Dallas blinked, expression blank and dull. His already weary eyes looked absolutely exhausted at that point. "Daisy, you've had exactly four hours of professional instruction and read like, two articles—"
"Seven, actually. I'm a fast reader."
Rolling his eyes skyward, Dallas sighed heavily. "Seven articles," he said, voice tight, "and you really think you can pick out a goblin's involvement over sleep deprivation and literally thousands of other potential creatures that might be causing this?"
"I'd bet on it."
"Fine. What're the stakes?"
"If I win, we get to go to that cemetery you said was covered in supernaturals."
"Channing is going to kill me," he murmured, but he was grinning, albeit a bit incredulously. He cleared his throat. "Fine, if I win and it is literally anything other than a goblin, you don't play anymore of that techno music crap in my presence for two weeks."
"Deal." I grinned and slid out of his room, booking it back to mine to retrieve my laptop. Once it booted up, I sifted through the articles I'd downloaded until I reached a guide to identifying supernatural creatures.
As I scrolled through, I heard Dallas shuffle in and sit next to me on the edge of the bed. Once I reached goblins, I read the entry aloud.
"Goblins are the dark counterpart of faeries." I glanced back at Dallas to shoot him a pointed look before I continued. "They are most known for making mischief, usually for no reason other than their amusement. However, there have been several cases documented in which the goblin was hired for more sinister purposes. As a rule, they are like faeries and stick to mischief making, but most of their tricks tend to be more dangerous than those of the fae." No wonder Dallas enjoyed adventuring and fucking around with me so much—it was a trait that defined his entire species. "If you find yourself dealing with a goblin, the best way to flush them out is to surround the infested area with iron. Similar to their pixie and faerie cousins, they are repelled by iron. Even if this will not repel them, it will flush them out long enough to catch them and banish them. Furthermore—"
"You realize this isn't an identification guide, right?"
"Yes it is." I pointed at the top corner of the screen where it read: A Helpful Guide to the Supernatural Exterminator. "It's a guide."
"For exterminators."
"Yeah, are they hunting us and killing us or something? If so, I really don't see why that's on the Overwatch Division's library—"
"That's not it—not quite. Exterminators are supernatural defenders of humanity. They identify and banish supernatural threats back to their home realms so it doesn't throw off the balance or alert humanity to the existence of more than them. They don't kill anyone unless absolutely necessary, and they're all really well trained. In fact, almost all of them are human hybrids that want to be involved but don't want to leave the human realm for long periods of time."
I hummed and went back to looking over the goblin information. More information on how to lure them, expose them, and banish them—especially when they were in large groups—was listed. "How do you become an exterminator?"
"You complete training, and then fill out an application. If the Overwatch Division thinks you're suitable, they pass the application along to the Extermination Board, who determines whether you'll get admitted into their training program."
"Interesting."
"Daisy," Dallas said in a warning tone.
"Dallas," I replied mockingly. "Anyway, we need to get some iron to flush this goblin out. I really want to go to that graveyard."
"And I really want to get some sleep. Where do you keep your iron?" The sarcasm dripping from his voice was fucking toxic.
I rolled my eyes. "You can't get it anyway. It repels faeries."
Dallas nodded. "Okay, but really, where are you going to get some at this time of night?"
"I have a couple of cast iron skillets. Think that'll do?"
"It's worth a shot."
Dallas and I filed out of the bedroom. He stayed in the living room, ready to intercept a goblin once it made itself known. I headed into the kitchen to grab the skillet. I took it out from under the sink and walked it back into the hallway, waving it around, trying to push it toward the living room.
I went through both of the bedrooms, including the closets and under the beds. Once I moved into the bathroom, I heard a commotion from the living room. The goblin must've ran out… but I hadn't even seen it. Many of them were of smaller stature, but I still should've seen it.
"I'm not sure who wins the bet," Dallas said as I stepped into the living room. A creature no larger than a rat darted angrily around the trap Dallas made.
To get a better look, I came closer and knelt down to find the creature appeared human, but with larger ears with small black stripes along the cartilage. It ran over and kicked at the sheer wall of the cage.
"So, what is it?"
"Well, it looks like a goblin—there's markings like a faerie on him, but they're black. He's also mischievous, but I've never seen a goblin that small."
"Could he be a hybrid?"
Dallas shrugged and folded his arms over his chest. "Maybe… he could be half pixie or something. They tend to be small like this. Someone could've cursed him too."
"What? He fucked with the wrong people and they made him miniature?" I asked skeptically.
Incredulously, he raised a brow. "You're telling me you wouldn't do the same if you knew how?"
Glancing back at the goblin, I gave a half nod. It definitely wasn't out of the realm of possibility. "Do you have any idea how to make him bigger so we can ask him what happened?" While it seemed the goblin could communicate based on the small, high-pitched grumblings emanating from the cage, they were all incomprehensible.
"I don't know whether it was a curse, and I don't want to hurt him. Even if he's a pest, goblins aren't usually evil for evil's sake. Let's just send him back to his home realm, and get some sleep."
"What about the bet? If it's a shrunken goblin, I win."
Dallas sniffed and squinted up at the ceiling. "Let's compromise. You don't play your horrible music for a week, and we can go to the park next to the cemetery, which still has creatures, but nothing as deadly as what's in the cemetery itself."
"Fine, but if we ever do get confirmation that it's definitely a goblin, we get to go to the cemetery."
Rolling his eyes, he drawled, "We both know at some point, we'll end up going anyway. I'm just trying to prolong the inevitable."
"Buzzkill."
Expression sharp, Dallas held his tongue and pressed his palm along the sheer cage. Clear turned blinding white and like the ghost dragon incident, I pushed the goblin and the cage forward, sending them through the portal Dallas created. Vanishing in a wink of light, Dallas and I were left alone in the living room.
