You Will Fall For Me

Chapter 2 The Calling

Aria Charleston

        Alesia, Joyner, Aria, Zenobia, and Tracy headed toward one of the roller coaster rides.  They all took turns picking which rides they wanted to be on.  They made sure that they all sat together on the rides as well. They were having more fun than she was, considering that three weeks ago she broke up with her boyfriend.  Still, she always believed that the best healer for any breakup is time and totally staying busy.  She attempted to have some fun with her friends and told herself not to think about him. Furthermore, she had to admit that it was the best fun she had ever had in the last few weeks.  What the heck live a little, she told herself; do what’s best for you, not someone else.  It was past 3:30 pm as they stopped past a tattoo parlor in the mall when Alesia pops up with an insane idea. 

        “Let’s get tattoos.”

        “Girl, you are crazy,” Tracy folded her arms across her chest, “I’m a nurse. If I get that, I’ll only end up wrapping it up at work.”

“True,” Alesia pointed out, “but you can get it anywhere, and besides, this can be like our secret code for girlhood or something.”

        “What is this? The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie,” Zenobia rolled her eyes, “You’ve got to stop watching those prissy movies. Alesia, you’re starting to become like those blond stereotypes.”  Zenobia had a point. Alesia sometimes made herself seem like the blond stereotype, but most of them found her personality amusing, even Tracy, who fit more of the dark-haired rock-and-roll, metal goth type, despite the fact that she didn’t dress like it.

        “No,” Alesia spat back, “It’s just to prove that we are wild, serious, you know…la’git.”

Tracy, Zenobia, Joyner, and Aria just looked at each other.

Aria giggled, “I don’t think anyone says that word anymore.”

        “You know what the hell I mean,” Alesia shot back, a little annoyed. “Come on, please… it will be so much fun,” she begged, “look, we won’t get big tattoos, only little ones.”

“If there is such a thing,” Zenobia muttered. Tracy and Joyner chuckled.

They all decided to go along with Alesia’s insane idea, but sides Aria feeling somewhat out of the box that day; so why not.

Alesia was up; first, she got a small wolf-faced tattoo planted on her forearm just a few inches away from her bra.

She asks, turning around and showing the others, “What do you think?”

        “I’m thinking that’s not gonna fit with the rest of your wardrobe,” Aria cracked a high-pitched laugh.

        “We’re all getting something small; why not animals,” Alesia explained, “This one is my totem. I figured since we all took that class together to find our place in the world and our guardians, we should all get totems tattooed on.”

Joyner murmured, recalling the event, “If I’d known that we were going to spend three days in the wood with some spiritual shaman trying to find our spirit animal, I never would have gone.”

        “She told me it was a backyard pool party,” Tracy whined.

        “Wow, so that’s how she got you,” Aria muttered, “Then again, I kinda figured she’d lie to get you there.”

        “Guys!” Alesia, again frustrated by her friends, bringing up her constant shenanigans, “Come on, this is our gimmick! Our code of staying in touch with each other. Who we are. Let’s do this.”

Seeing how they were already here and as not to isolate Alesia, all five each took a turn at the helm of the tattoo parlor.  Tracy’s totem was a snake, Joyner’s totem was a bear, and Zenobia’s was a lion. When it was Aria’s turn, she headed to the back of the booth tent. Leading her was one of the staff parlors, and she led her to a room divided off from the rest of the tent. The lady then told her to sit in the chair and relax.  A woman who came into the other side with a big grin on her lips was clearly a monk. She asked Aria what she wanted to get, and Aria told her she wanted to get the small tattoo of her spirit animal, which was an eagle. Aria’s friends wanted to go in the back with her knowing that she disliked needles. Unfortunately, the tattoo parlors told them they had to wait for her in the waiting area. 

        “Ow, Hey,” Aria shouted at the designer. “OH, God, that hurts.”

        “Stop moving,” the woman said, irritated. The woman didn’t seem like a tattoo designer, and Aria was very skeptical at first. She had a bald head with tattoos only on her head and nowhere else.  She dressed in an orange-colored rob with a sash wrapped around her shoulder and underneath her arm on the other side like a sling.  The only time Aria saw anyone dressed like this it was generally associated with monks, and when she took a look around, she saw that all the women employees had the same uniform.  Aria did not question it because she was too nervous to ask.

When she came out, she immediately started fussing at Alesia for getting her involved in this. “That hurt like hell.”

