340Chapter LVII: Enigma - Part II
Vreya was having a fabulous time. Not only was she driving her very own van, but the really fun part was that Zane was actually tailing her. It was exciting; she knew he was mad at her and had probably silently imploded when she had driven off without him. But she would only be in trouble if she got caught.
And she had absolutely no intention of letting him catch up.
The side-roads she stuck to where thankfully empty, so he couldn't gain any ground unless he took to narrower roads.
'Ooops!' She bit her lower lip as the van rocked unsteadily. She had accidentally not slowed down at a sudden drop in road.
Her driving was rather precarious. Zane could see the van swerve slightly left and right as she fought to maintain control of it. Then she seemed to get the hang of it, before the vehicle began to move to the left again, seemingly of its own will.
He hadn't granted his giving chase much thought. It had seemed like the natural thing to do; he had automatically gone for his motorbike. Now that he had had the time to get over his initial anger, he realised how stupid the entire scenario was. How had he even gotten dragged into this? Only fifteen minutes ago he had been sitting quietly on the rooftop, minding his own business. Now he was speeding after a van with a crazy girl behind the wheel.
Typically, Vreya was the cause of it all; he had meant to better her, and it suddenly became apparent that he had gotten drawn into her own personal little game instead.
Whatever, he pushed the thought out of his head as he smoothly manoeuvred to avoid a fallen crate on the littered street. She wasn't even allowed to go out on her own; she knew it, and he knew she knew it. What was up with her, breaking rules all of a sudden? He silently promised to get her in even deeper trouble with the mentors once he caught her up and forced her back to base.
She glanced at the right hand side mirror, and then the left. Zane was now nowhere in sight.
Uh oh. Had he decided to take a short cut? She took her eye off the road for a mere second and in that moment the motorbike appeared from a side-alley to her left, cutting directly into the van's path.
Her eyes widened in alarm.
Oh, crap-! The thought raced through her mind as she rammed her foot down onto the brake pedal. The van swerved unsteadily from the sudden intense friction generated between the tyres and the road.
She spun the steering wheel to her left, attempting to regain control. Zane was still ahead of her, and her brows furrowed in irritation. Was he crazy riding his motorbike right into her path? She continued to drive forward, and again he cut into her way, this time sweeping in from the right side of the road. She applied the brake and then steered across the street, taking a sharp right turn.
The new road's surface was significantly rougher, with many uneven bumps. Vreya slowed down as she carefully continued along the one-way street. She recognised the route she had unconsciously been taking; it led to the local teenage hangout consisting of a large cinema, restaurants, arcades, a nearby shopping centre and the bowling alley where the rest of her friends were.
Zane was now nowhere in sight. She took another right turn at the end of the road, searching for him. She was just starting to wonder if it were even possible that she had managed to shake him off so easily when a blur of silver and black shot out in front of the van.
She cried out in surprise, this time thoroughly unprepared. Her feet automatically moved to engage in an emergency stop, but she wasn't quick enough and in her panic, her right food slid off the clutch as her left pressed onto the brake pedal. The van skidded wildly, steering wheel twisting violently in her grasp.
Zane had come to a stop and was powerless to assist as he watched the van swerve unsteadily. His eyes widened and he was off his motorcycle in a shot when Vreya's vehicle collided into the brick wall on the left side of the road.
He silently swore as he made his way over to the now stationary van, barely noticing the tight knots of dread that had formed in his stomach. Had he overdone it?
Stupid. She was just so stupid, and this was entirely her fault.
He was surprised by the sheer magnitude of relief that flooded through him as he reached the front passenger side of the white van. He promptly stomped it out and let fury replace the uncomfortable feeling.
Vreya was holding her forehead, looking a little dazed, but appeared to be otherwise unhurt. Zane practically tore the passenger door open and stepped up onto the faded old seat.
Vreya's vision cleared, and she turned her head to find herself staring into intense, dark green eyes that were blazing with anger.
She groaned as she closed her eyes and rested her spinning head back, sensing a verbal whiplash. Zane didn't usually say much, but he tended to possess a surprisingly large and generous vocabulary when it came to letting somebody know that they had pissed him off. Maybe it had been a bad idea. She didn't think she had ever seen him so annoyed and angry at once – about anything.