"So, you turn invisible, create portals inside of other beings, and make cages for supernatural creatures. Any other talents you're hiding from me?"
"I manipulate magical energy, that's all I've caught onto so far."
"Big picture, what could you possibly do?"
Dallas sighed. "I could be sleeping right now."
I didn't say a word and didn't budge. Dallas was already pretty fucking cool in terms of his magic, and he was only in his second year of training! From what he'd told me, he hadn't even started formal instruction on how to use his abilities.
"I honestly don't know, but based on Channing's estimates, I could eventually be able to conduct lightning, teleport, sometimes energy-affinitied fae can even mimic other creatures' abilities." He ran his hand back through his hair, most of the product already worked out of it. "Okay, Daisy, I'm going to bed."
"Good night, Dallas."
Tossing me a casual wave, he drifted back to the spare room, and I headed to mine. I woke up just before noon the next morning and found Dallas at the kitchen table, breakfast already made and coffee brewing in the maker next to the stove. I sat across from him and started putting scoops of fruit and a biscuit on the plate he left out.
He glanced up from his book. "Good morning, Daisy."
"Morning." I took a bite of the soft, buttery biscuit and hummed. "Did you make these?"
Dallas nodded. "It's one of the few things I can cook."
"Damn, I might just have to keep you here."
He snorted. "You say that now, but I will make pasta for every meal. You'll be sick of me by the end of next week."
"Don't sell yourself short," I said. "There's always takeout to spice it up. Anyway, with you coming over here all the time, it might be a better idea for you to just move in."
"We haven't even known each other a week."
I wiped my fingers on the napkin next to the plate. "Milk?"
Dallas sighed and put his book down to grab a glass of milk for me. He passed it over and took his seat again. I took a few gulps to get the biscuit down.
"Think of it like college. You move into a new place you've never been with a random person you've never met. It's similar, except, you've known me for a while now."
He scrunched his nose and dog-eared the page as he looked back up at me. "You don't seem like the type to like other people in your space."
"I'm not, but I can handle your annoying traits. Turns out they fit well with mine, so it'll work, if you'd like to try it out."
"What makes you think I want a roommate?"
I smirked. That was where I'd gotten him. "Because you don't seem like the type that enjoys isolation and not having someone else to worry about." I gave a pointed stare at the plate of biscuits at the center of the table.
Dallas sighed tightly. "You realize I'd have to move jobs?"
"There's an opening at the coffee shop down the road. Make these biscuits for them and they'll probably hire you on the spot."
"I'll think about it."
Smirking, I leaned back in my seat and cocked my head to the side. "Promise?"
Rolling his eyes skyward, Dallas started to reply when a sharp knock startled us both. The knocker didn't wait for an answer before shoving the door open. Stepping through in a whirlwind of fury was Channing Miller. Much like the night I met her, she sported a look that screamed badass, and for a second, I genuinely thought she would murder me right then and there.
"The two of you lured, captured, and banished a goblin, went to sleep, made breakfast, and never thought to call me?" she demanded, pulling her sunglasses off and clipping them to the front of her shirt.
"It was late," I said.
"And no one got hurt," Dallas interjected. "If we hadn't done anything, the goblin would've gotten into the shop downstairs and might have caused real harm to the humans this morning when it opened."
"And we handled it just fine. There weren't any issues or anything that warranted—"
"Look, neither of you are trained in how to use magic. Neither of you should even have the faintest idea of how to capture a goblin, let alone banish one. These sorts of things never happen to new hybrids. What on earth are the two of you doing to lure them?"
"Believe it or not, Daisy and I didn't do anything to lure the goblin. We came home from training, and it was here. We did go find the ghost dragon, but the goblin was an accident," Dallas said, using his best innocent voice. Somehow, he even managed to exacerbate the weariness in his eyes to give off an agonized vibe to throw Channing off.
And sure as shit, it worked. She frowned, little lines of concern contorting her usually smooth face. "Okay, I understand, and you did the right thing. You do need to call me though, guys. Try better next time." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to assign a few agents to keep a better watch on the two of you for the next few weeks, just to see if either one you might be giving off too much energy and attracting other creatures. Something might be going on behind the scenes that you're not aware of, and both of you look to be promising hybrids in the future. Let's not jeopardize that, all right?"
"Yes ma'am," Dallas said.
"Good. Now, I'm heading back out. If anything at all happens to either of you, give me a call." She left the apartment as quickly as she arrived, leaving Dallas and I alone once again.
"We really are going to have to at least let her know after the fact next time," Dallas said. "If we keep this up, she'll give us an actual babysitter that really won't let you go do stupid things."
"Hell with that, are you really not supposed to learn how to do banishments yet?"
Dallas pursed his lips, gaze slipping toward the wall, as though he found the painting of the raven on the wall absolutely fascinating. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I knew it."
"Knew what?"
"You're just as bad as I am. Wow, Channing pegged you wrong."
Dallas sighed and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, my life before all of this didn't exactly prepare me to sit around, read books, and sip tea. Anyway—"
"Yeah, anyway, I won the bet."
"What?"
"Channing confirmed it was a goblin. That means I won the bet." I grinned, my smile stretching my cheeks like I was the Cheshire Cat. "Wanna go the graveyard and get into trouble before work?"
"God, you're a bad influence."
"Put that coffee into the travel mugs!" I bounded up from my seat and darted to my room to get dressed. "We've got creatures to antagonize!"
As excited as we'd both been, our plan came to a screeching halt when Dallas ended up being called into work early. He made me swear not to go without him, and I agreed… Albeit reluctantly.