Akaisha looked at him as he glared at her. Her hands balled into fists, ready to fight. After escaping his clutches, she found her parents, who took her in, bewildered. The way the pair of them acted when she found them was apprehensive, then glee. They put her in self-defense classes at her request.
She was proficient in mixed martial arts. The man turned away to leave. “I know that you know I won't give up. Not until you're dead.”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Find me when you start hearing the unspoken thoughts or anything else… strange. Until then, goodbye.”
She clenched her fists tight. Too tight, she could feel her nails digging into her skin. Anger took consumed her rationality. Akaisha charged at him, aiming to land a blow, one hit. Just when she thought her fist would connect with his shoulder, he vanished right in front of her. The whoosh of air disoriented her. The confusion kept her from slowing her momentum, but she turned just enough to not break any bones. She fell down to the ground on her ass, only to see him appear right above her. She tried to trip him by side, sweeping his legs. That only made him flash in place. He grabbed hold of her leg, twisting her onto her stomach. He placed her in an ankle lock. Akaisha wanted to yell uncle or tap the pavement to insure she surrendered.
Immediately, he subdued her. His voice was hoarse as the unexpected rainstorm came down. “I'm not the one you should be hunting. Other than testing on you, did I do any harm towards you? You were fed, clothed, and well taken care of. You were a pet project that I needed to work on. You failed. I didn’t search for you because of that reason. If you want to be angry. Be upset with your parents. Your parents sold you to a brothel. I saved you. Think of it. A seven-year-old child stuck in a place for grown men and women. There’s no business for a child.” He released her as he vanished once more into thin air.
Any idea of struggling vanished from her thoughts. ‘They sold me?! That makes no sense.’ Just as she was about to talk back to him, the grip on her leg was released. She looked over her shoulder to see he was gone. Akaisha sat up, her head hung low between her legs. Her thoughts were running rampant in her head. ‘What did he mean? That can't be true.’ She sat for a few minutes before getting up, the rain falling around her, but other than her hands, she remained dry.
She still had a job to do, despite wanting to search for him once more. Work came first. It paid the bills. Standing up, she dusted herself off. Now that she knew he was still alive and somehow managing to move faster than sound. She was going to stop him. A drunkard wandered into the empty alley. Just by the smell of him, she knew he wasn’t human. A drunk person is already a nuisance to deal with, but a drunk werewolf is dangerous. The pungent smell of earth and alcohol mixed together. She smiled politely at him before leaving. The man stumbled into some trash cans to sleep it off. The thought of him being a lone wolf or a pack wolf crossed her mind, but not enough to delve deeper into it. She looked back once to make sure he didn’t wolf out. She found him breathing easily in the pile of trash cans. He had fallen asleep.
Her ankle throbbed while she walked back to the parlor. She walked slower, stiffer, limping back. Akaisha thought about how she wished the pain would go away. Soon after, her ankle felt normal. Her strides were longer and assured. The limp vanished just as the pain did. It didn't register at the time because it just happened, but she was just glad the pain went away. She bumped into someone wearing dark clothing and shades. As she was about to apologize, the person hissed. With their mouth open, a hint of fangs peeked through. Only a new vampire would tempt fate or a hybrid would proudly. It just wasn’t her luck today. Between that man, the wolf, and now this vampiress, she wondered what else could go wrong. Or who else she would run into.
She made it back to the parlor. Mahima was just coming out from having her massage. That was when Akaisha realized she had been gone for at least an hour. “You! Where did you go? It's almost time to prep for the evening news. Chip chop let's go.” She clapped her hands together. It was degrading and annoying. Mahima handed the carrier to her roughly. The cat hissed and swatted at the exposed skin on her arm. A thin claw grazed her hand.
“Ouch. Damn it.”
