Nights in Knightsen #2

A Knightsen short story featuring two Necromancers, Stephen and Jolisa, and a shade who really wants to name the puppy.

I had never seen someone so excited for something in my life, much less Stephen. For the past few days he had been acting like a little kid. He was practically bouncing up and down in his seat next to me, and his mother drove us to the pound.

“I've always, always wanted a dog,” he said for the fiftieth time.

“I know, Stephen,” I sighed, but still squeezed his hand anyways.

“Tom's allergic, you know,” he noted, even though I had already heard this information, “And usually nobody is at home, so dog wouldn't get enough attention. But since I'm always in Knightsen and there's so much space here...”

“The dog will be perfectly fine,” said Mrs. Morrison from the drivers seat, “And you really don't need my permission to get a dog, you know. You're an adult now.”

“I know, but I'm still living under your roof. You have no idea how excited I am to have a dog,” he grinned foolishly.

“So Stephen,” I said casually, “Are you excited to get a dog?”

He gently bopped me on my head with his fist, “Since when did you get so sarcastic, Jo?”

“Since I started dating you, I believe,” I playfully nudged him in the ribs.

“So,” said Mrs. Morrison, “What kind of dog are you thinking of getting? Something big, judging from the bed you picked out.”

“Well yeah,” he got that excited look on his face, as if he had been planning this out for years, which most likely he had been, “I don't want to get in a situation, necromancer-wise, and have to worry about my dog. I want something big, and something that can defend itself in case something goes wrong.”

“Like a Rottweiler?” I suggested.

“Maybe,” he thought, “Just something that's tough. But affectionate, at the same time.”

“Well, there isn't much more time to decide,” Stephen's Mom chimed as she pulled up to the Antioch pound, “Because we're here.”

Stephen was silent and practically shaking as he filled out the adoption paperwork, and he took a deep breath before entering the dog ward. There were plenty of dogs of all shapes, sizes and colors that jumped up in their cages, barking and wagging their tails wildly at us. All of them instantly broke my heart and I wanted to take them all home.

“These dogs were found,” explained the warden, “They're waiting to be claimed. In here is where we have puppies for adoption,” she opened up a swinging door and the barks of puppies echoed throughout the room, “Were you thinking of anything in particular?”

“Um,” Stephen's voice cracked, his nerves getting the best of him, “Something that would be big, but friendly.”

The warden smiled, “I think I have just the dog for you. She's a girl, is that okay?”

Stephen nodded. As the warden left to retrieve the puppy, I grabbed Stephen's hand and whispered, “Are you okay?”

“I'm so excited,” he whispered back, and I shared a smile with Stephen's mother.

The warden returned carrying what appeared to be a bundle of brown and black fuzz, with bright black twinkling eyes hidden under floppy ears. The puppy squirmed out of her arms and ran right toward Stephen, barking happily. Stephen knelt down and scooped the puppy up in his arms, and the little dog immediately starting licking his face.

“She's a German Shepherd,” the warden explained, “All of her brothers and sisters have already been adopted out. She's the last one, just four and a half weeks old. They're great with families and extremely friendly, but they can also be very defensive and protective. They're easy to train...”

Stephen didn't seem to hear her at all. He interrupted with, “This is my dog,” as he hugged her tight.

-

The puppy adored the ride home, sticking her head out the window and yapping at everything that went by, and when she arrived at her new house, she was in heaven. She ran around sniffing everything for a solid ten minutes, and eventually settled on Stephen's bed, relaxing and panting with her tongue lolled out.

“I bought you a bed,” Stephen said to her, pointing at the doggy bed in a corner of the room, but the puppy seemed to like her masters bed a lot more. I took a seat next to her, and she sprang up and attacked my face with kisses.

“What are you going to call her?” I asked Stephen as I tried to restrain the small puppy.

“I don't know,” said Stephen, who grabbed a box of puppy treats and also sat on the bed. The puppy instantly turned all her attention to him, smelling the food. Stephen held a snack above his head and commanded, “Sit!” and he used his other hand to push her lower half down into the sitting position. As the puppy munched on her treat, Stephen continued, “I'm not really good with naming things. So far all I've thought of is Mocha.”

“Mocha?” I made a face, “You cannot name your dog after your favorite drink.”

