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In hindsight, you probably should have been a little suspicious of the cookies that had “eat me” written on them with pink icing, but you were hungry.
Now, at about three inches tall and standing on Ramshackle’s kitchen table next to the offending cookies, hunger was the least of your worries.
Seriously though, how had this happened? Crowley had brought you this basket of groceries himself. The vegetables and bread looked harmless enough. Sure, the cookies stood out a bit, but would Crowley be so careless as to get your groceries mixed up with food that could shrink you down to the size of someone’s finger?
Nope, scratch that. He definitely would.
You sighed. Now wasn’t the time to lay blame or point fingers—that would have to come later ( and it would ). You needed to figure out how to get back to your original size as soon as possible. You couldn’t get off this table without meeting an unseemly end splattered on the floor, and there was no one in Ramshackle who could help—Grim was staying over at Ace and Deuce’s for an all-night video game extravaganza (without their housewarden’s knowledge, of course), and you had foolishly declined, as potentially angering Riddle again wasn’t at the top of your to-do list.
There were the ghosts, but they couldn’t leave Ramshackle, and to your knowledge, they didn’t have any magical abilities that would help. Plus, if you brought too much attention to your current predicament, you were worried they would just use it as an opportunity to prank you.
The list of comrades who could potentially help you was growing depressingly short as you ran through it in your head. Deuce, while dependable, would more likely drop a cauldron on your head accidentally than successfully get you back to your normal size. Azul would probably find a solution, if he was motivated enough by the contract he’d no doubt whip up for you to sign. Crowley…well, he had a propensity for getting students to do his dirty work instead. He’d be more likely to hide you in a box somewhere to protect the school’s sterling reputation until a solution was found. Not to mention the complete lack of effort he’d put into finding a way for you to get back home— magnanimous mage, indeed.
By pure luck, you had left your cell phone on the table, facing screen-side up. It was a bit of a hassle to press the power button and run back to input the four-digit passcode with your tiny hands, but after one failed attempt you got in. You went to your contacts and started scrolling through, but none of the names stood out as being exceptionally helpful at the moment. You were about to resign yourself to texting Ace and Deuce—at the very least, they could bring you to someone who could help—when you scrolled to one of the most recently added numbers, and you remembered.
You did know someone who had the magical capability to help, and most likely would —without any strings or ulterior motives attached. Probably.
The number you had inputted in your phone for Malleus Draconia wasn’t connected to a real phone. Frankly, you didn’t understand all the technomancy jumble Lilia had bombarded you with when you asked how it worked, but you got the gist of it—a text to this number would translate into a magical message delivered to its intended recipient—in this case, Malleus. Lilia had decided that finding a way to use technomancy to translate radio waves into magic (which he’d apparently done with help from one of his “online buddies”) would be easier than teaching Malleus how to use a phone, and they were very eager to do so once you had suggested that it would be easier to invite Malleus to things if you could text him like everyone else. This was close enough, though you hadn’t tried it yet. You weren’t even sure if Lilia had told Malleus about it.
I guess now’s as good a time as any , you thought. You wondered how it worked—did the words float up in front of his face? Would it be some sort of text-to-speech situation? You’d heard about messaging spells a few times in class, but didn’t have any experience with them.
With some effort, you typed in a message to send to Malleus—putting in the extra effort to spell all the words out completely, just in case.
please come to ramshackle, i need your help -yuu
You hit “send” and watched the “received” checkmark appear next to the text. Almost immediately, the word “received” changed to “read.” Huh. I guess that means it worked?
You wondered if Malleus could even reply to the text—maybe he could send a magical message that would translate to a text? Had Lilia thought that far ahead? You didn’t have much time to wonder, though, as your thoughts were interrupted by a CRASH of what sounded like thunder right outside the front door. It spooked you so bad you fell backwards onto the table, heart pounding loudly in your chest. There was a flash of greenish light you could see through the windows.
Holy shit, is that—
The front door flew open to reveal the huge, imposing figure of your fae friend, his green eyes widened with shock as he hurriedly took in the scene before him, as if scanning for danger. His eyes fell on the basket of food on the table and then, finally, on you. You gave him a sheepish wave—maybe you should have toned down the urgency in the text you sent.
“Hi there, Malleus. Thanks for coming.”
A few moments passed as the fae’s expression turned to one of puzzlement. He looked down at the doorway for a second before slowly, deliberately crossing the threshold, ducking slightly to avoid hitting the large black horns on his head. “Child of man? Is that you?”
You nodded as he knelt down slightly next to the table, his cat-like, vivid green pupils at eye level with yours. “Sorry for bothering you, but uh…you were the first one I thought of who could help me with…this,” you said, gesturing to yourself.
