RETURN OF THE HYBRID (Book III)

Chapter 15

It was Gaia's first time in the war zone. She rode with the cloak covering her head so that the king’s men couldn't see her for who she was, a scared young witch. Too bad they were going to the opposite direction, she could not blend in and just ride among them without being noticed. There was also no sign of Cassandra. Perhaps she had taken a different route. Gaia did not want them to meet anyway when she left they had agreed she was going alone.

"You!" A huge man bellowed.

Gaia didn't know whether to stop or run so she moved slowly as though she wasn't moving but she was indeed moving. Her heart was pounding in her chest not out of fear of them, it was out of fear of what she would have done to them in case they insisted.

"Where are you going soldier I said stop!" He bellowed.

Their little confrontation attracted a small crowd of soldiers. Others blocked her from the front. She couldn't move anymore. She mumbled a spell that changed her voice.

"I don't want any trouble" she said.

"Neither do we, drop the cloak kid"

"Am sorry I can't"

"Then we are going to have the trouble you said you don't want, boys remove his cloak"

Two men went down on their horses and walked to Gaia. She was just praying something extraordinary happened to halt their progression. Magic was not a good thing in the public and against the soldiers. It would created a lot of fuss besides every spell had a price. For the day she has cast a lot of them and the price was going to come.

"Please!" She begged.

They continued walking towards her. Gaia decided to make it easier for them. She dropped the cloak. They were all surprised.

"A woman?" The leader of the gang asked.

"That's bad luck we can't have women in the battle field we are all going to die!" Another one screamed.

"Does she know what she has done!" One of the men who were send to remove her cloak said.

"She is an abomination, we should kill her" the other said.

"Quiet!"

They all zipped. Gaia was hanging by a thread not to lose it. Right there she started wishing she could have listened to Cassandra and Dahlia. Maybe Helen was right too. They all did not understand how she felt about him. As for her captors who claimed she was a bad omen to the war, they were just a bunch of delusional soldiers if not victims of the flat world syndrome. Queen Aliya and her said sister Ariella were in the war zone. In fact they were so deep than she was. Or maybe royalty had no gender.

"Young woman what are you doing here and where are you going?" The leader asked approaching her.

"Am looking for my friend"

"Who?"

It was Gaia's chance to use Cassandra as a scapegoat. Everyone knew her and in case she was caught there was a chance they couldn't do anything about it. If they did who would have cured their sick? Who would have prayed for the rains to come? The drought to stop? And the gods to bless their produce every harvest? She was better off alive for them than dead.

"The oracle Cassandra"

"Am sure she did go this way but if you insist soldier on, boys let's go!"

The Cassandra card worked so well. The way they let her off the hook was like she was no abomination they claimed earlier, no bad omen or her presence in the war zone was not as catastrophic as they made it seem. But she was not off the hook. Gaia rode a few minutes before she felt people following her. Every time she turned around they pretended to stop by and engage is some cheap roadside talk. Their leader lied. She was not good with the sword the only way out was magic and it was so open yet they were getting closer.

Another disadvantage for her was the horse. She did not know how to ride it, make her go fast or slow. She just went with its pace and direction as though it was programmed to show her the way. Lucky for her they got to a forest. She quickly got off her horse and started walking up the cliff on foot. She found a perfect place to hide, from there she could see them. Almost a dozen men.

"She couldn't have gone far" the leader said.

"Come out witch! You thought we will let you roam freely in our lands?" A man with a huge axe called out.

"Find her!"

Gaia was holding her breath hiding behind a cliff. She almost screamed when she felt someone holding her.

"Relax its okay they won't hurt you" He whispered in her ear.

She found herself kissing him. Her guardian angel had just shown up and she was super happy he was not dead as they claimed. But he looked different in short hair with a funny beard. People back then had no idea sideburns needed to be trimmed and they looked cool if trimmed.

"That was weird" Adonis said.

"Sorry I was scared, I do crazy things when am scared"

"Leon I can handle this" Johannes begged.

"You're not ready mike"

"I am"

She looked at the two gentlemen confused. Mike was not a familiar face even the name. Both were actually Leon and mike were confusing her.

"Wait who is Leon and mike?"

"Us" Johannes said.

"I will explain later, take the right I will take the left. You stay here"

"But...", before she said it the two moved I super speed. She had not seen anything like that, "What was that?" She asked surprised.

The soldiers were still looking around for her. There was a lot she needed to learn about her secret boyfriend. Secret because it was only her who knew she was in love with him. Prince Adonis or she heard him call himself Leon had no idea how she felt.

"I saw something move so fast" one of the men claimed.

"Me too!" Another one said.

"It's the witch playing tricks on us stay close together it moves again we kill her"

They had their backs on each other, their swords drawn and spears pointed ready for the enemy. Archers had their hands on their quivers behind their backs. An arrow between their thumbs and forefingers those who were not fast enough already had the arrows ready in the bow.

"Boys!" Leon said with his hands raised.

They couldn't recognize him.

"Who are you?" Their leader asked all the weapons pointed on him.