“But look at her color,” Stephen picked up the puppy and she practically melted in his hands, “She's brown and black. Chocolate and coffee.”

“Please Stephen, do not name her after something you like to eat. You're going to think about your dog every time you order that drink at Starbucks.”

“I suppose you're right,” Stephen sighed, releasing his dog who bolted for the door, barking, “And I guess we should take her outside for a little while.”

He attached her black collar which had no name tag around her neck, and once her leash was snapped on we went for a walk. The puppy instantly ran right into some of Mrs. Morrison's flowers to relieve herself.

“At least she's peeing outside,” I said, “Hey, let's walk her to my house!”

Stephen frowned, “That's awfully far. That's what, twenty minutes?”
“Fifteen, I'm sure,” I smiled, “You're such a wimp when it comes to walking.”

“Oh, I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about the puppy. Can she handle that long of a walk?”
I nudged him in the ribs for the second time that day, “Liar. Of course she can handle it, she's a bundle of energy. Besides, she's a shepherd right? She'll love the alpacas.”

Stephen gave in, and for the first time he walked to my house, instead of taking his car. The puppy especially had fun, as now she had more things to smell and bark at and pee on. When we finally reached Quail Trail and she saw alpacas for the first time in her life, she instantly fell in love. She ran right up to the fence and wagged her tail to the point where it looked like it would fall off. A group of alpacas walked right up to the fence, leaning their heads down to look at the puppy. She would leap up and bark, startling the alpacas and making them run away a little, but after a minute they would come right back and the process would repeat. Soon half the herd was coming by to investigate the new animal.

As the sun set and the alpacas started heading into the barn to get some sleep, I convinced Stephen to let the puppy off the leash so she could run around the property. She did so blissfully, running at full speed anywhere she could go. She even rounded up a few of the alpacas that hadn't gone in for the night yet, forcing them from a scatter to a clump of alpacas. When she ran back to Stephen, he gave her a bunch of treats and some water from my house. She turned on her adorable puppy switch for my parents, and when the sky started to get dark we decided to take her back home.

As we headed down the driveway, the puppy stopped in her tracks, making Stephen almost trip over her leash. She started growling, and I felt worried, “Is someone out there?” I could feel a presence. It wasn't completely dark yet, but it was more and more difficult to see in front of us without a light. Stephen went right for his pocket for the matches he always keeps there, and lit one.

Standing in front of us was a dark shaped person, and I immediately knew it was a shade. It walked toward us, and I wished that Stephen or I had a sword on us to defend ourselves. But as he came closer, I smiled.

Shining Prince Shade knelt down to the cowering puppy, “Wan-wan!” he cooed, holding his hand out to the little dog. She cautiously smelled it. She must have known that there was something wrong with this person, but after a minute she registered that he must be alright, as she jumped up to him and started licking in.

“Geez, Shade!” Stephen extinguished the match, “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Where did you get wan-wan?” Shade grinned. It was a really dopey smile that I had never really seen on him before. He looked like a happy kid.

“She's my dog,” Stephen said, “And we're walking her home. Care to join us?”

“Totes!” Shade walked next to me and we followed Stephen and the excited puppy, “What's her name?”

“We don't know yet,” I answered.

“Can I name her?”

Stephen spoke up, “No, she's my dog.”

“You should name her Wan-Wan.”

I looked quizzically at Shade, “What does that mean?”

Stephen answered for him, “It's Japanese baby talk. It's the sound that dogs make. It's the equivalent of 'woof'.”

Shade shook his head, “What is wrong with you? Dogs don't say 'woof', they say 'wan-wan'. See, watch this,” Shade ran in front of the puppy, and said, “Speak!”

She barked a very distinct “Wan! Wan!” sound.

“See?” Shade smirked.

“How did you do that?” Stephen looked down at his dog, amazed.

“Can I name her now?” Shade asked him.

“I said no,” Stephen walked the puppy past Shade, “She's mine.”

“You should name her Momo,” Shade suggested.

“No.”

“You should name her Mochi.”

“No.”

“You should name her Ocha.”

“No Shade, I'm not going to take your suggestions.”

“You should name her Sushi!”

“Shade...”
“You should name her...”

“SHADE!” Stephen yelled, startling me and the puppy, “I'm not going to name her after Japanese food! I know how much you love food, but Jo already pointed out that naming dogs after things you eat is really weird.”

