Chapter 25: A Rated R Arrival
Amanda's POV; one month later
"Yes mom, I'm fine. Stop with your worrying." I say into the receiver as I look around the hotel lobby, the sun shining it bright light through the windows.
"My daughter was almost kidnapped by a crazy Romanian vampire and you're telling me to stop worrying? Girl, you have got to be kidding me." my mom says in her strong, Jamaican accented voice as I see Randy walk out of the elevator.
"But it was a month ago." I say as I watch as Randy walk up to me with his luggage in hand, a smirk playing on his lips.
"That may be true, but we are so going to talk about it once you two come back to St. Louis, you hear me?" she asks me as Randy greets me with a peck on the cheek.
"Yes mother." I tell her as Randy and I walk through the hotel doors of the Houston Hilton to the parking lot across the street.
"Now, let me speak to your best friend turned boyfriend/mate."
"MOMMA!" I yell into the receiver as we cross the street to the abnormally huge parking lot. (Everything's bigger in Texas I suppose.)
"What? I just want to talk to him for a little bit that's all." she tells me in her all too innocent voice.
"What's going on?" Randy asks me as he tries to stifle his laughter.
"Mom wants to speak with you." I tell him as I hand him my phone.
"Oh," is all he says as he takes my phone and puts it to his ear. "Hi Calypso!" he says rather loudly into the receiver.
I decided to let the two communicate in private as I walk ahead to the Hummer parked way down in the row. It's been a full month since our confrontation with Sergei and so far things have been relatively normal. Sergei hasn't shown his face around the WWE since that night. Vince has already promised us that if Sergei ever did show up, he would be promptly fired from the organization for his actions (plus he did have a pretty bad losing streak ever since he entered the WWE). The St. Louis Coven had been monitoring Sergei's movements since he left St. Louis and last tracked him to New York, but then he promptly disappeared. The Shield doesn't even remember what happened to them when Sergei was around, so they just spent their time terrorizing the other wrestlers, Randy included. Punk went back to official in ring action two weeks and everything has been fairly usual for a while now.
"See you soon Calypso. Bye."
I turn around to see Randy with a smile on his face, holding out my phone for me to take back.
"How'd it go?" I ask as I take my phone from the palm of his hand and put it in my purse.
"Pretty good. Your mom is still slightly wary of our relationship, but she'll get used to it in time." he tells me with a wave of his hand.
"My mom is wary of everything." I tell him as we finally reach his Hummer.
"True, but can you blame her? She doesn't believe in most things unless she's sees visible proof." he tells me as he opens up the trunk door.
"I remember when my mom told me and Monica about how your dad first told her that he was a vampire when they first met in the WWE during a house show in Nashville. She seriously didn't believe him till he actually drained a pig in front of her." I say as I lift my suitcase into the trunk before I could let Randy help me.
"He seriously did that?" Randy asks me in disbelief as he puts his duffle bag in the car.
"Yep; she was a bit freaked at first since your dad was the first ever vampire she had ever met, but she got used to it." I say as I look around the parking lot.
"What happened to the pig?" Randy asks me curiously as he shuts the door.
"Mom hates it when things go to waste . . ." I say as I walk to the passenger door.
"So she took it home with her?" asks Randy.
"Nope; like I said, they were in Nashville, not St. Louis. She burned the pig in a nearby parking lot." I tell him as I get into the Hummer.
"That's such a good waste of bacon!" Randy whines loudly as he gets into his seat.
"Yeah, back then Mom wasn't taken any chances with anything bitten by a vampire, even if the vampire is your dad." I say as I watch Randy start the engine.
"Well, that's understandable." Randy concedes as he turns on the engine and quickly drives us out of the parking lot and onto the street. "Which city are we supposed to drive to next?"
"Austin, then San Antonio after that." I tell him as we turn down Main St. We continue to drive around the downtown area for the next hour, looking for the highway that would take us straight into Austin, but we can't find it.
"Dammit! We have been driving in circles for the past hour!" Randy complains to me as he turns onto Main St once again.
"How about turning left on Jefferson Ave. instead of turning right?" I suggest as I point to the left. Jefferson Ave. is the next street and at the left corner there was a green sign that pointed left to the freeway with the words 'This Way to Austin and San Antonio'.
"You could have told me that sooner?" Randy asks me with an irritated scowl on his face.
"I wanted to see how long it would take you before you realized that the highway was only one turn away." I tell him nonchalantly as he finally turns onto the correct road.