“There’s no need to apologize. Though your message may have…startled me a bit, I appreciate your invitation.” He grinned, flashing his sharp, white fangs. His deep voice, so close to you now, rumbled softly in your ears. “Would that it were under better circumstances. Now, could you explain what happened?”
You began your admittedly short retelling of how you’d taken a bite of the suspicious cookie, hoping the fae wouldn’t laugh at your seeming lack of common sense. To your surprise, he listened intently with a serious expression on his face, only showing a hint of irritation when you mentioned that it had been Crowley who had given you the basket of food.
“Tch. That fool,” Malleus muttered darkly. “So careless with the safety of his students. You could have easily suffered a much worse fate had you not been able to contact me. It’s clear that I need to have a… discussion with the headmage on the matter.”
Malleus stood up, and small orbs of green light started to appear around him, floating through the air like fiery dust motes. You could sense a faint crackle of electricity in the air, making the hairs on your arm stand on end.
“Woah woah wait —” you said hastily, as it seemed Malleus was planning on whisking himself away to Crowley’s office right then and there. “It’s…kind of late. I can talk with him tomorrow morning.” As much as he exasperated you at times, you certainly didn’t want Crowley being reduced to a pile of ash over this.
The green magic disappeared from the air as Malleus let out a small hmph , turning his attention toward you again. “As you wish, little human.” His bright eyes were sharp and cold—this clearly seemed to have irritated him more than you were expecting—but they softened as they met yours again.
“So…” you began, slightly nervous now, “is this something you can fix? Like, is it some kind of curse, or…”
Malleus focused his stare and waved his hand slowly over you and the half-eaten cookie behind you. Green sparks flickered faintly at the tips of his gloved fingers. “It is nothing so complex. It seems to be someone’s unique magic, imbued into the food. Likely some sort of prank.”
Unique magic. What kind of unique magic would make size-changing pastries? You briefly thought of Trey, though his unique magic was much different—not to mention he wasn’t the prank-pulling type. For some reason, though, this did feel like something from Heartslabyul—though you couldn’t quite put your finger on why.
“Can you…reverse it?”
Malleus tilted his head to the side, pondering. “I could try, though without understanding the nature of the unique magic, there might be…unintended results, at least without thorough preparation. It would be best to find the person who cast the spell, and have them undo it.” He knelt down beside the table again, his large eyes almost overwhelming as they regarded you somewhat curiously. “Are you sure you wish to wait until tomorrow to speak to the headmage?”
You tore your own eyes away to glance at the grandfather clock behind Malleus. It was nearly midnight—no doubt the headmage was fast asleep anyways. Waking him up now would probably not yield the best problem-solving attitude. “Yeah. I think that would be best. I can wait until tomorrow.”
Malleus nodded slowly, though his brow creased with concern. “Be that as it may, I can’t say I feel comfortable leaving you here alone in such a state. Not to mention, your kitchen table seems a less than ideal place to spend the night.” A thoughtful look came upon his face before he smiled, though coupled with his slightly narrowed eyes and a hint of his protruding fangs, it made you slightly nervous—though you weren’t sure why. “I think it would be best if you stayed in my dorm for tonight.”
I agree , you thought, though you had to admit that the idea made you a bit flustered. While you were on rather friendly terms with the fae, Malleus was always someone who felt just out of reach, like he existed on some other level of reality altogether at times. He was beautiful, but in a way that felt otherworldly and distant. He would appear and disappear at seemingly random times—which is why his invitation for you to spend the night in his room was such a strange, but very appealing offer, even if it was at your current size.
You realized you’d been staring at his face for just a bit too long. “Y-yeah,” you stuttered, willing the blush to disappear from your cheeks, “that would be good.”
He placed a gloved hand on the table in front of you, palm-side up, and looked at you expectantly. Heart thumping wildly in your chest, you slowly stepped onto his hand, sitting on the cold black leather. His long fingers curled gently around you, protectively, as he held you against his chest. This was, by far, the closest you’d ever been to the fae, and it did nothing to help your rapid pulse.
Malleus looked down at you, smiling in that strange way he often did that was somewhere between friendly and mischievous. “You may want to close your eyes, little human.”
You obeyed immediately as you felt your hair stand on end again and heard a sharp CRASH sound, but much louder this time. There was a strange sensation of weightlessness for a split second before you felt solid again, and the electricity dispersed from the air.
“You may open them now,” chuckled Malleus.