“Fine,” Shade crossed his arms as he walked and stayed silent.

“Hey Shade,” I put a hand on his shoulder, “You shouldn't take it personally when Stephen yells at you. You know he's not very sensitive toward shades.”

“I was just going to say,” he said, “that he should name her Wasabi.”

“Stephen,” I said to my boyfriend, “Shade would like to know if he could name your puppy Wasabi.”

Stephen just rolled his eyes.

“Well, I don't know any good English names,” Shade defended himself, “What's the word for female dog in English?”

I was about to answer him, but Stephen immediately said, “Don't tell him.”

“What's the harm?” I said, “It's just a word. An animal word,” I turned to Shade, “In English, the word for female dog is 'b***h'.”

Shade just laughed and laughed.

“I told you not to tell him,” Stephen sighed.

-

It was hard to tell whether the puppy was more fascinated with Shade, or Shade more fascinated with the puppy. When we got back to Stephen's we went to the backyard so Shade and the puppy could play fetch.

“Good girl, Wasabi!” Shade cried out as the tiny German Shepherd returned the stick, and then struggled to remove it from her mouth, “Now give it back, little b***h.”

Stephen rolled his eyes, “How many times are you going to call her that?”

“What? B***h? That's what she is, right?” he grinned, “I love English.”

“No, Wasabi,” Stephen knelt down to scoop up his dog, “I haven't decided what to name her yet. If you keep calling her that, she's going to get used to it.”

“But it's a great name!” Shade defended, “Besides, what are you going to call her?”

I jumped in, “Shade is actually kind of right. Wasabi isn't that bad of a name. It suits her.”

We all heard Stephen's Mom calling for her son from inside the house. Stephen set down the dog, “Watch her, please,” and went inside. Shade immediately grabbed her and started cuddling her, “I really like puppies,” he pointed out.

“I'm glad,” I smiled.

The puppy started licking Shade's face, which made him laugh, “Wow, women absolutely love to lick me, don't they? You really are a b***h, aren't you Wasabi?”

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. I sat down next to Shade, “It's really sweet how you and Stephen have both fallen for this little dog.”

Shade looked at me, shocked, “What, and you haven't? Look at her!” he thrust the puppy into my arms, who practically melted into them.

“She is a really awesome dog,” I said, hugging her, “But I've been around animals my whole life. I'm used to knowing how great they already are. I've never seen Stephen around any other animals except the alpacas, and I've never seen you take an interest in them.”

“Gee,” Shade said sarcastically, “I wonder why.”

“But you love the puppy,” I passed back the tiny dog, who Shade accepted happily.

“I do love the puppy,” he agreed, “You're not jealous, are you?”

I was confused, “What do you mean?”
“If I love the puppy, Stephen must love it even more. You're not worried that he's going to replace his girlfriend with the puppy?”

I shook my head, “You are crazy.”

“Puppies take a lot of time and attention to take care of. He's not going to have as much time for you now, you know. Plus, you know, a guy walking around with a puppy? There's only one reason for that.”
“Which is?”

“He's trying to pick up chicks.”
“Shade, that is not true.”

“Seriously, what guy who owns an adorable puppy is not trying to score with hot girls?” he smiled, “It's like, buy one b***h, get a million for free.”

“For the record, I know what you're doing,” I said as I brushed some puppy hair off of me, “I am not worried about Stephen turning his attention away from me because he bought a dog. And I am not worried that he bought the dog to attract women. He doesn't need to. And I know you're only saying this because you want me to get jealous, and get me to pay more attention to you.”

Shade looked at the puppy, “Your master's girlfriend is smart, Wasabi.”

“Whatever, I'm going inside to see what Stephen is up to,” I left Shade and found Stephen in the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge.

“Hey, Jo!” he smiled at me, “Mom was just telling me that she was going to bed and to keep it down outside. And I figured, since I was here, I would get drinks for all of us. I know if I asked Shade what he wanted to drink he would just say sake, so I was trying to decide if I should give him water or orange juice.”

“Interesting,” I said, “Shade just tried to convince me that I should be jealous of the puppy because you're going to spend all of your attention on her, and not me.”

Stephen looked confused, “Why would he say that?”

“To get me jealous,” I answered, “And, actually, it kind of did.”

