7 What Magic Was This?

Ash didn't quite know what to make of the fairy who literally crashed her way into his life. He had a feeling there was much more to her than met the eye.

Desperation made people do crazy things but he had never heard of a fairy letting someone from another race see their wings. Ever. Yet Ruby let him apply the poultice for her as if she wasn't nervous at all.

He made extra sure to be gentle because he would not allow anyone's trust in him to be misplaced again. He would take her money, fix this place up, and then never have to see her again. He could be trustworthy for a few weeks while her wing healed up. Probably.

There were obvious holes in her story…such as where the money would be coming from…but Ash figured everyone had their secrets. Goodness knows he did. How he became the unfortunate owner of this scrap heap was one of them.

He had to admit he was curious about a few things. Why the marriage her family proposed was horrible enough to warrant running away, what tricks she was using to make the quick and easy money she promised, and what she actually looked like.

Ash hadn't been around other races consistently in centuries after his coven had a serious feud with a pack of werewolves living in a nearby forest but they had never bothered glamouring themselves in front of other fae. Neither did the witches he got his blood pills from.

There wasn't really much for them to glamour though. They didn't have pointed ears or strange skin colors or anything. The only thing otherworldly about witches is that their eyes could be neon green, yellow, or orange and they glowed while they were casting magic. That and their fashion sense.

The coven he went to had a front as an apothecary so they had to look normal to human customers. But as soon as a fae used the universally known code phrase they dropped the glamours either out of convenience or respect.

Ash had already seen Ruby's wings. What was the point of keeping the rest of herself glamoured? Were all fairies this picky?

He ran into a fire fairy a while back at the witches' coven. It kept its wings hidden but showcased its hair made of literal fire, orange-tinted skin, and blue eyes that flickered like the hottest part of a flame.

Fairies looked like their elements. The only other race he knew like that was mermaids, whose skin or hair often matched their scales, but he had never met one in person.

Wouldn't an earth fairy look the least unnatural and most human-like out of all the types based on color scheme? He supposed that green was a possibility but that wasn't a big deal. What was Ruby so self-conscious for?

Ash didn't care who saw him in his true form as long as it wasn't a human…or other vampires. He had thoroughly botched any attempt at getting close to them ever again.

That didn't matter. He had no desire for company after what he did. He deserved to be alone.

Although he definitely wasn't alone right now. What was that racket? Did no one respect the fact that vampires were nocturnal anymore?! What on earth was going on out there? He had told Ruby she could bring over people to clean but if they were this noisy…

Ah. Werewolves. The exterminators were here.

Ash could hear them howling with glee every time they caught a rat. He pulled the pillow over his face to block out the sound, wishing he could suffocate. Too bad he didn't actually need to breathe to survive.

Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He was about to go tell them to keep it down already when he looked out the window and saw them leaving. Ruby—at least he assumed it was her; for some reason she had glamoured herself into looking like an elf—was letting some other people into the barrier.

The moment they passed through, their glamours dropped away revealing two heads of long swirling hair, one white and one silver. All of the color was leached out of their skin and eyes and their hair moved as if in a nonexistent wind storm.

Wind fairies. Interesting. He had never encountered any before.

A few other people began following them through but he felt secure that they would be quieter than the werewolves so Ash went back to sleep. It was only 3 PM; he could still get a few good hours in before nightfall. Or so he thought.

Less than fifteen minutes later, right as he was starting to doze off, the castle began to shake as if a tornado was blowing through. He jolted up and threw the covers off the bed. He couldn't take this anymore!

"RUUUUBYYYY!" he roared over the force of the wind.

The earth fairy didn't respond so he angrily stomped around searching for her. He didn't find her but he did notice an auspicious lack of rats. That was good at least. A lack of dust too.

The dirt that was too deeply set into the walls and floor to be affected by wind was still there but the battered and broken furniture didn't seem to have moved an inch. They must have gotten a freeze charm from the witches. Or they had a water fairy working with them.

Ash found out the latter was true when he walked by a room and heard a strange scraping noise. Peeking inside, he saw someone with flowing blue hair and slightly blue-tinted skin waving their hand back and forth at the wall as a concentrated spray of water shot out.

Centuries of grime dripping down the wall every place the water hit. He gaped at the blue woman. What magic was this?