In the darkness of night, the stairs made the clouds in the sky have an eerie glow. There were no creatures to speak of, which didn't seem possible with a large forest, but this forest was empty, or so it seemed. Fear started to fill the man's heart a bit, but after taking some breaths, he calmed himself.
This forest was just like every forest he had ever been in. He heard voices around him, but none of them he knew were speaking to him. He started to head deep into the woods and listened to the leave crunch with every step he took. Then he felt pain in his shoulder; it was dull, but it was there, so he touched his shoulder and then looked at his hand. Blood.
But it wasn't red; it was black as a starless night. He went to the river to see he had white hair and his eyes were yellow. He touched his face and heard growling behind him.
"Geralt!" A person screamed
He turned around quickly, seeing a Jaskier dead body lying on the ground while Stella was bleeding out. He went to her, but she backed away as she saw him come closer.
"Get away from me, you monster!" She screamed as he was confused why she was acting like that.
"Geralt!"
Then he got down to her to make eye contact with her. Then he saw his eyes were black, and so were the veins in his face. He didn't look like himself at all with his monster teeth and the long black nails he had now.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said softly as he tried going to get closer to her, but she started moving away.
"I said I didn't mean to hurt you," he said more sternly as he was getting angry that she was not forgiving him.
"No, you aren't. I saw what you did to that village!" She yelled as he picked her up by her neck in a rage.
"Geralt!"
"You didn't believe I was a monster, and now all of a sudden, you say I am?!" He growled as he threw her to the ground.
"What am I doing?! I'm sorry, Stella?" He asked as he went to her side. She was lying on her stomach, so he turned her over.
All of her organs were outside her body, and he was covered head to toe in blood. Her blood is not a monster's blood but an innocent person's blood. He fell to his knees and saw her blood all over his hands. He felt his lips grow warm like he was being set on fire. The blood on his hands started to catch on fire then all of her blood on him began to catch on fire. He screamed, waking him up quickly.
He saw Stella was with him holding his shoulders. Her hair was cascading down her right shoulder. Jaskier was standing by the door, looking terrified as she carefully rubbed his shoulders. She smiled a bit and took a deep breath as he looked at her, a bit confused. Her green eyes locked with his yellow eyes, and he wished he could stare into them all night. He put one hit, his left hand on hers, telling her he was okay even though he couldn't tell her himself.
"You had a nightmare and were saying my name. At first, Jaskier thought you were having a sex dream about me until you were trying to fight something in your sleep. Whatever it was, I tried everything to wake you up, and nothing worked, not even water, so that I may have kissed you. Sorry you wouldn't wake up, and I didn't want you killing people in your sleep," she said with a soft chuckle.
He looked around a bit and then back at her. Dreams were omens, and he was afraid now he was going to be the death of her. She looked concerned as he was looking at her with his yellow eyes. His breathing was evening out, but she had never seen a witcher scared of anything before, so whatever scared him was terrible. He was still holding her hand as well, like he was trying to convince himself that whatever it was wasn't real.
"I should leave you two alone..." he said as she turned to him quickly.
"Seriously, Jaskier? He just had a nightmare, so I kissed him to wake him up because nothing else worked! I'm not a whore, and you sleep here while I sleep in my room alone! Your lucky you didn't barge in when I was bathing! I would have killed you," she hissed.
"Well, I had a good reason too! I can't fight a man six times my size!" He protested.
"So you make a woman do it, how survivalist of you," she muttered.
"You took down a giant centipede yesterday, so don't you try to make yourself sound like a lady; you are anything but!" He said as she scoffed.
She left Geralt's room, and Geralt sighed a bit as Jaskier entered the room. He seemed so pleased that he told her off, but that was going to bite him in the butt later. Geralt sat up, and he saw it was morning already, which didn't seem possible.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said as Jaskier looked at him, confused.
"Tell her off or have her save you from whatever fucked up dream you had. I'm sure it was a sex dream; you haven't gotten a whore in a long time. A week is a long time. I was lucky the innkeeper's wife was free for the night while her husband was asleep in one of the empty rooms," he smiled.
"You always have to go after married women," he sighed, annoyed.
"No, I like to. Anyway, we should go; Stella is already getting ready to leave," he informed as he went to Stella's room and opened the door.
"Close the door, you fucker. I am bathing!" She screamed as Jaskier quickly shut the door and ran into his room.
"Okay, Stella is bathing before we go..." he said as Geralt couldn'tbelievee him.
"I didn't dream about sleeping with Stella," he informed.
"Sure you weren't; she might have gotten too rough with you and then cut off your balls. I had that dream once; I could feel the rope burns on my wrists after I woke up," he smiled.
"If you like her so much, just as her to buy her a drink," Geralt stated.
"You think she will let me do that?" He asked. Geralt paused for a moment.
"No," he said as Jaskier sighed.
"Dame it!" He muttered.
Stella was bathing and sighed as she needed to relax. She heard a knock on her door and sighed as she thought it was Jaskier again. She didn't answer because she was tired of him. That was until she heard another knock.
"Seriously, Jaskier! I am so tired of you trying to use me to get rid of your sexual desires! I'm not a whore!" She growled as Geralt stood by her door.
"It's Geralt," he said, making her sigh frustration.
"This is why I like horses better at least they give me some space! Men! You can't live with them or without them," she muttered, "give me a minute to get dressed, please!"
