Spellbound & Hellhounds, page 10
part #1 of Coven Chronicles Series
Vanessa sneakily inched her face close to the stone corner of the building and looked down the long, dismal alleyway. She wasn’t at all surprised when she found that Leslie was, in fact, trying to fool some passerby into buying some of his busted goods. She sighed and rolled her eyes, getting ready to rush off to save the day when the attire the woman that Mr. Templeton was trying to con made the Hunter give pause.
Upon closer inspection, Vanessa realized that the female had curly light brown hair that glistened with a golden hue in the gloomy sunlight that the early day had to offer. She had a black face mask hiding most of her feminine features and blocking most of the winter chill, but it was the silver Coven insignia that caught Vanessa’s attention and made her lips twitch in a devious smile.
Turning on heel, she resumed her post with the others as Leon tried to gain a peek at what was going on around the corner. “Is that imp up to no good?” he asked.
“Yeah, but he won’t be for long. Seems he picked a Coven member to try and sell to this time.”
Leon snorted and shook his head. “That little devil can’t stay out of trouble to save his life.”
Bobo poked his head out the door sniffing the air and fluttered his eyes at the delicious scent that he was taking in.
“Does the coffee smell that good, Bobo?” Vanessa asked in a half-tease.
“Not half as good as that crispy batwing spaghetti that I smell cooking.” He looked down at Vanessa as she tried to squeeze by him. “Was Leslie there? Oh, I do so adore his mother. Perhaps we could pop in for a moment. She’s always fond of feeding anyone that comes her way.”
“He won’t be there for long.” Vanessa informed and then instantly her mind went back to the time that Ma made bumpy toad lasagna and had offered her and Bobo a plate. Bobo was in heaven, while she was trying her best to find the courage to swallow the first, and only, bite that she had taken of her meal.
She felt her face pale, and her hand wrapped around Bobo’s wine-red tie and tugged hard enough that the ogre followed the tiny hand that had caught him off guard. Their eyes locked, and Vanessa’s voice dropped into a dark whisper, “Never mention eating there again.” She released the tie and had a chipper tone as she motioned for everyone else to hurry up. “Come on,” she announced like the incident had never taken place.
Bobo cleared his throat and smoothed out the wrinkles in his tie. “That was a touch unnecessary.”
“Awww… let momma help,” Lyx commented as she started to fuss with the tie.
For a moment, Bobo was so baffled by his owner’s actions that he let the demoness carry on for a moment or two before slapping her hands in rapid succession as he whisper-yelled, “We are in public woman. Restrain yourself!” and then huffed as he stormed toward the counter inside the Grim Bean. Lyx giggled and skipped happily along to catch up with everyone.
Inside the Grim Bean, there was the usual long lines and idle chatter. People sat all around drinking coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, and iced drinks or indulging in the delightful muffins and scones that the shop had to offer while browsing things on their crystal balls or chatting with friends. A few read the newspaper or books while some scribbled in art pads or wrote vigorously inside of notebooks between longing gazes out the large windows that lined the front of the barista.
Up at the front, Leon and Vanessa bickered back and forth over how much Vanessa could and could not order. She seemed fully prepared to eat and drink her weight in what the Grim Bean had to offer, and Leon would not have it – and neither would his coin satchel. Bobo scanned his options while playing with the rims of his glasses, and Lyx was too focused on the ogre to take note of anything on the menu.
Two, floppy, olive ears with black, jagged stripes, bounced behind the counter as the sound of bare feet slapped the tiles underfoot. When the bumpy skinned ears stopped at the register, a gremlin climbed up a step ladder and stood on top of the counter, locking its dingy gold eyes with the next person in line and waved them forward with a series of nonsensical guttural sounds that made up the gremlin’s speech. Knotted fingers with sharp, shiny black claws tapped away at the register with each person that stepped up. Meanwhile, at the side of the gremlin, there was another writing down names on cups with a permanent black marker. The problem with gremlins is that they understand you … and that is about it. Gremlic is incredibly hard to learn as well, and rarely will you find the most gifted learner trying to get a grasp on it past a few words before they give up. Imps typically run gremlin owned establishments. A sort of language barrier manager. They make sure that everyone understands one another. Why imps? Because imps can speak all languages. Having the gift of tongues came in handy with these money hoarders. Yet, people have become very aware of the body language of the creatures, and the managers aren’t needed all the time.
