The week after leaving Stephanie and Anabel in Canvas for their honeymoon was quiet. Wraith and Apollo stayed camped out in the canyon with the spring over in Callist to guard the plasma rifles we stashed. Arduwan decided to camp with them for a few days. That just left me, Emily, and Delilah hanging around the house for a while.
It was midsummer and too hot to go outside much. The three of us were lounging in the drawing room watching TV. Emily sat to my left and Delilah on my right. It was strange, but I’d gotten quite used to her being around and at this point accepted that…well, she was family! It didn’t matter that the universe had been edited to make it so. Who are we to decide what’s real and what’s not when it comes to family. Delilah, even as a deity, longed for connection.
“Hey, Eric,” she asked.
“What’s up?”
“Are you glad I came to live here?”
There was the question right there. She came to us so suddenly and in such an annoying form. But to be totally honest with you, she just started to fit right in so well. I honestly couldn’t imagine the place without her now.
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just…when I decided to come, I did so kinda selfishly. Now that I’ve lived as a human for a while, I realize that. I feel kinda bad that I just intruded the way I did.”
“Hey now, where’s this coming from?” I inquired.
“Well…it’s like I told you before, as a deity, I didn’t have a concept of friends and family the way you do. And now, I have hormones and a developing mind. So it’s all just sort of hitting me that…” she paused and her voice turned to sadness, “that I’m not really wanted here.”
I didn’t know what to say. I mean, the truth is, none of us here really wanted some girl to show up and invite herself into our lives. But besides a few hiccups, it was great having her here. How could I explain to her that what she was feeling was natural without hurting her or making her think she wasn’t welcome?
Before I could answer though, Emily reached across my lap and put her hand on Delilah’s knee and said, “Don’t worry sweetie. We all started out just like you. New to this world and with things different from our home. But Eric took us all in and showed us love just the same. Maybe it’s different for each of us, and how we got here wasn’t the same, but you’re one of us now. So don’t ever feel like you don’t belong.”
That was perfect. I couldn’t have said it better if I thought about it for an hour. Delilah sat there looking astonished. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she asked, “Really? Is that true?”
Emily replied, “Mhmm, it is.”
Delilah looked at me and I said, “Absolutely. This house is yours as much as it is any of ours.“
“Thank you both,” she said, as she leaned over onto my shoulder and nuzzled it as she placed her hand on Emily’s.
* * *
“How are you feeling about this?” Emily asked me. It was days away from D-Day. The start of our big assault against Shagrath the Devil King of Callist. There wasn’t much more preparation I could’ve done. I’d gathered all the resources I could. All the allies I could find. And I’d trained my best to have my body, mind, and soul ready for this. All I could do now was try to relax.
“Good,” I replied, half heartedly, “still thinking I could die. But I feel as prepared as I could possibly be going into this.”
“Well, I’m sure your father and Higgins would be proud. You’ve come a long way since you strolled into my neck of the woods.”
“Ha! Got that eulogy handy?” I said, mocking a comment she once made to me so long ago.
Her face soured and she replied, “I told you to stop all that. You’re going to be fine. I was only asking you so you could give yourself some self reflection before psyching yourself out.”
“Huh? Really? That’s a strategy?”
“Of course it is. You should know how my brain works by now.”
Curiosity got the best of me, so I prodded, “So is everything you say and do strategy?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
She seemed taken aback. There was a nervous look on her face and she couldn’t quite answer right away but finally mustered, “Well…sort of. Yes. I mean. I’m Detective Grimwood! I’m in a constant state of strategy. Even if I don’t always look it.”
“Alright, alright. Now I’m intrigued. So…piggybacking your way into this world when we first met. That was strategy?”
“Of course. I told you before, I was sick of my world. And you saw how dangerous it was getting.”
“Okay. And volunteering to go into World X with me. That was strategy?”
She seemed a tad more timid to continue answering but finally she said, “Yes. If you recall, it was too dangerous to take Arduwan there and we all thought it be best to have me there so I could think on the fly for you.”
“Uh huh…well, what was the strategy in waiting for me to come to you first when we agreed to have that talk about…you know, us?”
“Just what are you implying!” she screeched, “I told you before that I just wanted to give you your space in grieving over Higgins death. When you disappeared for months, I wasn’t sure what to do!”
I gave her a little grin and asked, “Oh really? Are you sure that wasn’t playing a little bit of a ‘hard to get’ strategy?”
