Magicbound to a Snake Girl Read online

  Magicbound to a Snake Girl

  Magicbound to a Snake Girl Book 1

  Kurtis Eckstein

  COPYRIGHT © 2019 – KURTIS M. ECKSTEIN

  The author, Kurtis Eckstein, holds exclusive publishing rights for this copyrighted material. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the copying, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

  This version of Kurtis Eckstein’s copyrighted material is for exclusive publication on Amazon. Any copying, uploading, or electronic sharing of any part of this book, outside of Amazon, is unlawful piracy.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, business establishments, events, institutions, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Cover Art Copyright © 2019 Kurtis Eckstein

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  Prologue

  It was a monster from the worst of nightmares.

  A massive scaly tail whipped around behind it, smashing into one of the buildings and leveling it within a matter of seconds. Instantly, the monster was hidden again in a plume of dust.

  The man snapped us out of our shock, pushing on the guy’s back behind me to move us forward.

  We both took off into a run, now being among the stragglers. Everyone else in the street had fled either down the road, or down an alleyway to escape the area. My classmate’s mother had stopped to pick up a small boy who belonged to a young woman with a crying baby in her arms.

  The ground was trembling again, prompting me to look back with wide eyes, seeing the behemoth running down the street with bared fangs. The fine hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I considered its size to my own – I was like a small bird compared to a lion, literally being able to fit in its mouth with ease. It could swallow me whole without any effort.

  As it barreled towards us, unhindered despite the sides of its body smashing against the buildings, I realized there was no hope that any of us were going to survive.

  Not unless I did something.

  Chapter 1: Best Friend

  I hurried through a narrow alleyway, careful not to trip on my own feet, while attempting to avoid being seen by anyone familiar as I made my way to the edge of town. Today had been a horrible day at school, as were most days, but I didn’t care about that now.

  Right now, I just cared about the three dead rabbits in my arms, and their importance.

  The significance of me making this trip in the first place.

  This was a poorer part of town, with the exposed wooden frames of the houses being filled with clay daub, rather than brick or stone. The roofs here were also usually pitched straw instead of slate tiles, something I only knew about because my father was a carpenter.

  He taught me many things they didn’t teach in class – practical things, like how to hunt, trap, and fish. How to skin and gut. How to garden and harvest.

  I knew how to cook and sew too of course, but my dad didn’t let the fact that I was a girl stop him from showing me how to fend for myself.

  He also taught me to have a thick skin – instructed me on how to ignore those who were mean.

  I still wasn’t very good at that though.

  As I slipped out of the alley into the street, I glanced around before darting across for an even narrower crevasse, bumping into a barrel only to startle a hidden cat. It immediately arched its gray back and hissed viciously, giving me pause. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could calm it down, knowing I was only one step away from it attacking. The last thing I wanted was to get all scratched up, and the passage was too narrow to go around, so I carefully retreated back towards the street.

  “Stupid cat,” I muttered, hugging the rabbits tighter while keeping my head down.

  I doubted I would see anyone I knew, but the risk made me nervous. I would have just gone through the forest around the town, but I would lose too much time. I already felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day as it was.

  For a week now, there hadn’t been enough time.

  Unexpectedly, I gasped when something hard hit me in the middle of the back, causing me to drop a rabbit. I looked behind me in shock, only to see Kaylee running off in the other direction, having just thrown a rock. My surprise of seeing her in this part of town immediately shifted to annoyance.

  Coward.

  She would never try bullying me when she didn’t have the rest of her crew. But I was relieved it was just her this time. All the kids at school were hateful to me, but Ryker and Meno were the worst. Kaylee was terrible too whenever she had them to back her up.

  I picked up the rabbit I’d dropped and then readjusted them in my arms before hurrying the rest of the way out of town.

  Sometimes I found myself wishing that I was a boy, so they would leave me alone. I certainly dressed more like a boy, wearing snug shorts and tunics most of the time, although there were a few other girls I knew who wore shorts. Or maybe if I was at least as strong as the boys, they might back off. A lot of the boys got into fights frequently, but at least most of them could fight back. They were strong, whereas I wasn’t.

  And since I couldn’t easily fight back, especially when they were in a group, they picked on me all the more.

  They usually called me cruel names, like ‘abomination,’ ‘devil,’ and ‘freak.’ Sometimes Ryker even called me a bitch. But they were only repeating what their parents said behind closed doors. It didn’t help that I had a higher pain tolerance than most people. Now, the kids regularly threw rocks at me because I usually didn’t react, which only further encouraged the rumors that I was a freak.

  But I wasn’t a freak. I was a normal girl.

  All these problems stemmed from my absent mother. The town was full of rumors about why she didn’t live with us, and supposedly only visited occasionally. The biggest rumor was that she was literally a devil, which is where the nickname came from.

  And the fact that she refused to show herself to other people didn’t help much either.