Before they knew it, the gremlin running the cash register was dinging the bell resting on the counter with its large floppy foot relentlessly and motioning with urgency for the group to come forward while the gremlin with the marker threw various sized cups all over the counter and climbed up to stack them all while uncapping the trusty writing utensil.
“Radda ratar a?” The gremlin questioned in its complex language and tilted its head while waiting for them to reply.
“Excuse me,” a male said while scooting between Vanessa and the counter.
“Ratta. Radda. Rad rad radda ra,” the gremlin snipped and pointed to the back of the line.
“No, I will not go to the back of the line. You messed up my order. This is cow milk. Gross. I ordered unicorn milk. And this is Leprechaun Brew when I specifically asked for Banshee Blend. Also, I asked for two shots, not one, not one and a half, but two shots of espresso. Honestly, how hard can that be?”
“Radda.” The gremlin’s response was short, and the look in the creature’s eyes seemed dulled over with boredom and lacked a sense of care toward the man’s plight.
“I am a paying customer. I demand my order be remade.”
“Baka.”
“What did you call me?”
“Rara.”
The gremlin added a forced the-customer-is-always-right smile that was accompanied with far too many pointed teeth to be genuine. It snatched the cup from the man and flopped over to the trash bin behind the counter. After stepping on the peddle to lift the lid of the wastebasket, flames two feet high and no wider than the width of the can spewed out, and the gremlin tossed the cup into the fire breathing receptacle as hellish screams and tormented cries rose and faded. The peddle was released and the fire disappeared after the lid shut tightly closed. All the workers around the front had put on black sunglasses after they heard the commotion and removed them once the messed-up order was thrown out.
The large, oversized feet of the gremlin slapped rhythmically on the coffee shop floors as it made way for a door marked in multiple signs and all of them screaming in one language or another to not enter unless an employee. It stopped just shy of the branded door and looked back to the man and then sighed before reaching for the knob. It didn’t seem pleased at all about whatever lay behind that door.
A series of sounds poured out of the room as the gremlin yelled at the workers and a series of gibberish sounding barks were returned along with assorted coffee beans flying out from the crack of the door and insane giggling followed by the head gremlin yelling at them in a sterner voice and slamming the door shut and making his way back to his post at the front.
“Radda ra ra.” The gremlin pointed to the side and the man said his thank you’s as he slipped over to the side to wait for his order to be remade.
Vanessa waited a moment or two before she ordered, making sure that there was going to be no more interruptions from anyone. After a short while she and Leon made their orders and stepped off to the side. The gremlin with the marker was poised over the side of the cup while the one at the register was ready to smash buttons to his heart’s content with Bobo’s order.
Flattening his tie and smoothing it out over the front of his button up shirt, Bobo cleared his throat and approached the cashier and made his order. “Good day, my good fellow.”
“Radda.”
“Yes, I would like a large vanilla cappuccino with a shot of espresso, one Monstrous Muffin, bran please, and two blueberry scones.” The ogre thought about his order for a second and then added, “Cow milk is fine.”
All the gremlin’s seemed to lose tension as they openly sighed with relief. Just as the gremlin holding the marker went to gain Bobo’s attention a loud crash made all those within the walls of the coffee shop turn their gaze to see what was causing the commotion. Countless beings turned just in time to see a gremlin flying with a large streamline of puffy rainbow-colored clouds seeming to force the creature to be propelled across the barista and slam into the exposed brick wall on the opposing side of the ‘Do Not Enter’ door. A wet sounding slap enveloped the coffee shop as the gremlin made impact with the barrier. Its voice was groggy and strained as it spoke gremlic, “Ra-daaaa-raaaaa—” and then fell face first to the floor, hand twitching as it held firmly a lidded jar of sparkling milk.
