Next Door to Death

The horned god was imposing but not threatening as he loomed over the full bathtub. His large almond shaped eyes were a flat green color and dull set high in his a goat like head. Moss was clumped in the hair that covered his tall well-muscled body, which, to some degree had humanish stance and appearance. His immense lanky arms were stretched in front of him the equally elegant hands over the basin palms down fingers spread. Crowning the tip of each large digit were large hooked claws, though, as if in direct opposition wisps of white energy wafted from his palms into the bath water.

The rim of the tub was adorned with an alternating pattern of green candles and glittering gold sticks of temple incense. They illuminated the creature towering an easy nine feet above them. He was stooping; the tips of his large curling black horns grazed the ceiling. They threatened to blemish the moss-covered mortar but never actually did. Despite his large size nothing was displaced, nothing was harmed, and everything in the room was absolutely silent. What was taking place was a healing ritual.

The water of the tub was choked with white sage leaves and lilac blossoms. The figure submerged therein was naked and vulnerable to the being above her. Yet there was no need to be guarded or even modest in the entity's presence. Sherah’s wounds needed his brand of holistic tending. Though they were only small scratches, the demon that made them had leached plenty of dark energy into her body. She had begun to vomit the moment she had left Keera and Kole to walk to her apartment. Her patron god, the one standing over her, had been waiting on the other side of her front door.

Having known him too long to wonder how he ad gotten in or why she was receiving his brand of TLC the half dragon settled for asking about something else.

“ Why did you light my summoning candles and incense if you were already here?” her voice chipped the silence like a rock against a very expensive vase.

The towering deity’s chuckle made the water in the tub ripple inwards.

“ You aren’t relaxed by them. I find the combination of amber light and the sent of burning myrrh and what ever else is in that stuff to be quite pleasant.” One of his massive feet knocked against the base of the tub. “ Silence. This is serious business.”

She stifled a laugh and shut her eyes. As the charged water wrapped itself around her the nausea caused tension in her abdomen dulled and eventually died.

“ You really shouldn’t attack everything in your path. Especially demons you know nothing about” the voice above her boomed.

“ I had it handled.” Taking the renewal of communication as a sign he had finished healing her she sat up. “ I have no idea how that bastard managed to pierce my skin.”

“ Anything that can mar dragon scale is bad news.” Her view of him was blocked by a fluffy purple towel. “ The future I have seen is a troubling one indeed. You must trust instincts over orders if you wish to come out of it alive.”

She took the towel from him exiting the tub.

“ What the hell is that supposed to….” She realized he was gone and wrapped the towel around her self. “ Well damn, don’t stay around for tea and cookies or a thank you.”

She had known the forest god her entire life. He had always been there to protect her and was the only breath of fresh air as far as her life was considered. Working for the Council of Draelin was bloody and often suffocating. She had no tangible friends to speek of and lived under close watch.

Abomination they had called her they day they killed her mother. The woman’s crime had been consorting with another species. Since then her existence had been allowed under the thumb of the council. They provided everything, food, an apartment, and her job. The aforementioned housing complex just happened to be home to one the most renowned reapers in the order. Kole lived next door by happenstance. She sighed. If they hung her death in front of her nose she would be less inclined to defy them.

Leaving the bathroom she managed to drag her tired body across the apartment and fell unceremoniously into her bed. A new wave of nausea hit her as she pondered what it would mean to trust her instincts over orders. Her eyes burned with the onset of tears as she squeezed them closed. What ever was about to happen her part in it would bring her close to death. She startled as the slam of a door echoed in the hallway. With a shaking wheeze she stopped the flow of tears. The reptile in her cringed as the temperature in her room dropped. Kole was home.

“ It doesn’t matter.” Sherah assured her self curling into a ball as the moist towel brought the coldness of the air against her body. “ You’ve lived next door to him your whole adult life. You can take getting a bit closer.”