Monsterstruck

CHAPTER XX: Threats

♫And her cyanide smile

Is racing my heart in a mile

Oh her lethal charm

I swear it meant no harm

As she pressed her scarlet lips to mine

I could feel my senses drowning with our lips entwined♫

            Craig sang his heart out to the crowd as his strong voice filled the stage. He started to growl as Cameron did his guitar solo and the crowd went wild and started to mosh. In the throng of faces, he could see her moshing along the crowd. It was funny to think that this girl who used to hate his band during their gigs way back then was now moshing along the crowd.  He went down the stage as he continued to sing and trudged to her direction. People were screaming their heads off as he passed by them, but it grew fainter the moment he took her dainty hands.

        "What are you doing?" Vylet hissed but Craig just grinned a playful smirk and led her to the stage.

        "This beautiful lady in front of you is my inspiration behind writing this song!" Craig proudly announced to the crowd.

        Vylet flushed in a deep hot shade of pink. She felt her knees trembling as she was not used to this. The crowd was hooting upon Craig's announcement.  Then he resumed to singing the song and took her hand. A rush of euphoria jolted all over Vylet. She could feel her heart doing cartwheel as she nervously gazed at the sea of faces, reading their reactions. But she really didn't see this coming that Craig will lead her to the stage and would announce that she was his inspiration in writing the song.

        It was beyond overwhelming. She could feel the trellis of butterflies fluttering wildly in her stomach. Then her gaze shifted to his bandmates, and they all shoot her a wink.  Amidst the wild and hooting crowds, there were two pairs of black eyes laced with jealousy that seemed to be in pure contempt with all this happening. Their lips were pressed into a hard line as they ghosted out from the crowd.

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        Verona looked at her rearview mirror cautiously as she noticed that red convertible was tailgating her. She maneuvered the steering wheel to the right side of the road and passed by the other vehicles.

        "Shit." She hissed throatily not leaving her gaze at the rearview mirror. She had this hunch already about the owner of that red convertible. She could still remember how his coal brown eyes whipped at her with full of vindication. 

        "You wouldn't get away with this Verona. I won't stop for your retribution! I will avenge for Barbara's death and by that I'm going to kill your babies!" He purred.  

        Yes, she gave birth to two beautiful babies twenty-one years ago without Adela's knowledge.

        "It's a twin Verona, they're so beautiful!" The midwife extolled who was also a yoma.

        Verona looked at them full of benediction as they started to cry. And for a mother like her, it was the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

        "My babies," she mused at them teary eyed.

        "Yes, your babies. What are you going to do now? Barbara's brother is hunting you and if he found out that you've just given birth to your babies, he might..."

        "He'll have to get through me Lara. And you're not to tell anyone about this, even Adela," Verona said with a hard edge in her voice.

        "Even your sister? Why?"

        "Just stop asking questions Lara, just heed my instructions, okay?" Verona coaxed and then cradled the other infant in her arms. Lara just nodded vehemently and cradled the other baby in her arms as she looked at them fervently.

        "Thank you so much Lara." She said with reverence as she started to hum a lullaby.

        Verona stared at the pitch-black sky as train of thoughts weighed on her.

        "I'm sorry kids if your mother is a monster. I'm sorry if in the near future you'll be like one. I'm sorry if you'll grow up without a father to be called," she lamented as she planted them a kiss on each cheek. She mused at the beaded purple bracelet and wear it to her other child, and the beaded burgundy bracelet to her other baby.

        "These colors represent what you are. Someday it will make sense to you,"

        Verona decided to leave her children to Lara as she fought for her life, and for her children's lives.

        "I'm putting an end to this. I'm gonna kill Baron tonight," she said belligerently.

        "Are you serious Verona? That's against the law!" Lara said contemptuously.

        "I don't care about those damn laws! Baron is going to do the same to me! I'll fight with all the might and main just for the sake of my children!" She seethed.

        "Whatever happens tonight, would you do me a favor?"

        "What is it?" Lara probed.

        Verona felt the lump in her throat as she struggled to speak. Pain twisted across her face.

        "I've talked to Sister Melissa, the nun at the orphanage. I said that I might .... left my children there for their lives is at risk while they are on my custody. You know she's the only nun there who is a good friend of mine and she seemed to understand my misgivings. And tonight, I want you to bring them to her. She'll be waiting for you in the orphanage. I will not exactly leave them for good, I'll come back for them after I'm done with Baron's shit."

        "And how sure are you that they will give your children to you after all of this? And what if you got captured and killed by that sleazeball huh?"

        "Exactly that's my point. If fate would let me die tonight, then I know that my children are in good hands. But as I said, I'll not let Baron win and I have my own ways Lara, if they won't allow me to have my children back at me, then...."  Lara stopped her in mid-sentence.

        "Please Verona, don't use your monstrous ways to those pious ones!"  She pled.

        "Who said that I'm gonna do something monstrous at them?  I'm not gonna do anything untoward to those people who will take care of my children."

        "Then what is your plan?" Lara probed.

        She looked at her children for a moment and then her gaze shifted to her.

        That night Lara did as she was told. She brought the babies to the orphanage.

    "Verona said that she'll come back for the kids after all of these. I hope you hold on to her words because she's sort of dealing with something right now and I can't tell you what it is. All I could say is…their lives are in danger." Lara said wryly as she looked at the babies with pained expression.

        "What if somebody wants to adopt one of her babies?" The nun asked quizzically.

        "Sister, just hold on to her words she's gonna..." The nun raised her palms.

