Merido's Daughter by LJ Maas 4 page

"Oh, wait...is that actually a pout? Let me get a camera." Casey teased.

"Well," the Karê started, rubbing her injured arm gingerly. "I did practically save your life, but I guess I don't want that to influence you."

"Oh, don't even go there, Karê." Casey laughed.

"I could whine a little if that would help." Tessa joked.

"I don't think my heart could take it." Casey replied, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Here."

The young woman pulled the napkin from the top of the plate and presented the platter to Tessa. Most of the plate was filled with fresh figs, sliced in half. The other portion of the plate held mizýthra, a cheese made from féta whey.

"Ahh, nóstimo!" The Karê slipped into her native tongue to exclaim the word, delicious. "How did you know that sýka me tyrí is my favorite mezés?" She asked as she motioned the small blonde into a seat in the living area.

"Pure deduction, my dear Watson. It just so happens that it's my favorite appetizer too. Besides, Olympia told me." She finally put on a sheepish grin upon admission of her informant.

Tessa opened a bottle of Gentilini and the women sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, enjoying their white wine and late night snack.

"Tessa, do you mind if I ask where you learned your English?"

"No, I don't mind. I went to school in England when I was eleven, then I went to the University at Oxford before I came home to live. You see we have a lot in common. I used to come home for the summers also"

"Your parents must have missed you terribly, being away all those months during the year." Casey responded.

Tessa suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable and Casey realized she must have landed on sensitive ground as the dark-haired woman jumped up and walked over to the stereo.

"Do you like opera?" The Karê asked.

"Absolutely! What have you got?"

"How about Puccini?"

"Madame Butterfly?" The blonde's eyes lit up.

"Let me guess...Un bel di?" Tessa said with a wry smile.

"How did you guess, I love that scene!"

Laughter rumbled seductively from the dark-haired woman's chest. "I had a feeling. You seem like the hopeless romantic type."

"It's an incredibly beautiful scene, it has such impact." Casey looked slightly wounded.

"She wanted to kill herself!" Tessa countered. "She should have blown them all off and went back home with her maid."

"Oh, you." Casey slapped the Karê in her good arm once she started the music and returned to her seat on the floor.

Casey listened to the rest of the aria, eyes half-mast, and a slight smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The dark-haired woman couldn't resist simply watching the young woman seated across from her. She felt her own heart lift at the blonde's obvious enjoyment from something as simple as music. It was at that moment that the Karê felt her dark side to be a million miles away.

She could scarcely believe that she was sitting here enjoying food, music, and even a limited amount of conversation with this woman, with anyone. It was as if she were someone else. Tessa Nikolaidis didn't make friends and she certainly never courted a woman. Yet, here was the Meridio Karê and she was actually enjoying herself. No one would believe it, she was sure of that. Her reputation among her peers and other acquaintances was well known and well deserved. Tessa realized that no one but Casey would ever see her this way. It was the small blonde with a heart as bright and warm as sunshine that brought out this goodness in the older woman. When she stood next to Casey, she actually felt like she could be redeemed.

When the final note of the Madame Butterfly aria had ended, the soft expression on the Karê's face was more from watching the small blonde across from her that from the tempest of the music. Casey thought otherwise.

"See, you're a closet romantic." Casey teased.

Tessa chuckled in that throaty tone of hers and smiled endearingly at the young woman.

"Being a hopeless romantic is something I just don't have the time for, little one"

Casey simply stared at the dark-haired woman for a few long seconds, as if she were trying very hard to remember something. Meanwhile Tessa's smile froze on her face as she grasped the words she just uttered.

"What?" Tessa questioned, stalling for time.

"Uhm, nothing...nothing" Casey answered, shaking her head. "I just had the strangest sense of deja vu, like...I don't know, like I'd heard you call me that before. Weird, huh?"

"Yea," Tessa agreed.

The Karê was more than a little confused. She cursed herself for her mental lapse in using the pet name in the first place. Then the older woman wondered why the small blonde didn't remember that Easter, twenty years ago.

The Karê leaned back in the thickly cushioned leather chair in her office. Her eyes remained closed, even as Alex and Stefano ushered two college-aged young men into the spacious room. The melodious strains of Art Tatum's piano filtered through the stereo speakers and the dark-haired woman held up a hand requesting silence when Alex cleared his throat nervously.