Tracy started to laugh, “Oh yeah, then I’ve got something that might make it hurt a little more.”

She grabbed the bottle of the wine cooler and threw some on her arm.  Sizzling pain went straight up to her brain, and she screamed.  Her friends are always doing stupid stuff like this just for fun; to be honest, sometimes she did find it funny too.  “Oww, you stupid….” They all started laughing as she held her arm in pain.

        “Stop whining,” Zenobia held her sides to keep from laughing too hard.  “We all had to do it as a part of the christening.”  They burst out into laughter that caused Aria to croak a little giggle. This was definitely Alesia’s suggestion, but Zenobia totally went for it. They wanted to do this because out of everyone in the group; Aria was the only one who would be pissed and still laugh.

        “You guys are such d***s,” she cried between the emotion of amusement and anger.

        “Hey,” Joyner managed to get a word out after laughing so hard, “that’s not your totem.”

Aria looked to find some strange design on her arm, and it looked like it had spread. She hated needles and couldn't bear to watch them do anything to her arm while they were working.  Her friends stayed with her as long as they could be.  Aria was so pissed about the wine that they had left the tattoo shop without her realizing how far they really were. Why hadn't she checked it to make sure they gave her what she wanted?  They decided to go back to the shop and get some answers, but when they got back, it was empty.  Alesia knocked on the booth counter but no answer.  It was like they had evaporated into thin air.  The girls stared at one another, wondering if they had gone to lunch or left for the day.

"What kind of owners leave their booth without locking up," Tracy asked, folding her arms.  

"I don't think they're coming back," Zenobia looked around.  

"Are you serious," Aria went behind the booth and looked around in the back where the tent was.  They had disappeared, and she had no way of contacting them because it was a private self-owned business, and they didn’t have business cards. She couldn't even explain to herself why she didn't look at what they were doing while she was getting the tattoo.  And now the tattoo looked like it was getting worse. It burned and not just from the alcohol.  It now looked like it was getting infected.  The ink had changed colors from black to white gold as it covered her whole arm in its design. Encroaching on her skin like a slug, it crept upward until it finally stopped at her wrist and the base of her neck, and then the pain quickly vanished. 

        “You should go to the hospital; that doesn’t look good,” Zenobia said in a concerned tone.

         “Maybe it’s some new tattoo technology or something?” Tracy grabbed her hand and looked at it. 

        “Yeah, I doubt that,” Alesia shook her head, “besides that tattooed lady gave you the wrong thing. This isn't your totem.”

Zenobia observed Aria's arm as well, " Yeah isn't your totem a suppose to be an eagle."

          “Dammit, Alesia, this s**t is permanent,” Aria stated angrily, “How the hell am I going to explain this to my parents, my boss, my church.” She could get it erased, but even if she could, that would cost more money than the tattoo was worth. 

        “We’ll figure something out,” Alesia promised while looking at Aria’s arm as well, “As long as it doesn’t hurt, you should be okay.”

        They started walking toward the game room to get some extra fun in before taking a dinner break.  Aria agreed that if her arm showed any more signs of infection before they were done in the game room, she would go to the Emergency Room. She was surprised that her arm didn't hurt anymore, nor was it hot from being infected.  The more she thought about it, the more concerned she became.  Eventually, she convinced herself that regardless of if she was in pain or not, she needed to go to the Emergency Room to have someone look at her arm.   In the midst of Aria trying to keep up with her friends in the crowd, she ended up slightly bumping into the man she saw earlier at the bar.  Weird how he would show up like this.  What are the odds that she would see him again twice on the same day with all these people around?  She didn’t pay much attention to it and figured that a guy like him she would never see soon or know in her entire life. 

             In this kind of crowd, it was hard to avoid bumping into a person here or there.  It was so crowded that at first, she didn't realize that she had bumped into the mysterious man at the bar.  Nevertheless, it wasn't until she bumped into that person that she started to feel the tattoo's side effects.  Her arm became ten pounds heavier, and she could barely lift it. It started to hurt really bad, and a burning sensation started at the head of her wrist all the way up to her neck, making her sweat.  Something awakened inside her very soul.  A high pitch sound rushed in her ears. She covered her ears with the hopes of thinking she could block it, but the head-splitting squeaky noise still managed to break through, filling her eardrums. She became deaf for a split second, almost disoriented.  However, she still followed her friends through the crowd until they reached their destination.  She would have to break off the hanging-out part for today after this game and go to the hospital.  It was a decision that Aria didn't make lightly.  She really wanted to stay, but it couldn't be helped.  She had to leave to deal with this tattooed arm Alesia stupidly forced her to get.  

