MHOS Part 35: And here I thought Sirens never settled

I awake alone in bed and before I can begin searching for Husk he walks in the bedroom holding a tray of food, coffee and a fresh set of pre rolls. I go to stand and he swipes my feet up in bed as he places the tray on my lap. "I told you last night that I am taking care of you and that is exactly what I am doing."

I look down at the food "There is way too much here, I couldn't possibly." And he says "Nothing says you can't take care of me too." I smile and pop a fork full of breakfast into his mouth as he pours me a cup of coffee and says "See? Symbiosis" as he takes the fork and hands me my coffee.

We sit in bed together, eating breakfast, drinking coffee and discussing plans to ID & harvest plants before we go to work for the day, and for a moment we forget we're in Hell.. We're just two people in bed, feeding each other, talking about the future. I kiss Husk as we finish up the food and drink and grab 2 pre rolls. I put them both in my mouth and light them. I slide one in his mouth and get out of bed to get dressed.

Alastor will be looking for us this morning.. we can't lounge around for too long. I grab the book on deals and walk downstairs to do some reading and grab a second cup of coffee as Husk showers and gets ready for his day ahead of him. I sit at the table, facing the front door as I read my book, sip my coffee, and smoke. "Right on cue" I say as Alastor walks in without knocking first. His face falls flat as he replies "Husker?"

"In the shower" I reply as I flip the book over to the next page. Alastor starts towards the stairs and I say "If you're getting in the shower with Husk I'm going to need photographic evidence" loudly enough to warn Husk that Alastor is on his way up. Alastor stops with his foot on the first stair and says "Brash"

He sits beside me at the table looking at the book on the table. I close the book and he reads that it's the book on deals I got from my day at Pride. He slides the closed book in front of him, studying the intricate gold detailing. "It looks like you've been taking the time to do your homework my dear. Not something everyone does once they arrive." He sees Husk heading down the stairs in his peripherals and turns to face me. He looks down at my mouth and gently plucks the pre roll out of my mouth and places it between his lips taking a deep, satisfying drag.

Husk rolls his eyes as he walks past us with a tray of breakfast dishes to get his second coffee not saying a thing about it. He's actively trying not to stress me out again like they both did yesterday. He grabs his coffee, puts the tray of dishes at the sink & starts washing the dishes.

Relieved with the non-reaction, I ask, "Did you need Husk for anything or are you just interfering with our morning.. again?" Both men stop dead in their tracks and look at me.. Neither of them expected me to speak up. I haven't before, I've literally run away, the boldness was surprising.

"I came to tell Husk of the changes in the hours at the Tavern, due to changes in the schedule Husk will no longer be needed until 4pm." Husk smiles at me. "You hear that? We've got more daylight hours! We finally have a good window to go out and study local flora like you wanted to!"

Alastor interrupts "I don't see how that will be possible. Ella and I will be travelling the lakes during the daytime." Husk sneers "That won't last forever" Alastor chuckles and says, "Neither will the year-long mentorship I have lined up for her." as his face darkens he finishes with "But a lot can happen in a year can't it?"

Husk and I both look at Alastor and his face brightens, "Just look at all that our dear Ella has accomplished in the last 2 weeks. Three deals, 2 houses, 2 caves, a car, and a soul all within a week of each other." He sits on the arm of the couch, looks me in the eye and says "The potential I could guide" as he gently touches my chin in admiration. "I know right?" Husk replies "She truly is an inspiration." Trying not to start something.

Alastor looks back at Husk "I love a person with ambition. Not everyone is cut out to make something big of their lives. Some people are happy to simply BE a bartender in a bachelor pad. Others" he says as his gaze settled back on me "are meant for greater things."

I glare down at Alastor & say "Did you not hear that you just gave us extra daylight hours in which he plans on learning plant life with me? Or perhaps you don't believe that knowledge is power." Alastor's smile turns to me and he says "And here I thought that Sirens never settled." He rests his eyes on Husk "You've settled" he says to me as he hands me my pre roll back and exits the house.

