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Velika’s hand was WAS coming down fast while still holding the knife when someone hit her hard in the face, making her release her grip on me. I fell backwards and am caught by someone else who had wings. I looked up to find Timbrax facing off against Velika. Then I turned my head and saw Maddock holding me in a protective stance while we watched them go at it.
Velika hissed at Timbrax as she gently touched the left side of her face. “You punched your own mother in the face.” She said. “Weren’t you raised with any manners, son?”
He laughed dryly. “You didn’t raise me, remember?” he replied with pure venom in his voice towards her. “A bunch of Stregoni Benefici our sworn enemies raised me to become the man who stands before you now!”
Velika rolled her eyes at him. “The only thing they made you was weak like themselves, my son.” Velika replied bluntly. “You could have come home anytime you wished, but you stayed at that vile academy!”
“Don’t play the victim card Velika.” he replied. “Father isn’t here to pull you out of your holes you have dug for yourself anymore.” he glanced at Maddock and I. “Get her out of here!”
Maddock nodded curtly at him and pulled me into his arms. I was about to protest when he leapt high into the air and his wings caught the wind and he take flight. “What are you doing?” I yelled over the roar of the wind that was cold against my face. “Take me back now, Maddock.” I ordered him.
Maddock shook his head. “I am sorry, little sister.” he said. “Truly, I am, but your life is in danger.” He nudged his head at my chest. “Besides, you are bleeding out and I have to get your wound cleaned up and closed right away.” I transformed back into my civilian clothing as blood seeped through my blue t-shirt. I was feeling cold and my body was trembling. I knew what was coming. Death was coming for me once again. And this time I didn’t have Timbrax here to resurrect me with his Holistic sword. I passed out, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to wake up again. I felt someone place me on a bed or something that felt like a bed, and I could hear my shirt being torn off of my body.
I was in and out of consciousness so many times that everything felt like I was in a dream. I kept having nightmares of Velika when she stabbed me and I would wake up screaming in sheer panic. I had no idea where I was, but I always knew that I was safe here. A young girl with wings entered my room with a glass of water in her hands. She handed it to me with some medicine. I graciously took them and placed the pills in my mouth. I took a drink of water and swallowed the pills. I instantly felt the coolness of the water sliding down my dry throat. It was refreshing. I must be dehydrated and didn’t realize it.
“Another nightmare, I presume?” She asked me with an old accent in her voice.
“Yeah,” I said to her as I placed the glass of water on the nightstand which is placed beside the bed. “How did I get here?” I asked her as I gazed around the room.
“My nephew brought you to us.” She replied. “And barley in the nick of time to might I add. Your wound was severely deep. My brother had to preform an emergency operation on you or you would not have survived through the night.”
“Your brother?” I asked her with confusion in my voice. “I can't remember anything?”
Just then the door to my room opened again, but this time Abel walked in. “How is Zyra doing Aura-Nova?” he asked her.
“She had another nightmare.” She replied. “I gave her some medicine to calm herself down.”
“Thank you.” he said, and she nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Abel turned his attention back towards me. “You need to stop getting killed.” he said. “Or... nearly killed in this case. We almost lost you this time.”
I frowned. “Velika wasn’t in my vision.” I said. “I didn’t prepare myself o face her so soon.”
“You always have to be prepared to face the enemy.” he said. “As long as you stay prepared, she can never be one step ahead of you again.”
I gasped as my eyes shot open and I sat up with a jolt. I glanced down and touched the place above my heart where Velika stabbed me in that last vision. The skin was smooth, and I relaxed into my seat. Timbrax moved silently from the back seat to sit beside me in the van. “Another one?” he whispered to me. I nodded my head as I looked at Wren. She was sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat. While Abel had made it successfully out of the forest and back onto the main highway.
It must be nice to not have a care in the world...
I took a couple of deep breaths until my breathing slowed back to normal. I felt Timbrax’s warm hand take a hold of mine and I looked into his white eyes with a red ring round them as I’m brought back to reality by him. “Whatever you saw in that vision, Zyra,” he said. “Just know that it may not happen, okay?”
“Yeah,” I replied as I leaned my hay head on his shoulder. “I remember.”
“I think we should stop and get something to eat.” Abel said to us. “None of us have eaten anything in a day.”
“Well, finding blood around here is easy for us vampires.” Timbrax said to him.
“We can’t be drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves here, Timbrax.” Abel said with a warning in his voice.
“Then what do you suggest we eat?” he challenged him. “Your daughter?”
“I heard that.” she replied from her seat, still sitting with her eyes closed. “I will break your fingers if you lay a hand on me.” She added.
“Wren, knock it off.” Abel said to her with annoyance in his voice. “You will finally be born next year.”
She looked at him strangely. “Y-you finally knocked mom up?”
I looked at Abel and I could see his face turning bright red as he pulled the van over to the shoulder of the road. “Yeah,” he finally said. “Tuffara is only a couple of weeks... so... it’ll be a year.”
“Wow. I said, unable to hide my shock. “Congratulations Abel.”
“Congratulations.” Timbrax said as he had me sit up so he could take over the driving for Abel. Abel had already become a gargoyle, so he didn’t need to be stared at behind the wheel now that we were getting closer to the nearest city. “But what does this have to do with getting us something to eat?”
