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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/02321 on 2024-11-12 18:51:17+00:00.
My arms had been taking a beating recently. The tainted magic had finally fully gone through my systems but now my left arm wasn’t healing as fast as I could have liked. It hurt like a bitch but I was glad I still had it. It could have been ripped off on the last job… I wondered if Ito had gotten his arm replaced yet.
August sent me a screenshot of a job demanding we did it together. I debated the offer. Having backup was good however I didn’t know if I had the energy to deal with him that day. The longer I took to answer him the more texts came in. I caved and said yes. Within the next few hours, I found myself at the start of a hiking trail waiting for him to arrive.
In recent years supernatural creatures have started to migrate to cities. It was easier access to food sources if they were the type able to blend in with humans. The monsters that stayed in the forests were either more animalistic or focused more on traditions. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever waited in the woods. It could be anything from a werewolf to an ancient creature beyond human understanding.
August arrived late. He said he was having trouble finding a babysitter he trusted. Lucas was in a kindergarten program. Most of the time August didn’t work when Lucas was awake and at home. Lately, he has been having issues finding jobs that fit within school hours. He didn’t mind working at night and would often go two days without sleeping. Most of the time Evie didn’t mind staying overnight at his place to make sure Lucas was fine. But she was often busy during the day. He’s started to have limited options for babysitters now that I was working more.
When he walked over, he raised a cooler bag to show off.
“Lucas helped make us lunch.” He said proudly.
I’ll admit that was pretty cute and worth waiting for.
We walked down the trail to find the reported site. August happily talked about Lucas. The pain in my arm kept me from adding much to the conversation. Soon we found ourselves at a recently used cult summoning site. Or something along those lines. A circle with Latin words had been drawn around the campfire in red paint. The area was covered with burnt-out candles and feathers. Countless messy footprints were left behind in the dirt leading off into the woods. Instead of getting down to investigating, August sat on a fallen tree lunch bag on his lap. He patted the wood next to him causing me to raise an eyebrow.
“Now?” I asked.
He kept patting me until I sat down. I suppose there was no rush getting this job done. We had hours of sunlight left. He opened the bag and handed me a messily made sandwich. He ate some carrot sticks as we silently took our break. I’ve seen him eat raw meat and vegetables. And a person’s brain. He couldn’t eat processed food or spices. I heard he was sick for a full day trying a single chicken nugget.
He pulled out an orange and offered it to me when I finished the sandwich. My hand had gotten crumbs on it, so I reached out to my other one to take what he offered. A burst of pain shot up my arm and I dropped the orange after picking it up. He caught it but didn’t hand it back. Instead, he started to peel it.
“I can peel my own orange.” I told him reaching out again but using my good hand.
“Is another person doing this for you emasculating?” He replied, not even looking up.
“A little.” I said in a serious tone even though I was joking.
“I’ve always found the idea of men not accepting help a bit silly. Your species is weak. You have only gotten this far because you rely on others. The pyramids weren’t made by a single person, so take help when you can get it.”
He held out the peeled orange, with a dimpled smile on his face. I took it from him. Even though he was a man-eating monster I thought it was a good thing he adopted Lucas. I had a feeling the kid would turn out alright. I glanced over to see August split his face for half a second to make his mouth wide enough to fit two large oranges into his mouth. Lucas would be an odd kid, but a good one with this monster as his father.
After our lunch break, we got up to look around. I hunched over to look over the circle to see it wasn’t all Latin. Some words humans may assume to be random scribbles had been mixed in. I didn’t know Latin aside from a word or two, so I didn’t know what the person had been trying to do.
“What do we have here?” August asked after he let me look things over for a few minutes.
“This was most likely done by humans.” I pointed out.
“How can you tell?” He pressed getting down to my level.
August had done way more jobs than me. He should know the answer. I considered this was a test.
“It wasn’t written in the common language supernatural creatures use. But it’s close enough. They were able to write a word or two by chance. There have been thousands of years of misinformation about how spells and magic work from it being suppressed from humans. Because of that, most people think spells need to be found in human skin-bound books written in blood. If you have clear wording and enough magic to power the spell, you can use any language.”
I stood up and shoved my hands into my pocket to keep away the chill. August ran a finger over the red paint as if testing it.
“Why do creatures always tend to use the common language then? I know a few of them have been brought up in the human side of things and maybe English would be easier for them to use.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew the answer. So why bother to check if I did?
“The common language doesn’t have double meanings for words. It has a crap ton of words but they all mean one thing. English isn’t always like that. Read is a good example. Like Hey, read this or I’ve read that. If a word has two meanings, the magic doesn’t decide on the more logical one. It picks one and you end up with a result you don’t want, or the spell backfires because the magic didn’t have a clear path to act on.”
August nodded along and played dumb. Or maybe he really didn’t know all of this. Not all creatures used spells. I’ve only seen him use his claws and teeth. You didn’t even need to use a spell to make magic do what you wanted. It took longer to write it out, but spells focused the power more efficiently into the task. Magic is a creature’s life force. Using less in a fight to get the job done was key to staying alive.
“You seem to know a lot about this kind of stuff, but you’re not overly strong.” August commented.
I should be offended by that. I did enough up beaten and bruised by the end of every job. The pain in my left arm proved his point.
“My mother hunted down monsters. I’ve always been around supernatural creatures. We moved a lot, and I didn’t go to school as much as I should. Because of that, my only choice was to be a contract worker after my mother died.” I said with a shrug.
“What about your father?” He asked looking me over.
“He was human. A biker, I think. My mother said it was a one-night stand. She always wanted kids but only got me. She always said how lucky she was to have me considering her health problems. My life with her was rough but not bad enough that I need therapy.”
“You totally need therapy.” He said without missing a beat.
I shoved his shoulder. Even though he looked thin, I couldn’t make him move a millimeter.
“What about you? Here you are asking for my tragic backstory without giving yours.” I said offended but not expecting him to actually tell me.
“My clan lived in some mountains. Suddenly cabins started to be built near us for a new tourist ski town. A few of the older generation saw it as free food. Contract workers got wind of it and took out my entire village. I accepted this leash to stay alive. I bounced around for a while before finally landing in Evie’s care.”
He moved his head show off the black ring around his neck. His voice sounded steady, but I was still kicking myself for asking him such an insensitive question. Not only did he most likely have to watch his loved ones be killed, but he was also caught and forced to work with the people who murdered his family. I looked away with a bad taste in my mouth.
“Humans and supernatural creatures are not meant to interact. The moment those humans stepped foot on our mountain meant death for both of us. If we keep working together, the day may come when one of us needs to turn on the other. You seem to know a decent amount about creatures, so it won’t be a one-sided fight.” He said in a rather calm tone.
I looked back over to him letting the words run through my head. We did try to kill each other when we first met. And then I stabbed him again in the cave mostly trying to save my own life. If he went feral, could I kill him? I brought my attention to the empty lunch bag by the fallen tree.
“What about Lucas?” I asked.
He looked down at the ground as he gripped his hands together. This thought had come across his mind more than once. He was a monster raising a human. That fact never left his mind since he adopted the poor kid.
“I would never do anything to hurt him on purpose. I would rather die. But because of what I am… I’ll cause him pain. He may end up hating me. Until then, I’ll tr…
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