Time ticked by slowly as the girl carefully regained control. And it took a couple of hours until she was even able to operate at a reduced level. She promptly got up and looked around with even more skittishness before showing an, more, fearful expression when she noticed that all the books were replaced with illusions. With her up and moving I put a tracking marker on her and left to the party room I had seen before; I was probably late by now. By the time I had reached the hidden door, a group of weasels were walking through, and before the door closed behind them, I slipped through. The stairwell was no longer dark as it once was with glowing balls of light lining the walls and floating loosely in the air. A simple parlor trick to me but the weasels looked pretty impressed, so I wrote it down if I ever hosted a party or wanted some peaceful ambiance.

The room itself now had an ethereal glow with flickering lights and a ghostly mist making it look completely different than the relatively plain room from before. The tables were now set and ready with a few people occupying half of them. The weasels in front of me skittered off to a table near the center while I strolled to one in the far corner. I pulled a chair out and lounged around while still mostly hidden. A soft orchestra drifted through the room while the occupants sat in close-knit groups whispering plans and conspiracies amongst each other. I saw waiters drift from table to table before going to the back room and coming out with stakes and such. Figuring I could get some alcohol I revealed my presence and waived over one of the waiters causing her to stumble in surprise but quickly come over.

I’ve already talked more than I have in years lately so I sent over my order with some mind magic. Taking it in stride she nodded and slinked off to the backroom to grab me some good booze and a bone. I began to look over the mishmash of people eyeing each other warily, there was a mix of mortal men and nefarious spirits all of ill repute. The smell of sin was strong in the air and I was getting hungry, but I held off, it was rare to have such a mix of cultists, killers, and murderous spirits. The exceptions were few and far between. The one that caught my eye the most though was an incredibly tall lanky man that watched the room with cold cavernous eyes. Well, well, well, I was not expecting a twiggy.

My now wrathful gaze caught the man’s attention and he leaned in to glare right back at me. Soon the waiter brought my drink and what looked like a horse femur. Instead of breaking it open and pulling out the marrow I took the lazy route and just ate the bone as it was. I continued the staring contest, and right before I was about to send over some of my saved-up curses into his soul a soft hissing and a loud thud distracted me. I was not usually one that would back down from a staring contest I felt If I held eye contact for any longer, I would rush over and destroy him. I found that the source of the commotion was a long white serpent and a passed-out waiter.

Stolen novel; please report.

The snake was writhing in her seat, obviously panicking and worried about the passed-out waiter. Telling from the mental tether between the two it was probably a case of putting too much force behind it. I reached over with my own tether and helped put the waiter's mind back together. While doing that I established another one with the snake. She really put a lot of force behind that, the waiter's mind was all kinds of fractured. It took me a little bit, but I was able to put it back together seamlessly. Once it was clear the serpent meant no harm another waiter rushed over and drug the unconscious one-off before an old man took his place with a small smile.

I could tell the man was experienced and probably practiced with interactions involving the mystical, he was not too close but not too far while avoiding establishing prolonged eye contact. The snake stared at the man in worry before noticing my tether and accepted it before turning to me in a panic. I could feel fear and worry behind each thought, but I was able to calm her a bit. I got the gist of her order from background thoughts and gave it to the waiting elderly man causing him to steadily back up and walk off. The snake gave me a grateful look, her face was surprisingly expressive for a serpent, and thanked me.

I didn’t mind helping the poor girl, she probably was inexperienced with interactions with the non-mystical, and that was a problem that I might as well fix. I waved her over to my table, so we weren’t just looking at each other across the room. She gave me a confused look and hesitated before uncoiling off her chair and slithering over. The room had long forgotten about the incident and went back to their whisperings which eased her tension and made her more confident in her actions. I offered her a drink, which she gladly accepted, before carefully explaining to her how to reduce the force behind her tether. She took to it a little slowly but soon caught on until she no longer gave me a slight headache with each thought. She stuck around after my explanations and I was happy for the company.

We sat there in silence while we both sipped at our drinks, it was rare seeing a twilight serpent like her, especially such a young one. They are usually madly protected by their parents until they reach their first decade. An orphan maybe? She looked around with such wonder which made me think that she doesn’t get out often.