CHAPTER EIGHT
Nayda's Point of View –
On our walk back all I could think about was what happened. I know I said I'd forget about it but, how could I? The way he kissed me...the way it made me feel...
"Nay, did you hear me?"
I turned my head and looked at Eli as we approached the bunker. His eyebrow was raised and I bit my lip. Don't do that.
My brain immediately flashed to when Eli had grabbed my face and pulled my lip from between my teeth and my face heated up.
"I asked what our next step was going to be."
I walked away from him and towards the bunker and he sighed.
"Nayda where are you going?"
I honestly just needed to get away from him for a minute. I need to clear my head, but I can't when he's here...right behind me...
I took a deep breath. Come on, pull yourself together!
"Our next step is to rest. Find some food. And then we need to figure out this prophecy and what we should do with it."
Eli didn't say anything and we headed inside. When we got back into the room Erik was sitting at the table, his head in his hands.
"Hey Erik, you okay?"
He jumped to his feet and pulled me into a hug. What the...?
"Thank gosh you're okay! You were gone for so long that I thought for sure something bad had happened?"
I furrowed my brows and patted his back.
"No Erik I-I'm fine. I had Eli with me the whole time."
"What bad thing do you think had happened to her Erik?" Eli asked.
Erik pulled away from me and narrowed his eyes at Eli.
"It doesn't matter."
Eli glared at him, and I looked between the two of them.
"Do you really think I would do anything to hurt her?" Eli growled.
Erik glared back at Eli and my eyes widened. Are they serious right now?
"How am I supposed to know? You are a vampire after all!"
My mouth fell open and Eli was breathing heavily in anger. Oh no...
Before I could react, Eli had lunged at Erik, both of them tumbling over the small, wooden table before hitting the floor, the table crumbling into bits underneath their weight. Eli was on top of Erik, throwing punch after punch and Erik was fighting back, hitting Eli a couple times. Suddenly a couple of loud cracks echoed through the room and Eli went flying back, hitting the bars of one of the jail cells before hitting the floor. Erik stood up, blood dripping down his chin and his forehead. Lightning sparks emitted from his fingers, crackling through the room and I gasped. So that's one of his abilities? I didn't even think Erik had gifts; I didn't think he was a mage.
Eli growled before pushing himself to his feet. Seeing the blue lightning coming from Erik, I knew I had to step in. Eli would get seriously hurt, or worse. Before either of them could attack, I stepped between them. They both gasped and I looked at both of them.
"Please stop."
Neither of them said anything. Eli was breathing heavily and a growl escaped from his throat.
"Move Nayda. I'm gonna beat the shit out of this stupid prince boy so he can understand who is truly in danger when I'm around."
"No, you aren't Eli."
"Move!"
"No!"
Eli stared me down, waiting for me to move out of his way. I stood my ground, staring back at him. I headed towards him and he growled at me.
"Stop."
He glared at me and I put my hand on his arm. He tried to pull away but I grabbed his arm. Before he could yank away, I pulled him into my arms. He growled.
"What are you doing Nay? This isn't the time for you to hug me! Get off me so I can beat him up!"
"I'm not pulling away. You are being stupid. You both are being stupid. I will let you go when you calm down."
We stood like that for a long time – my arms wrapped around Eli, Erik behind us with his lightning cracking in the air around us, waiting to see what was going to happen. Finally, Eli's shoulders relaxed and I pulled away.
"Are you okay?" I whispered.
He nodded and I smiled at him.
"Give me a sec."
He nodded and I turned back around, my mood doing a complete 180 as I became livid at Erik.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?!" I yelled.
Erik and Eli both jumped and my hands caught on fire. Eli gasped and Erik's mouth fell open.
"Don't you ever insult my best friend like that, EVER again! So WHAT if he's a vampire Erik? You're a mage and you didn't even bother to tell us?! I've known Eli since we were born, I trust him with MY LIFE and you're just going to insult him like that?! You owe him an apology!" I yelled.
Erik stared at me; his eyes wide in fear. See, a vampire versus a mage isn't the fairest fight. Eli may have speed and strength on his side but when it comes to magic...things can get unpredictable. However, a mage versus a witch...
Erik sighed, his arms falling to his side as his lightning went away. I watched as he stood up straight and I took a deep breath, standing up straight as well. The fire disappeared from around me and I pointed to Eli.
"Apologize."
He sighed and walked towards Eli.
"I'm sorry I insulted you. I just..."
"Don't understand." Eli filled in.
Erik nodded.
"Yeah. I've been taught my whole life that you are my enemy."
Eli didn't speak and he reached his hand out.
"It's alright."
Erik looked at Eli's hand before shaking it.
"This doesn't mean we're friends." Eli hissed.
Erik chuckled and I relaxed a bit, finally just glad for that to be over.
"You both are so dumb but moving on! We need to find some food and a place to rest. Let's finish exploring the bunker, maybe we'll find something."
They both nodded and we left the cell room. I headed towards the hall that I had been in before I had been interrupted by the guys fighting that Wolfsbane guy. I stopped outside the door that led to the cell room where his body was, pausing with my hand on the door. I wasn't sure if Eli was going to be able to come with us.
I turned around and saw that Eli was starting to get fidgety at the smell of the human blood.
