Chapter 7

"How'd you get detention on your first day?!" Eleanor looked upset but she wasn't the mom to yell. She looked more upset by the fact that she would be known as the foster mom of a detention-eer.

"She got in this wicked cat fight." Bryan took out his cell phone for his mother to see just how wicked it had been.

"Poor girl." She whispered when she saw all of Annakeyla's blood. It took all of my strength not to smile with my victory. "Audrey...why...I don't..."

"It was a...um misunderstanding is all." I said sweetly.

"That doesn't give you the right to do what you did. Don't think that just because I'm a new parent that I'll stand for something like that."

"El--Mrs. Gest, it's not what you think, you don't understand." I tried not to think about how Annakeyla said almost the same thing to me during the fight.

"You're grounded." Her hands dropped onto her lap. She looked tired all of a sudden like out quick--biased--conversation had aged her. "I know you don't know how this family works just yet so I'll give you only a week. You're not allowed out of the house except for school or if I or Mr. Gest accompany you."

"Ma--" Marty started to object but her mother had made up her mind and a mother with a made up mind can be something dangerous. Mother bears for instance, go near their cubs and you're dead. Human mothers are just as stubborn and territorial.

"No, finis. Period. End of story. The end. Come again."

I've been through enough of these conversations to know that I should now walk into my room and let Eleanor cool down. I nodded and turned with my new notebook tucked under my arm.

Mary fallowed me into the room and plopped down onto the bed as I sat on the desk and began to document my day. I went into more details then necessary about my fight. I wrote down all of the information I knew of each creature I encountered over the day. Misty, Annakeyla and Leo. I stapled the schedules into the lined pages which also hand their last names, phone and i.d. numbers on it.

Mary talked to the walls while I worked.

"Mom will cool down don't worry about her. She's just confused and she never really had to deal with any of this with me and Bryan. No offense."

"None taken."

"Anyway..." She yawned like a small pink kitten." I think I'm going to wash my face and stuff..." She dragged her self out of the room and left me in peace--finally.

I pulled the covers over me and set my alarm for twelve o'clock. I kept it on vibrate so I wouldn't wake Mary. My lids were heavy so that they went down almost immediately and my brain shut down. I was asleep.

My hip vibrated and my eyes fluttered open. All the reniments of my previous dream muted along with my alarm as I fumbled for the button to silence it. My eyes were ridden with sleep or lack thereof in my case. I fisted them until I could see again in the amethyst colored room. I checked the sleeping lump in the bed to make sure that my movements hadn't awoken her.

My footsteps were near dead silent as I crept to the place that I hid my suitcase of deadly weapons--the underside of my bed. Fort Knox all the way. I've never been really safe with my weapons because something about them just naturally kept people away. Maybe humans could subconsciously sense all the deaths that these instruments caused. I felt nothing. I strained my eyes since there wasn't any moonlight keeping the dark bottom of my bed lit up like the rest of the room. The moon was almost as bright as the sun in my opinion.

I could see the wall on the other side and a few stray bobby pins which was odd because there should be a big dark object in the middle of me and wall. There wasn't any suitcase. My suitcase was gone. G-o-n-e gone.

Who took it? Who knew I was here? Who knew who I was?

Did Eleanor do it to further the grounding? Maybe she thought it was just shoes. Taking away shoes would be a new punishment. If she had mistaken my death instruments for shoes she was deadly mistaken. I have to find them!

I scanned the house top to bottom without waking up a soul. Nothing. No where. The suitcase wasn't stolen from me by a Gest. Who else? Was this Annakeyla getting back at me? I wouldn't put this behavior past a Poseidon demigoddess. She probably got her sea scum brother to help her get it out my window without anyone noticing.

The monsters better hide well tonight because I wasn't in a very pleasant mood tonight--er--this morning! This is very bad accounting for the way I act around monsters when I'm having a good day.

