Oh shit. She was staring at me like a deer in headlights, swords hanging limp at her sides, glowing blood dripping onto the ground like a grisly metronome. She took a step backwards from me, her head twitching, eyes wild, and I knew I had to do something and quickly.

“Here, let’s get your blades cleaned off,” I said with as casual and calm an air as I could manage.

I fished a cloth out of a side pocket on my small pack, walking over to her like what I’d seen was the most normal thing in the world. She was still just staring at me, tongue peeking out through her lips every now and then to taste the air. Her breathing was fast and ragged too, and I tried not to look too closely at how her knuckles were white around the hilts of her fangs.

I knelt down, still as casually as I could, and gently reached out with the cloth. When she didn’t shy away, I began to clean her swords with slow, efficient strokes, until both were free of the creature’s blood.

“There we go,” I told her, leaning back to rest on my heels. “Clean now, you can put ‘em away. How do you clean them normally? Only got two hands after all.”

That seemed to get through to her, and she blinked at me, then frowned. “Huh?”

“Your fangs or whatever, how do you clean them after stabbing someone?” I asked, motioning to the two blades that were still very much not sheathed. “Because like, they’re both all gunked up, but you can’t put one away so you can clean the other one. You’d get the sheath all dirty.”

Her jaw dropped, and she openly gawked at me now, like I was explaining quantum physics to her or something. Which would be silly, I don’t even come close to understanding that shit.

When she still didn’t move, I just shrugged and poked at one of her hands with a finger. “Come on Bassi. Movement would be nice. I kinda don’t want to die here.”

“Right,” she murmured, as if slowly coming out of a haze. I watched her swallow and twitch, shaking herself slightly. Then she was moving again, her blades ramming home into their sheaths and her eyes once more alert and surveying our surroundings. “Safety isn’t much further. I set up a little bolthole a while back, for when I come down to train.”

“Smart thinking,” I grinned, standing again, although slowly. Didn’t want to spook her again.

The look she sent me was almost shy, and with a little gesture she began to move again. I followed at her side this time, stealing worried glances over at her every now and then. She was functioning partly on autopilot, I could tell. Scanning for threats and navigating this maze of death.

“Here it is,” she murmured, stopping at an unassuming patch of leafy vine on the wall. After a quick glance around, she pushed it all aside to reveal a tunnel, smaller than what we’d been walking through but otherwise the same. Glowing shit everywhere still. “Quickly, we don’t want to be seen entering.”

She didn’t need to say more. I stepped through, treading lightly as I followed the winding and claustrophobic passage. A minute or so passed before it turned a corner and suddenly opened up into a cozy little chamber. It was about the size of the tavern room back up in the house, with a small burbling waterfall pouring out of the ceiling to land in a pool that didn’t appear to drain into anywhere. I guess it went further down.

“Water is safe,” Bassi murmured, heading over towards a little nook. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that she was pushing away a camouflaged cloth covering, I could see a wooden floor and a few items of cheap furniture.

“Oh, wow,” I blurted, rushing after her.

Inside was a space big enough to fit me lying down in it three times over lengthwise and twice along its width. A chest sat off to the side of the entrance, and a little desk opposite it. The floor beyond was just rough, bare wood and through a crack I could make out the glow of something. Probably another deadly poisonous plant or some shit.

Bassi went straight to the chest, opening it to reveal… a shitload of pillows and furs. Then she was throwing them haphazardly at the open area in the back, until the chest was empty and we had a big ass pile of soft stuff. It smelled a little dusty, but not mouldy, which I guess was why it had all been locked in the chest.

“We’ll sleep there,” she mumbled, taking off her pack and placing it on the ground. She was avoiding my eyes, trying not to look up or even in my direction. I was not going to sleep next to a weird, awkward and jumpy Basilisk. That sounded like a hazard to my health.

Stepping up behind her while making sure I scuffed my feet on the wooden floor to let her know I was coming, I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You okay, Bassi?”

She twitched at my touch, then whirled on me with a sudden fire in her eyes. She didn’t say anything at first, just staring with something close to fury. Then she whispered, her tone harsh, “Why are you acting so… so calm?”