'Are you fucking crazy?!' He demanded.
She would have just gotten out of the vehicle. But there was no way for her to exit the van on her side; the door was obstructed by the brick wall into which she had so haphazardly driven.
Her eyes flew open, and she was instantly on the defensive. 'Me?!' She breathed. 'You're the one who cut into my path deliberately like some, some...maniac!'
He stared at her incredulously. He was the maniac? A sudden, insane and utterly inappropriate urge to release a sharp laugh bubbled up within him but he resisted it; she was the one who had snuck out of base, 'borrowed' the van she had now wrecked and led him on a less than merry chase – and she was calling him a maniac?
She was impossible. She was the most insane, frustrating, annoying girl – no – person he had ever had the misfortune of meeting and - and...
And he had had more than enough of this nonsense.
Shaking his head, he reached out and grabbed hold of her slender arm, tugging forcefully.
'Get out.' He snapped at her, furious at her for forcing him into the chase when he could have been at his house at that very moment, catching up on some much needed sleep.
She decided not to push her luck as she allowed him to pull her out. She awkwardly manoeuvred over to the passenger's side, still feeling a little shaky. Zane had gotten out of the van and now stood glaring up at her. She did her best to glare defiantly back. She was determined not to let him win, despite things having gone out of plan.
The silent treatment, Vreya, she reminded herself determinedly. Silence and sarcasm; mirror his stupid, infuriating, immature behaviour and you'll-
Her right foot slipped clumsily on the step and she gasped as she toppled less than graciously forward. Dread and instant embarrassment filled her.
It happened so suddenly. Zane silently vouched that if he had only been given a mere extra second's worth of notice he would have stepped nonchalantly out of the way and allowed her to fall flat on her face in an act of satisfying vengeance. But even time conspired against him and he just so happened to be standing in a very appropriate position to catch her.
Completely out of line with her stubborn mind's wishes, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks as he broke her fall. He set her down quickly and instantly withdrew physical contact. But the brief instant in which his arms had closed around her waist and hers had awkwardly wrapped around his shoulders, she had felt her heart skip a beat and quicken.
Real smooth, Vreya. Her own mind mocked her mortified self.
Stepping away from him and turning her back swiftly lest he see the tinge of embarrassed pink on her face, she set her shoulders back and marched away from him with as much dignity as she could muster.
God, she was screwing up - badly. How uncool had this all turned out? What if he thought she had slipped deliberately? Horror filled her at the thought. She wasn't like that! Surely he knew by now. But it was a wonder that he wasn't laughing his head off at her. Or perhaps not; after all Mr. Ice-Cube never laughed at anything. He was probably afraid his face would crack.
He stood, motionless, watching as she stomped away from him. Not even a 'thank you' as usual? She had obviously forgotten her manners today. Anyway, where was she going to now? He had a home to get to, damn her.
He began to walk after her, still glaring heatedly. Again, he thought how ridiculous the entire situation was. Why was he always the one to get caught up in her crazy mood-swings?
He really didn't feel like talking to her – really. He honestly didn't, but the silence was dragging on and they were walking toward nowhere in particular. More to the point, they were walking further and further away from his motorbike.
'Vreya.' He called out to her at length. When she didn't stop, he did and repeated her name in a louder, more irritated tone.
'Vreya!'
'You're an asshole!' She replied, continuing to walk. Zane didn't do 'gaping', although at that moment he came precariously close to allowing his mouth to drop open in disbelief at her uncharacteristically dismissive behaviour.
It suddenly occurred to him that she might be doing it deliberately. But to what end? He wasn't sure, and he sure as hell didn't want to know. Whatever game she was trying to play wouldn't work.
If she thought he would let her have her own way she was seriously wrong.
'I'm heading back and you're coming with me.' He stated curtly making sure his tone left no room for debate over the matter.
She did stop at that, and turned to face him now that her blush had completely disappeared.
So that insult had bounced right off his brick wall of a head. It figured; after all, he was called the offensive term often, especially by Costa. She searched her mind for more, determined to get some form of reaction other than anger. Heck, she'd even take anger over his artless skills of blanking any day.
'It's leisure-time, Zane. Do you even know what that is?' She feigned a serious look of consideration, tapping a slim finger to the base of her chin. 'Hmm, nope, I guess not.'
