Read Feros and the Underworld Prince Online

Authors: A.L. Bridges

Tags: #humor, #gods and goddesses, #paranormal, #contemporary, #romance, #fantasy, #supernatural, #action, #supernatural abilities, #mythology

Feros and the Underworld Prince (10 page)

BOOK: Feros and the Underworld Prince
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AHMM!” Naia moans loudly.


WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?” I shout as I see that her tail is underneath my hand. I grasp her tail and stroke it gently.


MMM!” Naia moans in response with her mouth closed. Well this is interesting.


Cole… can you please… release… my tail?” Naia begs while breathing heavily with tears in the corners of her eyes.


Oh, umm, yeah… let’s go get some lunch!” I exclaim awkwardly.

We exit my room and walk to the kitchen where Tia and Sara are sitting at the table, looking displeased with me. I look over to find that Naia’s face is red and she is still breathing heavily, as an added plus.


Cole… we understand that you must be upset… but that doesn’t mean you can just jump into bed with the nearest girl.” Sara says with a motherly tone.


No, you’ve got it all wrong; we weren’t doing anything like that. Tell them Naia.” I reply.


Well Cole and I were on his bed; he took advantage of his position, and caused me to feel good.” Naia explains.


COLE!” Sara and Tia yell simultaneously.


I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU! TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THIS YOUNG WOMAN THAT CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT SHE IS!” Tia screams while standing up to slap me.


Whoa, all I did was grab her tail by accident when I was sitting up!” I defend.


Yes, and it felt good…” Naia says quietly.


Well alright then. So I think I have an idea as to what Naia is. Based on your description and her appearance, I’d say that she’s a jinni; however, her color is unlike any jinn I’ve ever heard of. The Marid water jinn are blue in color, the Ifrit fire jinn are red in color, and the ghoul shape-shifting jinn are a grey-ish green in color, but there aren’t any races of jinn that are purple.” Sara explains.


Well, why don’t I just take her to the jinn… homeworld? And see if anyone recognizes her.” I suggest.


No, you can’t do that because nobody knows where the jinn world is.” Sara says.

Something isn’t right here; there is no way that her mother, Saraswati, wouldn’t know where the jinn world is.

(I feel threatened)


Don’t worry Airi; just because there is a jinni in the house, doesn’t mean that you have been replaced as my Genie!”

(Damn straight! So long as you do not forget to whom you belong… Master)

When we are finished with lunch, Sara catches my attention and motions to her room. I follow her while Tia leads Naia to the couch and shows her the wonders of television.


You can’t take Naia to the jinn world.” Sara says after I shut her bedroom door.


What? Why?” I ask.


All accounts say that the jinn are a very prideful and arrogant people and that their social structure is set up a lot like humans; now, in a society full of the most arrogant people you can think of, what do you think would happen to someone that was different from everyone else?” Sara inquires.

They’d be shunned or treated as worthless; I can see where Sara is going with this. In a society like that, it isn’t even beyond the stretch of imagination to suggest that Naia may have been given away instead of taken.


Now, moving on to your problem: what are you going to do about Cheza?” Sara asks.


What do you mean?” I ask even though I know what she is talking about.


So you don’t love her anymore?” Sara inquires.


Of course I do! It’s just that… she can’t have a normal life with me; I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that I won’t have one. My future is most likely going to involve joining The Agency and fighting until I die or I’m old enough for an administrative position. I don’t have the right to rob her of normalcy… have you met her boyfriend?” I ask.


Yes.” Sara replies.


Does he seem like a nice guy?” I inquire. Some part of me is hoping that he isn’t just so I can trump my own argument about normalcy.


If I say no, what would you do?” Sara suggests.

(Kill him, chop up his body and pack it into seven parcels that will be strategically placed in seven garbage cans around the city so that when you look at the locations on a map, it forms a smiley face)


Airi is telling me to kill him, chop up his body, and place his remains in garbage cans around the city that form a smiley face when you look at a map.” I respond bluntly.


Speaking of which, Cheza hasn’t mentioned Airi in a long time; do you know anything about that?” Sara asks.


Airi told me that our connection has been broken, but it can be reestablished if I give her more of my blood.” I reply.


I see… so what is your plan? Are you going to go back to school?” Sara inquires with a motherly tone.


Well I was thinking about going back to school; Hel told me that I’ve been readmitted to U-Dub. However, it will be difficult to even go outside with this.” I say while gesturing to my silver arm.


That’s an easy fix, Cole. We will just have to get a latex sleeve made for it. Until then, just wrap it in medical gauze or cloth bandages.” Sara suggests.


Okay, I just need to have it so the sleeve doesn’t cover the hole in the palm or I won’t be able to make a draw if it becomes necessary.” I explain.


That should be doable. As for school, I think it would be a better idea for you to stay nearby… in case Naia needs you!” Sara exclaims like she just came up with that explanation on the spot.


ASU only started classes last week so you wouldn’t be too far behind; I could have you signed up for classes and starting there tomorrow.” Sara says in a rather obvious ploy to get me to go to the same school as Cheza.


