Blood Magic

9: About The Girl

.^^ a Dread Lord ^^

— Athenos —

I stumbled back out of the portal, and chuckled. "Alright, Yeah, sure, maybe I was getting awkward, but you should definitely apologize. You were being an ass, you know." I turned, and paused. "James?"

No answer, and the portal had stopped glowing. The stones no longer thrummed with power.

"Dammit, I guess the person who opened it should go through last... I'll have to open another, then." I reached for my materials, and paused, realizing he had my bag.

"Oh FUCK ME, HUH?!?" I groaned, and leaned against the stone archway. As I was thinking of fixes, the door glowed again, and I caught a person, who fell through. They wore an odd amalgamation of furs, sewn together with surgical thread, and leather straps I recognized, decorated with all the best protection talismans that had been in my bag.

I moved his shaggy red hair out of his face, and he grinned. "Did you call her yet?" He asked casually.

I laughed softly. "You look like fresh Hel, and you want to know if I called the woman I just met? Do I look that desperate, to you?"

He blinked, then nodded. "Ahhh, it's been only a few minutes over here. I forgot for a second." He sat up as the portal closed, and cracked his neck, handing me my bag, badly stained and covered with splashes of an unknown, foreign red and gold substance I didn't want to think about.

"How long were you over there?" I asked, inspecting his make-shift armor.

"There's no sun, so it's hard to tell, but Rafaela checked on me every couple days, gave me food and stuff. It was... it was a while." He shrugged, and sheathed a massive sword I somehow hadn't noticed on his back. It shrank, and made its way down to his waist, next to Excalibutter.

I raised an eyebrow slowly. "You look like-"

"Fresh Hel, yeah I heard you the first time." He sighed.

"I was going to say a warrior, to be honest. But let's get to the hotel, shower and then we can discuss this once we're presentable." I hummed, and threw him over my shoulders, despite his protests, and carried him up the incline, then down the mountain.

I had struggled, the first time, but his health needed seeing to, and that gave me new purpose. Even more than finding the shade who attacked his mother, he looked malnourished, and paler than before.

Once he was in the back seat, laying down, and Riley was laying on top of him protectively, I drove us to the hotel, and while he took a long, Well-deserved hot shower, I cleaned everything from our bags.

He had collected an impressive amount of magical components, from several types of animals and plants, as well as a bag of Crystalline seeds I recognized, but couldn't put a name to.

I cleaned what I could only assume was blood and dirt off of just about everything, and then Riley made her way into the bathroom, demanding a bath.

James laughed and closed the door behind her. "Alright, Alright, let's get that fur shiny as new, huh? Whatcha think, you like my hair longer? I think I'll keep it, once it's not shaggy anymore."

Just as I finished examining his armor, he stepped out of the shower, dressed in a pair of pants. He had fresh scars on his shoulders and collarbone, bite marks and claw marks, and when he sat down next to me, I saw a few fresher ones, still closing. He had bandaged himself properly, it would seem, but they were still pretty radical.

"Ouch... you were in there a while, huh? Any pains I can fix?" I asked, feeling his shoulders for breaks, then his ribs.

"No, no broken bones. Just cuts. I made the antidotes, according to your notes. I'm fine, just in need of some good food. And you, need to call Miss Rafaela, and thank her for keeping me alive. You have the perfect in to ask her over for dinner while I go to the Troll market, and sell my new wares." He smirked.