The Pixie's Warrior Wolf (Completed)

Defending Her Name and Family

The spring day went still, and quiet.

It was eerie and vicious as Katherine seemed to suck all the oxygen from everyone’s lungs as she laughed suddenly, “No you didn’t just say those words.” Bartha Mae’s breath shuddered out in pants as Katherine hissed, “You have a lot nerve since you’re the little hussy that ruined the happy Thatcher home.”

Eyes bulging from her head, the burnt orange orbs flickered around wildly as Katherine recounted like a question, “Because why did Charles Thatcher slink off in the night after his true mate after a rather heated argument with you after the high school’s dance four years ago? Please, do tell me that riveting tale. I’m sure it’s more suspenseful than the fake bull spread about me.”

Bartha Mae was pale and looked stricken as her shame watched over her like a wave. Katherine nodded as she guessed, “Right, well from my knowledge you told Helena Thatcher you’d been screwing her husband and she almost beat you senseless. You spent two weeks holed up in your house so no one would see the results of the spectacular ass whopping she gave you. How long was it before you could see out of your left eye again?”

Not knowing how Katherine knew of the fight she’d had with Helena, or how serious her injuries had been. Katherine was amused when she tried to flip the narrative with a pity me sniffle, “Yes, fine she attacked me! Why should I be ashamed for her assuming the incorrect thing when all I did was try and show some feminine loyalty. Not my fault the truth hurt.”

And while Bartha Mae was sure she’d convinced someone of her words, one quick glance around said otherwise. Seeing the eyes on her and feeling the heat of them, she was breaking into a cold sweat as Katherine hummed in thought, “The truth hurt? You mean telling her you been swinging your panties over your head like a lasso for her mate since they got to town? I wonder why that would hurt.”

Bartha Mae made a noise of outrage as the village all whispered even louder and as the noise crept in and she was left defenseless, Bartha Mae glared at Katherine who glared back as she scoffed in disbelief at her, “And you can tell lies out the side of your neck. But you and I both know; you didn’t tell Helena those awful things about you and her husband because you wanted to warn her or even show her some semblance of respect. If you had, you wouldn’t have taken so much enjoyment in telling her.”

And it was the cat that ate the canary look on her face that led to her being beaten down by Helena. That and the thinking that Katherine pointed out wisely in her young years that Bartha Mae hadn’t even had then as she berated, “It was a petty and cruel thing you did because you thought telling her would make him come to you. Only it didn’t, because you weren’t what he truthfully wanted, and it was proven when he left you here alone while he chased after her for forgiveness. How sad was that little lily when he left?”

Remembering the lily her married lover had given to her when they’d finished one of their sinful coituses, it was there before and after the flame between them had died. Having stared at it until it was withered and gone like their passion and his affection for her, Bartha Mae had cried when it died…

“How do you know these things?” Bartha Mae hissed disgusted and uneasy knowing Katherine was just a pixie. She wasn’t an all-knowing goddess that had a third eye in the sky of the heavens to know her sins.

But Katherine seemed to be as her presence burned brighter as she huffed, “Does it matter? You’re not embarrassed and upset because of what happened either. You’re upset I’m calling you out and unlike everything you’ve said about me, I’ve said nothing but the truth about you. So how dare you stand here and think you can say a word against me or my mother? As if your opinion or approval is what we should live up to. Because I’d love to know who made you the pinnacle of perfection?”

Bartha Mae had no response and Katherine nodded as she snapped, “Right, because you’re not. You live your life like a lot of people Bartha Mae. You lived it as you pleased and then the second you got hurt you turned on the faux righteous behavior and turned your nose up at a seventeen-year-old because it gave you the power of some high school mean girl again.”

As the older woman tried to not wilt or show she was ashamed by her actions, because in her mind still, she was right in doing all of them. It was seeing that stance on Bartha’s face that made Katherine chuckle unamused, and if anything, she was angry.

But yet she still felt sorry for the old woman as she realized, “You are a rare breed Bartha Mae. You have the crotchety attitude of every bitter harpy out there as well as the emotional immaturity of a child. You should get some help so you can grow up past seventeen darling, because if you hadn’t looked in the mirror lately, may I point out it was several decades ago. Time to let go of the Pink Ladies dream, and slip into your Golden Girls era don’t you think?”

