#5
1015 Words
Aria.
"W-Who are you?" I questioned, taking two steps back.
"I am someone you do not want to know" She walked over to me slowly. "Do you know how long I have been searching for you??"
"What do you want from me?" I gulped.
Did the Alpha send her? Is this his doing??
"Just one thing. I'm not sure you can give it to me though. I might have to take it forcefully" She traced her long nails around my neck.
I looked around, hoping the children had gotten far away.
"Oh! Don't worry about them. Their little legs won't take them far" She chuckled.
I fell to my knees and started pleading.
"Please let us go. We did nothing to you. We are innocent. We'll leave right now and I promise, you'll never set eyes on us again" I begged, ignoring the fact that my clothes were now covered in dirt.
"That's the problem, hon'. I don't leave loose ends. I get the work done smoothly and silently" She replied, towering over me.
She gets the work done smoothly and silently? She was definitely sent by him.
Freya had once told me — what if he wasn't as bad as they make him sound? I had started to entertain the thought that maybe...just maybe he wasn't searching for me to end me.
But I was wrong.
"LET HER GO!!!!" We heard screams. Freya, Ryan, the twins and some fellow hunters came running towards us with weapons in their hands.
"Let her go now before this whole place turns red" Freya was mad. Very mad.
The lady moved over to me, raising my chin up so I was looking straight into her green eyes.
"This is not over, Aria." And with that, she got on her horse and rode off, her army behind her.
"Mom!!" Diana ran to me, crying all over again.
"Momma is fine" I heaved a sigh of relief, kissing her forehead.
"I'm glad we weren't any later" Ryan smiled, revealing his cute dimples. The other hunters left not long after, with Ryan promising to come visit later.
"You did well, Damon" I ruffled his hair.
"Let's go in Aria, we need to talk" Freya said, walking in without sparing me a glance.
We entered the house and locked the door before anyone could let their guard down.
"We have to leave" Freya panicked, looking very anxious.
"You didn't even ask who she was...or who sent her" I stood in front of her to stop her from pacing around.
"I do not care right now, we need to lea—"
"He sent her!!" I yelled, catching her full attention.
"What?!?" She turned to face me, looking very confused.
"The Alpha....Eryx sent her" I pressed my lips into a thin line, trying to stop my tears from falling. "She said she gets the work done smoothly and silently — those are the words of someone following orders. Who else would want us gone this badly?"
"But...that's impossible..."
"He wanted to kill us all. I hate him" I sobbed. "How could someone be that cruel? To his own children too? How???"
Freya held me in her arms and patted my back.
"I must have been mistaken then...." She muttered.
"We have to leave. He knows where I live now. We just got lucky this time. Next time, he won't spare us Freya. He'll kill us all."
"Stop crying Aria. Wipe your tears. There is no way we are going down just like that" She looked so fierce, just like the strong witch that she is.
"What do you mean?"
"We fight back" She smiled. "Instead of hiding in fear, we face it. We are going back to the city."
"That's a very bad idea Freya. We have no source of income. Your shop is here, we won't even be able to survive. We can't just walk into the lion's den" I tried to reason but she was having none of it.
"So what do you suggest? We remain cowards and continue running for the rest of our lives?...and besides, we need his blood."
"His blood?"
"The herbs I use to conceal the twins' eyes...I'm running out. I could prepare a very strong potion that would last them much longer, but I'll need his blood. We have no choice" She held my hands.
"I can't just go over there and ask for his blood...it's too risky."
"I have a plan. We enter the palace as maids working in his quarters. Not only do we earn enough money to survive, we can easily sneak into his room and get his blood while he's asleep. If we get caught, we can easily come up with an excuse" She said as I shook my head.
"I'm scared...what if—"
"This is what it means to be a mother. We take risks. I only have a month's worth of herbs left. We have to act fast before the children become prey to other wolves" I looked over at their room and saw Diana playing with Damon's hair.
"When do we leave?" I asked, finally giving in.
"Right now. We take only the most important things and leave the house in the care of Ryan and Lily" She replied.
We stood up and started stuffing things into our bags — clothes, shoes, toys, everything.
We could have waited until the next day but we knew very well how assassins work at night.
They might not have gone far and could be hiding somewhere in the woods, waiting for nightfall to pounce on us.
"Kids, get up!!" I walked over to them and put thick jackets and boots on them.
"Mom, where are we going?...I'm sleepy" Diana questioned.
"We're travelling honey...a little family vacation" I smiled, putting her hat on for her.
"Yay! We finally get to leave!" She jumped happily.
"No more dumplings for you" Damon said in the most heartless way.
"That's not true. They have dumplings over there too. You'll love it" I forced a smile.
"Liar" Damon said, walking out first.
Eryx, here we come.
- Writer