Slowly, you opened your eyes and took in the sight of what you assumed must be Malleus’s dorm room. It was rather dark and dungeonesque, what with the tile floors and dark brick walls, but also fairly elegant. A giant four-poster bed, with sheer black curtains draped across it, dominated the middle of the room. You could also make out a small loveseat with dark purple upholstery and elegant black woodwork in front of it, and a—was that a stone, dragon-shaped gargoyle standing in the corner of the room?
Malleus placed you gently on top of a large black desk next to his bed. A candelabra with tall white candles in it ignited as he approached, the tips dancing with greenish light. It cast a strange glow on the fae’s face, making his features look sharper.
“Wow…” you said quietly, still a bit dazed as you took everything in. “I uh…I like your room. It’s…big.”
Malleus chuckled. “That is to be expected, with your current…perspective.” He gave you a strange look and laughed to himself, smiling somewhat impishly.
“What?” You could never quite get a read on what the fae was thinking at any given moment.
“It is nothing,” Malleus said with a smirk. “Just a funny thought.”
You never did have much patience for his cryptic remarks. “Tell me!” you insisted, placing your hands on your hips in a show of mock seriousness.
Malleus took a seat in the chair in front of you, an amused smile on his face. “Well…it had occurred to me that the current size difference between us was somewhat familiar. In my true form, a regular human might be about as small to me as you are now.”
“True form…wait, you mean…can you actually turn into a dragon?” You’d heard some rumors that implied as much, but hadn’t given them much thought until now. It sounded like the kind of stuff people would make up about the great and terrible Malleus Draconia.
“That is correct,” the fae said, his expression unwavering.
Well, shit. You’d heard other rumors too, but…
You found your gaze resting on Malleus’s delicate, slightly darkened lips that curled up in a grin, concealing his fangs. You found yourself shivering with unexpected adrenaline, though you still weren’t sure why. You’d never been scared of your friend before, like everyone else seemed to be. While you were never quite sure of him, you could at least be confident he meant no ill will toward you—in fact, there were times (like tonight) where he seemed quite protective of you.
There was a question you wanted to ask, but you weren’t sure if you wanted to know the answer—or what you wanted the answer to be.
“Is something troubling you, child of man?” Malleus’s placid expression betrayed a hint of concern.
“Did you eat people?” you blurted out, feeling your face go red at the ridiculous question. That had to have been offensive, and why in the world was that the rumor you decided to focus on?
Malleus’s eyes widened in a curious stare before he gave a full-bellied laugh, his sharp fangs on full display. The noise startled you a bit— not the reaction you were expecting. He folded his arms on the desk and rested his head on top of them, eyeing you with bemusement. “You are a strange human, indeed, asking such a bold question.”
You gulped. “Uh, sorry if that was rude,” you mumbled, though he didn’t seem to be upset.
“Not at all. It was just…unexpected. But to answer your question….” His catlike eyes narrowed as a devilish grin crept up his face. “Yes. Only a few that deserved it.”
“Oh,” you breathed, unsure of how to best respond to this new fact. You became very aware of how close his face was to you now, and how his large, dazzling green eyes were keenly focused on you, studying your reaction.
“Does this frighten you, child of man?” He sounded almost resigned to the fact, as if your answer couldn’t be anything other than “yes.”
This…made you sad. “You don’t frighten me, Malleus,” you said with certainty. You were feeling lots of things right now, but at least that much was true. “I’m more curious than anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re…curious?”
You were not sure things could get much more awkward than they were now anyways. Might as well get it all out there. “Yeah like…what do humans taste like? Can you actually swallow people whole? Does it hurt?”
His eyes widened again with surprise at your questions and you were worried you’d definitely asked way too much. But to your amazement, you did not burst into flames. The fae grinned as he lifted his head slightly, tapping the side of his face with his fingers. “So many questions,” he mused. He appeared to be thinking about something as his gaze averted for a minute before he looked back at you, a sly grin on his face. “I could answer them. Or…” he paused, green light dancing on his skin, “you could give me something in return.”
Welp, this is it, you’ve really done it now . You could feel your breath catch in your throat. “G-give you something?”
“A demonstration,” he replied simply. “You are the perfect size, after all.”
Oh, fuck.
“Um…do you mean…” you hoped you were reading his intentions right, but also hoped you were very wrong, “... eating me?”
Malleus tilted his head, his grin now showing his fangs. “How far does your curiosity go, little human?”
You didn’t like that his answer wasn’t no . You felt a chill of fear run up your spine. “Uh, well, I can’t say I’m fond of the idea of dying ,” you said, laughing mirthlessly.
