Chapter Sixteen Jalisa #2
Daria shimmed her shoulders in apparent appreciation.
“Yes, please do. Oh, while I remember it, I hope you don’t mind, but Daniel told me about your troubles.
I’m a necromancer, so I can’t be of any help unless you were to die.
But my soon-to-be brother-in-law has a witch on retainer who might be able to help.
” She glanced over to Billie. “She’s not part of a coven so she’s not in your network.
It’s possible she’s into some shady things so I can’t vouch for her. ”
Ivan tilted his head from side to side, pondering her proposal. “Well, it’s possible that dark magic got me here so maybe dark magic can get me out.”
“Wonderful, I’ll set something up,” she replied before clapping her hands.
“Ok friends, I’m gonna get out of here. Lovely to meet you two and so sorry about all that’s happened, but I’m rooting for you both.
You’re both gorgeous and I’m sure amazing.
I’ll be in touch, and hopefully we can kick this spells ass. ”
She really was a tornado of love. I wanted to snatch her up and put her in my pocket for when I was feeling down.
After Daria left, we tried her desserts, which did not disappoint. Sufficiently stuffed, I moved to get up, intending to go to the bathroom, but Ivan mimicked my moves, getting up as well. “I’m going to the restroom.”
He nodded. “I’ll wait outside for you.”
I looked to Daniel and Billie as if they could help me, but they just looked at us, intrigued. I suppose I hadn’t opened up and explained to them that I had a new bodyguard. “Ivan, you don’t have to follow me. In fact, it might be weird to be posted outside the women’s bathroom.”
He shrugged, unbothered. “I could care less. I go where you go.”
I scrunched my face up in annoyance. I really did care for my dragon, but even while living with him back in the fae realm, I hadn’t spent so much time with him.
I could barely go to the bathroom without him right there.
Even waking up in the middle of the night to get water had him alert and eyeing my moves from across the room.
The attack at the ball had really pushed him to his limits, but this couldn’t keep going.
Daniel sat back, picking up his wine glass, an amused grin on his face. “She really will be alright. The bathrooms are right down the hall.”
Ivan shook his head, stubborn. “Someone’s trying to kill us, we can’t drop our guard. We don’t know if our enemies followed us here.”
I’d thought of that possibility. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think we’d be totally safe here, but Ivan was starting to spiral.
It would only get worse for him if we let the paranoia overtake us.
That was the opposite of what we were supposed to do to slow down the memory loss progression.
Something had to be calm for him. However, I also knew I had to pick my battles.
I turned toward the back of the restaurant leading to the bathrooms. “Fine, but don’t be weird.”
He snorted, following me. “You act as if I’m going to follow you to the toilet…again.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s say exactly what occurred. I was on the toilet, and you hopped on the sink and started talking to me. That can never happen again.”
“I’m clear on that after you conjured your sword while cursing at me.”
Just as I suspected, going to the bathroom was uneventful.
However, when I left the bathroom, I didn’t see him.
I assumed he had gone to the bathroom as well because I knew he wouldn’t go back to the table without me after making all that fuss.
I decided to wait for him to avoid any arguments, leaning against the wall.
Suddenly, something I could only describe as slimy crawled down my spine, causing me to shiver.
I turned and spotted something shift in the dark corner of the hall near the exit.
It was off to the right, and I squinted my eyes, leaning forward to better see.
That didn’t help, but I saw something. Two small, floating orbs, the size of eyes, suddenly appeared, beaming out in my direction.
The slimy feeling from earlier spread, making me want to gag.
I instantly conjured my sword and walked toward the darkened corner, holding back the rising fear inside me.
I wasn’t a hero, but I couldn’t ignore when something felt off.
I didn’t know the human world much, but I didn’t think random appearing orbs was normal.
“Come forward!” I shouted, gripping my sword, ready to strike.
I heard an eerie laugh, a heavy whisper that raised the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.
The orbs disappeared, but something told me that whatever it was, it was still there.
The slimy feeling encasing my body would not release me.
When I reached only feet from the corner, I raised my sword in front of me and slowly extended it into the darkness, intending to poke the possible entity.
