Asher Sellinite

Courtney's Hiatus pt2

I woke up to the sounds of raised voices downstairs, the morning light filtering through the lavish dark blue curtains of Marcus' bedroom. I groan and pull my heavy arms over my face, and more importantly, my eyes- my head is throbbing and the room is spinning. I can hear Marcus asking me if I'm okay, but the noise sounds so distant that it's hard to care, but him rubbing my shoulder urgently was enough to get me to lift my arm so I could give him a disgruntled stare.

"Ted... Ted," he seems relieved that I'm looking at him, "oh, thank goodness, you're awake. We thought she might've sent you into a coma." I roll my eyes and cover my face again- why did he need me to wake up? After a moment I can feel him shaking my shoulder again, prompting me to give a loud, frustrated groan and curl up even tighter,

"What?" I say, my breath shaky and my voice pained. Marcus pauses, surprised- but at least he's not shaking me and making my headache worse anymore. His voice is much softer now,

"You feeling okay, Tedrose? You don't look too good."

"What doesn't look good?" I mumble, not bothering to move even an inch. Marcus seems to look me over, his hand lightly tracing over some deep bruises on my shoulder blades and back. I wince and inhale sharply, "Ow! What was that for?!" I exclaim, shrinking away from him. He yanks his hand away from me and gives me an apologetic look,

"Woah, sorry there bud... lemme see..." he pulls my shirt up, his eyes widening at the sight. I ask him what he sees and he shakes his head slowly as he speaks, "I'm surprised you don't have any broken bones," he says quietly, putting my shirt down, "do you- remember what happened...?" I nod a few times, burying my face in my hands for a moment,

"Courtney and I had a fight."

"Wait, a fist-fight?" he sounds shocked, "why would you get into it like that with an Eeriox, aren't they... crazy powerful?" I nod slowly and mumble, explaining to him what happened and that I don't trust Courtney at all. There was a long pause after I finished telling the story and then Marcus said in a hushed tone, "I... don't remember any of that..."

"I figured," I say with a slow nod, "you weren't all there... it was like looking at a shell." As soon as I said that I heard the front door slam, jarring Marcus and I into flinching slightly, my hands immediately reaching up to rub my temples, "was that Courtney leaving...?" Marcus sighs deeply and rubs my shoulder soothingly,

"Oh, I hope so. I don't think I want to see Courtney again." I roll my eyes and give a soft groan,

"Asher likes her too much to get rid of her, I don't know why."

"Really?" he sounds surprised, "he can't find another petsitter? That's what she is, isn't she?" I nod slowly,

"Yep... apparently it's hard for a demon to find anything here other than a hellhound to babysit," Marcus asks me why Asher doesn't want to hire a hellhound, "hellhounds are..." I sigh deeply, rubbing my temples as I think, "they tend to be rough with humans. Too playful, I guess?" Marcus gives a slow nod,

"Well I guess that makes sense. But Courtney has been really rough with you anyhow." I glance up at him and shrug slightly,

"Yeah... but this was the first time she's actually hurt me." Marcus gives a little 'oh' and looks down again, fiddling the hem of his shirt before he sits down next to me on his bed. We sat there for a while, and he eventually started just stroking my hair- I could tell that he was smiling, enjoying himself.

There was a knock on the door. Asher walks in and hesitantly starts explaining the situation with Courtney- that she wandered off into town and told him not to follow her. She's so dramatic, I really don't understand this fucking Eeriox. I listen patiently as Asher explains how volatile Courtney was and how he's not sure if he'll let her back into our lives after this, and that he might have to find a replacement for her. Asher sounds really torn about this decision- like he'd actually have to think it through, and I almost feel bad for him.