Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

pulled his hands away from each other. Lightning danced between his fingertips.

The ball of energy that was created slowly drifted out of his hands. It hovered for a few moments in front of him before it began to slowly bob down the rest of the tunnel, which was revealed in its light.

He felt he owed her some kind of explanation. “My visitors know not to travel down the tunnels that are unlit.”

“They don’t just walk down here with a candle?”

“They cannot. Flames are incapable of existing here.”

“Nice trick,” she said.

“Your compliment, though sarcastic, is appreciated.”

He held out his arm once more for her to take. They followed the ball of blue light for a few moments until a door appeared before them. His creation drifted to the bottom and squeezed itself underneath the crack at the bottom. Blue light glowed from underneath the sturdy wooden door.

“Are you ready for your surprise?” Wolfgang asked her.

“As I’ll ever be. You aren’t showing me the skeletons in your closet are you?”

He blinked a few times as he tried to understand what she was saying.

Lyra sighed. “Just open the door. We’ll work on your understanding of my jokes later.”

She wouldn’t be joking for much longer. He was about to show her something that he was certain she would thoroughly enjoy. He did not draw out the reveal of her gift. Instead, Wolfgang flung the door open and allowed her to step into one of his most sacred rooms.

He had created an artificial glow along the ceiling. Fog swirled above their heads and mimicked the gentle roll of clouds. Their feet sank into deep moss that sloped down into a deep pool of water that was lit from underneath with a golden glow. Long tendrils of vines hung down and swayed in a breeze that gently kissed their skin.

A whispered spell caused a tattoo on his ribs to glow and burn. The pain was worth it as a swirl of golden glitter danced upon the wind over the water and caused bright ripples to dance towards her. Lyra’s eyes watched the landscape around them as though she had stepped into a storybook.

In a way, she had. Wolfgang had created this place long ago as a refuge for himself. This room above all others was a place to find oneself.

“It’s beautiful.” She turned towards him. “But I do not understand why you’re showing it to me. There are many beautiful places in this world.”

“Ah, but there are not many with them.”

He pointed behind her. She turned with a gasp as the echo of water drops signified they were not alone.

Three tiny women were in the pool. Two remained with just their eyes above the water blinking at them. One had her hands on the moss as her hair tangled around her body and hid most of her form from their eyes.

“What?” Lyra went pale as parchment when she saw them. “Are you keeping them captive here?”

“No.” He had not thought he would have to explain. “They are Nixies I saved a long time ago.”

“Oh.” Her quiet murmur was stunned. “How?”

He knew what she was thinking. Nixies had never managed to exist easily in the human world. They were creatures that lived almost entirely underwater. No one before the merge of the dimensions had thought that they wouldn’t be able to survive.

Their souls were connected deeply with water. Human bodies had to live in air. Because of that, most Nixies had died from sorrow that they were unable to experience the beauty of their underwater realms. They were extremely delicate creatures and very few existed in this world.

Wolfgang had three of them.

He moved to settle his aching body by the water. “They needed a home, and I was capable of creating an environment they could exist in.”

Lyra walked towards them but stilled when the Nixies started to move away. “Why? Why help them?”

“Because I could.”

The more curious Nixie pulled herself out of the water enough to reach out and touch a delicate finger to his calf. Though covered with velvet, he felt water from her hand seep into the fabric.

“Yes.” He nodded at her. “It is healed.”

“What is?” Lyra asked.

“To provide them the necessary gills to exist underwater, I needed to create a new spell. Such things are not comfortable. Nor precisely safe.”

He had nearly lost his leg. The spell had cut him to the bone and stolen the muscles from his knee down. He had done what he could to heal, though his leg would never be the same. It was a sore sight to look at. Chunks of flesh had never grown back and long black tendrils still moved of their own accord underneath his skin.

Lyra took one step closer to him and froze again when the Nixie started to move backwards into the water. Wolfgang tsked at the shy creature.

“They are not trusting of many. Unfortunately, their life has not been an easy one.”

He patted the moss and gave his girls a severe look so they would understand that Lyra was welcome. They knew it was a rare day when Wolfgang would ever scold any of them. Though they dearly loved to cause mischief, they appreciated what he had done for them. Their world was a safe one.

The movement of moss when she settled next to him was enough to make his chest clench in a most unpleasant way. He wasn’t certain what this change she had brought about in him was, but he knew it was not easily tolerable. The scent of saltwater and fresh air tickled his nose when her hair swung near him.

It was torture. Pure torture to be this close to her. And he simply had no idea why.

“So you save lesser known creatures and raise people from the dead,” she said as she stared at the other women. “Why?”

“The Lords were created to help those in need.”

He startled when she snorted loudly. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Why?” And truly he was intrigued. She