Chapter 3: Warning Signs

3

Warning Signs

Olivia

Being blindfolded for our date wasn’t something that we typically did, nevertheless I couldn’t contain the smile and my excitement of what was about to go down.

Today, was something that Erin took extreme delight in since it kept me in the dark about the possibilities of where we were going.

All I heard around me was the sound of the Dodge Challenger going down the road.

The process of getting here, had taken us all day. She started by taking us to do our hair and nails, and even then, while we were out, she was still the overprotective, loving woman that I had been with for most—if not—my entire life.

We had been brought together when a freak accident caught Erin’s family by surprise and were left dead while we were together in kindergarten. The news had speculated that a killer had been responsible for the tragedy, but after that, nothing ever surfaced, and Erin was left without knowing what really happened. We couldn’t even find any facts that surrounded the attack. It all went cold.

After that day, Elizabeth said that she had pulled some strings to have her come live with us.

As we were getting further down the road, I could sense that Erin had either completely arrived or was coming close to arriving to our destination for our date. However, for the both of us, this was no ordinary day.

We were celebrating our anniversary together, ever since we had been together all the way back in our freshmen year of High School.

“Okay love,” Erin’s sweet, and calming voice called out to me. “You can remove your blindfold now.”

I reached up and felt around for the knot that was firmly being held around my eyes, which was meant to deprive me of trying to guess where we’re at, since I had a good track record of guessing where we usually went.

After pulling it off around my neck, I took her hand in mine as she led the way to the restaurant that we were now at. We were both greeted by a warm and friendly young lady at the front, who showed us the way to our table.

“I specifically asked for a table by the window.” Erin hinted, knowing that I not only enjoyed the window view, but also so we could both be prepared. “For our reasons of course.”

“Always thinking ahead.” I smiled in return, delighted. “Smart woman.”

“Well, I do try.”

“Ladies,” The server said to the both of us. “Your table.” She gestured with her hands to the old-fashioned ornate table that was in front of us, letting us get adjusted. “Your sever will be with you shortly.”

Caffe Milano which was situated only two miles from the University of Arizona, was beautiful modern, yet held an old fashion feel to it. A beautiful Italian restaurant in the heart of Downtown of the historic Tucson, westside of Fourth Avenue and Congress Street.

And it was only something that Erin could have picked for our day.

As we were making our way to our table, I took notice at how many people were here today, just enjoying the time. There had to be at most 40 patrons in here today, just enjoying their time here; not even paying attention to the dangers that possibly lurked outside, just beyond the glass.

Walking in between the isle of the exceptionally beautiful, decorated tales, Erin and I were led to a small rustic table that was placed perfectly by the window that was kept away from everyone else.

I pulled out my chair, and threw my bag over the back, where it rested. I checked my side for my side arm, making sure that it was still attached, and currently locked via its safety chamber. I didn’t want any blood spilled for today’s event.

“So, what do you think of this place?” Erin asked as I continued to look out the window, suddenly distracted by her voice, and then her beauty. “Has quite the Italian feel to it, don’t you agree?”

I started to look out the window, even tuning out Erin’s next question. It happened often, and I didn’t mean to do it to ignore her; often it just became a bad habit that she had gotten used to, as I usually just went silent, before she had to bring me back to focus. I could sense that, just from entering the restaurant, that something or perhaps even someone was out there.

The hard part for me was: were they watching and waiting on us to make a move?

Or was this just my hyperactive trained sense kicking in overdrive to protect me. Or would they come out of hiding and do what everyone else hunting me as done: Strike first, so they could end what they viewed as a threat to their survival. Either way, I was ready; I had to be—these moments could create mistakes and lives lost if we were not.

Erin asked me again still using her soft and gentle voice. I hardly heard her other side, mostly since I knew that it could be scary.

I noticed that she was wearing her suede leather light blue skirt, matched perfectly with a crew drop sleeve tee that went with her sky-blue converse. Even sitting down, she was a beautiful five feet eight inches tall, with her long brown hair falling in waves right past her shoulders.

Similarly, I was wearing a black laced crop Top that crossed over in the back, paired with blue Hi-Rise Skinny and my own pair of Converses. Over my top and shoulders was a waist length lace tassel-trim kimono shirt, that accented the entire outfit. I was only an inch behind her, coming in at five feet seven inches. My long dirty brown hair styled but also kept down.

Beneath our table, I had stashed our purses, hoping that we wouldn’t need what we had kept hidden away inside.

 “Honey,” she called out for me, this time using her hand, and waiving it in front of my face, this time getting my attention away from whatever was lurking in wait. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah sorry,” I apologized to her. “Honestly, I completely forgot about today. I knew I was going to enjoy it, but now…”

She took my hand, and held it tightly, looking out the window with me, sensing what I could also feel. “I know,” she also fell silent, trying to listen more closely to what was around us. “I feel it to. It’s like something is out there. Just waiting.” Then she cleared her throat. “On the other hand, this was the closet I could take us to Italy.”