Malleus’s eyebrow quirked up in amusement. “Of course not,” he said, tracing a finger in the air. Green sparks appeared around you, teasing the hair on your skin like static electricity. You felt a strange weight settle on you before the feeling vanished. “A simple protection spell is mere child’s play for me.”
Protection spell?
“And, as an added measure—” He traced another pattern in the air, but this time he moved his hand in front of his stomach. You watched as the green sparks formed some sort of sigil midair before sinking beneath his clothes. “—a spell on my end, as well. No harm would come to you. In fact,” he said, tracing his eyes over your tiny body with an expression both doting and devious, “it may be the safest place for you to spend the night.”
You gulped. It felt like he was closing more and more doors that would have led to your escape from this situation. You could just say no. You probably should just say no, based on the hungry glint in the fae’s eyes. But you couldn’t seem to form the word—every time you tried, you ended up getting sidetracked by the green light glinting off of Malleus’s fangs, the soft curve of his throat, the way his hand rested over his middle almost protectively…
You’re not going to get hurt, so why not?
Your desire to learn more about the elusive, mysterious fae was winning, and Malleus knew it. Maybe your common sense had shrunk, too.
“Yeah…okay.”
Malleus’s grin deepened. “I hadn’t expected you to agree, I’ll admit. You’re just full of surprises, child of man.” He laughed. “So you will permit me to consume you, and keep you inside of me until the morning?”
It felt like you were signing a contract with Azul, which may have been a less foolhardy thing to do right now. “Y-yes. As long as I’m safe, a-and you let me out tomorrow morning. And then you can help me get back to normal, right?”
He gave you a surprisingly soft smile as he placed a hand gently behind you, stroking your hair with his thumb. “Of course,” he purred, smooth and composed as ever. You felt your legs shaking at the sudden contact, knowing that the uncharacteristic tenderness was just a precursor for what was to come.
He picked you up ever-so-gently by your shoulders, cupping you in his hand as he held you up close to his face. You became more aware of his less than human features–the vertical pupils, the flawless, stone-cold skin, the delicately pointed ears. And the pristine white teeth–with a set of sharp canines on the top and bottom that looked like they could pierce your flesh effortlessly.
While his appearance now was fairly close to a human, you had to remind yourself that Malleus was a dragon . It was getting a little easier to see the resemblance as he lifted you above his maw with his other hand, holding you between his thumb and forefinger as he subtly ran his tongue over his bottom lip.
“Now, to answer your first question.”
He opened wide, and you could see all the way to the back of his throat when you cast a timid glance down. It was only a brief look, however, as he closed his lips around your legs. Slowly, he pulled more of you into his mouth until only your head remained outside. His tongue moved around your body slowly, running along the exposed skin of your arms and teasing under your shirt along your middle. You did your best to keep your heart from exploding out of your chest–you would be shaking more if his lips didn’t hold you firmly in place, or if his tongue wasn’t pinning you against the bottom of his mouth as it tasted you.
Malleus’s eyes were closed as he seemed to savor the sensation–you weren’t sure if you appreciated this or not, but you were glad at the very least that he wasn’t pinning you down with his stare as well right now. Despite the fear hammering away in your chest, you were blushing like a madman at the oddly intimate moment.
You finally let out a breath as he slowly lifted you back out of his mouth, taking care to remove the excess saliva from your body as he did so. You felt…cold, all of a sudden. For a split second, you missed the warmth that had enveloped you moments before.
Malleus grinned, looking quite a bit like a cat who’d caught a particularly tasty mouse as he met your eyes again. “Humans all taste quite different. For some reason, you are particularly sweet. I imagine it has something to do with the unique magic affecting you right now.”
What is the appropriate reaction to that, exactly? “Uh…so that’s…good?”
“An understatement,” he said, tapping his fingers lightly along his jaw as he smiled. “You are definitely the tastiest human I’ve ever had.”
You couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or just seeing how much he could tease you, but either way you couldn’t stop your face from going red.
“Now…I believe it’s time to answer question two.”
This was your last chance to say something, to make a rational decision that would prevent you from spending the night in the fae’s stomach–but once again, no words came.
“You’ll forgive me, of course–this is a bit of a rare treat for me, so I may not be able to hold myself back from enjoying your taste for a while.” Malleus’s smile was not cruel, but it was certainly…predatory. You wondered if he could feel the way your whole body was shaking.
Opening wide again, he lowered you into his gaping mouth. His lips closed around your waist as he explored your body with his tongue, pressing it firmly against his palate as he tasted you. You felt his lips part slightly as his tongue crept out under your head, ready to draw the rest of you inside. With one gloved finger, he gently pushed your head between his lips before closing them firmly behind you, leaving you completely in the dark.
