Page 55 of Bound By Darkness

I hears the creepy-ass vamp call the girl with them long-ass fangs,Aima,or somethin’ like that. She be an Unseelie woman—an’ she pretty, but not nowhere nears as pretty as Angelbus.

Speakin’ of… Angelbus takes her a seat beside Baron, who be her new bestest friend now, or so it seems like it. The two o’ them been inseparable since we got here. I ain’t jealous or nothin’… okay, well, maybe jist a little.

Anyways, Aima’s big ‘ol eyes be watchin’ me like I’m a tasty snack and I don’t like it, not one bit. Her eyes give me theheebie-jeebies ‘cause those black, soulless pits looks like they can swallow the whole damn room.

I can tell she know the Elf King and King Shadow Fuck from a long time ago, and maybe she even know the vamp, ‘cause she actin’ real easy ‘round all three o’ em. Her other two cronies jist look big and scary and dumb, like the rest o’ these assholes gathered ‘round the table.

One o’ the new giants gots a real beefy head. He a satyr, with big-ass hoofs an’ hairy-as-fuck legs. His beard so long, he could easily hide a family o’ squirrels in it. An’ for all I know, maybe he do. Satyrs be creatures o’ the forest an’ I’m wonderin’ if this one be housebroken. Hope so; last thing I wanna deal with is satyr piss ‘cause that shit stinks real bad.

Satyr drinks from a goblet he musta brought with him, ‘cause I ain’t seen it on our table before. He finishes the thing an’ slams it on the table, all barbarian-like.

“You! Sprite!” he shouts as he glare at me. “Get me another!”

Wha? What the? What the wha??

Who does this cock thinks he is?! Bossin’ me ‘round, like he one o’ them other dicks I been travelin’ with!

“I ain’t no waiter!” I says, and I cross my arms ‘gainst my chest and stay seated on Pretty’s lap. She pats my head with her index finger like she tryin’ ta make me feel better. It ain’t workin’, but feels good, so’s I tell her to keep keepin’.

“Kolver, your manners,” Aima say as she look over at the satyr an’ shake her head. She got a real stern expression on her face.

I’d spit in Satyr’s cup, if I could. Allies my fat ass!

This brute ain’t no warrior. He a drunk, an’ a nasty one at that. I hear him slurrin’ his words and lookin’ at Pretty like he be wantin’ ta eat her. Good thin’ for Pretty that Satyrs be vegemetarianisms.

King Night Twat notice the satyr noticin’ Pretty, an’ he don’t look too happy ‘bout it. In fact, the vamp ain’t too happy ‘bout it, neither.

“Stay close to me,” Vamp Bat whispers in a voice meant just for the twos of us.

“I ain’t goin’ nowheres,” I say an’ look back up at him like we be bros. He look down at me, real annoyed-like. That’s when I realize he weren’t talkin’ to me.

Dick.

Pretty giggles an’ then nods at the vamp like she heard him loud an’ clear.

Good thing the other one o’ Aima’s tribe ain’t opened his mouth an’ revealed himself ta be an idiot yet, even if I can’t see his face ‘neath that creepy fuckin’ mask he wearin’. Yeah, he wearin’ a mask, like it be All Hallow’s Eve. I wonder if he got him some melted skin or somethin’ underneath it? Maybe the squirrels that live in the Satyr’s beard chewed off this guy’s nose or somethin’?

The mask he wear’s shaped like a skull with a wide smile, made outta bone. Probly part o’ whatever poor critter was used to make the long bow on Masky’s back, a bow which looks fashioned outta somethin’s spine.

Masky be the only one who ain’t lookin’ at Pretty an’ me like we be their’s fer the takin’. S’pose that got somethin’ to do with the fact I can’t see his eyes, but it make no difference to me so long as he stay the fuck over there, on his side o’ the table.

The assface Satyr—Kolvar, I thinks his name be—keep runnin’ his mouth ‘bout needin’ another drink, an’ then he look at me like I gotta do somethin’ ‘bout it. Well, fuck him, ‘cause I ain’t no waiter no more.

“Sprite,” he start up agin.

“Nosiree, I ain’t listenin’,” I tell him, shakin’ my head. “I left me that waiterin’ job a long times ago, an’ now I’m a nanny. An’ nannies ain’t about refillin’ drinks!”

“A nanny?” Dragan repeat at the same time Kolvar do. They both looks at me like I be the crazy one.

I shrug. “Who you think in charge o’ watchin’ Pretty all night an’ day?” I point out. “Her fuckin’ nanny!”

“A sprite with an attitude,” Kolver say.

I flip him my middle finger all pissy-like and Shadow Dick snorts a little. Saevel finally gets him that refill on his wine. An’ that be right fine by me. Let her be his slave, ‘cause I sure as hell ain’t.

The one in the freaky mask? His name be Pyre, an’ he don’t talk much. Mostly jist sit there quiet in his chair, like he some sort o’ phantom. For some seconds, I think he just part o’ my imaginin’s, but that can’t be right if the others be talkin’ to him, too. And they’s is.

Assface say somethin’ that perks my little ears up.

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