Husk snarls "He just doesn't know when to fucking quit does he?" I look at Husk with a smile "What?" he asks.. "I think you should hunt with me today" Husk smiles, "Don't you have to work for Alastor searching the lakes? Are you still searching Lust Lake today or are you off to Obsession?" I giggle and say "Didn't you just hear Alastor? You don't work until 4pm! And I never set a time with Alastor now, did I? Come on.. a quick kill.. it'll be exactly what we need to start the day!"

I grab Husk by the hand and drag him out the door laughing gleefully as we walk our way between Gary's and the diner I ran into the first night. I grab Husks face and kiss him deeply, as my tentacles slide around his body, covering his ears from my song. My eyes glow purple as I start singing one of my favorite songs, dancing with Husk smiling up at me in pure admiration as we float through the air. I see movement out of the corner of my eye, lift Husk to my face, kiss him gently on the nose as I lower him back down on the ground and we turn to face the gang that came out of the woods.

Husk laughed as he readied for the fight ahead. I put my tentacles away and asked "bare knuckle or brass?" as I tossed my brass knuckles at him. I went running at the men coming out of the woods as Husk fitted the brass knuckles on his hand and followed behind me. I leap on the first man shoving him down to the ground, hard as I do and I start punching him in the face repeatedly.

A second, bigger guy tries to get me off the first guy and Husk grabs him, throwing him to the ground and kicking him. We look up at the rest and there are still 7 more. I smile, wink at Husk and say "Here we go!" I grab the third by the ankle as he tries to kick me while I'm on top of the 1st, I turn to him and smile saying "You're not even trying are you?" and fear flashes through his eyes for a brief moment before I lift his leg and yank it down forcing him into doing the splits while I use his leg for leverage to stand back up. He falls to his side holding his legs closed together and I knock him out with a round house kick before looking for more.

Two more come flying my way grabbing both of my wrists. I let my claws grow their full length quickly as they both fall to the ground screaming as their hands turn into swiss cheese trapped by talons and the laughter consumes me.. Almost

"Ella!" I hear Husk shout from behind me 4 of the men had ganged up on him all at once as the 5th was getting back up to rejoin the fight. He's taking a beating from every angle and I say playfully "Now that's just not fair, I want to play too!" and I slice the throat of the 5th guy as I approach the 4 that have Husk on the ground.. I leap on a back and snap a neck and suddenly the 3 remaining back off of Husk and turn their attention to me. My eyes glow purple with excitement as my tentacles grow out of my hair and grab all three of them. I start squeezing one as the other two watch in horror and I say "You have one chance to live" as the man in the middle gasps for air.

The two watching both start nodding frantically and I ease my grip on the third.. "You're going to do exactly as I say, or I'm going to kill you. Yes?" as I lifted the first one to look me in the eye. He nods yes emphatically and I ask "For how long?" and he says "Forever?" and I say "Good boy" and kiss him on the mouth sealing his fate. "And you?" I ask the second. He spits in my face and I stab him through the heart, pulling it out of his chest and taking a big, delicious bite as his body slumps in my tentacle. I look up at the third and say "You've got no problem giving me your soul, right?" He nods staring at the blood dripping down my face and I say "I need to hear you say it" playfully at him as a tear rolls down his cheek. "I will do exactly as you say or you will kill me.. forever" and I say "Oh, yes" as I wipe the tear off his cheek and lick it off my finger & I kiss him deeply as he shudders. Purple smoke wraps a neat little collar around his throat as I break the kiss and he frantically starts spitting and wiping the blood off his face.

"Strip the dead guys for me, I want their keys, their wallets and the location of their vehicles and houses. Those belong to me now." The two men get to work as I look at my watch. "Give all that information to him, I have to get to work. When you are done I expect you to do exactly as he says until I return."

I dust Husk off and kiss his bruised face and say "At least you can take a beating like a champ?" He snorts painfully saying "4 guys.. 4 guys tackled me" and I promise to take care of him tonight as I kiss his face a bunch more times & leave him there to collect my newly acquired property..

Husks POV: and for a moment as she walked away.. Husk really did feel like she settled.. She single handedly took them all down, took 2 more souls by force, and left him to supervise as she walked to work, leaving him with Gary for the day.