My heart pounded in my ears as I steeled myself for a fight.
However, the sword struck against what seemed like a wall.
I dragged it down and swiped across. Nothing.
But something was definitely there before.
“Ma’am, you, okay?” came a male voice from behind me.
I spun around, sword still in hand. The male, a young human with short red hair and a face full of freckles, took one look at my sword and jumped back, hands in the air. “What the fuck? Is that real?”
Shit, I almost killed a local. That would not bode well for human and fae relations. I gave him a tight smile, moving the sword behind my back. There was no need to let him see my conjuring magic. “It’s a toy. Going to give it to my nephew for his birthday.”
He tried to peer behind me to see the sword. “Well, that’s a cool looking toy. Lucky nephew. I bet that cost a pretty-”
He didn’t finish his sentence as long, scaled blue fingers with equally long black talons burst through his chest. I stumbled back in shock as blood sprayed onto my blouse.
The man looked down at his chest, face scrunched in pained shock as the claws retracted.
I reached out for him, intending to try to heal him with my magic.
“Don’t touch him!” Ivan shouted behind the man.
He was in his dragon hybrid form, and I was momentarily distracted by his beauty.
Iridescent blue scales, almost as hard as armor, covered his body all the up to his neck, where they receded to smooth light blue skin on his face.
Two dark blue horns protruded from his head, curved slightly at the base so that the horns were aimed towards the back of his head.
He was taller and bigger now, his clothes fitting him as if he stole them from someone half his size.
His blond hair was gone, now a multi-toned blue that hung to his waist, and his wide mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth.
He had no shoes on, replaced with large, scaled feet and curved black talons matching his fingernails.
A wide scaled tail swished behind him, dusting the ground.
His green eyes were practically on fire around the perimeter, with his narrow pupils sitting in the center.
If he was in his hybrid form, he was ready to fight. What was happening? “Ivan, you attacked a human,” I replied in a careful voice as I looked back at the man. I was surprised he was still standing.
Wait, why was he still standing? And was his blood black? “Are you okay?”
The man clutched his chest and coughed, spitting out more black blood. “No! Why, man? What’d I ever do to you?”
Ivan growled and stepped closer. “It’s a ghoul, Jalisa.” I was just noticing that his voice was deeper than normal, one I wasn’t used to hearing as I rarely encountered his hybrid form.
“That doesn’t mean try to kill him!” I exclaimed.
“It does if he was going to kill you.”
“What? He was just talking to me.” I took a step closer to the man. “Let me try to heal you. My husband isn’t himself at the moment. Please don’t contact the authorities. We can pay you.”
The man straightened up, his eyes now fully black, mouth curved in a smile showcasing dangerously sharp teeth that made my blood run cold.
He then turned his head in Ivan’s direction.
And by turn his head, I mean 180 degrees, as if he had no bones that would break so that I was facing the front of his body but the back of his head.
Definitely a ghoul. They were a nuisance in my realm, and I had hopes they weren’t here too.
They were the eater of the dead. And they also killed you so they could eat you.
“How did you know?” he asked my husband.
“I just killed one of your little friends back in the bathroom, and you reek of death. Figured if I saw a second ghoul, it wouldn’t be a coincidence.” Ivan peered past me, an unreadable look on his face. “I’ve lost some memories but not my mind, love. I know what I’m doing.”
The man flipped his body fully in Ivan’s direction, and he raised his now clawed hand in the air. “Too bad for you the spell isn’t working fast enough.”
Before the ghoul could bring his hand down, I stuck my sword through his left side. It wouldn’t kill a ghoul. Hell, he was still talking to us with a hole in his chest from Ivan’s attack. I just needed to torture him, so he’d give us some answers. “Who sent you?”
He didn’t answer, back still to me. Oh, he was a tough one.
“Talk to me, or I will slice you in half.”
The ghoul turned just his head back to me, and I remotely wondered how he could do that without breaking his neck. Maybe he did, and it didn’t affect his ability to move. Ghoul anatomy was not my specialty.