Spellbound & Hellhounds, page 12
part #1 of Coven Chronicles Series
Boisterous laughter roared from the tables where the trolls and centaurs sat as Vanessa took a lonely seat at the bar. Tasgall walked by with two enormous, frothing mugs in each hand and shot a comment her way without really taking a look at who was in the seat. “Be with you in a minute.” She paused in mid-stride and shifted her gaze over to Vanessa. “Mark the stars, it’s you! Dang girl, where have you been?” She turned her attention back to the mugs and twitched her lips. “Hold that thought, let me serve them, and I’ll be right back.”
Vanessa laughed and motioned for Tasgall to go ahead. “I’ll be here.”
Tally score: Laughing – 1, expected non-laughter – 0.
A few moments passed while Tasgall made customers happy, so she could gab with Vanessa uninterrupted, or as much as one could be while running such a busy place. However, Me’Glach and O’Glach could manage for a short while without the bartending rogue.
With no warning, the short in stature, ginger headed Tasgall leapt in front of Vanessa and rested her chin in her hands. “Okay, let’s have it.”
She smiled and stifled a light-hearted laugh. Double dip a candlestick. … Tally score: Laughing – 2, expected non-laughter – 0.
A deep sigh escaped Vanessa, and that was when she realized that this whole thing was weighing a lot heavier on her than she knew. “I’ve been dealing with one hell of a case, Tasgall.”
“I could tell. You sighed like a centaur galloped over your puppy.”
“Sort of feels like it.” She looked around and then back to her. “I need the special.”
Tasgall’s eyes widened greatly and then nodded. “I got just what you need.” She turned to gather a pinch of dust to make the spell while Vanessa followed the line of the bar over to Lyx, who was practically trying to sit in Bobo’s lap. Bobo, who was being served by Me’Glach as he attempted to keep the temptress at bay, floundered about with where to put his hands on the demoness in order to remove her from his person.
A set of wings that looked like they had been touched by the fingers of fall fluttered as the pixie they belonged to put a large drink on the bar top in front of the ogre. Wild brown curls covered her naked upper body, and her leaf skirt brushed the bottom of her ankles as she hoovered over the cup and pushed it over to him. Bobo reached out to grab the large tankard with some foaming drink inside. Vanessa hoped that it wasn’t alcohol…
Just then her thought process was broken when Tasgall returned with the dust and threw up a quick privacy spell. “Privacy I seek; privacy I demand, keep my words secret from the rest of the land.” Her hand hoovered in the air for a moment before falling quickly to the top of the counter, a ripple of magic growing in girth before falling with the hand in an unseen sphere barrier around her and Vanessa. “Okay, you’re all set. Spill those magic beans, Vanessa.”
She needed no further spurring, Vanessa unleashed upon Tasgall the past few days that she had endured all while Tasgall crept in closer and closer like the witch was telling a good suspense story. Finally, she explained what happened in the catacombs below the academy having forgotten that detail in her excitement. “We barely went in them, Tassie. There were tunnels for days, and the blue cloaks called us out of there, swearing that they’d put Summoners on standby to have come search them later…” She shook her head.
Tasgall made a nasally hum before she leaned in the whispered, “I have heard from all the Coven members here, even some of the Summoners that are on ‘standby,’ that not a single one has been instructed to go down there yet.”
“What?”
“Right? I thought it was nothing at first, but my dad’s been acting weird all week, too. Something isn’t right.”
“Hmmm… that’s not good at all. Plus, any day now we’ll have the blizzard hit. I’m sure the blue cloaks won’t let anyone search the rubble or the catacombs with the snow storm whirling about the city. It would be too dangerous even if we went in prepared for it.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that if they won’t do it, maybe I need to see what they are trying to hide from the rest of us.”
“I smell trouble. Better not let Leon find out or he’ll make a shackle spell for you and make sure that you never leave the apartment again.”
Vanessa sighed. “I need to get Bobo and Lyx back home and find a way to—” she grunted as Bobo landed on her without warning and hiccupped loudly.