She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and turned away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, “since when did I ever play hard to get before?”
“I don’t know. Since you decided you wanted more than a fling?”
She opened one eye, still facing away from me and stated, “And what makes you think this isn’t just some sort of extended fling, Eric Noble?”
“You did,” I replied, “you’ve said on a number of occasions that you just wanted to let this thing be real to you as you put it. Multiple times. Why else were you tip-toeing around the others for so long and trying to keep me from meeting Victor so as not to hurt me? Face it, you’re head over heels for me.”
Her eyes enlarged and her mouth gaped open wide. She was stunned. She didn’t know what to do with such truth facing her so blatantly. The words in this story do her no justice. If you really knew the type of person Emily Grimwood was, you’d understand how vulnerable she was when faced with a truth that even she had difficulty accepting. Her entire worldview involved truth. Uncovering it and exploiting it. But what happens when it’s a truth she feared?
After a moment, she calmed down. Her shoulders lowered and she let out a sigh. “You’re right. I am.”
“What?!” I shouted.
She grit her teeth and waved her arms. “Shh, shh…Delilah might hear you!” She attempted to stifle me. We were sitting alone in the drawing room. Delilah was upstairs.
“Sorry,” I lowered to a whisper, “go on.”
“Uhhhhh! If we really must do this. Then alright…” she let out another sigh before continuing, “I wouldn’t want either of us to have any regrets if something did happen to you in
Callist. So here it goes.”
Wow, this seemed like it was gonna be serious. I mean, more serious than she usually was.
“Okay, it’s no mystery that I am quite fond of you and you are quite fond of me. Yes, I don’t have the best history of relationships. And yes, I wanted to just let this be something real for a change. You intrigued me the moment I met you. Even before I knew we were teaming up, that night you walked into my office, there was something about you. No, it wasn’t your choice of clothing or lack of seedy cologne. I didn’t know what it was. And true, I put myself in competition with Anabel after I moved in here because I’m a total horndog and you were fresh meat. But afterwhile, I saw you as more than that. You quickly became my friend. A good friend at that. But obviously, things escalated from there. A moment ago, you said I was head over heels for you.
Fine! It’s true. I freakin love you, Eric! I freakin love you, okay?!”
Yikes, she almost had anger in her voice. There was a long pause, like she had more to say, so I wasn’t about to interrupt her.
Finally, she continued, “Now don’t go off dying in Callist after making me do this. It’s not like I can do that again for someone else someday. You’re just gonna have to accept that you’re stuck with me, alright?”
I moved towards her to hold her tight and just said, “It’s okay. I feel the same way.”
She let loose and started crying into my chest as I stroked her hair, “Don’t let them kill you, Eric. Please! I need you! I need you!!!”
* * *
The big day finally came. Stephanie and Anabel had returned from their honeymoon in Canvas. They both were more tanned than I had ever seen them and they were all smiles. Soon after they came up from the well, Arduwan and Wraith came up. They left Apollo behind with the rifles. I suited up into my chainmail once again and got ready to head out.
“Ready to roll, buddy?” Wraith asked.
“Yeah. Looks like it’s go time.”
Emily, Stephanie, Anabel, and Delilah stood in a line across from the well in the basement. It was an all too familiar site that this house had seen over the years. The support staff seeing off the adventuring party before they put themselves in harm's way in an attempt to free another world from the subjugation of a Devil. It was bigger than that though. This was about stopping the evil from encroaching on this world.
I hugged Emily tightly. It was more visible to the others than we had done before. But she already had said she didn’t care anymore and told Stephanie.
“I’ll be okay.”
She sniffled a little and wiped away some tears as she nodded to me.
I turned my attention to Steph and Anabel. I gave each of them a goodbye hug as Emily hugged Arduwan. “I’m leaving all this in your hands, Steph. I know you’ll do the right thing and find me a successor if I don’t come back.”
Stephanie choked back a tear of her own and said, “Just make sure you do.”
Lastly was Delilah. I said to her, “Well, it’s been fun kid. Keep the girls occupied while I’m gone and I might buy you a car for when University starts up when I get back.”
“Really?! Thanks!”
“Alright, Eric,” Wraith interjected, “let’s do this.”
I looked back one more time at the lineup of ladies and gave them a quick nod. Arduwan climbed into the well first, followed by Wraith and then myself. It was time to take this bastard down!