"What!" I screamed. That was Kaida? That beast? Shalom Hena had told me she had extraordinary powers but I never expected her to be able to turn into a dragon.
I looked to the dragon, right? That's what I call this beast? A dragon?
"Shift. Now." I demanded.
The dragon looked down and then shifted down significantly. Down to the little girl I found in the forest. The innocent little girl I found could've killed me instantly if she wished.
"Kaida," I said sternly as I kneeled to be at her level. She looked at me with pitiful eyes that seemed guilty.
I pulled her into a hug, "Thank you baby-girl."
She saved me. Sure Donte wouldn't have killed me, but she saved me from having to kill him. Kaida melted into me as I held her in my arms. I picked her up and looked at everyone else. Joey, Jasper, and Eclipse were standing side by side.
"Don't breathe a word to anyone."
"We won't," Jasper assured me.
I nodded, "Good, now I'm hungry and need to get into my dress for the party."
"I'll go tell the cooks," Joey explained, "Jasper why don't you you show them to the Hena's room."
"Will do," Jasper said happily, "This way Hena."
Jasper showed us to a white door upstairs at the end of the hallway. He turned and left as we walked in. Kaida followed behind me as we walked into the white and gold room. The wall were white, the furniture was black, the bed frame was black and the curtain type thing hanging around it was black too. The pillows and blankets were gold. The window curtains were gold. The trimming was gold. The floor was wooden but the rug by the door was gold as well.
It was gorgeous. A beautiful bay window was lined with pillows and a bookshelf under it. "Kaida, if you wanna sleep there you can."
The window was big enough for me to sleep in so I figured she would have plenty of room.
There was an attached bathroom and a walk in closet.
I could get used to this.
--
"Carla come on! You're gonna be late to your own ball!" Joey called from the other side of my bedroom door. I was finishing Kaida's hair. I was up in a pretty bun, I was pinning back the stray pieces from her brown hair. She had picked out a pale green dress with a dark green bow on the front. I was already ready, I just need to pin back a few more of Kaida's crazy strands.
"There," I yelped happily as I handed her the black sneakers I picked out for her. Her dress reached the floor so you'd never see the shoes, I wanted her to be comfortable.
"Go on, tell Joey I'll be out in a few minutes," I urged her.
"Okay mom," Kaida happily exclaimed as she ran out the door.
Mom.
I walked over to the full size mirror and looked at myself. I had cut bangs out of my hair, I thought they looked cute. My hair was really long so I just put it in a fancy ponytail, it was too long to do anything else with it. I was wearing a cute short pastel pink dress with tan dress boots. My cross necklace laid in the center of my chest.
I was ready.
I grabbed the lip gloss and reapplied it before rushing out the door. Joey was standing inside the room. His chin just about hit the floor.
"What?" I asked.
"It's- it's just- you know what it's nothing," Joey stuttered and then smiled, "Let's get going."
"Okay," I said confusedly just I shook it off and smiled back.
We walked down the steps and into the cafeteria. It had been dolled up in balloons and streamers. Everyone within the four walls were wearing tuxes or dresses, everyone was dressed to impress.
I walked straight to the punch table, strictly because I was thirsty. Lucky for me, Gena and Eclipse were talking right infront of the punch table. Kaida was talking to them too. I wandered rather slowly over to them, saying hello to anyone who passed me. Joey had disappeared in the crowd, probably catching up with family.
Eclipse looked up from talking to Kaida, he smiled at me and walked over, hugging me tightly.
"You look amazing," Eclipse said softly.
"You really do," Gena added.
Gena wore a white dress, sparkly and absolutely gorgeous while Eclipse wore a black tux. My eyebrows scrunched slightly as I looked around, everyone was either wearing black or white.
"Did I wear the wrong color?" I asked worriedly.
A hand rested on my shoulder, I turned to see Joey standing behind me, he reached for a punch cup and handed it to me. "Henas and a Henas family can wear whatever they want. You guys are supposed to wear colors."
I looked Joey in the eyes, "Then go change." I then looked over at Eclipse and Gena, "All three of you are my family."
"Immediate family Carla," Joey corrected himself, "Not friends you call family."
"Why did they put Kaida in a color then?" I asked.
"Because Kaida is your adopted daughter, put in your care. Technically that means she's immediate family." Joey answered.
"Next time we have one of these everyone can wear whatever color they want."
Joey nodded, "Yes Hena."
