18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Cody
Two days later, Cody was sitting on his couch again, reading one of Grandpa Sam’s harem beastkin romance books.
Morgan was having dinner with Doug and Gracie.
She said she was probably going to stay there to play with Gracie for a bit and maybe even spend the night if Gracie wanted her to.
Cody was nodding off, attempting to read the same paragraph for a third time, when there was a loud knock on his door.
Better not be that goddess-bitch, he thought, but reminded himself that Temica didn’t knock, she just let herself in unannounced.
Someone pounded on the door again.
“I’m coming!” Cody shouted, getting to his feet and walking to the door.
When he opened it, he found two distraught-looking young women.
There was the woman with white-blonde hair he had met in the shop the other day, plus a petite brunette he was looking up at him adoringly, her hands clasped in front of her chest. He remembered the blonde girl from the shop was named Yana, but he could not shake the feeling that he knew both of them from his time in Velasarin, he just couldn’t remember how.
They were definitely on his Resident List, but it was more than that.
“Uh, you ladies okay?” he asked.
“We come seeking asylum, Cody Hampshire of the Golden Heart!” the brunette woman said, and dropped to her knees in supplication to Cody.
“Um…Do you need help?” Cody asked as the blonde girl, Yana, pulled at her friend to stand back up.
“Yes!” the petite brunette girl cried. “I followed your scent to this cottage, so you could help us!” And then she leaned in and smelled him.
She shut her eyes, smiling softly. It was fucking weird.
He took a step back, feeling very unsure about what the hell was going on.
Thankfully, Yana yanked on her arm, pulling her away from Cody.
“May we please come in and then we can explain?” Yana asked.
“I guess so.” He saw no harm in letting them in, and they were clearly upset about something.
If they were from Velasarin, they were in a strange new world.
He knew how that felt. If he could help them, he would.
Plus, he wanted to finally satiate his curiosity and figure out why they seemed so familiar.
He led them inside, guiding them into the living room where he quickly shoved the smutty paperback book between the cushions of the couch. Cody sat in his grandfather’s armchair while the two women sat on the couch, hands clasped in their laps.
The brunette girl had dark brown eyes that seemed to have a slight reddish tint to them, and she had her gaze locked on him, staring.
She was wearing tiny denim cut-offs and a T-shirt that showed off both her toned midriff and her rather large breasts.
Cody was trying his best to not notice either.
Yana was more conservatively dressed in full-length jeans and a regular white T-shirt.
“So, we’re here because–” Yana began, but the brunette interrupted her: “Because I love you!”
Yana rolled her eyes and Cody decided it was best to ignore that little outburst for the time being.
“Why don’t we start by introducing ourselves?” Cody suggested. “I talked to Yana the other day and you–”
“You talked to Yana the other day?” the brunette said, looking at her friend with hurt in her eyes.
Yana sighed. “He came to the shop while you were unpacking inventory in the stockroom.”
“Introductions,” Cody repeated. “I’m Cody Hampshire. And you are…?” He directed the question at the brunette who was vigorously bouncing her left leg, clearly agitated.
“I’m Nyrah…you really don’t remember us? From before?” she asked.
Cody glanced to Yana, remembering their brief conversation in the shop. “From Velasarin, right? I mean…you kind of look familiar, but…”
“Maybe this would help.” Nyrah reached behind her neck, unclasping the pink gemstone necklace she wore, and removed it. Yana followed suit. A wave of pink light slowly flowed over them, and they began to transform right before Cody’s eyes.
Yana now had mint-green skin, pointy elven ears, and her white-blonde hair had a lustrous silver sheen to it.
Nyrah had sprouted brown cat ears on her head and she blinked a few times, her brown eyes shifting to red.
She readjusted herself as a fluffy cat tail popped out of the back of her denim shorts.
But then the back of her shirt was ripped open as red iridescent fairy wings sprouted from her back, leaving her in nothing but the scraps of her white crop top.
“Oh my!” She quickly held up what remained of her shirt to keep her cleavage covered up.
Cody looked away. “Ah, you okay?”
“Grab a new shirt out of your Inventory!” Yana hissed. “One that will accommodate your wings!”
“Yes, yes…” Nyrah mumbled. “Good idea.”
Cody kept his head turned, listening to the girls shuffle about, as Nyrah presumably changed into a new shirt.
“I am decent now!” Nyrah announced.
Cody slowly turned and saw that she was wearing a pink halter top, so her back was bare and her wings were unhindered.
She gave him a coy smile, and he noticed she had tiny fangs.
But looking at the young woman now was enough to finally jog his memory.
They had looked familiar but unfamiliar at the same time because he had met them like this.
It had been the night he helped rescue the women from the burning temple, just a couple days before he left Velasarin.
He barely talked to them. They had briefly exchanged names, but Cody had never been very good with names, and he had met several priestesses that night.
He got them out, made sure they were okay, and continued on his journey.
He had a fetch quest with Temica, and she was his ticket home.
“So, you’re priestesses from the Rose Temple,” he said. “I helped you out when those trolls attacked and set your temple on fire.”
“You saved us!” Nyrah gushed, clasping her hands beneath her chin.