Swaying, even while leaning against the poor girl, Bobo started to slur his outrage to her, “Get tha’ grabby handed female away from me.” He pointed a large digit back to Lyx who sat in a barstool inspecting her nails like she had no idea what was going on.
The smell of honey mead rolled off Bobo like he was the one that brewed it all day. “That reminds me, looks like you’re gonna have your hands full in a minute, so I took the liberty of paying your tab!” Tasgall grinned and threw Vanessa’s significantly lighter coin purse back to her. Probably was swiped by a pixie during the time that she was debriefing Tasgall on her week’s happenings.
“Ugh, Me’Glach,” Vanessa whined while searching what remained in her coin satchel.
“It’s not that she’s not pretty. It’s just so unbearably unsophisticated to rub her hands all over me like a common floozie,” Bobo went on to explain. “If she’d just conduct herself in a more,” he hiccupped again, “proper manner, I wouldn’t mind her company so much.”
“Okay, big guy, you’ve had enough to drink…” Vanessa said, grabbing the tankard from Bobo’s grasp as he poised his lips for another swig, only to turn up empty and blink at his hand where the cup had vanished from.
“Hey, that’s not very nice…”
Reaching into her satchel at her hip, she found her crystal ball and pulled it out. The moment she saw the clear glass waiting for her to make the call she hated the object. “I really don’t want to call him,” she admitted out loud with a sigh and then closed her eyes to think about Leon. Mid thought, Bobo used Vanessa’s shoulder to try and stand up straight, and she groaned in pain. The crystal ball hummed with power and then jolted with electric blue crackles before resuming its usual normal buzz.
“Banish a banshee…” Leon answered the call groggily and one finger was digging into his ear.
“Sorry to wake you.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if you concentrated better. The darn thing screeched so loud I thought your apartment was haunted again.” He blinked in the dark room, the illumination of the crystal ball lighting up his features, and he brought the orb close to his face to inspect what was going on in her surroundings. “Is that… Bobo?”
“Yeah. They slipped him a few when I wasn’t looking. Think you can help me?”
“Nope, you’re on your own,” Leon quipped.
“Come on!”
“I refuse to aid you in this.”
“Why not?” she snapped.
“Because you should have known better than to take your light-weight pet to the booze slipping triplets.”
“Fair enough.” For whatever reason, Vanessa went from full of pepper and sass to … accepting that she had made a dumb choice. Maybe it was all the stress, or maybe she was just too tired from all the excitement in the past twenty-four hours to fight him on the unfairness of the situation. But she threw in the towel on the argument, and it sent Leon’s head spinning.
“Whoa. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” her tone didn’t sound fine, hex, if she could see the worn-down expression he saw in his crystal ball, she would have understood why Leon stood up so quickly from the bed. She wished she wasn’t looking at the ball when he stood up, because she saw bare, well-toned muscles staring right back at her. Instantly, Vanessa went stiff and held her breath.
Leon snagged a shirt off the footboard of the bed and slipped it on while speaking into the crystal ball. “I’ll be there in a few. Stay inside. I don’t care if they try to run up the bill, I’ll pay it.”
She couldn’t protest if she wanted to because as soon as he said it, he cut the connection. The orb was dropped back into her satchel with a drawn-out sigh. Turning around in her bar stool, Vanessa came to find Bobo singing an upbeat demonic song at the top of his lungs, and he practically had the whole tavern singing along.
She felt her jaw unhinge as she eyed over where he had his feet planted. On top of one of the tavern tables! His weight had the poor wooden structure bowed heavily in the center and with each joyful bounce of the ogre – who was singing painfully off key – it threatened to give way any moment with a profound cracking sound. As the wood whined with its promise that it would snap in two, Vanessa heeded the warnings of the furniture and scrambled out of her stool to rush over to the now-turned-pop-star ogre. “Bobo, get down,” she ordered.
