Chapter 4: Second Encounters
David and his boys jump slightly when Anwyn landed. They weren't expecting her to make an appearance, especially not one so abrupt. Seth sneered, shocked to see her standing there. He and his gang backed up a bit when they recognized her. David and the boy's eyes lit up when they finally recognized who was standing near them. David glared at Anwyn for a moment, shocked to see her standing so close to him. "It's her! Of all places…." The boys just stared at her, still dumbfounded by what they witnessed the previous night. Staring at Seth, Anwyn flashed a smile.
"Haven't you guys got your asses kicked enough already? Let the kid go". Deciding that the blonde and his gang weren't in the wrong, Anwyn walked over and stood between David and Dwayne, signaling that she was on their side.
"This doesn't concern you little girl. Go home unless you want to go for round two". Even the bikers were surprised that Seth had enough guts to threaten this girl. After what happened the other night, Seth's gang was hesitant to wait around to see the outcome. As Anwyn processed Seth's words, she couldn't help but burst into laughter. Even David couldn't help but smile at the comment.
"Round two? Are you serious"? Looking over at David, Anwyn pointed her finger at Seth, "Is he serious? I'll tell you what, hand the boy over and walk away or we can go for round two". Anwyn stretched out her arms towards the sky and stretched her back. "I could use the exercise". Seth glared at her. Deciding that he was finally going to get revenge from last night's humiliating defeat, Seth turned and looked at his boys.
"Kill her first and then take care of the rest". The boys surrounding Seth did as they were told. David looked over at Anwyn.
"Why are you helping us? This isn't your concern".
"Hi to you too".
"Uh….hi. Why are you helping us again"?
"Let's just say I can never resist an opportunity to put guys like that in his place". Nodding with a smile on his face, David turned to the boys,
"Let's take care of this boys".
"Wait"! Anwyn pushed her arms out, signaling them to halt. With an unamused look on her face, she glared at the approaching gang, "They're mine". Not removing her gaze from Seth, Anwyn unlatched her necklace. With one swift motion, Anwyn shot her hand out and held it in front of David. "Hold this", commanded Anwyn. Reaching out and grabbing the object, David looked down in his hand. Running his fingers over the round amulet, David stared at the carvings trying to make sense of them. Amused by her shear cockiness, David took the necklace and signaled for the boys to back down. All of them had a perplexed look on their face.
"There's no way you can take all five of these guys at once", David said. An amused look swept across Anwyn's face.
"Well, then you're about to see something really special". Intrigued to find out what was going to happen, David and the boys moved to the sidelines.
"David, we're not actually gonna let this girl take these guys on for us, are we? After all she's got nothing to do with this. She's going to need help", Paul said. Marko and Dwayne nodded in agreement.
"I got a sneaking suspicion she's not gonna need any help", David said with a bit of confidence in his voice. Anwyn moved forward as the first guy reached out to grab her. Moving her arms in a circular motion, Anwyn blasted an air current sending her flying in the air. She came down and blasted the guy several feet back, knocking him unconscious as he hit the ground. David and the boys were stunned.
"You just flew ten feet in the air. How the hell...?" shouted Marko.
"Ten feet?" Anwyn questioned while maneuvering around the gang members. "Weird….felt higher than that", Anwyn joked as she turned around to mouth "one" while putting up one finger. Seeing his comrade down, another biker struck out against Anwyn. Conjuring up water from the ocean, Anwyn swirled it in a circle. Turning her body, Anwyn shot her right arm straight towards the approaching gang member's face. The water around her hand shot off and encased his head in a sheet of ice. Taking both of her arms and swiftly pulling them downward towards her sides, the ice shattered, knocking the guy out cold. Anwyn smiled and looked over at the dumbfound boys. She mouthed "two" while putting up two fingers. David just smiled at her. The rest of the boys looked at her in awe. The last two remaining gang members, minus their leader, ran towards Anwyn. Commanding the sand to loosen around their feet, they were slowly encased in a tomb of earth. Almost to their necks in sand, Anwyn then stomped her foot into the ground, causing them to shoot straight up. Taking a more firm stance, Anwyn took her arm and jabbed if forward, launching a nearby rock straight towards them. Slamming into both of the boys, they went flying back. Only the nearby side of cliff stopped them. Looking over at David, she then mouthed three and four as she displayed the appropriate number of fingers. "They're making this is way too easy for me", Anwyn said to herself. Standing with both hands behind her back, Anwyn stood there facing the fire. She lifted her arms and then shot them straight down, clearing all the dust and sand that was floating in the air. The beach was silent. Only Seth was left standing. Glaring at Anwyn from across the bon fire, he stood there contemplating his next move.