And I knew why; our supposed mother Elizabeth had recently become more erratic and paranoid in her behavior which often caused clashes with her and Erin at times when we thought we could rely on her the most.

She was doing everything she could to restrict how and where I traveled to, and how long I was there with anyone else, since being in one location to her, felt like would make it easier to hunt me, as I had been all throughout Middle and High school, and then at the midway point of my freshmen year at College down here at The University of Arizona.

The hunt for me started all the back in middle school, and at that time, Erin and I had been damn near inseparable from each other as we learned when we were living with Liz in her mansion on the mountsides of Flagstaff.

Early in my life, my mother Carrie, said that she had been abandoned by her partner, when they learned they were having me, the only girl that had been born into a world of darkness and secrets.

Although, what preceded after my birth, no one saw coming. Not even my sister—Kaitlyn.

My mother started to abuse me to lengths, that to the mundane world would have to get involved, and every time I tried to speak up about it, Carrie profusely beat me—with whatever she could. She even took me by the hand one day, over an open flame stove, and burned my arm, not even caring that I was indeed in dire pain. And the more I cried out, the worse she made it.

I never understood why she did it, but one day, when I was with Kaitlyn, she did what she could to put two and two together and guessed that there was a special talent about me, that

Carrie never got, or never had passed down to her, and for that reason, she was filled with bitterness and jealously, in a way that she reflected outward towards me as her method of unleashing and calming her aggression.

“Olivia,” Kait had told me one day that she came over to clean up my wounds. She could sense that I was completely shut down by Carrie’s beatings. “It’s okay to tell me. I am here to protect you. I only want to show you how beautiful the world is,” At that moment, she took her shirt off and showed me the marks that were nearly covering every inch of her back. All scars.

 All reminders of a past that made her stronger. “I was like you once a upon a time. I never understood why I was beaten by the person who took me in, but one day, when I was sixteen, it all made sense for me.” She pulled her shirt down. “I told my girlfriend about the potential you have, and I swore to her, just as you, that you will be loved, cherished and protected. I won’t let the Darkness come for you…like it came for me so long ago.”

“Elizabeth thinks that I have a special talent. That I can see futuristic events and change the flow of time to alter the events completely.” My younger self told Kait, still frightened. And when she found out, she told Carrie, which as we know, got me here; with you cleaning up my wounds.” I held my head down.

I felt like a complete failure.

Kait gently tugged me and pulled me into a loving embrace. “Oh honey,” she held on. “You’re just so different, that Carrie refuses to accept it, and takes the indifference, and blind hate out on you.” I could sense that while she was holding on to me, she was watching out for Carrie.

“She even beats me for loving another girl. Like Erin.” I told Kait, still embraced by her.

She pulled back and looked at me, the wet tears staining my eyes. “Is that true?” she asked. She knew that Erin and I were close, more than that. It was like Kait knew that we were meant for each other. “Do you love Erin like that? Like someone more than a friend?”

“Yes,” I said truthfully. I never lied to her about anything. “I can’t explain it but it’s like- “

“You don’t have to honey.” Kait said, putting a finger to my soft lips. “I know that feeling. I know what it’s like.”

Quickly I snapped back to reality as I focused on Erin again, still looking at me with her beautiful blue eyes, unwavering by the fact that I had become distracted by thoughts of my past, and how those events back then, directly had an effect and made me into the lady that I was today.

“It’s too quiet.” Erin mentioned as we both turned our eyes towards the window that we were both staring out of, and at the same time, instinctively reaching for my weapon that concealed inside my purse. “And that is something I don’t like. Not with what’s happening as of late.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see a creature outside the restaurant moving in closer, getting ready to strike, and just as the waiter was coming to get our orders, everyone else started to go into a panic. Everyone around could sense that something distressing was approaching.

Hell, even the waiter was cautious.

“Do you smell that babe?” Erin asked as I felt the commotion around us was becoming more and more erratic. People around us were knocking over tables, screaming, and shouting in fear.

“It smells like a foul odor…” My voice trailed off. And as I whipped my head around, that’s when I saw it. The rush of creatures coming towards us. “Incoming!” I screamed aloud, to alert everyone. “Get down. Get to safety everyone! Go!” I waved my hand in hopes that the patrons would get the hint.

The glass behind me broke upon contact and a creature dove through it, landing upright from a tumbled roll. Behind him, another set of creatures marched towards us, as they looked to destroy everything in their way, and didn’t care about how many lives were lost in the process.

He was tall person that looked well built, and evenly toned all over his body. He stood maybe a solid six feet tall. His brown hair stopped right at his nape.