I threw on my leather jacket and ran out the door. Beats jumping out the window for now. My motorcycle gleamed in the moonlight making it look other worldly. But there was something on its side--a flaw. Duct tape. Duct tape held a screw driver to my bike along with a piece of paper with silver script written on it.

Adriana, it read, I had a friend take your weapons away. If you aren't going to use them respectfully, you don't deserve to wield them. You may keep your motorcycle and knife and I even let you have this charming little screwdriver. Screwdrivers are just fabulous. Keep it. Keep it with you at all times it will be important soon. Happy hunting.

Diana.

I peeled the tape off of my bike and read over the note once more. I folded and put it and the screw driver in my pocket. My body was boiling with anger. Who was this Diana chick anyway? I've never even met a Diana before. Unless it was a monster. Why would a monster help me though? Who knew that I was who I am. This Diana girl could be deadly to my cult. I needed to tell Ryan and Emily but first I needed to kick some undead butt.

The wind felt wonderful on my skin. Since my leather jacket had been jacked by Diana I was only wearing a T-shirt (and pants of course).I didn't feel as cold as I should have but maybe it was because I am already so cold that temperature doesn't really affect me anymore.

I wasn't sure how far I rode but I started seeing Irish pubs, pharmacies and stores flash by. I assumed that I was in New York City now. It smelt like the city. That fabulous smell of garbage left on the sidewalks for the garbage man and that great feel of homeless people trying to sell stolen candy on the corners so they can go and buy weed. Ahhh the city.

My eyes were open and my senses were on hyperactive. It wasn't that difficult to sense an area with a lot of monsters. I saw a few demigods walking on the sidewalk but they seemed harmless and I had a terrible feeling in the gut of my stomach that there was much, much more danger some where else. The demigods would be my hunt on the way back.

A man was taking a picture of an alley way with a big puddle/slush ball in the middle. I raced past him into the alley making his hair fly back. Water sprayed away from my wheels making the urine coated walls splattered.

I got off of my motorcycle by an ordinary purple door that could easily be just some back entrance to a bakery. I had to make sure my instinct were correct. I couldn't just kick down the door and start stabbing people with my screw driver then be arrested. I waited with my motorcycle in the shadows behind a very unappealing smelling dumpster.

My hook was cast now all I had to do was wait for a nibble.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I started doodling in the pavement with my screw driver since I didn't want to damage the blade of my knife. I made a smile face that looked familiar or maybe part of me wanted to find him familiar. I pretended I didn't know what I was talking about. Which I don't. Really.

Finally, like after a good hour of waiting a few...er people came out of the door. Three women with full lips and matching black locks walked by my hiding place. I looked them up and down trying to place the race of the girls. There were gorgeous which means they just had to be creatures. My eyes washed over the younger looking girl's white shirt and found a small red dot that many people wouldn't have been able to detect but with my hunting it was like a big red siren. Re-roo, re-roo, lamia, lamia. Vampires, as most humans call them now. The heavy pounding of the base behind the purple door kept my foot steps undetectable to the vampires. I gripped my screwdriver with my left hand and my knife in my right. I was freaking Bob the Builder on steroids.

I slashed the first girl's neck and she dustified before they even knew that I was there. The girl managed a scream of warning before she was gone which the other two picked up on instantly. The taller girl with a more prominent chin bared her long shark like teeth. I bared mine right back at her and might even managed a growl to her hiss. Her eyes were steadily watching my neck instead of my eyes as she went at me with manicured claws. Her hand came down on my chest--which if I had my impenetrable leather jacket wouldn't have been a problem but Diana took it. There was a lot of blood coming out of me, staining my shirt.

"Bitch, that was sixty bucks!" I pulled my hand away which was thick with crimson red blood on my fingers.

The second girl grabbed me from behind as the first one went for my blood. I stabbed backwards with my screwdriver getting her in the diaphragm and plunged my knife into the other's heart as her teeth were about to break my skin. Sand coated me head to foot and I was covered in my blood. I had a job to do though. I ignored my pain and opened the compartment in my motorcycle that--thankfully--had three jars of Greek fire left.