It was a plan. Distract them and give mike time to reap them into pieces. A newly turned had an anger that could barely be controlled.

"Your beloved former prince Adonis, I command you to lower your weapons. Let the girl live and go on your way"

They all burst into a hysteric laughter. Leon joined them and laughed longer than they did. They stopped to address the disrespect.

"Kid, your reign as the prince ended long time ago. You died and they told us if you are found alive we kill you. Boys we hit a jackpot!" He announced.

"And I presume they is Osteen" Leon said putting they in imaginary quotes.

"Exactly"

"Mike!" Leon shouted.

He did not give them time to ask who mike was one of their men disappeared in the woods. When they turned around there was blood everywhere or a trail of it leading to the woods.

"Mike buddy I said give them an honorable death!" Complained Leon.

"Show me how it's done master" he teased wiping blood from his mouth.

"Beasts!!! Attack!"

Razor-sharp swords were clanging, spears and arrows were pointed towards Leon and mike. The men realized they were not facing normal humans as the two continued fighting despite having countless arrows in their bodies. Most of them were out of arrows and were now using their swords with little success into getting them to stay down.

"What are they?" One of the men stopped to ask.

Maybe he asked the wrong question. Leon decapitated him. The others screamed in worry, Gaia closed her eyes from her hideout as his head rolled on the ground. Mike stopped it with his boot as though it was a ball.

"I know how'd its done" He said.

The fight escalated to even more brutal. Leon was now unleashed. He ripped their hearts out of their rib cages, he could feel them beat in his hands and others he drank from their veins. Warm blood full of life with millions of stories.

"Enough!" Gaia screamed.

Looking like kids found playing that bad game their mother warned them against, Mike and Leon stopped, mike had a head in his hands and Leon a pumping heart. The remaining two men ran for their dear lives not to look back.

"What?"

"Who are you?"

"We are vampires I thought you knew"

"Beasts?"

"Yes, mike take care of the two" Leon ordered dropping the heart.

"Gladly" mike said disappearing in a typical vampire whooshing sound.

Leon walked towards fear struck Gaia. He wanted to hold her but she refused retreating her steps. She was afraid of him. She needed to be. What she had met earlier was a trying to act like prince Adonis but the queen and some of her closest people in the army wanted him dead. And that, trying to kill him was their mistake.

"You heard them, there is a target on my head. They want to kill me so I kill them before they do"

"You are a monster" she said walking away.

"A beast actually or both in this case, where are you going?"

"Away from you!"

"Good luck fighting Osteen and the others there!"

Gaia stopped and marched back. Perhaps she was not even aware her mission was accomplished and that she was free to go back to the castle and pretend like nothing happened. Like her fictional boyfriend was a normal prince.

"Why are you here?" Leon asked helping her with the horse.

"I'm looking for Cassandra" she lied.

"Have you found her?"

"No but am leaving" She said getting in top of her horse.

Leon wanted to stop her but she used her magic on him. An eardrum squashing eerie sound forced him on his knees, blood was oozing from his ears and nose and he was screaming in pain trying so hard to block the sound. Returning mike was sprawled on the ground covering his ears and screaming in pain too. That kind of pain was among the several limitation Leon had failed to tell him about his new nature.

"Not so tough I see" she mocked her hand clenched into a ball of fist.

Leon was the first one to get up. Gaia looked at her fist then at him. How he was able to beat her spell was confusing to her. She had read about it in one of Cassandra's books, and if it worked well he shouldn't have been on his feet.

"You know the good thing with pain for me is that the more I feel it the more I get used to it" he said walking towards her.

She channeled the wind, a strong wind was pushing him back. Funny how quick love turned into war. Leon kept coming despite everything she threw at him. Mike was also learning to beat it. He got on his feet and snapped her neck.

"Dude not cool!" Leon said grabbing her body as it fell lifeless from the horse.

"Someone had to do it, tell me you don't like her"

"I don't but I need her to get to Cassandra now she is unconscious"

"And we are not bleeding from our ears sounds fair to me. How long until she comes round?"

"I don't know, hours maybe we have to move with her. Let them see this mess as a warning"

Leon said and moved in super speed carrying Gaia. Mike-Johannes followed him.

*******

Ariella was leading the queen’s procession further in the woods. Behind her was the queen with the two generals and their men.

"I smell a lot of blood" Ariella said stopping.

"Your majesty we can't trust this witch" General Osteen complained.

"We need to get rid of her" General Gilbert whispered.

Aliya was confused. If prince Adonis was not dead he was going to come after her and the only person who could handle him was the witch they were asking to kill. They couldn't even kill her that one she was sure of. Unless they wanted to remain speechless for the better part of their lives.

"I heard that, you can't kill me. I can't let you now move!" Ariella ordered.

The two generals looked at their queen. They were confident they could kill her. Twenty men, the best at their work in the entire kingdom, against a single woman, it was not a fair fight. Witch or now itch there was no way she was going to survive them. That’s what they thought.

"You heard my sister, move!” Aliya said to their already disappointed faces.