  In my opinion, it was foolish of them to call her names too, because I was fairly certain my mother could use magic. And shunning a mage only hurt them, ultimately. The services of a mage were highly desired in most places.

  I certainly didn’t blame my mother for the bullying, primarily because my father didn’t blame her. He said she was a good person, and that she loved me dearly. And I believed him, because I knew he loved me dearly.

  I trusted my dad more than anything…but I just wished I could remember her for myself. He promised me that she visited once a year, but I couldn’t recall a single time. When I asked him about it, he finally explained somberly that she always suppresses my memories. Apparently, my mother believed kids can’t keep secrets, including her own daughter. It made me a little sad that she didn’t trust me, especially since I was fifteen.

  ‘You’ll remember on your own when you’re old enough,’ he promised me. ‘She loves you and just wants to protect you.’

  And I believed him. Because I missed her.

  Even though I didn’t remember her, I knew the memories were there deep down, because I had a longing that couldn’t be suppressed. I missed my mom like I knew her.

  But, as rough as my life was, everything had gotten a lot easier in the last week.

  Because I finally had a friend.

  A friend who I was headed to now, with the three rabbits I had trapped and killed. I had gone a ve
ry long time without any friends, doubting that my forced childhood friendships counted – especially since Kaylee was one of those people – but now I finally had one.

  However, unlike me, this new girl was genuinely different, but I didn’t mind at all. I thought her snake-half was beautiful, with her lower body being covered in brilliant sky-blue scales. And her human-half was absolutely gorgeous.

  She had the upper body of an attractive human girl with a very large chest that made me a little jealous, considering mine was still flat even despite my age. And her hair and eyelashes were snow white, her eyes being a brilliant gold. I had to admit that I still felt a little nervous sometimes when I held her gaze. She had slits for pupils that made me vaguely uncomfortable, but it wasn’t just her.

  In general, I didn’t care for snakes, cats, or anything that had slits for eyes. Something about it just bothered me.

  But she was the sweetest person I knew, and she was exceptionally shy. The only reason I had been able to approach her was because she was injured – otherwise, she had told me she would have run away…

  Well, slithered away.

  She had been naked when I found her, so one of the initial things I did that first night was bring her a shirt. I was a little shocked when she began shredding the garment, but she ultimately just tore off the bottom half and used the strips of material to tie underneath her chest to provide her some support. It left her milky stomach and waist exposed, but she didn’t have noticeable intimate parts that a normal person would cover up.

  Instead, her body was just a smooth transition from a normal looking belly to a snake body, which meant the shirt over her chest was enough. I was certainly a little curious about her unique body, but I didn’t want to be rude by asking such a personal question.

  I was shocked to discover she didn’t have a name, but I hadn’t found that out for two days. She really was exceptionally timid. Even after all my help, it took her a while to warm up to me. I assumed she was afraid I’d be like all the other humans, but when I shared with her about my life she seemed to slowly begin to trust me.

  We both felt alone, with her literally being alone. I at least had my father, but it was difficult not to feel lonely when everyone else was mean to me.

  At least she wasn’t withholding her name because she didn’t like me. Once she nervously admitted she didn’t have one, we tried out a few different ideas, ultimately deciding on Jasmyn. She liked the Jasmine flower, and I wanted to spell it similar to my name Alyssa.

  She didn’t know how to read or write, so it didn’t matter to her either way.

  Recalling the recent memory, I smiled to myself as I reached the rock wall that hid her small cave. I dropped the rabbits at the entrance, and ducked down to slip into the small crack in the rock that served as the opening.

  “Jasmyn,” I whispered, hearing my voice echo slightly against the cave walls.

  No response.

  Was she inside?

  I slipped further in and then finally stood up once I was able to, knowing the interior was high enough that I didn’t have to worry about hitting my head. It was pretty dark, so I shuffled my feet to avoid accidentally stepping on her tail if she was sleeping.

  “Jasmyn?” I whispered again, speaking a little louder.

  Unexpectedly, someone grabbed me from behind, and I felt a hand cover my mouth at the same time that a powerful tail slithered around my body, completely immobilizing me. I screamed from the startle, but my voice was muffled by her palm.

  Her warm breath was on my ear then, prompting my heart to pound even harder. For the first time since meeting her, I was genuinely afraid.

  “Shh,” Jasmyn hissed in my ear.

  I took a sharp breath through my nose, and then nodded against her hand. Slowly, she pulled it away, moving her palm to my chest and pressing me firmly against her. Her tail was still snug around my entire body.

  “Did you tell anyone about this place?” she whispered urgently. Her voice was trembling, like she was afraid.

  “No,” I whispered back, craning my head to look up at her even though I couldn’t see.

  Given how much of her tail was wrapped around me, and the fact that my neck was against her large chest, I had a vague idea of where her head was. She would probably only be a few inches taller than me if she had legs, but her tail was at least three times as long as my entire body.

