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Her hand curled over the Heechu in a protective gesture. “Why would anyone want to hunt a creature like Huff?”

I sighed, folding my arms over my chest, then stood and commenced pacing before the hearth. “That's the question then, isn’t it? I don't know the full story, not even the Heechus do. At least, not anymore.” I revealed, gesturing around her at the sea of singular eyes trained on us.

Miko gasped, but remained in her seat, her surprised expression quickly fading into something akin to awe. “There's so many of them.”

“Not nearly as many as there used to be. But we’ll get into that in a bit.”

She smooched her lips to the side, and it was so adorable I just wanted to scoop her into my arms and never let go.

“Bleedin’ fucksticks,” I growled through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t catch that.”

I waved her off. “I was talking to myself.”

She raised a brow but didn’t insist I explained further. I bit my lip, smiling harder around it as a trickle of blood dripped into my mouth from an accidental fang puncture. For some reason I couldn’t explain, her blasé attitude toward my habit of talking to myself, or to my demons, not that she knew about them, warmed that spot in my chest always yanking me toward her.

Miko rolled her lips into her mouth as if she were stifling a smile. “Noted. Continue, please.”

My fingers met the cool base of my horns as I gripped them loosely, continuing to pace. “Where were we?”

“The coven of witches hunting the sweet, innocent Heechus?”

I don’t comment on her over the top complimenting words, especially since my jealousy was still lingering just under my skin. “Mphm. Right, the Heechus don't even know when the feud started, but it's been centuries of back-and-forth battle between them. When it started the Heechus were much stronger in numbers, and therefore much more powerful, magically speaking.”

My hands gestured wildly as I spoke, fully immersing myself in the tale. Part of me heard Miko’s voice, but I’d no idea if she’d cursed my entire line or offered me a beget, so I shot for simplicity. “Hm?”

“I said, are you alright? You’re hand motions are getting so intense I worry you’ll clip the mantle on your next pass and damage it.”

Grotesques weren’t capable of blushing, but if I could have, I knew I’d be pink from my scalp to my talons. I cleared my throat. “Uh, yes. Fine,” I coughed, mildly choking on my own spit, heightening the dilemma. “Moving on. I shite you not, from what the Heechus told me, they had these epic battles. The scenes they described remind me of how humans used to wage war, meeting on one battlefront, both sides lined up in neat, even rows. Except imagine magic taking place of manmade weaponry.”

“Wait. If they both had magic, I don't understand how the population of Heechus decreased so dramatically.”

Huff sighed deeply, covering his face with his long ears. I glanced around the bookcases, visually checking in on our fluffy audience, despair weighing me down as most of them curled into tight balls and piled on top of one another for comfort but appeared to continue listening to my explanation.

“I didn’t mean to upset them with my bluntness,” Miko claimed, my heart skipping a beat. “I’m not known for my tact in delicate situations.” Her shoulders rounded, and she cast her eyes around the room. “I’m sorry, Heechus. Please forgive me?”

I swallowed thickly, looking at the ground. “Heechus are not violent by nature. They were created, not born, much like grotesques by a faye. Well, at least the first few dozen were.” My emotions rocked my mental and physical stability, fracturing my thoughts and sending agony through every nerve of my brain. Bending at the waist, I acknowledged everything metaphorically weighing me down, then gave in, spreading my wings and lying flat on my back like a starfish.

I waited for some comment about how it must hurt lying on my wings, either from Miko or my demons, but none came. Although laying on one’s wings is unnatural for most creatures, it didn’t bother grotesques, our stone bodies more resilient. More of my hesitations about her dissolved, causing me to run a hand over my jaw.

Maybe she's not as bad as I want to believe. Or she’s more skilled at deception than I realized and should be more wary of her.

Marv laughed quietly. “You think?”

I slid a hand down my face, clawed tips digging in, then blew out of breath. “At the risk of this becoming a full-blown lecture,” I paused, turning to my face toward my not-mate and winked, forcing levity into my voice I didn’t feel. My tail, the mind-of-its-own-arsehole, betrayed me, lashing against the oak boards as I elaborated further. “So, yes, an ancient faye created the first dozen or so Heechus from his family’s grimoire. No one knows how old the grimoire itself was because at their point it had already been passed down to him, continuing the tradition from several generations prior. He crafted the Heechus with strange faye magic, the strongest type of power of all, except for the magic within fairytales.

Miko nodded, asking for no further explanation, at least for now. I admired her delicate features, not missing the way she zipped the charm along her necklace. Huff’s purrs rhythmically reverberating through the air brought a smile to my face as well as helping to elevate my mood.

“After the faye male used the entirety of the grimoire’s pages to make the first family of Heechus, they spiraled into existence on their own from there. Because of the elusive nature of magic, there are no hard and fast rules binding or regulating it, and as a result supernaturals don't know a whole lot about its origins.” I tapped a claw against my chin. “Although, I’ve heard rumors that the faye know a great deal more, but keep their secrets close to the chest.” I pinned my writhing tail under my heel, the racket it was making me want to tear it off.

“That’s fascinating,” Miko supplied, leaning forward and adjusting her glasses. “They don’t have to procreate?”

“Nope. It’s sort of a mutual manifestation of the queen Heechu of each family and its members. They collectively wish younglings into existence, an egg, or several of them manifesting, at once.”

“I am moments away from pelting you with questions about the Heechu hierarchy, mating, sleep habits…” She laughed. “See what I mean?” she asked, allowing a small, self-depreciating smile to curve her lips upward. “I really do want to know more about the dark witches. The Heechu Hunter Coven? We should call them HHC, it’s a simple enough anagram.” She sighed. “I digress, but trust me, I will be asking you so many questions, probably way more than you're used, in the future.” Miko thumped her journal on her knee. “In fact, I'll write them down in my journal and effectuate an on-going list for you.”

She glanced at her wristwatch. “I really should be working,” she said, “or working on my master’s courses. I haven't even checked to see if anyone entered the library, so, we should probably speed this up.”