#why did the aircon in my car decide to break huh why

[ghwosty]

had to make multiple responsible adult purchases in a short span of time and can't afford a rock n disc until next pay day, 129 dead 900 injured

[dontenchantme]

country roads take me home - part one

Rated E, Solomon x MC

never trust a beautiful man. all they know how to do is to lie.

inspired by this fic, will make more sense if you read it first!

fics masterlist

She stared out of the window as the roads passed by, unfamiliar in the daytime. Now that she thought about it, wasn’t it strange how she ended up here, smack in the middle of nowhere?

The cab driver adjusted the rear-view mirror, and she managed to catch a glimpse of his eyes in the glass. They were an almost unsettling shade of blue, but she couldn’t figure out why it made her so uneasy. Then he pulled down his cap, hiding his eyes from view once more.

“How far away are we from the nearest town?” she asked, drumming her fingers against her knee. With her phone battery flat, there was nothing to distract her from her boredom, and the scenery had long lost its appeal. She desperately wanted to get to civilisation.

“It’s quite a ride. I don’t know how you managed to trek all the way here, but it’s going to take an hour at least.” He sounded as tired as he looked. But not the voice of an older man, like she initially assumed. “Do you want to change your destination?”

“It’s fine.” She didn’t know anywhere else she could go. And she had to get to her meeting point by the end of the day – the last thing she wanted was for people to think something had happened to her. She’d dealt with the police once, and she’d prefer not to do it again.

He fell silent, and for a while, she weighed the pros and cons of trying to start a conversation. Generally, she favoured quiet drivers who didn’t distract her with meaningless chatter, but it was just too quiet, and the mind-numbing boredom was getting to her head.

“Do you know Asmodeus?” she asked, finally deciding to break the ice. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t – part of her was already beginning to wonder if the previous night was nothing more than a dream. But he let out a laugh at the mention of Asmodeus, a harsh bark that grated on her ears, and glanced over his shoulder at her.

She still couldn’t quite see his face, but she could see a hint of a smile curving his lips, almost a smirk. Something about him made her uncomfortable, but she couldn’t place a finger on what. “Why? Do you have a sweet, lovesick message for him? He’s not going to respond.”

“Huh?” She couldn’t hide her confusion even if she wanted to. He turned back to the road ahead, vast and open, emptiness stretching on for miles.

“I’ve seen too many people lose themselves within him. Searching for a master who refuses to beckon them home.” He heaved a sigh. “But you. You’re not quite like them, are you?”

“I…don’t think so?” She was starting to think he might just be a little bit mad. Living out here in all this wilderness probably didn’t do him any favours. She contemplated her situation; if he was crazy, then maybe it’d be a good idea to get out of the cab now.

But then, she hadn’t seen any other cars drive down this road the entire time she was in the cab, and she didn’t want to risk being stranded once again. It was unlikely that she’d find yet another old castle to take refuge in. And even if she did, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to.

He hummed, sounding pleased for some reason. “Indeed, you’re most definitely not.”

She waited for him to continue, to elaborate on what he meant by those cryptic words, but of course, he clammed up entirely after that, refusing to add on to the topic. Silence reigned in the cab, and she looked out of the window again, watching the cloudless blue sky.

Time passed. She didn’t know how long, but she must have fallen asleep at some point; the first thing she realised as her eyelids fluttered open was that the cab was no longer moving. She tried to turn her head to view her surroundings, and immediately her neck protested, the stiff muscles sending sharp bolts of pain down her back.

The driver’s seat was empty. She forced herself to ignore the dull ache in her neck, looking around to get a sense of where she was – the first thing she saw was a gas station, and she figured that was where the cab driver had disappeared to.

Her stomach rumbled, and she winced – she hadn’t realised just how hungry she was. The air outside shimmered, heatwaves rising from black tar, and she guessed that it was probably around noon by now. How was it that she still had yet to reach her destination?

Or…was there a reason for the delay? Was her cab driver a kidnapper? A sex trafficker? Her stomach let out another growl, but she felt sick – the possibilities swirled around her mind, a never-ending parade of terrible outcomes. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep so readily.

She reached for the door, deciding that maybe she should take her chances with the great outdoors. She did it once, she could probably do it again – and if not, there was always the gas station. Maybe she could borrow a phone, try to get a friend to rescue her or something.

