A/N:
Date 4-8-17
Hey everyone! I'm so glad to be starting up Wattpad again.
I took a little break after finishing The Wolves of Cain, but now I'm back with the sequel! I hope you enjoy.
Just so you know, some of my readers find it sort of frustrating that the chapters aren't numbered. So I'm numbering chapters from now on! You'll see what I mean.
Also, this chapter is longer than the others will probably be. I'm shooting for around 2000-2500 per chapter.
Word Count: 3063
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Chapter 1: War Zone
The sound of gunfire echoes across the field as Adrian's heart stops beating. His fingers stay on the trigger of his gun in anticipation.
It's a clever move of him to make. This way, the supernatural beings shooting at him won't be able to use his heartbeat to track him.
Adrian holds his breath and stays put, not daring to move a muscle. Already hit multiple times, Adrian can not afford to keep getting hit.
Adrian remains with his back against the makeshift wall, which just so happens to be a stack of hay bales. Not very protective, but Adrian knows it's better than nothing.
If Adrian can make it inside the maze, he can lose his attackers quickly, then trap and take them down. They wouldn't see it coming. Simple.
Adrian takes in a silent breath, attempting to track the others. But the wind is blowing hard, causing Adrian's sense of smell to be corrupt so he can't tell the scents apart. If a stray animal wandered on to this field, Adrian wouldn't be able to tell it apart from a person just through his nose.
So Adrian avoids every scent that seems to be coming near. With the wind blowing as much as it is, it's nearly impossible to tell how close someone is.
Usually Adrian would mutter under his breath in annoyance, but that might alert someone to his position.
Adrian takes off in a blur towards the side entrance to the maze. It's another smart move on Adrian's part. He only saw that way in when crouched down earlier in hiding.
But of course someone saw him, that much was inevitable.
Adrian hears a shot leaving a gun near him. Adrian makes a hard right while running, now facing away from his intended destination. Then Adrian makes a hard left at the sound of more gunshots, just barely missing those as he enters the maze. Victory!
Adrian takes a few random turns through the maze before stopping to listen. The wind isn't as loud in here because the hedges seem to be blocking out some of the sound.
Adrian hears no one following him. Adrian plays his "dead trick" by stopping his heart, not breathing, and not moving.
Adrian hears a heartbeat nearby, but not coming his way. There's no footsteps, so it must be a werewolf.
Adrian takes a moment to assess the damage that was inflicted on him earlier. Adrian's hand lands in a sticky red mess on his shoulder.
Adrian only sneers at his shoulder. The only thing Adrian lost from that hit was a couple cool points.
Adrian smiles at the fact that he took down the one who left his shoulder like that. And he wasn't gentle about it. Only four to go.
The heartbeat gets closer as Adrian starts to get a move on, so he follows it from a safe distance. They won't even hear him coming.
But there's something different. Adrian can now hear the person's soft footsteps and their heart is pumping frantically.
This is someone else. Not the werewolf from before.
Adrian doesn't mind. He knows he'll take them all down eventually.
Adrian quickly catches up to the person and shoots them in the back until he sees red and hears her cry out in anguish. Adrian vaguely realizes that the girl is Lena before he takes off for his next victim with a sadistic grin.
Lucas and Mason are hunting Adrian as a pair, but Adrian knows he can take them. Adrian has already tracked them down. He pounces quickly before they have time to realize he's there.
But Adrian clearly underestimated the twin brothers, because the blaze of gunfire he sends out is returned twofold. Crap!
Adrian stumbles back behind an old car for refuge as he checks how many times he was shot. Four times. That's not as bad as it could've been.
Adrian suddenly realizes that he doesn't hear any heartbeats near him. That means Lucas and Mason took off.
Adrian scowls but starts moving again. The next person Adrian comes across is Monique. He surprises her by climbing a nearby tree and lying in wait.
Adrian allows his eyes to glow red so he'll take a better shot with his supernatural eyesight. Monique looks up and tries to move away just as Adrian's about to shoot. But he was expecting that of his skilled sister.
Adrian shoots Monique as soon as she starts moving, taking her down. She yells in frustration before falling to the ground.
Adrian jumps down from his perch in the tree with a huge grin on his face. While walking away into the forest at the edge of the field, Adrian takes pleasure in the fact that Mason will come running. Considering Mason has a crush on Monique, he'll definitely come to her rescue, which will ultimately lead to his demise too.
These are the moments when Adrian thanks himself for being fast enough to come up with such plans. Although this is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Oh well. Whatever gets the job done.
Adrian only gets a few yards away from the spot he left Monique before he's ambushed.
Lucas and Mason jump out from the shadows of the late afternoon sun and start shooting at Adrian.
Adrian throws himself to the ground, then kicks out at the person nearest him. Mason yelps in pain and Adrian feels himself get shot in the back.
Shooting up and away from the gunfire, Adrian ignores the pain and hides behind a tree.
Lucas is suddenly next to him, about to get off another shot. But Adrian is faster than Lucas. He grabs Lucas' gun and flings it away where it hits a tree.
