Chapter 10: Cursed and Crumbling

Jasper

Jasper tried not to laugh and flirt, putting forth her best efforts. Some habits were hard to break, however. As a succubus, it was in her nature to pluck at rough petals unique to the masculine flower. A calling, a purpose. Instinctual. Biological. Their magnetism was a product of her inner workings, nothing more.
Fallacious.
She was enthralled by Buck’s intensity; locked into his magic. A shadow man who reminded her of tasty treats and cozy, crackling fire nights.
“—Every time I see it,” Buck said.
Jasper nodded but didn’t hear a word. “I’m sorry?”
He gestured to the cruddy house and ruined her moment of lapsed judgment. She’d been staring at his profile yet again. While signing papers, she had trouble concentrating on the task and misspelled her own name.
Jasper grunted and opened the car door. She needed fresh, summer air and not the circulating blend of Buck’s natural Midnight Mist musk.
“You might have a point,” Jasper said, mounting the sidewalk. She studied the old, dilapidated Victorian and almost wept. Masonry was spotty with bricks missing, the porch sagged, and there was only a handful of roof tiles left.
An eyesore. With its dead yard and barren trees, her house was a blight on Yewing Avenue. Classic homes, much like hers, dotted the four-block stretch. Though theirs had been upgraded and repainted. They maintained lawns and tended healthy gardens. Jasper was embarrassed and discouraged until a green giant barreled out of her crumbling shack.
He lumbered down the steps, skipping three. “Hiya Bucko!”
“Is that an orc?” Jasper asked, completely impressed by the sheer size of his double-barrel chest.
“Yup.”
“Oh…”
Tusks, flannel, and cherry-red hair. He was a rugged fantasy made real. Jasper knew they existed, but most never ventured this far from Brasshorne territory. Orcs were a rarity, and she hated that. An orc lover was on her bucket list… but she was celibate. Jasper deflated as the towering man greeted Buck.
“Good thing you showed, I was fixin’ to leave. Annie’s special for tonight is meatloaf. You know how I am about her meatloaf.”
“We didn’t mean to keep ya waiting. Those papers kicked my tail this time. They changed some stuff, and I had to at least skim. Oh, uh, Jasper, this here is Zach, the carpenter. He’s gon’ let us know what can be done with the floor and such.”
“Nice to meet ya, Ma’am.”
Zach was as friendly as everyone else in Indigo Plains. His hands were calloused and big, however. The texture would feel exquisite on the more sensitive areas.
Jasper batted lashes, and the Orc grinned.
“Oohhhkay,” Zach brandished his clipboard and said. “Boy, do I got some news for you, Buck. I’ve seen hill faerie homes in better condition. No offense, Ma’am.”
“None taken, it’s a piece of shit.”
Zach grimaced and scratched his head. “Not much to be done with the herringbone on the first floor.”
Buck hissed and said, “Come on now, we gotta save something.”
“No can do, the wood is rotted straight through. The basement is filled with water and the spider you gutted yesterday. You should move that damn thing, Bucko. It’s gonna smell up the place real bad. Like Freddy after a swamp swim.”
The men laughed, and Jasper joined, if only to humor Zach. He was a mountain of evergreen skin and muscle she’d climb for ten minutes flat. His essence probably smelled like spring rain or some shit.
Jasper winked at Zach, and the orc winced. “Ma’am, I’m flattered. But I’m gay.”
Jasper squinted, swallowed her tongue, and wanted to vomit. “Ohhhh, my god. I—you know what? I am so sorry.”
Zach snorted and said, “It’s fine. I get it all the time. So, are we ready for the walkthrough?“
“Hi! Yooohooo!” A dark-haired fellow wearing a tunic waved as he jogged from across the street. “Oh my goddess, leg day kicked my ass. Helloooo. You, must be Jasper.”
She nodded and shook yet another hand.
“I’m Leo, I live right over there. In the gorgeous cerulean lady. I painted her myself ten years ago. We all go for something bright and colorful. It is such a pleasure. I see you’re still moving in. How is it going?”
“It’s…stalled.” Jasper glanced at her moving pod, still packed with furniture.
“I can imagine. Is everything okay? I heard quite a commotion last night.”
“A Wicker spider living under the house.”
