So I was going to finally just do what I wanted and be free here.
“Mmh,” I muttered as the pain began to melt away, the magic in me flowing and buzzing. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I did was kick my leg up as high as I could, rolling my ankle a few times before I quickly shot up and sat in the center of the bed. “Much better.”
But I wasn’t done there, either. Outstretching my hands, I wiggled my nose like I was Samantha from the old TV show, and the bag I had brought with me appeared. Hopping out of bed, I checked around for the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, I used magic to fix my hair, wash my face, and brush my teeth while soft music played, all the things I wanted to do at home but never did. Spinning, I finished my evening look with a short off-the-shoulder lace lingerie dress.
When I stepped back into the room, Theseus sat on the edge of the bed with a whole massive spread of perfectly sliced fruits from oranges, strawberries, apples, and pineapples. Also, my favorite sandwich, soup, a bag of chips, along with juice and water, were all neatly arranged on a large picnic tray table.
“Is this all for me?” I laughed but only because I was so amazed and hungry. I dropped my bag down to sit in front of the goodies. “Thank you, but I really can’t eat this much.”
“Feel free to eat as much as you can,” he said, resting back against the backboard of the bed…still naked. “Feel free to do anything, as you were, with your magic.”
“You saw me?” I asked as I popped a grape into my mouth.
“I could smell it since there was a lot of it. You, more than the rest of your coven, always give off different scents when you use your magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to describe truly. Usually, witches smell of nature, like grass, trees, the forest. Your scent is an array of scents and changes. When you are mad, you smell like fire, ash in the sky, and when you are calm, like fresh rain. When you are delighted and ecstatic, your scent awakens memories of pastries and sweets I have long since forgotten the taste of.”
“Wait? Usually? So only me?” Great, another thing that made me stand out.
“No,” he replied thankfully. “Others in your circle, as well, have an array of scents but none as strong or vast as yours.”
“What is my scent now?”
“It shifts from spices to sweets.”
“That must be annoying to your nose—”
“No, I enjoy it. As I enjoy seeing you use your magic like this. It reminded me of when you were a young child. You used to use magic freely in the forest.”
I paused mid-bite, frowning. “Don’t say it like that. It makes you sound like an old man.”
“I am more than an old man. I very well may be ancient in comparison to you,” he replied.
“Yeah, yeah. I know you are a thousand years old and whatever. That doesn’t bother me. What does is you thinking I am too young. That I am still a child.”
“You are definitely young but no child in my eyes,” he replied gently. Satisfied, I happily took a bite out of my sandwich. ?
?My point was how happy you are whenever you use your magic the way you wish. The look on your face now is completely different than one I have grown used to seeing while in the forest.”
“Of course, it is,” I muttered, wiping the corner of my mouth as my mood shifted slightly. “Out there, I am…using my magic to fight or, as you said, murder vampires. It’s not really my happy place.” I took another bite, looking at the food and not him as I asked, “What do you think of me? Not now, but when I’m out there? When I’m hunting down your kind. I’ve wondered about it sometimes when I felt you around. Tell me honestly. I will understand if you are angry with me over it—”
“I often think about how beautiful you look.”
I rolled my eyes. “Theseus, be honest.”
“I am being honest,” he replied. “Each time I see you out there, I stare in awe and wonder at you.”
I frowned. “So you are trying to tell me you don’t ever think of the vampires?”
“No, for I do not know them. Though I see, despite all you have been taught, even if you do not regard them as you do mortals, you still have regard for them. Why else would you ask them their names?”
I chewed slowly, not sure what to say. So, I confessed why I had run away here, to begin with. “I killed four vampires earlier this afternoon.”
“I heard.”
“From who?”