Adriana
'The creature stares at me, its greyish lips drawn up in a sadistic grin. My heart leaps, watching as its spine becomes more hunched and its deadly claws grow, sharp and black, protruding like daggers. It steps forward, followed by a white-eyed wolf that growls beside it. I try to step back but my feet seem stuck to the ground and my chest seizes as they come closer. I have no way to escape.
The tall creature opens it's mouth, displaying a row of needle-like fangs. It bends forwards, one of its hands clawing the ground and screeches.
I try relentlessly to get away, screaming though nobody can hear.
Arms outstretched, it leaps.
I hit at everything around me, kicking and screaming.
I don't want to die.
Please don't let me die.
My ears are ringing unbearably. I catch a glimpse of my hand, seeing that it is bloody.
I feel sick.
I scream. I can't move.
My arms and legs feel trapped. I'm shaking.
Is this it?
"Ria, its me."
I continue to struggle, my vision distorted by tears.
"It's ok."
Something touches my face, turning my head slightly.
"It was a dream, Ria. You're ok."
Sniffing, I blink away the tears and see Eros's face, my heartbeat slowing down and the dread starting to be replaced with guilt upon noticing his bloody nose. He shifts to kneel beside me, and I look around, not seeing any sign of the vampire like creature or the wolf, only a sleeping Venus who's wing is draped around me. I gulp, noticing that my throat feels sore and dry as I wipe away the dampness on my cheeks.
"Sorry," I croak, trying to sit up with help from Eros, once again noticing the blood trickling down from his nose as he aids in propping myself up against Venus.
He shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. It's already healing."
That doesn't make me feel any less guilt, although at least it won't be bleeding for long. I admit I had forgotten for a second that he's not exactly human.
Turning, he grabs the bottled water from before, handing it to me before rummaging through the bag of supplies. Immediately the water relieves my throat of the sandpaper feeling, but it still feels itchy. Just how much was I screaming?
An apple plops into my lap, making me jump, water sploshing down my front as I cough. I glare at Eros, but he just snorts.
"What," he chuckles. "I'll eat it if you don't want it."
He reaches his hand towards the apple, only for me to bat it away.
"No need for violence, sweetheart."
I scowl at him, not feeling really awake enough to think of anything to say other than "fuck you".
As I eat, I start to wonder where the less annoying members of our little group have gotten to. I know Alec and Kellen must be around somewhere, right? They bought these supplies to us after all. Maybe they're off catching up with Becca, whom I have remembered ditched me to run off with Emily. That sounds likely I guess. Yes, I'm sure thats what Eros told me. A soft hum from him confirms I'm right. I wonder if they've found her yet. If I'm being honest with myself, when I see Becca again, I don't know whether I could control myself. The girl needs a swift kick up the arse as far as I'm concerned for leaving like that.
I'm assuming that Mahlia is either still resting or doing some weird magic crap, although if I'm being honest I could really use her help right now in shutting up the butthead sitting next to me, who is occupying his time by whistling some inane tune. No doubt he's still reading my thoughts out of boredom. It baffles me how someone of his status could be so careless about boundaries.
The aforementioned whistling continues to get louder, also being rather out of tune. At least if he's going to whistle he could at least make it good. I'm really not in the mood to deal with this. Besides, surely it's too early for whistling? The sun seems as if it hasn't been up long, so I've slept a fairly decent amount, even if it was unintentional; I don't even remember falling asleep. His terrible whistling though suggests he's a good mood, and what kind of person is in a good mood at this time before coffee? Psychos, that's who.
"I don't like coffee that much."
I sign. Of course the little bastard is still listening in. "Suddenly the fact that you've got problems makes more sense."
"Prefer tea."
I smirk. "How ironic."
He cocks his head to the side in confusion, making me roll my eyes. "You're royal, got a British accent. Of course you like tea."
His eyebrows furrow in response to my explanation. I suppose I forgot he might not understand the stereotype, having come from apparently an entirely different world than me. Oh well. Maybe one day, when I can be bothered to, I'll explain it. For now he doesn't seem too bothered. I do find it amusing though that he took to discussing tea, rather than denying the fact that "he has problems".
Evidently he is still reading my thoughts, because his face has dropped, this fact finally having dawned on him. Safe to say I've now pissed him off.
Dumbass.
As I finish up eating my apple, Venus stirs behind me, her head coming round my side and eyeballing the core, so I toss it to her and she catches it with ease, scoffing it down in seconds. She then looks up as the sound of footsteps approaching us echoes through our otherwise quiet surroundings, but she doesn't tense, so neither me nor Eros become overly defensive. Not long passes before we see that it is only Mahlia. I wonder if she was out walking all night. What the bloody hell would she need to be walking that long for?
"She came to sleep a while before you woke up."
"You have got to get out of her head boy or you'll drive the poor girl mad," Mahlia scolds Eros, setting herself down next to Venus. "On another note, there's no signs of anyone for as far as I can sense. No signs of Alec or Kellen either; I'd say as long as you're both feeling up to it then it's probably about time we head off and catch up with them."
"I'm feeling well enough I'd say. A bit sore but pretty healed," Eros lifts his shirt to show Mahlia the badly bruised but otherwise intact skin. You wouldn't think he'd been badly hurt not long ago. "What about you, Ria?"
I think for a second, trying to assess how injured I feel compared to yesterday. Actually, I don't feel too bad, considering I likely had a bad concussion or something not long ago. God only knows what else I'd suffered from before I regained consciousness. My head is no longer pounding and if I try to think back, I can remember things more easily than before, but after my nightmare I'm not too eager just yet to remember everything. I'm just so incredibly stiff, but honestly that might partly be due to sleeping on the floor. I've decided I'd probably hate camping. "I think I'll be ok. I'm just stiff."
