Out of the World

15. Meeting the Family

Nina

My fever was completely gone now, and all I had was a sore throat. So, Zorion and I agreed that tomorrow we would head to the Human Realm. He said he would stay there with me, but I didn’t want to fuss too much about that. He would stay for a few days only and leave, much like everyone else. He had everything here in his world, and there is no way he would leave his home and crown for me. The simple idea of it was completely absurd and I would laugh about it if it didn’t make my heart clench painfully. My foolish heart decided to impose, make its needs clear for the first time in however long. All the beating thing in my chest wanted was him.

We both went down the stairs as I was supposed to meet his other siblings and the rest of his family now. I still didn’t know much about them, but it seemed like he had a very big family, even if I was only guessing by this huge house.

Crossing the ample living room, we went to a smaller and cosier sofa room — is it even a thing? There, a gorgeous tall blonde with lots of mermaid curves stood close to Lola. A light-blonded teenage guy was on the sofa beside little Auri.

“Nina!” The tall blonde girl almost jumped into my direction, a huge smile on her face.

“Hi, Nina,” Auri waved her little hand, smiling.

“We are so happy to have you here! Welcome to the family. I am Lena. As you know, those two are Lola and Auri. Lola is very nice. But sometimes she catches fire, literally. That’s Auri: cute, fluffy, fussy. She’s a wingless angel... sorry Lola, angels can be jerks! She’s a wingless devil… Dang! It doesn't work either,” she gave Lola an apologetic look before continuing. Her eyes were now on the teen boy. Did Lola have issues with Angels?

“Anyways, the broadening guy on the sofa is Delrick, and you already know my twin half-brother, the giant teddy bear. Yeah, I know! The men in this family are freaking gorgeous. Get over it! You can just look at that one!” Lena chuckled, pointing to Zorion.

“I-I....” I stuttered. She managed to make me speechless, and that wasn’t something very common. Even odder than that, I felt my blood rush to my cheeks; I was blushing like a shy little girl!

“You are so tiny and cute! Are all humans like that? As small as a Pixie?” Lena asked again, looking intently at me.

“Lena, why don’t you come with me to take Auri to Mum? She was calling for her,” Zorion said, taking his blond sister by her hand.

“I will be back soon, Honey,” Zorion gave me a reassuring look before he and Lena left with Auri in his arms.

“I’m so sorry! Lena is... she’s special!” Lola mumbled with a chuckle, “Just never mind anything she says, EVER. That’s what we do to survive. We love her to bits, though.”

My mind raced with the overload of information. What did she mean by half-brother? Weren’t they all full siblings?

Before I could ask anything, a tall man with dark hair and olive skin came in, a funny smile on his face and an aura of power surrounding him. But even though he was as big, he wasn’t as menacing nor angry-looking as Zorion’s father.

“My beautiful Sweetie!” he murmured, taking Lola in his arms and placing a kiss on the top of her head before approaching me. Who was he? Their uncle?

“You must be Nina! I am Laius, my Little Sweetie told me great things about you,” he said, giving Lola a loving look before offering me his hand with a smile on his face. I shook his hand, and gave him a smile.

Hell! Once again, I was at a loss for words: what great things could Lola have told him? There was nothing great about me!

“I’ve met many humans. Humans are always around at my workplace. But I’ve not met many humans like you, magic can feel you. Not many humans are sensitive to magic, it’s a very special thing,” Laius said, placing a thoughtful hand under his chin. I didn’t think so; I was as plain as someone could be.

Suddenly, a beam of light flashed and Lena and Zorion were by my side. I blinked twice to adapt my eyes to the change of light which was all dizzyingly magical. Zorion wrapped me in his arms from behind as if he could feel my wooziness.

“I have some Hell business now, but I will be back for dinner!” Laius told us before dematerialising in a burst of red light. Hell business? Was his business going very badly?

“Da is a very busy man. Hell is as big and chaotic as one can imagine. You have met almost everyone now, only my dad is left. Zorion told me that you met his dad, Avalon. Let me guess: no good first impression?” Lena asked me, Delrick was laughing at her words from the sofa.

“How can I put it right? He looked very angry and scary like he’s the devil,” I burst out before I could control myself and keep the proverbial words inside my mouth. Dang! My eyes opened widely as I slapped my mouth. I didn’t want to offend them, but it seemed like my fever took away my filter and my sanity.