Akaisha narrowed her eyes in anger. Angry at the cat, Mahima, and the man. She then kissed the back of her hand, where the droplets of blood formed. Then a few seconds later Mahima’s foot caught on the rug, causing her to fall into the door. *crash* the glass cracked under her weight. Blood oozed from her forehead. The crimson stream stained her clothes.
Akaisha immediately covered her mouth, muffling her words. “Oh my God, did I do that? No, it was an accident.”
It had knocked Mahima unconscious. Her body crumpled against the door. The celestial called for an ambulance and went to check on Mahima. It looked at Akaisha with a solemn voice. “Miss, you did not cause this. We’ve asked the owner to remove the shotty carpet. It was just an accident.”
The EMT rushed to the scene. They made it to Time Rewind within minutes, and both the celestial and Akaisha answered their questions. They permitted Akaisha to go with her to the hospital as her assistant, with her demonic cat in tow. On the way there, she made calls to the station. They agreed that James Fidget would go on the air alone until Mahima came back from the hospital. It was a hard decision, with her being the face of the station despite her capricious attitude with everyone.
Professor Mozart arrived at the hospital just in time. He walked in like a flash of lightning. Wind billowing his trench coat behind him. He blurred on the cameras. A nurse recognized him immediately. Rushing up to greet him. “Do you need anything, Professor Mozart?”He began to wave her away, but stopped in mid-action. “There was a young man that was rushed here. He has no family. I heard he was in critical condition.”The nurse snapped her finger. “Right, his name is Junior Isaacs. Are you perhaps related to him or?”He shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He lied immediately. It was a habit by now. “It reminded me of my adoptive daughter. She had no family and suffered through an unfortunate house fire she was saved from. It's a shame. And if the young man is critical, it would be a shame to die surrounded by robots, machines, and strangers. Not that I would be any better, but I would be a somewhat familiar face.”She added her own statement to his response. “Because you’re so widely kno
Once she got back to the office, Ralev was nowhere to be found. She didn’t look for him either, outside of a passing glance around the room. Akaisha went in search of Mitchum. She wanted to give her updates on the interview. As she reached Mitchum’s office, Ralev was coming out with a grim expression. When he saw her, he turned his head, effectively ignoring her. She shrugged her shoulders and went inside the office.“If it's not about a topic, come back when I’m less busy.”Akaisha spoke up hesitantly. “Um… I wanted to talk to you about the professor. But I guess Ralev already told you how the interview went?”She looked up and smiled. “No, he didn’t. So, tell me what happened? It could explain why Ralev is on one today.”She explained in as few words as she could. Mitchum laughed. “Oh, girl, that is a riot! Did you really do that?”“Well, yeah? You wanted me to g
Ralev gave a quick knock on the door before letting himself in. Akaisha thought it was strange, but let the thought pass. Ralev had been working with journalists for a long time. Who knows how many times he was there to interview that man? She followed him inside. The professor sat on the sofa looking as regal and put together as he always did. Even when she was a child, he would want no one to see him looking disheveled. He gave them all a smile. It faltered just slightly when Akaisha stepped around Ralev. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. How long has it been since you’ve been here?”Ralev answered. “A while, but we have a new journalist for you to break in. She’ll be giving the interview. This is Akaisha.”She stepped forward with a tight smile. “It’s so good to meet the man behind all the wonderful inventions and charities that we have now.” She went into reporting mode. “You said you have some news
Akaisha and Dave were able to go home at the break of dawn. Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with them. The cuts and bruises were healed hours after they were in the hospital. Dave seemed different to her. She couldn’t put her finger on it.When the two of them were leaving the hospital, Sergeant Acheki was waiting for them. He had questions and needed them for his report. “Akaisha? Can you tell me what happened?”She looked into those pure eyes, knowing the worst horror he had ever seen was what Junior looked like going in, and refused to speak about it. “I need to get home. I have work.”He touched her arm. “We need to talk about it.”“All we need to discuss is how Amethyst will be able to go home later today.”“That’s something the doctors will have to tell you. We need to discuss what happened in that building.”“Later. I’m leaving.”