Turning on his heel, I saw his eyes meet mine and from that, he started charging me. His sword in his hand ready to strike me down at the absolute best moment he could.

Without hesitation, I pulled my gun from my side and fired off a few rounds, hoping to stall for some time so I can make better plans; however, this person was just unaffected by my move and kept charging forward.

When he was close enough, I knew I had to get creative to get some distance between us, I fell on my back and used my legs to unleash a flurry of kicks that caused him to stumble backwards. When he was dazed, quickly I spun into an upright position and ran towards him; using my adrenaline as my momentum, I jumped up and then slammed my legs into his stomach, but again, all he did was stare at me. Complete unphased my moves.

He reached for me by the collar of my shirt and threw me into a table that was situated at the far end of the restaurant, that was a good six feet away from our table.

Rolling over, I saw him coming at me, and this time, I was fresh out of ideas. Everything I knew of how to fight—whatever this person was—seemed ineffective.

Just as I was clutching my gun and made a step forward, I felt the entire world around me begin to spin. I saw double of everything and everyone around me. Including Erin. My body felt weak and flimsy; and as I tried to move, my body collapsed.

I could still hear everything around me. The screams of people. The gunfire from Erin. All of It, was distorted to me.

In my distorted state, the last thing I saw was Erin rushing over to me, trying her best to protect me.

“Babe…” her voice distortedly tried to reach me, but to no avail. “Babe…come on…”

The last thing I caught was the same creature rushing Erin before my body completely drifted away.

When I felt like my body had stopped trying to fight itself for control of trying to be conscious or trying to sleep, I opened my eyes, and pulled myself into a standing position and looked around my surroundings, trying to decipher where the fuck I was.

Like seriously, what was this place?

All around me was building that had looked like it had been erected out of what looked like either solid gold, or sliver. Or perhaps both.

Beneath my feet I felt the chilling touch of what looked mossy cobblestone. The air also felt cold, but at the same time, it felt dead.

I decided that I had been brought here somehow, it be in my best interest to see why I was summoned here. Clearly, there felt like there was more to this than what was in front of me.

Clearly, someone wanted me; I just didn’t know why or how yet.

The more I walked down the path, I heard some sort of crunching underneath me, and when I pulled my foot back and looked down, and that’s when I saw it.

It was a pile of human remains that I had been walking all over; and when I looked back up at the sky, the bones, and the ash, it all made me wonder.

What kind of cataclysmic, life altering event occurred here? Why did it look like everyone that possibly could have lived here once a upon time, just up and vanished the way they did.

“Volva” A shrill like voice rang out around me. Its tone felt cold, distant, and full of worry. It wasn’t a loud voice, but one that felt close to me, yet far away at the same time.  “You are in danger. They are coming for you. They are hunting the one Valkyrie, the one who doesn’t know what she is…just as you don’t understand yourself truly yet.

“Find her,” the voice called to me again. This voice, whoever they were seemed to determine that I was the only one who could help them. But…why?

“You must find and protect her. It is the only way Volva.”

When I tried to get closer to the voice and tried to follow it to see where it went, I felt a strong gust of wind—or something close to a gust—knock me back a few feet, however in my stumble, I landed on my back, where the force of the connection caused me to fall backwards and way from whatever this place, and back into the world of the living.

If anyone had managed to even live through what had happened before I collapsed, I would be inclined to believe that they were as tough as I had been.

But looking around, I was just as confused as I had been before. Now here, in the present, it felt exactly like what I had seen when I had my out of body experience.

Everything had been laid to ruin.

I was met by Kait’s gorgeous crystal blue eyes which were also wrapped in worry and confusion. Was she trying to figure out why there was an attack here as well? Was she trying to figure out why whatever was attacking, also decided to attack me?

She offered her hand, and I took it so she could pull me up. I was still in a state of distress and paranoia. All my sense went into a red alert kind of feel.

Wrapped up in her embrace, we quickly walked around, and l bore witness to the extreme destruction that I had missed since going under.

There was blood sprayed across the walls, along with tables that had been broken into pieces and then thrown into the wall creating holes as wide and big as my head.

When I went to brush my hair back, I felt how wet it had become and Kait explained to me, that one attack while I had been out caused water from a nearby pipe to burst open and cover the floor, which explained why I was soaked from my back down.

Looking up, I saw that there had been a tv or two that were previously attached to the wall, but now had been ripped out and thrown down. Their glass shattered and scattered all over the floor. The electrical wires profusely sparking about, sending sparks every which way, which also created little fires in different spots that wasn’t a total issue to us now, but could become more problematic later, if we didn’t get out now.

“What happened back there, love?” Her sweet yet concerning voice call to me. “What did you see?”