A gasp of indignation, Bartha Mae had the look of, “oh no she didn’t”, and matched it with, “Oh I have you know child I’m more grown in ways you couldn’t imagine. So, watch your mouth.” Katherine’s eyes became brighter, “Or you’ll do what? Keep being bitter and lonely? You can stay that way for all I care. But you can’t rain that on me and my family anymore. There are no letters for you to hide now.”

Every stray eye watching and seeing the verbal battle watched Bartha Mae purse her lips at that being thrown in her face. Rolling her eyes, Bartha Mae dismissively brushed her bad actions away as she carelessly replied, “I did that because I saw how hurt they were when you left them. I didn’t think a bunch of letters would do a damn thing.”

Katherine looked at her furious and in disbelief as her anger became white hot, “No you weren’t!” Flinching back, Bartha Mae wasn’t prepared for Katherine to bark, “You weren’t helping my parents, you were being a petty little girl as you seem to always revert to and HID my letters from them.”

Whispers now even louder as a slight crowd watched the two women going at it formed, Bartha Mae felt like she was under a lamp drying out as she hissed, “You were sending them for no reason. I did your parents a favor by not telling them and letting you break their hearts from wherever you were.”

Katherine rolled her eyes, “Oh really? Because I heard you were so bitter and upset my daddy found my mom after he agreed to go out with you. That you did this to punish him. Are you saying that was a lie?”

No. Clearly not.

Because the glee at the reminder of why she’d done it sparked in Bartha Mae’s eye the second she said. It made Katherine’s stomach knot up in disgust as she whispered, “You soulless monster.” Bartha Mae tried to speak but Katherine was on her neck now as she yelled, “I could have been killed or saying anything was wrong and my parents were none the wiser. They could have been writing me back, we could have worked things out and it was because of you we didn’t sooner. You kept them from knowing what was going on with me and you kept me from talking to them when I needed them. And it was all out of childish spite!”

Bartha Mae’s eyes shifted uneasily as everyone whispered and pointed. As she fought for a lifeline, she got nothing as Katherine hissed, “That was disgusting, cruel, and you have no remorse because you did it to someone. If it was done to you, you’d be livid and demand justice. You should be grateful being fired is all that happened to you.”

Bartha Mae paled as Katherine threatened, “Me and my parents showed kindness over your supposed hurt feelings. But you should be on trial for your trifling behavior.” Not sure Katherine really had a case, Bartha Mae wasn’t all that confident in the answer as Katherine gave her another glance that felt like a butcher knife to the gut before saying, “You can talk out the side of your mouth in misery in your empty ass house alone Bartha Mae. But know just as much as you hate me, I hate you. So, leave it there and be gone with your deplorable self.”

She turned and refused to look at Bartha Mae as the woman raved and tried to defend everything she’d done. But as she came up short with sympathy and no response out of Katherine, the woman finally hit a nerve as she sniffed, “Your daddy broke my heart. I loved him for months, and just when he finally pays attention to me the next day, he has a mate. And for it to be Eloise of all people?”

A younger, and in Bartha Mae’s vain opinion, a less beautiful girl? She’d nearly lost her s**t as she tried to comprehend how fate could be so blind.

Thinking the competition for David’s affections should have swayed more to her side, she’d been left majorly disappointed. And vengeful. “So yeah, I finally got my lick back when I saw his little w***e of a daughter writing. At first it was just going to be the first few ones, to make myself feel better. But then, seeing him worrying himself sick thinking you weren’t contacting them became a new kind of pleasure. I watched him and your mama fall into themselves and worry, and worry, and it aged them terribly, didn’t it?”

The mocking note at the end of Bartha Mae’s taunt was the last straw as the sky became gray. Katherine’s eyes were so bright they caused Bartha Mae to squint as Katherine seethed, “You bitch.” Hand glowing with a green mist of energy as power summoned from within began to make the air tense, Katherine promised deadly, “I’m going to make you pay for that.”

Bartha Mae started to shriek to save herself, maybe shatter Katherine’s eardrums or cause an aneurism from a high-pitched wail. But as two of Katherine’s kin rushed forward and three of Bartha’s, they all tried to defuse the situation. Only Katherine wasn’t going to be pacified. Eyes locked on Bartha Mae and ready to drag the woman who was clearly an enemy of her family’s peace now, Katherine was poised for an attack.

Until Eloise suddenly appeared like the sun that shined through her daughter’s gray clouds showing them away and making the air easier to breathe as she stood between her daughter and Bartha Mae in her sun dress and hat.

Glowing and bright, the pixie removed her shades as she turned and looked to the pale woman and her upset daughter, “Now what seems to be happening here?”