"Go on. I'll give you the first shot", Anwyn said confidently. Seth, so enraged that his gang had been defeated by a mere girl, ran towards her. Bending down, Anwyn spread her arms apart, ripping the earth open. Taking her hand and lifting it upwards, Anwyn started to draw lava, seemingly out of nowhere. Witnessing the kind of power, Seth realized that he wasn't going to win this fight. Gathering the remaining conscious and unconscious members of his gang, they retreated. Anwyn pulled her fists together and closed the earth, coming back to her "center". David and the boys didn't move. They just stared at her in disbelief of what they just witnessed. Anwyn walked over to Laddie.
"Are you ok kid?" she asked while untying the rope that bound him.
"I'm ok now. Thanks for helping me".
"No worries". Finally freeing him from the rope, Laddie jumped up, hugged Anwyn then ran towards the dark haired one. David walked up to Anwyn with the boys not too far behind her.
"I'll take my necklace back now", Anwyn said while gesturing with her hand. Not being able to conjure up words, David reached into his pocket and pulled out her necklace, placing it in her hand. Flipping her hair, Anwyn reattached her necklace. After it was securely fastened, Anwyn flipped her head back up.
"That was five, by the way", she said while dusting her clothes off.
"What?" David said rather confused.
"I believe that was all five. I think you owe me an apology", she said with a smile on her face. A small smile flashed across David's face. Her sheer arrogance alone amused David."You guys need to watch him more closely", Anwyn lectured. "He's just a little kid. He could have gotten killed". The boys didn't know what to say. Satisfied that the boy was now safe, Anwyn turned to the gang, "Well, hate to love you and leave you but I have to go". Anwyn bent down to pick-up her belongings. As she started to walk away, David shouted at her.
"Wait! Do we at least get to know your name this time? We didn't even get a chance to thank you". Anwyn didn't respond rather she walked away as fast as possible. She was already starting to get a slight attachment to them and Anwyn knew how dangerous that could be. She didn't want to run the risk. Paul stared over at David who was watching the Anwyn disappear into the night, once again.
"Are you going to let her go now? She's already blown us off twice".
"No chance in hell. I'm at least going to get her name. Laddie, head back to the cave. Come on boys….we're going hunting". With that the boys followed their leader into the night.
Anwyn made her way out of the town into a more secluded suburban area. Walking along a dirt road, she came upon rail road tracks. Hoping up and balancing herself as she walked along the rail, Anwyn came to a bridge. As she was about to air bend her way up to the top, Anwyn's seismic sense kicked in. "Well…..look who it is", she muttered to herself. Shifting her feet slightly, Anwyn stomped her foot into the ground causing a shock wave of earth to shoot out towards the wooded area. Moments later, Anwyn heard screaming and one-by-one each boy dropped in front of her. Air bending her way to a high part of the bridge, Anwyn looked down at the boys, who were regaining their composure. "Why are you guys following me"?
"Damn…chill out girl. It's not like we were going to hurt you", Paul said while rubbing his lower back.
"Pfffttt…as if you could. That doesn't answer my question though. Why are you guys following me"?
"We just wanted to catch up with you. You saved Laddie and we're grateful. We at least wanted to get your name", David replied.
"Do you guys always creepily stalk girls in the middle of the night"? All the boys turned and glared at each other. Smiles started to form on their faces. Anwyn just stared at them, unaware of the inside joke.
"Yeah, usually but we normally only stalk the helpless ones", Marko said, with a slight but not really tone of humor in his voice.
"That's really creepy…..you know that, right"?
"Are you planning on coming down or what"?
"Don't know. Not sure I can trust you".
"Didn't you just say that we couldn't hurt you? If that's true, then what are you afraid of"? Anwyn stared at Dwayne for a minute. He was right. It's not like she couldn't take these boys out either. With a halfcocked smile on her face, Anwyn air bent down, slamming into the ground inches away from the boys. Standing up, Anwyn was inches away from David's face.
"What do you guys want"?
"We'll settle for your name".
"It's Anwyn".
"That's an unusual name".
"I'm an unusual person. So, who are all of you"?
"I believe you. I'm David and these are my brothers".
"I'm Paul and this is Marko", the long haired blonde said while punching the short curly haired one.
"And I'm Dwayne", said the tall dark haired one.
"Brothers, uh"? Glancing at all of them, Anwyn didn't see much resemblance between them. "You guys don't look alike at all". David chuckled at her comment.
