The Hag's Blood Incident

Chapter 4

     The bus which on most days seemed so spacious was cramped. It was packed full of people heading to the old city and the university. I looked around. Most of the other riders were dressed in huge amounts of orange garb and there were a proliferation of white capital T's all over their various wardrobes. Was today Sunday? Was there a football game today? I checked my watch, and groaned. It was Sunday. Well, that explained a lot. The other bus riders were fans of the team and were heading for the university.

     The bus jolted into motion as I moved down the center aisle dodging the shoulders of my fellow passengers. I spotted an empty seat next to a young man that appeared to have been born with snake attributes. Even though I was the last one to board and no one else was standing up, something in my brain told me to snag that seat before anyone else could take it. It was mine.

     The young man slithered over, closer to the window and away from me, as I pounced into the seat next to him. There was a dry rustle of scale on scale as he moved and undulated in the seat. I looked down and his lower half seemed to be fused together into a giant tail he used for balance and locomotion. He looked uncomfortable, balanced precariously half on and off the bus seat holding his position mostly with his hands and his lower coils.

     He glanced at me briefly, and then looked out the window, focusing on the traffic outside. I thought I heard him murmur, "Don't get involved." He turned his head toward me a second time and his tongue flickered out of his flat noseless face, tasting the air. He seemed to be able to read emotions or pheromones that way, because he backed off and for a second time, he looked away, attempting to ignore me.

     The third time he looked at me out of the side of his eye, I asked. "Is there a problem?"

     "No, no problem, man. It's just that, your aura, it's weird. I have a little bit of the sight. I don't know if it's the snake thing or something that just I can do, but I can see magical confluences, the way the magic of the world interacts with people, and your aura is all mottled and cloudy. We just passed over a ley line and your aura lit up like a light bulb. Well, everyone's did, but when I saw yours it was weird. I've never seen anything like it before. I was just wondering if you were okay." He hissed at me politely. "Do you mind?" He raised his hands and began to probe at the air around me with his palms.

     I pulled away from him. "Yes, I mind. Keep your damn hands away from me."

     The snakeman lowered his hands. "No, you don't understand. I was just trying to help. I know a little Reiki. I was trying to cleanse this influence, whatever it is, off your aura. I think it might be black magic. Like I said before, it's weird." He stammered thickly, clearly embarrassed. His tongue flicked in and out of his mouth eagerly. Then his tone became conciliatory, "You're getting upset. I'm sorry. I was only trying to help."

     "Piss off." I said folding my arms in front of my chest and closing my eyes. Who did he think he was, getting involved in my business? My heart beat in time with the vial in my pocket. The more aggravated I got, the faster I could feel the dark magic it contained infiltrating my system. I felt a small breeze and heard the squeak-squeak-squeak of the seat next to me rocking back and forth on its rail rapidly. I opened my eyes again in annoyance.

     My seatmate was wriggling his hands and flicking his fingers as if he were trying to flip something off the ends of them.

     "Do you mind?" I demanded aggressively.

     "It's just," He paused trying to think of a way to explain a magical concept to a human. "Ugh, nevermind." The snakeperson folded his arms across his chest and went back to looking out the window, successfully writing me off as a lost cause.