We walked towards the high rise like window, where she climbed over it, and then helped me pull me up, kicking the glass away to ensure that I didn’t get caught with any.

“I went there again, Kait.” I told her slowly. Ominously. I was still trying to process it all. Figure out what it all meant. “To the place that’s always disorienting and confusing to me.”

I watched as she knelt and looked me over; even brushing my hair side. “Care to tell me?”

I nodded in response, letting her know that yeah, I did, but for now, we had to make a run for it and get out of here.

“We need to leave here hon,” I heard a familiar voice that I didn’t exactly get along with. And when I turned from Kait, who was still holding me, that’s when I saw her. Dimitria. “Things could be messy if we don’t jet from here.”

“How bad?” Kait asked her in reply, curious since this scene was a total wreck.

“Think Rave…” she started slowly, letting Kait catch her thoughts.

“Only hundred times worse, I reckon.” She finished.

“If the local cops and media isn’t on the scene yet,” Lauren started, looking around, trying to see just how much time we had before we could potentially be arrested.

“Did you get it?” Kait asked Lauren, gesturing to the restaurant. And the structural damage.

She threw a wink back. “Oh, you bet your happy ass I did.” Lauren chuckled. “I also got creative in another area too. All needed though.”

“You best hope that none of that comes back on you boo.” Dimitria spoke up. “What you’re doing, hacking, and stealing, granted we all do it, but you brazenly did it in the open. During the day.”

“All in a day’s work though,” Lauren chuckled.

I harshly threw my eyes to Lauren. “What did you do?”

She met my glare and gently smiled back. “Nothing,” she said coming over and musing my hair. “That you need to be worried about, or over. It doesn’t concern you.”

And then I also threw a glare at Dimitra. The last thing I knew—she had been dead. Very dead.

“Back from the dead I fucking, see?” I spoke to her with such hate in my voice. “Can you ever pick a side? Alive? Dead?”

“I’ll have you know,” she started to make her way towards me. Her bright green eyes, hatefully throwing daggers at me, not even hiding the fact that we hated each other.

Kait sensed the tension and put herself between us with one hand to each. “Enough!” she shouted. “Both of you! Now is not the time!”

Dimitria only scoffed in response. “I know love,” she said to Kait. “If she wasn’t so damn important, I would have killed her now.” She glared at me. “Without hesitation.”

“Are we good you two?” Kait traded glares between us, as she worked to rein us both in. Well, it was easier for her to rein in Dimitria then it was me.

As she started to pull us part and we all made our ways to the cars, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another creature rush towards us, which told me, that not everyone had died during the attack.

The creature made a beeline for Kait and instinctively I pushed her away as the creature and I tussled, going to the cement, where we traded blows and rolls as we tried to hit each other.

As I was able to kick my way free of his hold on me, and attempt to make a kill, I felt something pierce my stomach. Instinctively I reach down and clutch the jagged piece of metal and tried to pull it out and when the creature tried to make a second move, I saw it be brought to its knees, where it died.

“Next time,” Dimitra spoke as she cautiously approached me so she could look over my wound. “Be more aware. You were reckless.”

I was perplexed. Utterly speechless. Why would she save me if she hated me so much?

I watched as she gently picked me up and literally tore off a piece of her shirt, and when Kait saw this, she reacted a surprised look.

“Babe, are you sure that will work?” She asked her. “It may not. Or we could cause more damage.”

We need to hold the blood. Stop it from getting worse.” They locked eyes. “We know who can do this.”

“Fine,” Kait agreed with reluctance. “We can go there. I was planning on going there anyway. It safer.”

“Well,” Erin spoke up after seeing everything. “Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly.” And then she pointed to the only remaining TV that somehow survived and was showing images of the news channel.

“Incoming reports of an attack in the downtown portion of Tucson.” The reporter was announcing. “Local reports so far say the damage to the city is massive and in the thousands. There also seems to be no survivors from the attack either. We’ll provide more updates as we get them.”

And that was why Erin mentioned that we had to leave. If the news had spotted us, who knew how quickly the police would be able to find us.

As quickly as I could, I made my way over to Kait’s car where I was gently eased into the back seat, where she joined me, along with Erin, and Dimitria hopped up front next to Lauren.

“Okay so what now?” Lauren said hastily as we drove down the road. “We need a plan Kait. We need to put things together.”

“Liv also needs to be worked on and healed.” Kait said trying to keep the emotional tension low. “Otherwise, she’ll end up bleeding out or dead. Neither I want to happen.”

“Either way though,” Erin started. “This doesn’t look good.”

What did it mean? And even more so, how was Kait tied to it, if what the voice was telling to be true, and she was the Valkyrie that everyone else was also hunting, and we just didn’t know it yet. And, another thing, how was I able to be there, in the moment, witnessing what I did.