I balanced the jars under my arm and gripped my dagger with my ring showing. Diana had left me my black bandana as well which I tied around my face quickly so that all the pursuer could see is my silver eyes and hair that was thrown into a pony tail because I was in new territory. Keeping myself protected and keeping the jars from falling on the floor at the wrong places.

I slowly opened the purple door on a bar with live music and dancing only they were serving shots of human blood. Lamia, dracaenae and underworld nymphs didn't even pay me any attention. They were too high on the life force that human blood supplies to be aware of anything outside their own mind. It was what I imagined monsters looked like when they were drunk and it was quite amusing. Well if I wasn't trying to kill them and all I might have laughed and enjoyed myself as well.

The bass pounded into my stomach making me feel slightly queasy. The bar was circular in the middle of the dark lit room. There were no windows or doors apart from the purple one I entered through. I stabbed a few monster as I made my way to the back of the room. A few of the monsters applauded and slurred their words thinking that the exploding vampires were their entertainment for the night.

"Fire works!" One guy clapped his bloody hands together then I stabbed him.

The first fire I threw against a wall in the back of the room and ran back through the crowd, carefully stepping over the mounds of the sand. I was already covered in enough sand as it was: I didn't need more on my favorite black leather boots. I planted the next fire near the door so it would make for a difficult escape. Okay.

Now for the difficult part. I knew that the quickest way to burn down the bar was to set the alcohol on fire it would result in an instant explosion. Now the difficult part was getting me out of the room. I didn't really think about it anymore. I acted on and impulse and sprinted at the bar chucking the Greek fire at the big supply of alcohol in the center. I didn't even bother to look if I made my mark. I always make my mark. I just ran out of there as fast as I could.

I ducked behind the dumpster waiting for the flames to become great and threaten even me. I heard hissing noises from the angry monsters inside, a few were clapping too until it was their turn to blow up as well. There was a big explosion alerting me that I had met my mark. The purple door was blown against the opposite wall with a loud clatter which barely drowned out the sound of popping noises. It was like popcorn as all the monsters turned back into the sand of which they came.

I crouched behind my dumpster with my screw driver and knife ready for any of the monster to come out screaming with rage. There was no need to do so. No one came out. I smiled and dialed 9-1-1 while humming Strawberry Swing to myself. The fire needed to be put out before it could spread to any of the other neighboring facilities.

"Hello." I said pleasantly like I was calling the fire department to ask them if they would like to have tea with me later on. "We need fire trucks."

Sirens echoed in the night as the fire trucks approached quickly as they could. Two large engines and a few police cars showed up when the Greek fire had died out and turned to regular mortal fire.

I watched the fire engines fight to put out the fire quickly from across the street. Fire men rushed into the fire on their commanders orders hoping to find survivors but all they found was a whole lot of sand. I sat on the steps of a jewelry store drinking some Coke so I wouldn't fall asleep. Reporters came not a second after the fire was completely out. They held microphones to the firemen and the owners of the buildings asking about what happened. The reporters looked tired and so did the firemen. I felt bad for lighting the fire at such an inconvenient time of night I knew that I sure was tired. I needed another Coke.

There was a a soda machine across the street where I got my first soda so I waltzed over there and the reporters ignored me like the young teenager I was. I passed the fire chief giving and interview. He spoke about the sand and used the word "odd" a lot. Like about the "odd little girl who called" or how "odd it was that there was sand on the floor" or how "oddly the fire had occurred." I didn't care I grabbed my Coke and took my motorcycle from where I hid it. I was on my way home. Finally.

I collapsed on my bed.

"Huh." My eyes gradually--no that's the wrong word they were like the freaking titanic when hit the ice berg—they were down. And I was asleep for a good...hour or so before I had to wake up again. Looks like I get to go through school and detention with only three hours of sleep. Ask anyone I'm very crabby when I don't get a lot of sleep. Gods help Annakeyla.