Chapter Twelve #2
“I am not sure, I laid down, then I awoke. I am functioning, so I think that means I did good?” She peeked up at him through her lashes.
“Better than me,” Austin sighed, taking up his breakfast in both hands. It oozed a little and that’s how he knew it was going to be the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.
“What’s keeping you from sleep?” She cocked her head.
“Uh, well,” he trailed off with a grimace.
Blood. The dead. Hungry mouths that tug on my flesh.
My thread pulled till it snaps. They feast on me while everyone I care about is helpless.
I hear their screams as they’re torn apart.
I protect no one. I die over and over, useless and pulled apart while a vampire sucks Melody down to the bone, or an unforeseeable beast devours Dahlia whole…
or some cleric stabs Sebastian’s soulstone with a purified blade, rendering our maker to dust. Austin cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Bad dreams.”
“Mmm, how do you usually get rid of them?” Her eyes were focused on her food, but she kept checking in between bites.
It brought a smile to his lips as he worked through his toast and poured himself a massive glass of fruit juice mixture.
Dahlia instilled in the house a healthy balance of fruit, vegetables, and carbs.
While his stitches might need redoing, his hide was tough as stone due to her tender love and care. His gums had never been so healthy!
“Waking up,” he laughed as the words fell out of his mouth. “I’m not sure, really. Usually, I have Greggory read to me and by the time my brain stops, I don’t dream. But, sometimes it doesn’t work.”
“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully as they continued to eat in relative silence. Then she gasped, slapping a hand on the table. Austin jumped as she twisted to him and jabbed a finger at him. “You need a teddy bear.”
“You think?” An unguarded grin grew on his face behind his tusks.
“Yes! Teddy bears are meant to be comforting, correct? People use them to go to sleep. And I’ve had yours this whole time! Not a single bad dream, so that must mean they drive away bad dreams, right?”
Austin stared at her for a long moment, trying to come up with any reason that she wasn’t making complete sense right then. After he found nothing but compelling arguments in her statement, he nodded. “I think you’re right.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder, smugness oozing from her pores, and damn if it didn’t look good on her. Hyacinth went back to her plate, and Austin finally managed to tear his gaze away from her.
They continued to eat in easy silence, the pair lost in thought.
While he drifted in and out of thoughts on how to solve his sleeplessness with a stuffed animal, and how to make one big enough for him, everything kept going back to Hyacinth.
He finally stopped eating simply to watch her again.
She swayed left to right as she ate, like she was listening to something in her head.
When she caught him, she immediately flashed him a smile. “Did you say something?”
“No, I was just thinking…we should go outside today, during the day. Lord Sebastian says there’s going to be a storm so we should enjoy the sun while we can.
” He deflected, trying not to confess that he was thinking how pretty she was when she smiled.
Or that little, singular tendril of white hair bounced like a spring near her face.
How her happy wiggles in her seat warmed him.
Her smile, high on her cheeks even while eating, was infectious.
The glow in her lavender eyes; all of it.
Hyacinth was incredibly beautiful and she didn’t even realize how she made his insides twist up.
“Oooh! Do you think we’ll find more opossums to feed?” She rushed to stuff the last few bites in her mouth.
He lurched into action, throwing what was left on his plate back. After a cough to clear his throat, he answered, “I’m not sure, but there’s usually some deer and squirrels!”
She squealed, gulping down the last drops of her juice.
Austin was frozen in his spot as she took up their empty plates, cups, and silverware then raced to the sink.
She dunked all of it into the suds before turning to him.
Austin had only a moment to climb to his feet before she grabbed his arm.
Hyacinth bounced like a bunny the whole way to the front yard.
A bunny. That’s what she needed. A rabbit, small, fluffy, boundless energy but also very sleepy at times, liked to munch, and relatively easy to sew together. He could get a pattern! How hard could a rabbit be? Strong back legs, little wiggly nose, whiskers? Big ears!
If he was wise, he could find the parts while they were outside!
I’m brilliant! Brilliant idea! He beamed to himself as they sprang out into the early morning sun.
The sky was sparkling blue, the air smelled of fresh dew, and the garden was vibrant.
Little squirrels scurried across the yard as they slowed to a walk out in the damp grass.
Only, Hyacinth stopped moving halfway to the garden. Her eyebrows knitted down on her face and her hand wrapped around him tight. Austin lurched then stumbled back to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t see that?” she gasped.
“See what?” He scanned the yard.
“That shadow...” she murmured, slipping away from his arm.
Austin treaded lightly, making sure his steps didn’t scare off anything as Hyacinth picked up her skirt in the front.
The garden was lush with new growth. Unlike gardens outside of the manor, the magic from their maker pumped the soil with life.
All the poisonous plants were bright and vibrant.
Not to mention the willow tree at the back of the garden, its dancing branches always blooming with little pink flowers.
The massive patch of black dahlias and ruby roses along the outside of the garden were a special project Kevin made for the newest members of their family.
Austin hesitated at the edge of the garden, finding purple hyacinth’s blooming in a massive clump. Those weren’t there a few days ago. He’d have to thank the zombie gardener for his hard work. Hyacinth’s did grow on the property but now they were in the garden with the others.
“There!” Hyacinth blurted out, and Austin whirled around.
He followed a blur of black as it dove deep into a rose bush.
Austin tip toed around the boxes of lilies and nightshade, all glistening with morning dew.
Magic created a tiny, cool fog that crept along the mulch in the garden, making it hard for Austin to tell where he was stepping.
Until he came to the roses and the inky blur rushed off away. It left a trail of blood in its wake.
“It’s hurt,” he blurted out.
“It must be scared,” Hyacinth slunk around other garden beds.
They worked opposite each other, creeping after the crimson paw prints.
They were tiny little dots smeared across the mulch, nearly disappearing beneath the thick, heavy mist. Hyacinth dropped suddenly and he rushed to her side.
Something thrashed in her skirt. “Got them.”
“Gentle,” Austin breathed, kneeling down next to her.
He speared his hands into the bundle of fabric, feeling little claws and teeth scratch at him.
But, unlike the dryad in the lab, this did nothing but scrape a layer or two off his hide.
Austin furrowed his brow as he got his hands around the thing. “No.”
“What? What is it?”
He slowly slipped the writhing creature out from her skirt and held an obsidian rabbit to the sky. It froze. Wide, crimson eyes that glowed, face full of prey panic, with its back paws pressed to his palm and nose wiggling swiftly.
“It’s a bunny,” they both whisper-hissed at the same time.
“They’re so cute!” Hyacinth leaned in close, inspecting the tiny creature’s face.
Austin safely scruffed the rabbit to keep them from needlessly thrashing about and cupped them into his arm.
Thankfully, they softened into a round, fluffy ball.
Even with their heart beating rapidly, he could tell they were calming down.
This is even better! A real rabbit! I didn’t even have to get a pattern for this one!
I didn’t even have to sew this one! He grinned down at the tiny, woodland creature as Hyacinth stroked her hand sweetly down its back.
When her palm came back with speckles of blood, the pair inspected them for injuries.
Austin couldn’t find any wounds on them, but then realized the blood was dripping from their mouth.
“Oh no, probably ate something in the garden. Let’s get them to Lord Rosemont.”
Hyacinth nodded vigorously, following him back toward the house. Neither of them noticed the bloodied, mutilated squirrel body that was slowly eaten by the oversized, flesh-eating mushroom.