Burrowing its way out of the hard earth, a slimy black and green tentacle appeared. It was no more than six inches in length and about three inches in diameter. Its gross looking tentacle widened and splayed in the air as it inched towards her. She could see suction cups on its tentacle sucking in air as it swayed upwards. Eww! thought Jazz as she pressed herself against the cold damp wall of the cave.
Her shields were up front and the back of the cave was protecting her from invasion from the entrance and exit, however, she had not thought to lay a shield over the floor. She had wondered if the back of the cave had led to an exit. Choosing her steps carefully, she started to back out of the cave. She was so close to being reunited with Trevor…she couldn’t be eaten now. That just wouldn’t be fair!
“You have Fae blood in you,” she told herself and the words echoed back to her in the cave. “You are equipped with Fae and Fios magic, and Trev said the combined two are unbeatable.” So then Jazmine Decker thought to herself as Trevor would speak to her, “you gonna let a slimy crawly beat you?” It flashed through her mind that logic had nothing to do with her fear of confronting this new beast. She was still the person who jumped and screamed when a small and relatively harmless spider was in her vicinity. She gulped and bolstered herself. “You can do this. You can. Look at all you have already done in this insane Realm. You don’t need to run from this.”
No need to run, but still might not be a bad idea…? Snakes, lizards and tentacles were not things she wanted to play with and like spiders, all these things terrified her.
Yes, but you need this cave. Trevor will come to this cave, she told herself. Time, Jazz, it is time to take a stand.
She sighed and planted her feet staunchly on terra firma. No more running! That was all she had done since she had landed in this mad Realm. Running was no longer the answer. Trevor had told her to stay where she was so that he could get to her and that was what she was going to do.
Her brows arched with determination as she stared at the thing coming up and out of the earth. No more running, she repeated in her mind. She then shrugged and thought, oh well, I can always shift if this ugly turns out to be more than I can handle. Right? Right.
The monstrous creature did in fact turn out to be uglier, larger and more vicious than she had imagined it might be. As it emerged from its burrowing, several other tentacles danced before her eyes as if to say “yum yum, eat her up”. This was going from bad to worse.
The dirt began to give way and the many tentacles proved to be only the tip of what was coming.
As the beast worked its way up and out of its tunnel, the swaying octopus-like tentacles sent a chill over her entire body. The tentacles now over three feet in length gave way to the spiked body of a round pulsating mass of grotesque flesh covered with suction cups. The sucking sounds from the creature made her skin crawl.
Jazz knew this was both body and head because a mouth opened and displayed rows upon rows of sharp teeth. A black tongue lapped at its repulsive face, and her nose wrinkled involuntarily at the thought that this was its face.
It reached for her with its tentacles, slurping at the air. Jazz did not recognize her own voice as her scream turned from nauseated to aggressive.
Her Fios went into overdrive and was instinctively joined by her Fae magic.
She immediately Slammed the creature, and this time she Slammed it with her own brand of Fios/Fae magic. It was a new creation. Somehow the Fios in her had joined with the Fae blood and created a method that was bigger, better and oh so close to perfection!
The monster rolled and with a series of grunts, landed so that it was flattened against the back wards which acted as an invisible fencing of her cave. It screeched in pain and fury. Before she even knew what it was doing, one long tentacle caught her up and held her high as it bellowed out its victory.
There was nothing else she could do. Because the thing was holding her, if she shifted it would merely shift with her an
d she would still be in its hold.
With one thing left to do, the notion of what she was doing repulsed her. She thought, hey, my life or its life, and she quickly made her decision.
She set the body of the beast on fire, and it immediately released its hold on her.
As she stood and watched the fire consume it, and heard its terrible bellowing before it lay still, she felt a wave of nausea. She always felt sick when she had to kill something. Even when she had to stomp on a spider invading her house, it had always made her feel guilty. Once again though she told herself, this was different. This was a kill or be killed Realm, sad but true.
Even so, the human that would always be who she was told her that killing was horrible. Her Fae told her to expect much more death and destruction to come in the very near future.
“Well done, Jazmine Decker, well done!”
His voice so welcome, so beloved and so damned sexy made her turn and jump into Trevor of Lugh’s embrace. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think, all she could do was hold on!
Chapter Six
HE STROKED HER hair, taking its length in his fingers and holding it as he kept her close. He covered her dirty face with his warm hungry kisses, and whispered ancient Danu words of gratitude.
She snuggled against his light shadow beard and reveled in the sound of his voice which seemed like a caressing murmur as he repeated her name over and over again. He held her as though he would never let her go.
She put her head back enough to look into his beloved golden eyes and with her heart bursting with love, demanded “What the hell took you so long?”
He laughed and squeezed her tighter. “I had to find which Realm you were chucked into, which I did. Although I was sure I was in the right place--in the right cave because I found a piece of your clothing, I couldn’t find you.” He sighed, “Then it came to me, just where you were.” He teasingly dangled her torn top in front of her eyes.
“I need a bath and a new wardrobe,” Jazz said as she allowed her legs to release his hips and planted her feet on the ground.
“You can do that with your mind,” he said and kissed her ear and then her neck and remarked, “You are filthy my love.”