It was at this precise moment that her eyes noticed the first set of Coven members that had taken a seat at the bar. By the silver and golden insignia perfectly pinned upon their person, they were higher rank than her. The male with long black hair and striking eyes more so than the honey blonde haired partner that was grinning triumphantly at his side. There was a rusalka playing with her drink rather than downing it as she eyed over the two members with a knowing gaze, and the two Coven members seemed to be coming to a mutual agreement after a short argument. How long had they been there?
Double-dip a candlestick.
It dawned on her that the tavern would soon have the regular crowd of Coven members that frequented the bar after work. She bit her lower lip and tapped Bobo on his leg. “Bobo, get down now,” she begged as she began to tug at his arm aggressively. Bobo didn’t expect the tug, and even if he had he was not the graceful creature he had been before consuming his drink. He wobbled atop the table and started to stumble back, knocking into Vanessa and causing her to lose her footing and flop backwards.
Vanessa hit the ground first. Her vision saw bright bursts of white and then a darkness overshadowing her. She opened her eyes just in time to see Bobo lose his balance on the edge of the table before falling backwards and heading her way. There was a choice to be made, become Coven jelly on Tasgall’s floors or roll out of the way and live to tell the tale.
Choosing life over the death by ogre squishing, Vanessa rolled to the side a fraction of a second before Bobo slammed against the floor. The whole Tavern jumped, even the furniture and beings, before slamming back down in its proper place. Crawling over to make sure he wasn’t hurt, her heart racing from all the excitement, Vanessa was met with the goofy laughter of her pet as he lay there on his back. Instantly, she rolled her eyes at having been silly enough to worry about the blasted beast.
“I think you should just stay right there, Bobo,” Vanessa griped while tucking her legs under herself.
“If he breaks anything, I’m charging you,” Tasgall warned in song form behind the bar.
It took everything in Vanessa to not say something sassy in reply. Her mouth had gotten her in enough trouble today, after all. She sighed and tried to help the giggling ogre up off the floor. “Come on, Bobo, stand up.”
“What was that delightful drink? I think I’d rather enjoy another.”
“Oh no. No. No. No. You aren’t having anything else,” warned Vanessa.
“Booboo, look at you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this,” Lyx practically skipped over to them.
“You mean drunk?”
“He only had two honey meads,” she said with a pout.
“Two?” Vanessa exclaimed. “I only saw him with the one cup!”
“I might have snuck in another one without him noticing.” Lyx bit the tip of her thumb as she took notice of the heated glare that Vanessa tossed the succubus’s way. Vanessa didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry or scream.
There was a good chance with those nimble little buggers fluttering around, that Bobo had three drinks in total. As she did the possible math in her head, Lyx asked, “Is two bad?”
“He has the alcohol tolerance of a colo colo.” A colo colo was a feathery rat that slowly drains a person of energy and lifeforce. They, like Bobo, had no stomach for alcohol.
“Oh, dear. That is a problem.” Lyx made a loose fist and brought it to her mouth as she bit her lower lip. “I… I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to loosen him up. I thought…”
Even though she wanted to be upset, she could understand where the succubus was coming from. She didn’t approve of her methods, but she did understand, at least. “I hope I never see you try that again. It’s not right, Lyx, and you should know better…” she sighed and looked at her pet on the floor. “Come on. Don’t worry about it. He’ll blame the pixies even if you do confess. Just help me get him to a chair near the exit where I can keep him out of trouble.”
Nodding compliantly, Lyx stood up and reached down to pick up Bobo with Vanessa. “Don’t you start getting handssy again. I’ll have nun of tha’ in public, you hear me? Nun of it!” Bobo barked and then giggled to himself and closed his eyes before stifling a hiccup.
“Stay awake, Bobo. We’ll go home soon.”
“Oh, I do say. I’d very much enjoy that.”
“Gotta… help … stand…up…Booboo,” Lyx groaned as she tried to pick up Bobo. It was no use; the ogre was a bag of muscle and lead. They huffed and puffed and failed in every attempt until a set of deep voices caught the girls off guard.
