Dear Diary,
Living with Curtis is sometimes like living in a dorm.
Every time it feels like there could be a moment of peace either someone's
shooting at us or someone's at the door wanting his advice. I try not to ask
him much. I don't want to know the future, especially mine, and that means not
asking certain questions. We have a mutual respect for silence, or at least,
for not asking questions.
This morning as I was trying to find the courage to
get Curtis to tell me about Merov, Maeve knocked. I wouldn't let her in the
house because fuck that irritating fae, but then there was this weirdo in the
bushes taking pictures, and Curtis freaked out because Carla, and dragged Maeve
inside. Fae. My second least favourite things.
We sat in the living room and Maeve consulted Curtis
like you would any neon light street psychic about her future. Why he puts up
with her shit I'll never know, but for whatever reason, the pixie listens to
him. To the point of it being both frustrating and amusing. If he says
"Save x" she will, but she'll also leave any other victim to die.
Today's mystery was: "How do I get back into the
courts?" Curtis' response, and I could have smacked him, was that she was
supposed to lead all the fae, not just her court, into a new age. She could do
this in one of two ways, either live long and prosper, or cause a big threat
that would unite the fae beneath her.
Now Maeve is a little intense and very, very fae. I
didn't go to a party once, because there was a corruption demon invading family
homes, and hey, suddenly I'm the bad guy and I owe her. Also, I hate fae. Or
maybe I don't, I'm not sure. Ever since I let Robin Redcap out and he started
ripping people apart, which was, well, my fault, I've never felt at peace with
them. I'm sure some of them were nice. Maybe.
To clear my name off of Maeve's hit list, I agreed to
help stir shit in the fae world. It's a bad idea, but at this point I just want
to be done with her, and the sooner I'm out of the fae's debt the sooner I can
stick a cold iron knife in her and move on.
While Curtis had taken my mom's ring off (it helped
keep the visions away), I asked him about Merov. I shouldn't have. And I
instantly regretted it, but it was already past my lips by that time. I hate
pulling favours on Curtis. It feels like I'm bullying him and it makes me feel
gross inside. He seems used to people doing it, but we're friends. I shouldn't
be the one asking.
However, Curtis told me that Merov was a dragon. A
mother fucking dragon. Landing on the shores of our time or something poetic.
But a dragon. I still haven't quite figured out how to digest that information
or what the fuck it means. Merov is as human looking as I am, and while I admit
there's something about him I don't understand, dragon seems... I don't know,
far fetched? I must've stared at Curtis for several minutes before I decided I
had to go ask him.
Dragon. It made sense, in a way. He acted as eager to
collect power, even subtly so, as any other clever monster I had ever met. I
felt like an idiot to have been so easily caught in his plans. With Maeve
there, I didn't feel safe leaving Curtis by himself so I tried to convince her
to go. That's when we noticed a hand taking photos with a camera on the
balcony.
It was Deslee, the little gossip girl of the
supernatural world. I grabbed onto her and lifted her up so that she wasn't
hanging on anymore and told her to quit it. She proceeded to take a picture of
me, so I dropped her. Curtis gave me a look and I decided not to talk about it.
We walked outside to make sure she wasn't seriously hurt and Carla was there.
The fire burned like a bitch, but I got a shot off
before it hit me. It'd been awhile since someone had used magic on me. Her body
got tossed down to the eyeball, who also, well, made the fire jump to other
buildings. Curtis called 9-1-1-. Maeve touched me and healed me a little, which
I'm sure comes with a debt. She wanted me to promise to be loyal to her. I told
her to fuck off. I refuse to be a knight to some wanna be queen.
Curtis, and our new sidekick Maeve, came with us as we
went to talk to Merov. He wasn't home, so we sat, and drank. Maeve drank more
than, well, anyone. You'd think the fae could hold their liquor, but not that
woman. Curtis and I, well, we got in a bit of an argument via text because I
didn't want to talk about it with Maeve there. I hate her seeing me weak.