Tessa had been reliving the moments she spent with Cassandra last night, not wanting to lose the feeling of contentment that flowed across her like the music that filled the room. It was almost as if she were asking forgiveness from the small blonde for the woman she would now have to become. It caused an ache in her chest, being so close to atonement, yet so far. When she sat with Casey, it was easy to think of a future that contained neither violence nor pain. Yet, here in her office, with the smell of her victim's fear hanging in the air along with the last few notes of song, she felt that familiar feeling of power clutch at her belly.

It wasn't merely a darkness; it was a feeling that coursed through her, just as the blood that flowed through her veins. It was the thrill of the chase and the rush of victory all mixed together. She breathed deeply and let the beast loose a little at a time until her demeanor barely resembled the woman that Meridio's daughter knew.

Pushing herself away from her desk, she rose and stood silently, searching their eyes, these men that were more boys than anything else. Her penetrating stare and deeply etched scowl caused them both to lower their eyes from her harsh gaze. When the Karê began to speak, her awareness of that other side of herself, the one who could still love and feel, and want, was gone, replaced by this woman. This one who raised her lip in a sneer and began to speak.

"Which one of you is Míkolo?"

"I am." The young man with the new beard replied quickly.

Tessa walked around the desk to stand before the young man who spoke. She moved with a subtle power and a grace that belied her true intent. The non-threatening way she moved put the men at ease. With a lightning speed, so fast it was almost a blur; she lashed out with her right arm and backhanded the man across the face.

"That is the last time you will be allowed to lie to me." She hissed.

"Please don't hurt him. I am George Míkolo," the young man on Tessa's right admitted.

He looked like an Athens University student, clean-shaven, wire rim glasses. Tessa wondered where a boy like this got the arkhédia's to shoot a gun at her, at the woman who was under her protection. The more she thought about it the angrier she got.

"I want to know why." She asked through clenched teeth.

She held up a hand just as the young man began to open his mouth, effectively silencing him before he said a word. She reached across her desk for something and when the object in her hand came into view, she nodded to Alex and Stefano.

Suddenly the two large men were holding Míkolo down in the chair, his friend too terrified to even move. Tessa moved over the immobilized man and unfolded the ivory handled straight razor in her hand. She lifted her leg and pressed the weight down onto the tops of his thighs, then she slowly unbuckled the belt at his waist, all the while her cold gaze watched the young man's face.

Míkolo's friend, Yannis whimpered in his chair and began to mumble a string of Hail Mary's under his breath. Míkolo's own breath was coming in audible pants that resounded throughout the room. Tessa chuckled, but it was an entirely unpleasant sound.

"I think you know she's not going to help you, don't you?" She asked the rhetorical question as she stared down at the man under her, referring to the other man's prayers.

"I can be a very forgiving woman, most people don't know that about me. You see, I'm going to give you three chances." She said as she fixed an almost reverent gaze on the blade in her hand, tilting it so the light gleamed brightly when it hit the metal, then she looked down at the young man's crotch.

"For every lie you tell me, you'll become one member short of a threesome. If you lie to me more than three times, I'll leave you to bleed to death on my nice Persian carpet and not think twice about it. Katalavaynés?"

Sweat rolled off his brow and into his eyes and he blinked to wash away the burning sensation, nodding fiercely to the dark-haired woman.

Tessa brought the razor up to her own eyes and ran her thumb lightly along its edge. She never even looked at the young man when she asked her first question.

"Who fired the shots?"

"I did." He answered truthfully.

This surprised Tessa. She didn't think this scrawny boy had the stomach for it. She halfway expected him to piss his pants in fright. Usually, the first thing the guilty did was to beg for your forgiveness, groveling and crying for mercy. She'd seen grown men in this same position that acted much worse than this one.

"Who was the target?"

"Meridio's d-daughter." His voice cracked in response.

"Now you may tell me why." She said slowly, grinding her teeth together in an attempt at control.

His response came out in a torrent of Greek and bits of English.

"We didn't mean to hurt her, we only wanted to scare her! I swear on the Virgin, it's the truth. I thought she was here to take over her father's business and I talked some friends into helping me. We thought if we scared her, she would go back to America. I was only supposed to break the glass in the car she was standing by, but...I'm such a poor shot...I-I never shot a pistol before." Tears streamed down his face by this point.

Tessa wavered, fiddling with the razor anxiously held in her right hand. The boy's words were so pathetic they had to be the truth. She stared hard into his eyes and saw the verity of it. Easing the weight of her leg off the boy, she waved Alex and Stefano to let go. She folded the razor back into its handle and tossed it absently onto the desk. Walking behind the large olive wood structure she bent to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of oúzo and three glasses.