Donavan Winfield

        It hit him like a ton of bricks. The immense pressure that came down within his body crashed at the center of his chest.  It called to him.  With all these people surrounding him as he and Lance were heading toward the exit fighting their way through the crowd, someone bumped into him.   All these people were here, and he expected to make slight contact with people, but this was different.  This person he bumped into triggered an avalanche of electrifying feelings reaching out to him...pulling him.  He stopped in his tracks.  Sweat started to form over his brow, and he looked as if he would be sick.  He didn’t really get a good look at the person. Was it a woman or a man?  Donavan didn’t know but what he did know was that the beast in him had fully awakened and wanted out.  He quickly put his hands over his ears, shutting out what was calling to him.  Lance tried to talk to him, but it was no use.  The faint whispers drowned out Lance’s words, and the only thing he could hear was the infernal whispering that increased in volume in his ears.  A pinning pain shot into his stomach, and he bent over, holding it in agony, but as not to make a noticeable scene.  Despite being in tremendous pain, he attempted to maintain a posed look.

 “Donavan? What’s wrong?” Lance asked as he tried to hold him up.  The beast inside wanted to get out; it wanted to find what was calling to it; the hunger, desire, and heavy need that it couldn’t ignore.  He stood in the middle of the mall, crowded with people frozen.  He couldn't move; he was so overwhelmed by this thing rushing through him.... a feeling that had him nearly paralyzed. Mine! It screamed. We Must Find. Find who? Find her, his beast answered, make her mine.  There’s that scent again! Oh no, he thought, it’s even stronger than before, and my beast picked up her scent! He started to transform.  “Oh, God. Here?! Now?!” Lance shouted as he began to drag Donavan to the nearest bathroom.  Once in, they locked the bathroom door so that no one could get in. He quickly turned to Donavan, who was now screaming as he began to form sparkling scales on his arms. Lance would have preferred this happen under a different set of circumstances; nevertheless, fate rarely gave its subjects a choice in the matter.  Lance shook his head, and his lips curved into a small smile with a slight chuckle.

“You finally found her, haven’t you,” he asked himself more than Donavan. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

He painfully nodded as his transformation took more effect, tearing his expensive suit jacket and then the shirt.  “I…I…cannot hold him back anymore… the call…. it calls to me.”

“May God be praised as Azariah starts your journey to her blessings.” And with Lance’s last words, his beast came out boldly. Wings unfurled, and his horns started to reveal themselves on his head.  Donavan had one thought in mind, her scent, her mark that calls to him to make her his.

Aria Charleston

        In the laser game room, Aria and her friends were in the middle of teaming up against one another to score points for a prize.  It was a test of combat skills, coordination, teamwork, and good with a gun.  Aria was only good at two out of those things.  She hated shooter games like this, but most of the group voted to play, so she couldn’t argue with that.  That was usually how it went when deciding what to do next.  The next activity would be her and Tracy’s turn to pick what the group did next; until then, she had to endure this insufferable game for a whole hour.  Aria wanted to push through the pain in her arm and neck to play just one round.  It was proving to be more and more difficult to do so. Just as Aria was starting to forget about the pain in her arm, it came back with a vengeance. She cried out, dropped the toy gun, and held her arm as the blinding pain bombarded her, but another phenomenon occurred at the same time as soon as that one did.

A loud boom could be heard in the eastern part of the mall from a mile away. The girls thought it was from the fireworks outside, but it turned out to be from the inside of the mall.  They started to hear people running, screaming, crying out, and heading in the one direction toward the exits or other stores to getaway.  Whatever it was, it spoke in a boisterous, loud voice. 

“Where is she!?” The voice thundered, “Where are you?!” The sound of his feet…no…paws hitting the hard granite floor shook the surrounding wall, and outside she could hear the clicking of the talents.  Everyone in the laser tag room froze as they could hear the beast getting closer and closer.  The clerk turned the lights off, thinking that it would provide some cover as the beast came to the store's front entrance.  It had huge claws and wings, and it sniffed the air with its large snout before letting out a low rumble from its throat. 

