Blood Bargain

Eleven: In Which Holy Water Rains Down

It didn't take too long to make it back to the village, but Ellie felt like the exhaustion seeping deep into her bones and settling there was incredibly disproportionate to the amount of movement they'd done. Usually a walk to Boone left her a little tired, but not entirely beaten. By the time she got back to her door after the walk back up from the cemetery, only half the distance to Boone and back, Ellie was more than ready to sleep for the next year.

Her eyes were half closed and her muscles ached as she turned the key in the lock, Kaz right behind her. That was good, considering he could catch her if she collapsed. Maybe there would be time for a nap later, she thought as she pulled open the door—

Only for a deluge of water to pour out on top of them both.

It rolled off the edges of their hats, mostly, but both Kaz and Ellie's clothes were entirely drenched in moments, the already soggy ground becoming a little more like a small, dirty lake in front of the house. Ellie stood with her mouth open, jaw slack from sheer shock as she looked from her soaked clothes to Kaz and back again. A flash in her peripheral vision barely alerted her in time to dodge the bucket that fell from under the eaves on her roof overhang, and it smacked to the ground with a harmless splash.

"What... What the living shit was that?" She spoke through gritted teeth, struggling to at least keep her volume down even if her tone was not at all even.

"Prank, most likely," Kaz said, removing his hat as he squinted up towards the roof, already scouting for the source of the water.

"Who dumps water on someone in this weather?!" Ellie screeched as a gust of cold wind kicked up, tearing right through her soaked clothes and down to her skin. It wasn't cold enough for a freeze, but it certainly was not warm, especially with raging mountain winds kicking up every thirty seconds.

Kaz didn't seem to mind the wind, though. Instead he looked at his dripping sleeve, moving his arm back and forth as if seeing it from a different angle might reveal new information about the water.

And then he licked his sleeve.

Ellie blinked, eye twitching slightly. She was an herbalist and not a stranger to licking objects to identify them, but this was water. Even with his demonic abilities, she wasn't really sure what extra information he planned to glean from tasting his own clothing.

"Mm. Holy water," he said softly, smacking his lips. "Too much salt, though."

Holy water?! Ellie went cold with dread for a brief moment before she realized that Kaz looked completely fine. He was wet, sure, but he didn't seem any more affected by the water than she was. On the upside, it made much more sense why he'd thought to lick his sleeve.

Holy water involved exorcised water and blessed salt, so normal water would taste different than holy water. It also, thankfully, helped the shelf life. Curious, Ellie brought the back of her hand to her mouth, licking it hesitantly. It was, indeed, salty.

That wasn't enough for Ellie to confirm it was holy water by itself, but Kaz certainly would have been able to. Ellie looked him over, but besides appearing wet and reasonably annoyed, he seemed fine. That was... odd.

"It... it doesn't bother you?" she asked slowly. Based on everything else she'd heard, most demons found it unpleasant at minimum and toxic at worst, but Kaz actually rolled his eyes.

"Why would it bother me? Besides drenching my clothes in cold weather, that is," he scoffed. "I've already told you that I'm not from the Hell you're thinking of. I have no quarrels with your God, so why would Their blessing bother me?"

Okay, that made sense. Ellie nodded slowly, still jumping through mental hoops to make this logic work as Kaz continued to look for the mechanism that triggered the deluge.