on any longer.

  Washing my face, I quickly reapply my makeup and dry my hair. It's not as gorjuss as it is when it's been rolled and set but it's the best I can do with the time I have to do it, cos I am being rude as RuthAnn right now leavin' them be in the living room without so much as a howdy-do.

  Pulling on a clean dress, I shove my wet clothes in the laundry basket and check myself over one last time. It's gonna have ta do. Rushing back downstairs, I pause at the bottom, inhaling deeply, squaring my shoulders, and walking back in like a lady, smiling, “Everything alright? Can I get ya'll a drink or sumthin?”

  Now I can't tell them apart. Oh lord above! Which one's which?