A/N: A special thanks goes to Melissa(Guest) for the wonderful review. I'm really glad that you all seem to be enjoying this little story of mine. Onto number six. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 6:
Deadly Rain
We were on the road again. A lot was on our minds. I could feel Adam's mind swirling with chaos, which only could be expected considering that we had just figured out that we had the same days lost in our memory. He wasn't wrong when he said that it couldn't have been a coincidence. It was probably intentional; but that only begged the question, why would someone take away our memories for those days? What happened?
We had just crossed the Virginia border and we're now in North Carolina. The oceanaire got my legs all tingly with the urge to change into my mermaid form. The wind was blowing through my hair and despite everything going on, I could still find myself smiling at the simple things.
"I suppose the ocean is calling." Adam commented, taking a short glance in my direction.
"Something like that; but I can control the urges." I answered, trying to keep my voice steady.
"So what is the plan? How far do we keep going? We can't keep going in circles, they will eventually find us."
He wasn't wrong. They would eventually find us no matter where we went. I was just hoping that my dreams would give me some kind of direction of where we needed to go. Adam pulled into a gas station and stopped right next to the pump. I immediately opened the car door to get some fresh air.
The breeze was heavenly on my skin. Opening the trunk, I rummaged through my purse and found my credit card. We walked inside the small surplus store and got a few things to keep us going for the rest of the drive.
"I really need some booze. My brain is fried." Adam commented walking around the coolers towards the alcohol section.
"Get something if you want it. None of this is going to be easy."
I watched him open one of the glass doors and pull out a six-pack of Corona and a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. Grabbing a bottle of Coca-Cola and a bottle of light blue gatorade out of two different coolers, I was set for a little while.
We walked up to the counter and placed all of our items down for the cashier to scan them. The lady behind the counter smiled at us cheerfully. "Is this everything for you guys?" She asked.
"No, twenty-five on pump three also." I answered.
"Alright, you total is 44.78."
I placed my card inside the machine and waited for it to do its job. It beeped, indicating that I had been approved for the purchase. The receipt printed and the lady handed me the piece of paper. "Have a great day."
"You too…"
Adam took a hold of the paper bag of alcohol and I took hold of the other drinks. Once we made it back outside, he placed the paper bag in the backseat and started to pump the gas into my car. "Are you okay?" I asked, realizing that he wasn't telling me everything inside his head.
"I just never imagined my life to be like this. I never imagined what I know to be real...is real."
The pump clicked off and he turned to put it back on the handle. We silently got back inside my car. I knew that I had ruined his life by showing up in that bar. My world had consumed him and it was about to swallow him whole.
He slowly made his way back out onto the freeway. My hands clenched together across my lap, biting down on my bottom lip. "I am sorry that I brought all this upon you. It's not fair to you."
"No need to apologize. It wasn't your fault at all. I just didn't expect any of this."
Once again, he fell silent. I didn't want to push for him to talk if he didn't want to. Upon driving up a hill, I could see dark clouds circle the sky ominously. They weren't caused naturally. Those were intentional, created by magic. The rain began to pour and pound against the windshield.
Traffic was starting to become less and less as people hurried off the bridge. Adam slowed down his driving cautiously. I'm sure people thought we were crazy for driving head on into the eye of the storm. Except, what people didn't know, was that this storm was created by some angry creatures beyond their knowledge.
"Just a little further, I can feel whoever is doing this a little beyond the exit of the bridge." I told Adam.
Saying nothing, he simply nodded his head to let me know that he had heard what I said. Two vehicles had collided with one another, blocking our exit of the bridge. Opening the car door, I stood outside in the pouring rain. "Alayna! What are you doing?" Adam shouted from inside the car.
"Stay here. I'm going to deal with this myself." I said, shutting the door behind me.