Lena and Delrick only laughed at my words, while Lola and Zorion didn’t seem to bother. Uff! I might not be a princess, but I wasn’t a rude orc.

“No, Babygirl, you’re confused. Da Laius is the Devil. Avalon is only our, sometimes, annoying Wizard King,” Lena explained between chuckles.

“But we love him,” Lola chimed in.

“Sometimes, we do. But we, or at least me, always love to annoy him. It’s my hobby and talent,” Lena added.

“Wait a moment, you lost me in the Laius is the Devil part... is he really the Devil? The one?” I asked, scratching my head in confusion. I wasn’t stupid, but I was about to ask them to draw things for me. Maybe this way, I would understand their family bonds.

Besides, I was a bit scared of this Devil thing, even though I knew Lena could only be joking, right? Laius didn’t have horns or anything. He was just an ordinary, otherworldly, huge and incredibly handsome guy.

“Yes, he is the one and only. At work, I heard he can be a bit terrifying, but for us he is a teddy bear. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like he is evil and stuff, he is the King of Hell and the Devil's title is just something that comes with it,” Lena explained.

“He is the best daddy!” Lola added and Lena flashed her a pointed look. “One of them,” Lola added.

Now I was trying to wrap my mind around the information, Lena mentioned Laius, her dad and Avalon. “So, you all have three fathers?”

“No. Each one of us has their own father. But somehow Lola and I are different. I have a special bond with da Laius, so I also consider him my father and the same happens between Lola and my daddy,” Lena told me.

“She means dad Elric,” Lola explained. So, that was the name of mate number three.

“Oh, I see. So modern!” I exclaimed, not knowing what else to say. Was this a Royal thing? The worst human Royals did, as far as I knew, was to marry their relatives. This three-father thing was a little too mind-blowing for my poor human mind.

Lola and Lena flashed me confused looks, “I don’t get what being modern has to do with the Goddess giving someone three mates, but okay. We are modern, we have the 5G Internet,” Lena replied. “Daddy loves technology and human-made machines like the internet.”

A chuckle left my mouth at her last words — good to know that they had the internet. Maybe I could even try to email the manager from the café tonight and beg for a chance. “What daddy do you mean?” I asked before losing the tracks again.

Lena rolled her eyes but chuckled, “You are not following, are you?”

“I am trying. Is it just three or more?”

“Three that we know of. Mum might have more mates or maybe someone else will show up here signing up to be the fourth one,” she replied, making me shake my head as my eyes popped open. One big sexy man seemed hard enough, but three or more… I haven’t met their mum yet, but she was my new hero, she must be tough. Never mind one being the Devil, and the other Avalon, which was even worse. I really hoped, for her sake, that this Elric guy was kind/normal.

“Lena is kidding. Mum only has three. I mean, not only. But no one else is coming,” Lola explained. So, maybe that was their way here.

Lena seemed like a handful, but she was funny. I could see in her eyes that she had no malice, she was only playing with her siblings and with me too. Strangely, it made me feel welcome.

“Does that mean that I will have three mates too?” I asked, afraid to hear their answer.

A grunt left Zorion and he tightened his hold around me, his touch possessive. For some inexplicable — and insane — reason, his primal reaction only made me feel hot and bothered, especially down south.

“No!” Zorion replied shortly, almost angrily, to his sister’s amazement.

Lena laughed hard, “No, Honey-bee, not everyone is that lucky! You will have to be content with the one you got. He might or might not be enough, but you can always have a side vibrator just in case.”

“You don’t need anyone else, Baby. I assure you of that,” Zorion murmured. On that, I had to agree with him; he was so big and so handsome, too much for me! If I had two of him, I would probably either have a heart attack or die impaled by the huge magical wand that he kept in his pants , only times two.

“Good, one is already a handful!” I exhaled deeply.

“Oh yes, Baby, I’m your two hands full. Plus, I am sure you want my hands fully and only on you,” Zorion whispers in my ear, making me swallow hard.

As soon as I cooled down a little and could breathe properly, I asked the three of them, “I just have one more question. Why do you say mate? Where I come from, animals mate and humans have sex.”

Zorion laughed. “We’re not animals, but we aren’t humans either.”

“Doesn’t matter what you call it; the important thing is to do it!” Lena winked at me. Well, it wasn’t like I could do it anyway, his magical wand was out of reach, at least for now.