He opened his mouth to fire back a sarcastic reply, but she was going on.
'Why are you following me? Leisure-time is out of hours, right?' She placed her hands pointedly onto her slender hips as she raised a shapely brow. 'Or are we doing overtime now?'
Whoa. Where had the courage to say that come from? She knew he hadn't expected her to be so upfront, but to her disappointment and increasing sense of frustration, his expression remained unreadable.
As unpredictable as she was trying to be, she couldn't deny the fact that he was much more volatile. Butterflies fluttered into her stomach as he began to stalk forward toward her. His striking eyes, which, in the dull, dark grey sky's light appeared a mesmerising shade of deep forest green, were positively smouldering.
She told herself that she could have easily turned away again at that moment. She told herself that she only remained in place because her legs didn't feel like moving.
Her mind agreed. Her foolish heart simply pounded.
It was impossible to know what he was thinking as he drew ever closer. When he stopped a mere metre away, he regarded her silently for a few seconds, eyes scanning her face intently.
Then he blinked, and dead-panned,
'If this was overtime, I wouldn't be here with you.'
She tried to ignore the harsh sting of his words. But her concrete thoughts were becoming undone. Her hopes deflated and her shoulders slumped; still the same responses, the same rebuttals, the same rebukes. Her head bowed a little and she gritted her teeth tightly.
Don't be upset, she told herself. It's not worth it. He's not worth it. I'll save the world, and then I can just forget about him. We'll go our separate ways and I'll find a guy who appreciates me, who doesn't think that I'm hopeless and pathetic; someone who won't put me down all the time.
'I guess so.' She replied softly. 'We're both just pawns on a chessboard.'
What? He wondered impassively. She wasn't making sense – not that it was a change to the usual.
Her head rose again, and she spoke up clearly once more.
'Fleck told us we could chill out until tomorrow morning, right? I'm not doing anything crazy. I'm just being a teenager. It's what I am – what we both are. Don't you know how to have fun, Zane? Can't you ever lighten up even a little?'
The blank look on his face told her that 'fun' was a word that didn't exist in The Dictionary of the High and Mighty Zane Language.
She threw her hands up in the air, releasing an exasperated sigh, unable to hide her frustration any further.
'God, for once in your life, could you just stop acting as if you're 600 years old?!'
Her words were deliberately exaggerated for effect, but they crept into his mind, and settled. Almost unconsciously, his eyes lowered from her face to a spot on the unevenly surfaced ground.
Inexplicably, insanely – he didn't know what it was about her last statement that bothered him. She was just speaking rubbish, and yet...
His mind grasped at fleeting ends of fading lines of thought. Something in the farthest depths of his consciousness something that whispered...
No; there was nothing but emptiness.
She was surprised to see that she had finally gotten another reaction other than anger or nonchalance out of him. His eyes had lowered and he was staring at the floor with a strange, unreadable look on his chiselled face. She had trouble pin-pointing the expression he wore. He almost looked as though he were deep in thought.
'Zane...?' She asked, much more quietly, hating the instant concern that made itself known in her heart. His eyes rose and met hers. His face was expressionless once again.
'Are you done?' He asked, and a terrible aching filled her at the quietness of his voice in turn. He seemed to be truly unbreakable. No matter what she did, how hard she tried she couldn't break those defences down.
Rinoa had been so wrong about Zane; he was absolutely no Squall. He still acted as if they had only known each other for a day, rather than many months.
He seemed to sense that she wouldn't argue any further, for he turned away and began to walk back toward his motorcycle. She felt utterly miserable at her failure. It had all started out so well and here she was again, back on square one. The heavy sigh that longed to escape her chest remained locked deep within as she moved to follow him.
The ground seemed to move. Had the car crash disorientated her more severely than she had first thought?
She opened her mouth to call after him when the ground suddenly shook violently and she knew it wasn't her head. She heard an awful cracking noise and a split second later the floor before her had erupted, sending huge slabs of broken concrete into the air. Vreya raised her hand, casting Protect. As the blue shield materialised before her she hoped that Zane, whom she was unable to reach, had managed to find cover.
The dust and debris cleared and the gasp caught in her throat as she found herself gazing up at one of the most hideous monstrosities she had come across yet.
