by Rebecca Hall
Nikola sneezed and knelt before a cage containing a shivering ball of fur. Mitch frowned at it but unlike the other cages this one wasn’t labelled, not that there was enough light to read by back here.
“Hello,” Nikola said. “Would you like to come out?” The padlock on the door broke though most of the other cages had been latched shut, and Nikola opened the door and reached into the cage. “Come on, I won’t hurt you.” The tiny puppy licked him and crawled towards them.
“What is it?” Mitch asked as Nikola rose to his feet, the puppy cradled in his arms.
“Awarewolf,” he replied. The puppy snapped at his curls. “I’m not edible,” he said, pulling his hair free.
“I thought trade in Awarewolves was illegal,” Mitch said. It wasn’t shivering quite so much now and, having been denied Nikola’s hair, was now chewing on his zip.
“Oi,” the shopkeeper yelled. “What do you think you’re doing? How’d you get her out of her cage?”
“Shut up,” Nikola spat, so much magic behind the command that everything in the tent fell silent. The puppy pressed itself against his chest and bared her teeth at the vampire.
“Nikola?” Amelie asked, hurrying over, Cullum trailing behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“He had an Awarewolf,” Nikola said.
“You–” the vampire began, breaking through Nikola’s compulsion. Amelie gagged him with a hunk of cloth ripped from his own shirt and then used its remains to bind him hand and foot.
“Cool,” Cullum said, watching the display of magic with shining eyes. Mitch sighed.
“We should call Rana,” Amelie said.
“I already did,” Nikola replied grimly.
“What’s going on?” Cullum asked. “Are you getting a puppy?”
“No,” Amelie said.
“Yes,” Nikola said at the same time.
“You’re allergic to dogs,” Amelie said.
“It’s an Awarewolf,” Nikola said and promptly sneezed. Amelie didn’t bother to reply.
“Amelie,” Mitch said. The vampire’s bonds were beginning to unravel. Amelie eyed the vampire coldly and then kicked him squarely in the groin. He stopped trying to magic himself free.
“Sometimes simple is best,” Amelie smirked.
Mitch stretched out a hand and the puppy sniffed him and nibbled his fingers.
“I’m not edible either,” Mitch said.
“She says you taste funny,” Nikola giggled.
“I do not,” Mitch snatched his hand back and the puppy whined and stared at him with big round eyes while Cullum and Amelie laughed.
“She said funny not bad,” Nikola grinned. Mitch rolled his eyes. Awarewolves had supposedly been named for their intelligence and telepathy, Mitch suspected that it was just a bored researcher having a laugh. Nikola sneezed again.
“Let me take her,” Mitch said. “You need to go outside and blow your nose.”
“Go on,” Amelie said, pushing Cullum towards the exit, “I’ll keep him tied up.”
“Are you sure?” Mitch asked. Normally he wouldn’t have doubted her but the vampire was at least a century old, it had had a long time to master magic and it was probably pissed off now.
“I was trained by Morrigan,” she reminded him. “I won’t have any trouble with this vermin.”
“Right,” Mitch said, taking the puppy from Nikola and following him out. The puppy tried to eat his zip. Mitch hoped it didn’t damage its teeth, it was probably teething or something. Nikola looked dreadful.
“Now what?” Mitch asked, sitting down by the pen where the three-headed puppies were still playing.
“Rana will be here s–” Nikola sneezed and Mitch passed him another tissue.
“We’re in the Netherworld now you know,” he said once he’d blown his nose, “I can just use magic.”
“Habit,” Mitch shrugged. He still wasn’t entirely sure how Nikola had trained him to always carry tissues but they were useful, if only because Nikola never remembered to carry any himself. Nikola sneezed again and pulled off his fur covered jacket.
“Are you sure Amelie will be alright on her own?” Mitch asked, setting the puppy down to awkwardly toddle around on short legs. It didn’t seem to be inclined to run off but then it was intelligent, it had probably recognised Nikola as an easy mark already.
“She’s fine,” Nikola sniffed, “I’m keeping an eye on them though I note that Cullum is looking at swords in the next tent.”
