DISCLAIMER! I don't own Maximum Ride and the character introduced does not belong to me, but I have permission to mix her in from the writer DarkAngelDreams13. Ok, enjoy! =]
Vanessa, go after him! You need him. My father ordered inside my head. (A/N: Max has her Voice, and Vanessa has her own, they aren't the same.) I snapped into action and bomb dived down to the clearing. I landed just in time to see Jagger duck out of the way from a fireball. My dad hissed. Is that her? I asked. Yes, she's the bender. Then she ambushed him with six of them and he fell to the ground, crying out in pain. I snarled and she whirled around. She had dirty blonde hair that went down to her waist and she looked about 5'5…dangit, she's taller than me.(A/N: in case you couldn't tell, Vanessa has height issuesXD). She was pale, but not freakishly pale, it was a pretty pale. Like porcelain skin almost. Her wings were a reddish color and the way the setting sun hit it made them look as though they were on fire. I looked into her eyes then and they turned from red to blue. Hmm…do my eyes do that when I use fire? I mused. No, they turn black. My dad said. I frowned. I realized then she was glaring at me. I glared back.
"Who the hell are you?" I snarled. Jagger looked up and caught my eye. The girl snorted. "Why should I tell you?" she replied in a snotty tone. I smirked. "Because, I want to know who has my ability." I answered. She looked kind of confused…then I snapped my fingers and created a small ball of fire. She froze. "How'd you do that? And who are they?" she demanded. I looked behind me and saw that the flock had landed. Max was glaring at the girl. I looked back at her. "Tell me who you are first and why you're burning him." I said. She gritted her teeth. "My name is Ember and I'm burning him because of what he is." She said, her eyes turning red. I got confused. "What the heck? What do you mean? He's just a guy." I said. She snorted. "Right, just a normal guy. He's an eraser." She hissed. I froze. "I've seen you before. You're one of the mutants from the School." Max said. Ember looked at her and she froze. "Hey, you're the bird kid from the arena." She said. Max nodded. She frowned. "Then you know who he is." She said jerking her head towards Jagger, who was slowly getting up. She seemed to sense that because she turned around and punched him in the face with a flame superheating her fist.
Now I'm pissed. I Spartan kicked her to the ground and took out my knife, which immediately turned into a sword. "Don't you dare touch him." I snarled at her. She turned over onto her back and stared at me for a few seconds. "You wouldn't happen to be this Vanessa I'm always hearing about, would you?" she said, a smirk on her face. I nodded. "Yes, I'm Vanessa Marie, why?" she knocked my feet out from under me and I fell to the ground. "Because, you just happen to be an eraser. I hate erasers." She said as I squirmed under her booted foot. "Ok, what's happening?" Iggy said. Ember looked over at him, distracted. Then her eyes went wide and she flushed. "Vanessa's getting her butt whopped by another bird girl." Gazzy said. I pushed her foot off and got up. "look." I said. She looked at me, much calmer and blue eyed again. "We know he's an eraser. He's also one of us." I said, waving my hand towards the flock. Her brows furrowed. "But if he's a dumb butt eraser, why is he with you?"She asked, exasperated. "Because Jagger and Vanessa are in love!" Nudge squealed before I could reply. My face flushed. I flicked a spark at her. She flicked it off and rolled her eyes. Ember gasped. I looked at her. She was looking up towards the trees. But before she could say a thing, erasers dropped in all around us. They had us surrounded. Suddenly, Jagger was next to me in a protective stance. Then someone approached us. "Well well, looks like we hit two birds with one stone boys." I turned to see Ari looking at us, a malicious glint in his eyes. I also noticed that he had the clone of my knife strapped to his upper arm. Interesting… my dad mused in my head. Behind Ari was the eraser who had been in my room the first night I had been at the School, he looked focused on something. I followed his sight line and saw he was staring at Ember…who had pure hate in her now red eyes. I looked at Ari. "Did you come for a re match?" I taunted. He looked annoyed. "You're in no position to taunt Vanessa. You see, we have someone of value to you." I froze as they pushed a beaten and bound Samuel through the wall of erasers. I gasped. "Sam!" I cried out. I tried to rush over to him, but Jagger held me back.
Suddenly, Max started laughing. "Well, I guess we all know what happens now." Ember smirked. "Time to kick some major eraser butt." She said. We all jumped into action then. I sent a round house kick to Ari, but he grabbed my ankle and slammed me into a tree. I picked up my sword and rushed over to Samuel to cut the rope. When he was free, he was all business. He turned on the dime and punched Jared in the face. I grinned. "Nice one Sam." I commented as I ducked out of the way from a punch. "I try." He said. Suddenly there was scream and then
KABOOM!
An explosion happened. We all fell to the ground to avoid flying tree chunks. I looked up to see Ember panting and at her feet was a bloody eraser…the one who had been staring at her. Ari gasped and turned. "Abort!" he cried. The erasers ran like bats out of hell.