He left and waited back in his room. He couldn't believe she had to kiss him to wake him up from whatever nightmare he had. He felt guilty but happy it was her waking him up rather than Jaskier. Seeing her alive made him feel better, and touching her to ensure she was there helped him. He couldn'tbelievee he killed her in his dream. It felt too real; even the blood that dripped down from his fingertips felt real.
"So, what did you dream about?" Jaskier asked more or less as a joke.
He didn't answer as he put his armor on. He didn't want to talk about it, and he was hoping it wasn't an omen to come. Jaskier knew he didn't speak a lot, but this silence was different than others.
"Geralt, what was your dream about? You also said I didn't mean to hurt you in your sleep. I thought you know rough sex, so I tried waking you up, but that's when you started fighting in your sleep," he said as Geralt sighed.
"I dreamt I killed Stella, that I was a beast of some sort, and she must have tried stopping me, but I gutted her like a fish. Her blood was all over Methuen; when I woke up, her blood set my body on fire. I felt her die, and I tried not to, but I did," he said as Jaskier looked at her, shocked.
"So it's an omen then, maybe?" He asked.
"I don't know if I act threatening towards her without any reason to protect her from me. I know she can take care of herself, but I don't want her to end up dead as she did in my dream," he said as Jaskier couldn'tbelievee he was asking him to protect her from himself.
"You know you are like six times my size, right?" He asked as Stella came in wearing a beautiful dress.
Jaskier looked at her, shocked; never seeing her wear a dress threw him off, and he liked it on her, maybe too much. He was a lady's man, and he didn't know which looked better, her wearing it or it on the floor.
Geralt heard Jaskiers heart quicken so fast that it could have escaped from his chest if he didn't calm himself down. Geralt turned to see her finishing tieing up her dress, and fixing her hair a bit.
"I heard there was a job in town, but he may be offering it to someone else. So I am going to secure that job for us. I know we had one yesterday, but the coin goes fast when you are on the road. My god, if my father saw me in a dress, he would think I was crazy. I haven't worn a dress since my mother died. Was way too interested in beating up boys and killing things," she said as she lowered the dress a bit more to show off more of her chest.
"Well, you look okay," Jaskier said as she smiled.
Geralt paused as he watched her a bit. He wondered why she wasn't married yet. She looked breathtaking, even her smile as she looked in the mirror in their room. Any guy would be lucky to have her. She was a monster hunter, and it seemed odd for a woman to be so. He knew her mother had died, but maybe there was more to it.
"Thank you, now if you excuse me, I have to hurry," she smiled as she hurried off.
"Dear God, she looked fucking beautiful," Jaskier said as he was trying not to think of all the ways he could seduce her or at least try to.
"Fallow her Jaskier. Someone wanted to take her last time, and we almost didn't make it in time," he said as he saw her run to a nearby pub in her red dress.
"I can pretend to be her husband!" He said happily as he ran off after her.
She was doing something to him and couldn't figure out what it was. He left the building to the bar Stella went to since Jaskier went the wrong way at first but then quickly went to the bar as soon as he saw Geralt go.
"I have a witcher friend that can handle your little problem," Stella smiled as the man smirked a bit.
"So a strong witcher sends in a woman to get his jobs?" The man asked as he touched her arm.
"I'm not just that to him, so I would be careful if I were you. Also, I cut off a man's balls for touching me," she informed as she stabbed the table. The man's smile disappeared, and he crossed his arms.
"So, where is this witcher?" He asked as Geralt towered over her as she sat down, and the man gulped. He stabbed his knife next to hers, which was much larger than hers.
"I have seen her do it; she is very unforgiving," Geralt informed.
"A husband and wife team, I like it," the man said as Stella was scoffed.
"You like anything with breasts, so do we get the job or not?" She asked.
"I might give you two the job, but it might not be safe for a lady such as yourself," he chuckled as she took the knife out of the table and threw it at a rate. It hit its mark, and she smiled brightly.
"Dress or no dress, I'm good at my job. Also, I don't cheat on my husband; I have a good feeling he has bigger balls than your whole family put together," she chuckled as she picked up her knife and kissed Geralt on the cheek.
She took him by the hand and left. Jaskier saw almost all of it, and he was shocked that she even did that.
"So husband and wife now?" Geralt asked.
"He kept flirting with me, and,y, cutting off his balls was not much of a threat to him," she sighed.
"As long as I don have to kiss you in public, I will be fine with it," he said as she smirked.
"Seriously? Why didn't you ask me?!" He growled.
"Then you wouldn't be able to sleep around; also, you don't look intimidating enough," she chuckled.
"Do you like him more? I see how it is! Go on, then get a room and do whatever married couples do," he muttered.
"Oh, Jaskier, you know when you are upset, I can't help but laugh. You are like a tiny dog defending its territory. You know this is an act, right, just so that man would stop flirting with me," she chuckled, "I can't feel love; it's another reason I don't sleep with men. I can show love with children and people I care for, but I can't love anyone besides my father."
"You never fell in love with any man?" Jaskier asked as she smiled.
"Nope, I never met a man I could ever trust fully. Humans are far more dangerous than any real monster because they can hide their true interests and intentions. I have killed more men in my life than creatures for their actions. Sad really, but it doesn't bother me," she informed as they walked back to the inn.
Jaskier didn't say anything after that; how could she know what love felt like? Something must have happened to her to make her unable to love people, and whatever it was had to have been horrific. She smiled as she looked at both of them, but all Geralt could see hear her hheartbeatpeeding up nervously when she talked about it. She was hiding it well. To wellll, n in fact.