We talked about how I was angry Curtis hadn't told me
about ghoul plague, but instead, went to Merov, who's been proving to be more
and more dangerous. Merov finally arrived, stinking of... sewage and death, and
started stripping while I tried to talk to him. Between mostly naked Merov and
Maeve's snide comments, all I could really manage was accusing him of some sort
of... I don't even know, really. Conquering? Taking over the city?
He assured me that I wasn't wrong, but that my
thoughts on his intention were wrong. He wants to do good and make the city a
safer place. I couldn't argue with him, and I hope he's telling the truth. My
entire instinct is telling me to shove a sword in him as deep as I can and then
cut off his pretty head, but I can't. He's been a friend to me, as much as I
have friends, in the last few months.
Merov said something to Curtis about him seeing
visions, mostly about his own death, and then Curtis lost his shit and bolted.
Rightfully so. Merov doesn't get it. How much it hurts Curtis, how much pain he
endures just seeing glimpses of the future. He sees a lot of death. He's afraid
of his power, it seems, as much as he uses it regularly. Or, well, it uses
him.
I followed him out and left Maeve behind. We talked in
the elevator about Merov's douche baggery and then drove to find Derek. Merov
had said something about Derek finding his girlfriend. I know how it feels to
pull someone out of another realm. As we got in the truck Curtis asked me:
"yes or no?" I asked if it was sexy or not, he said maybe, so I said
yes. He texted something and then laughed. Kid's a weirdo sometimes.
Derek was frantic as we arrived and tried to brush off
the importance of his girlfriend being back. He wanted to go to some werelion
fight over who'll be the next king of lions instead of staying with his
partner. I kept asking what the hell would actually be more important than her
being back and he was being evasive. When I tried to tell him he had to be
careful or he'd end up like me, I ended up letting it out that I had killed my
mom to become a hunter.
He feels powerless. He feels like people don't take
him seriously. And that's a good thing. I wish he could see how bad it is to
want to make a difference in an unnatural world. All that's going to happen is
him ending up like me, or ending up in a coffin. I can't be constantly there to
pull him out of fires he's not even telling me he's walking into. I wish I
could save him. But I know he needs to make his own choices when it comes to
how much he wants to be in this world and I need to... respect that.
Curtis called Maeve and the drunk fae came over to
watch over Derek's partner, then the tree of us went to the epic lion-fight. As
we walked in, the tone changed. Mostly because they hate me and while I don't
take it personally, they do. Merov was there, with his fucking sword, and this
look on his face I'd seen once before. It was the same look he had with the
amber vampires.
A chill swept through me as I leaned against the wall
and just watched. Watching another person fight is like getting a glimpse into
your future and getting a chance to change the outcome. Fighting reveals so
much about people. It tells you their weaknesses, their strengths, and
their speed. Merov is fast enough. But the lions fight MMA style. Hard and
solid hits, not fast. Still, the dragon... (fuck that's weird)... held his own
against the woman.
It was brutal and fast. Merov has fire, like a
mother-fucking dragon. But fighting takes power out of him. He's built...
differently, than I am. I am power. It's just part of me. I don't need to use
it to kill the assholes I hunt. But it doesn't extend beyond being a little
faster, a little stronger, a little tougher than you're average bear. This was
entirely different. Except it left him vulnerable. It would've been the ideal
moment to kill him.
The werelion was defeated. He was weak. He was open.
Two seconds and I could have slid the knife from my sleeve and stuck it in his
heart. He looked at me and I looked at him and I didn't move. If anything, his
eyes stopped me. This was Merov. This was the guy I had sat drinking with
retelling hunting stories to and who had always wanted to help me. If was a
dragon, we'd fight. But not today. We'd fight when he wasn't weak. When he had
everything at his disposal. It's a fight I don't know if I'll walk away from.
The werelions accepted their new king. The city is
changing. And it's Merov who's gonna be holding the reigns.
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