“God damnit,” Mitch muttered. “As long as he stays there I guess,” he sighed. He might not like Cullum being out of his sight but it was better than letting Rana meet his brother.
“You ok? Rana’s mind can’t have been pleasant.”
“All I did was ring the doorbell,” Nikola said, “I didn’t want to go fishing in there. That’s not edible either,” he added to the puppy that was now wrestling with his shoe laces. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
“Are we really keeping her?” Mitch asked.
“Yes,” Nikola replied. “She’s too young to be separated from the pack, without another telepath she’ll die and I doubt Rana has any friends that can open a way to Summer now.”
“You’d be correct,” Rana said, stepping out of the ebb and flow of traffic with a couple of ghouls at her back. “What happened?”
Together they explained and then Rana sent the two ghouls in to retrieve the vampire and his paperwork.
“What’ll happen to him?” Mitch asked Nikola. The ghouls had replaced Amelie’s impromptu bindings with enscrolled handcuffs of Faerie steel and one was leading the vampire away.
“He’ll be held in Tartarus until a court can be convened,” Rana answered for him.
“And the animals?” Amelie asked. “Some of them don’t look so good.”
“We’ll keep them in Eden until they can be returned to their homes,” Rana said, leafing through the vampire’s paperwork. “I’d be surprised if he had permits for half of these.”
“Tartarus?” Mitch thought. Amelie had taken him to visit the garden-like Eden before. He hadn’t expected to see trees and grass in the Netherworld, nor the more esoteric magical plants.
“The prison,” Nikola replied.
Mitch gulped, it hadn’t occurred to him that there might be a Teratos prison though it should have. They had to be keeping the demon somewhere. Hopefully somewhere well insulated from Nikola’s telepathy.
“I’m going to get her cleaned up,” Nikola said, bundling the matted puppy up in his jacket, “I’ll find you again later.”
“You could just go home,” Mitch said. “You could probably use a shower.”
“I’ll be fine,” Nikola said, rising to his feet, “go corral your brother before he buys a dragon.”
“He can’t can he?” Mitch asked.
“Sure he can,” Amelie replied. “Want me to show you where?”
“No,” Mitch groaned and hurried into the tent where Cullum was looking at swords. “Forget it,” he said, “you don’t even know how to use one.”
“Do too,” Cullum pouted, “they’re teaching us in PE.”
Damnit. “You can’t afford one,” Mitch said though he had no idea if it was true or not.
“What else would you like?” Amelie asked. Mitch silently groaned as Cullum rattled off a list of things that he’d never get through the airport, let alone be allowed to keep at school. What would he even do with a staff made out of toxic, carnivorous wood?
He tried to interest Cullum in a book, but Cullum was too interested in Alchemical concoctions for luck and invisibility to care. Mitch bought himself a book on cryomancy and a crumbling old scroll for Nikola. He wasn’t sure which language it was in but Nikola would either be able to read it already or would learn it. Even the exotic food on offer wasn’t enough to tempt Cullum who seemed determined to buy something dangerous and likely to get him expelled. Mitch was beginning to think that he’d set a bad example; he hadn’t even wanted to get expelled.
By midday the market was almost deserted, the more nocturnal shoppers having retired and the stall keepers shutting down for the day.
“Let’s just find Nikola and go,” Mitch said, wondering if Nikola had taken his suggestion and left already. It couldn’t possibly have taken that long to clean up a tiny puppy could it?
“But I haven’t bought anything yet,” Cullum protested.
“We’ve seen everything,” Mitch replied.
“Now we have,” Cullum sniggered. “Your friend is down there.”
“His name is Nikola,” Mitch said, following Cullum’s finger. Nikola stood in the door to a florist, the plants on display giving him flashbacks to his lessons on cryptobotany. It was just about the last place he would have expected to see Nikola but then Nikola kissing a dryad was about the last thing he’d expected to see as well.
“I wish I had a camera,” Amelie laughed, “the look on your face is priceless.” Mitch blinked and closed his mouth. Mitch had never seen Nikola with anyone before. Nikola had never even mentioned being interested in anyone before.
