Delilah Recovered **2017 Watty Winner**

chapter eleven

Dee hadn't even laid eyes on Melia, but she had already decided she didn't like her. The mercurial Melia chose a dive bar that reeked of stale beer and cigarettes near the campus to meet. Jonathan was on his fourth Diet Coke and was ready to parkour off the drop tin ceiling. Dee was never much of a drinker and didn't know what to order. She asked about their wine list and the waitress without a hint of irony told her they had two -- a red and a white.

Dee checked her watch. "She said eight, right?" Melia was over an hour late.

Jonathan gave her a withering stare. "If she shows up before ten, we're lucky."

"You don't have to stay," she said, trying to swallow her sip of white wine. It definitely didn't taste like wine. The taste reminded her of something. When she tried that cleanse a few years ago. It was apple cider vinegar.

He took her hand in his. Her body felt all warm and tingly. "There's no way I'm leaving you on your own with Melia." He released her hand and grabbed her glass of wine. "I can't watch you try and drink that swill any longer. At least let me get you a beer."

She watched him walk over to the bar. Jonathan had an ease about him. A boyish charm that he made her feel so comfortable even in a seedy bar. He smiled at the surly waitress, and she was immediately disarmed. They chatted as she poured her beer.

"He's so very handsome, no?" A deep smoky voice with a Mediterranean lilt whispered in Dee's ear. "Look at that tight bottom, a succulent peach ready for a bite."

She turned to find a woman standing next to her table. With her long thick black hair and intense green eyes lined in black and her full lips painted with red lipstick, she was striking. Dressed in a tight black sleeveless dress to show off her sleek muscles and hourglass figure, patent red sole pumps, and wrists lined with old bracelets, her beauty was intimidating.

"Delilah," she purred, kissing her right cheek then her left, leaving the scent of jasmine lingering in the air.

When Jonathan returned to the table and saw her, his face fell. "Melia."

"Yiannis," she said as she greeted him with a kiss, branding his cheek with her vivid red lipstick.

He set Dee's beer down. "You're late." His body rigid like he was bracing for a car crash.

She smiled. "My apologies, my class went over." The waitress placed a glass of amber liquid in front of Melia. "Thank you, my darling," she said with a wink.

He looked at her drink. "They have Lagavulin, here?"

"They bring it special for me." She said, offering him her glass. "Would you like a sip?"

He put his hands up. "No, thank you."

"It's your favorite, no?" She asked with an innocent expression knowing full well that Jonathan was sober.

He took the glass from her hand and set it on the table splashing the precious whiskey on the table. "Melia, we need your help with a translation."

"Of course, anything for my beloved."

Dee noticed Jonathan flinched at the word "beloved" like she had punched him in the stomach. She pulled out the copy and set it in front of Melia.

"Aramaic," she said, nodding her head. She picked it up and traced her fingers over the words using her shiny ebony colored nails to mark her spot.

She smirked as she handed the paper to Dee. "It says 'guardian of the ring.' "

"I don't understand," Jonathan said. "What does that even mean?"

"Where's the rest?" Melia asked, shrugging stating the obvious. "There's more, no?"

"The grimoire, my family's grimoire, it's missing a page," Dee explained.

Melia took a sip of her drink. "I am certain your mother, Maria knows where it is."

"My mother is dead."

Melia looked at Jonathan shaking her head and pointing her finger at him. "Yiannis, isn't one of your many important steps, honesty?"

"Melia," he hissed.

Dee could feel the panic rising inside her. "Jonathan is my mom alive?" she asked, her voice cracking. "I don't understand." She felt like the time she went over her handlebars on her bike and had the wind knocked out of her.

With a wicked smile, Melia nodded and downed her drink.

"And Tabitha Anthea, she kept her from me?"

"Delilah, we were only trying to protect you."

Dee stumbled off her barstool. "And who will protect me from you?" She started toward the door, and Jonathan caught her arm.

"Let me explain," he pleaded.

Her anger was now like a rolling pot of boiling water. "Where is she?" He tried to look away, but she wasn't going to let this go. She grabbed his face and shouted. "Tell me."

The bottles over the bar began to rattle and shake. "Delilah, you need to calm down. You're drawing too much attention."

"I don't care." She seethed.

"Lowood Mental Institution," Melia said leaving the bar.

She took a deep breath trying to push her anger back. "She's where?"

With force Jonathan took her by the arm, threw money on the table, and herded her quickly out the door.

"So help me if you tell me Tabitha Anthea will explain it I'll lose my shit."

Melia was standing on the curb smoking a cigarette watching them like they were putting on a play for her amusement.

"Look this is not for me to tell you." Jonathan pleaded, shaking his head. "This is not how this was supposed to go down."

"Rigorous honesty," Melia interrupted him. "Isn't it like, step one?"

"Melia. Maybe it's time for you to go."

"After four years, you called me Yianni. You asked for my help." She said stamping out the cigarette with her red-soled shoe.

"Just tell me the truth. For once." Dee implored him.

"The magics Maria cast was too much for her body and for her mind," Melia explained. "You can't do a spell like that without consequences. We all know this. And she knew it."

Dee pushed Jonathan, knocking him off balance. "I thought you were the one I could trust."

Out of nowhere, the burly bouncer appeared. "Hey, yous guys. I don't know what kind of love triangle bullshit you got going on here," he said crossing his arms over his expansive chest then spitting chewing tobacco into a plastic cup while he seized them up. "And my hats off to you sir, for punching above your weight," this comment was aimed at Jonathan. "But ya gotta move it along before I call Chicago's finest."

Melia clutched Jonathan's arm pulling him down the dark street.