And…who was that voice that scared the living hell out of me.

And then…there were those creatures and/or warriors that somehow knew where and how to strike. They knew how to take us down.

They knew how to take me out. But…how did they know that? And the more pressing question, what were they searching for?

This mysterious Valkyrie?

After a few moments of my silence, I asked Kait. “How fucking bad is it?” I coughed up blood in the process, which I weakly wiped away.

Shit, this was worse than I thought. Way worse.

“Are you asking me to lie to you about this or the truth?” she responded with some deep concern in her tone. I looked at her eyes and saw the pain they were trying to hide. Soon, she would be faced with a choice she didn’t like making.

“Just tell me what’s the lesser of two evils.” I choked again, trying to make sure that I didn’t throw up blood all over her.

She tapped it to see where it was firmly stuck. And when she did, I screamed out in response. “See, if I remove it, you might live. Might not.”

I watched her closely as she tried her best to pull on and again, I screamed out in total agony.

“I won’t even attempt to,” she kindly told me. “It’s wedged in there, and I think if it’s tampered with, it could cause you more damage.” She ripped off her shirt, and both Lauren and Dimitria shrieked in response.

“Kait?!” They both cried out. “What are you doing?”

“I removed my shirt so I could use it as a dressing to stop the bleeding and hold the piece of metal that’s wedged in her.” I grunted in response as she yanked the knot hard to hold in place. I was just in my sports bra and jeans with my shoes now.

“Will it work?” Erin jumped in and asked before Lauren could reply.

“It’s temporary.” Kait reminded her. “We have to get back to the mansion, so Brittany can work her magic and heal this wound.”

“No!” I said, as I was starting to cough up blood now. “While Brittany is closer from here. I don’t feel as safe there as I do at Liz’s.”

“Liv, honey,” Kait looked at me. “Brittany can fix this.”

I tried to focus myself on Kait’s beautiful crystal sea blue eyes.

 “C’mon Liv, stay with me,” she started to work on me, trying to do CPR, making sure I hadn’t died. “C’mon Olivia.”

After a few more moments, I finally saw the world, and her face again. It had worked momentarily. But this was not something we could keep doing.

“Fine,” I said weakly, trying to find my strength. “I’ll give in so we can get to Brittany’s but next time, can we please?”

“Yes,” she replied sweetly, pulling me closer and kissing me on the head. “Next time.”

I didn’t like having to deal with Brittany, in this situation although if she could fix my wound, perhaps I could live to be here another day. At least this way, we could also just give her some more information about what also transpired here and what our next move potentially could be.

“I’ll let her know to expect us.” Kait said. “I’ll reach out to her.”

“We have encountered a hiccup in the plan.” Kait was talking to Liz through the little communicator that was wedged in her ear. “Olivia’s been attacked about five miles away from the rave.”

“Was it more of what I told you about when you were at your rave? Liz asked her, and I don’t if I could hear it because of the communicator or if was having heightened sense from the rush of adrenaline I was still dealing with. “And where?”

“A local restaurant in downtown Tucson. More of those creatures that I also encountered at rave were also here as well.”

“What sort of creatures?” I watched Kait’s expression change as she was listening to the reply from Liz. “And is she okay?”

“No.” Kait sighed in disbelief. “She’s been stabbed and it’s fucking deep as shit. I’m not even wanting to try my hands at trying to heal her.” There was a pause. “It’s in her stomach, and I have a temp battle dressing on it, and have it knotted with my shirt to the tightest I could get it. It’ll hold. I hope.”

“Meet me at Brittany’s.” I watched as Kait looked at me and nodded. “I’ll do my work there. Until then, stay safe.”

“Will do.” She replied.

Kait looked at me with skepticism as she couldn’t tell that I had either been listening in or had somehow managed to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Did you…?” she started to ask me, and then ponder how I could have managed that.

“Side effects from the attack.” I shrugged my shoulders, giving her a suggestion. “I don’t know.”

I did my best to adjust in my seat as the car sped down the road, and when I looked back up, I saw that Kait had wrapped her hands around my stomach and then I felt her push me down into the seat where her desire flared up, and as I glanced at her eyes, I could see a fire in her eyes that screamed total desire and dominance.

Her hands ran underneath my shirt, where her touches created static electricity between us. Even being covered in my own blood, couldn’t stop her from going all out on me.

I tried to make a return move on her, but she forcefully pushed me down while she locked her lips with mine.

 I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me and up against my boobs. We traded turns going running our hands through the others hair, and then I felt the cold softness of her lips against my neck as she kissed me on the side.

Not allowing myself to be outdone, I went to work trying to chance, but when I moved wrong on my side, I felt the sharpness of the metal that was embedded.

“You should relax sweetie.” Kait suggested, leaning against me as she pulled me into her. “I could have possibly aggravated it even more.”