Bobo and the two gremlins at the front counter stared at the faceplanted creature, waiting to see it slowly lift up from the floor, and – noting that the gremlin worker was fine – resumed their exchange as though the occurrence never took place. It wasn’t strange, after all. The gentlemen before them did order unicorn milk…
The gremlin holding the marker locked eyes with Bobo and waited for a name. The large, floppy ears of the creature tweaked from one side to the next as it waited for the massive ogre to speak.
“Ah, yes. My name,” Bobo stood straight and cleared his throat before saying his full name proudly to the gremlin. “Botobolbilian.”
The gremlin nodded and then paused after squiggling a B onto the cup. Its ears twitched, and it slowly looked back up to the ogre, eyes glittering with confusion.
He bent down a bit and repeated, “Botobolbilian.”
Again, the gremlin gurgled gremlic and started to write the O and paused. Instantly, the creature’s ears drooped, and the second gremlin snipped at the first and took the marker and cup away from its co-worker and pointed to the register where the other slowly walked over looking utterly dejected.
“Rada ta?”
“It’s quite all right. The name is Botobolbilian.”
“Ra-da-ra….” This one too paused and looked to the ogre with a face of pure confusion.
This is when the poor ogre began to blush with embarrassment before he whispered, very slowly, “Bo-to-bol-bil-ian.”
Rusty yellow irises stared back at him before it muttered quickly in gremlic and scribbled Bobo onto the cup.
“No!”
The gremlin motioned for Bobo to move to the side and let the next customer in line step up. Defeated and hanging his head in shame, Bobo sulked over to Vanessa who was giggling into her hands out of sheer joy of what had transpired.
“No respect even amongst my own kind…” he muttered pathetically.
“There, there, Botobolbilian. Your name isn’t hard to say,” Lyx assured, but the ogre was too lost in self-pity to take note of the succubus trying to make him feel better.
Leon jabbed Vanessa with his elbow, and she hissed in pain while giving the Spellweaver the dirtiest look. In return, she was faced with a glare and a pointed look to her pet, and she eyed over the ogre before sighing heavily and rolling her eyes. “Hey, Botobolbilian, want to pick out a booth for us and I’ll bring everything over to the table?”
The ogre lifted his head just a smidgen and stared at his master in, what could only be described as, a look of amazement mixed with pride slowly being regained. “I …I do enjoy a good window seat.” With that, he strolled off more confidently with Lyx following close behind, her tail swishing from side to side happily.
Vanessa turned to Leon grumbling, “I’m not doing that ever again.”
Chapter 15:
Vanessa sat across from Bobo at a table near the window, while Lyx scooted her chair as close to Bobo as she could get before the ogre gave the succubus a glare filled with warning. As Lyx toyed with one of her horns and bit her index finger while eyeing over the demon that had just asserted himself, Vanessa tried to not laugh at the spectacle and stared out the window to the snow filled roads lining the edges of the river that ran through the center city.
Winds lapped at the hills of freshly fallen powder, and the skies were a deeper gray than usual. The yearly snowstorm would soon descend upon the heart of Aeristria. It seemed to be coming in faster than usual this year. The harsh elements would surely make the search for the hellhounds more difficult for the Coven, even if they were Summoner status. This single thought unnerved Vanessa, and it showed on her face as her brow bent in deep thought, and her eyes mindlessly followed the spiraling snow that zipped through the wintry blanketed city.
“Here’s your coffee…” Leon spoke, breaking Vanessa’s train of thought as he put her order in front of her and motioned at her breakfast. “Don’t say I didn’t do anything for you.” With that, he turned on heel and headed for the exit while cupping his own cup close to his chest as if it were a precious treasure.
Doing a double take from the spread of her sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit to Leon rushing for the exit, Vanessa looked confused and called out to him, “Hey, where are you going?”
He waved at her without looking and called back, “I was promised a bed and silence.” Then stepped out into the snow.
