Pulling up in front of the Strip club Ariel Eberhart is waiting for me leaning against a mint late 60's early 70's Dodge Charger.
Her brow crinkling at the sight of my RV, I look down at my flame resistant enchanted clothing, feeling a bit of reassurance not minding the fact that I brewed flame resistance potions and drank one already along with both the strength and speed potions.
'Alright, I should be ready for a fight with the precautions that I took…I hope it doesn't turn into one though…' I think as I put my RV in park and get out through the driver's side door locking it behind me and sliding the key into my pants pocket.
"Am I late?" I call out to her and she shakes her head no, she's on edge muscles coiled tight like a snake ready to strike.
"Get in…I'll take you to my Dad, if you try anything I'll incinerate you." She says to me and adds on a warning that I have no doubt she'll follow through with…or at least try to follow through with.
But still I arch my right eyebrow in a challenging gesture.
"I'm serious…"
"I'm Mason by the way." I say it mimicking her attitude.
"Ariel…" She trails off her voice, little more than a muttering.
"Look, Ariel I just want to help people, I'm not trying to hurt anyone." I say to her but she still doesn't look like she believes me.
We both get into her car. She's tense the whole way to a little turn around near an abandoned set of railway tracks.
"You walk ahead of me and I'll guide you." She gives a clipped command and I shrug.
'You know what I'm seriously starting to regret trying to help her and her father…even with as hot as she is.' I think and walk with her walking a few feet behind me, we come to a Y in the tracks and she has me keep right.
It's maybe fifteen minutes longer until we come to the mouth of an old tunnel whether it was once a mine or a regular railway tunnel I can't tell.
"He's inside…if you try to hurt him I'll." Ariel starts to threaten but I cut her off.
"Yeah, yeah I know you'll incinerate me Oh mighty flame princess." I snarkily say as I enter the mouth of the cave that is filled with an assortment of copper.
I enjoy the shocked little gasp from behind me maybe a little too much, I follow the sounds of coughing and the spurts of flame.
Laying on a cot is the most decrepit sickly looking man I think I have ever seen he looks both like a cancer patient and a burn victim; he's covered in fresh burn marks especially around his face chest and abdominal area.
He woges as I walk closer to him, "I can make the pain go away…I can give you some semblance of your life back…will you let me?" I say to the man in the most comforting but firm voice as I can.
The man stares at me long and hard before his eyes flicker to behind me, where his daughter is standing there's a touch of fear that grows in his eyes when he looks at her.
'Oh shit he's afraid of his daughter…does that mean I should be afraid of his daughter? For that matter, what did she do to make her own father fear her?' I express my curiosity as I take a healing potion from my inventory.
His eyes widen at the sight of the potion but then he calms down and looks me in my eyes, "P-pleaae help me." The man manages to get out as a coughing fit, racks his body without any thought to my own safety. I move in and gently lift his head up from his pillow.
Using my left arm to hold him up I use my right hand to unscrew the cap and bring the healing potion to his lips, hot flames batting against my skin and clothes but it doesn't burn and I don't catch fire.
But I can feel my enchantments on my clothes struggling to repel the constant burn of his napalm-like secretion.
With a break in his coughing fit I bring the posh vial to his lips and he drinks it without a second of hesitation while staring at my arm in wide eyed wonder.
The effects are almost instantaneous, his breathing eases, his ribs no longer show through his worn shirt, but the scarring on his face and body remain if a little bit better.
"This is all I can give you today…you're probably going to need three or four more treatments to heal the external and internal scarring." I say to the man as I gently lower his head back down to his pillow.
Ariel runs over grabs her father's hand and whips her head around to face me, she's fully woged her dragon face snarling.
And then her father makes a rumbling growl deep in his chest which makes Ariel flinch a leg the woge slip.
"Leave us, daughter." The man's voice is stern but loving, gone is the fear he had earlier in his more weekend state and then it dawns on me, even wolves when one of the pack is too old and sick when their methods of caring for it aren't enough will mercy kill it.
'He wasn't afraid of her…he was afraid for her, for what she'd have to do…' I look at Ariel who has tears running down her face as she runs out of the cave or tunnel, still not sure which.
'Poor girl she must be under so much stress no wonder she acted like a total psycho with Nick in the series…wait does this mean I'm going to end up with a super sexy stalker Dämonfeuer, sneaking into my home and trying to have sex with me?'
"Thank you…Alchemist…I've forgotten what it is like to not be in a constant state of agony." The man says to me his voice is raw both from disuse and the emotions he's feeling.