"That was not nice of you Amanda." he tells me as we drive onto the stretch of road that led to the ramp.
"Randy, you really are going to say something like that when you've known me for all these years?" I ask as I continue to stare straight ahead. I sneak a quick look at Randy to see him with a thoughtful look on his face.
"You make a very good point." he says with a sigh as we finally drive onto the highway.
It's a three hour drive from Houston to San Antonio and halfway into the trip, my cell phone decides to break up the comfortable silence that has been covering us for the past half hour, ringing like mad.
"You have Edge's theme song as your ringtone?" Randy asks me as I go phone fishing in my bag.
"Not really, I assigned all my contacts their own ringtone. For example, if you call me, I would hear 'Voices' instead of 'Metalingus'.
"Metalingus?" Randy asks me so confused it's like he thinks I spoke to him in Chinese, which I happen to know thanks to grandma.
"That's the name of Edge's theme song," I say to him bluntly as I grab hold of my phone and take it out my bag. "You want me to put him on speaker?"
"Please do; it's been a while since I spoke to that werewolf." he tells me thoughtfully as we pass by a field filled with cattle. I tap the talk button and the next voice we hear is the voice of the Rated R Superstar.
"You got me on speaker don't you Amanda?" his gruff voice asks bluntly.
"How'd you guess?" I ask in slight disbelief.
"I can hear Orton's breathing." he tells me bluntly as I scratch my hair.
"No you can't!" Randy counters with a scowl, taking his eyes off the road for just a second.
"HA! You're right, I can't. I just said it to see if Randy could hear me or not and thus react, thus proving if you had put me on speaker or not." he tells us; I can just hear the grin in his voice.
"You and I both know that with our hearing we can easily hear each other with or without speaker on." Randy counters as he drives into a service station.
"Touché, young Padawan, touché." he replies with a knowing edge to his voice.
"Don't start with the Star Wars crap." Randy says bluntly as he parks the car in a spot close to the service plaza.
"Okay, okay, I won't. Well, until I speak to you guys face to face again." he tells us nonchalantly.
"When are you going to see us again anyway?" I ask curiously as I unbuckle my seatbelt.
"How about now?" he asks, and then the line went dead.
Randy and I look at each other curiously, wondering what Adam meant by that. That's when we hear a car door slam shut and then a tapping noise. We turn to the driver's side window to see Adam standing there waving at us with a big smile on his face and his cell phone in hand.
"Surprise!" he yells out as he outstretches his arms into the sunlight.
"Hey man!" Randy says in complete surprise as he shuts off the Hummer's engine and climbs out the car. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Well that's a nice way to great your old teammate." Adam says sarcastically, earning him a playful punch to the chest.
"It's seriously good to see you again man, but the thing is, I never expected that the next time I would see you again would be at a service station in the middle of Texas." Randy says to him as I make my way out the car and over to the two.
"Go figure right? I was actually on my way to Austin when I saw your big old Hummer driving about a mile ahead of me." he tells us with a grin.
"Did you just diss my Hummer?" Randy asks him with a slightly irritated edge in his voice.
"Fords all day Randy, Fords all day. By the way, before I forget, I picked something up for Amanda back when I was in Atlanta." says Adam as he walks to the back of his car.
"For me? What?" I ask, just as a pair of hands cover my eyes from out of nowhere.
"Someone with bright red hair and can execute a killer moonsault!" says the owner of the hands as her voice sounds all too familiar.
"Lita, get your freaking cold hands off my eyes." I say rather bluntly as I shake my head to get her hands off my face.
"My hands aren't that cold! Blame Adam for blasting his A/C the whole dang ride here!" she tells me in defense as she lets me go.
"These good looks of mine got to stay cool babe!" he yells back to her as he walks back over to us, gesturing to his face.
"Don't tell me you two got back together!" says Randy as he placed a hand to his forehead.
"HELL YEAH WE DID!" they reply in unison as they exchanged a kiss.
"What happened to your relationship with Beth?" I ask curiously as I raise an eyebrow.
"I found out the hard way that phoenixes and werewolves do not mix." replies Adam as Lita pat him on the back.
"She burned your sorry ass and kicked you to the curb didn't she?" Randy asked with a smirk as Adam started to scowl.
"Yes she did, and if you mention this to anyone else, I will not hesitate to spear you dammit!" spat Adam as he crossed his arms.
"Watch your back Adam." says Lita as she combed out a few strands of her bright hair.
"I'm not an old man," whines Adam with a scowl as he uncrossed his arms. "Besides, it's getting better."
