Victor POV
After my late night escapade I return to bed and have a pleasant rest after. Unfortunately I am woken up by my very loud and energetic new roommate. "It wasn't a dream!" I fall out of the hammock in shock and groan at her excitement. "I am not a morning person." I look up to Luz and she dawns a sheepish smile. "Sorry." I wave my hand dismissively and Luz heads to the window her energy still high.
"Good morning, terrifying fantasy world." She calls out and a sea monster with way too many eyes returns the greeting. Both of us reel back in disgust. She walks back to her sleeping bag and picks up King as I go behind a changing screen to put on my day clothes. "Good morning, you little cutie-pie." King immediately tries to pull away from her as she kisses him. "I am not your cutie-pie!" Luz pulls him in for a hug. "Yes you are." She puts him down. "I know." He responds lying down. "Morning Victor."
"Morning." I greet her as I come out from behind the screen wearing a white hoody today since my leather jacket was ruined yesterday and I need to get a new one and she goes to change as well. I leave and head downstairs for some breakfast where Eva seems to be preparing some for everyone already. "Morning Eva. Sleep well?" I ask her and she turns to me with a smile causing me to become slightly flustered at the sight. "I feel like I should be the one asking you that but yes I did indeed sleep well." She responds and I take a seat while she places some scrambled eggs in front of me.
"I slept surprisingly well, thank you. The wound on my shoulder didn't bother me at all last night. Besides a stiff shoulder I'm in peak condition this morning." Eva smiles at my words and I dig in to my food. She takes a cup out of the top cupboard and pours a red liquid from a carton box into it. The carton in question identifies the contents to be apple blood, wonder what that tastes like.
Eva then sits down next to me after placing the the cup at the end of the table. "So what's on the agenda for today?" Eva asks me and I think on it for a bit. "Probably going to explore town and the surrounding area. If this place is going to be my new stomping grounds then I'll need to get a grasp on the area in case I run into trouble." We then look to the stairs when we hear Luz squeal. "Well. She certainly is excited." I nod in agreement to her words taking a sip of my water to wash down some of my food. "Delicious." Eva blushes at my compliment and brushes a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Thanks, glad you like it." I nod my head before continuing. I look up after I take the last bite as does Eva and we both almost choke on our food when we see Luz in the doorway. She is wearing a bathrobe and what I thought was a witch hat at first glance but upon closer inspection I realize that it was a bent traffic cone. "Well that is something I did not expect to see first thing in the morning." Eva states and I can only nod in response. Luz doesn't notice us but she seems to wait at the foot of the stairs for something.
Once we hear a toilet flush then we realize who she is waiting for. "Good morning, Eda the Owl Lady. I am ready for my first day of witch apprenticeship." Luz happily exclaims raising her fist into the air. "Ugh! Who are you again?" Eda responds clearing spiders out of her hair and I almost laugh at this. King also somehow got here without me noticing and has started eating his breakfast.
Eda walks up to the table taking her seat at the end of the table and takes a sip of her apple blood. "Remember me? We freed the oppressed and defeated the evil warden together with Eva and Victor. Yesterday?" Luz explains and I wave my hand in response. "Morning." Eda nods putting her cup down. "Kid, lay off the details. I haven't even finished my cup of apple blood yet." She states turning to Luz. "You mean apple juice?" Luz asks and Eda and Eva both respond. "No."
Eda takes a bite of her breakfast but Luz seems not to get the hint of breakfast before talk. "Teach me some spells. When do I get a magic staff? Was I supposed to bring my own runes? *Gasp* Do you have a dangerous magical quest for me?" I choose to interrupt her at this juncture. "Luz! Calm down and Eat your breakfast first. We can deal with your questions after okay."
Luz stops and realizes that she is being a little rude. "Sorry." She responds while complying. "Also you might want to take off the dirty traffic cone." She seems confused at my comment before taking it off and blowing the dust off of it showing it to indeed be a traffic cone. She blushes at this and puts it on the floor. I hand her a napkin and she cleans her hands before eating. "Nicely done." Eva compliments me and I nod taking the dirty dishes of the three of us who have already finished and start cleaning them.
