Cerebus || Book 2

Chapter 7: Castle

Iris's eyes flickered amongst the faces of the new arrivals, as she tried to quickly assess her current situation.

There were three...aliens, she decided was an appropriate category.

Two of them appeared to be men, and one, a woman.

The woman was standing in front of the other two, her stance assertive and commandeering, despite the drastic height difference and varied muscle disposition.

Her black hair was braided elaborately, with many braids, small and large, shaped to form a French braid that rested neatly against her back.

But what stood out the most to Iris was the sheer number of markings that covered almost every inch of her exposed skin.

She was only donning a thin fabric, which covered her top and bottom halves, leaving nearly nothing to the imagination.

Iris decided then and there that every person of this species was undeniably attractive because she had yet to encounter someone who didn't remotely resemble that of a Greek God.

She watched on in confusion as Niklaus and the woman exchanged words in a language which sounded like a series of clicks and whistles, before he took a few steps forward to approach the small group.

The human withheld a gasp of surprise as the two men dropped to their knees in an instant, their heads lowered and their bodies frozen in such precision, Iris wondered if they were even breathing.

But she was the most unsettled watching Niklaus become embraced by this woman.

The affection shared between them was evident by the way the woman squeezed her arms around him and raked her fingers through his hair. It was even worse when he appeared comforted by her touch and welcomed it.

After a brief moment, Niklaus pulled away from the hug and lowered his head to the black-haired beauty, who placed a chaste kiss on his forehead, before mumbling what could've been a few words or an entire phrase in her native tongue.

Iris bit the inside of her cheek as she watched on, her stomach churning painfully as if she'd eaten something bad and it was disagreeing with her.

She hated that she was having such a visceral reaction for someone who was essentially a stranger to her. This infatuation she felt was slowly but surely consuming her, so much so that she felt what could only be considered hatred for a girl she didn't even know.

"Niklaus..."

Was the only thing she could muster as she tried to get a handle on her emotions.

At the sound of her voice, his head turned towards her, but another pair of eyes followed too, as if they just realized that she was there.

The woman's golden eyes, that were rimmed and lined with kohl, stared at Iris' hazels with a questioning but guarded gaze.

She took a step towards the human, but Niklaus grabbed her arm, preventing her from moving any closer.

"Don't. She's harmless."

Iris' ears caught the English syllables that fell from his lips, and she realized that he could control what he wanted her to hear.

At his objection, the woman rose a brow, but this time when she spoke, it was understandable.

"Where did you find this thing? What is it and why did you bring it here?"

The human took slight offense to being referred to as an 'it', but she was much too intimated to counter.

"Please don't be rude, sister. I will explain everything when we are with family."