Chapter 85: Trouble in the Mall

Normal POV; the next day

"Have I ever told you that I had a dream of us on our honeymoon?"

"No, you haven't," Amanda said with an intrigued look on her face. She stared up at the Viper to see him with a thoughtful look on his face, his eyes looking far away as he held his mate in his arms. "Mind telling me about it?"

"Well, I had it just yesterday, right before I woke up to see you watching old wrestling videos of me," said the Viper as the couple looked out at the scene before them. They were currently sitting on a bench under a large tree, waiting for Nate and Alanna to come back from whatever amusement park attraction they wanted to ride on, or more specifically, what Alanna wanted to ride on. It was the Orton girl's idea for the group to go on a family excursion to an amusement park, and Randy decided to not deny his eldest daughter her fun. She had asked each of the adults to go with her on the rides as soon as they arrived and it was currently Nate's turn. So while he let Alanna drag him to any ride that was age appropriate for her, the snake couple enjoyed their little alone time with their two youngest daughters. "It was just you and me, sitting on a veranda enjoying the view around us . . ."

"You're not going to give me any details on the scenery are you?" Amanda asked him with a pout on her face as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"That's right. I've told you before that I was going to keep the honeymoon details an absolute secret from you until it's time for us to actually go on our trip, and I'm going to keep my word," Randy said with a smirk as he gently pushed the stroller back and forth, practically rocking the twins back to sleep. "And nothing you do will make me give up any details."

"It's nice to see that you are very adamant in keeping to your word," Amanda said with a chuckle as she heard cameras flashing from all around them. "And it's nice to know that the WWE Universe continues to follow us everywhere with their cameras in hand."

"Do you want me to scare them away?" Randy asked with a small smirk on his face. "My Viper glare has proven itself effective in scaring away annoying fans that want to sneak a photo in here and there. Just give me the order and I'll do my thing."

"Nah, that's not necessary Ran," Amanda said with a chuckle. "Besides, it's not every day a wrestling fan gets their chance to take a photo of two known wrestlers without needing to pay an entrance fee or something."

"I never realized you were so giving," Randy said with a smirk on his face as he wrapped his arm around her slender waist. "Motherhood must really be affecting your brain missy."

"I know . . . It's so weird," Amanda spoke into his shoulder as she hid her face from view. "I can't believe motherhood has affected me this much. In the past, I would usually make decisions in a snap, just like that, but now, with every decision I make, I always put the girls into consideration."

"And that's a sign that shows people that you are a good mother," Randy said confidently as he pecked her forehead. "See, you're fitting into the role just fine."

"Yeah . . . But I think this is the easy stage right now, if such a thing exists in parenthood," Amanda said as she waved at the twins. "Motherhood will really test me when these two get older."

". . . Especially when they reach their teenage years," Randy said in reluctant agreement as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his other hand. "I'm not going to look forward to those years."

"To be honest, neither am I," Amanda said with a shake of her head as she began playing around with Gabi's foot, gaining a small laugh from her in the process. "Who knows what these two will be capable of when they're older?"

"These two? Who knows what Alanna's capable of when she's in her teenage years?" Randy asked back as a slightly spooked expression appeared across his face.

"Are you really that scared of the thought of Alanna being a teenager?" Amanda asked with an eyebrow raised. Randy shot her a disbelieving look, which only made her smile at him in return. "I never realized the big bad Viper could be so scared of the thought of his eldest child in her teenage years."

"Well believe it 'Manda . . . Please don't mention this to Alanna. She would use this against me for years." the Viper quickly said as they spotted Alanna and Nate walking up from down the walkway.

"Don't worry . . . Your secret is safe with me," Amanda said as she pantomimed her lips being zipped shut. "Hey, there you two are! Did you guys have fun at the teacups?"

"Yes! We did!" Alanna exclaimed as the two jogged over to them. "I think Uncle Nate had more fun than me on that ride, to be honest!"

"Hey! I thought we would keep that between the both of us!" Nate said in shock as he shot Alanna a betrayed look. "They don't need to know."

"Hey! When you start squealing like a little kid more than an actual little kid does, it deserves to be shared," Alanna said with a strong nod of her head. "You were the loudest one on the ride Uncle Nate! You can't deny it."

"Since Amanda and your father weren't there to hear me yell my heart out, we can just leave it up for debate," Nate said as he looked away from the group. "So, are we all ready to go now?"

"That depends," said Randy as he turned to his little blonde child. "Alanna, are you ready to leave, or do you want to go on some more rides?"

"I'm good for the day . . ." Alanna said with a shrug. "I think I've rode on practically every ride that would actually allow me to go on it, except for the one roller coaster."

"Alanna, you are both too young and too short for the Dominator," Amanda reminded her with a shake of her head. "That's ride is for anyone aged 16 and older, that are at least 5'7."