I shrunk my sword and stuck it back into my boot. I walked over to Ember and grinned. "Whoa, how did that happen?" I asked. She shrugged. "Well, you see, it all happens like this. When Ember get's pissed, she gets super hot. When I get super hot, I send out a somewhat controlled explosion." She said, stretching. Iggy walked up and grinned. "Power of combustion, nice." She grinned. "Aw, it was nothing." She said. I rolled my eyes. "So what pissed you off?" Fang asked. She frowned. "An eraser slammed me into a tree and kissed me." She growled. I laughed. "Who was it?" Gazzy asked her. She shivered in a bad way. "Paul." She said, sneering his name. Jagger laughed. "That sounds just like him." she shrugged. Max walked up and looked around. "Well, it doesn't look like the explosion was too big so no one probably knows anything, so let's head out before Ari comes back with the rest." She said. Walking away, Angel and Fang behind her. Angel paused and looked at Ember. "Her name's Max." she said. Ember looked annoyed. "Ok, look, we got off on the wrong foot but…can I come with you? I have nowhere to go and I think I'd be safer with you guys." She confessed. Max looked at her. "No, we already picked up those two." She said, nodding her head towards me and Jagger. "Three actually." I said. She glared at me. "What?"
Samuel walked up then and yawned. "Man, I'm tired." He grumbled. She frowned. "You've got to be kidding me." She muttered. I shook my head. "He's family Max!" I urged. She glared at me. "He also tried to kill me." She growled. I cowered. Samuel rolled his eyes. "Thanks for trying V, but no. I've got places to go." He said. He gave me a quick hug and walked away. I frowned. Max looked back at Ember. "Like I said, no." she repeated. Iggy cleared her throat. "It wouldn't be too bad if she came…would it?" he asked. Max looked astounded. Gazzy grinned. "Yeah! Just think of how many erasers we could explode if she came along!" he said, supporting Iggy. Nudge grinned. "Yeah! That'd be, like, so cool! Cause she could blow up eraser and stuff but, like, she's also another girl!" she said. Angel rolled her eyes. Max grimaced and then glared at Ember. "Set one foot out of line and I will take you down." She said. Ember shrugged. "Fair enough." Gazzy grinned. "We'll keep her in line, won't we Iggy?" Iggy smiled. "yeah." He said. Angel yawned. "Max! I'm tired!" She whined. Max looked up at the trees. "This should be a good spot to rest, if it weren't for the fact we'd get mauled in our sleep by erasers." She said. I shrugged. "I doubt the erasers will come back, but just in case…" I trailed of as I took out my wand. "Cerchiamo di essere nascosto." I said. I slid my wand back into my boot. "That should do it." I murmured. Ember snorted. "Do what? All you did was making up new words." She said. I shook my head. "No I didn't, I just used a different language." I explained. "Uh huh…what's the mumbo jumbo mean?" she pressed. I rolled my eyes. "It means 'let us be hidden' in Italian. So now if the erasers come back, they won't see us." I explained further. She nodded and jumped to the lowest tree limb. Everyone else did the same. I yawned and looked around for Jagger. He laughed softly. I turned around to see him leaning on a trunk a little ways off. I walked towards him. He crouched down. "Climb on." He said. I nodded and did as I was told. He climbed up to the top of the tree to the highest tree limb. I crawled off his back and sat on the tree trunk. He looked at me. "What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked. He shook his head. "No, you just look amazing in the moon light." He murmured. I rolled my eyes. He laughed. "No, really." He insisted, taking my hand. I smiled. "I know." I said. He leaned against the tree and patted his lap. I climbed onto his lap and he encircled his arms around me. I nuzzled up to him. He laughed and gave me a kiss. I kissed back. He moaned in pleasure and grabbed a fistful of my hair with one hand and placed the other on the small of my back. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer to him, running his hand up and down my spine. I shivered and we broke apart. His eyes were lit with excitement. Then someone cleared their throat. I turned around and saw Ember standing on the other side of the branch. "Sorry to interrupt your little love fest but can I talk to you Vanessa?" she asked. Her emotion had embarrassed written all over it, I was confused but I agreed. "Yeah." She blushed. "In private?" I looked at Jagger. He sighed. "Ok, just come get me when you want me." I nodded and got up. Then he jumped off. I looked at Ember. "What you need?" I asked her. "Is Iggy blind?" she asked. I nodded. "Yeah, why?" she shrugged. "Well, the tree I'm in is next to his and I feel like he keeps staring at me with a wistful look in his eyes but I look and he's looking a few inches away from my eyes." She explained. I grinned. "Looks like Iggy's got a crush." I teased. Her face turned red. "Shut it!" she hissed. I grinned even wider. "Looks like you like Iggy too!" I giggled. She had a horrified look on her face. "I do not! I hardly know the guy!" she whispered furiously. I shook my head. "That's not what your emotions are telling me!" she frowned. "You can read those?" I nodded. She snorted. "Say anything and I'll melt your face off." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, ok." She left then. Jagger climbed up after she thudded to the ground. I climbed into his lap. "What was that about?" he asked. I shook my head. "Nothing." He rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you." I giggled. "Good, cause I lied." I said. He shook his head. "Liars don't get kisses." He said, tapping my nose. I frowned. "But if I tell, my face will get melted, and then you won't have a face to kiss." I whimpered. He laughed and kissed me lightly on the lips. I yawned, cuddled with him, and fell asleep.