The first gust of wind caught the Spellweaver off guard after opening the door, and he almost fell over but clung to the cup as though it were his lifeline, not spilling a drop of it as he muscled through the icy gales and marched on in the direction of the apartment. Vanessa hummed to herself for a moment as she watched Leon fade from sight.
Bobo stirred his coffee and then pointed at Vanessa aggressively, “Stop that.”
“What?” she snipped defensively.
“You know precisely what I’m talking about.”
Lyx blinked, “What is she doing?”
“Don’t encourage her,” Bobo pleaded under his breath.
“Is she thinking about something?”
“I was just thinking that the whole hellhound matter won’t be solved if the Coven just sits on their butts waiting, and the blizzard is going to hit us any day now. Someone should take a deeper look into the academy.” Vanessa took a victorious sip from her cup after motor-mouthing her thoughts to Lyx.
“I told you not to encourage her,” he sighed.
“I … I’m so confused,” Lyx drooped her shoulders and sunk down in her seat a bit.
“And you,” Bobo started while turning a heated stare at Vanessa, “you’ll not step a single, troublemaking foot into the academy or, so help me, I’ll buzz Leon on a crystal ball so fast that you’ll wish that you were being punished by the blue cloaks themselves.”
Vanessa looked like she had been physically slapped and went stiff for a moment, blinking rapidly as her mind tried to catch up to what had just transpired. Quickly, the young girl regained her composure and retorted with, “I wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.”
“Mhmmm…” Bobo sounded unbelieving.
“I was going to suggest that we dig up some information on just what exactly is going on in the academy’s basement.”
“Who would have information like that?” Lyx asked.
“Oh, I know a place that’s just full of gossip.”
Everyone thought of it, without a word, the one place that was full of more gossip and dirty secrets that no one should even know about was Clipped by Magic, the local beauty shop. Bobo groaned displeased. “By the goddess. Must we endure that place today?”
“Oh, come on, it’s just a little intel gathering,” Vanessa tried to convince him with an innocent smile and batting her lashes.
“You are the furthest thing from innocence, Vanessa, so you can stop with the little charade.”
“I thought it was rather adorable. Besides, it’ll keep her away from the academy,” Lyx stated plainly.
Rolling his eyes, Bobo sighed deeply once again and lifted one of his scones. “Fine. But let me at least enjoy fifteen minutes of coffee filled peace while I pretend that I’m not tortured daily with being your pet…”
“That was harsh,” Vanessa grumbled and turned her face to hide the slight pout.
“Booboo, that was pretty mean,” Lyx whispered.
“I refuse to feel bad for my comment. She gets into trouble on a daily basis, and I’d enjoy a single day where it isn’t filled with her crazy antics.”
“She’s at least trying to follow the rules,” Lyx whispered in a peppery tone.
Bobo peeked over to Lyx, looked to Vanessa, and then to his scone, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, though.” He stuffed the treat into his mouth before he said anything else he’d regret and before anyone could question him. Vanessa heard him, but acted like she hadn’t, and Lyx was happy that Bobo wasn’t being a complete grouch anymore.
The world, for fifteen minutes, was blissfully bland, and Bobo couldn’t have been happier.
Chapter 16:
Bobo was rubbing his chin and cheeks as he silently gauged whether he should have a nice, relaxing shave while they were in the shop. After all he had endured this week, he thought that he was in line for a good bit of pampering. A day where he had a quiet breakfast at the Grim Bean and a shave at Clipped by Magic was as close to heaven as a demon of his stature could get. Besides, Vanessa was going to be gathering information. She was having her fun, why shouldn’t he have his?
The beauty shop was the one stop shop for any demon, human, or mythical creature, and was rated the number one salon in Aeristria one hundred and fifty years in a row. Need your fangs sharpened, tail waxed, horns polished, hair styled, or claws clipped? Clipped by Magic was the best place to go and well worth the coin spent to get it all done. What was better than talking mirrors that would tell you how fabulous you looked with your new appearance? It was run by pixies.
