The Potion of Love, Desire, and Deception and the Evil Fairy of Astor Place

"Well, okay." Grace sighed, and brightened. "Then I'll take Russell Crowe or Joaquin Phoenix. Whichever one doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment."

The fairy's lip curled just so slightly, melting his smile. He wore a look that was half-chastisement, half-irritation.

"I should probably tell you that the potion only works on people you can come in contact with, and the odds of Russell Crowe showing up at your door today are somewhat less than winning the New York lottery-"

"No need to be mean."

"Just telling it like it is." The fairy said snidely.

"How do I know this stuff can do all you claim?" Grace asked skeptically. "I mean, where's the proof-"

The fairy was aghast, but also pleased Grace had asked the question.

"You want proof, take a look over there at those two-"

He pointed at a couple in gray suits at the next table.

"They're arguing." Grace observed dryly.

"Exactly." The fairy agreed with a complacent shrug. "They can't get enough of each other, though one's a democrat and one's a republican. I spilled some of the potion into his cappuccino a few weeks back."

"And what about her?" Grace motioned to the woman with her chin.

"Her? She just likes to hear herself talk, and as long as he's willing to put up with it, she'll argue until the cows come home. You wouldn't guess she secretly loved being temped by corruption, would you? In love or lust at any rate-"

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Grace interrupted, waving her hands dismissively. She had just noticed how attractive the man in gray was.

"So who will it be?" The fairy adopted a self-important stance.

"Nosey, aren't you?" Grace chuckled defensively. "Why do you have to know anyway?"

"I wouldn't want you wasting it on someone who doesn't need any help falling in love." The fairy shrugged, downplaying his enthusiasm for the game of it all.

"Oh, trust me," Grace said severely, "Gabriel deVere needs all the help he can get."

"Oh my!" The fairy very nearly gasped, though fairies are seldom surprised.

"What? You know him?" Grace demanded.

"I do indeed." The fairy said gravely. "Desire and deception, he's got those in the bag and then some, but. as far as love goes, you've. got your work cut out for you." He whistled. "Still, it could work. Fifty fifty. He doesn't drink much anymore, does he?"

"Some, but I'm going to put it in his mint and chamomile tea." Grace said, with a mischievous glow in her eye.

"And you want this man?" The fairy asked, incredulous, making a face at the thought of mint and chamomile together.

"Hey, don't be so critical." Grace retorted. "After all, it was probably your doing in the first place that I want him at all."

The fairy feigned horror at the thought, then shrugged, and finally. smiled.

* * * * *

Wonder of wonders, the potion actually worked. On the cat at least, who now shamelessly coiled his way around Grace's legs any chance he could get.

But would the potion work on a human being? Grace wondered. And how would she ever get close enough to DeVere to get him to take it?

The difficulty was that Gabriel deVere seldom ever went out of his own everyday way, and that included changing scenery, and traveling with or responding to any woman, even a friend, pressuring him to visit. For one thing, deVere lived in another city, so far that Grace ended up flying to where he lived and booking a room in a hotel near his apartment, just so that she could call and say she was in town, why didn't she drop round so they could have a drink together?

And all Grace could think of on the plane trip, flagon wrapped in a concealing plastic bag and clutched tightly in her hand, were the songs "Witchcraft" and "Old Devil Moon". By the time she had booked into her hotel, the garbled mass of enthusiasm and anxiety working on her nerves had settled into a vaguely unpleasant guilty feeling. Was she really going to force Gabriel to take this potion and fall in love with her?