The engulfing warmth might have been pleasant if not for the fact that you were now thoroughly coated in saliva from head to toe. Your body rested on top of his soft tongue for just a moment before you were pressed against the roof of his mouth rather unceremoniously, though not painfully. He continued to move you around his mouth with his tongue, seeming to want to get a taste from every angle.
You found that, despite your face being smothered by his giant tongue and pressed against the inside of his cheek, your lungs did not seem to strain for air at all. Was this part of that “protection spell” he had cast on you?
Well, I guess that’s ONE less thing to worry about .
Suddenly the tongue underneath you relaxed, and for a moment you just laid there, face-down and absolutely still. You knew what was coming as his tongue slowly lifted and his head tilted back, and you got a lurching feeling in your stomach as you slid backwards and down his throat. The tight muscles caught your feet before he swallowed and pulled the rest of your body downwards. You caught the faintest glimpse of light as his mouth parted slightly, right before you disappeared down into the darkness.
Being squeezed on all sides by the fae’s throat was a less unpleasant experience than you thought it might be. The muscles squeezed all around you, drawing you in deeper and deeper with each swallow. It went on for longer than you thought it would–and you wondered how he was able to swallow you whole like this without choking. Was he having trouble?
You felt some kind of pressure from outside the throat gently massage you and ease you further down. Before long, you could feel your feet enter an empty space as the throat released you, little by little, until your whole body fell into the fae’s stomach.
Mercifully, it wasn’t as bad as you had imagined a stomach could be. There were no acids or half-digested food waiting for you–just fleshy, saliva-coated walls on all sides that squeezed against you gently. Perhaps this was a mercy granted by the spell he’d cast on himself. You seemed to take up most of the room in Malleus’s stomach, and you opted to sit down as best you could, wrapping your arms around your legs protectively.
This is it. It’s over. You felt yourself relaxing somewhat, no longer being squeezed by the throat or smothered by a tongue. The stomach was warm—and for a moment, you wondered if Malleus could breathe fire and if he could, where did it come from? Did it come from in here, and was that why it felt so warm? As you fell back into the folds of his stomach, you could feel a heat creeping into your skin—not unlike curling up next to the fire in Ramshackle.
You heard a deep sound rumble around you, muffled by the walls of the stomach—a chuckle. “I take it that answers all of your questions?”
“Uh—” you began, before realizing that there was no way your voice could carry all the way to the fae’s ears now.
“Oh, of course.” There was a pause, then: “You can speak now, little human.”
“Um—” What must have been magic caused your voice to resonate oddly, like you were speaking through a megaphone. You could even hear your own voice come from outside of Malleus’s stomach, strangely. “Did it hurt at all? Are you okay?”
The walls of the stomach shook with Malleus’s deep laugh. You found your sitting position jostled by the movement and used your arms to catch yourself before falling completely on the soft, wet floor. “After all that, you’re asking if I am okay? Perhaps I am more out of touch with others than I thought.” He paused. “No, it did not hurt. Even in this form, my body is used to such a thing. It was actually…quite a pleasant experience. I have not had the pleasure of eating a willing participant before, nor one who I intended to bring back out later.”
“Wait, you’ve never done this before?” you almost squeaked in surprise. “H-how did you know the spells would work?”
“Do you doubt my abilities, child of man?” His voice was humored, but you could sense a bit of an edge to the words.
“Well…no…”
“I would never allow harm to befall you, especially not from my own body. You will be safe until the morning, so rest.”
You wondered how many other people could tell you to get a good night’s sleep while you were literally inside of their stomach and actually make it sound like a good offer. Malleus’s words comforted you, and you realized that for better or worse, you trusted this fae with your life.
You sunk into the slimy folds of his stomach, letting the heat seep into your skin. “Are you going to sleep too?”
You could feel his whole body move as he seemed to get up and walk a short distance before lying down. A soft creak of springs indicated that he was probably on his bed. In the dark, it didn’t change much for your perception of space, seeing as you couldn’t tell up from down regardless. “Perhaps,” he purred, his voice filled with utter content. “I don’t normally sleep for long, but feeling you inside of me is…quite relaxing.”
You felt a slight pressure on top of you—again, though your face was pressed against the wet folds of his stomach, your lungs weren’t gasping for air. It felt like he was gently massaging his belly. The soothing motion was more than enough to cause your tired eyelids to close, and help your body relax even further, just moments away from sleep.
You weren’t even sure if the next words you heard were real or a dream.
“And I can still taste your sweetness on my tongue, child of man.”