It was a malevolent – face. It had glaring, glowing amber dots as eyes and its yawning mouth was large enough to swallow her whole. Horror overwhelmed her, and the stench – dear God, the stench of it was unbearable.
Another eruption to her left and right brought two giant hands into view. The fingers clenched at the air, and both face and hands were covered in wrinkly, stripy green and white skin.
What in the world was it?!
Over the sound of the head's terrible, inhuman groaning, Vreya was distinctly aware of Zane shouting out to her, but the creature took up the entire width of the relatively narrow road. What she could only assume were its hands stood between her and the green-eyed youth like great big pillars of hell. There was no way to get to Zane, or for Zane to get to her.
They didn't have backup. Zane couldn't summon magic or elementals. This time it was up to her to save them both.
She held out her right hand, casting Scan on the hideous head.
The monster's face was called Vysage. It held Haste, Bio and Esuna spells. Its weakness was...was...
She couldn't read any weakness.
She instantly drew a Haste spell, casting it on herself to save her own stock. Then she quickly stocked a few more copies of the spell, although she knew she was already close to the maximum holding capacity for the speed enhancing magic. She drew precious Esuna, ignoring the Bio spells.
She progressed to scan the hands – Lefty and Righty, and realised that Lefty was the far more dangerous of the two. She first drew Regen from it and stocked some copies, before casting it onto herself to nullify any damage that might befall her. An intense pink-white circle of health regenerating magic formed around her, rising and filling her with a strange sense of light-headedness as it faded away. She then drew Demi from Lefty and cast it onto Vysage.
The dark, gravitational magic attacked the malicious head and it roared in fury. Lefty's fingers suddenly clenched together, and then Vreya felt a physical, almost painful pull in her mind. Before her very eyes, bright blue magic dispelled into the air before her, and she blinked in confusion. What had just happened?
There was another unpleasant pull and this time, pink magic scattered before her, flying into the clutches of the left hand. A sinking sense of realisation settled in and she frantically searched her stock of spells to find that her supplies of Protect and Shell had depleted.
Alarm filled her. That left hand was stealing her magic! Her mind raced as mapped out her options, cycling through the spells she possessed.
But the right hand was moving, and it was rushing directly toward her.
'...!' She braced herself as the hand came down over her. Sparks of bright blue flew into the air as the protective shield she had cast earlier absorbed half of the physical damage. As the hand lifted away, the Regen spell instantly tended to the crushing sensation in her bones by steadily healing her.
The head was now teaming up with its hands to direct an ominous ball of black cloud her way. Her hands flew up and she attempted to dispel it. When that failed, Lefty directed another spell her way – Stop.
She barely managed to cast Reflect in time. The spells directed back toward the hand but missed its target. So Lefty used status spells? Countering with Silence was her best bet. She dispelled Reflect and cast Silence on both Vysage and Lefty. The spell took instant effect, preventing Lefty from stealing anymore copies of her precious magic. Vreya replaced her stolen stock with copies of Shell and Protect from Righty, which moved toward her again. But she wasn't interesting in fighting it anymore – she needed to reunite with Zane and make sure that he was alright.
On the other side of the monster, Zane was firing round after round of bullets but to little affect. The shots seemed to bounce harmlessly off the unnatural enemy's tough looking skin. To his frustration the butt-ugly creature was paying him absolutely no attention. He could glimpse the light of magic ahead, which undoubtedly belonged to Vreya who was fighting the hellish being alone.
He needed to get to her and they needed to get out of here fast, before any other freaks of nature showed up.
There was a small opening to his right, leading to a narrow side-alley. But it was located next to one of the monstrous hands; could he make it through safely? He really couldn't afford to take a hit; he only carried two potions in his pocket and he didn't have any magical backup apart from Vreya, who couldn't assist him directly.
He had to take the risk. It was either that or standing around uselessly. Zane moved, tearing toward the opening. It was just his luck that the oversized hand chose to acknowledge his existence at that exact moment.
It came crashing toward him, fingers outstretched to grab him in a choking, crippling hold. He dove into the alley, scrambling to get away from danger in the nick of time. The hand clawed after him, but was far too large to fit through the narrow gap. Zane ran, taking a left at the end of the side-street, calculating that it would lead him straight to Vreya. The route ought to have taken him to her, but upon reappearing on the other side of the groaning giant he was shocked to find that she was nowhere in sight.
