"You smell like Oli," Rio gasped.
"Maybe because she's using my shirt, soap, and bathing with me?" He mocked far from us, probably doing his best to ignore the hug mountain.
"Okay, okay, that's enough," but they kept hugging me. "Ugh!" I used my telekinesis to throw all of them softly away from me, also using it to make them float before they hit the ground. "I said enough."
"You smell so damn good," Irene growled.
"For real, so addicting," Yumi gasped.
"Is it strawberry?" Danielle asked. "I love strawberry."
"Definitely strawberry," Agatta whispered. "So good."
"I can't take this anymore," Oliver faded to me and grabbed my waist possessively, "mine," he whispered on my ear and I giggled. "You girls better take your eyes and noses out of my mate. And that's my smell on her, I'm the one who smell like strawberry, she smells like fresh roses, cinnamon and winter. It's weird if you do that. Really, really weird."
I turned to him, "I do?"
"You do, babe. You smell amazing."
"Oh, so that's why you've been smelling like that, brother?" River asked him. "Now it all makes sense."
What? "What do you mean?"
"During the first months after your mating bond snap and you do the deed," Kalisha tilted her head, "mates smell like each other. Happen to all of us who are mated. It's happening to you. It's a things."
"And it's an addicting scent for the unmated kids," Agost added.
"Okay, that's weird," I agreed with Oliver, then I hugged him tight to reassure him that I'm just with him. "Sounds territorial. Like a dog peeing around to mark his ownership on a place and make other dogs back away."
Oliver gasped, "You did not just compared that."
I blinked, "What's wrong?"
Rio and Felix busted out laughing. "New girl, you just compared the mating bond effect to a dog peeing around," Rio chuckled loudly. "No one would do that."
"Hel, I'm in," Agatta exclaimed decisively. "My parents are being controlled by Meredith somehow, doing a lot of weird shit, and I can't stand still and watch her make them self destruct. Even if I might die, I'm on this with you. I don't know if I'm one of the 26 kids you need, but if I am, I'm in." Oh?
Giving a soft tap on Oliver's shoulder, he put me down and I turned to her, "What do you mean weird shite, Agatta? What are they doing?" I frowned. Cosmos did say she was busy with some shite.
She gulped looking at her hands, clearly frustrated, "They began to spend more time in the Dragon Court, in Queenstown, New Zealand than in Madrid, Spain, where our territory is. And if what I eavesdropped in the days I was home before the beginning of classes this year, is right, they are helping Meredith work on some type of weird elixir."
"What elixir?" Oliver and Felix exclaimed.
Her eyes met mine, "I don't know. My parents are the Grand Duke and Duchess of the black panther tribe of the Shifter Court that is in Dubai, Hel. But aside from that, they are scientists. The best out of the best."
"You think they might be making something for her?" Rio frowned.
"That's the only explanation," she said, troubled.
["What do you feel, Hel?"]
A terrible feeling. "What is the name of the elixir, Agatta?"
She met my eyes again, "Dad made a draft of something that was called the Elixir of Nothingness. I'm sorry, I really don't know. There was some weird formulas on his desk, and other stuff, but nothing else. He must have taken it all with them."
A dreadful shiver ran down my spine.
Both me and Oliver shared a look, "Fuck," I cursed.
"You know what is it?" She asked, hope in her eyes.
I closed my eyes, "Fucking monster. Agatta," I opened my eyes again, "they call my kind the winged serpents of nothingness. It has to be related to me. She did thousands of experiments in me, and she took a lot of my venom. A lot. A really enormous quantity if you put it all together. Whatever is it, it's bad. Bad, bad, and my fault."
"Her fault," Oliver corrected glaring at me. "Not yours."
"We don't know, Oliver. I have no idea why she took all she took from me. She might be making a chemical weapon for all we know. My blood and venom are toxic and poisonous, it would mean death instantly. And if she use it on humans? Those weak kids will be dead before they can even know what hit them," cursing, I turned to Agatta. "Since when has this been happening, darling?"
She pressed her lips together, "Around four months."
"When Cosmos comes here, I'll try see if he knows anything. He did told me Meredith was extremely busy with some shite, but then he got back to binging Friends and hang up!" Sigh.
They all frowned.
"Uncle Cosmos watch Friends?" Felix gasped.
"He started some days ago. He probably watched all of those series available already. He was always with either a R-rated spicy book, or a tablet watching it while I did my lone training. You have no idea how silly he actually is. Oh, yes, and addicted to arts, and painting, and dancing, and singing. Ugh, he made me learn all of that with more determination than he did when I was mastering weapons, that dumbarse," I said with soft smile on. "He just look scary."
Oliver scoffed, "I'm sure he's only like that with you, beautiful!"
I rolled my shoulders, "I am my mom's daughter after all."
Yumi gasped, "What does that has to do with this?"
"Oh? Before he was the general he's now, he was a fan boy of my mom. She told me herself. Totally obsessed. His weapons were all give to him by her, herself. I'm the daughter of his idol," I grinned, "and his kid."
"Hah, now that explains why he hates us," Agost mumbled to his younger sister… our, I mean.
"He just think you're weak. He doesn't hate you," I exclaimed. "He only cares about strength. He's that simple minded, don't let his attitude fool you. Besides, I did defeat him, so, I'm on pair of strength with him, right now, thanks to him. Maybe that's why he got even softer with me. He knows I can kick his arse," I grinned.
Priya covered her mouth, "It wasn't a joke?"
"What?"
"When you said you could defeat him?" She asked matter-of-factly.
I blinked, "Oh? No. Not at all. I was only able to leave the crypt after I passed Meredith's tests and defeated him in a fair fight, in front of her. She wanted to have a female-Cosmos in here to defeat you all. That's her reason to sending me here, you didn't realize it yet? She was probably annoyed with Oliver staying unmovable from the top spot."
"She definitely was," Felix scoffed.
"Her secret weapon and shield. Me and Felix. That's what we are to her. Meredith is so full of herself, so narcissistic, self-centered, and such a bloody psychopath, that she believes that if she tortures someone long enough, they will obey her blindly. She believes in governing with fear. And that is precisely what made so she ended up creating her own weakness that is us," I crossed my arms over my chest. "She even made Cosmos give me all the lessons in war, leadership, and everything else."
"Only to be used against her," Oli added.
A nod, "Serpents aren't to be tamed. They will eat you no matter what. The second you laid down your protection, they will attack. That was her biggest mistake. Breaking and trying to tame me. She'll pay for it."
"With her life?" They all asked temptingly.
I grinned, "With her life."