My boyfriend set down the drinks he was getting so he could put his arms around me, “The puppy is going to be a lot of work. But I have a necromancer girlfriend. A puppy should be a breeze,” he kissed my cheek, “Besides, I would never, ever turn my attention away from you. I love you too much.”

“Good,” I kissed his cheek in return, and me took a moment to smile at each other happily. When I snapped back into reality I realized, “Oh, Shade's not going to want anything to drink. You may as well order a pizza.”

“Fair enough,” Stephen walked to the back door and stuck his head out, “Hey Shade, what kind of pizza do you...” Stephen froze.

“What is it?” I asked.

Stephen stared back at me, his face completely white, “They're gone.”

-

In order to leave the backyard, Shade would have had to open the side gate, and since there was no dust on it, the only option was that he went home. Stephen hastily opened a door to the Winterland and we hurried in as quick as we could. Once we arrived at the barren landscape I focused all my attention on locating the nearest shade. There was one not too far away, and we ran.

Shining Prince Shade was surrounded by a small group of drudes, who were all laughing and acting flirtatious toward him. But as we drew closer, we saw that the drudes weren't paying any attention to him.

“SHADE!” Stephen yelled, “That's MY dog!”

“Oh, hey Stephen,” Shade smiled, “I was just taking her for a walk, and I happened to come across these lovely drudes.”

“She's so cute!” one of them cooed as she scratched the puppy's head.

“Give her back!” Stephen demanded, and Shade reluctantly handed over the puppy.

Stephen continued yelling, “Drudes, get out of here before I send you all away! And you!” he pointed at Shade, “Who do you think you are, bringing my dog to the Winterland! What if something went wrong?”

The drudes angrily shuffled off, and Shade stared at the nails on his right hand, “Geez, Stephen. I was only trying to see if it was true.”

“What's true?”
“If a guy could pick up more chicks with a cute puppy,” Shade cracked a smile, “It works. Hey, can I borrow Wasabi tomorrow?”

“No, you cannot borrow Wasa... my puppy tomorrow!” Stephen angrily turned around, heading back toward the Door.

“Stephen,” I chased after him, “Don't be mad at Shade.”

“Why are you always defending him?” Stephen growled.

“Because I'm a shade necromancer, it's what I do,” I panted, as I had to practically run to keep up with him, “And the puppy isn't hurt. Shade is just being Shade.”

“I don't care,” Stephen said angrily, “He's not allowed around my puppy anymore.”

On cue, the puppy started whimpering, nuzzling her head into Stephen's arms as if she were trying to escape. Shade appeared next to us, “Hey, guys?”

“Go away,” Stephen said at the same time as I said, “What is it?”

“Something isn't right. Wasabi knows it too. I think something just went through your Door.”

Stephen paused for a moment, and then ran full out toward the Door. Sure enough, there were footprints leading into the invisible barrier that lead back to the world of the living. He looked at me, and I looked at Stephen.

“Let's go,” he said plainly. Still carrying his dog, we both walked together through the Door.

-

“Do you sense a shade?” Stephen asked first as soon as we scrambled up from the ground in his backyard.

“Just one,” I pointed at the Shining Prince.

“What are you doing here?” Stephen moaned.

“Helping,” Shade said, completely serious, “And I'm pretty sure it's a vampire.”

Stephen and I were both petrified with fear. I took a deep breath, “How far could it have gone?”

There was already a compass in Stephen's hand, but before he could announce any details, the puppy ran at full speed toward the gate, barking as loud as she could. The three of us followed her. Stephen shoved open the gate and we ran out into the front yard. Standing in the middle of Eden Plains Road was a skinny woman with long, tangled hair. Her red eyes looked back and forth from me to Stephen, her wings unfolded from her back slowly.

“Run,” Stephen whispered to me as he slowly knelt down to pick up a rake.

“I'm not running,” I answered.

This time, Stephen and Shade both turned to me, yelling, “RUN!” right when the vampire charged. Shade grabbed my arm and yanked me back behind the gate, slamming it shut. We bolted for the backyard. I heard a body impact with another, Stephen crying out, and a puppy furiously barking. I instinctively turned around to go back toward my boyfriend, but Shade's grip on me was too strong.

“There!” he pointed at a tarp that was covering some firewood. He lifted it and shoved me underneath it while wrapping it around himself. I slammed into the wood as Shade threw himself on top of me, shielding me. We were both breathing heavily, my heart was pounding.