Shit! Dread knotted in his stomach, now impossible to ignore. He then spied another smaller alleyway on the other side of the street the monster had set up shop at.
She had gone that way. She must have. There was nowhere else for her to go. Zane bolted forward, running back out before the creature and racing into the other alleyway. The ground rumbled beneath him and the sound of thundering hooves made him throw a look back over his right shoulder. Three amethyst-bodied horse-like creatures with snowy white manes and long, bladed horns were giving chase. Their glowing yellow eyes were menacing.
Where the hell did they come from?! He wondered. They had seemingly appeared out of nowhere!
He took a right, eyes frantically searching for Vreya. Where was she?! Why couldn't she have just stayed put and saved him a whole lot of trouble?
A left turn took him out onto a main road, where somebody's car had just skidded off the road. His eyes widened as they rested on yet another monster. This one looked like a mutated form of a grizzly bear. It possessed four arms and in the place of paws were razor sharp, curved claws. About a dozen red bats fluttered about and the few humans who had been walking down the street were screaming and running for cover.
Zane raised his gun and shot down two of the bats who were harassing a hysterical woman. The pounding of hooves behind him made him abandon his noble cause as the strange horse-like creatures bounded out of the alleyway. One lowered its head, piercing horn aimed directly at him, meaning to impale and maim.
He fired two rounds. One bullet embedded into the attacking creature's shoulder and the other into its hind leg causing it to fall to the floor, writhing in agony. Zane raised his hands to take out the next one but the sound of an empty click of the barrel alerted him to the fact that his ammo had run out.
Fuck! He silently cursed. This wasn't going well at all. Why hadn't he thought of bringing his sword along? The answer was that he hadn't meant to get involved in any monster confrontations. Vreya was entirely responsible for the predicament he found himself in.
The horse-creature was thundering right toward him. He stood his ground, and dove out of the way at the last moment. Getting back to his feet he searched his pockets for any extra ammo.
His heart plummeted in realisation. He was out.
Too many monsters and no magic or weapons; only a lunatic would stay put. Thankfully all the other humans had run for cover, which was exactly what he planned to do. He had to get back to his motorbike. Then at least speed would be an effective weapon in his search for Vreya. He turned and disappeared into another alleyway, running as fast as he could.
The cloaked figure grinned at the chaotic sight on the street below him. The green-eyed young man had retreated. This would work out well.
Turning away, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, preparing his twin blades to do some serious damage. As he moved along at an astonishing speed, his green-eyed gaze scanned the surroundings on lower ground, seeking out his target. As he leapt gracefully onto a lower rooftop, he came to a sudden stop as he finally found what he was looking for.
The explosive lights of spell after spell being cast were an impressive sight to behold. He could tell she was a skilled magic user. But when a new wave of enemies attacked, she would be overwhelmed. He crouched in his position, waiting for the next group of monsters to attack. Timing was now everything.
Panic was beginning to settle in. How many different kinds of monsters had she taken out up to this point? She couldn't keep this up alone – all she could worry about was Zane. Was he alright? What if he was lying somewhere, hurt? She had seen no weapon in his hand when she had been with him earlier.
If anything happened to him, it would be entirely her fault. The sense of guilt was crushing.
No, she thought angrily. Zane was strong. He would manage. In fact, he was probably looking for her right now. All she had to do was head back in the direction she had come, although she knew he could be anywhere. So she had no choice but to keep running, searching and fighting off any enemies that crossed her path.
She ran into another alleyway, shaking her aching arms. Her veins and fingertips felt like they were on fire from the constant spell-casting she had been doing. She rounded another corner and stopped, breath catching in her throat.
A large number of aggressive looking creatures stood crammed into a circle, feeding over something. Nausea overwhelmed her when she realised it was most likely a dead human.
She backed away, but the crunching of her low boot heel on crumbled rock alerted the monsters to her presence. Three lifted their bloodied faces and with menacing growls took after her, seeking another fresher meal. And this human's blood smelt deliciously appetising.
Her heart leapt violently as she stumbled away. She needed Krysta! In order to summon her, she needed to stop and focus. But stopping was absolutely not an option. As she rounded another corner, she spotted an unsteady looking metal ladder hanging high up from the walls of one of the side buildings. It led to a rooftop, where she could look for Zane more safely.
