Beyond the Bloodline

“I read Estea’s records.

You implied something about someone being after me and your changing of my location was because of that.”

The woman silently nodded, affirming the Hybrid’s words.

Jamie was most vulnerable in his slumbering state. It was precisely because of this vulnerability that the witch who made him lose his power could pull her tricks.

Then if there was someone out there who was after him, and said person was powerful enough to make Miranda who understood Jamie’s full power more than anyone else in the universe to be wary, then Jamie understood why she had moved his location.

If that person had gotten to him, they may have had some strange means to deal some kind of permanent damage to the Hybrid.

“Who is it?”

“…”

Miranda remained silent after Jamie asked her that question, and this silence remained for over five minutes until Jamie called out her name once more.

“Fuck! I’ll tell you, okay?!”

She ruffled her hair as she spoke, scattering it in the process as she spoke, seemingly having given up on hiding what he wanted to know.

“That’s much better.

But first…”

Jamie teleported right behind her with a brush in his hand, taking a seat on the chair there and pulling her onto his lap as he started brushing her hair.

“… you still have that habit of scattering your hair whenever you get worked up. Your hair is a lot prettier when it’s not scattered, you know?”

He removed the flower-shaped fascinator she had on her hair, holding it up and recognizing the item as the one he had given her some millennia ago.

“You still have this.”

Upon hearing Jamie’s words, Miranda’s eyes narrowed and she turned towards him, half glaring at him with an expression that looked like she wanted to pick a fight.

“Are you implying I would throw away a gift you gave me?”

“Pfft…”

Jamie burst into laughter upon seeing her expression, causing Miranda to pout as she felt he was making fun of her somehow.

“Hey! Answer me!”

The woman punched his chest playfully, but Jamie’s laughter didn’t seem like it was going to die down anytime soon.

But after seeing her pouting face, Jamie decided to pat her head and give her the reply she wanted to hear.

“Nope. My dear Mira would never throw away a gift that I gave her.”

She nodded with a satisfied expression on her face after hearing that, before catching sight of something familiar from the corner of her eyes.

“You still have the watch I gave you, so why did you speak like I’d throw away what you gave me in return?”

It was a golden chain watch with the Westley Clan Symbol inscribed on its face; a circle of blue thorned roses, with a stylized silver-hued wolf’s paw print at the centre.

Though it looked normal, this watch that went by the name ‘Time Keeper’s Watch’, could not possibly be anything remotely ‘normal’.

“This woman…do you really think I’d throw away a gift from you?”

Seeing Jamie’s expression and hearing the tone of his voice, Miranda instantly figured Jamie was imitating her earlier attitude, which caused her to pout once more and playfully hit his chest again.

“That’s now how I sounded!!”

“Really, you sure?”

“Yes! That’s not how I sounded.”

The man continued teasing her like so as he brushed her hair, rearranging it into a half ponytail like it was in before and holding it up with her fascinator.

“Speaking of sound…Jay, you remember that Murim world? The one with that Cultivator who used Sound?

I tracked him down and found out his home world!

It was filled with Sound Cultivators. They use the universal laws of sound and music…it’s so beautiful!”

Just as she was done speaking, the light of remembrance seemed to flash through her eyes as she remembered another thing and continued.

“Oh yeah, remember that movie about the sound of music? The one we watched that night after we annihilated those giant lizards? It was so cool, let’s see it again!”

Miranda’s eyes seemed to be sparkling as she spoke, while Jamie just silently listened to her with a smile on his face.

He silently combed his fingers through her hair as she spoke, admiring the multiple expressions that appeared on her face as she spoke.

It was quite evident that she was very happy to be with Jamie again, and the look of childlike excitement on her face was proof of that.

“Jay? Jamie! Are you listening to me?”

“Mhmm. I am.”

“Yeah, so as I was saying. I found this new restaurant in Elmarendia when I was busy looking for something with one of those long ears.

They had this really nice chocolate cake that I thought you’d definitely like. We should go over there soon.

Or rather, can’t we just go there now?”