“Stay quiet,” he whispered to me, which was when I noticed that his face was just a few inches away from mine. I looked up at him, trying to control my breathing, and looked into his eyes.

Shade looked into mine. He didn't smile or smirk or wink. He just looked into my eyes. We stayed that way for a few minutes. There was no sound outside, all I could hear was his breathing and his heartbeat. I couldn't help but remember the times we had whenever we were alone. I could practically feel his lips against mine already, that static lightning tingle of his kiss.

“Shade,” I whispered.

“Shh,” he replied, “Don't talk.”

And we just gazed at each others for a few more minutes. I was lost in his eyes. A part of me desperately wanted to kiss him, but I forced myself to resist. I still didn't know why these moments with Shade made me so... so...

I told myself to stop thinking about it. I averted his gaze. Stop thinking those things about Shade, I kept telling myself. Especially since I had Stephen...

“Hey,” Shade whispered.

I looked back up into his eyes.

“Alright?” his voice was so quiet that I could barely hear it. His breath tickled my skin.

“I don't hear anything outside,” I answered.

“A good sign,” he grinned. One of his hands very gently touched my hair, caressing it, and my heart fluttered. Then his hand traveled down to the side of my face, and he leaned in closer. His lips were practically touching mine. I could already feel the electric tingle of his kiss. I parted my lips, anticipating what would happen next.

There was a sniffling noise from outside the tarp. Shade held his breath and shut his eyes. I remembered how terrified shades were of vampires, and I did the same. Whatever it was, there was something next to us that could smell us. I gently maneuvered my hand to grab a piece of wood, just in case I needed a weapon.

The creature that was smelling us said, “Wan! Wan!”

Shade pushed the tarp off of us, “Wasabi!” he smiled, and scooped up the puppy in a hug.

“There you are,” said Stephen voice from near the gate. When I heard him I sprang up and ran right toward him. At first I was startled at his appearance. His clothes were a bit torn and there was a scratch on his forehead that was just starting to bleed. He smiled at me, “Hey, don't worry. I wasn't bitten. The vampire is gone.”

“Oh, Stephen,” I was so thrilled that he was alright that I rushed right into his arms. Without thinking, I kissed him. He held me tight and returned the kiss, which felt wonderful. As soon as I broke it off I asked, “Are you sure you're alright?”

“I'm fine, really,” he grinned, “You should have seen me. And the dog, too. If it weren't for her... well, the vampire knocked me over, and before it could bite me, Wasabi, I mean, the puppy, bit its ankle. It startled the vampire, and gave me enough time to take the advantage of the fight and send it back. It wasn't a bad battle at all,” he smiled at his puppy, whose tongue and tail were waggling happily.

“Good girl,” I said to her, and she replied with a bark.

“Anyway,” Stephen let me go, “I'm going to the bathroom to check my forehead, I think I scratched it.”

“Yeah, it's bleeding,” I said, and as Stephen headed back inside the house with his dog faithfully following him, I noticed Shade. He wasn't smiling or acting happy that the vampire was gone, he was just glaring at me.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“You know,” was all he said. And I was afraid I did know. It was practically written all over his straight and serious face, That kiss should have been mine.

“I'm dating him,” I said plainly.

“You don't think I've noticed that by now?” it was more of an angry statement than a question.

“Shade, seriously, I don't know what to say.”

He took one step toward me, and changed his mind, “No, you know what? I don't want to get into this right now. I'm going home. But you know how you really feel. It glows in your aura. I can see it in your eyes,” and very suddenly he was gone.

I fought back a few frustrating tears as I went into Stephen's house. He was in his bathroom, dabbing some hydrogen peroxide on his forehead with a cotton ball. His puppy was at his feet.

“Shade went home,” I said.

“Good,” said Stephen. He smiled at me and asked, “You don't think this is going to scar, do you?”

I held his face in my hands and kissed the scratch, “Now it won't.”

The puppy yawned, and laid down on the floor. I smiled, “Poor thing, she's had a long and exciting day.”

“Yeah,” Stephen had that dopey, childlike grin on his face as he admired his new pet, “You know, I'd hate to say it, but I do kinda like the name Wasabi.”

I nodded, “I think it's stuck.”