Steal You Away

Chapter Ten

"What the hell happened to your face?" Kara exclaimed, her mouth gaped open in shock.

Mackenzie sighed, leaning against the doorframe of her apartment. Obviously, the amount of cover up she had used this morning wasn't covering up bupkis. "Hello, Kara. It's good to see you too. Won't you come in?" she said dryly to the empty space in front of her. Her friend had long since marched past her and was now standing in her kitchen scowling.

"Did that spattergroit ghoul do this to you?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Is that even English?" Mackenzie arched a brow at her as she walked into the little kitchen and poured two cups of coffee she had percolating on the hotplate until she could afford to have the stove looked at. The darn thing did a lot of clicking and hissing, but no cooking. Not that she actually had anything to cook, she thought with a grimace.

"Just answer the question," Kara commanded as she flopped into one of the mismatched patio chairs surrounding a beat-up metal table which had more rust than paint. Lifting her brown bag up to set it on the patio table, she frowned and changed her mind. Placing it on the floor, she accepted the chipped mug.

"Yes." Mackenzie said quietly. There was no sense in trying to lie about it, the evidence was clear on her face...literally. Taking a sip of her coffee, she recoiled at the taste. It was strong, bitter and slightly...chewy. Wincing, she swallowed it, grounds and all.

Kara reached out and grabbed her hand, concern clear in her big brown eyes. "Why didn't you tell me he assaulted you?"

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "I would hardly classify a slap as an assault."

"He hit you! That's assault and battery. You could have him thrown into Azkaban for that!"

"Honestly, it's not worth the trouble." Mackenzie took another painful drink of the nasty brew. "We broke up, it's over and done with. I don't want to do anything that will bring him back to my doorstep." The one thing she didn't want, was to make a scene. She just wanted to go on with her life and put the past behind her as quickly as possible.

"Still...he needs his soul sucked out by a Dementor," she said bitterly.

Mackenzie giggled at her friend's ferocious look. "He already does. Some blonde, daisy Duke wearing bikini bimbo and trust me...," she shuddered at the memory, "she was doing a fine job of sucking something."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope."

"Who was she?"

Mackenzie shrugged. "I didn't really stick around for introductions."

Kara leaned back, her chair protesting ominously. "You didn't tell me any of this when you called to tell me you had moved." She gave her a disapproving frown as she raised her coffee cup to her lips, gagging a bit as she tried to swallow it. "God...this stuff is worse than polyjuice potion."

"I'm still getting the hang of using a percolator. And I did didn't tell you everything because I didn't want you getting all upset and doing something stupid."

Rising up out of her chair, she headed for the refrigerator. "Like doing something to him that would allow me to see a thestral?" She snorted, opening the fridge door. "Nobody would be upset, trust me. Hell...they'd probably throw me a party for getting rid of the asshole. And I've always wanted to see a thestral." She beamed a wide smile at Mackenzie.

"Do I even want to know what a thestral is?"

"If you would read the books I gave you, you would already know," she grumbled with her head in the fridge. "Mackenzie? Where is your food?" She opened the door wider, allowing her to see the mostly empty space.