FAY
"Mr. and Mrs. Von, what are you, doing? Erica... No!"
When I reached into the bathroom it was already too late. Lorenzo had already placed Erica into the water. I fell onto the floor beside the bathtub with my hand clinging to it. My hand reached in to grab Erica out of the water but it froze. The water froze! Erica was trapped inside the iced water and I wondered how. I screamed. What the hell is happening?
"What are you guys doing?" I snapped.
"Fay? I assume," the mother said. I nod my head, but I was still angry. What did they just do to their child? "My name is Elena. I am Erica's mother. Since you are the one Erica proposed to. I must tell you the truth about our family to you."
"What kind of truth will allow Erica to be frozen up?" I snapped.
"Quiet!" Lorenzo's voice was low and deadpanned. I froze in my place. There was something about the authority in his voice that startled me. When I looked up at his facial expression they look deadly they scare me.
We all moved to their bedroom and they didn't look worried for their daughter, but I, on the other hand, kept glancing back to the bathroom, worried about my fiancee's life. Once we were all settled down, seated at a small wooden table they began to talk.
"Fay, you're just a normal person so it's hard to believe what I'm about to say to you about our family. To be honest, in our family we don't have the luxury to choose our bride or grooms they were picked out by our parents. For our families to survive like Lorenzo and me."
"What do you mean for your families to survive?"
"This is the part where it is the hardest and cruelest thing you have to accept if you want to marry into our families."
"Why do you keep saying families as in plural?"
"Fay, we're mafias."
My heart stopped for a moment and throbbed a little unsteady. At first, I thought I had misheard them. "Sorry, do you mind repeating that again, Mrs. Elena?"
Elena looked towards her husband then looked back to me. "We are from a long bloodline of mafias."
I closed my eyes in disbelief taking a deep breath. Mafias. I was getting married into a family of mafia's, and they have not freaked out that their daughter proposed to a girl. This could only mean one thing, their family accepts gay marriages somehow it doesn't sound pleasant to my ears now that I just heard that I was engaged with a mafioso family. "May I ask for your full name Mr. and Mrs. Von."
"Von is just a cover-up name for our family it's actually our middle name. My name is Lorenzo Von Lumia and my wife Elena Vang Aztec."
"Lumia!" My eyes widen I have watched the news many times that the Lumia family is the most feared mafia. They were notorious for torturous crime and who is very rich. They even got some cops working under them, and even some powerful people that were working for the government. They were truly a terrifying family.
Little did I know that the girl I am marrying is a Lumia. I couldn't handle hearing more about them, but I knew I needed answers so I manage to calm all my nerves down, breathing in and out.
Thinking back to the past I have never seen Erica acts torturous, violent, or angry at others. However, when she does it was only at the people who harm those she loves. I took another deep breath asking another question. "But why does all of this has to do with Erica trapped in ice? Also, does Erica know that she is a mafia?"
"Looks like you're handling the news better than any other average people," Lorenzo said. "If anyone knows we're Lumia they surely would run away or even perhaps call off the engagement." He looks at me like he was provoking me to say something, but I held my head high and only said the words that needed to be said.
"Mafia or not Erica will always be Erica I love for her who she is and not for what she is?" Smiling to their satisfaction they glide their fingers towards another and held them tightly, a show of affection that they have for another.
"Looks like Erica found a good bride right Lorenzo." He nods.
"Very good. We will give you our blessings but I don't think my father will. Unfortunately, our father has already arranged a marriage for her to another powerful mafia family. We wanted to come back to Erica to tell her the truth about our family, and her marriage.
But my brother told me that Erica had already proposed to you. We are happy to find out that Erica had decided to get married, but the person she is marrying, is quite a terrifying person. She loves Erica and once she likes her whether it is a thing or a person she will take it by force. Even if it meant that Erica would just end up being an empty shell. Meaning, Fay your life will also be in danger if you stay with Erica."
