WANDA
My eyes slowly flickered open, sending a wave of unimaginable pain through my limbs. Especially on my ankles. I grimaced in pain as I tried to get on my feet only to stopped by two heavy cuffs clamped to my legs. My eyes slowly cleared and I examined the surroundings I suddenly found myself. The room was dark and lacked natural light. Apart from the occasional shifting of the window blinds that allowed cold air to slip in. I could make out I was on a bed. Whose bed? I had no idea. The only vague clue my senses gave me was whoever slept on the covers last smelt like mint. I slowly sat up wondering why I was here and who the hell did this. Slowly, my memories came back. The men with wild hair... They did this!
"Help!" I croaked, hoping someone with good intentions could help me. I doubted it though. I was knocked out for God knows how long. If they had enough time to accessorize me in chains, What stopped them from gagging me shut. The only plausible reason could be that they did not need it because, by this time, I was far away from the cold and heartless place I knew as home.
"-You hear that?"
"-Yes! She must be awake. Go inform Boss."
Oh, God. They were aware of me. The hushed voices were familiar. it was the men from before. I heard footsteps follow and the tomato red door before me creaked open. Wild red hair peeked in first before a set of bright Ruby orbs dropped in my direction. I shifted backward, momentarily wondering if this was some kind of sick cosplay or were these people actually characters out of one of my bad indie horror movies. His eyes looked like they were glowing. Eventually, the redhead let himself in and approached me with caution.
"Are you alright?" He asked in concern. I was not sure if it was genuine or not but either way, I knew I could not trust this fellow but I decided to play along considering he was the nice one that chose to keep me alive rather than tag me as disposable cargo. Even though I was in chains, being alive did not suck. What sucked was I had failed the mission and the longer I was trapped here, The less chance I had to save my brother. I needed an answer. Why I was brought here? What did they plan to do with me? I needed the juice on practically everything.
"What exactly do you want with me?" I managed to ask, masking the wreck of raw emotion that burned through me like fire to wood.
He chuckled as if my question was some sort of joke. "I do not want you. Luca does. Once he determines you are not a threat. You will be free."
Threat? They deemed me a threat. That could not be good. I slowly inhaled wondering how my life could go from fucked to triple fucked. All Flavio whispered to me when he sent me on a suicide mission was to get some insignificant box, Not drop in on men who sprouted butterfly wings when they sniffed drugs. What exactly had I gotten myself into this time?
My eyes shot up to the Ruby eyed man or alien and with a passion unlike none other, I sought to reach out to his humanity. "Please, I did not see anything. I was only sent to retrieve a package. I promise if I am let out of here, I will be of no trouble to anybody."
He inched closer to me and this time I could take a good look at him. His hair was red to the root and jelled upwards. He was clean-shaven and had the most intricate tattoos I had ever seen, they looked like onion cells under a microscope and he scented of red roses. "Yikes. Sounds like you are going through a rough time. If it was up to me, I would let you go but the thought of making Luca mad is worse than banishment to the netherworld."
Netherworld? Here he was giving me the creeps again and who was this Luca?Their boss? I attempted to throw him another question just before a baritone voice knocked the words right out my mind.
"Stop fraternizing with the human." The new voice said tearing my attention from the redhead. Pearly bottle-green eyes and a wicked grin made my stomach recoil. It was the other one. The sight made me so mad I resumed my struggle of trying to rip the cuffs in two like the biblical Samson.
"It is of no use human. They are forged from Esmeralda's hands and the witch knows her work."
Witch, the Netherworlds, Vampire ash, and them referring to me as a human was the strangest thing I had noticed about them. They echoed like red flags in my mind. As a child, I was a fan of the paranormal. I loved my fairytales and movies but this was a stretch. The image of green-headed one sprouting wings continued to play in my head on repeat. There was no explanation for that. No scientific explanation. And there was no way in hell I was going to believe this was from one of my mom's personal favorite fairytales. One of creatures beautiful and sinister. My gaze went to the green one. I examined him too. He had similar tattoos but his were in a whirl. His hair was green to the roots and nothing could convince me this kind of human or inhuman being had the time to dye his eyebrows. I did not want to admit it but it slowly registered. So I dared to ask.
"You cannot be human. So, what are you?"
"Faeries." A deep and demanding voice said. My gaze shifted to the speaker who was at the time nothing but a silhouette shrouded in darkness. The way the other men reacted to his presence suggested he was the boss. The Luca I had already heard so much about. I was so lost in trying to get a glimpse of a domineering figure that I completely pushed his words away as some sort of trivial matter but then it registered. It clicked right in. I looked back at the boss as he took another step toward, relishing the mini heart attack he was probably unaware of giving me.
"Faeries?" I repeated. It all made sense now. What! No! it just further got complicated. I had walked in on elusive creatures. Creatures, as my mom read me in her idea of children's fairytales, were secretive and untrusting. I swallowed a huge lump formed in my throat remembering what the bike creatures could do to keep their existence a secret.
"What will you do to me?" I stammered.
"That depends," He threw back. Crumpled paper landed on my laps and I looked back into his blazing violet orbs."Do tell me why you intended of robbing me?"
I stared down at the paper. Package 110 inscribed in blue ink just like Flavio had given to me. Good Lord, the vampire ash was what Flavio wanted me to steal.