Abel settled into the back seat behind me as Timbrax took over the driving. “I was going to send Wren into a fast-food joint to grab us some actual food.” he replied.
“Human food.” Timbrax tisked under his breath. “Disgusting.”
“You can always starve to death.” Abel added. “That’s always a viable option too.”
“Okay, that’s enough.” I said to both of them. “We are trying to stay under Velika’s radar so pretending to be humans for as long as we have to, to blend in with them is what we are going to do.”
Abel sighed inwards as he folded his wings behind him and laid down so Timbrax could see out of the back window. “Whatever you say, gorgeous.” Timbrax said as he settled into his seat and put the van into drive. He pulled back onto the road and the other two vans followed suit. “Does anyone even know our net move here?” he asked us. “Because I sure as hell am at a loss at trying to ditch Velika every five seconds.”
“What if we went somewhere fun?” I asked him.
“Somewhere fun?” Timbrax asked me. “Like where?”
“I dun know.” I answered. “Disneyland?”
“No,” Timbrax responded. “Absolutely not.”
“And why not?” Wren asked him. “I’ve never been to Disneyland before?”
“Probably because you haven’t been born yet, kid.” Timbrax replied bluntly.
“Watch it.” Abel replied from the back seat. “Wren is still my daughter and I am the only one who may talk down to her in any way you got that pal?”
“Hey?” Wren replied defensively from the passenger seat. “I have ears, you know?”
Okay, never mind then...
Timbrax could sense my uneasiness as he gazed at me through the rear-view mirror. “You okay, Zyra?”
“Yeah,” I replied. Knowing that neither one of us was buying my lie. “I’m fine.”
He sighed as he used the Astral Thread and moved us directly into another state. Which turned out to be... Florida.
“What are we doing in Florida?” I asked him as the van skid to an abrupt stop. I noticed that we were in a parking lot somewhere.
“Lyric thinks it is too dangerous for you to be out wandering around until we can come up with a plan.” Timbrax started.
“Okay?” I said, not understanding what the plan was for me to be in a parking lot somewhere in Florida.
“Alright,” he sighed impatiently. “I am just going to come out and say it.” he said to me. “Zyra, you are temporarily going undercover as...” he was hesitant before continuing his sentence. “A newbie female wrestler.”
I laughed because this was the most hilarious joke Timbrax has ever told in his entire life! “You got jokes!” I said to him.
“I’m serious, Zyra,” he replied without a smile on his face. “You are in hiding as a female wrestler until we can come up with a plan to get you to Velika’s Court and kill her. This is the perfect disguise for you until something can take place.”
It was a good thing I was already sitting down because my head was spinning as I dabbed my forehead with my fingertips. “Well,” I started. “Who is going to be my bodyguard?” I asked him.
“I am.” Abel replied coolly from the seat behind me. “I have already gotten you an audition for tonight with The Sinful Wrestling Mayhem Company.” he said proudly.
“Uh, no offense,” I said to him. “But have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately?” I said, turning to look at him. “You aren’t exactly humanly right now. You take one step into that building and they will shoot you right on the spot.”
Abel smiled at me, making his gargoyle features look unthreatening. “That problem has already been taken care of my dear Princess.” he replied as Wren tossed him something from the front seat and he caught it. He placed whatever it was on his necklace and pressed a button. He immediately transformed back into his human self. “See?” he replied, still smiling at me. “Wren is allowing me to borrow one of her transforming trinkets for this mission.”
Of course she is... How thoughtful of you Wren...
“It’s the least I can do to help in protecting you, Zyra,” Wren replied. “Daddy probably won’t allow me to stay with you guys.” I could hear the hurt in Wren’s voice when she said that, and I looked at Abel.
“Wren really wants to stay with us.” I said to him. “I think she should stay with us on this mission.”
Abel scoffed as he rolled his eyes at me. “Wren can perfectly help the princesses with their training.” he said.
“They’re trained more extensively by the Dhampir... remember?” I replied coolly. “Look Abel, Wren is your daughter and you really need to be nicer to her while she is staying with us here in the past.” I paused briefly, allowing my words to sink into his mind. Wren really is making a difference being here believe it or not dude.”
Abel sighed in annoyance, but he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement with me. “You’re right, Zyra.” he finally said to me. “I have not been very kind to Wren since she started coming to us all those years ago.” he said, looking up at his daughter from the future. “You can stay Wren.” he said. “Just do your best to act human and we will get through this much easier, okay?”
Wren squealed in her seat with excitement as she unfastened her seat belt and pushed open the passenger side door. She hopped out and closed it. I opened the side door and hopped out and Abel soon followed, closing the sliding door behind him. “I promise I won't let you down, daddy!” she said to her father.
“I’m leaving the van with you,” Timbrax said. “I’ll meet up with the others back where I left them.” With that, Timbrax disappeared from the driver's seat and the van sat empty. I felt the sadness wash over me as I forced myself to look away from the van. I wished Timbrax could have stayed with me, but Velika was tracking him too, so he stayed long enough to drop us off.
“Are you two ready?” I asked them. They nodded as we walked towards the Sinful Mayhem Wrestling training facility.
Fake wrestling career... here we go...