“I don’t think she would have minded being completely fair.” Erin said with a giggle, covering her mouth to contain herself. “You gave me quite a show.”

I tried to lash a kick at Erin, but Kait saw and stopped this almost instantly.

“She was giving you a compliment.” Kait reiterated, giving Erin a reassuring smile. “You know, like your partner is trying to do to boost your self-esteem.”

“Didn’t know I had such issue in that department?” I retorted.

“Much like you didn’t know you had another vision?” Dimitria turned around at looked at me, and then to Erin. “Don’t ask. I knew already.”

I shot her another dirty look, but this time, Kait swung a blow to my side, that made me clutch and reach for it in pain, as I tried not to cry since the force of the slap was only intensified by the ounces of unyielding pain.

“Play nice.” She hissed. “You know she can cause great damage if you egg her on, and I’m the only one she can stop. Don’t press your luck.”

I glared at her. “Fine,” I blew my hair out of my face, as I glared at Dimitria. “What. The fuck. Ever.”

“You’re so lucky Kait can hold me back, otherwise I would gut you right now.” Dimitria angrily shot back, and I could feel the contempt in her voice. She meant every word; but at the same time, so did I.

Kait only rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew these were tense moments yet fighting each other was not going to help us in anyway. Yet, I could never wrap myself around Kait kept her around. I could never understand their bond.

Not like the one I had with her when I was child. It was right when Carrie had started her reign of abuse:

My mother started beating me all because she was believing that I had inherited a gift passed down in our family, but at the time, I wasn’t aware of what it was. Every chance she could get, she abused me, for even the tiniest of things.

Carrie started her reign of abuse when I was eight years old; through her vanity attempts, it was her way of showing me that she could be a mother, at the time I didn’t know any better.

At first, the first few times, had been harmless, but I had learned to stay silent with it, since if I had spoken up, she made it worse than the last time.

When she learned the magic had skipped her line, and came into mine, she was furious, and demanded that I try not to use it, thinking that if I didn’t—that the gift would disappear with me, and I would be normal.

But I knew different. I was far from it. Carrie had started to feed off me at the time when the beatings had started. There were times, where I would awake in my bed and she would be on top of me, but it wasn’t loving at all. It was more chilling and sinister in feeling.

One time, I lashed back from surprise, and threw magic at her, and that provoked her to where she forcefully dragged me out of the bed, and then forcefully threw me down the stairs to where I was extremely lucky, I hadn’t broken any bones during the fall.

Once I had hit the bottom, she dragged me up by my hair, and put my hand over an open flame stove, and left it there till I screamed tears, and begged her to stop.

I pleaded with her, saying I was sorry, and I didn’t mean to, that she had surprised me, but that didn’t stop her. Once, she had her fill, her strength grew and she threw me into a wall, where she tried to take more from me, however she was stopped at time, by Kaitlyn, who didn’t look happy at what Carrie had pulled off.

“What did you do to her Carrie!?” Kait yelled at her. “Why is she hurting like this?” She had tried to touch my wrist, but the burn I had received told her enough.

She went straight for Carrie. “You burned her?! WHY?!” And then she threw Carrie halfway through the house, using her clairvoyant abilities, to the other end, where its dazed Carrie long enough for Kait to look over all the damage.

“You came?” I sniffled. “I’m awful. It’s all my fault. I’m too weak.” The eight-year-old me told her.

“Of course, I came honey,” Kait replied then. “It’s the weekend where I come to get you. You know that.” She tried to look at my wrist again, this time avoiding the burn mark I had been branded. “Come on, let me clean you up. I’ll take you away from here.”

“Stop you little bitch!” Carrie hissed as she recovered from the hit, she had taken and advanced towards us; she was red in the face as her anger peaked. “You can’t take her! You can’t take them away from me. Olivia is my toy. My girl to feed off. You can’t deny me my food.”

“Don’t try it Carrie,” Kait tried to reason with her. “I’m stronger than you in ways that you can’t understand. Your done hurting Olivia, and by that extension, Erin as well.”

“Olivia deserves to be punished. My bloodline skipped me and went to her. The talent that I was supposed to have. Went to her! Not only that, but she also loves another woman. Something I can’t allow!”

Carrie tried to charge Kait head on, but all Kait did was take a step to the side, and then when the moment was perfect, she shoved Carrie into another wall, where this time, the hit knocked her out cold.

Kait looked back at me. “You love Erin, don’t you?” She asked as carefully as she could.

“I do,” The younger me replied. “I can’t explain it. It’s like when I’m with her, everything is free. I feel this connection to- “

“You don’t have to explain it further kiddo,” the younger Kait told me. “I know. It’s completely fine. Come on,” she offered her hand, let’s get you outta here.”