That actually doesn’t sound too bad…” I reply, ignoring the fact that this is a ploy… perhaps I’m not ready to give up on Cheza after all.


 

 

 

 

Chapter 12: I don’t want to sound jaded or anything…

[September 9th]

After the hour drive to Tempe, thirty minutes spent finding a parking spot (which was much easier in the Maserati than it would have been in the Mercedes SUV, which Cheza took), and another twenty minutes trying to find the building, I was a little exacerbated by the time I finally reached my organic chemistry class. I enter in from the bottom of the auditorium and find a seat about halfway up as the professor starts his lecture. I take out a notebook and start taking notes on things I’ve already learned. I took my first quarter of organic chemistry at UW before Jason’s death, but ASU is a semester university so I have to take the first quarter material again until I start to learn something new, which will be in about eight weeks.

About halfway through the class, I notice a girl staring at me out of my peripheral. She is pretty cute, slim with African and Asian features, but I can’t figure out why she is staring at me. Maybe she recognizes me from the frat party that I pretty much crashed… I really hope not; that isn’t the impression I want to make on my first day. Or maybe she is just staring at the ton of bandages that are wrapped around my left arm…

Class ends and I decide to head to the library to try and kill the two hours I have before my next class starts.


Hayden Library has really interesting architecture to it; it looks like it’s made of sandstone with an almost Aztecan feel to it,’ I decide as I walk through the grass covered courtyard towards the library.


COLE!” I hear someone shout so I turn around. The girl from my organic chemistry class, who I now see is about 5’8”, is walking toward me.


I knew that was you when you walked in to class! How are you even here? Are you a ghost!? Or were you on some sort of secret assignment that required you to fake your death and deceive Rei?” the girl asks. Her voice sounds familiar as she talks, but I can’t quite place it until she says Rei. This is Katie, Cheza’s friend and kind of her supernatural confidant after I saved Katie’s life at Cheza’s graduation party.


I guess Cheza didn’t tell you that I came back huh? Let’s grab some coffee and I’ll tell you all about it, Katie.” I tell her.


Alright, but I’m surprised that you know who I am haha!” Katie says cheerfully.


Yeah, Cheza has told me about you and it just clicked when I heard you call her Rei.” I explain.

In actuality, Cheza hadn’t said anything about Katie, but I wasn’t about to say that I’ve overheard the two of them talking over the phone on multiple occasions because of my extrasensory hearing. We grab iced coffee at a nearby café and sit outside.


So how are you here? I know you died protecting Rei, I spent a lot of time with her trying to help her through it, but I also know that a body was never recovered. So why did you fake your death?” Katie inquires.


I didn’t. I died in a massive explosion and spent the last six months in the Underworld with amnesia; I’m not sure about the other nine months. I came back just yesterday.” I explain truthfully because Katie already knows about the supernatural so it would be too difficult to come up with a convincing lie.


Wow… what was the Underworld like?” Katie asks in amazement.


A very grey city, but the sky had colors, which made it slightly less depressing than Seattle.” I joke and she laughs.


Haha… I can’t believe that Rei didn’t say anything; I mean, we live in the same house and I saw her this morning!” Katie exclaims looking slightly peeved.


Yeah, that is a little strange.” I reply and then my hearing picks up a conversation.


Cheza, do you want to get something to eat?” A man asks.


No thanks Jarrett, I’m not hungry.” Cheza replies as I see her walking across the courtyard next to a tall white guy with black hair.


Cole? What’s wrong?” I hear Katie ask from far away as a memory is replayed in my head.


No… you’re just the only one that gets to call me Cheza.”


I-I-I have to go.” I stammer as I scramble out of my seat, spilling my iced coffee all over myself as I rush to be anywhere that isn’t here.


Come on Cheza; you need to eat and I doubt you’ve had breakfast either.” Jarrett says.


Airi, drown it out! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DROWN IT OUT!”

Suddenly, soothing jazz music starts playing in my head and I feel myself start to calm down as I pass a bench and take a seat. A minute later, Katie comes around the corner while holding my backpack, which I had neglected to grab in my panic.


Come on, the house isn’t far and that coffee will stain if you do nothing about it.” Katie says bluntly.

I look down and see that there is coffee all over my grey t-shirt, bandaged arm and some on my cargo shorts. I stand up and follow her, still feeling like a shell. I’m a little surprised when she walks up the walkway and through the door of a sorority. She leads me upstairs, getting several looks from other girls, and into her room.


Take off your clothes… so I can wash them” Katie commands.

I strip off my shirt and shorts while Katie observes, and then I unwind my bandage. I hear Katie gasp slightly in response to my arm, but she doesn’t say anything as she grabs my clothes and leaves her room. I sit down on her bed and wait. Katie’s room is simple; just a dresser, desk and bed with the mandatory minimum of five pillows on it to symbolize that it belongs to a woman. I also notice that the room has a small bathroom as Katie comes back in and sits down next to me.


Your clothes should be washed in about thirty minutes and then it will take another thirty for the dryer. So I guess she didn’t tell you about Jarrett, huh?” Katie gently asks.

BOOK: Feros and the Underworld Prince
10.08Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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