A story requested by Miz Lil Pitbull, who owns Victoria. I own nothing in this story.

Firing Up The Night With Love

Victoria was finally happy when school had been let out. It seemed like it had gone on forever. She now gathered her backpack and headed out. She thankfully had no homework and it was a four day weekend, which made her happy.

As she was walking home, she noticed a group of boys she recognized to be some of the bullies at school running out of the woods nearby with their clothes all wet and smelling like rotting vegetation. "Whoa, what happened to you?" she asked, pulling up the neck of her shirt over her nose to block out the horrible stench.

"There's a monster in the swamp!" said one of the boys. "It came after us and chased us into the water and was going to cook us alive and make shish kabobs out of us!"

Victoria scoffed. "Seriously?" she asked. "You come running out of the woods just because you fell into the swamp and you think there's a monster there?"

"There is a monster! We saw it!" said another of the boys. "Don't go in there! He'll barbecue you!"

She had heard enough. "Grow up, will you?" she said sarcastically and turned to go into the woods, ignoring their shouting for her to not go to the swamp. "Those boys are such babies," she said to herself. "The monster was probably just a tree with sagging branches into the water."

As she got nearer, the swamp's acute smell filled her nose and she covered her nose again, deciding to hurry quickly past. She then caught movement out of the corner of her eye and looked to the side, but only saw a tree and laughed to herself.

"I was right, it was just a tree with sagging branches they saw," she said. "There's no monster at all."

"Oh, really?" asked a hoarse voice.

"Yes, really!" said Victoria sharply before she froze. Someone had answered her and it wasn't any of the bullies. She turned and saw something that completely boggled her mind and made her feel terrified.

Standing by another tree was a tall, green-colored person who had arms that belongs to a wrestler and a head colored red, yellow, and black with a sort of collar around his neck. He looked quite terrifying and Victoria saw his green eyes staring at her. "Still think there's no monster?" he asked her with a growl.

That growl made her snap out of her terrified state enough to let loose a loud scream and run, but to her shock, tree roots began whipping around her, rapidly forming a wall of intertwined roots in front of her. She dodged to the side, but the wall kept growing until it surrounded her on three sides and the swamp monster came up from the only open side of the wall. Frantic now, Victoria was about to make a mad dash to tackle the monster and run away when she felt something wrap around her wrists tightly and tie her arms behind her back and more roots wrapped around her whole body, only leaving her sneaker-clad feet and her head exposed. She tried to wriggle free, but the roots were too strong and she whimpered as the monster came closer and grabbed her chin to keep her head still. "Hmm," he said, raising one eyebrow. "Not bad looking, for a girl."

She would have slapped him if she wasn't tied up, although she did jerk her head away from his hand and snap her teeth together, which to her surprise and anger, made the monster laugh in amusement.

"You've got spunk, girl. I'll admit that," he said with a chuckle. "No one's been that brave to face me."

"I'm not afraid of you!" she said fiercely, trying to get free again.

"Then why are you trying to escape? Also, why didn't you heed the warnings of those boys?" he asked her.

She stopped struggling, her face looking confused. "What do you mean?" she asked him.

"I heard them tell you about me and to not come here, yet you did. Why was that?"

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I…thought it was just something they made up," she admitted. "Their story sounded really far-fetched."

He stood still for a moment and then reached out a hand. She flinched and turned her head away, but he took hold of her chin and turned her head to look at him, being more gentle this time and gently brushed back some of her hair from her face. "You're honest, I'll give you that," he said. "Why don't you stay awhile?"

Victoria felt the roots holding her let go and she stood in front of him. Now that he wasn't looking at her angrily, she thought he looked…handsome, especially with those buff arms. She blushed a little and he saw.

"You like?" he asked, flexing his arms to make his muscles stand out, chuckling as her whole face went very red and he couldn't resist flirting a bit more. "What do you think?"

"Uh, wow," she said, unable to come up with any other response. "You…you look very strong."

She then yelped when he grabbed her and lifted her up as if she didn't weigh anything at all and tossed her up a little, catching her and holding her bridal style. She felt her face get quite hot as she felt his muscles flex a little and she felt it as she was in his arms.

"Why the red face?" he asked her. "Don't be shy."

She giggled a little before trying to look stern. "First you scare me into thinking you're going to hurt me and now you're flirting with me?" she asked him.

"What can I say? You're really hot, Sweetheart."

She squirmed to be put down and although she saw he looked a bit disappointed, he complied with her unspoken request. She tried to look stern, but her attempt was futile as she took in his face and his muscles. Okay, she had to admit it, he was hot too.

"Um," she said, trying to get her thoughts back in order as he smirked, watching her.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" he asked, hoping to draw a laugh out of her.

He was rewarded with a giggle. "Actually, you've got my tongue tied up," Victoria giggled, unable to help herself as she realized he wasn't going to hurt her and he was handsome, for whatever he was. "Um, forgive me if this is rude, but what are you? You don't act like a monster."

He chuckled. "I'm not," he said. "I'm a Methanosian."

She cocked her head to the side. "Metha-what?" she asked, curiously.

"Methanosian. An alien," he explained. "My name's Swampfire. What's your name?"

"Victoria," she answered.

Swampfire came closer and brushed her hair back again with his hand. "I like your name," he said to her. "It fits you, especially with you coming out here to prove that the swamp monster didn't exist."

"But it doesn't because you're not a monster," she said gently. He smiled and pulled her closer to him.

"Maybe not," he said. "But I still exist."

Getting his joke, she giggled and then looked up at him, taking a chance and kissing him. She felt his surprise, but then he kissed her back, holding her tightly in his arms as her knees buckled a little from the wonderful kiss.

After they broke away, Swampfire grinned and stepped back, shooting fire up into the sky and making Victoria jump, but she then smiled when she heard his joyous shout and giggled when she saw him leap around like an acrobat before he did something that boggled her mind completely.

He formed a heart with his fire and it hovered over his hands as he smiled at her. "Wow," she said in awe. "How did you do that?"

Swampfire smiled. "I've been working on it for a long time," he admitted. "It's not very easy."

"But still amazing," she said to him.

He smiled as he moved his hands away and the heart of fire dissipated as Victoria moved closer and kissed him again. He kissed her back before they broke away. "Come on," he said. "I'll get you home."

She held onto him as they took the underground way with his vines forming a cocoon around them and tunneling underground, popping up near her home. Victoria smiled at him.

"Thanks, Swampfire," she said. "Can we meet up again sometime?"

"Sure, Victoria," he said. "Tomorrow good?"

She nodded. "Sure."

Swampfire smiled. "I'll come pick you up tomorrow then," he said with a wink and started to head off, but then turned and used one vine to gently grab her and pull her towards him. As she looked curiously up at him, he leaned down and kissed her again, holding the kiss for a long time before gently parting from her, smiling at seeing how she smiled brightly.

"See you tomorrow, Victoria," he said and headed away.

She was too dazed to come up with a proper answer, but smiled happily as she headed up to her room and got ready for bed, falling asleep and dreaming of Swampfire and his fire tricks and the way he looked lovingly at her.

Love at first sight, she thought to herself as she continued to dream happily, looking forward to spending more time with the alien she had fallen in love with.

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418