Unwelcome visitor

                I wake with a start. It takes my brain a second to process what woke me up in the first place. Then I hear it, a loud knock on my apartment door. Weird. No one knows where I live and I made sure to get an apartment in the not-so-great part of town. That way no one would even think to look for me here. Everyone from before thinks I’m some spoiled brat. They would never be caught dead here let alone think I would reside in this crappy place. The only person I could think of would be the landlord. He’s the definition of intimidating and loud. Most Orc’s are. He just has the privilege of being the one to decide whether I have a place to live or not. He’s not a bad man in the sense of evil, but he is a landlord through and through. No sympathy for tough times or patience for whining about something being broken. Either way, I should get up before he gets upset at being ignored. Who knows what that would mean for my future here.

                I throw the blankets off me with a bit of irritation. It is my day off and I would have liked to sleep in, but we don’t always get what we want. I look down at myself to weigh whether I’m dressed appropriately to be answering the door. I swear softly when I realize I didn’t even put pajamas on before I passed out. I must’ve been more tired than I thought. Hurrying to get out of bed now, I rummage through my small closet to grab some sweats and a t-shirt. It’s not like I’m trying to impress anyone, just cover my bits so I can find out what the landlord wants. Once dressed, I head to the door that is still being knocked on quite loudly. As I reach the door, I look over at my coffee maker to see the bright red numbers saying it’s only 5am. Who even wakes up this early to harass someone.

I open the door with a bit more force than necessary due to my fresh irritation. “Mr. Crunell, it is 5 in the morning. What can I possibly help yo…..” I cut myself off once I realize the person on the other side of my doorway is in fact, not my landlord.

                I suck in a breath and immediately go to slam the door. Before it can click shut, a hand grabs it. A hand I haven’t seen in 6 months. A hand I haven’t had to flinch away from in 6 months. A hand that belongs to the man I’ve everything I could to never seen again.

“Now Cinna, you don’t want to be rude. It’s not nice to shut the door in a guest’s face. I thought we had worked on those manners of yours.” He says on a disappointed sigh. One that boils my blood.

How dare this man come here. I take deep breaths to cool my anger. It won’t do anything but make this situation worse than it already is. I need to keep him on that side of the doorway. If I can do that then I will be fine. “Wilheim. Why are you here?” I say through gritted teeth.

“My dear, it’s time for you to come home. This little tantrum of yours has lasted long enough. You got a bit of freedom to realize how much better life is when you’re with me. I mean, look at this place.” The way he can simultaneously speak to me like a misbehaving child and act like a pompous ass at the same time is incredible. I wonder if he was born with this ability or learned it from his father. Probably both.

A disbelieving laugh escapes my lips before I can stop it. This man dares just order me back to that hell hole like every second there wasn’t the worst day of my life. He’s a handsome man, I’ll give him that. At 6’4” with the lean body of a swimmer, bright blue eyes and blonde hair, he’s any woman’s wet dream. That is until he speaks and you realize he’s the worst being ever. Elves are known for acting superior than other beings. They believe they are better than others due to their beauty and grace. Wilheim though, acts like the Goddess put him on this earth specifically to keep woman in line. It’s insane. He’s insane.

“This is not a tantrum and I will not be going anywhere with you. The audacity you have is baffling. You need to leave now. I left for a reason and I will NEVER being going back there for any reason. Don’t ever come back here or seek me out. I am not yours to do with as you please. I am my own person and I will never allow you to take that from me again.” I snarl at him, making sure my enlarged canines are on display. A few months ago, I would have never spoken to him this way or made myself out to be a threat. I may have a slight tremble to my hands that are hidden behind the door, but I’m proud of myself for not cowering. He does not have that power over me anymore. I just need to keep repeating that in my head and I’ll make it through this.

The disappointed look on his face quickly morphs into a scowl. Fuck. Deep breaths. “You dare speak to your better this way! You insolent little bitch. I knew I shouldn’t have let you go. I thought it would teach you some humility, but I guess I was wrong.” He finishes on a shout before reaching for me.

                My first instinct is to throw my hand up to avoid a hit. What I didn’t expect was for him to stumble back. When I glance up, his face has gone white and horror is etched across every line. His eyes are wide staring at my hands like I’m holding a gun to his head. My confusion morphs to match his horror when I see the maroon mist swirling around my hands. What. The. Fuck. I thought I was crazy when I saw it last night, but there’s a witness this time and he seems to see it too. The more I stare at the mist, the angrier it seems to get. It takes a second to realize that this is mine. It’s my mist. My magic. Glancing up, I notice Wilheim is still frozen in apparent fear. Why is he so afraid of it? I know it isn’t a normal color, but what could possibly be so terrifying about it?

