It Started with Slime - Part 1

Chapter 88 - Audience?

"Well? Haemish, what is this little creature? An experiment of yours?" The sharp, cold voice continued, and Aarav whipped around only to see a stern-looking woman glaring at him and Haemish. Aarav took in her appearance; black hair cascaded down to the small of her back, shiny and reflective like a shampoo commercial from the old world. Nice hair, she had dark brown irises almost black, and he realised with a start, huge pupils. They seemed to take over the entire iris. A small sharp nose below flicked slightly up at its end. A stern-looking mouth with soft creases at the corners made her look like she had a slight frown, held up by a long and toned neck and well-defined collarbones.

Her build was more athletic than curvaceous. Her arms were slim but very well defined and muscled. Her legs were hard to see with the dress on, but there was something about the way she stood, like a tiger observing potential prey. Her stance said she was ready to pounce, sprint, or duck and roll. This woman was a wild card, a coiled spring, waiting to strike at a perceived threat.

When he looked back up at her eyes, he shivered. This woman, she is the most dangerous thing I have even seen, far worse than the thugs he had dealt with in his past lives, more terrifying than that night in the basement with Ami. The Panther was a candle to this bonfire. And the vast underground creature had been a force of nature, like a hurricane or these forceful winds. Comparing this woman to that would be like comparing an approaching tsunami against the axe murderer that had chosen you as lucky target number fifteen, and he had already killed fourteen other people, and you knew it.

Every instinct in Aarav told him he needed to get away from this woman. His lizard brain was trying to claw its way to the surface and make him retreat. Instead, he shrank back, taking the nutrition brick with him. No sense in dying hungry. If I have to go:

The cold expression on her face at his one eye and mouth; did not help his trembling. "Well?" her single word held a promise and Aarav shivered at the implied threat there. Aarav was sure that the taste of blood in his mouth was just in his head, and he didn't have any blood in this body.

"Uhh...hmmm...well, you see...itisacreaturewepickedupintheforestandthenbroughthere!" After the initial hesitant tone, Haemish blurted out the rest in a long string with complete unintelligibility. It took Aarav a moment to separate it all for coherence. When he did, he realised this feeling of imminent death might not be unique to him. Haemish was also flustered; the normally calm but grumbling old man was out of sorts! It was almost enough to make Aarav laugh out loud, but he didn't. The eyes were still there, still watching.

"Interesting, and it speaks? Does it simply repeat what it hears, or is it intelligent? Very curious indeed." Aarav would have wiped the sweat from his brow if he sweated and had a brow.

Is that sweat? No, it's just Slime. This woman is making me sweat my equivalent of blood. The eyes of death had shifted their focus to Haemish as their owner spoke.

"I-it...ss-seems in-telligent y-you-ur majesty." Oh, the queen is here. Wait, what? What is she doing here? Aarav was surprised. No, that was an understatement on par with calling a shotgun blast to the face a minor scratch.

"Oh good, good. Enough Haemish, leave me. All of you." This woman dismissed Haemish and the others without as much as a gesture. Words were enough. Aarav continued to look at the woman in front of him. If he hadn't been so terrified of her, he might have thought, physically, she was attractive. But that oozing sense of dread that rolled off her couldn't be ignored.

Haemish bowed and withdrew, followed by his apprentices, told to leave his lab like a child. Huh, it sucks to be you, buddy! Actually, no, I would rather be where he is going instead of here with- Aarav gulped -that. The dragon lady was staring at him, and she had never stopped; maybe she would never stop.