Seeing her about to get up and leave, Jamie pulled her back down and encircled his arms around her waist before calling out.

“Hey, Mira.”

“Yes?”

The questioning expression on her face, coupled with the look in her eyes and the way she titled her head to the side, causing her hair to fall over had Jamie taking a photo of her appearance and moving It to his newly created ‘Miranda Folder’.

‘I’m finding even the smallest things like this as ‘cute’…I think my love filter is on too strong.’

He knew fully well that since he was looking at her through rose-coloured glasses, whatever she did was going to appear cute to him.

Silently, he pulled up his hands to the sides of her face, removing the purple-silver lock of hair on her lips and capturing them with his for a few seconds.

He looked straight into her eyes as he did this, and that had the effect of increasing the flush that appeared on her cheeks.

Jamie then pulled away before she could even complete her reaction, licking his lips slowly while saying.

“I just wanted to do that again.”

Miranda was dumbfounded.

When a handsome man like Jamie did this kind of thing, especially the one she loved, the effect was a bit too much for her to handle

“You-!

Unfair!”

In the end, she just took advantage of their close proximity and head-butted him, before turning away and holding her flushed cheeks.

‘Why am I reacting like this for such a simple thing?! Is it because I have not seen him in a while? It has to be that, right?!’

Miranda once again asked the same question she asked herself every time that she met Jamie after one of his slumbers.

“Be careful with me. I’m currently quite delicate.”

“Yeah, right. Mr Delicate.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she replied, making Jamie chuckle lightly in response.

Her gaze then moved around the subspace, taking in the sight of the area she was in. There were things kept around randomly, from electronics to strange artifacts lying on the floor.

“You’ve not even been awake for 2 weeks and you’re already collecting strange stuff again.”

Walking up to a sofa bed that was for some reason placed in between a power bike and a refrigerator, she asked.

“Why did you get this?”

Jamie teleported right behind her and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her onto the piece of furniture with him.

A TV set then floated in front of them and with the ambient energy inside the subspace as a power source, its display came on.

One big bucket of popcorn appeared in between them, followed by two canned drinks before Jamie finally replied.

“So, we can use it for things like this. I think they called it ‘Something and Chill’.”

“I don’t know if we’d get a copyright strike for saying that streaming service’s name out loud but I think they get the message.”

“Yeah, they probably do.”

Ignoring the hint of possible fourth wall awareness the two of them just showed, Miranda snuggled into Jamie’s arms tightly, an action that Jamie likened to that of a little cat.

“I think they were called Burmese cats, or so”

“A cat?!”

Miranda half-screamed out when she heard Jamie’s words. She pushed away the floating popcorn and pushed Jamie’s back against the sofa.

The woman sat astride Jamie’s body, as she playfully hit his chest while saying.

“I’m not a cat! I’m a Wolf! A Big, Bad, Wolf!”

Jamie’s looked over their current position, choosing to remain silent and see how long it’d take her to realise how she was seated.

“Is that so, Miss Big Bad Wolf?”

“Yes. You, on the other hand, are a Big Bad Dangerous Wolf.”

Silently nodding along with her, the silver-haired man snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her body closer to his.

It was then that she looked down and realised she was sitting right above his lap, a surprised expression coming onto her face.

But before she could move, Jamie’s grip on her tightened as she spoke.

“What’s wrong, Miss Big Bad Wolf? Finally realised the kind of Dangerous position you’ve gotten into?”

The two locked gazes and Jamie only gave a light smile before continuing.

“You know what would usually come next, right?”

“…Jamie. This is our first meeting in 12,000 years. And it hasn’t even been an hour yet.”

When he heard her words, Jamie’s expression turned strange and he tilted his head in confusion as he replied.

“Huh? I was talking about a kiss. We’ve already done that twice, haven’t we?”

The moment he said that, Miranda’s eyes widened in both shock and realisation; and when she saw the grin that appeared on Jamie’s lips right after, she knew she had been played.

“I wonder just what you thought I meant. Miss Big Bad ‘Dirty Minded’ Wolf.”