CHAPTER 25

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The Vespiforms had been chasing Lily and the others for over half an hour. They just kept coming relentlessly, and there seemed to be no way to escape them.

"It's a good thing that we're all in such good shape from all of the running that we usually do with you!" Allison said to Lily with a grin.

Lily could see that some of them were beginning to slow down despite their being used to running a lot though. She had to do something before someone fell and was surrounded by the angry invaders. They wouldn't stand a chance against them alone.

Lily started glowing with regenerative energy, and then released all of it out of her in one massive shockwave. Hundreds of the Vespiforms fell to the ground in a heap. They weren't dead, but they wouldn't be going anywhere for a while either.

The other Vespiforms halted their assault and stood hovering in front of Lily in fear. None of them wanted to be the next to tackle her as she stood facing off against them with energy sparkling around her hands.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Allison asked her irritably.

"I had to take some time to charge up that much energy to use at once," she whispered to her low enough where the Vespiforms couldn't hear it.

Allison nodded in understanding. She realized that Lily couldn't do that again for a while, but that she was hoping that the Vespiforms wouldn't realize that. The question now was: How would the Vespiforms handle it?

One of the aliens dared to come closer to Lily and said, "I propose a truce for a moment as we discuss what we want."

"Agreed," Lily said as she made her hands stop glowing.

The Vespiforms all made a noise that Allison interpreted as a sigh of relief as Lily said that. Lily's bluff had worked!

The lone Vespiform assumed a human form, and he met with Lily alone. They had agreed to meet one on one so that neither side would feel nervous about their leader being attacked.

"You know why we're here, don't you?" the Vespiform leader asked.

"It seems like it's to terrorize everyone around here. I thought your race was supposed to be wise. This isn't what a wise person would do," Lily said irritably.

"We want Queen Cleopatra. She is responsible for much misery and suffering," the leader said in an irritated tone of his own.

"I'm aware that she did terrible things as a vampire, but that wasn't her. That was the thing that was controlling her. It was a disease affecting her mind. It wasn't her fault. She's herself again and is totally blameless for what she did in the past when she was sick. She's doing a lot of good now. So leave her alone!" Lily said in passionate tones.

"How sure are you that it was all the disease? Maybe her actions came from her own dark side? Have you ever considered that she was doing things that part of her wanted to do?" the leader asked.

"Even if that were so, that's only part of her. The good side of her would never have allowed her to do such things normally. The disease was responsible for creating that whole situation so I still say she's blameless," Lily said.

"She must be held responsible for what she did regardless of who or what you blame for it. We will take her back to our home world for trial whether you like it or not," the leader said as he grew angrier.

"And if I refuse?" Lily asked with a threatening gleam in her eyes.

"We will destroy everyone who stands in our way," the leader said bluntly.

"I don't think so," Lily said ominously.

Cleopatra then ran over to the both of them and screamed, "No! No more pain because of me! I'll go willingly!"

"No you won't!" Lily screamed back.

"I really appreciate your friendship, Lily. I won't let any of you die for me though. I should have done this in the first place instead of bringing you here. I was too afraid to. I'm sorry for being a coward!" Cleo said sadly.

"You were right to call me. This is wrong! You're not responsible for what you did so they can't do this to you. I won't let them!" Lily said defiant.

The Vespiform leader turned to Cleopatra and said honestly, "If you surrender now, we will let your friends go. We will leave now and bother no one else."

Cleopatra nodded and said, "Agreed."

"No!" Lily said as she started glowing with energy again. She started to attack the leader, but Cleopatra got in the way.

"Stop this! I can't have any more deaths on my conscience! Let me go. Let me do this," Cleo said.

The two of them stared at each other intently as a silent battle of wills played out between them.

Lily saw that Cleo wasn't going to give up, and she started to slowly cry. She was starting to weaken in her resolve.

"Are you sure about this?" Lily asked her.

"Yes. I'm doing the right thing," Cleo said confidently.

"Come with us then," the leader told Cleo; and she began to follow him back to the others.

"I'm sorry I have to do this then," Lily said with a slight smile trying to come on her face.

"Do what?" Cleo asked as she began to turn around.

"This!" Lily said as she knocked Cleo out with a hard punch to the side of the head.

She caught Cleo's body before it hit the ground, and then she blasted the Vespiform leader with a burst of energy knocking him out cold instantly. The other Vespiforms started buzzing with anger and started flying towards her in a fury.

"What did you do?" Allison shouted at her.

"Start running again! I can't let them take her! I have a plan," Lily said confidently as she lifted Cleo's body into her arms and started running with it.

"It had better be a good one," Allison said.

"We must have faith in her, Allison. She hasn't steered us wrong before," Isabella said.

"Thank you, Isabella. At least someone believes in me," Lily said.

"I knew that you wouldn't abandon her," Isabella said with a grin.

"No. I never abandon my family," Lily said seriously.

"I applaud your course of action of course, my lady. However, I do hope that you know that we can't hold out against them for much longer," Robin said nervously.

"Mum always has a plan. Whether it's a good plan or a crazy one is what we have to worry about!" Ron said with a laugh.

They could see the waters of the Nile rushing towards them, and they finally understood Lily's plan.

"The Nile is flooding the delta. I calculated that the flood waters would reach here shortly in my head based on my knowledge of this area and its past. The water should take care of the Vespiforms for us nicely. The problem is in trying to keep it from taking care of us too," Lily said to them with a wide grin on her face.

"Great. It's one of the crazy plans!" Allison said with a groan.

Next: Let's hope that they can all swim!