“What about my clothes and all the other stuff?” I asked, not even having packed.

“I’ll get more for you; Brittany and I will take you shopping.” Kait replied, gingerly taking my hand. “I’ll also tell her about this indecent so she’s aware.”

“I’m not going to be punished for this am I?” the younger me asked the younger Kait, like I had been scared.

That stopped her in her tracks, where she also dropped down to a knee to meet me at eye level.

“Honey, I want to make this clear to you, the best way I can.” Her hands gently reached out to comfort me. “What Carrie did to you, was not because of you. It’s never going to be your fault, for her actions. She’s bitter and will always make excuses since that what she does. She never accepts the blame, she passes it to someone else, and she passed it to you.”

As we were leaving, Carrie had come around, and right as the door opened, she screamed something that I’ll always remember.

“God damn you, Kaitlyn!” Carrie screamed loudly. “I’ll have my revenge; I swear my life on the goddess I will. You can’t keep her from me from Olivia from forever!”

After reflecting about that once terrible time, I focused myself to look at Kait. “Psst.” I called for her in low whisper.

She turned her delicate, doll like face, with her beautiful, crystal blue eyes, towards me; her eyes beaming at me. “What is it?”

“What if Carrie is involved in all this?” I asked her. “Like…what if she’s the one pulling all the strings, just trying to find way to pull me back to her.”

She shook her head in response. “We don’t know that.” Kait looked out the window, and then pushed a piece of her hair. “I’d rather not jump to conclusions.”

“But these attacks…” I started, but then was abruptly cut off.

“These were two separate attacks.” She pointed out. “Two, technically, isolated and unrelated attacks.” Then she looked at me. “At least, that’s how I’m treating this until we know more. Until we see more coming.”

I huffed in annoyance. How could she not see it? How could not see that this had hallmarks of Carrie written all over it.

How she wouldn’t be involved would be beyond me.

“You have to admit,” I blew a piece of my hair out of my face. “It’s a little too convenient.”

She merely shrugged, in response, as if this didn’t faze her.

“Girly,” Dimitra spoke up again, which only got my blood boiling. Again. “Quit jumping to conclusions. This hunt is just fresh, and there’s bound to be thousands of trails that we’ll be forced to follow.”

I went to make a smart-ass remark, when Kait clamped her hand over my mouth. “Next time, I’ll just let her. This time I’m stopping you before you say something stupid and end up regretting it.”

“Or babe,” Dimitria started laughing. “You could throw her into our lifestyle. I’m sure a few hours in that will surely change her.”

Glaringly, I gave her a death stare, wanting so hard to smack her hard that it would be more than just stars.

“To be honest,” Kait quietly told me. “She’s right.” Her hand came off my mouth, yet I could help but wonder if she would have held it there longer if I could have tried something. “Don’t get her railed up with that.” She exhaled a breath. “I’ve been down that road, it’s…different. An acquired taste. A taste you wouldn’t enjoy.”

Yet how would she know that?

How would she know that I didn’t already? She didn’t know what Erin and I did behind closed doors.

“Don’t say it babe.” Erin cut into my thoughts, her blue eyes piercing through my frustration. “It’s not worth the fight.” Then her eyes looked down at my stomach. “You need your strength, and some rest.”

I sighed and relented, giving up any attempt to fight further. Erin and Kait both had valid points.

And these were arguments that I wouldn’t win. Not by a long shot.

When I craned my head to look out the window, I saw the vast open mountains before us, and beauty of the Arizona sky before me, which gave me a reassuring sign. And just a little bit of hope. The more I stared out, the longer I wanted to get lost and caught up about what I had seen back there.

Was it all true?

Did I really have an out of body experience, and go to that place? Hear that voice?

And…what was that mystery voice going on about the Valkyries for? What sort of danger are they in? Why were they in danger too?

What sort of danger exactly was coming for them?

“Psst,” I called up to Kait as the car continued its path down the road. “Kait, can I share something with you?”

“Would you be referring to your vision?” she asked, staring me down. “The one you had while the attack at the restaurant happened.”

“Yeah, that.” I agreed with her.

“Go on.” She urged me. “Share what you remember.”

I told her about what I had seen there. The falling snow, that when I looked closer, was really ash. The bones that I had stepped on accidently. I told her about how the place gave me an ominous feel to it, and that there was this voice…. this voice that didn’t sound entirely settled about what was going on there.

I let her in on what the voice told me; that the Valkyries were in danger. And that I had been the one tasked to find out how they were involved, or even put into the cusp of danger. I went on to explain that when I tried to get closer, and investigate the place I was in, more, a strange force had forced me back into the world of reality.

As vague as it was, it also felt like a warning. A warning of what was to come. A coming danger of sorts.

Yet, what did it all mean. How did it all fit together?