“Trust Nikola to find the only gay dryad in the city,” Amelie added. The puppy was bouncing around Nikola’s feet, looking considerably more fluffy than it had before.
“There could be others,” Mitch said as Nikola ended the kiss and turned towards them.
Amelie snorted, “I don’t think there are more than twenty dryads in the whole country.”
“Hey, ready to go?” Nikola asked, approaching them, the puppy running along at his side and snapping at his shoe laces, a tote bag of pet care supplies over one shoulder. He was smiling.
“I… uh…” Mitch said. Behind him Amelie towed Cullum away.
“What is it Mitch?” Nikola asked, his smile fading.
“Uh, nothing, nothing,” Mitch said hastily, raising his hands. “I guess it just hadn’t really sunk in that you’re gay.”
Nikola laughed, “Would it help if I flirted with our classmates?” he asked. “Some of them are quite attractive, though they’re all human.”
“No! Uh, wouldn’t your boyfriend object?”
“That was just sex Mitchell, I don’t do relationships.”
“Uh…” Mitch realised that he seemed to be saying that a lot but his education hadn’t prepared him for this conversation. “You don’t?” he finally managed. Nikola was one of the clingiest people he knew. The idea that he’d have a one night stand with a dryad threatened to overload his brain.
“I’m a lot of work Mitchell, particularly long-term, but I like sex as much as the next guy.”
“Oh,” Mitch said, his train of thought completely derailed, probably while crossing a bridge. “Er…” he floundered, searching for some way to keep the conversation going instead of standing in increasingly awkward silence. “You do this a lot then?”
Nikola shrugged, “I do in Faerie.”
“Isn’t everyone in Faerie a few centuries older than you?”
Nikola rolled his eyes, “That’s such a human thing to say.” He paused, “It doesn’t bother you does it?”
“Of course not,” Mitch smiled and took a step closer. “You’re my best friend, why would it bother me?”
Nikola shrugged, “Amelie hit the roof when she found out, apparently I wasn’t supposed to sleep with the guy she had a crush on.”
“Really?” Mitch laughed.
“She just said that she thought he was attractive and I agreed and… well… one thing led to another and…” he trailed off and stared at the road, his face flushed.
“And?” Mitch prodded, he’d never seen Nikola look quite so sheepish before.
“Apparently I wasn’t supposed to lose my virginity to the guy she liked.”
Mitch laughed though it was all too easy to imagine Amelie’s reaction.
“Wait, is that why she gets kinda jealous when I spend time with you?”
“Um… maybe,” Nikola replied, still staring at the ground. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to be caught in the middle. Amelie’s a little competitive.”
“I noticed,” Mitch said, stepping forward to hug him.
“You really don’t mind?” Nikola whispered in his ear.
“Of course not,” Mitch said, tightening his embrace. “I love you remember.”
“I love you too.”
PART TWO
Toast and Custard
“Are you sure you want to come with me?” Mitch asked, doing his best to huddle under Amelie’s umbrella. It would have been a lot more effective if the rain was actually falling vertically rather than horizontally. They couldn’t use magic to shelter themselves either, not with the paths crowded with people who’d just finished lectures for the day and were determined to go home and cook dinner.
“Nikola always goes with you doesn’t he?” Amelie asked, using a touch of magic to stop the umbrella being turned inside out.
Mitch shrugged, “He brought me the first time.” He would have brought Nikola today as well but Nikola had been sniffling when they went to maths and feverish and headachy by the time it finished, note-taking abandoned in favour of dozing against Mitch’s shoulder. Mitch wished that he was surprised but Nikola had a tendency to get sick on the first day of class, and the last couple of days he’d reported that the Eternity War was being fought nearby.
Mitch had taken him straight home to bed rather than drag him into the Netherworld and risk another meeting with Rana. She’d been pleasant enough last time but there had been witnesses then. Nikola hadn’t even realised that they were heading home until they were halfway there.
“Well then I can come this time,” Amelie said, “it’s not as if this is making me any wetter than I would be if I just went home.”