Walking forward, I closed my eyes allowing my other senses to take over. After crossing the threshold of the asphalt that seperated the road from the bridge, I stopped walking. An echoed laugh caressed my ear. Just by the sound, I knew exactly what I was dealing with. This was not personel from that hell mansion. This was a collector looking for money by dragging me back to Vermont.
Swiftly jumping over the parked vehicles, trying to wait the storm out, I finally made it to where my adversary was standing. There was a woman standing there. She had long ebony hair and piercing red eyes. Her arms were merged with feathers that would allow her to fly. Another laugh echoed across the sky, distracting me from my thoughts.
"You will be a wonderful payday, my dear." She cooed.
"Yeah, that's not happening." I answered nonchalantly.
She automatically narrowed her eyes at my response. The claws on her hands clicked together, making me cringe at the sound. There was no doubt in my mind that the woman in front of me was a Harpy.
Lunging straight at me, I caught her claws with my hands. Physical power wasn't on their side as a species; however, their speed was not matched by many creatures in the world. Twisting back on her wrists, I pulled her forward kicking her straight in the abdomen before lifting up with my knee to catch her under the jaw.
"Behind you!" Adam's voice shouted from inside my head.
I turned just in time to block the claws of yet another Harpy. This woman had bright red hair and black as coal eyes. She seemed much older than the first one who attacked me. Hearing the other swoop in from behind, I ducked quickly to avoid contact. The two Harpies connected with each other.
A smile tugged at my lips. I was amused by their efforts to capture me. I wanted to look down to see Adam; but I didn't want to draw attention to him. "Stay hidden." I warned him from inside my mind.
"What are they?" He asked.
"Harpies."
He remained silent. I'm sure he was surprised to hear that name. The two women got back to their feet and without hesitation started to fly in on my location. Sliding down on my knees across the wet concrete, I managed to avoid contact while pulling at their feathers to slam down on that same concrete.
"You two are starting to piss me off." I stated, getting back to a standing position.
Once again, they got back up. They seperated, trying to circle me as if I was prey. Holding my hands out, the rain that was pouring down from the sky just became my weapon. Lowering the temperature, the water droplets started to freeze. The shards of ice circled my hands clockwise.
I spun counter-clockwise, releasing the shard of ice from my hands. Each one was like a bullet from a gun, ripping through their flesh upon impact. Both women fell off the edge of the building we had been fighting upon.
Jumping down from the building myself, I could see both women were in a heap motionless at my feet. Adam was standing about ten feet away. Rain had soaked him to the bone. Regardless, I was glad that he hadn't been caught in the crossfire this time. "You're bleeding." He commented, closing the distance between us.
I looked down at my left arm, it was dripping with crimson fluid. Being caught up in the fight, I hadn't realized one of them had got me with a claw or two. He moved to touch my waist, eyeing me up and down for more injuries. The feeling of his touch on my skin was electric and beyond all logic, I enjoyed the feeling. I was starting to care about this man more than I should.
"Looks like just a small gash on your upper arm, nothing else I can see." He determined, taking a step back away from me.
"Come on, let's get going. The storm is letting up."
We walked quickly back to where the car was parked. I reached in to grab the napkins that were in the glovebox to start clearing away the blood off my arm. Adam put the car in drive and drove out around the collided vehicles in front of us. We were on our way again.
"I thought Harpies were good, helpers of the greek gods. If my memory of greek mythology is right." Adam questioned, as he turned the wheel to switch lanes.
"They only listen to Zeus; but there was no proof of that either. I've always known them to be selfish creatures only out for themselves."
"Are you implying that the gods are real too?"
"No, I'm not implying that. I honestly have no idea if they are real or not. No one has seen any of them. If they are, they are damn good at keeping themselves hidden."
"I swear I'm going to have to do some reading on all this mythical creature stuff. I'm so fucking lost right now, it's not even funny."
Smiling, I leaned across the center console and placed my lips on his cheek. For once in my life, I was content with how things were going and it was all because of Adam. He smiled in return, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before returning it to the steering wheel.