Page 18 of Leviathan's Song
He chuckled. “I’ll introduce you when he gets back. He’s basically running on instinct right now, so social interactions are a little beyond him.” His eyes sparkled with his amusement, and his general comfort with the situation put me a little more at ease.
It finally dawned on me that we were alone together in his bedroom, and I felt myself blush. Watching him at ease in his own space, and feeling the warmth of his enchantments, especially from his laughter, left me with a delicious, happy feeling.
Levi cleared his throat and pushed away from his bed. “Everything’s in the chest in there,” he said, gesturing to a small, tidy walk-in closet.
Right. The artifacts.
I took a cleansing breath and tried to clear my mind as I approached and knelt at the chest he had indicated. I didn’t usually go digging through people’s closets when I scouted for items for the shop. Normally, I’d be poking through a warehouse or another store, but sometimes people brought me old relics they wanted to sell.
The clasp on the chest was a little stiff as if it wasn’t used regularly, and the hinges creaked as I opened it. A light flicked on overhead, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Levi back up and lean against the wall outside of his closet. He stuffed his thumbs in his back pockets, looking oddly uncomfortable. He always seemed so at ease in himself.
I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Usually, people were talking up whatever items they were presenting me with, extolling all of their virtues and exaggerating what they were capable of, if not outright lying about their abilities. He said nothing, just raised a hand and picked at his thumbnail.
I turned back to the objects in the chest and began pulling them out carefully, examining them one at a time before laying them on the carpet beside me and moving on to the next one. I felt all kinds of magic as I moved my hands over them—wells, amplifiers, echoes—but most of the objects were geared toward a siren. There was a broken necklace, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, that had something to do with water breathing and a coral scepter that magnified only enchantments.
I realized I’d been absorbed for a while when my legs began to ache from kneeling on them. I stood with a groan and turned to find Levi sitting at his desk, working on a piece of his music. I carried the coral scepter in my hands as I approached him.
“Why do you want to get rid of these?” I asked. “It seems like some of them are perfectly geared to your magic.”
He frowned as he glanced at the object in my hands, and when he raised his eyes to mine, they looked a little guarded. “They remind me of someone I don’t like to think about,” he said as he went back to writing. His magic held no lure now, and instead, I picked up a slight rebuff.
“Mm.” I glanced down at the scepter and then at the chest in the closet, unable to come up with an appropriate response. “How much would you want for them?” I asked, expecting to haggle and pick and choose which objects would sell the best in my shop.
“Whatever you think is appropriate is fine,” he replied.
I blinked and looked back at the chest, considering for a moment. “Do you want drahk or dollars?” I asked. Drahk was the currency we used in our area of the Boundlands.
“Either one is fine, but if you don’t care either way, I’ll take drahk.” So, he lived in the Void, but preferred payment in drahk. My curiosity was growing by the minute, but I kept it under wraps. This was clearly a touchy topic for him.
“How about three thousand drahk for the lot?” It was a more-than-generous offer. Not everything he had was immediately sellable, and a few items would have to be deconstructed and repurposed, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving him with items that clearly caused him pain. My heart was too soft for that.
His jaw dropped a little as his eyes shot to mine. “That can’t be right. I was expecting a few hundred drahk at most.” He was a little low. They were worth more than that.
“Don’t worry, I’ll still make money on them,” I lied. I might break even at best. I knew from our first interaction that he needed money, and money was something I didn’t have to worry about. I didn’t like the way his countenance changed in regard to the artifacts, so if I could remove this burden from him and help him a bit with his bills at the same time, so much the better.
His brows pulled down a little in confusion, but the relief on his face was evident. “Oh, okay. If you’re sure.” He set his pencil down. “I can find some paper or bubble wrap and a box for them. I think Grim just got a package yesterday,” he said, straightening and heading for the door.
I realized I could feel Grim’s magic again, but the level of it was so much lower that, absorbed in going through the artifacts, I hadn’t noticed him come back. When Levi returned with a box, I carefully wrapped each item and set it inside. Then I closed up the box and followed Levi as he carried it into the living room.
“Let’s do Super Smash. I get Princess Peach this time,” Jordan said from the couch as we entered. He was sprawled on one end with a console controller in his hands, and Grim sat forward on the other end with his elbows on his knees as he navigated a character selection screen on the TV.
He pressed a button to make his selection, causing Jordan to curse at him. “You can’t always take Peach, you selfish... Fine. I’ll take Kirby.” Jordan selected a character that looked like a wad of pink bubble gum, and they loaded their characters into a cutesy cartoon arena where they proceeded to beat the absolute stuffing out of each other.
I noticed, as I peeked around Levi’s back, that Grim’s eyes were different now, with normal, pale-blue irises instead of the solid white they had been earlier. He wore a white short-sleeved button-up shirt and blue jeans. His shadow cloak was nowhere to be found. His magic had the same general feel—a dark abyss and general feelings of doom—but at a much lower level.
Once I took a good look at Jordan, I saw he was of average height, with a trim build, and he had black hair with dark eyes. He had the hallmark pale skin of a vampire and a sharp jawline, but overall, he still somehow managed to appear boyish and young. He was probably about my age, or at least had been when he was turned. My eyes flitted back to Grim. It was hard to tell exactly how old he was, but he was definitely youngish. If Levi had gone to school with him, he was probably about our age too.
Jordan appeared to be losing their game, since he kept up a string of curses that would have left my mother apoplectic. He cut off abruptly when Levi bent to set the box down and he noticed I was huddled behind him.
“Oh, shhh—oot,” he said. “Sorry.”
I gave him a small smile.
“Yeah, watch your mouth, Fangs.” Levi straightened and lightly tapped the back of Jordan’s head with the back of his hand.
“Shut up about my fangs.” Jordan ducked in an exaggerated movement and froze. “Sorry, Miss.” I realized that, layered underneath the blood magic he produced as part of his vampirism, there was something that reminded me of crackling embers and woodsmoke.Could he create fire?
I tried to swallow my shyness as Levi introduced me to his housemates officially. “She runs a charm shop down the street,” he said, placing his hand below my elbow. I ducked my head a little as Grim made eye contact and nodded in greeting. His eyes dropped to where Levi’s hand rested on my arm. I felt my neck heat.
