Malphas

Malphas preened his black feathers while he watched the sun sink below the horizon from the treetops. It was a strange, thrilling thing to feel as if he sat above the sun, and despite centuries of sunsets, he never grew tired of it. His years of imprisonment made him appreciate it even more, but for whatever reason, this evening's display of tangerine and coral melting into the darkening ocean didn't strike the same breathtaking cord.

Puffing out his chest, he shook his body, his feathers going in all directions for a single moment before they flattened over his form like an inky silk cloak. If Rose were around, he would leave them fluffy for a few seconds longer just because he liked the way it made her smile. He cawed softly as sorrow washed over him. Since being freed, two motivations ruled his life–making Rose smile and tracking down Luis.

He'd accomplished the second at a cost that meant the first was now a much more difficult task. Rose did her best to not ask more of him than he could give, but the one thing she'd begged of him–to not kill Luis–he'd failed at. And as much as it pained him to admit, it wasn't just Rose's disappointment that bothered him. Ash, regardless of his feelings for his father, would be devastated to learn he was dead.

Rain scented wind blew through the trees. The refreshing scent pushed back some of the darkness clouding his thoughts, enough that he could admit they would forgive him, eventually. Killing Luis had been an unavoidable outcome since the man refused to surrender, and with both of them backed in a corner, only one of them could come out alive.

Malphas seriously questioned whether it would be him or Luis at one point. Two others accompanied the man in El Salvador, both nasty characters he knew from his days of sorcery. In the end, he had the edge because of the four of them he hadn't been half starved from hiding in the jungle for months. Not that it was the story he would tell if anyone asked, but alone, he could admit it was the only reason he had lived to see another day.

Another lonely day.

He almost wished to be the man he was before Rose came along. That man knew how to withstand the crushing pain of loneliness. The walls he built up after Chavi's death were rubble around his heart, and the little witch and her friends never gave him the opportunity to rebuild them, which was part of the reason he'd returned to this island rather than going back to Black Briar. Here, he could wallow without judgment or attempts to cheer him up, but it also reminded him how used to companionship he'd become.

And that was the only explanation for his decision to speak to Harmony. Years had passed since she'd been involved with Luis and his schemes, but no matter how much Rose insisted Harmony had changed–or was trying to change–he saw too much of her grandfather in her to care to get to know her. So, he avoided her at all costs, and until today, he'd been successful.

Seeing her across the bar nearly knocked him off his stool with longing. For Black Brier and his friends. Not for her. Even if, for the first time, he didn't see Atticus when he looked at her. Instead, he saw the similarities between her and Rose. They shared the same full lips and upturned noses. Her chin was a bit more pointed, but her eyes were the same shape. Round in the middle with a sharp corner tilting upward that gave her a catlike appearance, and thick, black lashes made her ocean blue eyes almost glow.

She wore her blonde hair short, just below her jaw. The few times he'd seen her from afar in Black Brier, she'd worn her hair to her waist, but the short length was far more flattering on her petite figure, giving her an edgier quality he had to admit was attractive. The beachy waves were a million shades of cool, shimmering gold threaded through with nearly white highlights, no doubt a product of careful magic or a few hours in the intense island sun.

Malphas clicked his beak together, wishing he'd stopped cataloging her features then and there. It would be a lot easier to pretend he had only talked to her to be reminded of home if he had, but again, out here in the middle of nowhere and completely alone, he could admit to himself that it the was interest a man had in a woman that drove him to rise from his stool and sit beside her. A man who very much liked the cross shoulder strappy bathing suit top she wore, and the high cut bikini bottoms that made her hips wider and her legs longer.

Good grief, he thought. It's time to go home if you're so lonely you'd consider Harmony as a worthwhile evening companion.

He was grateful the little minx opened her mouth and reminded him exactly why he didn't want to be involved with her. Because as much as he wanted to dislike her because she was like her grandfather, it was more about how much she was like him. The man he used to be, and he couldn't risk slipping back into those old behaviors. He wanted someone who made him a better man. Someone like Chavi.

Someone like Rose.

Fluttering down to the ground, he transformed back into his human form and prepared to transport himself to Black Briar, but the moment the edges of his body blurred, he heard a scream that raised every hair on his body. With a shriek, he launched himself into the air and used his raven's keen senses to find the person in distress–a woman from the sound of it. She was no longer screaming, but he could hear gasping breaths as she frantically ran through the woods.

Her figure appeared between two trees, and with a shriek, she pitched forward. Malphas transformed and caught her before she face planted into the middle of a bush of Warlock Thorns, a poisonous plant native to the Bewitching Isles. It wouldn't kill her, but she would spend the next three days in agonizing pain, every nerve ending in her body convinced she was being lit on fire.

"Woah," he said, moving her a safe distance from the plant, trying to keep one eye on her while the other scanned the forest for whatever was chasing her.

"P-please, we have to go," she demanded, pushing against him to get around him.

"Harmony?" The delightful rasp he'd noted earlier when talking to her gave her away. That and the thick southern accent that turned the word go into two syllables.

"Malphas."

He cast a light spell and raised his hand to get a better look at her. She blinked up at him, her blonde hair sticking to sweaty cheeks. Terror clouded her blue eyes, but her straight brows were already forming a flat stubborn across her forehead.

"What are you doing out here in the dark?" he snapped, unexplained fury twisting through him. Was she trying to get herself killed? The Warlock Thorn bush was one of the more pleasant plants lying in wait for roaming idiots.

"I-I-I," she stumbled and stuttered, gripping his forearms and pressing her front to his. "It doesn't matter. Luis."

Malphas stiffened against her. "What about him?"

"He's alive. I saw him. Just now."

His concern for her vanished, replaced by icy anger. "Rose told me you'd changed, yet here you are trying to start trouble with a lie. Luis is dead. I saw his body."

She released him and stepped back. Now that no one had jumped out of the shadows, she appeared to be calming down. "And I saw his face just now, you asshat. I can't believe you're calling me a liar."

"I only call it like I see it." How could she know how much it would hurt him to hear something like this? Was she still working with Jemina? The girl had been difficult to locate.

"Oh," she laughed. "That's rich coming from you. Remind me what they used to call you. The Great Deceiver, was it?"

"Get back to the hotel, Harmony," he snarled, dragging her to the path that would lead her to safety. "I wouldn't advise leaving the hotel grounds again."

Before she could speak another word, he took to the skies, flying low enough he could still see her, but her human sight was too weak to find him in the darkness. She rubbed her arms and peered behind her, hesitating only a moment before taking off at an almost run in the hotel's direction.

He watched until she went inside, circling the hotel until he saw her step out onto a balcony. Picking a tree across from her room, he settled onto a branch and was determined to stay there until she went to bed. Just in case she'd actually seen something dangerous in the forest. There were creatures who could confuse the mind through illusions and toxins. Rose would never forgive him if he dismissed Harmony's fear entirely, and something happened to her sister.

So, as long as Harmony was on the Bewitching Isles, he would monitor the girl.

For Rose.