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"Who is there?" 

In the dim, dark quiet, the gruff coarseness of his voice was like a grater to the silence.

"I spilled the orange drink accidentally," He said, his empty casualness always so off-kilter to the reality of the moment. "There are small tiny creatures crawling all over me now that I can\'t see. They\'re very fast."

Even when the doors and windows tightly shut, it wasn\'t as if the barn was completely shrouded in darkness. A little bit of light would still seep in, I made sure of it… for his convenience, just like with the makeshift bed of hay, and why I didn\'t just make do with him feeding him the barest of scraps too. All for his convenience, not that he deserves it. But his body was human, and as such, I have to treat him as such… like it or not.

"I put the tray to the side," there was a blur of movement at the far end, I think he was pointing at where he placed it. "The empty drink too. You came to clean it now, right?"

Silently, I simply stood in place, drifting my gaze over before him. It was a big spill all right… his shirt collar stained, a clutter of hay soaked, and an army of ants racing to collect the sweet divine nectar of that juicy vitamin C.

"You made the food for me, right?" He asked, turning his smile up at me. "It\'s nice… better than before, better than the detective. She doesn\'t cook as well as you. She burns the toast. Do you think you can make some for me again?"

He was a lot more talkative than usual, I notice. Like, I wouldn\'t put it past him to strain his vocal cords till they were sore from use. All by his lonesome in the dark with nothing but the scurry of ants to keep him company, my guess was he just wanted a bit of engagement.

Lucky for him, Mom was only all too eager to oblige.

"In that case, I\'d also dearly love a share of that proposal," came her cheery voice. "You\'ve never made a meal for me, I just sadly realized. Hmm, maybe someday?"

With steps light and delicate, she slowly drew up to my side… and the sight of her, the very instant, Harry\'s smile and gaze froze stiff onto hers.

"Oh…" He went quiet. "It\'s you…"

"Good morning," A wave, a smile, she moved further forward. "How have you been doing?"

"Do not come close to me. I don\'t want to see you." 

Harry wobbled trying to stand, then he tried to move, creating a space between the two of them as far as I could… or as far as the rope on his ankle would let him anyway.

"Why did you bring her here with you?" He asked, addressing me, staring with a look in eyes that seemed almost reproachful. "You can clean by yourself, can\'t you?"

"Oh, my favorite tray…" Mom said, gasping slightly, staring with horror-stricken eyes to the silver glimmer strewn haphazardly off to the side. "Could you not have chosen the one in the cabinet beside the fridge?"

"I didn\'t know you had a favorite," I muttered.

"Are you here to kill me?" Harry asked, his bind tugging just a little more. "I thought you couldn\'t do that,"

"And you sound like you don\'t want that," Mom remarked, stepping over the rope. "You don\'t understand death, you don\'t know how to fear it, and yet…" She got close again, too close for his comfort. "Just what is that I see on your face there?"

"It\'s because of you," Harry lost his usual demeanor, the ghost of his smile merely a wrinkle on his cheek. "I know I\'m scared of you."

Mom nodded her head at him. "As you should be."

"I thought you wouldn\'t help," He said, briefly glancing over towards me. "It\'s not like you to help."

"Oh no, don\'t you worry, trying to get rid of you is still such a troublesome, meticulous little process that I wouldn\'t dare even risk," She said. "Thankfully, what I\'m going to do instead won\'t be as meticulous and troublesome."

Then before another word could be said, she reached with her arm, and he inhaled sharply - failed - her hand firm against his chest. His knees buckled, but before he collapsed, Mom gently lowered him to the ground.

Seeing that, I spurred forward myself, fearing she might have done the deed after all. Then I saw that that wasn\'t actually the case, Harry\'s eyes were still wide open, in shock, his body immobile. 

Paralysis?

"Don\'t be nervous," Mom said, her hand still pressed on his chest, beckoning me forward. "Have a feel here. I think you oughta learn this too."

Harry snapped his unblinking eyes at me as I cautiously lowered myself beside her. I met his gaze, and for once, they showed emotion, horror, and I could feel it.

"Your hand," Mom politely requested, and before I could fully raise my arm, she reached out, took it, and proceeded to gently place it on top of her own. "Close your eyes now. You learned how to sense magic, didn\'t you? Well, can you sense this?"

At once, I could. Without much effort, I could. Eyes squeezed shut and seeing darkness, I felt it. It was like wind again, a soft gust swirling in my palm, in hers…

"There\'s no exact term for this process, most aren\'t even aware of its existence. It requires very little magic but demands a great deal of your focus. The slightest mishap and you risk only aiding the parasite instead," Mom spoke out, the sound of her voice more prominent than ever without sight. "The idea is to funnel and shape your magic as a sort of ward for the soul. Embed it deep into the victim, and have it temporarily act as a replacement for the parasite to feast on instead."