Ahead of her were monsters. Behind her, even more. There was nowhere else to go but up. But how could she get enough of a boost to make it?
Vreya, Krysta's voice spoke in her mind. Summon a wind spell before you. Leave the rest to Mother Earth.
She was relieved to hear her elemental; it reminded her that she was not alone. She held up a hand and summoned an Aero spell before her. The concentrated area of spinning air howled. Lifting herself from the ground as far as she could she jumped straight into the wind spell. An invisible force harnessed the powerful energy and ensured that it gave her a much needed boost up. It worked. Vreya was able to grab hold of the lowest rung of the ladder and she proceeded to pull her body up.
The snarling below her made her heart hammer with fear. The ladder felt so unstable and precarious. If she fell, it would be straight into the waiting claws and jaws of the monsters below her. She reached out to pull herself onto a higher rung when the weaker one supporting her left foot suddenly fell away beneath her weight. The ladder shook threateningly and she cried out, feeling herself beginning to fall.
A strong grip on her right wrist made her turn her face up. Her eyes widened. A cloaked individual was on the rooftop above her, but before she could seek out a face beneath the hood she had been hauled up and pushed away from the edge. She watched, astounded, as the figure dove to lower ground and proceeded to slice away at the three monsters in wait with twin blades.
Vreya's heart skipped a beat. How long had the person been there? Had they seen her use magic? It had to be the same person who had saved her earlier! The stranger wielded the same weapons and wore the same cloak. He, and somehow she was sure her saviour was male from his build, had little trouble putting the hellish creatures down. But more monsters were approaching and she called out to him in warning.
'Behind you!'
The mysterious figure spun at her shout, catching sight of the four horse-like creatures that stood ready to charge. One of them galloped forward, and he avoided its bladed horns, side-stepping and then changing direction to lock its greatest weapon between the twin sword blades. He then cut down, cleaving the horn cleanly in half. Drawing one of the swords back he delivered a slaughtering blow to the monster. It fell lifelessly to the ground and he turned to deal with the other.
Vreya was impressed. He was very fast. Fumbling for her necklace, she checked what she ought to have done the first time he had assisted her. She glanced down at the small Earth stone she now wore as a pendant and the air left her lungs.
It was glowing softly.
Her eyes moved back to the stranger in disbelief. It wasn't possible – Morgan and the elders had told them that all the Chosen had been discovered. Could it really be that this was a final addition they had failed to find beforehand? Did that explain coincidentally running into the person for the second time in one day? After all, Chosen were drawn to one another.
He had disabled two more of the creatures but the final one appeared to clip him in his left side with its piercing horn. The stranger pushed one foot against the wall and flipped over the monster, slashing a death blow to its rear. Vreya watched as all four fallen bodies disappeared in a puff of black smoke. She blinked, eyes moving back to the cloaked figure. Shaking her head, she scrambled back over the edge of the building and back onto the ladder. Although it felt very shaky, she managed to climb down a few rungs before jumping off, landing safely behind the stranger. He turned slightly at the sound of her joining him on level ground.
Then, abruptly, he moved as if to make off.
Her eyes widened. No! He wasn't getting away this time, not before she got some answers.
'Wait...!' She called after him, raising her right hand as if to stop him. She darted forward a few steps and then caught herself when he stopped retreating.
'Are...are you hurt?' She asked. 'I could...'
Her words trailed off as he hesitantly turned back to her, but his face was still obscured in shadow.
She took another step toward him. He shifted uncertainly, as if cautious of her. As Vreya opened her mouth to address him again, a familiar voice called out her name.
'Vreya!'
The cloaked figure instantly took off as Zane appeared in the opening of the alleyway behind her.
'No – please, wait!' She cried out again, rushing after him, but by the time she had reached the opening that adjoined the street to another he was out of sight. Frustration bubbled up within her as she turned back to glare at Zane. Although she was glad to see him unhurt, he seriously had rotten timing!
'Where the hell did you go?!' He demanded angrily. He had parked his motorcycle on the main street behind them and had happened to stumble across Vreya by pure chance.
'You and your stupid timing!' She snapped back.
