Dancing With the Devil

Chapter 15

When I finally emerged from the bathroom with a scratchy throat and empty stomach, the first thing that caught my eye was a pile of ashes on the floor. Xavier breathed heavily like an enraged bull, preparing to charge at a matador; his chest rose and fell with constrained rage. His hands clenched into powerful fists, his muscles bulging with meaty strength. His eyes glared into the ashes hatefully.

“Where’s the note?” I croaked. It had to be analyzed. Even if I was afraid of seeing those words again, they were already ingrained into my mind. I couldn’t get away from them, so it was better to be practical than stupid from fear.

Or maybe it wasn’t, because Violet silently pointed to the pile of ashes. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the burnt parchment and Xavier.

I understood instantly.

“Xavier,” I sighed. “We needed that.”

He snarled viciously, making Violet flinch back, but I knew his anger wasn’t directed at me. As I walked towards him, my gait was only hesitant from my dizzy head, otherwise sure and strong, if not almost willing to go to him. His arms shot out to wrap around me as soon as I was within range. He held me as close as possible without hurting my more fragile, human body. I felt his chest vibrate against my cheek with the sound of his growling.

“You were threatened,” he spit out. I mentally rolled my eyes. Way to state the obvious there, Xavier. As if I hadn’t noticed. “Someone threatened your life, Ivy!” he continued, as if sensing my flippancy. “Someone so much as entertained the thought of you dead, and I. Will. Not. Stand. For. That! Not in my kingdom! Whoever he is, I’m going to-”

 He froze, his arms fractionally tightening. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal at the time, but now as I looked back, it was probably the worst thing I could have done at the time seeing as it threw Xavier into a crazed frenzy of protectiveness.

“Achoo!” I sneezed again, sniffling afterwards. “Do you have a tissue?” He didn’t move, not acknowledging anything around him. “Xavier?”

“What,” he hissed, “was that?”

“A sneeze?”

“Have they infected you already?” he demanded, but he continued on his train of thought before I could calm him down and explain. “Is this what they have harmed you with? A disease that makes you make odd sounds and liquid to fill your nose? Will you drown in it? They will endure ten times any pain that you suffer! Asphyxiation will appear merciful compared to what they will be forced to go through before death graces them with an escape from the life I will put them in!”

“Xavier, listen to me!” I commanded fiercely. His eyes focused slightly, zoning in on me instead of the far off distance. “You need to calm down. It’s just a cold. I get them frequently.”

“You’ve had this before?” he puzzled.

“Yes,” I nodded slowly. “And it’s relatively easy to cure. I’ll be fit as a fiddle in a week.”

“Isn’t a fiddle a musical instrument? And I would say that you are quite fit. Perhaps not as strong as the average female, but I like that about you.”

“It’s an expression, Xavier. It means healthy.”

“Someone has tried this on you before, though? This is good. They do not know that we understand how this disease works. Perhaps we can mutate it and reciprocate.”

“It has nothing to do with whoever that note was from,” I explained, resisting the urge to snap my fingers in front of his eyes so that he would give me back his attention. “It comes from a virus. Do demons not get sick?”