“I mean… I don’t actually feel calm, if that means anything,” I said, leaning back as she stepped into my personal space. “But like, I’m a little confused? You’re fae, like me… and you can move real fast with like, wind powers or something. I don’t get your reaction to me seeing that. So you’re even more badass than I thought? Doesn’t change the fact that I think you’re pretty amazing… oh, and really hot. That too.”

When she moved next, I flinched at the speed of it, then stilled in surprise as her lips caught mine with a hungry growl. I was backed against the desk before I even realised it, her hands kneading insistently at my sides, then down to my waist. Holy shit…. Bassi was kissing me and... help, my whole body on fire. Waves of hot and cold rushed up and down my spine, my eyes fluttering closed as I tentatively kissed her back.

How could something so aggressive also feel so soft, so… sensual. I had no idea what was happening, what to do with my hands or even my lips as she pressed up against me. I was running on some sort of instinct, rapidly losing the ability for conscious thought as I gave in to the need that was rushing through my veins like venom.

Her lips trapped my lower one between them, so warm and supple, and I shuddered. A breath escaped me, almost a moan, and my hands finally came up to hover tentatively over her hips. This got a mild grumble of annoyance from her, and one hand temporarily freed itself from its duties at my sides to push one of mine down to grip firmly at her hip.

Was I shaking? I think I was shaking? My hands fumbling confused at her hips, then around to encircle her in an embrace. Wow, why didn’t everyone kiss each other all the time if this is what it was like?

If it was possible, she grew even more insistent against me, from the way our lips would gently part, only for her to lunge at me once more, to the way her hands dug into the muscles of my back. If she’d had claws, I’d have been in trouble. She had fangs though, and when she sucked my bottom lip into her mouth and bit down gently, I really did moan, losing any ability to hold myself up in the process.

Letting out a shuddering breath, she let me go, allowing me to slump back against the desk, wide eyed and panting, arms flopping uselessly. “Jesus, Bassi! What was that for?” I asked in something like a whine. The parts I had between my legs were straight up just pulsing to my heartbeat.

She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out and I watched her take a deep, steadying breath. She turned away slightly, running her hands through her hair as she stared blankly into space. “It… I… you just… don’t care?” she phrased it like a question, and it took me a second to even compute what she was referring to.

“Wait, about the whole fast deadly hot girl thing?” I asked, mouth hanging open now. “Because like, apparently I can’t get enough of that. It’s pretty amazing. You’re amazing.”

“Well…!” she blurted, whirling on me once more. She paused, at a loss for words for a moment before she barrelled on, gesturing wildly. “Normally people have a way different reaction! I’m wind court, Mist. People don’t just… go and clean the blades of someone from the wind court after she’s literally just cut something down.”

“For the record, I did that to show I was chill about it,” I told her honestly. “You looked like you were about to hyperventilate, so I just acted calm about it. Also, I have no idea what the court of wind is.”

“The court of wind… they were at war with a nearby human kingdom when the war of evil reached them,” she told me, her voice going soft and heartbroken. “They stood by and watched the humans die. They didn’t try to step in, like the court of growth, the next closest court to human lands.”

“Right, so the ancestors of those people probably hate your court…” I said with a slow nod as my slower brain caught up with what she was saying.

“It gets worse…” she said, her tone a whisper now. “At the start… some of… some of my people attacked the humans in aid of the forces of evil. Not directly, but they raided supply lines and burned crops. Their war had been bitter, atrocities on both sides, and initially the wind court just wanted to get some cheap shots in. They didn’t really take the evil god and his minions seriously until it was too late.”

“Yikes, that sucks,” I winced, then shrugged. “But Bassi, that shit is ancient history now. There’s no way in hell it would change how I view you. Actually no, it does… but for the better. You’re just even more badass now, with a side of that cool forbidden factor.”

That surprised her yet again, and finally she smiled, shaking her head in wonder. “You have no idea how grateful I am to hear you say that, Mist. Thank you.”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” I shrugged, giving her a cheeky smile. “You did take my first kiss though. That was kinda rude. Didn’t even ask or anything!”

“Oh, you enjoyed it,” she said with a roll of her eyes, although her smile had upgraded to a grin. “I heard that whimpering moan.”

“It wasn’t whimpering!” I exclaimed, then tried to push myself off the desk, only to wobble and fail.

An eyebrow went up and a hand came down to rest on her hip.

“Don’t give me that look!” I complained, frowning up at her.

The eyebrow just rose higher.