Page 52 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“What the hell do you mean, kind of?”
“When I’m in the Bane,” he pulled up the sleeve on his arm to show me his tattoos, “these aren’t tattoos. They’re an extension of myself. Since I’m here, I keep them flat to my skin, but when I’m alone… Wait, I’ll show you.”
He stood and took his shirt off. Somehow, I kept my mouth closed; I didn’t want to stop whatever he was about to do. Raymond took a deep breath, flexingthe muscles in his arms and chest, and then wisps of smokey tattoos lifted from his body. They stood around his body like the aura of an animated character.
“I…” I stood from the table and put my hand over my mouth.
Then, before either of us could say another word, my forever protector jumped into action. Kaa slithered onto the table, lifting into a protective pose. She hissed and stared Raymond down.
“What the hell is that?” Raymond pointed at her.
I didn’t get to answer him, because Kaa took immediate offense. I’d only seen her do the quick expansion once before, but her body grew so big, she took up half the kitchen. Her tail slapped the mugs from the counter and knocked over the kettle, spilling hot water everywhere. As I jumped back to avoid getting burned, she reached out for Raymond.
Kaa wrapped her body around him, quickly constricting. Raymond, with a look of disbelief, phased into a shadowy mist to avoid her. He reappeared on the other side of the room.
“Jericha, do something!” He pointed at me. “Get that thing under control.”
Kaa, clearly annoyed by the failure, hissed and redirected her attack.
I jumped in front of her. “Kaa, stop!” I held my hand out to her. “He is a friend. It’s okay.”
Kaa wasn’t convinced. She continued to hiss and sway her head, as if looking for a way to get around me without hurting me.
“Kaa, chill!” I raised my voice and immediately felt bad when she looked at me like I had crushed her soul. Kaa shrank back down, slowly backing out of the room as she did. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!”
“So, there is a lot I don’t know about you,” Raymond said as he peeked around the corner to make sure Kaa wasn’t there.
“You’re one to talk.” I pointed at his shadow aura that stilloutlined his body.
“True.” He pulled the shadows back to his flesh, and the tattoos reappeared.
“Ugh, she’s going to be bitchy for at least a week after that,” I fussed.
“What is that?” he asked. “And why do you call it a she?”
“Kaa…is my pet, sort of.”
“A pet that looks like a plant but acts like a snake?” he huffed.
“You’re literally from hell.” I squinted and shook my head, jutting my neck out at him. “Are you telling me you haven’t seen wilder things?”
“Right, sorry. That’s just not something I would expect to encounter here.” He looked around me to the hall where Kaa had exited. “Am I safe here, or do you have more of those things?”
“She isn’t a thing,” I corrected him. “And she’s the only one. She’s protective of me, and after what just happened out there, she has every right to be.”
“Why didn’t she come out?” he asked suspiciously.
“What?” I searched for a towel to clean up the spilled tea.
“During the battles, she stayed inside. She didn’t sense the danger you were in? Why didn’t she help then?”
“She might have been sleeping. I don’t know.” I shrugged. “She doesn’t have a radar on me to know when I’m in trouble.”
“Got it.” Raymond sighed, and after a brief pause, he returned to our previous conversation. “Should we get back to trying to figure all of this out?”
“Yeah. I just wish I knew where we could start.” A sigh escaped my lips as I gazed at the now-wasted tea, the faint scent of ginger still clinging to the air. “I’m good at figuring out stuff on Earth. I don’t know anything about your world or those things that came from it.”
“You said you had a friend, right? Who helped you figure out what I am?” Raymond put his shirt back on. “Seems like she would be a good resource right now.”