"Curse those stupid age and height restrictions!" the little girl grumbled before looking up to her dad and his mate. "But those restrictions definitely didn't stop you two from going on it."

"When you're well into your 30s and taller than six feet, you got to take advantage," Randy said with a small smirk on his face. "Plus, the ride just looked way too awesome to pass up."

"I wanted to pass it up, but you insisted on dragging me along for the ride!" Amanda said accusingly to her man as he shot him a narrowed eyed look. "Even when I was telling you no, you still kept dragging me along!"

"C'mon, I figured one simple roller coaster ride would be a nice change of pace. Plus, you were screaming your head off as much as I was throughout the whole ride," Randy said playfully as he let her go and got up from his seat. "You liked going on that ride. Don't deny it.

"Okay . . . So the ride was a lot of fun," Amanda reluctantly admitted as she too got up. "Let's go home!"

"Wait! Can we not go home yet?" Nate asked as he scratched the back of his neck. "I actually want to do something first before we head back."

"Do you want to ride the teacups again?" Randy asked his brother bluntly as the group started to make their way toward the exit. "It's okay if you want to, but I will make fun of you for it for the rest of this vacation."

"It's not that, and it's nice to know what you would have done if I did indeed wanted to get in one more ride on the teacups dear brother," said Nate as he sent a scowl Randy's way. "I was just hoping we could stop at a mall before we head back. I want to get my souvenir shopping done now, rather than wait till we have to head back to the airport. For some reason, souvenirs you buy at airports tend to be much more expensive than the ones you buy at other places."

"I think Nate makes a good point Randy," Amanda said as she pushed the stroller along. "We're probably better off buying souvenirs now rather than later."

"Alright, alright . . . We'll stop at a mall on the way home," Randy said in surrender as he shook his head. "Are you guys happy now?"

"Very!" Amanda and Nate somehow said in unison. Randy let a small chuckle escape past his lips at that one as he led the group toward the parking lot. Once they were all in the car, Randy drove them out of the lot and over to the nearest mall, which was only a half hour away. Once they were parked, the clan made their way into the building. As soon as they stepped inside the building, Nate made a beeline away from the rest of the group.

"So much for looking for souvenirs together . . ." Amanda mumbled with a shake of her head as they watched Nate disappear into the crowd.

"Maybe he wants to keep his souvenirs a secret or something," Alanna suggested as the group began to walk into the opposite direction Nate went off to. "Maybe he wants it to be a surprise?"

"I don't know about that Alanna . . ." Randy said with a shake of his head, his eyes narrowing when he noticed that his daughter was starting to squirm in place. "Alanna, why are you squirming all of a sudden?"

"Hehe . . . I have to use the bathroom," the little girl said as she let out a small chuckle. "I knew I shouldn't have had that soda before that last ride."

"Serves you right little missy," Randy said with a chuckle. "'Manda, can you please go with Alanna? I'm not going to let her walk through this place by herself."

"Sure thing . . ." Amanda told him with a smile as she moved away from the stroller handles so that he could take the reins. "What are you going to do while we're gone?"

"I'll stay with the girls and head for the food court. The twins and I will wait for you there." Randy told her with a smirk. Amanda nodded her head before taking Alanna's hand in her own. While Randy pushed the stroller over to the food court, Amanda and Alanna began to follow the signs toward the nearest bathroom. Little did they know, they were being watched.

Amanda's POV

"Well that's just nice . . ." I mumble to myself as we finally reach the girls' bathroom, which was locked shut with a very friendly sign in front. "The sign says that it is closed for repairs. It looks like we're going to have to find another one."

"I don't know if I can make it to another one in time," Alanna grumbled with a squeamish look on her face. "Hopefully we can find another one quick, or else it'll be a very uncomfortable ride home for me."

"I already see the sign for another one up on the second floor," I say as I point to it. "And there's a flight of stairs right here. We can make it."

"Okay!" Alanna says as she quickly runs toward the stairs I quickly follow after her all the way to the bathroom. As soon as we step through the door, Alanna makes a beeline for the nearest, and cleanest, stall and shuts the door behind her with a loud thud. I was about to mentally reprimand her for it when I realized that we were the only two people currently in the bathroom, so I let it slide, just this once.

I walk over to the sink to wash my hands and to splash some water on my face, when I suddenly get pushed from behind, my forehead hitting the mirror with a sharp crack. I felt my skin ripping on impact and I could feel the blood starting to pour out of my skull as my shirt collar gets pulled backed. A cold hand comes across my neck to pin me against Alanna's closed door. I let out a snarl when I finally see the face of the person who pinned me, Rochelle's psychotic eyes looking deep into my own.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask her with a hiss as blood start to drip into my left eye.

