“Jade?”
She hated the worry she heard in their voices. She didn’t want to worry them. She wanted to stop crying and eat. Apparently, her brain and her body were not communicating properly...
Chapter Thirty-One – Bogeyman
Jade wasn’t sure what Stephen did, but the voices stopped questioning her and backed away to continue at a low murmur amongst themselves. Stephen just sat down at a table with Jade clinging to him, and his voice was a soothing tenor as he whispered, “It’s okay, Jade, you’re safe now.” He was just hugging her, letting her cry it out, his voice strangely compelling.
His calming words and presence eventually took hold, and her sobs got softer until they finally went away. Exhausted, she just rested her head on his chest, taking in the scent of him, which was something she couldn’t quite place. It had a faint spiciness to it, perhaps something like clove or cinnamon. She just listened to his breathing, trying to regain her center. She felt his chest rumble as he asked softly, “Better?”
She nodded, finally slowly pushing her head away from his chest a little bit. She could feel her face was red and covered in tear streaks, and now that she was further from him, the scents she was emitting herself grew stronger. She still had her own blood and the creature’s substance sticking to her, and she could see some of it had now also rubbed off on Stephen, which made her frown. She wanted to pull it off, but knew she had no energy to do so at the moment.
Being the only one who could see her face, Stephen snickered softly as he noticed her concentrated frown. “They’re just clothes. It’s fine.” He pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere–she had no idea where. It just appeared in his hands like magic! Then he was wiping her face off like you would a little child. Smiling softly at her, he said quietly, “One of these days, I’ll introduce you to my sister and her brood. They’re like tiny whirlwinds of destruction, and they manage to make everything sticky somehow.”
She laughed softly, giving him a small, tired smile. He was trying to distract her, and she didn’t care. “I’d like that.”
He’d finished wiping her face off and smiled back at her. “Then we’ll figure out a time. I’m sure she’ll love you.” Jade nodded, and he slowly turned her towards the table where there was a bunch of food set in front of her. “Why don’t you eat something?” Stephen gently urged her.
Taking a deep breath, she gazed up at the people who were sitting quietly by, not staring at her, but holding quiet conversations and shooting covert looks her way when they thought they could get away with it. It was a smaller group than this morning, consisting only of Raphael, Jessica, Kaylee, and Eric. She smiled wanly at them, then decided she needed to eat before she could even attempt to explain what had happened.
Glad the shaking had gone away, she slowly began to eat, just listening to the gentle hum of their voices. The now-familiar tones of their voices were comforting, and she slowly started to almost inhale the food in front of her in her realization that she was starving again. When the food was gone, she put down her fork and took a deep breath, before looking up at them and saying softly, “Alright. I’m okay now.”
Eric smiled at her. Where Stephen fit the classic tall, dark, and handsome stereotype, Eric was the bookish boy next door who surprised you when you went swimming and you learned he’d been working out in the basement because he was ripped. His hazel eyes met hers as he smiled encouragingly, giving her courage. “Can you tell us what happened?”
She nodded, then slowly began to describe the events, from leaving the restaurant and noticing the increased guard patrol to being captured, her escape, then the subsequent death of the mesmer and healing the guard. The only thing she left out was her use of compulsion magic. When she finished, she turned more to Stephen, Eric, and Raphael as she asked, “I know it’s called a mesmer and I’ve got some idea of what it can do, but how did you know it might go after me, and why? What was it doing in the city?”
Eric was the one who answered, albeit hesitantly, “Mesmer are generally known as mage-stealers around here. They’re nasty, vicious creatures who live on the blood of the magical. They can sense the natural magic of anyone or anything, and they target anyone who has what we call high magical density. That generally includes anyone who has over a twelve in magic and has learned more than one kind. The higher the magic stat or the number of magics learned, the higher the magic density in your blood.”
Jade sighed. “So basically, my blood is like a juicy cocktail to them.”
Eric looked puzzled at her word choice, then said, “I believe that may be an accurate description? I’m not sure what a cocktail is.”
She sighed. “It’s…nevermind, ignore that. Please go on.”
He nodded. “Very well, as you said, your blood would be a potent attraction for them. I’m not quite sure how this particular one got in, but it’s always the same. They’re extraordinarily fast and they can hypnotize anyone who doesn’t have an extremely strong mental fortitude. They only come out at night because they’re extra sensitive to light. The worst thing about them is that they do not kill their victims outright. They’re brought back to their lairs in the forest and kept alive for some time as a constant food source…” Everyone around the table looked grim, and Jade was no different.
That could have been her, kept alive in the forest only to have her blood sucked dry by hypnotic monsters. She shuddered silently and sent up a prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening that she hadn’t been subjected to that. Eric was continuing now, “We stop them whenever we can and mount expeditions to retrieve the taken if the mesmer gets away. However, that’s been...less than successful in the past. We’ve only found one lair in the last twenty years, and the mesmer attempt a taking at least once a month. We’ve lost many good men to them, both in those that have been taken and those that have died trying to stop it from happening.”
He paused, then said quietly, “There’s one more thing that you need to know.” She peered at him expectantly, but no one would meet her eyes now. Everyone had suddenly found it exceedingly important to inspect the table in front of them or the ceiling or whatever. She sighed.
“Just spit it out. Delaying only makes it seem worse, and I’ll have to deal with it one way or another.”
Stephen was the one who spoke from behind her, “They’ve marked you. Anyone who’s been wounded by a mesmer is marked. They can smell something on you, and they know you’ve survived and a mesmer has died. We’re not sure how, but they take extra care to make sure those people die when they find them.”
Jade gaped at Eric blankly, who was nodding in defeat. Then she laughed, which startled everyone and made them look at her like she was crazy. “You’re...laughing about this? Jade, this is serious,” Jessica began to scold her, but Jade held up a hand to stop her.
She smirked at them, smiling as she said, “If that’s it, I’m fine, but I should probably go take a look at the people who’ve been wounded in the past tomorrow.” They were still staring at her in befuddlement. She smiled. “I’ve already cleansed myself of their taint. I believe it’s a form of a latent virus that somehow activates when they’re nearby. It wouldn’t ordinarily be classified as harmful, so unless you know what you’re looking for, it’d be hard to find and eradicate. Now that I’ve already rejected it from my system and the soldier who saved me, I should be able to find it again.”
Quietly, she muttered to herself as she reflected on the possibilities, “I don’t think it was in my system long enough to create any antibodies for it, but if someone’s had it and their body did fight it off, then it’s possible they could be used to create a vaccine that would prevent it from happening in the future… The problem is that in order to separate it, I’d need… No, it’s probably not possible at this point.” Everyone looked fascinated by her mutters when she finally came to and realized she’d been talking aloud.