She poured a generous helping of the liquor into all three glasses. She was only going to pour two at first, but the throbbing pain in her arm began again and a metallic taste on her tongue, that she knew was just adrenaline, had her pouring some of the liquid in a glass of her own. She handed the two boys a drink each and leaned upon her desk, sipping the clear liquid.

"You know we have a decision to make now." Tessa began.

"We could leave Greece...no one would have to know, Karê." Yannis pleaded.

Tessa kept her eyes on Míkolo and raised an eyebrow. "I think you know better than that, don't you?"

The young man swallowed and lowered his eyes.

"I can not only be forgiving, but I can also be merciful. You see I can't just let you both walk out of here. What kind of a message would that send to the foolish boys who might do me and mine harm the next time? No," Tessa swallowed the rest of her drink and moved around the desk to seat herself.

"Someone must pay for the crime and someone must go back and tell the others what a compassionate woman the Meridio Karê can be." Tessa smiled at the irony in her own words. "I leave it to you two to decide who stays...and who goes."

Tessa leaned back. This was the part where she usually learned the most about men and human nature. For all their machismo and bravado, Greek men, no...men in general, turned out to be a pathetically weak bunch. She had watched as simple housewives walked to their deaths, wanting nothing more than to spit in the Karê's face one last time. Just as she had watched men grovel and offer up their daughters in exchange for their own lives.

"I'll stay." Míkolo said quietly.

Tessa watched as Yannis warred within himself. He wanted to be brave; she could see that. He wanted to offer himself up, but his terror got the better of him. Instead he hung his head, his silence saying more than his words could anyway. She knew Míkolo was frightened, probably not at his own death but by the methods that would bring it about. He held himself together and Tessa felt if the time had been different, he would have made a good student of hers. He seemed as if he held the potential to be as cold and ruthless as the position of the Meridio's Karê demanded. She shook her head mentally. It was not to be, for today would be the last day this young man would see, as George Míkolo.

With a nod of her head, she watched as Stefano hustled Yannis from the room, the young man refusing to even look his friend in the eye as he passed.

Alex looked at Tessa and motioned a questioning eye at Míkolo, still seated in the chair. Tessa rose and pulled a compact 9mm Glock 26 and its holster from her desk, tucking it into her waistband at the small of her back. As she put on her black suit jacket she spoke to Alex.

"No, Alex, I won't need any help. This one I do by myself." She said with a chilling tone of finality. She moved to walk away from her desk and, seemingly as an after thought, she picked up the straight razor, sliding into her pants pocket.

The young man's knees shook and they had all the strength of a newborn calf as he walked along the office halls with the Karê. There was never a question in his mind about running from the tall woman now. It seemed standing next to the powerful woman in the elevator, that there was nowhere in the world for him to hide from the Karê's all seeing gaze. And, so he obediently followed along.

Tessa stood outside in the early morning sun waiting for the valet to bring her car around to the front. She knew the young man stared at her, but she couldn't look at him, her anger was too great. She practiced a few control techniques to push the beast back down for a while. If she looked over at the man who had very nearly taken Cassandra's life, she would gut him right on the street.

Once they were settled in her silver Mercedes, Tessa gunned the vehicle down the road to the docks. She only had to wait a few minutes until the car ferry that would take them to Athens was pulling into port. Míkolo watched the dark-haired woman and hoped that she had one shred of human compassion left in her and that she would send him to the Virgin swiftly. The possibilities of what she could, and probably would, do to him filled his mind until his hands shook constantly.

Part 2

The French doors were ajar and even in her sleep the small blonde smiled as she felt the warm, late morning breeze blow across her skin. Her mind was a million miles away reliving a different time, her eyes moving rapidly under her closed lids. Suddenly, Casey awoke, breathing deeply at the suddenness of her return into reality.

She ran a hand through her short locks, her brow furrowed in concentration. She hadn't experienced that childhood dream in years, but what would prompt it now? It was the same as when she was a child. She could never remember what she dreamt upon waking, but she always remembered the feeling. It started out as undiminished happiness and contentment and always ended the same, as if her life were suddenly incomplete, as if something had been torn away from her.

Why in the world would I be dreaming like this again? Geez, eighteen months of therapy...you would have thought I'd be cured by now, wouldn't you?

Casey rose and stood in front of the doors that looked out onto Tourlos Bay wondering, as she had numerous times in her life, how she could attain that feeling of completeness.

Andreas Meridio sat at the large wooden desk in his office and hung up the telephone just as Tessa walked into the room. The dark-haired woman didn't say a word, she simply walked up to where Meridio was seated and tossed a paper sack on the desk.

"What's this?" he asked in confusion.