        "I don't understand...Is she being hunted by a syndicate? gangsters?  That's why the lives of these babies are in danger? Why can't you tell me?" The nun asked as her face narrowed into confusion slits.

        "Yeah, just put it that way... but one thing I can tell you Sister is... this person who hunts her was sort of something hideous." Lara said as she looked at her intensely.

        "I can't promise you that, but one thing I can promise is these babies will be filled with so much love more than what they deserve by the blessing of our Lord." The nun beamed.

        Lara just nodded to the nun and pressed her lips together as she shot one last look to Verona's babies and the beaded bracelets wounded at their wrists glowed.

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        The pitch-black darkness drew a theatrical effect at the anticipated evening between the two yomas. The December breeze was cold and crisp, and it howled across the vacant lot making it vindictive.

        "Hello Verona, it's nice to see you again. But I'm afraid to tell that it might be your last," Baron sneered.  He stood there, leaning against his red convertible.

        "You're last, not mine." Verona rectified with an impish grin stretched across her face. She positioned herself in a fighting stance, ready to lunge at him.

        Baron just chuckled at her. "I like your humor". Then he suddenly leaned forward onto the balls of his feet.

        Verona leapt forward and lurched towards him. He dodged out of the way as he let out a menacing snarl into the dead of the night. She wheeled around him, but Baron was instinct- driven.  He soared up in the air with his fingers curled into talons. Verona followed him deliberately and they seemed to be dancing in the air with each struck.

        Then she caught him this time, she bellowed at him and launched a crushing blow at him. Baron shrieked in excruciating pain as she caught him at his back.

        "Goodbye Baron," she sank into her teeth as the earsplitting screech pierced in the mid-air. But suddenly, the noise broke off. Baron was nowhere to be found!

        Verona shot an alarmed look and drew a gasp beneath his breath upon his disappearance.

        "How the hell did that happen?" She mumbled as she looked around thinking that it must be a trick.      She darted her eyes towards his red convertible but there seemed to be no one inside.

        "Verona!" A female voice broke off. She spun around; it was Lara.

        "Lara? What the hell are you doing here? Have you brought my children to the orphanage?" She asked hastily. But Lara's face was twisted in an impish expression that Verona couldn't fathom out if she was really seeing her friend. Her alabaster skin was gleaming, and her eyes blazed with a wicked glint, something she had never wore before when talking to her. She shook her head back and forth.

        "No! You're not Lara! Who are you?" Verona purred as she flinched.

         Then it suddenly transformed into a man's body.

        "Ba…ron?" Verona muttered weakly.

        "I'm sorry to say that your beloved friend has been captured by our dear fellow yomas just as she’s about to head home," he said as he jerked his head and let out a raucous laugh.

        "What did you do to her???" Verona seethed as she repositioned herself again in a fighting stance.

         "Just what a traitor like you should deserve," he shot back and lunged at her.

        Verona dodged and soared again into the mid-air. But this time, there were a pair of numerous ferocious yellow eyes dilating at her.

        "You don't fight fair Baron!" Verona reeled as she glanced around.

        "I'm the one who should say that Verona. But I'll let you make a choice. You have to give me your children or I have to end your life...oh and maybe your sister's life!" Baron said as he let out again a raucous laugh.

        Verona sank into her teeth.

        "Oh, come on Verona, I promise that I'll stop hunting you if you'll do me a favor," he said with a wide grin writhed across his face.

        "Of course, you'll gonna get nothing on me! Don't you dare harm my children and my sister!" She flared and lurched toward him. Baron jerked his chin at her ordering wordlessly to the other yomas to attack her.

        Suddenly a ray of light dappled on them as it shone luminously making the monsters let out an ear-piercing scream. The light came out from somewhere. The warrior raised his arms upward as he belligerently held the amulet to them.  The yomas growled as the warrior slugged a piercing blow in each of them, savoring their last existence, leaving a column of smoke that filled the crisp air.

        "Who is this sick bastard Verona? Is he's your new cresclunar lover?” Baron seethed as he shielded himself. In a jiffy, the blow weakened his strength.

        "We're not yet done. You wouldn't get away with this Verona. I won't stop for your retribution! I will avenge for Barbara's death and by that I'm going to kill your babies! I'll be back aghhhhh!!!!!" Baron gritted his teeth as he scuffled and let out a high pitch clamor that reverberated over the ground and he disappeared.  The cresclunar warrior scoured around the area looking for the trails of him.

        "Damn, I should have not let him live!" He rasped under his breath and then turned to look at her.

        "Are you going to kill me? Please No, I'm not as evil as him. I have my children; they're waiting for me."  Verona pled to the masked cresclunar warrior.The masked cresclunar warrior just spared her a look before he pivoted dramatically into the pitch darkness.

        Verona sighed saturated with relief. The beating of her heart was skyrocketing. She was left there thankful and aghast at the same time. Who is he? Why am I having an inkling that I knew him? She could tell that by his stance that it was a male behind that mask. He was nice enough to spare me and he seemed to be merciful enough to listen to my pleas. Then memories of Tim suddenly flashed back at her the last time they have seen each other, on how this occurrence has the same resemblance on that moment. 

        She was saved again by a cresclunar warrior. The thought kept on recurring in her thundered heart but suddenly she realized that the horror was not far-off, Baron was not yet dead, and he might come after her anytime, putting the lives of her loved ones in jeopardy. After an immeasurable painstakingly process of thoughts and weighing down things, she schemed up. This snap decision might seal her life in a turmoil, but anyhow it was for the best.