"The place I want to go is through this room. The Wolfsbane guy is in here though. Eli..."
He didn't say anything for a minute.
"What do you want to do?"
He stared at me for a minute before taking a deep breath.
"I think I can walk through. After all, I have had some practice resisting the smell. I know that it's there so it won't be a surprise. And if I have to, I'll hold my breath."
"If you're sure?"
He nodded and I nodded back.
"Ready?"
He nodded again, grabbing my hand and I opened the door. The body of the last member of the Wolfsbane was laying where we had left him, his blood pooling and coagulating on the cool concrete. I looked at him, my arrow still sitting in his chest.
I looked back at Eli who had his nose plugged with his free hand and I pulled him through the room.
"What did Eli mean when he said he's had practice resisting the smell of blood..." Erik asked.
I didn't say anything at first.
"When Eli and I were younger he had this fear that one day he might attack me. I told him it would never happen but he believed one day it would. So, I decided that to prevent that he would just have to get used to the smell of my blood."
I glanced at Erik whose eyes were about to fall out of his head.
"So, you would-would...?"
"Once a month I would cut my hand open or arm or leg or whatever and let him smell it. We would do it from different distances too so he could practice resistance at close range."
Erik stared at me before looking at Eli. We exited the room and Erik closed the door behind us, bolting it shut.
Eli took a deep breath and I smiled at him.
"Good job."
He smiled at me before glancing at Erik.
"You really do trust him." Erik whispered.
We both turned to him and he stared at us. None of us said anything for a long moment and I cleared my throat.
"Come on, we're almost there."
They followed me down the hall and I knew we were going the right direction when the walls and floors began to change to wood instead of the cold concrete. I ignored the two doors on the left, knowing what was in those rooms already, heading towards the stairs first.
"What about those rooms?" Eli asked.
I shrugged.
"The first room is a closet and the second door lead to a huge dining room. I'm guessing there's a kitchen on the other side of the dining room. That door on the right has a weird hand scanner that I was going to look at later."
He nodded and we began walking up the stairs. The stairs didn't go very far. At the top was what looked like some sort of loft or some sort of room. There was straw covering the ground and a cot sat in one of the corners.
"Well, this was underwhelming." Erik mumbled.
I walked towards the cot, looking around the room. When I turned around, I gasped. Eli and Erik came over to me looking at what caught my attention. The wall on the other side of the room was covered in art. I recognized the type of art and walked forward.
"This is where Aunt Maggie was kept prisoner." I whispered.
Eli took a step forward.
"So, the stories really are true." He said.
Erik watched us both.
"What are you guys talking about?"
I looked at the art, the poems that covered the wall and the paintings. Most of it was depressing – cries for help from this place.
"Back when our parents were teenagers there was this group of people called the Wolfsbane. There leader was a guy named Gregory and he was the last Hunter alive. He had this crazy dream of taking the abilities from all the different creatures and putting them into one body. He began using the Wolfsbane to kidnap the strongest of each being. He kidnapped my dad, who was future Alpha of the werewolves. And he kidnapped my mom's best friend and my Uncle Zin, thinking that Zin was the strongest mage. My dad and Uncle Zin escaped and the Wolfsbane followed them to my mom's kingdom. My mom and dad fled the kingdom and the Wolfsbane attacked, destroying a lot of the kingdom. Eventually the Wolfsbane caught up with them and Gregory took my mom and dad. My dad escaped again but my mom didn't. That's when she met my Aunt Maggie. She's...a different kind of being and Gregory was keeping her here. My mom freed her."
Erik stood there; surprise etched across his face.
"Your parents never told you about this?"
Erik shook his head no and I shrugged.
"I guess that makes sense."
None of us spoke and I headed back towards the stairs, Eli and Erik following me. I let them walk out of the room before I closed the door, wishing I could burn this place to the ground. I knew Aunt Maggie had been tortured here by Gregory. I wish I could give her some peace...
I frowned and nearly bumped into one of the boys who had stopped in front of me.
"Should we try that room with the hand thing?" Erik asked.
I nodded and we headed towards it. We all looked at it. It was a purplish color. I reached forward, pressing my hand into it. The purple color changed to a red before turning a blue color.
"State your name," an automated voice said.
We all jumped and I blinked.
"Nayda M-Moonhowl."
"Access denied."
I frowned, pulling my hand away. That was weird. I wonder...
I put my hand back on the scanner and it scanned it again.
"State your name," the voice spoke again.
I took a deep breath.
"Galatea Maverly."
There was a silence for a moment before the machine thing beeped twice and the whirring of the door moving began.
"Shit." Erik whispered.
I blinked a couple times, shocked that my mother's name worked to open the door.
After the door opened, some lights in the room turned on and I took a step inside.
~ ~ ~
I'm sorry it's been so very long my lovelies. It's been a trying time. Everything in my life has been changing. I honestly feel as if I've gone through a very long metamorphosis. Hopefully this chapter means more updates coming soon!
Another update - I've begun sharing my stories on Inkitt as well as on here under the same penname! I'll be sharing the updated version of Legend of the White Wolf on there and maybe some other stories as well! We'll see. So if you have an account on Inkitt, look me up! I hope you all have a good day and enjoyed this chapter. Another chapter will be coming soon!
Thank you for your patience and everything you all do,
much love, mollysue