Eva tries to protest but I tell her that it's fine. After a while both Luz and Eda have finished and Eda is the first to speak up. "Alright kid. No in response to your haste. Being a witch doesn't happen overnight. But a magic staff, huh? You really want one?" She stands along with Luz. "More that anything." Luz responds mushing her own cheeks while having a massive smile. "Magic staff, come to me." Eda calls out throwing her arm out and Eva shakes her head at this letting out a sigh. "Not cleaning that." She states as we hear a crash from the hall.
Eda's staff comes into view and smacks her in the head before dropping to the floor. She then picks it up off the floor before spinning her staff. "It's early." Eva smiles at this and I am leaning on the counter next to her thinking that this is probably normal. "Now witches are awarded their staffs from school. With me as your teacher, you'll be taking a different approach." Eda starts and Eva gives her own remark. "You still haven't taken me to make my own staff."
Eda looks to her before giving a smirk. "You still have to wait a bit longer Owlet." Eva lets out a grumble before crossing her arms looking to her side. "You keep saying that." God she's cute when she pouts. Eda then drops a bag of potions in front of Luz. "You'll have to work for it." I pick up the bag with my right arm and Luz takes off the bathrobe before we follow Eda out of the kitchen.
"I run a few businesses. On weekends, I offer rare human treasures that Owlbert drags over from your side of the realm." Eda explains before taking a toy sword of off a stand above the fire place to show us before throwing it to the side. "But most days I sell only the finest homemade elixirs and potions. I hold open the bag and Luz pulls out a bottle of snake oil. "Snake oil?" I ask and look to Eva.
"Trust me no one wants an un-oiled snake." She responds and Eda does a hand gesture to follow. "Follow me." She steps onto a balcony overlooking the cliff and onto the town in the distance. Must be a half hour walk at least, forty five minuets at most. "Today you three will deliver packages and sell potions to that town over there, *Points staff to the town* Bonesborough." I put the bag down before speaking. "What's the catch?"
"You'll have to be careful. I have rivals everywhere who'd love to take my business down and you guy's along with it." Eda states and I nod in response as she turns to Luz. "You wanted a dangerous magical quest? Sister, you've got one." Luz turns to her completely before saluting. "I wont let you down miss Eda." Eda looks to her unconvinced. "I'm sure." She looks to me and I sigh. "I'll keep her out of trouble." I respond.
Eva comes up next to us throwing her arm around my shoulder. "And I'll make sure they wont get lost." Eva states and I feel like she has an ulterior motive but I'm to flustered by her actions to be able to figure out what. Eda on the other hand has a mischievous smirk on her face looking at her daughter. "Oh, I'm sure." She repeats in a playful tone causing Eva to blush, Luz also has a smirk on her face and I am left completely confused.
Eda then pushes out of the front door while giving us some advice. "Remember, never befriend a man in sandals and always measure twice, cut once." I give her a strange look and Eva places her hand on my shoulder. "Just accept it." Eda then uses her magic to close the door. "Good luck!"
Eva POV
At least I'll get to spend the day with Victor. I look back and see Luz eavesdropping in the window. I walk up to her and hear my mother talking to King. "You and I know that Luz is going to get lost or eaten, probably both. And Eva is going to be making googly eyes at Victor daydreaming about him all day." Luz and I both go up to the window to retort with Luz pressing up against the window. "No, I wont." We both state before Victor takes us both by the waist in each of his arms taking us away from the window. "It's rude to eavesdrop." He states putting us both down.
King then comes out of the house angrily stomping his feet. "Be back by nightfall or risk mortal peril." Mom states before closing the door. "Have a nice trip." Hooty says and King sighs before turning to town. "Huh! Let's get this over with." Victor picks up the bag and flings it over his right shoulder as we follow King.
Once we get to town Luz is amazed by the sights in front of her but Victor seems to hold a neutral expression. Victor analyzes his surrounding like he's looking for every dark alley and hiding hole. He looks like mom when she's planning on robbing a place. Luz however looks at all the creatures around the place staring. "Hey it's rude to stare." King tells her and she looks to him.
