WHO Luna WHEN Monday night WHERE Illunis WHAT catching up with old friends WARNINGS mentions of Dunkin
Three weeks ago an email had hit Luna’s inbox inviting her to one of the small gatherings at Illunis, and at the time Luna had closed the message (but not deleted it).
Luna had been avoiding Illunis, but it was for what she felt were very acceptable reasons. She had been kidnapped from Illunis, snatched from the alley out back and taken to that horrible basement where she’d been disfigured.
And she had been taken because of her connection to Solanine. Luna knew that wasn’t Solanine’s fault – she did, she truly did. Luna had dealt with a stalker of her own before, and that hadn’t been anything she had done. Some people were just fucked up, and they were going to be fucked up whether you encouraged them or not.
But… Luna still couldn’t help but think about the way it had all played out. If Luna hadn’t gotten to know Solanine, then Dunkin never would have snatched Luna up.
Once or twice since then Solanine had reached out, but now all Luna saw were these impersonal emails. She knew they were still being sent to her for a reason though. They were still an offer that said ‘hey, come by some time’.
And so tonight Luna had dressed herself up suitably to be seen in Illunis and driven to Brooklyn. She parked in a very open spot in the front that might get her ticketed, but she was willing to pay a higher parking cost to be out in the open. No way she was touching the backstreets, even if Dunkin was dead and gone.
Luna couldn’t hear the music until she pushed the door open, but once she did she felt the heavy Sisters of Mercy-inspired beats of Cold Cave and the crooning voice promising her that in life we love, in death we dance. Luna probably wouldn’t be doing any dancing tonight, but as she spotted Ezio on the other side of the room standing up from his seat to come towards her, Luna hoped she’d be doing some catching up.
“Solanine will so glad you’re here,” Ezio said, towering over her as usual – especially in his tall boots – and brushing a thumb over her cheek. Ezio didn’t hug, but Ezio always seemed to like touching.
“Is she around?”
Ezio nodded towards the stairs. “She said she was taking a moment, but go up.”
For a moment of her own Luna wondered if she should just let Solanine be, but then she realised she didn’t want to have to talk to her in front of all these people. So Luna nodded her thanks to Ezio and headed up the stairs and towards the private room she knew Solanine kept up there.
The door was open and she saw Solanine through it, standing in front of the mirror and smoothing down her velvet dress. Luna also saw Solanine’s eyes flick to her in the reflection, her mouth falling open in delighted surprise. “Luna!”
She turned away from the mirror and swept towards Luna, just as Luna also took a couple steps into the room. “You look amazing,” Luna told Solanine, because she really did. Solanine always looked like a gothic dreamboat.
“Ah, thank you,” said Solanine and then her expression wavered as her gaze dropped. “Your arms,” Solanine frowned, reaching out as though to lift one and then pausing, perhaps realising it was rude to just grab at Luna.
Luna lifted her right arm to display it, the skin now pure and smooth and beautiful, those lines clean in a way that Luna hadn’t seen fully since she was seventeen. “I healed really well,” she told Solanine. “The doctors were impressed.”
Yes, it was a lie, but it was a completely necessary one. She couldn’t tell Solanine oh, I asked a god to come around and heal them for me with his magical powers. No, the favour that Apollo had done her there couldn’t pass outside the circles of immortals.
“That monster,” Solanine said with a hiss, reaching out to touch the bare skin. “I heard the news, that he killed himself after you were rescued.”
Luna tried not to look surprised at that. Is that what Hecate and Qebhet had sorted out to cover up Luna’s crimes? (Or just Hecate? Or just Qebhet?) Luna had never asked, never wanted to know more than she had to, even though the questions ate her up.
“Good riddance,” Luna muttered, but there was a tight edge to her voice and the memory of a knife through flesh.
“I cannot apologize deeply enough for my part in what happened,” Solanine said with a frown, her beautiful dark lips pursed. “That his interest in me led to-”
“Don’t,” Luna told her, leaning in suddenly and wrapping her arms around Solanine. Solanine seemed a little surprised by the hug, but almost immediately softened into it, lifting her arms to hug Luna back. “Don’t apologise for shitty men. Neither of us are to blame, and he got what he deserved.”
“He got what he deserved,” Solanine agreed.
When Solanine drew back from the hug she looked seriously at Luna, and although she was probably only in her early thirties the expression made her look so much older. “But how are you?” Solanine asked, in the manner of one who really wanted to know.
“I’m okay,” Luna said honestly. “I’m moving on.” She couldn’t explain in any detail how many other horrible things with other horrible men had happened to her in the last few years, even though Dunkin had been one of the worst and the most recent.
“Your partners,” Solanine added, “The boyfriend and girlfriend. They’re looking after you?”
Luna smiled a little, warmed at the thought of Hermes and Peitho. “They are,” she said with love in her tone. “I honestly don’t think I would have made it through without them.” Luna couldn’t imagine any life without them, only that it would surely be a dark and cold one. And to think she had been so close to losing them when she’d betrayed Hermes. In another timeline, Luna could be living in some depressing one bedroom somewhere instead of happy and safe with her gods.
“Good,” Solanine said, and took Luna’s hand to squeeze it. “You deserve the best.”