Demons and Diamonds

Chapter 1: Trinkets and Tales

"This one's nice," Abby held a necklace out to me. It was comprised of a fine gold chain with a strange locket charm. It was a pair of wings wrapped closed into a heart shape. I took the chain from her and attempted to open the locket, but I couldn't figure out how. "But there's not much point to a locket that can't open, huh?"

"Yeah," I murmured, but I held onto the necklace. There was something about it that was familiar to me. I'd seen it somewhere before. "I'll buy it anyway. It's pretty."

"Cassie, why buy it if you can't use it?" Abby took hold of my elbow, dragging me over to another display of jewellery. We were in our favourite vintage store; a little hole in the wall that hardly anyone knew about called The Birdcage. Abby and I were just about the only income the store received, and I was surprised it hadn't closed down yet. There was really some quite beautiful things here, lace and velvet and beautiful shoes and hats. It was full of 'select' pieces; no tacky handouts right out of the nineties.

The inside of the store was decorated with huge, fancy mirrors, chandeliers and scented candles. Tiny, beautiful birdcages hung from the ceiling filled with wildflowers. Panic! At the disco played from a gramophone-style stereo. It was literally my favourite place on the planet.

"Whoa! Look at that dress!" Abby dashed across the store, as if racing a thousand other imaginary customers to the rack. But we were the only ones in the store, besides the owner, Delores, an older woman with an amazing taste in fashion and incredible stories about each item in the store.

I followed Abby to the far back corner of the store, where Delores hid all of the most amazing pieces, just for us. Abby pulled a corset-style dress out from behind a tan-leather bomber jacket. It came to about mid-thigh in gentle, intricate waves of silk, and the top half was an exotically patterned corset. It was pure white with gold stitching and looked like something an angel would wear; perfectly matching the angel-wing necklace in my hand.

"Now this, you must have. It would suit you perfectly, Cass." Abby shifted the millions of items she was carrying around into her other arm and shoved the dress against me. "And it's your size! Imagine it paired with some gladiator heels..." Abby babbled on and on about the accessories I could pair it with, but my eyes were caught on the gold designs on the bodice. They almost looked like letters from an unknown language.

"I'll take it." I gently took the incredible dress from Abby, allowing her to distribute her indescribable amount of various clothing items in a way that wouldn't dislocate her shoulders.

"Well I've thoroughly cleaned out my mother's bank account. Ready to go?" Abby was already staggering over to the counter, where Delores was reading Vogue, her baby pink hair in tight spirals today.

"How did you fabulous young ladies go today?" Delores looked up with a smile. "You sounded awfully excited about some of the newer items, Abby. Let's see what you've got here," Delores told Abby all about where she'd discovered the incredible clothing pieces. When Abby had racked up a bill over one thousand dollars, it was my turn. Delores gave me a knowing smile. "And what did you find, my dear?"

I put the necklace and the dress on the counter.

"Oh, I'm glad you found this." Delores picked up the necklace and held it in the light, and I noticed that there were tiny diamonds inlaid in the wings. "It's not for sale."

"Oh, I can put it back, if you want." I was slightly disappointed.

"No, no! Dear, it's not for sale because someone left it here for you." Delores smiled, taking my hand in hers and enclosing my fist around the necklace.

"Someone left it for me? Who?" I was honestly curious. I didn't know anyone else who knew this store existed.

"I can't say for sure. It was a while ago." Delores didn't meet my eyes.

"How long ago?" Abby spoke up, enthralled.

"Wednesday." Delores said decisively.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. "That was two days ago, Delores."

"My memory isn't as it used to be, love. But I can tell you one thing: that's an angel's pendant."

"Um, what?" Abby looked incredulous. "I never took you for a religious freak, Dee."

"Abby!" I snapped. Abby was known for speaking without thinking.

"It's perfectly fine, dear." Delores smiled. "I'm not religious, but I do know a thing or two about my wares."

"Then you can't possibly believe it's an angel's pendant." Abby pushed. There was something intense about her eyes. Her father had been a preacher, before he'd had an affair with one of her mother's best friends, so it was easy to see why religion no longer held an appeal for her.

"You don't have to be a devout religious to believe." Delores winked. "This dress on the other hand, I picked up in Milan..."

As Abby and I walked home, shopping bags bulging, I nudged her with my shoulder. "Are you okay?" I asked her. "You look kind of freaked."

Abby gave me a fake laugh. "Just worried what my mother will say when she sees her credit card bill."

I rolled my eyes. Abby and I belonged to the two richest families in Maple Grove; her mother barely noticed her credit card bill. However my parents believed in earning your own money, so I had a part-time job and everything I bought came out of that cash.

"Want to take the short-cut?" Abby asked. A small area of forest separated our homes from the rest of the town, and rather than following the road around, sometimes Abby and I cut through the forest. It was about ten minutes faster than the road way.

"Okay, it won't be dark for another half-hour anyway, I'm guessing." I agreed, and Abby and I turned off the road, heading into the darkness of the thick forest.

When walking in Maple Grove, it was important to be home before dark. Being so far from any other towns, and being a relatively small town itself, it didn't stay very light after nightfall, and being close to the ocean didn't help either, as waves of fog would cover the town, making the dark seem even thicker.

Abby and I were about halfway through the walk through the forest when there was a sound behind us. When we spoke about it later, neither of us were actually sure what the sound was, but at the time, we'd assumed it was a bear or a wolf and freaked out. We began running, twigs and leaved whipping at our faces and legs, until Abby stumbled. I crashed to a stop and turned around to help her, when I froze. Abby was sobbing softly, with small twigs stabbing into her hands. Blood covered her palms and trickled down her forearms, but that wasn't what made me freeze. It was what Abby had tripped over. There, lying half-covered by fallen leaves, was a body.