But the door refused to open. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, willing herself to think. So, her cab driver had locked the door. There was no need to panic – he probably just wanted to prevent people from driving off with his cab. That was understandable.

She glanced out of the window and saw the gas station doors sliding open. Out came the cab driver, and she noticed that he wasn’t wearing his cap – instead, he was fanning himself with it, holding on to a bottle of water with his other hand. She squinted, trying to make out his features from afar, and she realised that her suspicions were right. He was young.

He approached the cab, and she quickly fell back against the seat, pretending that she was still asleep. He was whistling, and she listened for the sound of the door unlocking, deciding she would bolt once she was able to – but then she heard a loud click alarmingly close to her face and she opened her eyes to see a bottle of water thrust in front of her.

“Have some water. It’s stupidly hot right now.” She looked up, meeting the gaze of the driver – his yellow-blue eyes watched her, his expression unreadable. She hesitated, still suspicious of his intentions, but her gaze was drawn to the drops of condensation rolling slowly down the plastic and, seized by an overwhelming thirst, she reached for the drink.

“Thanks,” she muttered, twisting the cap and taking large, greedy gulps – the cool liquid ran down her throat, soothing the sudden fire that had sprung up from nowhere. He nodded, shutting the door and going back to the driver’s side. Neither of them said a word as he pulled out of the gas station, resuming the long drive through the centre of nothingness.

Time passed again, and even with the aircon on full blast it was starting to feel like an oven in the cab – she plucked listlessly at her shirt, attempting to cool herself to no avail. She idly considered dumping the water on her head but decided that she’d rather not have the driver shouting at her, so she leant against the seat and tried to find ways to distract herself.

“What’s your name?” she finally asked. It was weird to hear her voice after such a long period of silence. He didn’t respond at first, simply reaching up to adjust the rear-view mirror.

She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever get a response when he finally cleared his throat. “Solomon,” he said. He offered nothing more than that, and she frowned, trying to figure out what to ask next – he was her only conversation partner, and she was desperate.

If she went another minute in this empty, silent hellhole, she might go mad. “And how long have you been a cab driver?” It couldn’t have been that long, given how young he looked.

“Hm. I don’t know. I’m not a real cab driver,” he answered, sounding distracted. “It’s just something I do for extra cash. We're all about the gig economy, you know?”

Well, that didn’t sound reassuring. “Could you tell me more about where we’re headed?” The nearest town wasn't very near if they were still on the road after all this time.

“It’s just some town. I can’t remember the name.” Another offhand comment. She stared at the back of his head, wondering if he was serious. “Think we’ll be there in…an hour or so?”

“Another hour?” Unbelievable. She wondered how her car was doing, stuck on the side of the road. She liked that pile of junk, even if it broke down with alarming regularity. It was a car she had bought with her own money, but it was starting to seem like she might not see it again.

“Uh-huh.” He glanced back at her then, one eyebrow raised. “Is there a problem? I figured you’d want to know more about your current condition, so that’s the best place to go.”

Her irritation dissipated. “My current condition?” she echoed, wondering what he was talking about. She was sure she was fine. Better than fine, even – she recalled her reflection from this morning, how all the scars and marks and blemishes had disappeared from her skin.

Was that what he meant by a condition? Sure, it was weird, but it didn’t seem to be hurting her. “Yeah. Didn’t you notice anything unusual after you encountered Asmodeus?”

“Um. All the marks on my skin are gone. Bruises, blemishes, surgical scars, everything.” Which she didn’t think was a bad thing but was certainly strange. “And…” She hesitated, then took a deep breath and decided to continue. “I’m sure that when I first visited the castle, it was still in good condition. Pretty well-maintained. But in the morning…that was no longer the case.”

“Okay. And Asmodeus was gone, yes?” There was no surprise in his voice, and that made her feel slightly better. It sounded like he believed her. Like she wasn’t going crazy or anything.

“That’s right.” She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, twirling soft linen around her finger. She could still smell the warmth of cedar lingering on the fabric. “Do you know where he went?”

“Mm, not exactly. He only shows up when he wants to. I don’t keep track of his location, and I don’t intend to either.” Solomon sounded faintly annoyed. “I’m curious. Do you recall seeing any punctures on your body? Like your neck, your thighs, your shoulders? Anywhere at all?”