“And when I touched you, my hand on yours, flesh to flesh…I saw that you, Cody Hampshire, have a Heart of Gold. As a Heartseer, you are meant to be mine. You are my Heartmate. And you may also mate with Yana, because wherever I go, she goes, and I am willing and wanting to share this love and this beautiful life with her. We both renounced our vows as priestesses of the Rose Temple and began our search for you. Our wombs are ripe and–”
Cody raised his hand so the girl would refrain from spouting more insanity.
He didn’t want to know where that sentence about wombs was heading, although he had a pretty good guess.
“Stop right there. First of all, I am spoken for. I have a girlfriend. Second of all, I definitely do not have a Heart of Gold. So…you’re wrong. About everything you just said.”
Nyrah’s dreamy smile faded, her lips turning into a hard line. There was a tick in her jaw and her hands were clenched into fists in her lap. He swore he saw her nails begin to elongate into sharp, black claws.
“You’re wrong…” she said softly. “You are my Heartmate.”
“Nyrah is a Heartseer,” Yana said slowly. “What she sees is the truth. You have a Heart of Gold. You are destined to be with a Heartseer.”
“Nope,” Cody said firmly, not liking the direction this took one bit. “And now I'm going to ask you to leave.”
He started to push himself up to stand but Nyrah’s shout made him sit back down.
“We seek asylum!” she cried out. “Please! The witchy bitch goddess Temica tricked us! She brought us here so we could be with you and work glorious careers in retail, and instead she locked us in an apartment for weeks as our human transformation took hold. Once that was complete, she forced us to work as slaves in her shop! It’s been torturous! ”
“We don’t get breaks. We work every day from open to close, often just the two of us, even on weekends, when the shop is very, very busy,” Yana added.
“And some of the customers are the rudest, most foul humans I have ever met. And I’m half-orc in a land where humans hate orcs, so I’ve experienced some unpleasant humans in Velasarin.
But here, on Earth…” Yana shook her head.
“Just…the worst of humanity. And the absolute despicable part of it is: we have to be nice to them, even when they treat us horribly. That was not the way when we were priestesses of the Rose Temple. We were specifically trained in hand-to-hand combat and how to wield our magical gifts so we could smite those who wronged us and protect the sisterhood at all costs.”
“She lied to us!” Nyrah cried. “About everything! And now you’ve gone and fallen in love with that ginger bitch!”
“Ginger bitch?” Cody repeated. “You better not mean Morgan.”
Yana swallowed nervously. “She…she means the copper-haired woman who works at Food Mart. But I’ve made her promise that she won’t harm her.”
Cody shook his head in disbelief. “You two have to leave. Now.”
“But we can’t go back there, my love!” Nyrah said. “And we have nowhere else to go!”
Let them stay, came Knife’s voice. Cody almost whooped with joy, but…never mind. What Knife said was fucking ridiculous. He was probably messing with him.
No. Also: fuck you, Cody said.
Thy enemy of thy enemy is your friend, Knife said.
Fuck all the way off, Knife, Cody said. These bitches be crazy.
The nekofae one is hopelessly in love with you, Knife said. Forbid her from harming Morgan, and she will listen to you even more than she listens to her friend. Plus, both these chicks are on your Resident List. If you want to complete the game, you have to spend time with them.
The girls sat on the couch, watching Cody have his silent conversation.
“Please, my love, grant us asylum in your humble abode!” Nyrah fell to her knees at his feet again.
You do not want a heartbroken woman’s wrath, my former friend, Knife said. Especially when that heart belongs to a nekofae. Her kind are fierce. If you turn this girl away now, you are in for a world of hurt, and Morgan’s life will be in danger.
Cody breathed in deeply and let the breath out slowly through his nose.
“Fine. You can stay. For now. And I forbid you from hurting Morgan Callahan.”
Nyrah looked up at him with wide red eyes, her face softening into one of complete devotion and submission. She smiled up at him, which was mildly creepy, given her little fangs.
“Yes…my love,” she said quietly. “I will do as you command even though it damages both my heart and my soul.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” Yana said, then looked up to Cody: “And thank you for allowing us to stay.”
“May I sleep curled up at the end of your bed, or tucked inside your tender embrace, my love?” Nyrah asked, still on her knees.
“First of all, don’t call me ‘your love’ ever again,” Cody said. “Second, stand the fuck up. And third: you are staying in the guestroom, and you’re not allowed anywhere near my bedroom. Understood?”
Nyrah slowly got to her feet and straightened her clothes. “Yes, my lo–I mean, yes, my brave champion.”
“Nope, just Cody. Now follow me.”
He turned and left the room, heading down the hall, not bothering to check if they were behind him. He unceremoniously swung open the door to the bedroom across the hall from his; the guestroom.
“Here’s your room,” he said. “Sorry, there’s only one bed. You’ll have to share.”
Nyrah gave him a bright smile. “We love sharing the same bed! This room is perfect! Thank you, Cody Hampshire!”
Cody didn’t reply. As soon as they both entered, he shut the door.
Cody stood in the hall for a few moments, trying to make sense of what just happened. He tried to talk to Knife: Is this the chaos Temica wanted? She brought me back, let me have Morgan, and now she’s throwing this deranged nekofae at me to fuck everything up?
Knife did not answer.
Knife? Cody said. Are you back or not?
Nothing.
Yeah, well, good luck fucking that puffball mushroom on your own, Cody said, but he knew it was an empty threat. He’d have an unbearable migraine if he didn’t help Knife out, and it had pretty much been a month since their last visit with the giant fungi.
“Fuck,” Cody said, and headed to bed.