"Hey, no thanks necessary I'm happy to help." I wave him off and he smiles while shaking his head.
"My daughter…she has scent marked you."
"Is that a good or bad thing?" I ask him curiously and he chuckles but frowns in pain.
"My, my wife…scent marked me and nine months later Ariel was born." The man says with a grin and I feel a bit of heat bleeding into my face.
"Doesn't sound too bad." I think but then realize I said it aloud. "Sorry, she's your daugh-"
"I don't mind…you're a much better match than I thought she would get after my cancer prognosis…our kin won't go near her now for fear of my sickness spreading to other bloodlines." The man grumbles as his face twists with anger.
"Idiotic backwards inbred." The man starts going on a rant but reaches up to rub his throat.
"It's probably best not to strain your vocal cords or tender throat by talking too much…"
"Fred, Frederick Eberhart…and you are?"
"Mason the Alchemist." I say back to him after Fred introduces himself.
"It is nice to make your acquaintance Mason the Alchemist…I think I need something to drink and eat before going back to sleep." Fred suddenly says and I nod in agreement.
"I'll go try and find something for you." I say to him and look around but don't find much of anything besides granola bars which he probably shouldn't be eating.
Cupping my hands over my mouth I turn to face the entrance, "ARIEL GO GET YOU FATHER CHICKEN SOUP AND BOTTLED WATER MAYBE SOME PEDIUSURE TO MAKE SURE HIS ELECTROLYTES ARE UP!!!" I holler and there's a responding flare of flames near the entrance.
I walk back to the man and he's smiling at me like a loon.
"What's that look for?"
"Nothing…nothing at all." He says in such a way that I don't believe him for a second.
"Get some sleep, old man." I say to him as I take a seat on a folding camping chair and wait for Ariel to return.
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
Ariel 3rd person PoV
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
Ariel Eberhart stormed through the overgrown brush at the tunnel's mouth, every step punctuated by a snarl and the curling of her lips heat radiating off her skin. Steam hissing from her nostrils as she barely contained her woge at being dismissed by her father, which left him alone with that annoyingly handsome and kind Alchemist.
Minutes later that very same annoyingly handsome Alchemist has the gull to shout to her.
"Chicken soup and Pediasure?" The words echoed in her head with equal parts rage and…something else.
He'd yelled at her. Not cruelly…not like an insult or a command meant to put her down…but still, loud and direct. Unapologetic…confident and sexy.
Like he had every right to speak to her like that..and worse she'd not only listened…but liked it.
She wanted to set the trees around her on fire…wanted to burn something, anything, just to chase away the sharp cocktail of feelings boiling inside her.
Her breath came heavy, chest rising and falling in a rhythm too fast to be normal. Her pupils were dilated, nostrils flaring as she still tasted his scent in the back of her throat.
She should've been mad…she was mad.
But why did her thighs clench every time she replayed his voice in her head?
"Get your father chicken soup…"
That commanding tone…that ridiculous request…like he was the boss here. Like he wasn't the fragile human who'd walked into a deathtrap with nothing but a few potions and that smug little grin.
But he wasn't fragile, was he?
Ariel gritted her teeth and dragged her fingers through her hair. She could still feel the way the air had warped around his enchanted clothes when he stood in the flames like it was nothing. She'd seen it—the way her father looked at him. Not just with respect…but when wonder and relief. Her father, who had barely looked her in the eye for weeks now, had asked that stranger to help him, and had meant it.
And Mason had helped.
Without fear…without judgment, without trying to get anything in return.
"Stupid alchemist," she muttered under her breath, fangs peeking from the corners of her mouth as the draconic edges of her nature curled inward like a serpent around a flame. She wanted to tear him apart and crawl into his lap in the same breath.
And she still couldn't figure out why she had scent marked him last night…is this the reason she feels this way towards him? Did marking him make her obsessed with him? Or is she just feeling territorial of her father?
She wasn't sure if it was instinct or her own cracked emotional state, but it didn't matter anymore. The mark was made. Whether he knew it or not, he was hers now.
And that thought should've terrified her.
But instead?
It thrilled her.
With a frustrated growl, she pivoted toward the direction of her car. She had soup to buy.
And maybe… just maybe, if he asked nicely again… she'd let him order her around a little more.
~~ — — — — — — — — — — ~~
Not too sound too cocky or anything but I see a new surge of Grimm fics on here now after I put this on here, glad you guys are getting some Grimm fics to read. Same with some Jurassic world and Park ffs.