Only Human: Before and After

Chapter 144: June Jackson

Thirst gripped me. My mouth felt like cotton had been stuffed in every crevice, and my lips threatened to split with the smallest movement. I moved to roll over, but my side screamed like it wanted to tear apart. My eyes shot open, but the lights in the room were so bright that my head instantly panged in agony. The pain in turn made me want to vomit, and I groaned from the intense discomfort.

"June! Can you hear me?" Lannister asked eagerly. I couldn't see him, but I knew his frantic voice.

I nodded slightly trying to peak through my lashes to see him. "The light..." I said quietly.

"The light? Oh! Yes. Hold on." He said before I heard his footsteps moving away from me. A click sounded, and I was finally able to open my eyes fully. The only light was from the dimmed sunlight through the standard curtains. The black out ones had been drawn open, so we weren't in complete darkness. I turned to watch Lannister make his way back to my side. A chair was positioned by the bed, so I could only assume that he had been sitting there for a long time.

My mind revved in panic. A long time? How long? What about the concert? "How long?" I managed to ask.

Lannister smiled softly, and I felt a calm descend over me. "Almost a day. It's still morning."

I attempted to sit up. "I need to get ready. The concert..." I stopped as nausea and vertigo shook me.

Lannister pressed his hand onto my shoulder to lay me back down. "You lost a lot of blood. The merfolk's toxin is still in your system, so you haven't healed anything outside of what I could do."

I coughed as my dry throat started to rub and scrape with every breath. Before I could even ask, Lannister offered me a glass of water with a straw. I gratefully and greedily drank from it. I took a relaxed breath before addressing him again. "Toxin? You said something about not being able to heal... Is that something merfolk do?" I asked confused.

Lannister nodded. "Merfolk are not a species to reckon with. Only dryads and unicorns can match or exceed their magical power. Not only can they hypnotize other species with their voices and tear the flesh from your bones, but their bite contains a toxin that suppresses the victim's magical power."

My eyes widened. "So the reason I'm not healing..."

"Is because your magic is currently being suppressed by the toxin. It's what makes merfolk so dangerous even to unicorns like me. But it isn't permanent. It only lasts 24 hours, but typically that's more than enough time for a mermaid or merman to claim their prey. Speaking of which. How did you get away from them? They must have gotten ahold of you, so how?" Lannister asked.

I shook my head and winced as I moved to a more comfortable position. "I'm not sure. I believe it has something to do with my angel blood. When the merman bit down he immediately pulled away and claimed that it burned. The mermaid also said something about the water burning when my blood started mixing with it. They couldn't come close, so I was able to swim away. Then you came." I explained.

"Merfolk are the most demonic creatures in the After Realm. They probably can't tolerate the angelic essence in their water, like unicorns can't tolerate demonic taint in our air." Lannister agreed.

"So, they know I'm an angel then?" I asked nervously. That would be just great. Now I had mermaids to worry about.

My unicorn's golden eyes squinted in thought, but he ultimately shook his head. "I doubt it. Unlike us unicorns who have to deal with demonic essences in our air on a regular basis, merfolk have never had to deal with something angelic coming into their waters." He chuckled. "I bet they looked really confused."