I puzzled over Virion. The ears tipped me off (I snorted at my unintended pun) that he was in the elf or fae family. My bet was high elf. I couldn’t really say why. He just felt a bit like Rhys to me.
His hair was literally bronze, like my eyes, which was all kinds of weird to me, and his eyes were a vibrant emerald green with a handful of gold dust thrown in. The gold dust glowed when he used his magic. I had no idea what magic he currently had active, because I could only see it in his eyes, but it was something. Rhys’ eyes did the same thing when his magic was active.
I slumped back in the chair and tried not to whimper. It turned out that I was allergic to heavy-duty painkillers. I’d had an interesting night parked in my bathroom from just taking a half dose. After that night, I’d not been interested in trying a different type or brand. Throwing up all night does that to a girl. Just no.
So, I was getting by with over-the-counter stuff, and it didn’teventouchthe pain. Seriously, at this point I felt like the stuff in the bottle might as well be candy for all the good it was doing me. But still, I faithfully took 800 mg every four hours like it said on the bottle.
I grumbled silently to myself.
All this to say, that I was seriously in a lot of pain, and absolutely any position that I tried made me hiss. I couldn’t get comfortable, and I was beyond cranky. To distract myself, I’d come down here, had the guards move some things around for me, and distracted myself with work. It had been working well until Virion had shown up via gargoyle delivery.
Virion had curved twin swords that were literally singing. I didn’t know if pain was making me loopy, but I could still hear them singing and sighing softly to themselves. I couldn’t make out the words, and for some reason that comforted me. When I could start making out the words, I was definitely going back to bed and staying there until I got at least 5 hours of sleep.
And Virion’s aura was...off. For one, he had two of them. I think one was actually Virion the person, and the other…? I wasn’t sure, but it felt like a part of Virion.
“You’re sensing my magic.”
“What now?”
Virion smiled. “Elven magic is sentient.”
Ooooohhhh, well, that explained so much. If Rhys was a high elf, why didn’t he have two auras? I would ask him later. “Soooo, your magic is a bit cranky at the moment?”
He nodded. “I restrained it from defending us, of course. I sensed no malice in the gargoyle. I was curious enough to entertain him; my magic was not.”
“Oh, so it was mad it didn’t get to attack and defend you both?”
“Exactly.”
I thought about this. “You know, I can’t say that I blame it.” I mean, really, people that were kidnapped had every right to do all that they could to get away.
I sighed. “I’m so sorry they kidnapped you. We’ve been having...a crazy time lately. We’ve got a master vampire trying to kill us, well he’s really just been coming aftermelately. Which, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want him to go after Draven again as well; it’s just irritating. This is like the third time I’ve been injured by this loony.” I leaned my head back against the cushion and closed my eyes. “He shot me this time. Last time he poisoned me. The time before that he shot out the glass at The Tea Hobbit, and before that he tried to blow up my car. It was this huge disaster that could have gotten a lot of people hurt or killed, but Mesmer drove the car into the lake, which limited the explosion.”
I peered blearily at him. I couldn’t pinpoint his expression exactly, but I thought I saw sympathy in there. I wanted him to understand why Draven had felt the situation desperate enough. “To be honest, I’m not sure what all your type of elf can do. I’m assuming from what you said that you can heal?”
He nodded. “My line can also track just about anything: magic, beings, blood, etc. We have a few other abilities as well.”
I groaned. “So that’s why they stole you. I’m so sorry, Virion. I think Draven’s going a little crazy. He’s had people on this for months, literally months, but this vampire is like a ghost, and he almost always uses someone else to do his dirty work for him.” Well, except for the one time. And boy had that poisoning felt personal.
Virion sat back, his hands comfortably resting on his knees. “To what end, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what is the purpose of his psychological warfare? Is he truly trying to kill you, or just harry you?”
I rubbed my temples, trying to soothe my migraine. “Well, I think the poison definitely was trying to kill me. This time with the shooting, too. Draven’s been shot at as well. I think we’ve just been really blessed to have amazing people watching our backs who are good at their jobs and have a lot of magic. I have a friend, Rhys, who’s a star elf.”
“One of my brethren is here?” Virion sat up in his chair, more alert.
I smiled. “Yeah, he’s my best friend. In fact, I’m expecting him any minute now. He’s usually by to check on me several times a day, so you’ll meet him if you decide to hang out for a bit.”
I winced. I really needed to word that better. But how did you say, please-oh-please-oh-please heal me so I can sleep for 3 hours together? And, while you’re at it, can you please track the bad guy down for us so we can kill him? Thank you ever so much.
Virion slid to his knees in front of me, and I blinked at him, startled. He moved with such grace and speed that I hadn’t even seen him twitch before he was right in front of me.
Whoa. Elves were cool. Then again, I was a little biased. “I will heal you now,” he said.
“Wait, really?” I swear I almost got teary. I might get to sleep? Like, for a few hours in a row? “That would be really lovely,” I whispered hoarsely. My emotions, stupid empathic emotions, were all over the place. I wanted to cry, to cheer, and to sleep, all simultaneously.