'What...?' He questioned, frowning in turn.
She threw her hands up in exasperation. 'Ugh! Nothing! Let's just finish whatever monsters we can find here and go.'
He watched incredulously as she marched past him. She had some nerve throwing a strop at him. This was entirely her fault! He bit back a response, but he was infuriated by the ease at which she could make him angry. And worried. And confused. And all the things he never usually felt around anybody.
Damn her, he thought bitterly, glaring death at her back.
As they rounded the corner they were greeted by more monsters roaming the area. Vreya stopped, horrified. Just where had they all come from?
It was like walking into a nightmare.
She sensed Zane beside her, and heard his annoyed remark.
'This is entirely your fault.'
She looked at him, gaping. How were the monsters her fault? They were Lorne's fault!
'I didn't make them appear!'
'You're the reason why we're here!' He snapped.
She noticed that he used the plural form, rather than referring solely to himself. That was certainly interesting. But she saved the thought for later, and pointed angrily at him.
'I never told you to follow me, Zane!'
'Do I look like I had a fucking choice?!' He snarled back.
Fury made her see red. He only ever criticised and exasperated her. Anger made her blurt out the first thing that came to her mind.
Vreya was not a mean, insensitive girl by nature. But she had had enough.
'As if you're any use to me!' She retorted. 'You can't summon and you don't even have a proper weapon!'
His eyes were livid with fury. Like it was his fault he couldn't yet summon! If she didn't shut up right now...
'I'd have been better off if I didn't have you to protect!' She followed up, and then turned away and ran toward a small cluster of three monsters. As she moved away from him, she bit her lower lip. What had she just said? Had she been too mean? She pushed away the regret and channelled the anger to deal with the enemies before her.
Zane stood back, watching as she took out the creatures. They were smaller monsters and she had little trouble defeating them alone. Light in all colours of the rainbow flared from her hands as she cast spell after spell.
Two vans screeched onto the road at that moment, and the back of one flew open to reveal Rinoa and Lila, both holding out their hands to her.
'Get in Vreya, quick!' Rinoa called to her, strands of caramel streaked raven hair blowing into her almond slanted eyes.
'This place is crawling with monsters!' Lila added her face anxious with worry as she reached out for her best friend.
Vreya glanced behind her and was surprised to see that Zane had already boarded his motorcycle and was taking off. She ran to the van and let her friends pull her up. Squall reached over and slammed the door shut and the van swerved before racing off.
Vreya tried to calm her pounding heart as she took a seat beside Zell.
'S'up.' He greeted, peering at her closely. 'You OK?'
'I'm fine.' She replied breathlessly.
'Shit, he's doing triple the speed-limit.' Costa remarked, as Zane's bike raced before them. He rolled the window down and yelled out at the green-eyed youth.
'Hey, asshole, slow down!'
'What were you doing out here?' Squall questioned Vreya, and although his face was stern, his tone was cool and even.
Rinoa and Lila exchanged sly glances that were lost on Vreya. She shook her head.
'It's a really long story.' She offered, hoping it was enough. But Ash, who was driving, glanced at her in the rear-view mirror.
'We've got time.'
'Was Zane giving you a lift home? Did you get attacked on the way?' Rinoa asked innocently.
'Ugh, no! It wasn't like that!' Vreya waved the question off. 'I'll tell you later. Let's just get back to base safely.'
'The hell he's going?' Zell wondered out loud, as Zane took a sudden left off the main road.
'Home probably.' Ash replied, as he continued on ahead toward base.
Guilt filled Vreya as she stared out at the front window. He was mad at her, she knew it for certain. Suddenly her master plan of frustrating him seemed like a very poorly considered move. She had been downright cruel in her choice of words – and she worriedly wondered if she had really offended him beyond reconciliation.
What's the big deal? He probably doesn't even care, she tried to reassure himself, but then felt worse. Zane was human, even if he tried to act as if he were an unfeeling robot. Then her thoughts moved to the cloaked stranger and she pushed regret over Zane out of her mind. He would probably act like nothing had happened and treat her as coldly as ever, she predicted. She had to focus on getting back and telling the elders exactly what she had found.
Author's Note
Another chapter done! More Zane and Vreya goodness! Anyway hope all you who still read this enjoyed the latest instalment! : )
