Elemental Reverse Harem Quartet (part 1: Earth)

Chapter 20

A short walk to safety

Malka Selby

"Daybreak will soon be upon us, and there is little time for me to run this errand and another I must undertake. I want to take you across the street to safety right now." The almost ever-present grin-cum-smirk had gone from Varu's features. He looked serious and concerned.

"I'll be safe in your room." I glanced back at it, just a few feet away. I actually felt safe beside Varu, and I didn't want to spend time alone in that dark, dirty shelter with a bizarre wind billowing around in it. Beck seemed at home in his water element, but I didn't feel any affinity with earth.

"You must spend the daytime with the elemental witches so they can teach you. It is twilight now; once dawn breaks, I'll not be able to take you to them."

"I'm sure I can walk across the street on my own."

"I'm sure you can, but will you get there safely? Vampires won't bother you in the daylight, but they aren't the only threat, Malka. I'd like to take you there now if I am to make this errand of compassion on your behalf."

When he put it like that, it hit me hard. He was doing a favor for me, not for the dying girl. "Don't you want to help Ceyhan, who was attacked before our very eyes?" I picked up my socks from where I'd left them, outside the door of the safe room. The fact that I began to put them back on my dirty feet was a sign that inside I was resigned to leaving this house rather than going back down to bathe and sleep. "She was struck down without any provocation. Don't you care?"

His brow wrinkled as if he didn't understand the question.

When I returned to his side, we walked up to the floor above the ground.

"I care about many things, Malka. Right now, your safety is high on that list, whereas I don't care about a vampire that I don't even know. One who trespassed on Abney Park, and by doing so and getting so close, she threatened yourself and Fire. She attacked, Fire defended."

"I don't understand why you care about my welfare but not hers. She's a vampire, like you. And she's been hurt. Whereas I'm just a girl you don't know, but you knew my mother. Those blue-haired creatures are expecting you to hand over a witch in a few days' time. That's what they said." And I thought they meant me. It was confusing because it didn't fit with Varu's behavior toward me.

We reached the hidden sliding door. Instead of pushing it open, he stopped and turned to me.

"That is only a part of it. The vampires have given me two nights to hand you over to them. They don't want you for themselves, although they might find it too hard to resist feeding on you. They intend to hand you over to the council. You must tell Haydn about this, and he will explain it to you and work out a plan for your safety. He must train you."

Varu looked into my eyes more intensely than before. There was a connection between us, which may have been there earlier, but I noticed more profoundly at that moment.

If he'd looked at the blue-haired girl earlier with a gaze as intense, I understood why she turned away.

"Malka." He looked down at the box in my hands. "Please hold the box in the same hand as the ring."

I wondered if that was a way of increasing its protective powers. As I swapped hands at his request, I asked, "Why?"

He took hold of my newly free hand. His hand wasn't cold, exactly, but not warm, either. "Because I can't hold a hand that is wearing a magical silver ring."

"Oh." My heart did a weird beat, and I blushed. I thought about my vagina getting wetter and hotter. That made me blush more as I remembered Varu would know about it.