Death? I have been stabbed to the point where I couldn't move. I've been tied around my neck by a string to the point where I couldn't breathe. I was punched like a sandbag and kicked by my own father to the moment where I became paralyzed. Last but not least, I have watched my mother died right before my eyes. Enduring the torturous nights alone before Erica came into my life. I think death has a lighter sentence on me than the life I had before. "As long as I am with Erica I don't fear death. She is my light before darkness came."
Still holding on to their hands tightly. Mrs. Elena opened her mouth to speak, "Fay, do you believe in magic?"
I shook my head. Lorenzo gave in a sigh like he was tired of something, but of course, magic doesn't exist. If it did, we wouldn't need science. Lorenzo's eyes glowed for a minute for a second. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me so I blinked my eyes a couple of more times before I open them up. Again, his eyes were still glowing. I took a deep breath rubbing my eyes and opening them again, but his eyes still glowed. "Huh," I surrendered. Lifting his hands up as water formed out of thin air. My mouth turned into a giant O.
"Magic exists but we keep it a secret and so are gods."
"God!" I exclaimed.
"gods with the s and not the capital g, Fay." I steady my breath. I think I am going to hear some folklore now.
"The greek gods and roman gods exist." Great! sarcastically. "They exist because humans believed in them, but now since the gods are being turned into a myth so the gods are disappearing.
The gods fear death just like humans do. In fear that someday humans will forget them and disappears without a trace. They searched for a way for prolonging their lifespan.
So with a little power left in them, they had found humans at their weakest states, yearning for power. With those desires the gods gave them power, but, in return, their bodies will become theirs. So these humans who desired powers housed a god inside their body, and the future generation of these people became abnormal.
Looking exactly like a human and eat like a human these people weren't exactly human. Inside them, they have unknown powers, and with this ring, I am wearing it'll unlock those powers that were sleeping inside of us. Once worn it will never come out, and if we don't wear it we'll die at an early age.
Usually, when we wear this ring for a couple of days only then our powers will be released out of our body.
However, Erica was not like any other normal descendant, at the age of 3, without having to wear the ring Erica's powers were released and our whole territory became frozen due to her powers. It took grandpa, Elena, and me to seal her powers before it was released to the world before she could hurt anyone. And so our grandfather had researched tremendously as to why Erica powers had been released at an early age.
It surely took time to search, but at long last, we found the reason. Erica wasn't the only one in the world who had powers at an early age there were others, and those people actually housed a god in their body just like the first and original desired human had been. Somehow all these generations happened to be mafias."
I was completely dumbfounded by the news, but they actually explained everything about Erica, like the color of her eyes, her cold body, and the way she laid frozen in the bathtub.
Looking at Elena she had weird hazel gold eyes that looked like they were burning. Erica was going to house a god into her body. I actually couldn't imagine that this was happening, but I have to believe it. She is my fiancee and whether she is a devil or a god. She will always be my fiancee. "What will happen to Erica now?" I asked.
"Right now, I believe her soul is going to a place where only gods exist, Mount Olympic or at their own domain," Elena said.
I tried to breathe regularly through all this. "I know it's hard to believe, but if you want to stay with Erica you have to understand." Elena held my hand and looked into my eyes and her eyes looked exactly like Erica's. It actually felt comforting. I smile.
"I am willing to believe beside why would a mother and a father talk about gods to another adult seriously if the gods weren't real."
"Hmm.. smart!" Lorenzo said. "You know what Elena? I like this girl. I am truly happy that Erica found her."
I blushed. "Thank you, Lorenzo."
"More than a welcome, daughter." I smile at their acceptance. Now all I have to do is wait for Erica to come out. Please, come back safely, Erica. I am waiting for you.
~*~
ERICA
Before I understand what was happening I was falling from the sky. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and then plop! I ended at the bottom of the ocean and the fish scattered away from me. I tried to reach for the surface before I ran out of my air, but before I could even swim for it something swam from underneath me. It was a giant! I screamed at it.
This thing is going to eat me. I thought. It lifts its body to mine forcing me to sit upon it. When it began to swim vigorously upward I held tightly to its weirdly shaped crest. I breathe in the air when my face reached the surface. I was still riding onto this thing on it's back.
I looked towards the monster, and I just shook my head in confusion. What the hell is a bloody water horse doing here?