A mischievous look appeared on Lena’s face, “I think you already met too many people today and that whole ‘meet the family thing’ seems overwhelming. So, I have an idea. Why don’t we go up to the roof and eat there? Just us…”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Zorion said, spinning me around in his arms. I nodded in agreement because I kind of didn’t want to see his Avalon father. He did give me the bad creeps.

Without losing any more time, the five of us climbed the stairs, reaching the enormous roof. This house was something between a mansion and a palace — everything was so big! Zorion didn’t take his arms from around my waist, as if he was protecting me, not letting me fall.

Lena moved her hands graciously, and my mouth opened in a stupid ‘O’ as she made clouds rise between her fingertips.

“You can sit on them, they are much more steady and comfortable than they look,” she explained. Zorion sat on a thick cloud with me in his arms, making me sit on his lap. No complaints here. Next, with another swirl of her fingers, Lena conjured a blanket of leaves for us: it was perfect.

“So, just to make the family tree clear, who is everyone’s father?” I asked again.

They all chuckled at my confusion, “Auri and I are Avalon’s children. Lola is Laius’ and Lena and Delrick are Elric’s. As you know, my father is a wizard. Lola’s father is the King of Hell and Lena and Delrick’s father is the Elf King,” Zorion explained. I had to contain my gasp. They were so damn Royal! Now that I took a good look at them, I could notice that besides that same shade of very light blond hair, Lena and Delrick had slightly pointy ears. That would help me to remember that they were half-elves.

“Delrick, I am hungry. Please summon us some food, but no purple-frogs on sticks this time — they are gross! How I wished to be able to summon stuff!” Lena said. I gave her a questioning look and she explained “Delrick has got our dad’s ability to literally summon things from thin air. Not everything, I mean, but some basic stuff like food, clothes and other objects. I, on the other hand, can manipulate the three Elfin Elements – water, air and earth,” Lena explained. Life seemed so easy with magic!

Delrick chuckled at Lena and, with a single click of his fingers, he made chips, sandwiches, juice and beer appear over the blanket of leaves.

“The beer isn’t for you. You are not even seventeen yet,” Lola told him, giving him a big sister kind of look, and Delrick nodded with a little huff.

Zorion gave me a magical sandwich and we started eating. It tasted real, like an actual and delicious sandwich.

Weirdly enough, they didn’t treat me as if I was a human and a commoner, but like I was part of their world. This brought a warm feeling to my chest as I sank comfortably into Zorion’s lap, his embrace surrounding me. Ironically, this magical world felt more familiar than anywhere else I had ever been.

“Do you remember the time Lena found a way to summon plants and get her hands on scissors when you were five? She decided that she was a great hairstylist. I was excited, waiting for my turn to get my haircut but Zo said ‘No! You won’t cut my hair, you are bad at it.’ I can still remember his pouting face!” Lola said with a sweet giggle. I could even picture a little pouting Zorion, trying to protect his beautiful golden curls. My hand reached for his hair almost inadvertently. It felt so soft!

“Yes! I was good at it, a natural hairstylist, even though no one could appreciate it,” Lena laughed, throwing her head back a little.

“You cut Delrick’s baby hair. He was one year and a half and barely had any hair. You cut all he had off!” Lola laughed.

“I was the first baby ever to have a mohawk cut!” Delrick laughed along with his sisters.

“Lena! You were so bad! It’s a miracle Delrick still got his ears. The funniest part was when Mum arrived: she looked at us and screamed. Lena simply looked at her and asked ‘Do you want to be next, Mum?’ and our mother only screamed again, even louder. She took the scissors from Lena and scooped Delrick in her arms, grumbling about her poor baby,” Zorion said between chuckles, looking between his siblings and me. Their laughter was contagious and soon I joined them.

“Mum tried to grow Delrick’s hair with one of our aunt’s potions but she used too much and in the end he got a mane that would rival a baby lion’s, it was so cute!” Lola added. That should have been hilarious as well. Even in a mess, they knew how to have fun.

“I was the only one that had any good sense!” Zorion said, shaking his head, and Lola nodded.

We ate, laughed, as Lena told me more funny stories about Zorion whilst Lola told cute ones. The affection between them was so thick and palpable, I’ve never seen anything like it in any of the many foster families I’ve lived with. Maybe it was magic. Maybe it was just pure love.

*

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