“Come out,” it growled, “Come out from wherever you are, now.” Aria’s friends looked at each other from behind the counter.  Who could it possibly be talking to?  It stuck its head inside the door and sniffed again, this time more deeply.  She tried not to look as most of them hit the floor and covered themselves with a black sheet to blend in.  She could feel its eyes; this intense feeling that they were searching for her caused her heart to flutter and beat wildly.  Somehow it managed to get its whole body in the store.  Its head hit the ceiling, and pieces of plaster and parts of the installation fell on the floor and hit her and her friends.  People around the store also managed to keep very quiet and still.  It began to sniff the area again, starting from the back to the front. 

            “We got to get out of here,” Joyner mouthed to the rest of the group. Aria agreed that they couldn’t just stay here and wait to find what it was looking for.  They decided to place a decoy underneath the sheets to make it look like people were hiding in it while they snuck away to safety.  Hopefully, the plan would work.

            “I know you’re in here,” it whispered with a low growl.  It inhaled deeply this time, saying, “Your scent is strong here.” It paused at a nearby sack underneath the sheets where they had planted the decoy.   It sniffed the sheets then ripped them off to reveal the fake dummies they had planted.  Realizing that the beast had been tricked, it roared angrily and jerked its head toward the door where it saw multiple people, including Aria and her friends, quickly scurry out of the store and run.

            “NO!” It yelled, “Come back!” It busted through the doors. Chunks of concrete and glass are few everywhere, and with the chaos in the halls of the mall, people seem to stampede out of control toward the exits.  Aria led her friends and a smaller group toward an exit that leads to the parking lot.   The plan had worked, all the confusion around it made it less likely to target someone, and while it is scrambling trying to find its next meal, they’ll be able to get away. She manages to get one last look at the creature before heading toward safety. They raced toward the parking lot where the authorities and military had just arrived.  Aria never thought she would be so relieved to see the government officials and their tanks pull up.  They quickly set up a barrier for civilians and surrounded the entire mall waiting for the creature inside to come out.  Breathing, heaving Alesia put her hand to her heart. “I am so f*****g glad to get out of there. Did you see that thing? It was huge!” Joyner gasped for breath, “Girl, you said it.” Suddenly there was this booming noise from the roof of the mall, and the top exploded.  A powerful roar could be heard for miles, and as they felt, a large body hit the ground with a shaking thud.  When the dust settled, the people could all see exactly what had been terrorizing them.  A large monster with wings and teeth that looked so sharp that it could cut paper.  It had a large tail and perfectly curved claws that could cut open a cow with one swipe.  As the people around her gasped at the sight of the creature, Aria could only clench her chest and hide behind one of the trucks. 

Donavan

            All these people running around made it harder for him to track her. She’s here, but he can’t get a lock on her location. He growled in aggravation over the fact that he did not get a good look at her to identify her through this panicked crowd.  Soon, the hallways were empty, and everyone made it outside of the building or was hiding.   Great. This also means she’s probably out there too.  Suddenly a helicopter zoomed overhead, which never mean good news. Donavan scolds his beast for making a scene as it did and not wanting to hold back until it found her.  It can’t be helped; the beast was out now, and it would soon be on every broadcast news story of the time.  Donavan had to find her fast if he didn’t want this to turn out badly for his kind or, worse, be captured and studied.  He leaped into the air, breaking through the mall ceiling, and landed on the ground outside.  The parking lot had been cleared, so it was to his relief when he landed; that he didn’t step on anyone. He roared, vexed as the police and state troopers’ cars pulled and created a blockade to stand their ground.  Fools, he thought, they think they stand a chance against me. Donavan scoffed at the thought and focused on finding the girl. He knows she’s still here. Her scent is not strong, but it’s definitely still here.  “I know you’re still here,” he shouted.  “Come out!”

            Out the corner of his eye, he noticed one soldier attempted to advance closer with his weapon aimed at him. He quickly swung his tail to fling him back.  Five more started to attempt the same maneuvers, and he snapped his jaws at them to keep them away.  Suddenly they opened fire.  The bullets were not able to penetrate his hide, but they were a complete annoyance to him.  His temper flared up, and suddenly he inhaled deeply and exhaled fire at the soldiers.  Quickly one by one, each tank and machine gun came at him from different sides.  He decided to disable the closest one.  He truly did not wish to harm anyone, but humans can be so stubborn, and the beast grew more irritated because the female was continuously hiding from him.  Could she not sense him or sense that the bond was calling them to each other? After tossing another human soldier to the ground and frying another tank.  He let out a horrifying roar; wings unfurled, appearing bigger for intimidation as a last effort to get her attention.

“COME OUT, WOMAN! One who mark calls to me!”