"I've only seen places like this in my dreams. It's incredible. And we're the only humans here?" Victor shrugs his shoulders like he doesn't care. "Haven't seen any others." King responds. "Not like it matters. Lets just get on with this delivery." Victor states looking at the list and looks at the street sign to get his bearing's. I take out a map and show him our location on it and then the location of where we're supposed to go.
King then takes out a bottle from the bag talking to Luz. "Yeah. Did Azura's path to greatness involve her delivering boiling cream?" Victor takes the bottle and places it back in the bag before walking forward with all of us behind him. "So Victor if you don't mind m asking. What was your life like before coming to the Demon Realm?" I ask him wanting to get to know him better.
He takes a breath before answering the question. "To put it simply. Not the best. I would constantly be on the move to avoid people being able to track me. I made a lot of enemies on, my travels." He starts to explain but Luz seems to have a question for him. "Um, Victor. Can I ask you something?" Victor nods in conformation. "Where exactly are you from? I mean I have an idea because of your accent but I don't want to assume."
"That's fine. I'm from Salem born and raised in the City. Spent the last year traveling up the coast on my way to Canada. Thought I could disappear there. I stayed in the city's for some time to make some money in the criminal underground, but I ran into some trouble with the Triads in New York." He explains and Luz seems both intrigued and concerned. "So you come from the most haunted city in the US that's famous for its witch trials and you end up in the land of witches." Luz states and we stop dead in our tracks.
"Yeah that is a strange coincidence when you put it like that. But the same can be said for you. Since Gravesfield is known to be a town founded by witch hunters." Victor saying that sends a shiver down my spine. "I moved there, wasn't there since birth unlike you but. Touché." Luz responds and we continue. "So what exactly did you do when you stopped in a town or city?" I ask wanting to know more.
"Scoped the place out. Found the shady part of town. Made some money on illegal gambling or fights. Then moved on before people got too suspicious." He explained and I was confused by this. "What do you mean 'got too suspicious'?" He looks to me and gives a sly smile. "I cheated and never got caught." I feel like he's hiding something.
Throughout the day Victor seems to be too good at noticing trouble. For example when Luz rang a doorbell he pulled her hand away before it had the chance to bite down on it. He prevented Luz from stepping on a manhole cover that fell into the ground the moment a passerby stepped on it. And he caught a flaming ball that came at him from behind, without even looking. There is definably more to him than there seems.
After a while we finished delivering all but one package and decide to take a break while eating some 'not dogs'. Luz declined but me, King and Victor partook. Victor pulled out some snails and paid himself. "Where did you get the money?" I ask him. "I pickpocketed some fools at your mother's stall yesterday without anyone noticing." He responds nonchalantly and my mouth drops. "Without mom noticing. How?" He puts a finger to his mouth before responding. "Sorry, trade secret." He winks and starts to eat his not dog. "Not bad."
I eat mine but keep thinking that he is more intriguing the more time we spend together. "I know I've had enough delight for one day." King states after he eats his lunch. "I thought being one of the only two humans in a magical world would make me special. But apparently, it just makes everyone want to scream at me or...*Lifts up her arm to show a bug biting on her elbow.* Eat me." Victor grabs the bug and crushes it in his hand. I cast a small healing spell to heal the bite mark.
Luz sighs before continuing. "At this point, Azura had already been sent on an enchanted quest. *She shows King her book* Where's my quest-granting wizard?" Victor seems to deadpan at this. "Sorry to break it to you Luz, but nobody dresses that well." I tell her and Victor stands. "Besides this is the real world. It's full of nothing but disappointment." He finishes like he's talking from experience and picks up the bag.
Luz stands and follows him. "This has been a rough day." We walk down a alley to our last destination for the day. "Lets just deliver this last package and go home." I put a comforting hand on her shoulder as we approach the end of the alley. "La naiba?" We hear Victor state in front of us and we look over his shoulder to see what has him so stunned.
On the other end of the alley we see a majestic castle and Victor seems to check his pockets for something, once he seems satisfied he follows Luz up to the entrance. When did she walk past us? Luz rings the doorbell and the doors open on their own. "Big houses always belong to big wack-jobs. let's kick the package inside and get out of here." King states hiding behind Victor's legs.