"What?" she asks me cynically as she tightens her grip on me. "Can't I just say hello to the woman who's going to marry an old friend of mine? I'm still upset that I didn't receive an invitation, well, unless it got lost in the mail."

"You are definitely no friend of Randy's, and you are never getting an invite to the wedding, just to let you know," I growl out, but she tightens her grip even further in retaliation. "Rochelle, why can't you just leave him alone?"

"Where's the fun in that?" she asks me with a cackle as we hear Alanna's feet shuffling behind me. "Oh, I see we're not alone in here."

"Don't you even think about trying to harm her!?" I threaten as I try to pry her hand off my neck. Before I can even reach for her fingers, she knees me in the gut before shoving me against the far wall. I quickly scramble back to my feet, but Rochelle nails me with a kick to the head with her steel toed boot, and unfortunately, my head ends up connecting with the tiled wall as a result.

"You may be a vampire, but you certainly don't fight like one from where I'm standing!" she cackles with a sickening grin as I feel more blood start to slide down the side of my head. I instantly notice the stall door open to let out Alanna, who instantly runs out the door before Rochelle has a chance to turn around. "Hmm . . . looks like I won't have an audience after all."

"What do you plan to do with me?" I growl out as I try to blink away the blood from my eyes. As soon as her grin becomes bigger, I knew I shouldn't have asked my question.

"Nothing much . . ."

Randy's POV

"What could be taking your mother and sister so long?" I say with a shake of my head as I push the stroller back and forth. "I'm seriously getting a bad feeling about this . . . But then again, maybe it's just them girls being girls."

"Hey Randy," I hear my brother before I see him. I turn my head to see him walk up to me with a small bag in hand. "I'm done my souvenir shopping. Have you purchased anything yet?"

"Not at all . . ." I say as I look into the stroller to see that both the girls were still asleep. "I'm waiting for Alanna and Amanda to come back from the bathroom."

"Knowing girls, they could take forever to finish," Nate says with sarcasm laced in his voce as he sits down next to me. "Hey, what's with that look on your face? You look troubled."

"Is it that obvious?" I ask with an eyebrow raised. He simply shakes his head yes. "It's just that . . . It's just that I have this pretty bad feeling that something happened to them."

"Oh . . . I hate it when you get those bad feelings of yours," Nate says with a scowl on his face. "Please tell me you're just misreading what your gut is telling you! Please?"

"Sorry, but I think I know what my gut is telling me, and what it's telling me is that there is something wrong," I say with a shake of my head as I hear frantic footsteps coming our way. I turn my head to see Alanna jogging over to us, her face looking frantic as she made her way past the people walking around. As soon as I notice that Amanda was nowhere to be seen behind her, I knew something must be really wrong. "Yeah . . . something's not good here."

"Daddy!" Alanna says slightly out of breath as she practically jumps into my arms. "'Manda's in danger."

"'Manda's in danger?" Nate asks for me as I feel my body freeze at her statement. "What happened to her?"

"Some crazy lady with red hair attacked her in the second floor bathroom," I hear her say into my ear as she clings onto my neck for dear life. "I feel bad for leaving her there."

"You shouldn't feel bad honey," I say in my calmest tone possible so that I wouldn't scare her with the anger that I knew was building up inside of me. "'Manda would have told you to escape when you had the chance anyway."

"I never really thought Rochelle would actually brazenly attack in broad daylight, in a crowded mall no less . . ." I hear Nate grumble as Alanna finally lets me go.

"That just shows how unpredictable she is," I say with a scowl on my face as I take the keys out of my pocket. "Nate, take Alanna and the twins back to the car. I'm going to get 'Manda and we'll meet you there."

I don't even hear my brother say anything in return as I get out of my seat and leave the food court. I follow Alanna's scent and retrace her steps until I reach a staircase that led up to the second floor. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, I smelled blood . . . 'Manda's blood.

"'Manda . . . Damn you Rochelle!" I growl out as I stare at the bathroom door. Despite the fact it's a women's only room, I was ready to charge into the room, but I stopped myself short just as I touched the door.

Well, more specifically, some kind of invisible force stopped myself short just as I touched the door.

"Don't come in Randy. What would people say if they spotted a very well-known professional wrestler such as yourself walking into the girls' bathroom when you're obviously a male? Some people may think you're some kind of pervert or something. . ."

"I don't care!" I say in a low tone that was still audible to her ears. "Alanna told me all I needed to know. Rochelle attacked you dammit, and you're worried about me being considered a pervert? You've got to be kidding me 'Manda."

"I managed to fend her off. She's long gone now, so don't even think about going after her . . ." she tells me back in a calm tone as my body begins to move against my will. I don't bother to fight it. When it came to her using her powers against me, I always come out on the losing end. "Do you still have your sweater with you?"

