The Monster's Love

*Chapter 12: Happiness

Chapter 12:

Happiness

The days that followed were extremely busy. The shop was constantly packed with people buying ingredients for spells and potions as well as asking Spectra and Jasper for readings. Lucile was even keeping busy by selling her herbs and remedies in the shop which became extremely popular among the people of the underground considering the nearest doctor was in the capital city, a day's walk for many. Eva even offered to open up as a healer but her Gran and Spectra refused saying it was too much of a risk.

After the shop closed for the day, Eva was led down to a room in the basement beside her Gran's where she would spend a few hours training. Spectra and Lucile would take turns every other day teaching Eva everything they knew. Lucile would go over the basics of fighting, some things remember having been taught by her parents, and combat while Spectra would build off that and teach more advanced techniques. Some days they would take breaks from combat so Spectra could teach her how to do spells, wield magic for attacks, and combine it with her physical attacks to make them more potent. Those days were always the roughest considering it took a lot of energy to wield magic and perform spells. To cast you had to harness the power from within you and shape with your will on what you wanted to do with it. Ultimately she was surprised how quick she picked up everything they were teaching her. Fighting soon became second nature.

Despite their initial reason for moving she was beginning to enjoy her life in the underground. She even managed to make some friends there, something that made her grin every time she thought about it. They were two girls, Valery, a pixie hiding from her crazed step mother, and Laura, a mermaid who was hiding from the blood slave trade after escaping a few years prior, but they had really hit it off. They all were hiding from something and could relate to one another. Eva even found herself telling the two girls all about her worries and they, in turn, confided in her theirs it was like she was a normal young woman. She couldn't even confide in Penny the way she could in Valery and Laura. However there was one relationship that had gone south since their arrival in the underground.

Spectra had told her Jasper was still going to be a little unstable until the ghoul's soul and life energy left his system completely which wouldn't be for a few weeks. Knowing this Eva had tried her best to avoid doing or saying anything that would stress him out or send his protective side into overdrive. After lessons she would eat her dinner and then hide in her room away from Jasper. She didn't want to risk putting him in anymore painful situations until she was sure he could handle it again.

Jasper was attempting to avoid Eva as well. The memories of what happened at her apartment and seeing her parents again for the first time since his abduction years ago had reminded him of how much of a monstrosity he truly was. If Eva hadn't stopped him, she and everyone in that building would've been dead. The very thought made him sick. He determined, for the time being, the only way to keep her safe was to keep his distance. Despite this he continued to find himself pausing when he saw her walking his way, wanting to talk to her, confide in her like he used to. The minute she saw him though she would high tail it in the other direction reaffirming his decision for him. The longer it went on though the harder it became to ignore her especially when he saw the progress she was making with Spectra and Lucile and wanted to go up and hug her. When she fought he saw hints of the Eva he knew before shine through, it was torture.

Soon the allotted weeks had passed and Jasper was once again back to being his stable self. Eva was excited and couldn't wait to begin speaking with him, hoping to learn about their past together that Spectra had refused to tell her about. However Jasper was still too ashamed to talk to her, afraid that she saw him as ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Time after time she attempted to ask him to go out with her and her friends but time after time he refused. The only time she saw him was during their training sessions and after that he would disappear. Eventually Eva decided to give him his space, trying not to think too much about his actions and continue on with her work at the shop, her training, and having as normal of a life as she could with her two new friends.