"You said you wanted them in a sack on your desk." Tessa answered ominously.

The man carefully opened the sack and inside lay a plastic bag containing a bloody mass of something. As much as he had seen in his day, still, the vision of this made him exhale in a small groan under his breath. Tessa smiled to herself. All men reacted this way at the sight.

Meridio closed the paper sack. "Did he admit it?"

"They all do, in the end."

"Did you keep him alive?" Meridio questioned.

"Yes, Mr. Meridio."

"Good. I want him and any of the others to know who they're fucking with. I want him to remember the day he tried to hurt a member of the Meridio family."

"Trust me when I say that George Míkolo will remember this day for the rest of his life." Tessa added.

"A good morning's work, Karê. Come, join Cassandra and I for lunch." Meridio said rising from the desk.

The man walked to the door, then turned abruptly.

"Oh, Tessa. Dispose of that." He finished, pointing to the sack on his desk before leaving.

Casey was sitting on the outside patio, sipping a frappé, waiting for her father to join her for lunch when Olympia began to set another place at the table.

"Do we have company, Olympia?"

"Oh, no Miss. The Karê will be joining you and your father.

"Oh," Casey brightened a little.

The older woman tried to disguise her reaction. Meridio's daughter would not be the first young woman to fall for the enigmatic Karê, but Tessa had best be aware that it could be a deadly affair should the girl's father discover them together.

"Can I help you, Olympia?" Casey asked, already knowing what the older woman's answer would be.

"No, Miss, you just relax. These bones aren't that old yet." Olympia finished with a smile.

The cook made three trips back to the table before she was finished placing platters of food on the table. Casey had forgotten about the three-hour-siesta rule to lunch in Greece and how enormous the midday meal actually was.

"Kaliméra." Tessa said to the small blonde as she approached the table.

"Good morning yourself, Karê," the seated woman responded. "Pappa," Casey acknowledged her father as the man placed a light kiss on her cheek.

Tessa sat and commanded her body not to react with Meridio so near. Cassandra sat across from the dark-haired woman in a pale pink sleeveless top and a white skirt. The young woman's tanned, muscular legs were tucked up under her as Tessa quickly realized this was the small blonde's favorite repose. The dark-haired woman accepted a glass of iced tea from Olympia and allowed Casey, as the lady of the house, to fill her plate from the larger platters. The Karê was rather impressed that the young woman chose some of her favorites. Of course, all of the fare was exceptional and it helped that Olympia had been a world class chef in her younger days. Tessa sprinkled pepper over the Meltizánes imám baïldí, small eggplants filled with a ragoût of onions, tomatoes, and herbs, smiling to herself as she realized that the Dolmádes, parcels of grape leaves tightly stuffed with currants, pine nuts, and rice, were Casey's weakness. Of course, no Greek lunch would be complete without bread, cheese, and fresh fruit.

"What will you do today, Máhtia Mou?" Meridio asked his daughter.

"Well, I was thinking of going into town, unless you don't think it's safe?" Casey responded.

Meridio looked at Tessa for the answer. The older man valued the Karê's opinion and this was her area of expertise, after all.

"I think it would be a good idea," Tessa explained. "It would be good for the people to see you out after yesterday's incident, show them that you're not afraid."

"But, I have to admit that I am afraid, at least a little." Casey smiled weakly at the Karê.

"Only children and the simple minded live without fear, Ms. Meridio." Tessa commented.

"Besides," Meridio added, "you won't be having any more trouble from those hoodlums from Athens."

"Did the astynomía arrest them then?" Casey asked, wondering why they hadn't told her the police made an arrest already.

"Yes," Andreas Meridio said without hesitation. "They were young men looking to cause trouble, they probably worked in Lésvos, on the farms. Probably thought they had a score to settle."

During this whole time Tessa refused to raise her head to look at the small blonde seated across from her. The Karê was an extremely proficient liar, but she had the oddest feeling that Cassandra would know if she weren't telling the truth.

"You mean they worked on the olive farms? What kind of grudge could they have against us, Pappa?" Casey asked.

"Anything, maybe they thought they weren't getting paid enough, or that they didn't get enough holidays...who knows." Meridio responded.

"Would they really be angry enough to kill us?"

"They didn't mean to hurt us." Tessa finally entered her voice in the conversation. "They only intended their actions to scare, but they were rotten shots." She finished with a wry grin.

"Pappa, come into town with me?" Casey asked her father hopefully.

"Another time, Máhtia Mou, I have paperwork and phone calls to attend to. Tessa will go with you." He said.