"I've broken into enough places to confirm that." Victor says but Luz enters the building like she didn't hear them. "Luz, don't go in there." I tell her following her inside. "Hello?" Luz calls out and I facepalm. "Hey wait." King calls out as the boys follow us. "I'm delivering a package from miss Eda the Owl Lady." Luz exclaims and the whole room lights up. I take Victors hand in mine feeling slightly nervous but he doesn't seem to notice. In fact he looks like he's looking around like he's expecting something to jump out at us. "I don't like this." He states in a serous tone.
A wizard shows up and I feel Victor's hand tighten around mine. He seems to go on alert like he sees something we don't. "Today just got good." Luz states in a joyful tone and I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. "Magical wizard!" Luz happily exclaims while King counters. "Weird old man in jim-jams."
"More like a fake." I hear Victor mumble under his breath and grow suspicious but keep quiet. "I was in my oscillarium, reading the stars. And who might you be, with eyes full of curiosity, and distain?" The wizard asks looking at Luz first then at Victor, but I swear that he looks afraid for a second. Before Luz can answer Victor cuts in. "We're just delivering a package from Eda the owl lady. And now that we have, *Throws a bottle at the wizard and he catches it just barely* we will be on our way."
As Victor turns to leave he grabs Luz by the collar but she wriggles out of his grip. "Fine but this will only lead you to trouble." He tells Luz and I follow him. Once outside I decide to ask him what's wrong. "What's up?" He looks to me before letting out a sigh. "He's setting up a trap for Luz and I'm going to ambush him when he springs it. I didn't even need to hear her response to know that she want's to fall into the fantasy she has built for herself. The only way to tear it down is if I let her fall into the trap then shatter it forcing her to see the harsh reality before her."
"Is that why you called the wizard a fake?" I ask and he looks at me surprised. "You have good hearing but no. I saw something hiding in the shadows. When you are born and raised in the darkness you tend to see through the illusion of the light and into the truth that hides in its shadow." He states and I become confused. Its clear he's hinting at something but I cant for the life of me figure out what it is. I decide to let things play out and just hug his arm while laying my head on his shoulder. He blushes but seems to like it. He brings his hand to my head and runs his fingers through my hair relaxing me in the process. 'This is nice.' I think to myself before Luz comes running out of the castle. "Good your done, let's go home." Victor states and walks back but he doesn't let me go.
Once we're back home Luz is packing her bag and Victor is lying on his hammock twirling a knife with his fingers while I'm lying next to him cuddling into his side, he protested at first but gave in when I wouldn't take no for an answer. Luz spouts some nonsense but I'm completely focused on Frosty. I thought of the nickname because of his hair and last name but it seems that his personality suits it better. He can be just as cold as the name suggests, I'm not going to lie I find it strangely attractive.
Mom then walks in hearing Luz with an severed arm in hand. "Oh, you talking about bad girls? Wait, what's going on?" Mom asks looking at me and Victor causing him to go stiff. I place my hand on his chest and he relaxes but only a little. "I wanted some cuddles and Victors hammock was perfect for it. So I... Strong-armed him with my charms into doing it. But its Luz you should be worried about." Me and Victor climb out of the hammock as I say the last sentence.
Mom gives me a smug knowing look but plays along. "Alright why?" She asks looking at Luz. Victor answers this one while throwing the bag of snails from the customers at her which she catches. "Your wizard client told Luz she was a chosen one to reclaim some celestial staff and even gave her a map. He was obviously full of rahat." I look to him confused and he translates. "Full of shit." Mom bursts out laughing and Luz hides her face in embarrassment.
"Let me see this map." Mom asks once she stops and Luz complies. "You know this is fake right." She states handing it back to her. "What?!" Luz exclaims and mom has a sympathetic look. "Look kid if there was a celestial staff on the island I would have stolen it years ago. Besides a few more months and you won't like such a mark." Luz looks a little dejected and asks that we leave her be for a moment.