"Don't call me that, you're the only one who doesn't call me that. Calling me by my name reminds me of the person I was that got me here. And I don't want to forget myself in the midst of all this royalty crap."
Joey placed his hands between my neck and my shoulder and softly kissed my forehead, "Okay Carla, if that's what you wish."
I nodded my head and took a sip of the punch Joey handed me.
That wasn't the first time Joey had kissed my forehead, but it was more of a friendship "wish you luck bestie" kind of kiss more than an intimacy kind of kiss.
Truth be told it calmed me down like a tight hug from a brother telling me "it's all gonna be alright."
The gentle tapping of the microphone turned everyone's heads to the stage at the back of the room. Donte stood, smiling and looking out amongst the crowd.
"As you all must know," Donte began, "A challenger has thrown their metaphorical glove down for the hope of gaining my title. The challenger, Atarah Ariella, held a knife to my throat in the ring, after I had shoved one through hers. In the midst of this battle, seemingly to the death, her true colors showed."
"What is he doing?" Joey whispered.
"She gave me an option, an option to surrender and I get to stay with my family, or I don't and my jugular will be ripped from my throat."
Joey facepalmed and started walking to the stage.
"Joey wait!" I whispered out to him but before I knew it, he had disappeared amongst the crowd of people.
"Life or death situations will cause you to act differently. Such as, instead of fighting back, you will surrender. Or you become a murderer. That's not my point tonight, my point is that she offered a choice. She wielded the knife. She held the choice. You guys know her better as Carla, the leader of Lionsville. The assassin who slaughtered our search parties who were looking for our youngest brother Tobias. Lionsville murdered them-"
In a loud screeching, the mic shut off while Joey and Donte argued on stage. But nobody looked to them, everyone stared at me with hateful eyes.
"I-I" I stuttered.
I coughed the frog from my throat and spoke up, "My name is Carla. Some know me as Atarah Ariella, Crowned Lioness. Other people strictly call me a murderer. That's fine. I'll own up to it. Yes, I killed twenty patrol officers of yours. The search party he speaks of. What he lacked to tell you is that that search party had kidnapped my family, on my territory, to use as ransom for Tobias. Tobias came willingly to Lionsville, he came with his superhuman girlfriend Daisy."
I took a breath to collect myself.
"Tobias was amongst the dead in a recent attacking. As well as everyone in Lionsville except for Alpha Joey. Alpha Jason, the youngest of the living Alphas that belong to this kingdom, is responsible for that act of terror. Listen to me when I tell you, he is dangerous. He is leading an Alpha-less pack from Oklahoma. He probably has a hit list, probably looking for me and my remaining living friends."
I looked around, Joey and Donte were listening quietly.
"Hello, my name is Carla, also known as Atarah Ariella. I am the last living Hena. I am your Alpha, your Hena, your queen, your leader. And I'm telling you that tonight is about having fun, but tomorrow? Tomorrow there might be a war on our hands. Not only did he kill my family. But Tobias? Tobias is your family all of yours. And I say, it's about time someone did something about the murderous Alpha in our midst."
Joey nodded at me and I nodded back. When I looked back down, everyone else in the room was kneeling. Joey moved to gesture for me to walk up there. I got up on the stage and Joey handed me the microphone.
"All rise," I said elegantly into the microphone.
Everyone stood and looked to me.
"Let's ignore the possible war. Give it a week, maybe just tonight, have some fun. Dance your legs away, sing your heart out. Find your true love. Have fun."
I left the stage and was immediately swarmed by hugs and questions. I tried to answer them all the best I could, they all seemed to be happy instead of hateful. I slid out of the room and sat on the staircase in the main hall. I needed to get away from all the crowds of people.
I rubbed my forehead to hopefully deter the headache starting to form. The shutting of a door upstairs caught my attention. Who would be upstairs at this time of night with a party going on?
I quietly tiptoed up the steps, making sure to be extra quiet.
An arguement was getting heated within the walls of my bedroom, the last door on the left. The voices grew louder the closer I got. Gently, I sat myself on the hardwood floors at the end of the hallway. Whoever was in that room obviously knew me, they were talking about me.
The muffled argument echoed through the door.
"You had no right to go up there and bad mouth your Hena!"
"You only care about that because you two are a thing," the deeper more aggressive voice argued back.
"You think she'd like me?!" The other voice shouted back, "Dude she only speaks to me because I'm one of three people that she was friends with before your brother, our brother murdered the rest of them."
It was Joey, he was the calmer voice, I didn't recognize his voice through the wall but his description matched.
