Maria was certain that she couldn't sleep for the night yet. So, she decided to roam around the mansion in hope that she can shoo away all the thoughts from such intimate contact in the hallway. She saw that the air will be a little chilly outside but she thought she needed it for her to cool down a little.
Her body never reacted that way to any man before. Just a mere peck and her head in chaos like a hormonal teenage girl. Geez.
Descending the stairs, Maria stopped a few steps, seeing Juana and the rest of her daughters were waiting in the living room in troubled expression. She didn't know that accident like fire could worry Juana like that. She seemed a tough nut to crack for Maria. Seasoned with hard hurdles in life. But seeing her in such a way melted Maria's heart.
"Didn't know you guys are waiting here," Maria said which garnered eyes from the people in the living.
"Mija, I thought you're already sleeping." Juana still greeted with a smile despite the concern that marred her face.
"I tried doing so after washing up but I can't sleep. Have you heard from any of them?" Maria sat beside Kira and Julia on the couch.
"Not yet. I'm worried for them, especially Ramon. Those wines are like his kids. He could be stubborn and will try to save everything." Juana said.
"We know that papa and Teo will be there to stop uncle from doing so," Julia assured.
"Then we shouldn't worry then," Maria concluded but her words didn't even erase Juana's line of anxiousness on her face. "Is there something wrong?"
It took a few seconds before Julia volunteered to answer her.
"Sir Villan left his phone by accident. When Kira ran outside to give it to him, he already left with the others." Julia said.
"I don't mean to pry on his private messages but a cryptic text arrived from unknown service number. I opened it and this came up." Kira gave the phone to Maria who hastily read the context of the message.
Maria's eyes slightly widened at it and understood why Juana was acting as she should now.
"Have you alerted them about the possible bombs in the area?" Maria asked and ingest every little detail of the messages. It had been seventeen minutes since it was sent.
"I tried calling one of them but I think they were too occupied for now," Kira answered.
"Maybe they're already-"
"Oh mama, don't think like that." Kira stopped her mother when she finally cried.
"I should go and warn them," Maria said. "I need a motorbike."
Kira and Julia bolted up from their seat and went on autopilot. They led Maria into the house garage.
"Here, I heard from Teo that this is fast." Kira handed Maria the key to the Royal Enfield motorbike.
"Call the bomb squad and sent them to the Vineyard garden," Maria instructed, hovering over the bike and letting it roar loudly after she started it.
"On it," Julia said.
"Be careful, Mija!" Juana was able to follow them at the garage, eyes already bathed with tears but she wiped them afterward.
"I will." Maria then ride out of the underground garage after Kira opened the gate for her.
The cold night breeze slapped across her face when she hit the road, uncaring if her speedometer already reached hundred thirty-two miles per hour and kept picking up speed. If that threat turned out to be true, then lots of people will die that night. That includes Zeronis and she can't have that.
But what if she'll come too late?
All her anxieties rushed inside her mind, trying to break her focus on the road. She'd lost too many people already and tonight, people she came to know and like, might be added to the list.
The silent road was briefly filled with a roaring engine of a motorbike at an almost speed of a bullet.
There will be a time to succumb to her anxieties. But it won't be now. She can't afford to be overpowered with intangible things. It was all in the head, she always tell herself. Now, recognizing that she was gaining her bearing back, she dared to challenge the limit of the ride she had. Her robe that she forgot to take off, flapped wildly in the air, showing her gold silk jammies underneath it. It brought exhilarating feels when the beast matched her need to be nimble.
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Reaching the opened gate of the vineyard garden, Maria could still see the dark reddening sky in a distance with smoke fogging almost the whole area. So the fire wasn't put out just yet. Despite the obstruction of her view, she didn't slow down and ride fast to where the cellar was.
Her eyes widened at the wide range of damages that the flame already did at such a period of time. She got off the bike and began to assess the situation. There were screaming of orders all in the Spanish language among the men. They were smeared with dirt and black ashes across their faces as they tried to put off the fire when it reach the next wing of the cellar.
But it seemed that the siamese water connection came useless when the firehoses were destroyed.
"We can't save the cellar anymore!" One man screamed at the chaos.
"Where are the firefighters when you need them?!"Another joined.
Maria's eyes searched for familiar faces but the people she was looking for weren't in her line of view. Zeronis wasn't even there. So she hastily grabbed a man who was carrying two buckets of water along with the others.
"Where is Zeronis?" She asked, ignoring how the man's utter astonishment.
"Señorita! You shouldn't be here! It's dangerous!" the man exclaimed.
"I'm asking where is Zeronis!" Maria shouted when the man appeared to be distracted.
"Excuse me, señorita." the man said and went over the direction of the burning cellar.
Maria's eyes widened when Teo and Dante weakly emerged out with the unconscious Ramon on each of their shoulders.
"Where is sir Villan? He went inside for you guys!" the man exclaimed.
Teo coughed and collapsed on the ground alongside his father. The men around helped them get far away from the cellar which emitted both unbearable heatwave and smoke fumes.
"W-we didn't see him inside." Teo let a convulsing cough after that.
"What are you talking about?! He went inside to get your stupid stubborn asses out!" the man shrieked.
Maria's heart drummed ferociously inside her chest and she snapped her eyes towards the furious flame licking every corner of the cellar as if intending to bring it down the ground.
"Are you sure he went inside?" She asked the man again, eyes not taking off from the building's threshold.
"Yes. He instructed us to start opening the siamese water connection. We only have to use buckets because all pipes were destroyed. " The man answered and turned to guide Ramon on his feet. " Estupido Bastardo! On your feet, Ramon! Don't give me this bullshit. No time to be weak!"
"Where did he go? I'll come for him." Dante pushed himself up to the ground.
"He went to the right-wing, thinking that all your fucking asses would be there. Stay seated old man. Don't add up to the casualty." the man said.
"I-I need to go back inside if sir Villan is there." Teo tried standing up but his whole body trembled.
"Stay here. I will go." the man presented and shoved Ramon back at Teo. He then turned away from them, recruiting men to extract Villan from the inside. There were eager men who will actually join him. Nevertheless, Maria's mind wasn't on them anymore.
It was a crazy idea.
Maria was aware that she won't go uninjured if she dare to submit to what she was thinking for that moment. With obvious structural damages and the roaring of the merciless fire, she would have chickened out.
Even so, just a meager thought of Zeronis trapped inside made her uneasy. He looked capable but so as all her friends on the operations who died because she trust them too much to get through with the assignment successfully. She was wrong to put faith in them.
This time, she won't be making such stupid mistakes again.
Some parts of the building began to collapse, creating a booming clamor for the meantime. It appeared that nothing can stop her anymore.
Her feet moved on their own accord to the direction of those bucket of waters that the man left a while ago. She gasped for air after pouring those two on her, making her jammies and robe soaking wet.
Before any of the people could notice her, she was already running inside the cellar in the burning furnace of hellfire...