Lucas doesn't even blink before he's grabbing Adrian by his shoulders.
Adrian is shoved hard into the tree he tried to hide behind. Adrian shoves back at Lucas, tossing him to the ground.
But where Lucas was just standing, Mason is now there.
Mason shoots Adrian in the chest a few times before Adrian is able to move out of the line of fire.
Before Adrian can take off, Lucas tackles him to the ground.
"Mason, finish him!" Lucas yells at his brother.
Adrian manages one last show of strength, throwing Lucas away from him, but Mason has already shot him down. Adrian lets out an exasperated puff of air at seeing the light on his vest turn red. Adrian is officially dead.
"Ha!" Lucas shouts at Adrian in triumph. They're both still laying on the ground, even though Lucas can get up because he's still in the game.
Lucas is suddenly sprayed with paint as Mason shoots at him. "Hey!" Lucas cries indignantly as he falls on his back. Adrian laughs his head off, unable to do anything but that.
As Adrian lays in the dirt laughing, Lucas tries to save himself by jumping up and away. But just as he does, Lucas sees his light go red.
"Mason!" Lucas roars at his twin with pure fury. Adrian finally stops laughing so he can enjoy the show. This is going to be good.
~*~
"Didn't I tell you that would be better than your average paintball game?" Adrian asks with amusement as everyone sulks.
Adrian's right. That was more than just your average paintball game. This game was a mix between paintball and laser tag. The vest with the light keeps track of how many times you've been hit. The paintballs aren't ordinary either. They're weighted a bit so that the vest will be able to pick up when you get hit.
"You could've warned us about the pain." Jerica mumbles while rubbing her arm. "I'm going to be bruised."
"I told you it would be tough." Adrian responds with a shrug and a half of a smile.
Adrian did warn them. But he did so in a teasing way, knowing that none of them when decline the challenge. But seeing them now, Adrian believes they regret accepting.
Even though Adrian didn't win, he decided not to be moody about it. Everyone else lost too, even Mason. Although his loss was metaphorical. Lucas is no longer speaking to Mason, and Adrian can practically see the guilt dripping from Mason's downcast face.
And all of this makes Adrian super happy. Especially since Ivie isn't here, so she won't be in a bad mood like everyone else.
Ivie said paintballing wasn't her thing, and fortunately Adrian didn't push it or he'd probably have an angry girlfriend right now.
"Did you have fun, John?" Adrian asks in a fake polite way.
John ruins Adrian's fun by smiling. He was supposed to glare or insult, not smile!
"Yeah I did. I had a lot of fun shooting you, Adrian." John replies in a cheerful tone that's as false as Adrian had been.
"Same to you, buddy." Adrian says with a grin. John was the one who shot Adrian in the shoulder, multiple times. Adrian returned the favor by hitting John with paintballs way past the time his red light came on.
"Did you get highlights in your hair?" Adrian questions John, tilting his voice to sound nothing but curious.
Adrian sees Lena's mouth twitch up in a smile before she forces herself to put on a blank face. Adrian's smile widens as John glares at him.
"Yeah. Just today." John says sarcastically, knowing Adrian meant the paintball color stuck in his golden hair.
"Really? What color were you aiming for?" Adrian asks in a curious tone.
Adrian had hit John in the head with multi colored paintballs, so the colors mixed together to form blobs of unattractive browns and dark purples.
"Alright Adrian, that's enough." Jerica steps up to break up the fight. She was a tad late though. John had already disappeared. Into thin air. Adrian chuckled to himself.
Jerica must really be in a bad mood, considering the fact that she's never the one trying to break up fights. Usually Jerica encourages them.
"Adrian!" Jerica snapped at him to shut it. Adrian growls and takes a warning step towards Jerica. Adrian hates being told what to do.
"Hey! No fighting, okay?" Monique interrupts.
Okay. So maybe Adrian still isn't exactly friends with everyone, considering the fact that the first time they asked what he wanted to do, he took them somewhere to shoot them. "But paintballing is fun!" Adrian's inner voice argues. Adrian has to side with that voice. It has a point.
And Adrian took them to the best place ever to go paintballing. The Cloud World.
And the paintballing arena was definitely big enough for Adrian to run around and shoot at Lucas, Mason, Jerica, Lena, Monique, and John.
So what if Adrian had an unfair advantage of knowing every inch of that place because it's his favorite and he's been their hundreds of times?
"Let's just go." Lena speaks up tiredly.
Adrian decides to cross the line between teasing and just plain rude.
"You guys shouldn't be complaining about losing just because you lost. I'm a professional at this and I told you that you could back out in the beginning. So if you have a problem with-" Adrian gets cut off abruptly when Monique's hand clamps over his mouth.
Monique gives them an apologetic look. "We're just gonna go now."
Adrian rips Monique's hand away from his mouth. "Really? You are such-" But Adrian's voice gets swallowed up and he chokes on his words when Monique sends them back down to Earth.
Adrian coughs for a moment before turning to glare at Monique. "I told you to never portal me somewhere while I'm talking!"
"That's why I do it." Monique shrugs, then walks away.