Abruptly she remembered the twin marks on both sides of her neck. Like two sets of double-pronged needles had stabbed her in her sleep. “Yes…” She was starting to get a bad feeling about this entire situation. “You’re not going to tell me he’s a vampire, are you?”

She laughed as she spoke, trying to pretend there wasn’t a growing pit of dread threatening to swallow her whole. Vampires couldn’t exist. There was no evidence, nothing to prove that such beings were more than myth and legend – but he was being strangely quiet, and some part of her withdrew into herself, desperately trying to avoid her newfound awareness.

“What if I said he was?” His answer was light, conversational. She swallowed, a hand reaching up to touch the markings – she could feel the indentations in her skin, tiny holes that certainly weren’t there the day before. Too big to be an insect bite. Too small to be anything else.

“If he…if he truly is a vampire,” she began, her voice shaky, “then what will happen to me?”

He met her gaze again, and she stared back at him, afraid. There was something almost like pity in his eyes. “That’s where I’m bringing you. Somewhere you’ll get your answers.”

She nodded, unable to find the words to speak, and they continued to drive in silence, her thoughts whirling around her head. A vampire. What did that make her?

She dozed off again during the trip and was roused by someone shaking her. They were not gentle. “Oi. Get out. I need to park the car.”

It was a vaguely familiar voice. Blearily, she forced her eyes open, trying to rub the drowsiness away – when she looked out of the window, she blinked, startled by the change in the landscape.

Previously, they had been driving through open roads, the surroundings alternating between grassy plains and desert sand. But now the light was soft, dappled, filtering through the thick canopy of trees to illuminate the lush grass below. It looked like they were somewhere in the woods, though how he’d managed to drive his cab through all these trees eluded her.

“Where are we?” she asked, trying to shake off the remnants of her tiredness. It was inhumane to make anyone sit in a car for this long. Solomon didn’t answer, simply taking a step back so she could clamber out of the cab. The surrounding air was cool, and it made a nice change.

“Don’t leave your trash behind,” he complained, diving into the cab and taking out her empty bottle. She took it from him with a guilty murmur of thanks, trying to look for a trashcan. Given how there was nothing but trees and greenery around her, she didn’t manage to find one.

Solomon locked his car, leaving it in the middle of the grassy clearing, and started to walk off. She scrambled after him, not wanting to be stranded alone in the middle of the woods. “You should let me know where we’re headed!” she yelled, trying to keep up with him as he picked his way through the undergrowth. He was surprisingly quick for someone so tall, and on quite a few occasions she almost walked right into some obstacle that he had managed to avoid.

Trekking through the woods was tiring, but at the same time, it was peaceful. She enjoyed the silence, though she also realised that it was too quiet – there was no birdsong, no movement in the undergrowth, not even any bugs coming to attack her.

“Where are we going?” she called, hoping to get a response this time. Solomon glanced over his shoulder at her, a shadow of a smile on his face, and beckoned to her. She narrowed her eyes, wondering what he had up his sleeve, but she approached him nevertheless.

“We’re almost there. Just a tiny bit further,” he said when she was closer, close enough to see the traces of gold that flecked his blue eyes. She frowned. Funny, she was sure that his eyes were a murky shade of yellow-blue, but before she could question any further, he ducked through a gap between two trees and she had to go after him, careful not to lose her guide.

They broke into another grassy clearing, and the first thing she noticed within it was a perfect circle of mushrooms. A fairy ring. She suddenly recalled the old stories about the fae, how they gathered in fairy circles and spirited away any mortals unfortunate enough to come across them, and a shiver ran down her spine. After what Solomon suggested about her bite marks, she wasn’t taking any chances. “What are we doing here?” she demanded.

“Hm? Visiting the town, of course. You want answers, don’t you?” He stepped forward, but she didn’t follow him, still suspicious. He chuckled. “You aren’t going to learn anything if you just stay outside the boundary. This gate leads to the town I mentioned.”

She blinked. “This…gate?” she echoed, squinting at the mushrooms. They looked like they might be poisonous, but there was nothing else special about them, and she wondered if Solomon was trying to pull a fast one.

He looked at her as though she had said something stupid. “What did you think it was?”

“A ring of mushrooms?” He drew a breath, looking like he wanted to say something, but then he paused and shook his head, seemingly disappointed. She frowned. Did he think this was common sense or something? It wasn’t like she was an expert on supernatural beings.