  “Why?” I continued, my heart beginning to calm down. “Did something happen?”

  I felt her long white hair tickle the sides of my face as she shook her head. A lot of it was tangled in the back, but the hair she kept up front was fairly well maintained.

  I rolled my eyes. “I can’t see anything, Jasmyn.”

  “Oh,” she whispered, realizing her mistake. “Sorry. No, not exactly.” She paused. “I decided to venture out for a little while, and when I got back I caught the scent of another human.” Her voice still sounded afraid. “I don’t think they came in here, but they were definitely near the entrance.”

  My brow furrowed. No one knew about her, not even my father yet, so I couldn’t imagine that she was in any danger. “Well, I haven’t said anything,” I repeated, before sighing heavily. “You really scared me, Jasmyn.”

  She gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry…” She hesitated, seeming doubtful. “I did? I thought I just surprised you.”

  “No. Why is that so hard for you to believe?” I wondered seriously, already knowing the answer.

  She was kind of a scaredy-cat, but she had good reasons to be. The wound she had received was an arrow that shot straight through her tail, piercing a perfect spot in between two scales. She never even saw her attacker, jumping into a river to escape, and climbing on the shore downstream where I found her. She healed fast though. Barely a week and she was slithering around just fine now, but the trauma was still there.

  Jasmyn didn’t respond to my question. Instead, she began rubbing my chest gently, as if to silently apologize again. If my chest weren’t mostly flat, then I might have been a little embarrassed, but it didn’t feel awkward.

  Unexpectedly, she grasped the pendant hidden under my clothes, prompting an unreasonable panic to make my heart race.

  “Oh,” she gasped. “I didn’t realize you had a necklace on. Can I see it?”

  “I can’t take it off,” I replied urgently, trying to wiggle my arms free from her tail’s grip. In response to my sudden anxiety, she loosened up and set me on my feet.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I wasn’t going to take it off.” She then paused as she considered my words. “Wait. You can’t take it off? Why?”

  I shrugged as I turned around to face her, knowing she could see me in the dark. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s a gift from my mother. I don’t know why I can’t take it off…or rather, I guess I don’t remember why, but I just know I can’t. I’ve had it on for as long as I can remember. Even as a baby I think.”

  I felt her warm hands slip onto my cheeks, silently telling me that her face was in front of mine now. I could just barely detect her slitted gold eyes in the darkness a few inches away, as if they were suddenly glowing faintly. “Can you show me?” she wondered curiously.

  I sighed, reaching into the top of my shirt to pull it out. She didn’t move to touch it, instead keeping her hands on my face. I saw her eyes flick downward briefly, seeming to glow slightly brighter before returning to mine.

  Wait. Were they glowing?

  “Pretty,” she mused, her eyes dimming again. “What color is it?” she wondered.

  I must have hallucinated it. “Black. My father said it’s a piece of onyx.”

  “Oh, okay. I thought maybe it was just a really dark blue or green. And your mother gave it to you?”

  I nodded.

  “But you said you can’t remember her,” she reminded me. “How do you know?”

  “I just do,” I retorted, feeling a little annoyed now. Being questioned about my mom always bothered me, because it was frustrating bein
g reminded that I couldn’t remember.

  “Sorry,” she whispered again, her shyness reappearing in her tone.

  I quickly tucked my pendant away and reached up to hold her face. I could feel her cheeks rise as she smiled. “It’s fine,” I replied. “It’s just irritating not being able to remember much about her.”

  She nodded against my hands.

  I continued. “Oh, and I brought you three rabbits for dinner.”

  “Oof,” she exclaimed. “One will be enough for a meal. I mean, I can fit all three in my stomach, but then I’d feel bloated.”

  I smirked at her. “Well, then the other two can be breakfast and lunch, silly. I feel bad that this is the first time I’ve brought you more than one. It would be plenty to last me for a day, but you’re like four times my size.” I paused, hoping she didn’t take that the wrong way. “Do you want me to clean them for you?”

  She shook her head. “No, that’s alright.”

  I sighed heavily. She always denied my offer to clean them. I didn’t understand why. “I can do it for you,” I tried again. “I have a small knife in my pocket to do it.”

  She shook her head again hesitantly.

  It made me feel like she didn’t trust me. I knew we had only known each other for a week, but we had spent a ton of time together. I was actually a little surprised by how attached I’d become already, but I could confidently say I cared about her a lot – way more than anyone else other than my parents. But maybe it wasn’t the same for her? I kind of felt like she should at least be able to trust me by now.

  “Why?” I finally asked. “Do you just prefer to do it yourself?” Though I wasn’t sure how she did. She didn’t have any tools, and her fingernails weren’t that sharp.

  I felt her face grimace in my hands.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly worried.

  She was silent for a few more seconds, before answering. “I’m afraid to tell you,” she admitted quietly.

  I groaned. “Jasmyn, just tell me.”

  “I eat them whole,” she whispered.