"I thought you were seeing Punk Lita." says Randy with an inquisitive eye as he looked around at the semi empty parking lot.
"I was, but then I ditched him. He was getting way to serious for my liking." she tells us with a shrug.
"Plus, she couldn't resist the Rated R Superstar for long." replies Adam with a smirk, getting an elbow in the chest in the process.
"I see." replies Randy as he starts to walk over to the service plaza, the rest of us following behind him.
"So, what's up with you two? Why aren't you traveling by tour bus anymore?" asks Lita as she wrapped an arm around mine.
"Hal decided to retire. He dropped us off in St. Louis and drove off into the sunset." I said in my most dramatic voice.
"Aw man; he was a fun guy, but the dude drank way to much Red Bull for my liking." replies Adam as he ran up to Randy and shoved him in the back, making him almost hit his head on a light post.
"You're dead Edge!" called Randy as he began to chase the retired wrestler around the parking lot, Adam laughing like a fool as he was being chased.
"That was for all the RKOs you dealt me over the years!" calls Adam as he yelled over his shoulder, narrowly ducking as Randy almost tackled him to the ground.
"Don't you just miss the good old days?" asks Lita as we walked over to the plaza door.
"Yep, those were fun times. Should we wait for them?" I ask as I place a hand on the door handle.
We looked at each other and then at the guys, still running around the parking lot like two boys playing tag on a playground, except one is really pissed at the other. We turned back to each other with blank stares.
"NAH!" we say in unison as I open the door and we walk inside, leaving the boys to their fun and games. We walk over to a nearby I-HOP, considering the fact it was 9:30 in the morning and neither of us have had breakfast.
"So, what's been going on with you two? Anything happened between you two 'friends' over the last few months?" Lita asks me while making air quotes around the word friends as we are seated at a booth in the far side of the restaurant.
"Actually Amy, if you want to know the truth, me and Randy are actually mates." I tell her as I look through the menu.
"Mates? You mean soul mates? Like two people bound together for life?" she asks me in disbelief as she wildly gestured with her hands.
"When you put it that way, yeah." I tell her bluntly as I look up from the menu. She looks at me blankly before suddenly leaping on me to give me a big old bear hug, her arms instantly starting to crush me.
"Lita, stop it. You're. . . crushing me. Damn . . . werewolf strength." I manage to choke out before she lets me go.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited for you two. It took you two long enough though even after all these years. Do you know how much of the WWE Universe believed you two were an item back then, even though Randy was dating Sam at the time?" By the way, how is Sam?" she asks me curiously as we notice a few of the waiters look over at us.
"She's fine. And so is Alanna if you were wondering." I tell her as we see Randy and Adam both walk through the doors.
"There you guys are! Thanks for waiting by the way!" calls Adam, getting a few glares from some of the other restaurant patrons.
"I see Randy didn't kill you for almost making him hit a light post." I say as they join us in the booth.
"Like he could catch me." says Adam with a smile as he wrapped an arm around Amy.
"I let you win." Randy says with a smirk as he takes a look at the menu.
"Now I fell like an idiot knowing that I didn't win the way I thought I did. So, what have you two sexy ladies been talking about while we men were running around the parking lot like fools?" asks Adam as a waiter walks over to us. We quickly place our orders before Amy and I could speak.
"Don't worry. I got this." replies Amy as she leans into Adam's ear, quickly whispering a few words that make Adam's eyes widen in surprise.
"Way to be a best friend dude!" exclaims Adam as he raised an eyebrow at Randy.
"What?" Randy asks innocently as he tries to hide the smirk on his face, obviously knowing what Lita whispered to Adam.
"Amanda and you are mates for who knows how long and I learn that just now?" he asks us again as he almost pushed the menu off the table, Lita trying not to laugh at his side.
"We've only been mates for a good, what, two, three months now?" asks Randy as he nudges my elbow.
"I think so." I say as I try to recall how long since that night when we finally became mates for the first time.
"Anyway, congrats on that, even though it has taken you two a long, and I mean long, time for this to happen, but we have some news of our own." says Lita with a small smirk as she looked around the booth.
"Does it have something to do with why you two are traveling to Austin?" I ask with an eyebrow raised.
"Yep; things are going to be a little different on Raw starting on Monday." says Edge with a smirk as we saw the waiter walk over with our orders on a platter. (Well, that was quick)
"How so?" asks Randy as he looks at the werewolf couple suspiciously.