"I see the way you look at her brother," He paused for a few seconds. "I don't care if she's a stranger or a Hena, the people needed to know. I don't know if you two have a thing for eachother and I honestly don't care, our people, her new people needed to know who she really is."
"You obviously don't know who she really is," Joey argued.
Another voice joined in.
"She might be dangerous Joey. She looked into a fire and told a story through it; she controls it. Doesnt that scare you."
That was obviously Jasper.
"She's not dangerous," Joey argued.
"She murdered twenty of your people, people you knew by name, that were simply a search party following orders." The more aggressive voice that I assumed was Donte pointed out.
"Orders to apprehend any superhumans for questioning about the location of Tobias!" Joey argued, "They were ordered to kidnap her family. Their wristbands were sliced off!"
"So she couldn't track them," Jasper pointed out.
"Who's side are you on?" Joey snapped aggressively at Jasper.
"Neither."
"Then shut up and leave," Donte growled.
The tension in my room was so thick you could slice through it with a knife.
"You ordered the search team to kidnap her family, cut their wristbands off, and beat them into submission. The blood on the wristbands caused her to think that her family was dead. Your orders caused her to kill those twenty volunteers. That blood is on your hands not hers."
Silence flooded the room for a few seconds.
"Listen guys, Henas- Henas aren't supposed to be violent. Henas are born leaders, nice, peaceful, gentle, loving leaders. She's violent." Jasper explained.
"You don't know her," Joey calmly sighed.
"But I know what she's done and that makes all the same." Donte pointed out.
"You're scared because you're on the other end of her sword." Joey explained.
"And you're blind because you fight along side her." Jasper softly added.
Silence again.
"You know her name, not her story. Don't judge her for the acts she commits when you haven't heard the reasoning," Joey said.
"I know she's killed people. Henas don't kill, Alpha's do." Donte sighed.
"You cannot expect the lion to act like a lamb when it's been fighting to survive it's entire life. When she needed a hug she was thrown a sword and told to fight. She handles things with grace, she is loving, she is kind. She is overpowered, I'll give you that, she is dangerous to her enemies. Maybe that's the kind of Hena we need though. One who will bring mountains toppling to the ground with the shout of her voice. A Hena who strikes fear into the eyes of our rivals because of her undying love for her people." Joey argued.
"She's a danger to us, your family Joey, flesh and blood. She's murdered our kind before. She's dangerous, murderous, and bad tempered."
"That's a dangerous combination," Jasper added.
"Not to us."
"There is a violent cascade of vengeance in those pretty blue eyes you fell for Joey, don't you see that? It sits behind those eyes and waits, hidden behind a beauty is a poison. It spills through everytime she speaks, that- that- side of her seeps through those eyes. She sits back quietly and that side of her lurks quietly behind the darkness of her pupils. That ocean in her eyes will drown you any chance it gets. She is pure danger." Donte argued back.
"Only her enemies will drown in those eyes," Joey explained.
"And what if she sees us as the enemy?" Jasper asked.
"Joey hasn't thought of that because he likes her and knows she will protect him no matter what," Donte scoffed.
Nice to know Joey likes me. I thought as I rolled my eyes.
"It wouldn't matter anyway Donte," Joey snapped, "You see, you put Jason in charge and he had the guy she loved murdered. When are you gonna tell her that you gave that order?"
"He won't," Jasper added, "She'd kill him in a heartbeat. He just wants to save his own skin by blaming Jason for their deaths."
Jasper fell silent and then added to his statement, "You only want her gone because you can't control her."
"She's a loose cannon Jasper," Donte scoffed, "Can't you see that?"
"No," Jasper yelled. His voice quieted for the second part. "I see a woman who has lost everyone she ever loved who is downstairs dancing like it never happened. A woman who will walk through hell itself to bring them back. A woman you should be terrified of. And you are, you're terrified because you know you're the one who pulled the trigger that killed the Alpha she loved. You want her gone because you know when she finds out she's going to have you killed in the worst way possible."
I stood up and the floor squeaked. The room went silent. It was like an out of body experience as I watched myself kick the locked door in. The wood around the lock splintered as the door swung open.
"Of course she heard that," Donte sighed as he facepalmed. Joey stood up from my bed and placed himself between me and Donte. Jasper simply took a step back from the situation.
I snapped back in, last time that happened I had burned a city to the ground, it wasn't going to happen again.
I looked past Joey at Donte, glaring so hard my eyes hurt.
