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“This is fine.”
She pulled up her yoga ball, and we sat there in silence with our wine, as I let the music and her presence soothe my beast.
Chapter 5
Sybil
Zaynwasatitagain.
I closed my laptop and rubbed the bridge of my nose. What did a girl have to do for some peace and quiet around here?
I wasn’t doing anything too mentally taxing, but the banging was annoying.
Digitizing Great Granny Syl’s business was slow, tedious work, especially since most of her notes had been scrawled in her messy handwriting. All my current clients had been moved over from the ancient, rusty file cabinet to my work laptop, so that was good. Now I was transferring over all the old files, previous clients who might contact Auntie Syl’s Wards & Witchery again.
I had to admit, I was curious about who Great Granny had worked with in the past. It seemed like anyone who was anyone in Darlington, magic or not, had contacted Sylvana. Then again, the folks of Darlington had known of magic long before the fall of The Wall, since most people living here were themselves either monsters or magic users.
Bang. Bang.
Argh! Balcony wine buddies or not, I’d officially had enough.
I stomped out into the hallway, not bothering to put on any of my war paint this time. What was the point? He’d already seen me barefaced, sweaty, and in my yoga gear.
To my surprise, his door was ajar. A reusable cotton shopping bag sat in the hallway just outside it, a loaf of bread sticking out of the top. A box of Earl Grey tea and several other items were spilled on the floor.
I knocked on the door. “Zayn?”
No reply. There was definitely someone in there, though, because I could hear a soft repetitive thudding coming from inside.
I bent to pick up the shopping tote before pushing the door the rest of the way open. Then I gasped, and nearly dropped the bag.
There was a giant silver serpent in Zayn’s living room, its tail thudding against the wall. It didn’t notice me at first.
This must be Zayn in his shifted form. I thought nagas were only half snake. This was a full serpent. The silver scales reminded me of the silvery platinum of his hair. He was huge, much too big to move around comfortably in the condo. That would explain the pounding noise as he banged against the walls. As I’d already guessed, his washer and dryer worked perfectly fine.
He looked like he was in pain, and I sensed magic in the air. Not fresh magic, but something older. Something controlling. Was that what was hurting him?
“Zayn…?”
The serpent froze mid-writhe, his black forked tongue darting out to scent the air. Then he turned his huge snout to me and hissed.
A chill ran up my spine, but I stood my ground. I’d faced down worse before.
“Zayn. Are you okay? Shift back into your human form so we can talk. I can try to help you.”
He didn’t shift. Instead, he lunged toward me as if to strike.
This time, I dropped the bag of groceries on the floor and dove away just as the snake crashed into the place where I’d been standing, his body slamming into the door and shutting me in. I’d gotten away just in time.
The serpent turned on me again, its eyes wild and feral. Shit! Zayn wasn’t in control.
I was trapped in an apartment with a snake big enough to swallow me whole blocking the door. Zayn struck again, very fast; this time, I didn’t move away quickly enough.
Thick, muscular coils wrapped around my body. They tightened but didn’t squeeze me as hard as I’d been expecting. Maybe he was trying to figure out if I was worth eating.
It was just enough time for me to form a magical barrier around my body, making me unsquishable, at least to a point. If he squeezed very hard, he was strong enough that he could still break the barrier. But he didn’t.
Instead, he swiped his forked tongue over my skin, tasting me.