“I guess,” Mitch said. With the wind blowing every which way they’d be soaked to the skin by the time they got home and he wasn’t about to suggest that she might have wanted to go home and check on Nikola. This would only take them an extra fifteen minutes. Mitch fished out his medallion and together they descended into the Netherworld.
“This one?” Amelie asked, pointing to one of the red doors.
“Other one,” Mitch shuddered. He had only educated guesses as to what happened in the vampire bar and he was in no rush to have them confirmed. The blood bank was enough. Amelie actually followed him in, something Nikola would never do, and watched curiously as the damphir on duty got his blood.
“You owe me a proper date,” Amelie said as they ventured back out into the rain. Mitch was sure that it was even more omni-directional than it had been before. “One with human food.”
“Sure,” Mitch said, “take out tonight?”
“Let’s order in,” Amelie replied, “anything we buy will be thoroughly water-logged by the time we get home.”
Mitch nodded and walked a little faster, if it rained any harder they’d be swimming the rest of the way home.
“Next time I’m calling a taxi,” Amelie said as they squelched inside.
“It’s that or grow fins and a tail,” Mitch agreed. He’d tried his best to keep his bag out of the rain, and between that and the plastic bag his books and notes didn’t appear to have suffered too much. Certainly not as much as his shoes. He left them by the heater to dry and changed quickly before putting his blood away and going to put the jug on. Amelie was already on the phone ordering pizza.
“What on Earth are you doing to that poor loaf of bread?” Amelie asked.
“Slicing it,” Mitch replied, wondering if there was a trick to slicing bread with uniform thickness.
“If you keep going like that you’ll slice off your thumb again,” Amelie said.
“I didn’t slice it off the first time,” Mitch said, double checking that his hands were nowhere near the blade. Nikola kept the kitchen knives hellishly sharp.
“I could see bone,” Amelie said, “we almost had vampire marinade.”
“So maybe I cut myself a little, once,” Mitch grimaced and shoved the slice of bread into the toaster. It needed
a little jiggling but eventually he got it in and the toaster turned on. Bread slicing looked a lot easier when Nikola did it.
“If you weren’t able to heal yourself you would have needed stitches,” Amelie said. “You do realise he probably won’t touch that right?”
“He might,” Mitch replied. Nikola could usually be coaxed into nibbling a little dry toast and he would drink the tea. At least Amelie wasn’t criticising his efforts in that department. Of course, tea was hard to get wrong.
“Pizza should be here in twenty minutes,” she said, moving to the table to start on her homework.
“Cool.” Plate of toast in one hand and cup of tea in the other, Mitch went to see Nikola.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, settling everything on the bedside table and sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Lousy,” Nikola croaked. He wore a bracelet of Faerie steel. Mitch assumed that it was the one that muted his sensitivity to magic, and grimaced, Nikola was sick enough already with the Eternity War making him feel worse.
Mitch’s lips twitched into a tiny smile. “You must be feeling dreadful if you’re willing to admit to that,” he said. Nikola usually insisted he was fine.
“You never believe me anyway,” Nikola croaked and struggled to sit up. Mitch looked pointedly at the mountain of used tissues in the bin. Fluffball whined at them from the foot of the bed. Mitch didn’t think the puppy had ever slept in her own bed but she seemed to know to stay away from the pillows so Mitch left her be.
“You’ll make Amelie jealous,” Nikola said when Mitch reached out to feel his brow, his magic telling him exactly how high Nikola’s fever was.
“Over toast and hot tea?” Mitch asked, lowering his hand.
“When did you last make her breakfast in bed?”
“Umm… You have the flu,” Mitch finally managed. Nikola rolled his eyes. “And she always gets up before me anyway. If she ever gets sick I’ll make her toast as well.”
“I’m cutting it,” Nikola coughed. Mitch patted him on the back and offered him the tea when the coughing subsided.
“Have you slept at all?” Mitch asked. Nikola shook his head between sips. Mitch sighed and scrambled onto the bed to sit on Nikola’s other side.