Leo gasped, removed his sunglasses, and cupped his mouth. At that second, Jasper tasted deceit. Masculine energies, specific to the human male variety, were no secret. She saw through their words and read their expressions thoroughly. Jasper inhaled intentions and lust as if it were a fine fragrance.
His concern was fabricated.
“That’s terrible.” Leo placed shades on his head and squinted at the house. “I never would have thought those beasties might invade our homes. Did you find a nest? Because we can’t have them breeding on our street. I don’t care for creepy-crawling things. Creatures of darkness and all that.”
“Creatures of what, now?” Buck asked, canting his head.
Jasper heard the derision in Leo’s voice as well and wasn’t fond of his tone.
“I should go,” her neighbor said. “I have smoothies to make, meal prep, you know. Got a pilates class at seven am sharp.” Leo laughed while their lips twitched. “Good luck with the renovations, but let’s not work after six. It’s inconsiderate. Some of us do have to work. You understand, babes?”
Leo started for his house but doubled back. He snapped his fingers and said, “Oh, and b-t-dubs, Sissy wants her dish back, asap. She can get annoying as effff if you don’t return it. Kay byeeee!”
“I don’t got no problem with humans,” Buck rasped. “But I do not like that one.”
“They’re so hostile,” Zach said.
“I’ll be keeping my distance.”
“Good idea, Jasper.”
“Alright.” Buck clapped once and headed for her house. “Where y’all wanna start?”
Leaks in the attic, structural issues, and mold within the walls. Sloping archways and termites. Jasper listened to complaints and concerns with a happy heart. She didn’t have to worry about paying for any of it, but there were a shit ton of problems. Zach found what she couldn’t even see.
“A massive chunk of the second floor is gonna go,” Zach said. “Jasper, if you’d like, we can set you up with our interior designer. She’s top notch, our lead consultant. Went to school for it and everything.”
She nodded, but her head was about to explode with an abundance of useless information. “Sure. Will this be the person who helps me pick the paint and stu—“
“Nah,” Buck interrupted. “We’ll be doing that. Becca is the person you can talk to about what you want this place to look like. Where you want lighting, if you want shutters, or brass knobs. She then teams up with Zach here and they go over cupboards, doors, shit like that. We’ll be doing the installing, though. You, me, and my vampire.”
His smile broke Jasper down for three whole seconds. She giggled and whirled around. It’d be a cold day in Undervell before he’d see her blush.
Instead of lingering near her current annoyance, Jasper took to exploring her house. Being gifted with an interior decorator put some fire in her step. She retrieved her phone and started in the living room. After two hundred years of drab, Undervell living, Jasper was into color. She never wore black or shades that clashed with her carmine complexion.
When buying new clothes, she erred on the side of caution, but her home was fair game. With quick thumbs, she took notes. Blues in the parlor, honey-yellow and apricot in the kitchen. Sage, jade, and moss would be her craft room. Neons in her computer room and ivory in the master.
There was the attic, she wasn’t sure what that’d be yet. Jasper ticked off ideas for each guest suite save for Kit’s. He’d claim the second largest room with a fireplace.
Breathing through her mouth did nothing to stymy the miasma. Musty air tickled her toes and brushed her nose.
“Uck.” Jasper stepped lightly and entered the half bath on the second floor. She spun, tripped on broken tile, and gripped the towel rack. It snapped right off. Chunks of ceramic went with it.
Tucked into the gaping holes were tittering creatures. Tiny, gray people. Jasper tossed the bar and stared at the winged cuties.
“Are you fairies?” she asked, frightening the group.
They flinched and scrambled as the biggest one stood, facing her.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The mini fairy flapped its papery wings and hovered in her line of sight. The strangling was quite unseemly up close. Scar tissue riddled its face and emaciated body. Thorns, spikes, or barbs lined their long limbs.
“Hello there.“
It screeched and struck her cheek. Jasper gasped and dabbed at the spot it nicked. Blood coated her fingertips.
“You little shit!”
It cut her again, this time on her chin. They were swift and too small to track. As the others crawled from their home in the wall, Jasper side-stepped.
The horde overflowed from each wound. She bolted down the hall as the fairies poked her calves and sliced into her arms.
“Buuuuuuck! Get back!“ Jasper flailed and batted at the gray clump of fairies blocking her path. “You fuckers.”
The frenetic horde swarmed as she pushed through the gray curtain. Jasper fought back the only way she knew how, with her fists. She’d been trained like everyone else in her father’s house, but never put those skills to use.
