The Secret Life of Em de Mone (Part 4: It's All Fun and Games, Until...)

A new short story: The Secret Life of Em de Mone

Em is a character in another series, but here's a snippet of her early years in Vegas.
Be sure to check out the beginnings: 

Part 1: The Intro, 

Part 2: Characters and Setting

Part 3: Problems

Happy Reading. ~Aspen  

Part 4: It's All Fun and Games, Until...

“A fortune teller friend and her granddaughter called me. I was close at another party, getting my spook on, and figured I’d come check it out. Plus, they said you were here.” Granny ordered another shot, “Lovie?”

“No,” Em shook her head, holding up her water. She needed a break from shots, everything was way too fuzzy and way too whacko right now. Then something clicked, “Wait…what?!? How did you know I would be here?”

“Violet told me about your fortune. I’d say she’s pretty good. I mean I am here, and some magical business is about to get real. And the blood. Gracious…there’s a lot of blood,” Granny nodded and did her shot.

“What? Huh… there is?”

“Yep,” Granny sat on the stool with her head on a swivel.

“So what are you waiting for?”

“Child…” Grandma said with a sad head shake, before she could open her mouth, a shriek reverberated throughout the Ball. “That,” Grandma jumped off her chair. She pulled a baton out of the small of her back and raced toward the sound of the screams.

Weaponless but intrigued, Em followed hot on the heels of her super spry demon grandmother. The two skidded to a stop, by now a spotlight from the center stage highlighted the screamer. Renee. Standing there covered in blood, not her own, but that of Butler, who she cradled in her arms. The beautiful butler sobbed and held her very bloody hands over her very bloody eye.

Before Em knew it, Grandma was in the thick of it, blowing a powder around the audience and making sure a huge puff covered Butler and Renee. “What a great spook! Trick or Treat! They gave us a trick, let’s treat them to a hand!” Grandma’s voice boomed.

Immediately the room broke into a collective sigh of relief followed by a mass of awe and applause. They thought it was a show. All part of the Fantasy and Fetish-ness of the evening. Brilliant, Em thought.

Granny had a great poker face for the public, but she whispered to Em, “Get them through that door over there.”

Em threw an arm around Renee, who still held Butler, and herded them to the shadowy corners of the room. There was a door. Employees Only. She glanced back at Granny who nodded. Em pushed her way through. The minute she did her eyebrows skyrocketed. What in all that burned in hell had they just walked into?

Taking in the noise, the equipment, the little people, and all the chaos, Em concluded they’d walked into an Elfin run triage unit. Eyeless victims were everywhere, and elf doctors and nurses catered to the injured and the worried all around. The smell of blood turned Em’s stomach, but not as much the as painful wails coming from every corner.  

What business was her father’s family in anyway? She racked her brain trying to remember what she could about that side of the family. She’d always thought they were mixed up in money laundering and racketeering, mob stuff. Not magical demon stuff. Em was no stranger to magic. It’s been a part of her whole life, even if she’d only discovered it on her 18^th birthday. She’d even once been part of a trifecta to banish her own mother. But this, this was some sick shit. Missing eyeballs, blood, and hysterics. Everywhere.

Granny stopped in front of an open cot and handed Butler off to two elfin nurses. Em rested a hand on Renee’s back and the amazon beauty turned. Even with deep tear tracks through her once perfect make-up, she was gorgeous. She gripped Em’s hand, “I have no fucking idea what this crazy ass place is but thank you for helping me and my friend.”

Em nodded and squeezed back, then let go to follow Granny, who was moving quickly and headed toward yet another mysterious door.

With her long stride, Em caught up to Granny in two steps and grabbed her by the back of her t-shirt, “Whoa, lady…what in the big fat F is going on?”

“Like I said, there’s a cursed object, or something magically menacing here, and now that you’ve seen what it does, help me stop it. We need to find the objects or the cursers, and destroy one, or both of them. And we need to do it before midnight.” Granny looked at her watch, “It’s10:20 p.m. which doesn’t give us much time.”

“What are you talking about?!?” Em screeched. Not only was she totally lost, but her buzz was fading, and a hangover was settling in.

“Lovie, if we can break this curse before midnight, everything will revert back to normal. No harm. No foul. All eyeballs return, and everyone chalks it up to the craziest, most nightmarish Ball ever. A rip-roaring good time. If we can’t and the clock strikes twelve, my dear…” Granny spun around, giving Em the chance to take it all in, all of it, as far as she could see, victims…missing their eyeballs. “This all becomes reality. A new kind of hell for too many innocent people.”

“Okay,” said Em, not really understanding but able to follow logic, “What can I do to help?”

Granny smiled and Em could see her red lipstick smeared all over her top teeth. “That’s my Lovie. Follow me.”

I do hope you enjoyed It's All Fun and Games, Until...

I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Next week, The Plot Thickens will dive deeper into Em's Secret Life. However (again), I can assure you, it's not what you think.  😉

The Secret Life of Em de Mone 

Keep Reading:

Part 1: The Intro, 

Part 2: Characters and Setting

Part 3: Problems

Part 4: It's All Fun and Games, Until...

Part 5: The Plot Thickens

Part 6: Two Fortune Tellers and a Monster