The tone she used was a familiar one. In an instant, I felt young, like I was little again, listening to her every valuable lesson. 

"Too little, and it\'ll be rendered useless. Too much, and you risk empowering it instead. You must find the perfect balance. That is the most vital step. Here, feel here, that is what I\'m doing now. Do you sense that?"

I could… but that wasn\'t the only thing I could sense too. Far in the distance, a powerful presence in the fields, Dad in the middle of a harvest. A little further on, I could feel Sammy in her bedroom. Next door, Adalia\'s presence in a peaceful slumber in mine.

But who I could feel most, overwhelmingly, was standing on guard right outside the barn. Ash, a bright streak of light in the darkness, blinding, suffocating… still so indescribably terrifying. 

I tried feigning calm, ignorance… pretending I couldn\'t feel it. But I still felt it… and, hearing an amused chuckle, I realized I wasn\'t the only one that could either.

"She loves you, you know?"

I opened my eyes, whirling them around to find a wry smile facing before me.

"Very much at that too," Mom continued. "it\'s in her body language. Elves are easy to read. See, it\'s all in their eyes… If they\'re content, happy, they can glow bright like stars. The inverse is true too, distraught, upset, dejected in any way, and their eyes will reflect that."

That, I didn\'t know was an actual thing. 

Ash\'s eyes were always glowing, shimmering green, always so bright… I just kinda assumed they always glowed on their own.

"And they\'re always glowing when she\'s with you, aren\'t they?" Mom said. "It\'s not hard to imagine why."

This was... weird. Weren\'t we just suppressing a parasite just now? Actually, aren\'t we still? How did we suddenly shift into juicy gossip, with her chuckling under her breath? And sounding very delighted at that too…

Quickly, briefly, Mom tossed her eyes backward, then once establishing the coast was clear, she dropped her voice into a quiet, mischievous whisper.

"Do you know when the mating season is for Elves?"

"Oh, God…"

"Oh, so you knew already!" Mom smirked. "Not as dense as I thought, after all."

"She… Ash hasn\'t exactly been subtle about it." 

"But she hasn\'t admitted to you yet, has she? Hasn\'t talked to you about it?" 

I narrowed my lips. "Well…"

"As I said before, it\'s a seasonal thing. Once a female Elf comes of age, there is a period of time, ranging between a few days to a month depending on the individual, where their bodies undergo a mild change. But there is a prerequisite before that. While the process is involuntary for males, the females, on the other hand, have the option to choose, and if they do, well… a slight rise in body temperature is to be expected, their senses become keener, sharper, and their skin also becomes awfully sensitive to the touch. They also secrete a certain pheromone to entice males but sadly you aren\'t an Elf, so you can\'t really sense it."

"Let me guess," I said. "You can?"

"Usually it\'s subtle, you know? Discreet, sparse, just enough to arouse… mmm, usually..." She chuckled again. "Ah, maybe it\'s lucky you can\'t sense it, after all… she\'d have drowned you in an instant."

"Oh…"

"Oh, indeed," Mom smiled again. "Dignified, graceful, elegant as she strives to be… at the end of the day, love triumphs over all."

Love triumphs, huh?

"Is that what happened to you?" I asked. "Your nature, who you were… was it love that defeated you?"

"Well, who knows for sure?" She mused. "Why don\'t you take Ash somewhere private and find out?"

"That\'s not what I\'m asking."

"Oh? You weren\'t talking about sex?" Her eyelids fluttered, staring bemusedly. "Hmm, I thought you were. That I abandoned my previous ambitions because I yearn for your father."

"No, no, what the hell? How the hell did you think that?!"

"Well, we were just talking about the mating traditions of Elves… it\'s an honest mistake, don\'t you think so?"

"No, ugh, why would I even ask?" I spat, revolted, but... "So, wait... is that really the case?"

"Demonic as I may be," She said, her smile giving me shivers. "At heart, I\'m still a woman, aren\'t I?"

Eee… okay, alright, I think this discussion has gone on long enough. Time to take this conversation around the back, it\'s lived a good long life.

"Just keep in mind," She continued to whisper. "Elves can bear children of any species. Not just another Elf. Humans included. You\'ll be extra careful, won\'t you?" Another giggle that gave me tingles. "Or… maybe not."

"You\'ll stop talking now," I said, shifting my focus back to the task at hand.

But alas, it seems my dear mother Lilith had other plans already.

"Perhaps I should go out and buy that spare mattress, after all."

A truly wicked, malevolent entity, indeed....