"We're brothers by association".
"If you say so".
"So what are you doing out here all by yourself. Don't you know it can be dangerous out here? There are vampires that roam the area". Anwyn stared at David with an amused look on his face.
"Vampires? Uh sweetie I think they're just legend. Besides even if they weren't, I'm not particularly worried. Besides stalking me, what are you guys doing out here? Aren't you afraid of these vampires"? A wicked smile formed on the boy's faces.
"Afraid? Never. I think they're afraid of us".
"Oh, I'm sure they are…"
"Besides you just happen to be in one of our favorite spots". Anywn looked around. Besides a tree line and a rail road track that crossed over a bridge, there was nothing of interest out here.
"Really? There's nothing out here though".
"We like playing games. Want to play a game with us"? Although Anwyn was still really cautious around the boys, she couldn't resist when it came to having some fun.
"What kind of game"?
"We like hanging off the bridge".
"Ok….what"?
"We'll show you". David shifted his head and looked at Marko. "Marko"? With a kiddish smile on his face, Marco turned to Anwyn and waved.
"Bye Anwyn" was all Marko said as he jumped off the bridge and clung to a barbed wire below. Anwyn just glared at him like he was completely mad. One-by-one the rest of the boys followed, David being the last to jump. Glancing down from above, Anwyn watched as all four boys clung to the bridge from below. David glanced up and saw Anwyn staring them down.
"Come join us Anwyn….unless you're afraid of course".
"Pfftttt….you guys are amateurs". Anwyn stood up and took a couple of steps back. Taking off running Anwyn lept off the bridge and dropped past the boys, disappearing into the mist below. All the boys' eye's widened; shocked at what she just did.
"What the hell?", shouted Paul. "She's fucking crazy"! Unsure of what to do, all the boys lept up from their hanging spots and made their way back up to ground level with the bridge. Glancing back down the boys started screaming her name.
"Anwyn"!
"What"? At the sound of her voice, all the boys whipped their heads around to see Anwyn standing behind them, curious as to why they were panicking so much.
"Wait? What the hell….how did you….", where the only words David could conjure up after trying to make sense of what happened. Dwayne felt the need to step since David was obviously at a loss for words.
"Are you fucking crazy"?
"Possibly", Anwyn said with a slight smile on her face. "Why do you ask"?
"Uh…I don't know. Probably because you lept of a bridge blind. You could have killed yourself". Dwayne's words amused Anwyn. "Kill myself", she thought to herself….."If they only knew". "Yeah sure….you're absolutely right. I should be more careful next time. Thanks for the tip", Anwyn replied, rolling her eyes. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys…..again and freaking you guys out was fun. We should do that again sometime. I must be going though".
"Are you sure you can't stay and hang out? That was an impressive display on the beach and…well whatever the hell that was a moment ago, I'm guessing you're not a local". Anwyn had a somber smile on her face. After she revealed her abilities, it would be hard to pretend to fit in now.
"Whatever gave you that impression", she said with laughter in her voice. Still staring into her eyes, David directed his attention towards Marko.
"Marko! Go get food. We'll take it to go". Marko did as he was told. Mounting his bike that was hidden within the tree line, he head back into town. "Want to join us"? Anwyn glared at the boys that were staring at her. Anwyn wasn't afraid of anything. In fact, she was always down for an adventure. Even with all her confidence though, Anwyn still aired on the side of caution. However, after that round of exercise, she decided that having a little fun is just what the doctor ordered. Weighing her options, Anwyn decided to accept David's offer.
"Sure, I'll go with you…..under a couple of conditions", she said with a rather sly look on her face.
"Name them", David said curiously while crossing his arms.
"First, I choose who I ride with".
"Ok….".
"Second, glancing around at the remaining boys, if any of you try to pull anything…..I'll set you on fire".
"Ok", David chuckled, throwing both of his hand into the air like he was surrendering. "Fair enough".
"And third"… glancing over and saw that Marko had returned with a bag….."I get first dibs on whatever is in that bag". A humorous grin swept across David's face,
"Deal". Anwyn paused for a minute just to make sure that David was sincere. Once she had determined that neither he nor the others were going to pose a threat, she reached down and grabbed her bag. Flinging it over her head, Anwyn bent down for her staff. Staring back up at the boys, Anwyn smiled, "I'm ready to go". All of them simultaneously reached their hand out to her, offering Anwyn a ride. Anwyn was somewhat flattered but after locking her eyes onto David's, Anwyn reached out and grabbed his. David pulled Anwyn on the bike and before she could get situated, they drove off into the night.