"Yeah . . . I still have it," I say as I take the piece of clothing off my waist. "It's not really your size though."

"I don't care. Just give it to me," she tells as she sticks her hand out of the bathroom. I throw it over to her and once she grabs it out of the air, her hand retreats back into the room, the door closing behind it with a sharp thud. "I'll be out in just a minute."

"Fine, but I want to know everything that happened once you get out." I adamantly say as I walk over to the top of the stairs. I take a seat and wait on the top step until she gets outs. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, inwardly calming my thoughts so that I could think more rationally, and not as the anger fueled vampire I am now.

I don't know how long I took to calm myself down, but it was long enough that it took someone nudging me with their foot from behind to get my attention. I look up to see Amanda looking down at me. She was wearing my sweater now, probably to hide any damage that Rochelle did to her upper body. Her long hair covered a majority of her face, but I could still see the small purple bruise on her right cheek, as well as the raised line of a recently healed cut hiding within her hair.

"What the fuck happened in there?" I ask in a low tone as she starts to lead us down the stairs.

"I'll tell you when we get home. If I tell you now, who knows how'll badly you'll react in front of all these people," she tells me as she gestures to the crowded first floor. I let out a small growl at her statement, but she only looks back at me with a pained grimace in return. "C'mon babe. We both know how badly you tend to react in certain situations. I'm nursing a bad headache thanks to you know who, and I don't want to deal with an outburst from you on top of that. Just please be patient for just a little while longer. I'll tell you what happened once we get back home."

"Fine . . . I guess I can spare you that much." I say in reluctant agreement as we reach the bottom of the stairs. She simply nods her head, her face grimacing as she did this one simple action. But before I could even comment on that, she pulls me toward the exit with a hard tug to my arm.

I knew from that moment onward that I wasn't going to get a response from her until we got back home.

Normal POV

The snake couple quickly walked out of the mall and made their way over to where the SUV was parked. Once they got to the car, Amanda quickly scrambled to the backseat while Randy took the front passenger seat.

"What happened?" Nate asked his brother as he put the key into the ignition. "Did you see Rochelle again?"

"No, she's long gone." was all Randy said as he looked out the window. Nate only shrugged at his response before pulling out the parking spot. The ride back home was filed with strained silence and tension. Nate continued to keep his eyes on the road while Randy split his attention between Amanda, Alanna, and the scenery outside his window. Alanna was silent as she stared out the window while Amanda went to sleep as soon as she put her head on the head rest. As soon as they reached the house, Alanna practically jumped out of the car and ran up the steps. She waited patiently for her father and uncle, who followed right behind her, each carrying a car seat in tow.

"Where's Manda?" Alanna asked them curiously as they reached the porch. "Is she still in the car?"

"Yep; she's still sleeping in the car," Randy said as he walked into the house. "Go wake her up for me will ya Alanna?"

"Sure thing!" said the little girl as she jumped back down the stairs. She quickly made her way back over to the car to find that Amanda was indeed still asleep. She quickly shook her shoulder, which did the trick. Amanda was awake in seconds. "Amanda, you okay?"

"I'm fine Alanna," Amanda said with a small smirk on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Well . . . I'm a little guilty over leaving you with that Rochelle lady back in the bathroom . . ." the little girl mumbled as the two climbed out of the car. "I could have done something . . ."

"It's okay Alanna! I would have told you to get away from there as soon as you got the chance anyway," Amanda told her truthfully as she shut the door behind her. "You shouldn't feel guilty about it. If it helps, you did the right thing by going straight to your father after you left."

"Are you sure?" Alanna asked her unsurely as they walked up the steps. "Like . . . really sure?"

"I'm sure . . . Now stop fretting about it. Okay?" Amanda said reassuringly as they reached the top step. "Promise me you will."

"I promise . . ." Alanna said with a shake of her head. The little girl then ran into the house, passing her father along the way as he walked out onto the porch.

"What happened out here?" Randy asked with an eyebrow raised as Amanda slowly walked over to him.

"Alanna felt a little guilty about leaving me behind, but I told her not to worry about it," Amanda said with a wave of her hand. She grimaced again as she brought a hand to her forehead, a scowl now gracing her face. ". . . Damn I have a major headache right now."

"Come with me . . ." said the Viper as he took her hand in his. "I think I may know how to cure your ailment."

"Does it involve blood?" Amanda asked hopefully as they walked into the house, her throat starting to burn for the red life sustaining liquid.

"It involves blood . . ." Randy told her as he closed the door behind them. "C'mon . . . I'll get you some blood, and once you've had your fill, we have much to discuss."

"I figured as much . . ." was all 'Manda said as the Viper led her to their room, her face grimacing. "You'll get your answers, right after I get my blood."

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