The Healing Souls

A Magic Rain

[Forrest]

When we got up in the morning, I was surprised by how dark it was. Looking out of the glass in the kitchen, I could see that it was pouring rain. I had never seen it rain like this before. It was a lot more rain than we normally got.

Pyla blushed when she came out of her bedroom and asked for the bathroom. She kept her head down as she walked to the room and closed the door behind her. I could understand if she was nervous because she fell asleep while visiting.

Trolls might be assholes, but I didn’t know a single one who wouldn’t have done exactly what I did. Though, a few might have put her in his own bed and slept next to her. I wasn’t going to risk whatever my sleepy brain decided to do.

“Sorry, I fell asleep, Forrest. Thank you for giving me a place to sleep,” Pyla said as she came in and sat for breakfast.

“It happens. I always have room for you if you need somewhere to sleep, Pyla,” I replied. “Have something to eat before you go.”

I served up some thick ham steaks and a pile of eggs. Pyla seemed to like the eggs more than the steak. It was the first thing she ate and her eyes lit up when she saw them.

We talked about a few things and I offered to drive her to her mother’s home. Pyla accepted but tried telling me I didn’t have to. It was pouring rain, though. She would end up soaked before she even made it to where Rock’s house was.

My phone rang and I got up to answer it. Cellphones weren’t something trolls like me could use. Rock was able to have one because his skin wouldn’t ruin the screen and he was able to be more gentle with it. Even the biggest ones were too small for some of us to manage. Most of us had landlines.

“Hello?”

“Forrest, I’m glad I caught you,” my mom said on the other end.

“What’s up, Mom?”

“Queen Maeve has ordered the fae lands to a lockdown because of this rain. No one is to leave their home. Rock should be contacting everyone else who works with him to let them know the company will be shut down for the day. Queen Maeve wants everyone to stay where they are.”

I looked over at Pyla. She wasn’t banking on this happening when she fell asleep last night. Neither was I. It would be amazing to have the whole day to ourselves. How long would it be raining?

“I had someone over last night. I was going to drive her home.”

“No, Queen Maeve said no one is to leave their home. There’s some sort of magic in this rain and she doesn’t know what it could do to the fae who get wet. She’s even contacting the werewolves, vampires, and witches. Children aren’t going to school and all fae-owned businesses are closed. Queen Ivy, in the forest village, did the same thing out there.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know. Stay safe.”

“Wait, was the company the lizard troll who fought Shayle for you? Peri’s daughter Pyla? So you were interested in her like your father said. I’ve heard rumors. She is different from other trolls.”

“Mom, I don’t have time for this. I need to contact Rock and see if he needs me to help contact people.”

“Yes, I suppose you do. Plus, you have to entertain that woman for a whole day. Gee, I wonder how you’ll do that.”

“Mom, stop. Our relationship is not your business. I’m hanging up. Think whatever you want, but don’t talk to others about what you don’t know or understand,” I said.

I didn’t wait for her to reply. I hung up the phone. After waiting a couple of minutes, I called Rock and he asked me to call a couple people who weren’t fae. All fae would have been contacted by the phone tree to learn about needing to stay out of the rain.

Pyla was cleaning the dishes from our meal but hadn’t come out to see what the call was about. I was glad. I dialed the people Rock wanted me to call and got that resolved quickly. Carmen would take care of calling Gemma. I’m sure she would be sad about missing her last day with us.

“Should we get going?” Pyla asked as she came into the living room from the kitchen.

“Unfortunately, Queen Maeve has called a lockdown for the fae lands. There’s magic in the rain that she fears might be harmful. You’re going to have to stay with me. It’ll be okay, we can watch TV or hang out and talk more. You know I won’t make a move.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle and her tail stood up. “Is… is it really a good idea? Won’t people get the wrong idea?”

“Fuсk what people think. We know what we’re doing and why. What they think is not our business and what we actually do isn’t theirs. Are you saying you don’t trust me because of what others think we might be getting up to? If they were going to think that, then they would already because you spent the night last night.”

“That’s true. Are you really sure you’re okay with me invading your space like this?” she asked.

“It’s not an invasion. I want you to hang out with me. Spending time with you is one of the highlights of my week. A day with you, alone, would be one of the best things I could imagine.”

Pyla blushed and held out a hand to me. I took it and rubbed my thumb over her knuckles. I led her to the couch and she sat close to me, holding my hand still. The way she leaned against me made my heart race. This rain might be bad in some way, but I counted it among the blessings the goddess had given me.

-

[Dennis]

-

The rain had been pouring down since before I went to sleep. Silence, one of Master Nightshade’s supports, had called me before she went to sleep for the day to tell me to stay out of the rain. Apparently, the fae said the rain was magical in some way and they warned all of their allies to avoid it if possible.

I’d contacted all of my businesses and had the managers close for the day, even the ones that were mostly run by humans. I told them the rain would drive away business and it wasn’t worth it to be open. They contacted the employees with the news.

Though I wasn’t supposed to, I went to my garage and got in my car. I could get to and from my office without getting any of the rain on me. There was a garage that connected to my office and one that connected to my house. The prospect of being able to work without interruption was too enticing.

After waking up, I fed Francesca, my standard poodle, and gave her some love. She’d spent the whole day with Tyler, my human servant, and she hated storms with lightning and thunder. I was partially considering staying home because she needed me, but I could get a lot more done from my actual office rather than my home office.

“Master Nightshade doesn’t want anyone going out, Master Lyons,” Tyler said as I donned my coat and grabbed my umbrella.