We all leave and Victor stays by the door as I follow a laughing King and Eda down the stairs. King jumps onto the couch and I sit on the armrest next to him. "Finally! All that mean-spirited laughter made me sleepy." Mom however seems to be thinking about something. "Eva, your new boyfriend said that wizard was one of my clients." I blush at this but respond anyway. "One: not my boyfriend... Yet. And two: yes." She raises an eyebrow but continues. "I don't know him that well *Sits down on couch hard enough for King to lift into the air for a second* And I don't trust this itch he's scratching in the human girl."
I look at mom with concern and remember something Victor said. "Victor did say that he was setting a trap up for Luz, but I don't know what he means exactly." Mom looks at me thoughtfully but then gets her 'worried mama owl' look as she looks up at the stairs. She gets up and I follow her up the stairs, but we don't see Victor outside the door. Mom opens the door but its empty. no sign of either Luz or Victor. The only thing we do see is an open window. "Aw nuts."
Mom goes up to the window and I follow. "Hooty, where'd they go?" Hooty comes up to mom spouting some nonsense about a riddle but I punch the wall leaving a few cracks. "OW! Ok, ok. She went into the forest towards Bonesborough but I have no Idea where he went it's like he disappeared into thin air. Sheesh!" He retracts back into the door. "Victor definably went after her. He seems to be really good at keeping a low profile." I state and mom nods. "Agreed but we should head to the wizards house to follow them." I nod in response to her words and head to town grabbing King on the way.
Some time later we're in the alley leading to the castle. "This is were we met the wizard. Victor was very suspicious of him the whole time we were there. Like he saw something the rest of us couldn't." I state before walking through the curtain separating us from the castle's view. Once we're through the whole place is run down and in ruins. "It wasn't like this last time." Mom looks even more worried but then I remember Victor's words. "See through the illusion of the light and into the truth that hides in its shadow. So that's what he meant." Mom looks even more worried now. "I don't like this."
She walks into the building only to find more copy's of Luz's map with glowing writing on them. "I really don't like this." Mom walks back out and we follow, she jumps onto Owlbert and gestures for us to get on which we do. We follow the map and come across a ruined town. "She was here." King suddenly states and we dismount the staff. "Are you sure she came through here?" Mom asks and King does some sniffing around.
King looks up at us but he seems slightly confused. "Cant mistake her smell. Like lemons and young naive, confidence. But... it smells like something is following her like..." he seems to struggle to come up with the right words and I remember what Victor smelled like when I was cuddled up to him. "Like a frozen breeze and lavenders." I state and King nods confused. "It's what Victor smelled like when we cuddled." I shyly respond and Mom has a smug smile but drops it when she notices something.
She walks up to the fountain and see some kind of cat puppet. "Hey! Wake up you. What have you done with Luz? What's your endgame?" Mom asks shaking the puppet. "To find your pupil and still your wrath, look ahead and follow the path." It states before it seems to shrivel up until it turns to dust. "I hate it when someone talks in ryme." I state as mom stands and King freaks out.
Mom sighs before speaking. "Looks like Victor was spot on about the trap. Not surprising. They want me to follow Luz." King then looks to mom asking the obvious question. "So what do we do?" Mom hums thinking about it before giving me a knowing look and I nod. "Victor's there but his shoulder hasn't fully healed yet so we should hurry and give him some backup." I state before we get on mom's staff and fly on.
After a few seconds of flying mom tells us who we're up against. "I know this guy. He's no wizard. He's what you'd call a puppeteer, a demon who specializes in scamming and manipulating people. And Victor saw right through him. He's trying to use Luz to get to me." I choose to ask her what the plan is. "So how do we deal with him once we get there because I don't know how long Victor can hold him off on his own in his condition." Mom dawns a frustrated look before responding. "Not entirely sure but we should hurry well improvise as we go." I nod at this and Mom tells Owlbert to go faster and he complies.
Once we reach the end of the trail we see Luz restrained and Victor on his knees with him holding his wounded shoulder and a black eye. "Adegast!" Mom calls out getting the demons attention and he turns to us and we see that one of his eyes has been cut out most likely by Victor with his knife.
