Chapter 5 Serpent Head

Marek’s POV

The spring waterfall has always been my healing spot. Unusual to other demons and shapeshifters, I loved water. The sun casted Crimson Spire’s huge shadow upon me, where I was seated crossed legged at the bottom of the waterfall. 

The water rushed down on my swept back dark chestnut hair. My eyes closed as I held my breath, yet my entire naked body could perceive the divine, pure scent of the water, a deep contrast from my demonic nature. 

“Your grandmother seeks you,” A well known voice called out from the rocky shoreline. I opened my eyes to see Aldric holding my clothes up. 

I pushed out of the running water. My hand pushed back on my hair, making the water drip down the back. “I just got here, Aldric,” I grumbled at my personal and research assistant. 

“Marek, it’s over three hours already.” 

I got up, stretched my joints and then dived into the lake in front of the waterfall. My eyes turned golden and I shifted into a large black water serpent, gliding through the waves. 

I materialized and stepped out onto shore in front of Aldric. He turned his head, stretching my undies to me. “Put something on to cover that large serpent head of yours.”

A smirk danced along my lips as I took it from him. “I thought I’d shifted from the serpent. Oh you meant my dick?” 

He turned red. “Just put it on.”

“Fine,” I grunted and wore it. “You see me like this all the time, you should have been unfazed by now.”

“Well, who can get used to a man built like a god?” He asked and faced me, handing me my pants and shirt. “You’re intimidatingly perfect.” He reached forward to help me with my buttons. 

I stepped away. “Aldric, I can do this— on my own.” 

He sighed. “Well, if you do everything— on your own, then I don’t have a job anymore.”

One look at my best friend and I shook my head. “You know I would give you anything you ask for, you don’t have to work for me.” I finished up with dressing and I fell into steps next to him as we headed back to Crimson Spire Academy.

He smiled. “Marek, I would feel so less of myself, if I take advantage of your kindness like that.”

Aldric Greymoor, half warlock and half werewolf. We’ve been friends since his royal parents came to enroll him in the school years ago. I was with my grandmother, Veronica. He was loyal, honest and straightforward, quite the opposite of a demon shapeshifter, yet we’d become inseparable through the years. 

“Not taking advantage, boy.” I rolled my eyes. “You know if that Mage didn’t kill your parents and dominated your pack, you won’t have a need to work for money to pay for your tuition and upkeep.”

He nodded, sadness filling his grey eyes. His hand danced along his unkempt ash brown shoulder length hair as he looked down. “Yeah, and you were kind enough to give me a job, so let me do it.”

I licked my lips. “Can I be honest with you, Aldric?”

He faced me, his eyes lighting up. “That would be new, okay then, I’m all ears.”

A scoff slipped through my lips. Aldric knew me too well— a little bit shrewd, or maybe more than a little. 

“You know since you became my assistant, you have always been by my side trying to help with everything.”

He burst out laughing. “Maybe because you pay me so well and I want my work to be worth it.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s worth it. Because the most important work you’re doing for me is—” I paused. 

He bit his bottom lip and nodded his head. “You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.”

I sighed, forcing myself to open up. “They think we’re dating and that’s why many of those girls have started avoiding me.”

Aldric paused, staring into space. His jaw dropped as he tilted his head to the side. “I’m not gay,” he chorused.

“Well, they think you are because of how well you take care of me.”

“And you are okay with that?” He asked with furrowed brows. 

“Of course, you know I want nothing to do with the girls of Crimson Spire. They are all the same. They all want a name, good sex and money.”

“Interesting,” Aldric replied, nodding. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, because you are an introverted and stern prick to them and all them girls are scared of ya.” 

“Whatever.”

He opened the steel gate at the back of the Academy. It made a loud creak sound driving a blue bird off the apple tree next to it. 

“Should I come in with you?” Aldric asked, scratching the back of his head as we climbed the stairs leading to my grandmother’s office.

“Yes please. Maybe if she sees you, she would scold me less.”

Aldric froze. “What did you do wrong this time?” 

I sighed, heaving a deep breath as I stopped in front of the white large door. “I ran off when she asked me to come with her to pick up some supernatural student from the human world.”

Aldric slammed his hand against his face. “Why are you giving me that look, Marek?”

I pressed my lips into a thin line. “You know— just tell her I was with you and maybe we got something really important to do in class or whatever,” I replied, then zeroed my eyes at him as I pressed my palms together. “Please, I will double your salary—”

“You don’t have to. I will try to come up with something,” He said flatly. He was never excited to lie because of me. But I had a way of always making him do it. Especially when I fall into the bad side with my grandmother. 

“Marek, I know you are there,” My grandmother called from inside and I froze.