"She'll be happy to, won't you Tessa?" Meridio asked, rhetorically of course.

"Absolutely," Tessa answered promptly, realizing she was not being asked, but told. "Where did you have in mind?" The dark-haired woman saw all her plans of an afternoon's sailing flying away before her eyes.

"Well, I told Olympia I'd go with her to the laïki agorá."

Tessa had her fork paused midway between her plate and her mouth and stopped. "Shopping?" The dark-haired woman heard the words street market and she was quite literally aghast.

"Better than that, Karê. Shopping for food. Olympia says the best fish don't arrive till after lunch." Casey teased.

Tessa's face held an expression of complete resignation, but not one fragment of delight. Andreas Meridio laughed at the grimace on his Karê's face. He rose from his chair, kissing his daughter, and slapping Tessa on the shoulder.

"Well, you ladies enjoy yourselves." He laughed and left the patio before his Karê could figure a way out of the fate she'd been set up for.

Tessa recommended that Meridio's daughter be seen around town, but down here at the street market wasn't exactly what the Karê had in mind. The taller woman followed dutifully behind the small blond and the older woman, pausing and trying not to look too bored as they stopped at each of the vendor's booths. She pushed aside daydreams of being on her catamaran on such a beautiful day and scanned the area, watching without being noticed as watching.

Casey threw cautious glances back at the Karê as the small blonde walked along with the older Greek woman. The Karê looked bored stiff, but she did make an effort and grinned at the small blonde when Casey turned and smiled back at her. Soon Casey began giving packages to the tall woman and although the dark-haired woman accepted them gratefully at first, she began to think she looked more like a pack mule, and this might not be the best thing in the world for her reputation.

Motioning to a young boy sitting on the curb, Tessa bent down and spoke to him rapidly in Greek, pulling a few bank notes from her billfold. When she pressed the bills into the boy's hands, he nodded enthusiastically and took the packages from the tall woman's hands.

Casey looked down at the young boy at her side and smiled, noticing he was carrying the sacks of fruits and vegetables that were in the Karê's possession only a few moments earlier. Glancing behind her she watched as an extremely smug smile of satisfaction graced Tessa's features. Casey laughed out loud.

"Did the Karê hire you to carry those?" Casey asked the young boy.

He nodded his head and smiled broadly. "She told me to follow the beautiful woman with the golden hair, but I already know you, Miss Meridio."

"Oh, is that so? Well, what is your name?"

"Peter."

"Well, Peter, do you like baklavás?"

The boy nodded again and Casey helped him juggle his burden to accept the pastry that the small blonde purchased.

"Olympia," Casey spoke to the woman beside her in a lower tone of voice. "Why does Tessa look as if she's being tortured? Does she hate shopping that much?"

Olympia chuckled at Casey's assessment of the tall woman a few paces behind them.

"On a day like this the Karê would be out on her sailboat. I think we put an unexpected crimp in her plans."

Casey stopped moving, once again surprised at how little she actually knew about the dark-haired woman. Looking back at Tessa the small blonde's smile became radiant.

"You have a boat?"

Tessa saw the sunlight mirrored in the young woman's smile and she felt herself returning the look. The Karê could tell that the radiance in the small blonde's features was from excitement.

"You sail?" Tessa seemed surprise at the revelation.

"I'm not exactly seasoned, but I had a Hobie Cat when I was a teenager. I make a great passenger, though." Casey blushed and she wasn't sure why.

"You should have told me. On a day like this, the Aegean would be beautiful." Tessa replied and Casey saw the blue color of the Karê's eyes deepen.

"You know, we could still..." Casey looked expectantly at Olympia, putting on the sincere face that for nearly twenty five years the older woman had a difficult time saying no to.

The cook looked from the young woman to the taller Karê and felt that she was looking at two teenage girls. The expression of hope on their faces caused the old woman to laugh quietly.

"I can see that you're both infected with the fever now and you'd be no good to me anyway. I think we should continue our shopping tomorrow." Olympia responded.

"Yes!" Casey smacked her hands together and the Karê again followed behind the two women, except that now she had a definite spring in her step.

Mýkonos harbor was one of the busiest tourist spots on the island and the taxi boats that carried passengers to the island of Delos left from the docks there too. Walking down the far dock where the larger boats and yachts were moored, Tessa and Casey both drew stares from the locals as well as the tourists. Men and women alike stole glances at the two women dressed in tank tops and shorts. Tessa stopped in front of the harbormaster's office and spoke with the men inside for a few moments. Returning to where Casey stood waiting, she showed the small blonde to the slip she was moored in.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 664