She wasn’t even sure they’d help her now, but it was worth trying. She grabbed fairies by the handful and crushed them. Their thorns pierced her palms, and dust slipped through her fingers.
“Jasper? Hoooly! God damn creatons!” A strong hand captured her wrist. “Close your mouth! And whatever you do, don’t let ‘em get in your eyes!”
“My ey—“
“Close your mouth!”
She sealed her lips shut as Buck dragged her. They ran downstairs while Ivy scaled the walls and gathered behind them. The creeping vines created a lattice work, and it was quite beautiful.
“It ain’t gonna hold, they can chew through cement!”
He was right; the second they burst through the front door, an undulating mass of fairies emerged. They darted for the front door and stopped. The loud static hum of their wings would give Jasper nightmares for at least a week.
“Why aren’t they moving?”
The door slammed shut, followed by the telling clack of a dead bolt.
“They fuckin’ locked the door. Jasper, your house is cursed,” Buck said.
“So it’s haunted?” Zach asked, shaking as if he’d been trapped in the Arctic for the last five minutes.
“Nah, cursed,” Buck amended. “I didn’t wanna believe it, but I felt it the moment one of them Creak Fairy’s cut me. I can taste it. This ain’t a matter of ghosts, but people. Somebody done put a hex on this house. One intent on taking Jasper out.”
“Take me out?! Like how? You mean as in kill me?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. The Wicker Spider wanted you bad, and Creak’s don’t touch meat. They eat dirt and minerals, they ain’t usually that aggressive neither, not really. But sure as the moon shines, they woulda ended you.”
“Death by a thousand cuts,” Zach muttered. “Nasty way to go.”
Jasper huffed as her fury rose and blood boiled to the surface. She was so sick of this shit. How was it that someone wanted her dead already? She’d just moved to this fucking town two days ago! She’d met a handful of people and only remembered three names. Crossing her arms, an emotional tidal wave made the pyre in her belly percolate.
With nothing left to do, she screamed, releasing a short blast of fire through her nose. She stomped in the dead grass, snatched weeds, and punched a column. The old, brittle wood fractured under her strength. The roof leaned eerily to one side and collapsed to the left. Teracotta slid to the ground and shattered.
That was it, Jasper broke. Molten tears sprang from their wells as her shoulders shook. Head in her hands, she sobbed.
“Not agaaaain! Why does everyone wanna kill me? I can’t—whyyy?! Why me?! What did I dooo?”
“Jasper,” Bucks husky timbre pierced her pathetic blithering, quieting her in an instant. “May I touch you? Not in no weird way, I just feel like you need a hug, and I hate seeing folks cry. It chokes me up.”
She whirled and tackled the man. Acquaintances they may be, but Jasper needed an anchor. And she chose Buck. He enveloped her in a snug embrace and patted her back.
It was nice.
Jasper sniffled and came down from a blue-hued high. Crying was cathartic, not a weakness like Carriont had led them to believe. Expressing oneself through draining bodily fluids had helped Jasper in desperate times.
Within two minutes, she went from standing to sitting in Buck’s car. He handed her a small pack of tissues she put to quick use. She sullied half of them and gathered a long, shuddering breath.
“I’m sorry for all that.“
“Don’t go apologizing for feeling things.”
“I fell apart.”
“As most do when under massive amounts of stress.”
“I’m fine, though. Really.“
“Not even close. I can see the strain in your smile and in the way you fidget.”
Jasper frowned, adjusting her necklaces. She didn’t fidget. Rubbing the gold unicorn pendant, she huffed and dropped her hand, choosing to wring the tissue. Jasper stared at her hands instead of Buck’s scrutiny. She didn’t need another man judging her for an unexpected flush of tears.
“I know what’ll cheer you right on up.”
“I’m okay, Buck, but thank you.”
“See, ‘bout that, I ain’t ask you nothin’. Sit tight and relax, I gotchya.”
Now, she fixed her gaze upon him. Jasper was baffled by his set of balls. Sure, he wasn’t the first assertive man she’d met, but he was the first of his kind to hug her without expectation. He’d given her time to process and didn’t say shit.
Hand on the wheel and eyes on the road, Buck was unbothered and handsome. The sunlight hit his five o’clock shadow and the brim of his hat just right. Buck’s overt beauty was painful to behold, but she’d be damned to look away.