“Hm…” she pondered, after listening intently. “That is indeed dark. And quite ominous. We’ll have to look more into this.”

When we finally pulled to a stop, we didn’t have the time, Brittany was already shoving the seat aside so she could help me out taking care that, that she didn’t aggravate the wound more. She was a towering woman for her stature, and her eyes were cautiously staring at me.

She was flanked on either side by her two highest ranked soldiers, Drea and Callen, who went everywhere with her. They protected her at all costs, and by that extension, they were told to protect us.

Literally, they had orders of “Shoot to kill” anyone who tried to kill us. Which was handy since she must have known about Carrie and the others.

“They’ll take you inside Olivia,” Brittany spoke with such authority, that usually I would be intimidated by it, but now at my age, I was just used to it. “Drea and Elizabeth will work on your wound. We’ll get you taken care of.”

“Thanks.” Part of me felt ashamed for just assuming, I don’t know why. Maybe it was the guilt from the attack. “It means a lot sis.”

“Of course. Your family.” Brittany replied, staying calm, however it felt to me, like something was bothering her.

As I walked inside with the others, I glanced back at Kait who had also followed us in was now walking next to Brittany. Clearly, they were discussing the next moves, or at least that what I was going to guess.

Once inside, I found Elizabeth was patiently waiting by the couch in the vaunted living room, just looking over the computer monitors, looking confused. I guess it was hard to understand the way the attacks were coming. It was so different. So, varied.

“Finally,” her clam, collected voice called out. Her voice was angelic like that would almost miss it if you didn’t pay attention. “You’re here. By the gods. Come closer honey.”

Elizabeth almost resembled one of the gods that I remember studying about from my lessons on Norse Mythology. She was a tall, skinny, black woman, who held beautiful brown eyes, that went well with long hair that was a mix of dirty brown, blonde and snow white.

While she was only in her late 30’s her complexion was making her look even younger. Maybe by ten years. However, all those years of experience in the ER and then Neurology did wonders for her.

She was the best of the best at what she did. Even in other states she was well known. Sometimes, she would get called away to other hospitals in other states, that needed her, and they would pay her well.

As I approached her up to where we were standing face to face, I noticed that she had everything she needed laid out on the table before her; she then she started to run her cold hands, over the wound, first playing with the cloth Kait had tied there to keep the pressure.

She tried to untie with her hands, and then gave up, just going for one of her surgical knives that she would use in her operation rooms.

At this point, the only people who could be in the vaunted living room, were me, Elizabeth and Drea.

Drea was short stocky woman, who was at most the same height as Kait, but the main difference was that she was dealing with obesity and Diabetes from what I had come to learn. In all fairness though, her frame was not one to underestimate. She was a fighter through and through.

Drea had long black hair that went down to her backside. Her brown eyes shone brightly in dark areas.

And if I didn’t have a partner of my own, and I wanted someone to lust over, I would have totally gone for Drea. Even if I had to get past her little boyfriend—Callen. Between the two of them, they were nearly inseparable.

“It’s okay Drea,” Elizabeth spoke to her. “I got this. You should probably tend to Kaitlyn and the others. I suspect that they need you more than Olivia does.”

I laughed. “Take that Wolf bitch.” I sneered her heritage. “While you are useful, I simply don’t need the extra hands.”

I could hear Drea let out a small growl. “Mind your manners woman.” Drea huffed in response. “She won’t always be around to save the day. Learn to appreciate help.” And like that, she stormed off, walking towards Brittany.

“She’s temperamental, I swear.” I commented to Liz who merely shrugged it off. “It’s like I say one thing, and she pops off.”

“She’s overprotective, and she’s training for more medical school.” Liz replied as she worked methodically. “While I get, she wanted to help, this was merely something that called for more practiced hands.”

Then I thought of something.

“Have you heard from them?” I asked her. “Have you…heard from my…” the word fell off and become lost.

“Not recently, no.” Liz replied. “The last thing I heard was a few days ago, before I sent Kait down to Tucson. And since then, they’ve been quiet.”

“I should go find them.” I told her, as my eyes met her hazel ones. “So, we can meet up together.”

“No,” Liz disagreed. “Stay to Erin. Stay with the girls. If they want to show up, they will. Don’t go hunting. Let them play their game.”

“But…” I stammered. I wanted to help them. I knew that they could use the help. “They need help.”

“They are fine.” Liz corrected me. “You need the girls to help figure out what happened today with the attacks and the vision.”

I huffed in exasperation again knowing I had been denied what I wanted.

This person that was out there, was mine. They belonged to me. I would have a say in finding them, one way or another.

With…

Or without help. Visions and warning signs of what was coming to be damned.

Either I was searching for them, or I would cause the reckoning that would bring me to them.

Something had to give—one way or another.