Chapter 50: 50__Seduced by a human

Maia clutched her hands together, sitting very still on the high stool. They stood around her in the Hostel bar area, staring at her like she was a new bug specie under a microscope.

“So…” Clover whispered carefully. “Is it okay for her to, like… breathe our air?”

Maia looked at her with exasperation. “Uhm… I’ve been... doing that since I was born.”

“I can’t believe she fought Zainab,” Cleo said, staring wide-eyed at Maia.

“I didn’t really fight her,” Maia murmured.

“She’s well-endowed for a human,” said Claudia, studying Maia like it was the first time she was seeing her. “Very beautiful.”

Maia awkwardly wrapped her arms over her chest and middle.

“The fact that she survived living with Roman is the most shocking of all,” Cecile stated, looking at Maia over the top of her spectacles. “His strong Vampire Sorcerer energy hasn’t either seduced her into servitude or drained her soul. She’s a special one.”

All the women nodded in agreement.

“But the most shocking thing,” said Cassie. “Is that a weak, twenty-five year old human girl… was able to lift a six century old Vampire Sorcerer in the air and smack him on the ground.”

At the mention of the forbidden topic, all the ladies slowly turned to look pointedly at the corner of the room.

The subject of their observation sat extremely still on the steps, his chin in his hand and his eyes blankly staring at Maia.

Rogan didn’t have the time to respond to their teasing right now. He was trying to process quite a lot of information at once and it was causing a brain blockage.

This little forest rabbit. She wasn’t a Werewolf, nor an Enchantress, nor a Fairy, nor a Geminus. She was none of all his earlier suspicions.

She was a human!

Rogan’s lips pressed together as he stared disbelievingly at her.

He, Rogan, the most powerful Vampire Sorcerer in all the four Kingdoms, was seduced by a *human*?!

“Hah!” Rogan suddenly shouted, releasing a heavy breath of frustration.

It made no sense! When she said she didn’t know who she was, he’d been certain that she was some mystic creature! But she wasn’t! How in the hell could a human have drawn in a Vampire the way she drew him in and made him feel and see and desire nothing but her? It added up as perfectly as four plus apple!

Maia shrunk away from his staring gaze, wanting to glare back but not having the confidence to. You just kind of lost your confidence after finding out that you were the weakest specie in a room full of others who could sprout magic out of their palms or turn themselves into tigers and whatnot.

Human. Bah! What a rotten specie for her to be!

“She’s not out-worldly, you know,” Laurel said calmly, mixing drinks at the bar behind Maia. “She can breathe our air, as she’s obviously been doing perfectly well. It’s not like humans breathe oxygen and we breathe fairy dust. She’s able to fight well because I trained her myself and her Nana fed her potions from a young age. The potions are also the reason why someone, even as powerful as Rogan, would be unable to tell that she’s a human.” She looked at the Hostel ladies who listened attentively. “She could probably fight one of you girls to the death.”

Cassie immediately scoffed and smirked, raking a hand through her hair. “I think not. Not me, at least.”

Maia nodded. “I agree. I’d probably die if you just sneezed in my direction.”

“You both underestimate the strength she has,” Laurel told them. She looked at Rogan. “Don’t you agree, Sorcerer? She’s strong for a human.”

Rogan glared sulkily at them. They were chattering on without even knowing his predicament. He had been seduced by a human, for bloody hell’s sake! What was he going to do about his reputation?! Could he ever show his face amongst the most handsome, evil Vampire villains again? Damn it all to hell.

Maia pursed her lips when Rogan said nothing. “I think he’s in shock.”

Scoffing, Rogan stood up and headed for the bar, averting his gaze from the human in the room. He needed a stiff drink.

“Gimme a shot, Fairy,” he told Laurel gruffly as he approached.

Maia turned on her stool as he walked by her. “Are you still—”

Losing her balance, she fell forward with a shriek.

“Hey!” Rogan warned, catching her. “Can’t you be careful?! Don’t you know that human bones are weaker than twigs?!”

“Not exactly,” murmured Laurel.

“You clearly don’t know how weak you are,” Rogan went on. “One wrong move and you’re a pile of crumbs!”

“I flipped you in the air,” Maia reminded him, mildly annoyed.

Clover laughed loudly, digging through her cupboard of snacks.

Rogan glared at the back of her rainbow-colored hair before looking back at Maia. “Look, that was a one-time thing and you caught me off-guard. All I’m saying is you should be careful with your fragile human body.”

Cleo dropped her elbow on the bar. “Let’s arm wrestle, Maia. I want to see how long you last.”