“Come here and close your eyes,” he instructed, and deciding to listen to the words of the strange man, she stepped over the mushrooms, joining him in the middle of the circle. He murmured something in a language she didn’t understand, but there was something very familiar about it, like the shadow of a dream fleeing from the morning sun – she felt a strong, compelling urge to shut her eyes, and she followed her instinct, her world turning dark.

The ground beneath her feet shifted and she almost stumbled, but then a hand gripped her shoulder – his touch sent a sudden tingle through her skin, like static without the pain – and she managed to find her footing. It felt like the ground was sinking, and moments later a cool, almost liquid sensation enveloped her. She was tempted to peek, but there was a mysterious force freezing her in place and she couldn’t move any part of her body.

She tried to say something, but her mouth refused to open and she couldn’t make a single sound. It was terrifying, but before she could really start to panic, he cleared his throat. “You can open your eyes now.” And open them she did – the first thing she noticed was the wavy lavender grass surrounding her, nothing like the silent woods they had stepped into.

It was beautiful. Now that she could see, it felt like her other senses were slowly returning to her, and when she inhaled she could smell something floral. She didn’t recognise what flower it was, but it was intoxicating all the same – she took another deep breath, allowing the scent to settle in her lungs. The air itself seemed to shimmer, almost like a mirage. She swore she could see traces of…something around her, some kind of mystic, unidentifiable power.

“Don’t get distracted. We still have some way to go.” She glanced at her companion when he spoke and she blinked, taking in the sight of him. Solomon frowned back at her. “What?”

“You look…different.” That was putting it mildly. He still had the same white hair, still had the same blue eyes, but within them she could see the flecks of gold she’d noticed earlier, shimmering as they caught the watery sunlight. He had always been attractive, but in an unassuming way, almost blending into the background – now, she couldn’t figure out what had changed, but he had become impossibly beautiful, all sharp eyes and pouty lips and alabaster skin.

Just like Asmodeus, there was something almost inhuman about him, and unease nestled in her gut. Her gaze landed on his ears – were they always that pointy? She didn’t recall; he had been wearing a cap for most of the trip, and it was hard to make out his features sometimes.

“Do I?” A smile tugged at his lips, knowing, almost seductive. Her heart thudded. “Maybe you were tired from the journey, so you didn’t notice. I’ve always looked this way.”

She scowled. He most certainly had not – she remembered her first glimpse of his face when he left the gas station, and while he was handsome, he still looked decidedly normal. Not the kind of person who could take her breath away with just a smile or a lingering look.

“Where are we headed?” She decided to change the subject; it didn’t seem like he would tell her the truth anytime soon, and she didn’t want to waste time pressing the issue.

“Mm, to my hometown. Follow me, and don’t wander.” He turned towards a narrow path she was quite sure hadn’t been there earlier, and she followed him, looking around to take in the scenery. It was so…different. Petals fell gently around them, caressing her skin – they were silky soft and came in all shapes and sizes. But she saw no flowers on the trees nearby.

The leaves came in a brilliant array of colours that reminded her of gemstones, sparkling and gorgeous and completely senseless – amethyst, topaz, sapphire, obsidian. They fluttered in a breeze she could not feel, leaves that shouldn’t exist in such beauty but did all the same.

She could hear murmurs in the undergrowth, mysterious sounds that didn’t seem to belong to any animal she recognised. She peered into the trees, hoping to spot something, but the woods were eerily still and she wondered if she was imagining the faint chirrups she’d heard. “We aren’t, um…” She thought about how to phrase her question. “We aren’t in the human world anymore, are we?” It sounded weird, but she didn’t know how else to say it.

“Nope.” He held aside a branch for her, and she gaped at the tree as she walked past – it was a soft, delicate shade of gold, and it shimmered hypnotically, drawing her gaze. She yearned to reach out and touch the bark, curious about how it would feel, but Solomon called for her and she jolted out of her trance, hurrying back to the path. She glanced over her shoulder as she trekked through the woods, wondering what kind of tree that was. Where were they?

Solomon was whistling, his hands shoved in his pockets as he went along. He made hiking through the woods look easy, and she swore that sometimes, his feet barely even skimmed the ground. She picked a few stray leaves out of her hair, envious of how graceful he was.