"Eda, I have you now." he says in a raspy voice as we land and he uses his puppets to restrain us in the air. Mom then responds. "That's right you have me. Now release Luz." Her voice sounds with concern she cant help but be a mama owl no matter how hard she tries to hide it. "Oh she can leave if she wants to. But I sense that she wants a real fantasy." Adegast then blows a cloud of smoke enveloping Luz. However before anyone can say anything more laughter can be heard but it doesn't just sound amused it almost sounds sinister.
Victor POV
I cant help but laugh at this demon. I grab hold of the bicep of my left arm in a firm grip and relocate my shoulder like I've done countless times before without even flinching. the demon seems to get a little scared once it sees me stand like he didn't just kick the crap out me. "My mother could hit harder that that." I state giving the demon a amused glare and it backs off a few steps in fear. I pull a combat knife out from the back of my shirt perfectly hidden by my hoody. I hold it in a reverse grip ready to strike.
Luz runs out of the smoke cloud and drops to her knees it looks like she came to some sense of reality, now time to tear into this oversized piece of calamari. I run forward but the demon sends one of it's puppets at me. I cut the puppet's sword in half with a swing to the left and then stab forward to its head impaling it. The puppet disappears in a puf of smoke and everyone else is freed from the demons hold as it exclaims in pain. Looks like every puppet I kill hurts it.
I proceed to hack and slash at each puppet in my way to the demon once I get close enough I throw my knife into the air and use one of the puppets as a springboard and perform a front flip above the demon. But as I reach the top so does my knife as it comes down and I perform and spinning axe kick hitting the knife's pommel and use my psionic power to make sure it hits its' target between the eyes, discreetly of course. The demon screams in pain as it falls dead and then shrinks. looks like it was using magic to disguise itself as a bigger monster too bad I'm the bigger one both literally and figuratively.
Eva runs up to me and hugs me in a tight embrace. "Are you alright, here let me." She then proceeds to draw a spell circle and heals my wounds. I even feel the bone in my shoulder slightly shift back into place, I'm still going to have to keep my arm in a sling for a while maybe a week at most with the magic healing so not too long at least. "There you should be good now. But no using your left arm for a week." Eva states confirming my suspicions as she caresses my face and I notice that my black eye has been completely healed.
"Well, that's the last time I take an outside referral." We hear Eda state as she walks up to us with my combat knife in hand then eats the demon. "Oh sorry did you want some of that?" She asks and I shake my head and take my knife back and do a quick swipe downwards in the air to get the blood off before sheaving it. "I'd like to get back home and and sleep this days exhaustion off." I state and Luz then hugs my side before letting go and looking off to the side. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. You were right about this only leading to trouble." I place my hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"No need to worry. Your at least a bit wiser now. And before you ask how I knew. I have seen this type of scenario play out enough times to see the trap in an instant." I tell her and she gives me an apreciative smile. "Hey how about I show you guys something." Eda says and takes us on a trip above the boiling isles showing us an incredible view of the the island. I don't listen to what she says to luz as Eva is sitting on my lap and I'm enjoying her being close to me. I think I might be falling for this girl. But I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do about this. Guess I'll just do what comes naturally and see where to go from there.
Once we are back at the Owl House Eva takes me to her room and gives me a thorough check up. I don't argue as I'm too tired but also because I want to stay close to her for a bit longer. I'm honestly surprised of how much I let my guard down around everyone in this house. Especially Eva.
She gives me a proper sling for my arm and then kisses my cheek causing me to freeze. "I'm sorry I just..." I give her one back and she blushes red as a tomato and I give her a warm smile. "There now we're even. Goodnight beautiful." I tell her as I walk out of the room but not before giving her a wink at the last word. Once I close the door however I clench the part of my chest over my heart trying to calm down. "I cant believe we just did that. Holy crap my heart is pounding." I look to my left once I hear someone clear their throat and go pale at the site of Eda giving me a death glare.
Before she can do anything however we hear Eva squeal in delight. "I cant believe he kissed me back on the cheek. Best. Night. Ever. Hahahahaha." I look to Eda in dread but she has a smug smile and turns around to her room. I decide to take a cold shower before bed. That night I would dream of Eva with a stupid grin on my face all night.
That's all for today. BloodMoon out.