۞ VIII ۞

"BY WHAT MY DAD TOLD ME ABOUT HIM, HE'S A MONSTER physically wise. He saw him when he came to take my mom away. With horns, wings, and standing taller than 7 feet tall," she played with the ends of her braids, in a clear sign of her anxiety.

But if he abused her mother, he wouldn't tell her. He would make the Devil look like the monster, wouldn't he? "And can his word for it be trusted?"

She pressed her lips together, "I don't know. But it's all I've heard from him. All the tales say he has pale skin, glowing red eyes like two blood spheres, tall as fuck, and raven black hair. Some tales add horns, others add wings. The only thing I know is that, when my father told me that, he stank to the purest and strongest type of fear." That's a sight I'll never be able to forget. "I almost thought he would shit himself right there."

If he isn't guilty, why would he be scared? "What a sight, hm?" Lewis joked and got a laugh from her. "You think he knows what your mother bargained with the Devil for?"

"Definitely. But he'll never tell me. I know my father enough to know that he'll not tell me shit about that. You have no idea of how scared he gets at the simple mention of the Devil, Lewis. It's as if he's traumatized!"

"He might very well be," if he's guilty, as I believe.

Donna opened the door of the tavern, and he followed her inside, then to the seats in front of the balcony. And he couldn't avoid thinking how cute it was that her feet were flying when his were touching the ground. Then Raye and Grover came closer to them and looked him up from head to toe.

Raye grinned, "Quite the cute boy ya brought here, ma' love. Is he ya boyfrien'?"

"I wish," Donna grinned. "But I can't kiss or do any other thing without burning the person to death, remember? Besides, he's too precious for me to date when I'm about to fucking die," and she laughed, to his dismay.

She said she wished to be my girlfriend. Fuck. She said I'm too precious. "Oh, I like the way ya look at her, boy. Giving eyes that say she's just as precious to ya!" Grover handed him a glass of wine. "On the house."

Lewis blushed, surprised at how intimate they were with her, "Thank you, sir. And she is precious to me!"

"Stop, Lewis," Donna gasped. "This place is full of alcohol; I'll explode everything and you all together if you keep that up! And I don't want to kill any of you."

"Sorry," he chuckled. "Hard to stay shut."

"Four slices of that sweet pie, Grover, please!"

"Ya looking paler, lil' cat. Are ya fine?" He asked as he put a plate with two each in front of both.

"Did ya throw up?" Raye asked worried.

"Yeah. I heard something horrible that made me sick in my stomach and I may have spilled all the food I ate." She took the jar of wine she had taken with her and gave it back to them, "Here, I drank it all."

"When did ya two meet?" Raye changed the subject, since they were eating and talking about vomit wouldn't be necessarily good.

Donna tilted her head, "When I was 14," she spoke after she swallowed the pie. "He's the leader of the kids of the orphanage I help every night. They all rely on him, and he's strong," she turned to him. "Both physically and in a magical aspect." Then she focused on her pie again, "Lewis has a ridiculously amount of power and possess telekinesis. He'll be quite the force to be reckoned with in the future!"

The couple sat down in front of them, watching as the two ate. "Ya must be quite amazing, if ya is receiving compliments from this picky lil' cat," Grover grinned. "If she says ya will be strong in the future, we believe."

"Aye," Raye winked at Lewis. "Donna's the best girl we know. Ya has a good taste to be enamored by her. She is strong, powerful, and gorgeous. But reckless!"

Donna rolled her eyes, "It's part of my charm."

"It certainly is," Lewis grinned. "So, when did you meet her? You seem close."

"She was 11 when she first jumped from the hill and came to the village to taste our food, sayin' it was far better than the food in the castle up the hill," Raye said and petted her hair. Like a stray cat in the middle of the nigh'.

"Before this lil' cat settle here, she ate on all taverns in the village, till' she decided our food suited her picky lil' mouth the best," Grover handed another glass of wine to her, and she winked at him as a thanks.

Donna, being the glutton she is, finished her food way before he did his, and was on her third glass of wine, when she turned to Grover and Raye with puppy eyes, "Can I ask you something?"

Ah, these cat eyes. "Aye," Grover exclaimed.

"Whatever ya wants, ma' love!"

"Can you take of Lewis when I'm gone? I have already planned some big things for him, but I wanted you to meet him. He's a good person and works hard. I intend for him to be a Knight when I changed the rulers of the Marquise before I'm gone," Donna whispered, leaned closer to them and Raye's eyes sparked, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Under yer uncle's managemen'?" She breathed.