Almost as though he could read her mind, he looked around and grinned at her; his smile made her breath catch. “What would you do if I told you Asmodeus might be there?”

“Asmodeus?” A memory of the beautiful man flashed through her mind, and she shivered. “What do you mean, he might be there? He said…he said…” What did he say? Everything was kind of fuzzy. “He said he would be leaving today,” she mumbled.

“Mm. And he left, didn’t he?” Was he levitating, or were her eyes playing tricks on her? She swore his feet were floating just an inch or two above the ground, but she couldn’t be sure. “He left, and this morning you woke up alone in the castle. But where did he go?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed he was going to catch up with his colleagues or something.” She noticed his raised eyebrow. “His brothers-in-arms, that’s what he called them.”

“Oh.” Solomon’s smile widened. “Maybe you’ll bump into his colleagues someday. They’re quite the eccentric lot.” With that, he continued down the path, and she puzzled over the point of the conversation, wondering if he had been trying to hint at something.

He brushed through a gap between some bushes, disappearing into the foliage, and she had to pick her way through the greenery, careful not to catch her hair or clothes on any thorns. It took a while, but she finally emerged from the bushes and found herself standing outside a dreamlike town, the kind of place that looked like it sprung right out of some fantasy tale.

She gaped, startled by how pretty it was. There were doors leading into tall, sprawling trees, the branches spreading protectively over the town below. Other buildings were carved into giant red toadstools, their impressive stalks alone easily dwarfing her. She could see people flitting between the buildings, some tall and elegant like Solomon, others stout and swift on their feet. She rubbed her eyes. Surely her mind was playing tricks on her.

“What are you?” It was impossible not to ask at this point.

“You haven’t guessed by now?” He cocked his head, and she was reminded of a prowling cat moments before it pounced on its prey. “You can keep thinking about it, then. I don’t have to answer to someone who refuses to use their head.”

She was about to retort, not liking the implication behind his words, but he held out a hand, his palm upturned, and she stared at him, surprise making her forget what she wanted to say. He sighed. “Your bottle. I’m going to throw it away unless you want to carry it around.”

Oh. She’d forgotten she was still holding on to it. She gave it to him, and he crushed it like it was made of paper, flattening it between his palms. When he pulled his hands apart, the bottle was gone, and she blinked, wondering if she was going mad. “Where did it go?”

“Magicked away.” He said that like it was the most matter-of-fact thing in the world, and she slowly shook her head, unsure what to make of all this. Maybe this was all just a dream, and if she pinched herself hard enough she’d wake up and find that she hadn’t even left her house yet. Solomon must have noticed the disbelief on her face. “Why, is it that surprising?”

“Magic doesn’t exist. Not real magic. It’s all just tricks, illusions.” She’d seen enough exposé videos to know she shouldn’t trust everything she saw. The human brain was easily duped.

“Then explain where the bottle went?” he asked, and she looked around them – maybe he had, through some sleight of hand, tossed the remnants of the bottle into the woods. “No, don’t even think about suggesting what’s on your mind. I would never pollute our home with your man-made plastic. Haven’t you seen the news about trash and global warming?”

Could he truly read her mind? She was flabbergasted. “How did you know…?”

“People are so predictable. It’s almost sad.” He turned back to face the town, his expression unreadable. “If you had discarded that bottle anywhere while we were walking in the woods, you wouldn’t have been allowed past the gate. We have strict rules about littering here.”

“You didn’t warn me!” He was so unreasonable. It was sheer luck that she didn’t drop the bottle sometime during the trek – there were a few moments where she could have let go, and now she knew that doing so would have rendered her entire journey useless.

“Why would I say anything when it was a test?” He glanced at her, and she fell silent, her gaze transfixed by the hints of gold in his eyes – they shimmered, mesmerisingly soft, just like the tree they had walked by earlier. “You passed it, and that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Now follow me.”

He took off, gliding across the ground, and the moment he turned away she remembered how to breathe, her lungs drawing in greedy gulps of air. It felt like she had just surfaced from a deep pool of water, and she had to take a moment to recover before she could follow him.

As they approached the town, she began to hear faint strains of music, lovely and beautiful, and she saw Solomon pause, tilting his head as though he was listening to the melody. He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled before he continued on his way, and she had to wonder what she had gotten herself into this time.