I hear him whisper something under his breath that sounds a lot like “Abomination.”

I watch him get ready to bolt and all I can think is that he can’t know about this. Who knows what he knows about my magic that he would label me an abomination. And who will he tell? Will I be imprisoned or executed for this. Shit. As I think that, my magic shoots out towards Wilheim. It hits him right in the middle of his forehead, causing his body to go unnaturally still. What the fuck is going on. What is my magic doing. I try to pull it back, but it is wholly unwilling. I can feel the panic starting to bubble up. Before the panic fully takes over, my magic shoots back to me and soaks into my skin. Warmth pools in my chest and my magic feels almost proud of itself. Does magic have feelings? I’ve never heard anyone mention it before, but who knows. Maybe it’s taboo to speak about it.

I hear a shuffle which has my head whipping up. I almost forgot he was there. Too distracted by this insane development. I watch Wilheim rub his head and look around. His eyes lock on mine and I wait for him to lose his shit. My body automatically locks down, waiting for the blow. Instead of anger, he just looks confused. “Umm, I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t seem to remember why I’m here. Sorry for bothering you. Have a good rest of your day.” The confusion is apparent in his voice. The little respectful bow he gives me before he leaves has my confusion matching his. He has never spoken to me with any respect before. And Ma’am, what the hell was that about.

                He slowly walks towards the stairs leading downstairs to the exit. I stare for a long time trying to figure out what just happened. Slowly closing my door, I make sure it latches before I head to the kitchen to get some coffee made. As I wait, I think about the whole messed up situation. He was trying to drag me home, then he was terrified of my magic and now he doesn’t even seem to recognize me. I focus on my magic and do something that I never thought I would. I ask my magic. “Any chance you can tell me what you did?” All I get in response is a happy little trill. Rolling my eyes, I add my heaping spoonful of sugar and creamer into my coffee and contemplate what I’m going to do.

                After I finish my coffee and get some actual clothes on, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to do research before I make any type of decision about my magic. I don’t even know what the color signifies, let alone what it’s all capable of. I quickly braid my hair to the side before I head out to the local library. I make sure to lock my door because as much as he acted like he didn’t recognize me; it doesn’t mean it wasn’t an act or that the magic is only temporary. Better safe than sorry. Reaching the library, I immediately head to the section on magic types and narrow it down to Elf’s magic.

                I drop my head onto the table having not found a single mention of magic the same color as mine. I feel like I should’ve found something in the last 5 books. None even close to red. I don’t know much about my parents, but I’ve always been told they were both elves so it can’t be any other type of magic. I look like an elf, through and through. I don’t know of any mixed heritage in my family. Elves tend to only mate with each other. The bigoted asses. I never saw the big deal with mixing races. Who care who you love, you know. As long as you’re happy. Maybe I should ask someone. I stand up with a quick stretch to get the kinks out of my back and rub my numb ass. Heading up to the front counter, I find a kind looking librarian organizing returned books.

“I’m sorry to bother you ma’am. I was wondering if you had any books on elf magic. Specifically red magic?” I ask with a touch of trepidation. Wilheim responded pretty intensely to my magic so I’m worried it might set this woman off too.

“Oh dear, I don’t know of any elf magic that would be red in color. I would suggest going to the demon section. They are the only ones I know of that would contain red magic.” She says with a smile like what she just said didn’t just completely change my view on the magic in my chest.

“Are you sure? There isn’t any mention of red magic when it comes to Elves?” The disappointment in my voice is clear as day, but she ignores it.

The smile on her face drops. Great. “Yes, I’m sure. Only the demons would have any red in their magic. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, that was all. Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate your help.” I walk away with a slump to my shoulders.

                Demons? That’s not at all what I thought she would say. Demons are fairly rare mainly due to the fact that they stay in their own world. They aren’t bad per say. They don’t quite have the same morals as everyone else, but I wouldn’t say they are inherently evil. More of a morally grey type of situation. Either way, I think I am done for the day. Too much has happened without any food and barely any rest. I stop by the coffee shop on my way home to grab a ham and cheese bagel. I finish it in the 2 blocks it takes to get home. After I lock my front door, I try to nap. Everything swirling around in my head with no answers makes it hard to fall asleep. I end up just staring up at the ceiling for an hour. I would normally be ecstatic about getting my magic. I mean, I never even thought I would ever get magic of any kind. Now I have a magic that I know nothing about and it seems to be able to make people forget. That would be terrifying all on its own, then add in the fact that I don’t have any control over it. Yea, the excitement just isn’t there. Nothing seems to be even the slightest bit easy for me lately. I am free and that counts for a lot. I just have to look on the bright side and everything should work out halfway decently. Right?