"You know how Vickie is technically the Managing Supervisor of Raw and not the official GM?" asked Lita as our orders were set before us.
"Yeah." we respond in unison as we grab our forks.
"Well, for the past few weeks, Vince has been getting tired of Vickie and Brad's antics on the show. So he has decided to hire a real GM." says Adam as he points to himself. Randy almost chokes on his bacon as I look on in surprise when we realize what Adam was getting at.
"You're going to be the new Raw General Manager?" I ask in disbelief as I put my fork down.
"And I'm his beautiful assistant." adds Lita as she gives him a peck on the cheek.
"But I'm going to be fair and impartial, which means no favors for friends." Adam adds as he looks at us with narrowed eyes.
"Well, that sucks." says Randy sarcastically as he coughs up his bacon after narrowly choking on it.
"Sorry!" the two chorus in unison as they shrug at the same time.
"Well, with you two running Raw, it's definitely going to be an, unexpected show." I say as I cut into my pancake.
"Indeed it will be my dear Anaconda," says Adam as he takes a sip of his coffee. "And the first thing I will do when Vickie is fired and I become the new Raw General Manager is to fire that stupid Romanian Sergei. That dude has been on a losing streak ever since his first match against you Randy and after a few weeks, the man has disappeared after the show in St. Louis and hasn't reappeared since."
"I guess you haven't heard then huh?" I ask tiredly as I cross my arms.
"I heard." says Lita as she raised up her hand.
"Heard what?" asks Adam, utterly confused, making Randy shake his head in disbelief.
"You haven't paid that much attention to the company emails huh? You know that storyline with Sergei and these two friends of ours wasn't just part of the script. It was happening in real life too!" replies Lita as she crossed her arms.
"Really?" asks Adam as he turned to us.
"What Lita says is true." says Randy as he went back to eating.
"For our soon to be Raw General Manager, you have been very un attentive to what's been going on for the past few months." I say as I finish up the last of my eggs.
"Damn, I've missed a lot. I need to keep my eyes open more." replies Adam as he goes back to eating his food.
"Also, you won't even have a chance to fire Sergei. Vince says as soon as Sergei even steps foot near the arena, he is going to be instantly fired by him personally. The thing is though we haven't seen him for the past month now. He was last sighted in NYC, but no one has seen him since then. It's like he disappeared from the world, which I definitely don't mind by the way." Randy says as he finishes his plate of food.
"You have got to tell us all about what happened between you three outside of the ring." says Lita a little too animatedly.
"Sure thing." says Randy as he launched into another conversation with the two werewolves. I was about to join in myself, but that's when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and checked my messages, going wide eyed at what I read.
"What's wrong Amanda?" asks Adam as I hear the three stop their conversation, but I don't answer.
"Amanda?" asks Lita as she waves her hand in front of my face.
"Hey!" It only takes a touch on my shoulder from Randy to get me out of my semi shocked state. I look up to see the three with concerned looks on their faces, all wondering what got me spooked all of a sudden.
"See for yourselves." I say with a shaky breath as I hand the phone to Lita. She takes it and begins to read the message out loud.
"Do you really think that I would go away that easily? I'm not done yet. This is just the beginning. You'll see me again soon enough. Sergei" says Lita in utter disbelief as she hands my phone to Adam.
"This is crazy! How does he even know your number?" asks Adam as he hands the phone to Randy.
"I have no idea." I say as I push away my plate, not in the mood to eat anything anymore.
"I don't care about how he got Amanda's number or not, if he ever comes near her, I am so going to kill him." Randy says to us as he hands me back my phone.
"Everybody finished?" asks the waiter as he suddenly walks over to our table a little unsurely.
"I guess so; don't worry, I'll pay this time guys." says Adam as he takes the check from the waiter's hand. He pays for the meals and we all get up from the booth, walking to the door in a really awkward silence. We walk all the way back to Randy's Hummer and Adam's Ford Explorer, but once Adam puts his key into the ignition, his car doesn't start up.
"What's wrong with your Ford dude?" asks Randy as we get settled into our respective seats in his Hummer.
"I think my Ford needs a kick start. Do you have any jumper cables?" asks Adam as he gets out of his car and walks over to the hood.
"There in the back. Let me get them." he says with a sigh as he gets out of the car.
I look out the window at the highway, sighing as I watched the cars pass us by as the boys and Lita worked on restarting Adam's poor Ford. Only one question comes to mind as I contemplate the recent message I got at breakfast.
Where in the world could Sergei be?
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