Benny shakes his head at Eli. "I am not keeping a leprechaun in my house."
"If I leave it at my apartment, someone might steal him away." Eli glances at his shadow. In the nick of time, he was able to capture the leprechaun before it could escape. Since he's moving in with Nell, keeping this leprechaun imprisoned inside his shadow is not good.
He also needs some privacy when he's with Nell. Besides, the leprechaun might die if he stays inside his shadow for too long. He plans to get the leprechaun's treasure and give it to the most beautiful woman in the world. It belongs to her since she was the one who caught the leprechaun first.
"Do you know what this means?" Benny points his plump finger at Eli's shadow that looks a little pregnant. "The Fae are involved."
"You are also a Fae." Eli curves his brow. The leprechaun is still unconscious. "Why can't a dwarf and a leprechaun live together? You can keep him as your slave and get the gold. Think of this as payment."
"I was thrown out of the Fae realm," Benny grumbles He always has to mention that. It's not easy to keep a leprechaun as a slave, but he does need a housemaid. "Why did you end my call earlier? I had something important to discuss with you"
It looks like his friend would keep the prisoner. Eli's eyes turn solemn. "I was busy with something. What were you going to tell me about her?"
"I looked into the deaths. The first one was a coincidence. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. My people are already looking for the murderer. However, the second and third deaths are related to her in some way." Benny says to him with a casual voice, "Your girl has some connection with the Fae world. She's also living on borrowed time."
Borrowed time? Eli's stomach churns. What does he mean? Does she have an illness? Her physical tests didn't have anything abnormal other than weakness due to the heavy loss of blood. She might need to see a therapist for the voices she hears. He feels a little guilty for using her weakness against her earlier when she saw the leprechaun. But she might not be able to handle the truth at her current state.
Why can she see the leprechaun in the first place? Did this creature not use the veil?
"It hasn't been long since you came to the city. It's not surprising that you don't know about the incident that changed the relationship between the council and the fae realm." Benny continues with a heavy voice, "One of the gates to the fae realm is closer to this city. Around ten years ago, a group of satyrs escaped to this city. It was the middle of spring."
"So?" Eli frowns at him. "How is it related to her?"
"The satyrs can't control themselves during the mating season-- not that they can control themselves much in other seasons." Benny lowers his voice. "The victims were six human females and two males."
He becomes utterly silent. He did hear about incidents like this frequently in the past. The otherworldly creatures often targeted human females because of their high fertility. Especially the fae, they liked to capture human females and children. Before this moment, he was never bothered about it. He would have never imagined that Nell could be one of the victims of those incidents.
Eli recalls her eyes when she threatened to kill him if he ever did anything inappropriate to her. Did he see any fear in those eyes? No, it was a promise. She meant those words.
"Four females and one male were taken to the fae realm in the same night. They were never found. Out of the other three victims, a young girl and a boy were found dead." Benny notices that Eli is clenching his hands so hard that his knuckles are nearly white.
"The last girl was still breathing. The Fae realm didn't want to take responsibility. They saw it as something natural. They blamed the council for not guarding the gate properly. Before, the council used to bury incidents like this. But they didn't do the same at that time. Those were chaotic times. The council sent the hunters in the Fae realm and killed half of the Satyr's population. Those were tense times."
The veil must have broken at that time. That's why she could see the leprechauns and other things that a human shouldn't be able to see.
"How did you find out?" Eli hopes that this is a lie. Maybe Benny found wrong information. But he is aware that it's a false hope. Benny is good at his job.
"I went to check the Council's records if she had some link to the other world." Benny replies, "In the records, it was mentioned that her damaged body was healed by a miracle. The goddess of night rarely bestows a miracle like that. That goddess is especially kind to the broken ones."
How loud was her cry for help? Even a goddess was awakened from her slumber. Eli runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. "Are all those satyrs dead for sure?"
"Why do you ask?" Benny narrows his eyes. "Are you going to look for the rest of the satyrs and erase the entire species? You already retired from your evil ways. Don't go back to that side."
Eli has been considering doing that. To be honest, he wants to obliterate the Fae realm. That seems like a lot of work, but it's worth it. Right now, his priority is to keep Nell safe from herself.
"By the way, are you serious about that human female?" Benny looks at him with scepticism. "You aren't in love with her for real, are you?"
"I am," Eli tells him with a straight face.
The dwarf gapes at his friend. Did this ghoul eat a wrong brain? "If your family finds out that you are pursuing a human female, they will cook her for dinner."
"I will cook them for dinner before they get the chance to do that." Eli chuckles. "Besides, they will never find out."
This idiot ghoul is serious about the human female. Benny had a headache. "Do you think that she will ever love you back? If she ever finds out that you are a ghoul, what would happen? I have never heard of a human being with a ghoul."
"She will never find out." Eli smiles at his friend. "I will live as a human for her."