“I know, but I have a lot of work to do and I could use a night without distractions. He doesn’t need to know. I won’t let the rain touch me. Trust me, Tyler, I can manage this much. I’ve been alive for a very long time,” I replied.

“Alright, but if he finds out, you’re going to be in trouble.”

The idea of being in trouble with the Master of the territory frightened me, but not as much as it should have. For all that she was just a little girl, Echo had adopted me and I saw how she treated others she claimed. She wouldn’t let him harm me. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea, but there was a lot of work to be done.

“I’ll take care of myself. You take care of Franny,” I told him and grabbed my keys before heading out to the garage.

There were few cars on the street as I made my way to the office. It seemed even humans didn’t want to be out in this. I knew for some it was unavoidable, but the ones who could avoid it did.

It didn’t take long to get to the office. I parked in the garage and headed to the office. The dim lights in the hallway let me see more easily. They were set to come on automatically for the humans who worked nights in the office.

I went to my office and turned on my computer. The silence was nice. Being alone was something most vampires liked, but I tended to get in my head more than they did.

Over three hundred years as a slave-soldier had created some habits that I couldn’t shake. I would have flashbacks sometimes. I was careful to back off when vampires that ranked above me were talking to me. I remembered the cruelty of the vampire who owned me.

Though I was considered his child, I didn’t see anything like parental affection from him. When I saw how Master Marius treated Echo, I was happy to see a dhampyr who didn’t suffer what I did.

We learned at a young age to keep things from the full vampires in our lives, so I was teaching Echo more about dhampyrs. I knew she was passing on this information to the other vampires as she learned it, but maybe it was time. With Master Marius creating dhampyrs, now they would get more protection.

It was shameful that it took this long for someone to stand up for us further than just making it illegal to create dhampyrs for the purpose of selling them. They didn’t consider the ones who made us so they could use us for their own purpose. My father couldn’t sell me, but he had me trained from a young age to fight and kill.

I had several brothers and a few sisters. My sisters were married to vampires who wanted children. At the end of the one-hundred-year marriage, they were returned to our father. None of them were treated particularly well. I always wished for their Solus Amors to find them and save them from that.

Five of my siblings met the sun soon after they rose as vampires. None of them wanted to live like this. A few decided to live on and try to change the world. I wasn’t one of them, either. Instead, I was one who wanted to live without another vampire controlling me. True freedom that I hadn’t experienced in the first few hundred years of my life.

My father was now dead. He angered a vampire who was much older than him and died in the duel with them. I was glad he was dead. Something about him helped him father far more children than any other vampire and I didn’t like seeing new brothers coming into the service of our father. I really didn’t like the idea of what would happen to my new sisters.

I tried to focus on my work. Though I had managers in all of my businesses and several people those managers directly reported to, that didn’t mean I had a clear platform to rule from. I had to see to the more pressing issues.

-

Several hours later, I had wrapped everything up for the weekend. There were things I still had to see to in the next week, but I had given myself some breathing room, as it were. I went back out to the garage and started up my car before opening the garage door.

The rain wasn’t easing at all. I decided to go for a little drive and enjoy the clear roads. It was nice to be cocooned in my car while hurdling through the dark. I would never get over the speed of vehicles now.

I’d been driving for a while when my fuel light came on. I sighed. It was probably time to go home, but I would need gasoline first. As I headed back toward home, the glowing beacon that was the Flying Star gas station came up on my left.

Deftly, I turned into the lot and drove to the pumps. They were covered and the very center of the pumps wasn’t touched by the water at all. I pulled in there and got out of my car. The wind howled as the storm raged. Some poor human was in the shop, working on a night like this.

When I tried to run my card through the machine it came back with an error. I frowned and tried a different card. The same error came up. Maybe the magic was affecting the computers.

I grabbed my umbrella from the car and headed into the station. This was less than ideal. The rain was hitting my coat and shoes. It was what it was, though, and I needed to get fuel or I wouldn’t make it home. As long as Master Nightshade didn’t find out, I would be fine.

The automatic doors slid open and I closed my umbrella, standing it by the door so it wouldn’t drip all over the floors. There was a chime as I came into the shop. I looked around as I approached the empty counter.

A woman came from one of the aisles with a golden-colored shirt that had a star emblazoned on the back and the name of the station on it. She had dark red hair and a luscious frame. She smiled politely at me.

“Sorry about the wait,” she said without looking at me.

“Please, miss. I’m the one who should be sorry. Something seems to be wrong with my credit cards. They aren’t working in the pumps,” I replied.

At that, she looked up at me slowly. Her eyes ate up every bit of me and dilated. I could smell the light scent of her arousal.

Most women who looked at me found me mildly attractive, but none had been like this. It was as if she were soaking in my appearance. There was a reverence to the way she looked at me. Like one might look at a steak when they have only had broth for a month.

“Umm, I can try your card here.”

“Please.” I smiled and handed her the first card.

She tried it on her machine to no avail. We tried another and had the same issue. The cashier frowned at the card and handed it back.

“It’s like the strips have been demagnetized. You’ll need to talk to your credit card company and your bank about getting new cards,” she told me.

“I have forty dollars. My car won’t need that much, but I don’t know how much it would need,” I replied as I dug through my wallet and pulled out the money for her.

“I can authorize the forty and you come back after you’ve filled up. I’ll get you the change.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

Thunder crashed and the lights flickered. Her scent changed from slightly aroused to frightened. I never liked that scent on a woman. She moved faster to get the transaction done and raised her thumb at me.

“You’re good to go.”

Picking up my umbrella, I went back out to pump my gasoline. As I did, I thought about the woman in the shop. I knew some humans were afraid of lightning and thunder. She was brave to face her fears for her work. I liked that.