"We'd better get a move on then before Eros eats the rest of the apples. We'll be riding Venus for the majority of the journey anyway; it'll be much faster that way," Mahlia explains while grabbing the supplies bag, eyeing Eros suspiciously. I'm going to assume he got peckish through the night judging by his sheepish expression. She tosses the bag to him. "You can go at the back mister. Better get the bag on. No more apples."
Eros huffs, picking up his hammer that I hadn't realised was so close and shoving it into the bag. It doesn't quite fit, the handle sticking out the side where the zip fastens, but I can imagine it's much better than carrying it while trying not to fall off a giant bird. "Your chakrams are already in here by the way," he comments while pushing his arms through the straps as Mahlia mounts Venus. I can't say I'd really given the chakrams any thought, but I'm grateful at least someone remembered.
Mahlia reaches her hand down, gesturing for me to get on. I'm not entirely sure how I'll manage that; Venus isn't exactly small, and even when I'm not so bloody stiff I'm clumsy enough to balls it up somehow. But nevertheless, I grab her hand, placing my other hand on Venus. I just about manage to haul myself up, albeit I do crash into Mahlia's back, not that I think it bothers her much. Both she and Eros burst out laughing at my attempt. What can I say? I'm not exactly a poster child for upper body strength.
Eros hauls himself up shortly after. He's a little clumsy, but still much more graceful than I was. And all that with a hammer on his back. Show off.
"Better hold on to each other you two," Mahlia places her arms around Venus's neck, holding her in place. "Don't want either of you falling off."
Within seconds, I feel Eros's hands snaking around my waist, my own arms taking hold of Mahlia. I won't lie, I feel a major fucking awkwardness right now. Not that I'd say anything to them.
Thankfully this doesn't really last long thankfully. Venus soon kicks off, her powerful wings taking us further up above the trees.
When we finally get high enough, even with the uncomfortable closeness of us all, it's actually quite exhilarating. As I kid, I always imagined what it might be like to fly. And right now, it's even better than I imagined. Looking out into the distance, I find myself not even afraid of the height we're at or the possibility of me falling, the only thing on my mind being the beauty of the green canopies below and the coolness of the wind rushing past me. I can see other, much smaller birds gliding about, only now being able to appreciate the magnificence of what they can do. To be able to harness the air how they do... It's incredible.
"Where are we actually going?" I ask, shouting a little, not knowing if anyone will hear me above the whistling of the wind.
"The safe house, remember?" Eros replies, speaking a little more softly not far from my ear. I guess I do remember something being mentioned, but it being a safe house isn't really what I want to know.
"Yes but, is it still in the forest?"
"Not this one. You see the hills over there?" His hand lifts from my waist, pointing forward. I move my head to see around Mahlia better, seeing that at some point in the distance, the trees start to become further apart, rising up the grassy hills. "Over those is a small city."
"We'll be seeing more fey then?"
"Yes. Keep your head down and you'll be fine."
As I'm sure would happen with any other sane person in what should be a fantasy world, all that statement does is fill me with doubt.
His arms tighten slightly around me. "They're on our side Ria. Nothing will happen I promise. We wouldn't have a safe house there is it was dangerous," he explains, again not far away from my ear. I relax a little hearing this.
"I'm sensing magic not far from here. I think Darius and the others might have gotten held up," Mahlia shouts. I don't remember meeting a "Darius". I wonder if he's one of the people she first showed up with.
"Do you want to land?" Eros shouts from behind me, making me wince a little as he's still quite close.
"No, they can handle themselves. If they take much longer to get to the city I'll send Venus," she gazes down into the trees. We can't see anything through the leaves. It amazes me how she can do so much with energy, even sensing it. I never thought something like that was even possible.
Then again I am sat atop a giant purple phoenix.
Who needs drugs when you have the fey kingdom right?
I wonder what the city is like. Are they much like humans? They can't all be like Eros, I know that from the goblins and all the "high fey" "bloodline" stuff, there's got to be more. I can't help but think about what other kinds of fey there might be, what they might look like. I know I keep making jokes about him being an elf, but when he told me what he was, he compared himself to one, with other traits. That must mean elves also exist, and actually, he's not one at all. And than there's the other creatures I know exist. How is someone like Eros even related to a creature like the goblins? Eros looks not too dissimilar to a human and I'm not even sure what I would compare the goblins to. They aren't anything remotely close to what I'd imagined from the fairy tales.
What else exists? I already know about the vampires and the werewolves. The werewolves so far have lived up mostly to expectation. The vampires... Should I technically be calling them vrykólakas? They're not anything like I had previously thought when in true form. Just thinking about Alec turns my stomach, my palms going sweaty.
I shake that thought, carrying on contemplating other potential beings. What about creatures like mermaids or sirens? With everything I've seen so far it can't be too much of a stretch, although I know I probably won't see any in the middle of a city. Unicorns? As long as zombies don't exist I'm good.
"What's a zombie?" Eros asks. At least I won't have to deal with those.
Instead of bothering to explain, I just think of what I can remember from the films, the slow walking, rotting, creepy looking fuckers that haunted 13 year old me's nightmares, frightening me at the concept of having my brain eaten. I know he's got it from the disgusted sound he makes.
Maybe this mind thing could occasionally come in useful. How does it even work anyway? I can't imagine what it must be like to know what the person next to you is thinking. I wonder if there's any way to stop him from doing it.
"I'll answer your questions when we get there."
I have to say I wasn't expecting him to tell me anything at all. I'll take that.
I look past Mahlia again, this time seeing the hills rapidly approaching. "How far are we now?"
"Not far, sweet. Just over these hills and we're there," she shouts.
That's good. Not much longer to go until I get my answers.