Blood Ink

Seventeen

Returning back to the earthly side of things I had to keep myself from all out falling on the ground and kissing it. I thought I would be horribly mutated on the way out of that portal. All I really saw was a single daisy growing in the middle of the pavement next to a dumpster in the back alley of a Chinese restaurant. The area looked completely empty and I still wondered how these pocket portals worked.

The restaurant had a blue lotus neon sign that cast a shadow on the daisy. It was nighttime, and I had none of my stuff. Just Issei's spare set of clothes and my phone which was in worse shape than I thought. I was back to being moderately poor again, but I figured I could survive with a little magic. I followed Issei since he seemed to know his way around a lot better than I did. "You're a hunter right?" I asked him curiously, prying for any information he would be willing to give. I was already valuable by association since I knew the face of the legend many monsters feared.

He didn't answer as I expected. He only looked around as if he was getting his bearings and began walking. We were about two miles from the portal when he walked into an eatery. I hadn't really accounted much for hunger, but he walked in silently. It was a small quaint place not far from the portal. I didn't bother to look at the name. The menu was on the wall. It was easily one of those basic hole in the wall Chinese restraunts. The wind chime on the door alerted the cashier of his presence.

"Can you teach me?" I randomly asked. "You know magic?" I didn't know exactly what I was asking for but he'd kept me around. My brother was gone, I had left Mathias's mansion in flames. (That was going to come back and haunt me) There wasn't really much thought to me going back home. My reality was too warped to try and go home and write college essays, work at a degree, and try to make a normal lively hood.

How could anyone go back to normalcy after this? "No." Came his answer. Issei a man of many words. I wasn't surprised by his response. "Don't you have to kill me then?" His eyebrow raised as he took a seat at one of the tables by a window. His face looked amused by the thought I had just uttered. The spot he chose gave him access to see anyone who walked in from any direction. It was also an escape route of sorts if he broke the window. Although that would be messy. He sat diagonally his back pressed against the wall and glass. The number for his order stuck out oddly on the table. I didn't remember when he'd ordered.

"I know your face." I pried. "Hardly a threat." He answered. I looked surprised then, I thought he would be more worried. I was someone who could identify him. "No one would believe your word, my existence is legend. You'd need proof." He was right, I had no proof not that I would sell him out but it showed why he didn't worry. The smells of food churned my appetite slowly but it didn't seem to wake. I hadn't eaten since my last feast with Mathias. Issei was studying my expression, no information was given just cold emptiness.

"You're not going to have hunger for human food for awhile but your body will still tire. You'll still want food but nothing will fill you." Issei spoke the words slowly. I understood part of what he was saying. I stared at him and did feel the slow churns of hunger rolling in the base of my stomach like a corpse rolling in its grave. "Why."

"You feasted on nectar of the gods." His answer was riddled. I felt mild irritation. "Explain." I didn't care for lore or mythological references he was making. "Fae food." He answered curtly. "The food of fairies, it alters your taste buds and body. Gets you hooked on it, its some of the best tasting food you'll ever have. But once a mortal tastes it, they don't want food of their own." The way his explanation was going was something I was starting not to like.

"So this food will taste like crap?" I answered. "Not this one." He said, with a curt smile. My heart stopped in its tracks for a moment, and then regained its ability to beat. "This food is made with ingredients from other worlds." I was curious to what he meant by ingredients from other worlds. How many different realities and pocket dimensions where there? The server came by and swooped up the table number and deposited the contents of Issei's meal on the table. Upon smelling it I felt my stomach churn in hunger.

I watched Issei eat his meal and grew hungrier. I realized then that he had no table manners. "You didn't even offer to buy me a meal." I remarked. He paused and swallowed his food. "I saved your life, you should be buying me a meal." He corrected. I couldn't argue that, he had safely gotten me out of Mathias's home. A place I no doubt would have been stuck in as some kind of pet. It wasn't like I was too happy with the outcome and I wanted to try the food he had ordered.

"How do you know a place makes food with other world ingredients?" I questioned. "See the end of the name of the place, theres a small seal outside that only people that have sight can see. It means they sell food to people outside the human realm." He drank some of the hot soup he'd ordered along with the meal. "The owner of this establishment happens to be a ghoul." He answers. "Ran into some trouble awhile back and I helped him out."

"A ghoul?" I shuddered. He didn't look up from his meal. I didn't know how many different species existed in this world but he didn't seem to mind that his meal was made by the walking dead. "So you know this area?" I asked quietly. He stood and left a tip next to the empty plates. "I know a lot of places." He grabbed his pack and began walking out not waiting for me to catch up.

A light drizzle had begun outside, it made the neon signs shine brighter in the puddles that formed in the ground.  I slowly began to miss cole. I remembered how rainy weather was his favorite. I had no idea where we were headed but I had nowhere else to go. I was determined to learn some kind of magic somehow. I'd make him teach me.