Donna nodded, "Aye. I won't be here to take care of the bandits who try to mess with you. I'm positive Lewis will make the cut and will grow to be an outstanding powerful Knight. If you take care of him, I'm sure he'll protect you back, and will defend you from those bastards," she turned to Lewis. "Can you do that?"

I'll do anything for her. "Yes. I promise you I can."

She turned to the couple again, "He's a person of word as much as I am. I trust him, so you can trust him too. I just need to make sure you, who need me, will be all in a good path when I'm gone. Both Lewis and the kids, you two, and Lilian. I need to know you will be fine or I won't be able to die so peacefully."

Raye and Grover glared at her teary, "Ya doesn't need to manipulate us with ya feelings, lil' cat. We trust ya judgemen' ya know that" he turned to Lewis. "Ya can also lean on us, boy. Lil' cat likes ya, so, we like ya too."

"Ya can count on us," Raye added.

He nodded, feeling blessed for having Donna in his life even if for not too long. "You can also count on me!"

"Good. Good." Donna exclaimed, tipsy. "Now, to make it better, I just need to kill everyone on my list, and then I'll have done all I could before my deadline arrived."

They gasped, "Don't say it out loud, Donna," Lewis exclaimed carefully looking around. "Someone might hear you and cause trouble."

"What can they do? I'm the daughter of the Marquis, I'm fucking strong, and I'll be dying in a week. Not even my miserable family isn't messing with me because they know they will be free of me in six days," Donna grinned viciously. "Or so they believe!"

She got up, jumping from her seat, then kissed the side of Lewis lips, touching the corner of it, then jumped away from him. Donna put her boot over the seat and took two of the many daggers hidden in her outfit, then handed it one to each of Raye and Grover. She then took the long one that was hidden in her corset and handed it to Lewis, who was still blushing like an idiot with the almost-kiss.

"A present. Their blades are made of obsidian, and they can kill anything, and cause quite the destruction on human skin. The handles are made of boar bones. I made them when I was 10, so cherish because they are unique. They were all made using my Hell Fire. And they are both magical and will always come back to you if you lose it. So, it's anti-theft," she touched the handle of her sword. "I'll give you my sword later this week, Lewis. It'll look good on you. But I'll use it during this week to kill some… snakes. Oh, and do not cut yourselves with them. All my blades are deeply embedding in the deadliest poison I was able to hone," and she said all that why smiling brightly. "It's very useful when killing anyone. Be it a person or a beast."

All of them blinked at her, stunned.

"Oh, I'll also give you my bow and arrows, Lewis. That way you will have a bit of me when you fight with any of your weapons. Learn how to use it later. I also made the bow and the arrows," she took them from her back, as they were there since she came down the hill. "They are entirely made with obsidian, though only the tips of the arrows are poisonous. So, be careful. Don't let the kids play with it!"

Why does this feel like a farewell? It's too soon. "I'll cherish them forever, Donna!"

She smiled and caressed his chin, "I know you will. That's why I'll be giving them to you," and as she passed her thumb through his bottom lip slowly, she jumped away from him as her hands were covered in her Hell Fire. "Aye. I hate this. I want to kiss you, why are you so damn hot if I can't do anything? How unfair. I can't even touch you like I want to. Fucking stupid magic. Well, at least you know these weapons are unbreakable," she showed to them how the arrows were intact even though they were covered by her magic.

"I think she's drunk," Rayed mumbled smiling.

Still blushing, Lewis got up, "I also want to do a lot more than we can, babe," he got closer but didn't touch her as even her hair was covered in flames again. "But as we can't do anything, we better do it in our dreams, okay? And speaking of dreams, you should go home. You might end up doing something you will regret if you stay here in this drunk state."

She sulked, "Aye, I hate that you're right."

"Thank ya for the present, lil' cat. We'll cherish till' the end of our days," Grover exclaimed, smiling kindly.

"We'll stay strong like ya, and protect ourselves with ya weapons. And we'll pass them down on our family as a legacy, to always remember ya and how important ya was and is to us!" Raye said emotionally.

Donna winked at them, "That means a lot to me. Now, I should go, before I burn your tavern down!" Then she turned to Lewis, and as her fire quite down, she kissed the side of his mouth again. "This is all we can do," she giggled jumping away from him again. "See you all in a day!" Then she put on her bow with arrows on her back again and ran out of the tavern.

Going up the hill, and running through the woods again, in the same way she left.