Adrian feels his anger drain away when he realizes where Monique dropped them off at. Ivie's house.
Adrian wills his eyes to turn into their normal cold blue, then he runs a hand through his hair. Feeling no paint stuck in the ruffled blond hairs, Adrian listens closely for Ivie.
Adrian instantly recognizes her voice, even though she's humming. Adrian realizes then that he's never heard her sing. Not that she's heard him sing either. Adrian isn't really a musical man.
Adrian sees a figure walk past the curtains in Ivie's room. Adrian smiles in anticipation at seeing Ivie as he takes a step towards the house.
~*~
Ivie squeals in shock when a knock sounds at her window.
"Ivie? Are you okay?" Ivie hears her mom yelling up to her from downstairs.
"Yeah mom. I just... uh... stubbed my toe." Ivie grimaces as Adrian smirks at her. She just lied horribly and Adrian's going to make fun of her for it.
Ivie lets Adrian inside her room, even though she knows he's going to tease her for the lame lie.
When Adrian only stares at Ivie, she sighs in frustration. "Go ahead, say it."
"What do you want me to say?" Adrian asks with a completely serious look on his face.
Ivie rolls her eyes and smiles, deciding she doesn't have to feel stupid about being an awful liar. "Come on Adrian! I know you're going to tease me."
"I am?" Adrian lifts one eyebrow in reply.
Ivie turns away from Adrian, not wanting to sit and play his games forever. If he came to talk, then he better talk.
If he came into her room through the window after dark to kidnap her for some crazy obsessive reason, then he better be prepared for a fight.
Ivie almost laughs at the thought, but keeps her mouth shut, waiting for Adrian to make the first move.
Ivie stares down at her hands in her lap, suddenly wondering if she should feel self conscious. Ivie's wearing jeans with holes and her favorite oversized green sweater. Her hair is down in messy waves and she's barefoot.
But Ivie shrugs those thoughts away. If Adrian was going to dump Ivie because of what she wore, then honestly, he would've dumped her awhile ago. Ivie usually goes for comfy rather than trendy. And besides, if you have to always dress up for a guy, even when you don't know he's coming over, then is he really worth it? No.
"Everyone lost the game." Adrian says after a full minute of silence while Ivie was apparently stuck deep in her head.
Ivie jerks her head up in surprise. "What? How could everyone lose?"
So Adrian goes on to tell the tale that was supposed to be his fun evening out with friends.
Is there even such a thing for Adrian?
~*~
"You can sit over here if you want." Ivie says after Adrian tells his story. Adrian was leaning against the wall by the window the whole time.
"Now you tell me?" Adrian rolls his eyes at Ivie, but he can't hide the huge grin on his face. Adrian doesn't hide most of his feelings around Ivie, and he'd like to keep it that way.
Adrian walks over and sits on Ivie's bed next to her, but not touching.
Ivie tilts her head up and leans back on her hands to gaze up at Adrian, who is fully relaxed in his dry paint covered clothes. It amazes Ivie that even though Adrian was going paintballing, he still decided to wear skinny jeans.
After studying his face for a moment, Ivie breaks the comfortable silence. "Can I ask you a question that you'll answer seriously?"
Adrian had been facing forward with his head turned to see Ivie, but her question shocks him. Adrian moves so that his whole body is facing Ivie and he's sitting sideways with one leg tucked underneath him.
"That depends on the question." Adrian says in a serious tone with a tilt of his head.
"Adrian!" Ivie says in a hushed scold. "It's not a hard question." Ivie glares at Adrian, practically daring him to defy her.
Adrian thinks about how he doesn't want to keep any more secrets. And Ivie did say it wasn't a hard question...
"Okay. Ask away." Adrian says with a wave of his hand like it's not a big deal. But Adrian finds it hard to look Ivie in the eyes now. She could be about to ask something that Adrian can't answer. Adrian tenses up, ready for the worst.
"What's your full name?" Ivie asks, staring intently at Adrian's averted eyes.
Adrian visibly relaxes. Adrian grins at Ivie. "You're right." Fortunately. "That isn't a hard question." Adrian replies quickly to calm himself down all the way. He still feels a little wound up inside from the paintball game and now this.
Does Adrian's entire life have to feel like a war? Unsure of where the next battle will be and always trying to prepare ahead, only to utterly fail most of the time?
"My full name is Adrian Dru Lee." He finally answers the question.
"Oh." Ivie says with a smile, thinking that's weird that it sounds so modern. Then it dawns on Ivie. She didn't ask for his real name.
"Is that the name you were born with?" Ivie asks Adrian. His smile immediately falls away and so does his gaze.
Adrian glares down at his hands. This is one of the questions he feared. The reason he doesn't get close to people. Then they'd find out the secrets of his past. And the name Adrian was born with is one those secrets.
The ones Adrian buried down deep with a silver lock and no available key.
"That's the name I want people to call me. The name I want you to call me." Adrian replies, finally glancing up at Ivie's eyes only to find her looking away.
Adrian sighs almost inaudibly and runs a hand through his blond hair. This relationship is going to be harder than Adrian thought.