She breathed out, knowing they were close by, but there was no time to wait. They needed to get free. They needed to get them inside. Dave stood there awkwardly in his furry form. There wasn’t anything she could do to get him to fight Junior. It was up to her. “Í don’t know what to do. Junior can open portals. I don’t have that ability.”“I see. If you could steal that ability, then we could come in.”She shook her head. There were only a few ways she would be able to do that, and she didn’t want to use Amethyst blood to do it. “Where’s Amethyst? Is she out there?”“Yes, she’s in the back of Jalefel’s car. There’s bruising on her arms and puncture holes, but she’s fine.”She nodded, knowing Misty couldn’t see her. Akaisha had to act fast. Junior was dragging her over to the table with the beaker. A million
It was only a nanosecond, but that was just the time he needed to get away. When Akaisha looked back down to end Junior, he was gone. She screamed in frustration. “AHHH! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? He’ll come back. He’ll do this again and again until he gets what he wants. He needs to die. No thanks to you, we’re going to be looking over our shoulders until he’s caught.”Dave sighed. “We shouldn’t kill him. He’s still our brother! He’s the professor’s only son. His lineage needs to live on.”She went to the tube with Amethyst inside. She pressed several buttons and pulled a lever. A drain opened at the bottom of the tube. It sucked out the water. “He’s not my brother. I never claimed him or that man. If you’re still so hard on wanting to be recognized by that idiot, then you shouldn’t have asked me to help you. To protect you. That shitty bloodline needs to
She wiped her mouth and came away with blood. Akaisha spit it out on the stone floor. “Well, aren't you a big man? Smacking a defenseless woman.”Junior laughed. “Defenseless? The hell you are. I know what you can do. I’ve studied you. I'm just like you, but only better.”She stood up. “If you're so much better than me. Why don't you let Amethyst go and we can settle who's the favored child? That's all this is. You throwing a tantrum over Daddy.”Junior ran at her in a blur of motion, knocking her into a wall. She hit a box, causing sparks to fly. He yelled at her. “I'M BETTER THAN YOU! STRONGER AND FASTER! TAUNTING ME, won't do you any good.”She crumpled to the floor, catching her breath. “Whether I taunt you or fight you. You're still just throwing a tantrum.” She staggered to stand. “Admit it. You’re doing all of this just so that psychotic man will look at you. It's patheti
She knew that. She knew he wouldn’t let her be. She would never be free of him or his sociopathic son. “You haven’t bothered me since I ran away. Why do you care what I do now? Just tell me where Junior is?”“Will you kill him?”“Why does it matter? It’s not like you ever paid any attention to him.”“That’s where you’re wrong. Junior is my son. He is my mini me. Another version of myself. I wouldn’t dare give his whereabouts to someone that wanted to kill him.”She didn’t know what else to do or say to him. In his twisted way, he was trying to be a good father, despite the fact that one of those people that Junior took was Dave. “And will you forsake two of your children for one?”He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”“Junior abducted Dave. He wants my life and Dave’s abilities in exchange for having my coworker rel
She was angry. Her whole life junior refused to acknowledge her existence, but the moment she actively used her abilities and became comfortable having them, he wanted to come out. He wanted to take them from her. Akaisha looked into Jalefel’s beautiful hues. “I need to rescue them.”He stammered. “H-how are you planning on doing that? This is a matter for the police. For my unit.”“No, I can't let you or your team search for him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”“Neither do you. This isn’t something you should do alone.”She gave him a weary smile. “I won’t be alone. Did you forget, I have my trusty pit bull, Blue, and genetically modified creature, Misty?”He sighed. “You can’t go to wherever he is with those animals. Blue is registered as an endangered breed. If something were to happen to her and you survive, you could go to jail for animal endangerment. Do you want that? And what about Misty? Did it ever occur to you that Junior could capture him? He could be working with hi