Clover popped up, her pigtails swinging and her arms full. “Which snacks do you want to eat? I think you should keep up your strength so you don’t get weak. I hear humans die if they don’t eat every two hours!”

“Hey, back off,” Rogan told them. “She’s not your little test subject.”

“Yeah!” said Cassie, crouching behind the bar. “She’s not your little test subject!” Standing, she lifted thirty pounds of raw meat and slammed it down next to Laurel’s drinks in front of Maia. “Exactly how much of this can a human eat and how fast?”

Rogan rolled his eyes. “Humans can’t eat raw meat dripping with blood, silly. That’s a Vampire. For a human, the meat must be drained of blood.” He looked at Maia. “Right?”

Laurel made a face at them. “Drained and cooked.”

Cassie gasped. “You can’t eat raw meat? But… that’s criminal! I eat raw meat, at least, once a week when in my Gemini form to stay strong in this form. How do you enjoy the chewy flesh and the sweet, aromatic blood if it’s drained and cooked?!”

Maia pursed her lips and shrugged. “H-how do we? I have… no idea.”

“Literally no idea,” said Laurel, mixing Rogan a drink. “She has no clue about any of the things you’re asking her, so leave the poor girl be.”

“You know what,” Rogan said, once more back to staring viciously at Maia. “I don’t like this.”

His words were the last straw. She pouted, finally feeling sadness and disappointment after the shock of finding out her specie. “You think I do? Huh?! You think I’m overjoyed about being human?!”

Unable to stop herself, Maia burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. “I would have been so m-much happier if I was at least a F-fairy like Nana!” she wept.

Rogan blinked at the unexpected outcome as the ladies glared at him.

Cleo looked at Rogan. “Wow.”

“Geez, Master Rogan,” said Cecile.

“Be a little less insensitive, would you?” muttered Claudia.

“Yeah, the girl just found out she can’t eat meat the right way,” said Cassie, glaring at Rogan.

Even Clover shook her head disapprovingly, her mouth too full of gummy bears to say anything.

Rogan closed his eyes and sighed peacefully. Why did it feel so right when they criticized him? He felt like his villainous reputation was restored, although the forest rabbit’s tears made his gut twist guiltily.

A loud slam made them all go silent. They looked at each other in question.

“What was that?” whispered Claudia.

There was a loud marching and then the front door flew open.

Aiden stormed in, his white hair bouncing up and down like a dove’s wings.

“Rogan!” he roared.

Looking puzzled, Rogan looked at him. “What? Calm down, there’s steam coming out of your ears.”

Maia wiped her tears, enchanted to see actual smoke coming out of the King’s ears. Darn it! Why couldn’t she have had a Gemini soul of fire too?! *Human*. Gah!

“What is he doing here?” Cassie muttered, putting away her raw meat.

“Welcome, your royal Majesty, King Aiden,” said Cecile with a flamboyant curtsey.

Aiden glanced at her. “Ah, yes, hello and all that.” He pointed at Rogan. “I am sick and tired of having to come and get your ass out of here every time I need you! You’ve been missing for four days! Four!”

Rogan downed his drink, loving the burn it left down it his throat. “So?” he asked Aiden. “I had things to do.” His gaze pointedly went to Maia. “A little human was in trouble.”

“My blazing ball!” said Aiden through gritted teeth. “You’re supposed to attend my ball! It’s tonight and here you all are like lizards in the sun!”

The women all gasped, murmuring excitedly, but Cassie gave him a sharp look. “Who’s he calling lizards?”

“That’s not important, Cassidy Germaine Phillips!” Aiden gritted out. “If you were educated, you’d know what a simile is.”

Cassie cracked her knuckles. “That’s it, I’m killing him.”

Cleo jumped in her path, holding her back as Cecile distract Aiden. “We’ll be there, King. We are only too glad to honor a royal invitation.”

“Let me kill him!” Cassie roared, getting even more furious when Aiden stuck his tongue out at her.

Rogan downed another drink as he watched them. He looked at Maia. She looked slightly saddened, her eyes showing evidence of her tears. He felt some sudden disgusting remorse about his teasing her and Rogan found himself drying her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Maia turned her attention from the chaos before her to look at him, not surprised to find that his touch soothed her currently troubled mind.

“You really wanna go?” he murmured.

Maia immediately brightened. Wait, was he changing his mind? He’d told her they wouldn’t go. Excited, she nodded. “Y-yes! I want to go!”

Rogan sighed. “Fine. Then we’ll go.” He looked at Aiden. “You heard, Aiden? Brace yourself. You’re about to have a whole squad of misfits at your little royal party.”