“You didn’t think you would have all the fun,” Seth complained as he shoved a black ski mask in my hand in an attempt to be funny.
“I hope this is all worth it,” Carmilla said dryly as she walked up with a bored sigh in her long black dress. The high split that came up to her thighs showed the different set of knives she had wrapped around the skin with a lace band. Her cutlery as she calls it for when she cuts up bodies.
“Just focus on the plan and grab her friends. I will get my sister and let the UBI deal with the rest. They’re waiting for us to get them out first.”
“I don’t even know what the losers look like,” Carmilla said with a dull tone.
“Ooo! I remember! The siren, the nymph…the vixen demon…” Lovely said as she began to count out loud.
“What about Namir?” Draco asked. Seth cleared his throat.
“I’ll handle my brother because he’s probably going to shift and once he does…everyone is at risk…”
The eruption from the stadium caught our attention as the crowd cheered. The projection suddenly went up with the transparent screen hovering in the air, showing a woman running through the desert with bare feet.
“Now who the fuck is that?!” Seth croaked with a crack in his voice. Carmilla huffed with an attitude while Lovely stared in awe.
“She’s gorgeous…” Lovely sighed.
“PRINCESS AYIRA IS TAKING THE DRAGON HEAD ON!” The announcer screamed.
“I’m out,” I declared as I started for the stadium.
“Put the mask on YN Belly!” Seth shouted with a laugh. “Aye!” Whistling for the pack’s attention. “Let’s go! Circlearound and find a way in! No harm! No teeth unless necessary! We’re grabbing Namir! Our focus is to protect Namir!”
The stadium shook with cheers as I appeared out of thin air in one of the wrapped halls. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I casually began walking as I ducked my head every so often to peek through the openings of the stadium.
Where is my sister? There were still so many big brotherly things I wanted to do like teach her how to fish and be there when we shopped for a home. I wanted my own cubby space in the back so I could casually walk in without being bothered and be in the nude as I please. I didn’t want to be with any woman but my sister. She is the only good left in this world, and they were fighting to taint and turn her.
I didn’t know how to fish, nor do I eat it, and Namir’s teacher’s salary was pathetic in comparison to my bank account. He wouldn’t be able to get her a dream house, but I can. There was still so much left I had to do as a big brother. A year wasn’t enough and as I continued to walk, pacing the level, I froze when I saw the opening that led directly to the main stage. The confetti falling felt like a fever dream, surreal in that moment of celebration at the downfall of my sister and the rise of another. That’s when the water fell, breaking the dome above as it came crashing down. I saw Seth charging through the panicked crowd to reach his brother who lost his mind during his shift to a werewolf. Letting people squish and squeeze past me, I stayed near the entrance. My eyes scanned everything and everybody, waiting to see where my sister was. The panicked crowd was too busy fighting to get out to even noticed that their worst enemy with red eyes was standing amongst them. I spotted her friends and saw the girl who rode the dragon on the ground with peoplearound her. I didn’t care about any of these blood baths and bottom feeders in society. WHERE THE FUCK IS MY SISTER?!
“Yoooo hoooo!”
The howling call came from cousin Lovely who hung upside down from a rail, mouth drooling fresh blood as her eyes widened from the natural high of feeding. She swung cheerfully with her hair teasing the heads of screaming fanatics scared at the sight of her.
“Oh! Oh! Don’t be scared of little ol me!” She cried with her hand on her chest, her eyes blacked out as it took up whatever white was left, leaving two pitch black holes in her face for her gaze.
“Her friends, Lovely! Focus on the friends!” I shouted but she ignored me and went on.
“I’m really friendly! Until someone messes with my own and then I get really angry and hungry,” she grinned with a tease of her tongue. Only to shriek like an evil villain from a cartoon. “Your fear of Maggie Grey being a vampire should have been to meeeeee aahhh hahaha!”
“Lovely, please shut the fuck up and get on with it,” I muttered through my teeth as I continued to search the crowd. Lovely let out another erratic laugh before taking off after someone who was running up the steps on her level. I should have known this would be a feeding ground for her and Carmilla instead of sticking with the plan. Out of nowhere, the crackling sound and rumbling shake of the stadium went off as roots of trees began to sprout from the ground and water filled in from all sides.
“NEPHEW?!”
I looked up, seeing Trevor Coleman snap the neck of one of the volunteers dressed in black just a level above. He shoved his body down, dropping him amongst the crowd before pointing up. That’s where I saw her… Maggie Grey’s body laid limp in midair, high above everything else as trees, and roots continued to sprout from the stadium and water filled each level before spilling over into the next. I could see people fighting over the smallest bag of black smoke that was most likely smuggled in until they disappeared. Others began scrambling to the ground trying to scrape whatever was left to use. I heard the piss poor spell being muttered throughout the speakers as everything became a swirling mass of chaos surrounding my sister. Gravity began pulling towards her as people began screaming, trying to hang on to one another to keep from being dragged into the spinning air.
“MAGGIE?!” I screamed as I caught Lovely’s body clinging from one tree limb to another with a psychotic laugh. This wasn’t like the church where she wasn’t aware. I know she could hear me and see what she was doing. “MAGGIE?!”
The stadium shook as Trevor called out to me again. Solomon was trying his hardest to defend and protect as many as he could as this place became a water dome, perfect for the likes of his kind. The more people panicked; the more others were dragged to the center. Namir went on a complete fucking rampage in his werewolf form. Tearing shit up without a thought about Maggie or anyone else for that matter. Seth and the rest of the pack that came with him, managed to grab Namir before disappearing in thin air. I saw Carmilla grab Asha, catching her off guard. The siren immediately swung first, asking questions later while Carmilla attempted to pin her hands back, flashing her fangs only to disappear in the midst of their scrapping. Draco snatched Ayira’s limp body out of the rising water asthey disappeared. I looked up, keeping my stance planted while everything around me went haywire. I focused on my sister in the air, cupped my mouth with my hands and screamed out.
“GAIA?!”
Her body arched back with her head thrown back. White eyes darkening, her hair darkened from white to brown. Suddenly everything froze for a split second, and you could see the terrified look in her eyes before everything went in reverse from pulling towards her to shooting away from her. Another loud boom went off. Black smoke slowly rolled in like thick storm clouds as I watched Maggie’s body suddenly fall. I clapped my hands together, disappearing into thin air before reappearing just in time to catch her body to cradle into mine. Without hesitation or a second to look around the dark smoke, I took my sister as our bodies warped into the air and disappeared.
A moment later, our bodies fell hard on the brittle grass of Raven Holmes backyard in Mississippi where I called out for help. Maggie’s body was soaked and heaving aggressively as she panted. She was full of so much energy and aura. The grass blades and the trees in the distance all turn in our direction as if they recognized her. Even the moon in the sky seemed to hover right above us despite it being the evening with the sun setting in the distance. Every single part of nature was reacting to her presence.
“SOMEBODY?!” I screamed. The back patio door slid open as I looked back down at my sister. My voice cracked, trying to speak when I tightened my grip on her. It was only then did I hear my name being yelled out.