"Carla calm down, take a breath," Joey pleaded as he slowly walked up to me.
"You're scared of what she'll do," Donte scoffed, "You don't trust her."
"Donte do you want me to let her rip your esophagus out and let her use it as a belt?" Joey snapped.
Donte fell silent.
"Hena," Jasper said, catching my attention. He was kneeling.
"Oh for the love of Earth, stand up Jasper," I growled.
My focus snapped back to Joey. "How long were you listening?"
"Long enough," I answered with a roll of my eyes.
Joey looked down and then back up into my eyes, "I don't like you like that."
"Joey," I sighed, "I've seen your memories and felt how you felt in situations. I know you see me like a little sister you need to protect, it's fine."
Joey let out a long, relieved breath, "I was hoping you'd remember that."
I nodded.
"Can you please move," I said softly.
Joey took a step to the side and I walked up to Donte. He was sitting on the foot of my bed, his body tensed like he was about to die.
I took a deep breath before acting on my emotions.
My close fist made contact with his throat which caused him to fall back and roll over. He was coughing violently.
The room was otherwise silent.
"Did you actually pull the trigger," I cried. My heart was in my stomach, wishing to mourn for all my dead friends. My brain longed to get revenge on their assailants.
Too bad for Jason, I rarely listen to my heart anymore.
"No, Jason did, I told him if they attack then he needs to destroy the threat at all costs."
My blood churned as I looked down at the Alpha: belly up and coughing blood up.
I grabbed his ankle and yanked him hard enough for his butt to hit the floor. I clutched his neck between my fingers and held it a lot more loose than before.
"If you're lying, I'll find out, and I won't heal you the next time." I growled.
I let go and turned towards Joey. Donte moved back on the bed.
"I told you she'd turn on us," Donte gasped as he held his neck.
I spun back around, "Don't provoke me Donte. I'm a woman. Don't forget, I've been washing bloodstains out of my clothes for years."
I turned and started to walk out the door.
"I told you-" Donte started. He was interrupted by my rapid movement of grabbing the knife from my thigh holster that I had hidden under my dress and launching it from my hand. It pierced the bed between his legs by his knees.
"I've given you enough chances and I won't miss next time," I growled as I left. Footsteps followed behind me as i made it to the stairwell.
"Carla!" Joey called as he ran to me.
I turned. "What's up?"
Joey came to a stop a foot or so from me and looked up. "The ceiling is Carla."
"That's my joke," I laughed.
Joey smiled for a few seconds. His true intentions of the situation started to show, he needed to ask me something.
"You're not a monster. You know that right?" Joey asked seriously.
My smile faded and my eyes rested on his.
"I never have been in your eyes," I sighed as I started walking down the stairs.
"What does that mean?" Joey asked frustratedly.
"We are often blinded by the good we see in people to see the bad that lurks beneath. You'll see me differently when I rip your brother limb from limb for killing my entire family and slaughtering children."
"Carla-"
"Joey I am a monster," I interrupted, "I've been a monster for a while. I try to be good, do good; it never sticks. This darkness that's in me, it never hides for long. This anger I feel, is always hidden beneath the feelings I show. I have a bad attitude Joey, horrible impulses, and violent behaviors. I've killed people Joey, that makes me a monster."
"I've killed people too Carla," Joey insisted, "You don't see me as a monster."
I scoffed and shook my head. "Look at me Joey."
Joey looked up from the floor.
"You are only a monster in your own eyes," Joey explained softly.
"Really? Go ask Donte what he thinks I am then!"
"I've seen the way you look at the innocent Carla, a monster would terrorize them just the same."
"And your brother slaughtered the innocent," I growled.
"He did, and that's why we are going to kill him. Not because he killed your family, because he murdered kids. It'll be just like Blaire the assassin. Quick and stealthfully only to rid the world of another monster."
I thought for a moment, thinking about what he said.
A sickening smile grew across my face. "Joey, we're going to give him a chance, we're going to war and we're gonna need an army."
"We don't have an army set up," Joey answered.
"No, we don't have a big enough army."
"What's the plan then?"
"I need you to take me to other Cachion kingdoms," I declared, "we'll expand our kingdom by taking over other kingdoms."
"I think I know where to start," Joey explained.
"Where?" I asked.
"With the Alpha named James," Joey explained, "He claims to know something about the origin of superhumans. His kingdom has been trying to find the superhumans since Valerie was killed. They have a large army and a lot of territory."
I nodded.
"We'll leave at first light."