“Nope. No.” I pointed at him. “Stay. This is business, not pleasure.” I tugged Xtelle up to the shop’s delivery door and knocked.
Xtelle shifted her stance, crossing one leg in front of the other so her hips were canted toward Panny. She swished her tail in lazy little flicks.
Dear gods, save me from demon ponies trying to flirt.
Panny bleated once more and ended it with a little whistle.
I knocked again. Harder.
“Delaney?” Stina’s voice floated out before her shape was visible through the screen door.
“I need to talk to you about a theft,” I said.
Stina opened the door. She wore jeans and a short-sleeved, off-the-shoulder blouse covered by a red apron. She wasn’t a tall woman, barely brushing five foot or so. But her eyes, a swirling turquoise made tropical against her naturally tanned skin, and her waves of shiny corded black hair, gave her a presence. Those eyes were captivating, powerful.
She was a gorgon, and that had a little something to do with the captivating, powerful thing too.
Her sisters, Dusi and Euri lived in town, but Stina was the one who had run the taffy shop for years. She was immortal and could make people forget how long she’d been around.
It came in handy for the mortals who aged while she remained looking a strong thirty-five or so.
“I didn’t take whatever was stolen,” she said.
The goatbaa’d again. It sounded like a laugh.
Her eyes flicked to Pan, then me, then the pouting-but-also-flirting pony next to me. “Why do you have a pet demon?”
“I— What?” Xtelle exclaimed. “Queen demon, excuse your lying mouth! I am no mortal’s pet.”
“Ponies don’t talk,” I reminded her.
The goat said, “Ha! I mean:baa.”
Xtelle bunched up her lips and sucked her nostrils shut, one eye twitching.
“She’s not a pet,” I said to Stina. “She’s a new resident in Ordinary. You can stop holding your breath, Xtelle. I know lack of oxygen won’t kill you.”
She twisted her head to make sure I was paying attention to just how hard she was holding her breath, then stomped a tiny circle, tail slashing angrily against my leg.
“Queen?Thequeen?” Stina crossed her muscled arms over her chest. She might be the candy shop owner, but that didn’t mean she was soft. She was one of the strongest people in town and had taken home local and regional bodybuilding competition prizes.
“Heard of her, have you?” I asked.
“Sure.” Not a lot of emotion in that word. They weren’t friends but I couldn’t tell what level of adversaries they might be.
“She stole chocolate from you. Just now. And ate it.”
“I saw it disappear. Thought it was Panny. Again.”
Pan, obviously tired of being out of the conversation or just dying of curiosity, moseyed our way, stopping now and then to take a bite of this weed or that, goating it up.
Xtelle remained facing stubbornly away from all of us, legs locked, tail swishing.
“She’s new here,” I explained. “This is her first strike. So she’s come to apologize and make amends.”
“Uh-huh.”
Yep. Stina had demon experience.
