Blinking, the Elkfen glanced down at his chest. His hand rubbed the spot. “What was that?” Ded asked.
Bel’s lips parted, his mouth slowly opening. “I- I don’t know. It wasn’t you?”
“Of course not,” Ded lied, the first and only fib he’d ever told. It came so easily to him it startled him. He knew he mustn’t lie, it was one of the tenants of being on The Team, but it was like he couldn't help himself. How could he admit this strange feeling to his friend? It had just... happened. And now that he’d told the lie, he didn’t want to admit this slight in him to anyone else. He’d keep it and it would be his.
One more glance at the house and he felt that rumble wanting to start up in his chest again. What would she taste like? Feel like? Would her skin be as soft as her silky, long looking head fur? The impure thoughts assailed him, one after the other, until his feet were moving, taking him towards her back door.
A yank on his arm brought him to. Glancing to his left, he peered down at the Elf at his side and it was like sense came back to him. The tiny claws digging into his arm kept him grounded.
“Not yet, you fool,” Bels hissed. “Not until she falls asleep!”
What did she wear sleeping? Ack. Ded shook his head. Something was wrong with him. “Why do we have to wait until she’s sleeping?” And before he could stop himself, “What if she sleeps without her sleep coverings?”
Bels blinked. “It would certainly make it easier to detract her from running once we have her,” Bels mumbled uncertainly under his breath. The Elf eyed Ded funny. “You’re sure you’re alright?”
“I said I was, didn’t I?” Ded snapped, scowling down at him.
Bels glanced away under Ded’s intense regard. “Right,” he clipped out, pretending to buff his claws on his jolly vest. “Just fine.”
“Exactly,” the Elkfen muttered, shuffling away from him a ways so he couldn’t see the funny reaction he was having to thinking certain things about the curvy Snowmaiden. Ded liked curves, he decided, once more eyeing the strange bench stool, defecating device. What would she look like, were she to sit on it, he wondered. Scrubbing a hand down his face, he was tempted to dump his bum into the snow and scoop the icy cold slush down over his groin. Ded groaned internally. A slither of fear made its way up his spine as he took note of a few things, a few very strange and alarming things.
He was feeling out of sorts, a sudden onset. Was that not one of the symptoms of the sickness?
No. Not possible. He wasn’t a naughty Elkfen. He was good. His thoughts were fleetingly curious, he’d admit, but he was no different than any other. This was all nature. He was fine. “I’m fine,” he whispered, then plopped his bottom down and began scooping up snow by the arm-swipes-full to dump it onto the thickening of his shaft.
Chapter 7
Lumi
I’d fallen asleep at some point, the player eventually finishing and the laptop screen timing out. I had no idea what time it was, how long I’d been sleeping, but I was certain of one thing as I began to stir and a startled gasp issued too close for comfort: I was not alone.
With my purse near my bags across the room, my options for self-defense were limited. My body tensed, readying for what was to come next, though my face remained lax, as if I was still asleep.
A clank sounded. “Ow. Blasted- What are you doing just standing over her, Ded? Stop staring at her like a Santa sized chocolate and douse her?!”
Douse me? Like hell! Popping up, grabbing my laptop to swing it at the closest warm body, I hit the tall figure in shadow first.
A shocked shout rent the air and the tall shadow fell. Sparkles flew from his hand, dusting the air. They shot up to come dancing down, a dazzling display of crackling silver and gold. The tall one stumbled where he stood. His antler strapped head began to go wonky, like that dust was causing confusion. Drugs. Some kind of fast acting drugs. He’d just doused himself with them. Oh god, they’d snuck in here to drug me! Ded, the one Bels was yipping and yapping instructions at him, from the corner of the kitchen, to douse me already, tumbled to his ass. Grabbing up the table tray, lifting it high by one of its legs, I swung it at Ded’s head as he picked himself up off the floor, then Bels’ short form.
Ded yelped and then slumped, toppling to the ground like a felled oak. The guy was freaking tall. Bels went flying back, slamming into the cupboards with a screech. With his fall, came the stench of cinnamon and sugar. It came out of him like a visible fart cloud reeking of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I’d never have believed it. Did he swallow cinnamon pills by the handful? What the hell?!
Before I could give that another thought I was moving. Walking right over Ded’s prone form, wondering if he’d decided to croak and be fitting of his name, I had the zipper on my purse open, hand on my gun, grabbing it out to aim, when a strange noise rent the air and I felt something, or more aptly, someone, leap onto my back.
Clawed fingers tore at my hoodie as I thrashed and the bastard clinger-on fought. Dropping forward, sending him flying over me, his claws raking down my back with the action, I screamed and lifted my hands to shoot as he dropped to his scrawny ass.
It was dark in the room, and he was fast—scarily inhumanly so. I got one shot off, aimed right for his pale, freckled, bright red haired head, but then it was like he was gone. My gaze swung around wildly, but then I spun around and scrambled for the back door.
I was out of the back door and rushing through the snow with double layered socks on, sweat pants, and my favorite hoodie, all tore up from the Christmas gremlin from hell, faster than I was currently capable of thinking.
My hands shook, the gun clutched tightly in my swiftly numbing grip felt unnaturally heavy. I was just past the sex sofa when something hit from my side. A flash of tiny, pointed teeth filled my field of vision as a weight settled on me. There was the spark of gold and silver, the strange scent of pumpkin pie on the air. One second I was coughing, gagging, then I was slumping, dumping to my side to slide down into the snow.
A glaring Elf came into view then, staring down at me like he wanted to beat me with the gun that fell from my limp grasp. I was sleepy, and quickly getting sleepier by the second.
“Bels?” The bellow across the back lawn had my heart racing, even as everything else slowed.
“No,” I garbled out, the words unintelligible.
“Out here! Got her! The dust has got the same effect on her as us, apparently,” Bels murmured with disapproval. “That’s not normal.” Shaking his head, he started to wander back towards the house.
Bleary eyed and blinking, a soft whimper left me as Ded came into view. If he was upset I’d doused him, he wasn’t showing it. Kneeling down next to me, he adjusted my limp form into a more comfortable looking position. His hands shook as our skin met. A breath left him on a soft gasp. Our eyes met as my lids threatened to droop.
“Lumi,” he murmured, like we were intimate acquaintances. Leaning in, pausing to glance up towards the house, he gave my hair a deep sniff. A strange rattling started in his chest but then he shook his head, then himself, and it abruptly shut off. “Lumi,” he murmured again, a weird, soft smile tilting his lips. “It means snow,” he whispered, reaching a shaking finger out to run it through my hair.