Chapter 16

Strike 3

Jez was walking to the graduation rehearsal dinner with Airiana. Airiana was in her singlet, jeans and sandals. Her hair was out and flowing. Jez just wore her jeans, leather jacket and boots.

"Morgead is a lot like Triston. But I can't put my finger on it. I don't know what they have in common." Jez said.

"They're both assholes." Airiana answered and shrugged.

Jez chuckled. "Morgead seems to really like Triston. Like he's known him for longer than he has."

"I don't know...Triston seems kind of fake."

"What, like he's showing off or..."

"No. Like, it's not him. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel real." Airiana sighed.

Jez just looked at her. Just looked.

Airiana gold eyes returned her stare. The gold seemed so unnatural. It didn't belong in the eyes of Airiana Lovett.

The rehearsal dinner was formal. There was no food, no awards, but there were drinks.

"I'll go get the drinks, you meet me at the basketball courts." Jez instructed.

Airiana smiled and nodded.

She watched Jez walk towards the soda stand and then turned.

She walked to the basketball courts. She pushed open two wooden doors with a metalbar handle and stepped in. The Lights were off, but the moon shone in. She inhaled the sporty scent and felt a little at ease. Until she saw the moon. She focused on it. It looked miserable, unforgiving and...full. Shit! It was a full moon. Behind her, the doors creaked to a close. She looked at them, begging them to swing back open and allow Jez to step through laughing. But she didn't hear laughter. She heard footsteps and low growls coming from under the bleachers and directed at her.

She turned slowly to see a lycan, Cretus, stepping out from the shadows of the bleachers.

"Strike three." He growled. "You were warned."

Next thing she knew, he was lunging at her, claws extended.

As Cretus tackled her to the ground he used four claws to slash across her stomach. Airiana cried out in pain as the four gashes bled out and she thuded to the ground.

Cretus gripped her throat and exclaimed. "You think you can use angels to win! Well newsflash...that angel of yours is pissweak! He's nothing! I am not afraid of him!" Cretus scratched her cheek and let her fall to the ground. She got on all fours, about to weakly stand. He kicked her stomach and she was jolted back to the ground. He gripped her arms and threw her up against the wall next to the door. As Cretus grabbed her arms, his claws tore down her arms. She took her chance. She jumped at the door and began to run out. She felt her feet slip up as Cretus tried to pull her back. She gripped the bottom of the door and held on tight. She began to crawl out a little further, using her elbows to keep her where she was. It felt like her legs were about to be torn off. But then Jez rounded the corner cheerfully.

"JEZ!" Airiana yelled. Jez saw her bloody and struggling and dropped the cups and ran towards her. She almost made it in time but Cretus finally dragged Airiana in and slammed the door shut and locked it.

Jez tried to shove the door open but it wouldn't budge, she could hear Morgead calling her name.

"MORGEAD! HELP ME!" Jez cried.

The next minute, Morgead was around the corner and jogging towards her.

"What's going on?" Morgead exclaimed.

"SHE'S IN THERE! AIRIANA'S IN THERE WITH THAT THING!" Jez cried. She was rubbing her head with stress as Morgead tried to bust down the door.

Cretus grabbed Airiana's ankle and flung her across the room again. She rolled and slid to a stop.

"Who said you could escape!" Cretus exclaimed.

He got real close to Airiana's face. "Your going die tonight."

He gripped both arms and compacted them closely together. He then lifted her into the air and threw her back to the ground, her head cracking against the wood.

Just then, the door crashed open and Cretus quickly dived out the window and out of sight.

All Morgead saw was a black figure crash through the window, glass flying everywhere.

Cameron ran in and quickly bent down next to Airiana's bloody body, seeing the slashes on her stomach, up her arms, and across her face. She wasn't moving.

"Is she breathing?" He asked.

"I don't know." Morgead bent down closer.

Jez reached out and picked up a fragment of broken glass. She scraped across her palm.

"Jez?" Morgead was just worried. She hed her hands above Airiana and allowed the inner blue fire flow out from her hands.