“Need a hand?” A large, muscular, male centaur with deep chestnut hair in curly waves that masked a strong squared jaw asked them. The centaur’s back leg tapped at the wooden tavern floors as he watched the succubus and witch eye him over. His deep black fur of his horse body glistened in the oil lamp lighting of the tavern, and his silky night shaded tail slapped at his hip. A quiet moment passed as Vanessa tried to collect herself and catch her breath before she looked at the male centaur in his hazel eyes, only to find them gleaming back at her with the hope that she and Lyx would ask him for help.
A more feminine – but equally as deep – toned voice spoke up. “Clearly, she does, friend,” a female troll said with a light laugh. Turning her attention to Vanessa and Lyx, the troll said, “I can help you out.” Her deep forest green dreadlocks hung well past her shoulders. Her long face and sharp pointed wide nose almost devoured her beady yellow eyes. Long, clawed fingers unfurled at the two ladies as the troll extended a hand coated in her lime-colored skin and deep olive toned bumps. She wore a simple brown leather skirt that appeared to be more of a loincloth and a matching shirt that left little to the imagination. Her feet were large and bare, and they brought her closer to the passed-out ogre. When the female troll smiled at the girls, her fangs made it look more vicious than friendly.
It was clear that the centaur and troll saw an opportunity to test their might and offered to help them out. Lyx nodded while Vanessa replied for the them both, “Yes. Please. We need all the help we can get.”
Without delay, the two strangers dipped down and picked up Bobo like it was nothing and followed Vanessa as she guided them to the bench located near the exit where they plopped him down. The ogre giggled and hiccupped in a drunken slumber as he was dumped onto the seat.
“Need anything else?” The centaur asked, but his eyes were transfixed on Lyx who was so concerned with Bobo that she didn’t take note of the male’s lustful gaze.
“Give it up, Hurro,” the troll groaned and pat the centaur on the shoulder.
“Thank you for your help,” Vanessa said to them as the troll nodded and jabbed an elbow into her drinking buddy to spur him into returning to their respective table.
“I … I suppose you’re right, Felic’ma,” the centaur groaned and then forced a smile to Vanessa before sighing and trotting back with his friend.
Sitting down on the bench on the vacant side of Bobo, Vanessa settled in to wait for Leon, so they could all go home and get some much-needed rest. Lyx constantly pouted and mumbled something to Bobo that Vanessa couldn’t make out over the tavern’s usual commotion that was mounting as the sun relinquished its throne in the sky.
Each time the cowbell over the tavern door chimed, Vanessa would toss a hopeful glance over to the entrance and stand swiftly before slinking back down into her seat after realizing it was just another customer joining the growing crowd. Finally, Leon came rushing in through the front doors and scanned the bar until he spotted them off to the side.
“This looks like a big ol’ mess,” he looked at the half-awake and very much still drunk Bobo and shook his head. “Did we learn anything today?”
Lyx and Vanessa both nodded their head frantically, and he gave Lyx a glare and she shrank a bit. “Please don’t tell me you had a hand in his current state.”
The pet pinched her fingers together to show the proper measurement of her meddling and tried to give a small, believable smile. Her owner was not at all trusting the minor fib of his pet. His narrowed gaze and crossed arms solidified the lack of pleasure he was taking in the whole ordeal, and that she had aided the horrible situation. “I’m disappointed in you, Lyx.” The succubus opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t even try to apologize to me. You really need to be thinking on how to apologize to Vanessa and Bobo.” She held her breath, looked down to the ground, and nodded while playing with the tassel of her whip hanging from her belt.
Putting his hands up on his hips, he turned his somber gaze to Bobo and sighed heavily. “Got any gold dust on you? I might need a small feather spell.”
Vanessa nodded and fished around her many bags around her casting belt. “Yeah, I just bought more the other day.” After some quick thinking and slight digging, she managed to make an easy feather spell. One that wouldn’t eat up a lot of her materials on hand and would aid Leon in carrying Bobo back to the apartment without breaking his back.
She sprinkled the dust all over Bobo while concentrating on the spell and then stepped back. “He should be a great deal lighter now,” she said. “Helps when they are thinking happy thoughts, too.”
