Untold Secrets

Chapter 5

Dangers

Careful, where you go
Who knows what dangers
Hide behind the corners
Careful, who you meet
Who knows what lies
Hide behind their eyes

I'm lost. I ran blindly, just trying to get as away as possible from this shitty mess. I have no idea how long I ran, now I'm in a part of the city where I've never been before. Our city is not so small, there are some parts I've never been to. There is no one on this street, the silence seems surreal. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I have this feeling that I'm being followed.
I look around, but there's no one.
Hec, it's just the stress. There is no one here. Take a deep breath and..
I hear a sound at my back. Like a snake hissing.
I turn around slowly, suddenly aware of being all alone and possibly also in danger.
I can't believe what my eyes are seeing.
There is a strange creature in front of me. Looks like a combination of a bat and a snake. The body is very snake-like but the face is dark and very similar to a bat, even though much bigger. The tongue, exactly the one of the snakes, comes out of its mouth when it hisses. It has wings on its back and is flying mid-air right now. It must be around my height and I'm 5 feet 6 inches tall, so yeah it's huge.
What the hell is this thing?
I'm still dumb-stuck staring at the creature, when it starts moving towards me. Attacking actually, with it's mouth open and flying towards me in full speed.
I'm so shocked, I stay there paralysed. I can't move a muscle. When it's nearly on top of me I don't think, I just react. Instinct takes over and I'm thankful for all the self-defence lessons Mom gave me and Gaia. I get out of the way, take its tail in my hands and throw it away with all the strength I have. It flies against a tree and slips down on the ground.
Oh yeah. Hec 1 -strange disgusting creature 0
Too soon to celebrate. The creature gets up and looks even angrier than before.
Uhoh.
It starts hissing and crawling. It's trying to circle me and maybe it's looking for the best way to attack me.
Well, if that's what you're doing, you have something else coming. No one can take me down, sweetheart. I'm Hecate Brook. Defeat and fear are for losers. Something I'm not.
I don't wait for it to attack. I don't want it to have any advantage on me, so I attack it first.
I use a tree at my right to climb high and I get on its back.
It hisses and starts moving fast to shake me off. I try to hold on to it as best as I can.
Suddenly, it starts flying higher.
Oh no. If it goes higher, I won't stand a chance.
So I do the only thing I could think of. I pull at his wings and try to hurt him as much as possible. It hisses again but this time it's full of pain. It starts going towards the land and I'm grateful for it. Next, I punch and kick without even aiming at specific places. I'm so stressed and angry, that I just take it all out. One punch for taking Gaia. One kick for all the secrets. One punch because I've never felt so helpless and confused in my life.
" I think it's dead now."
I look up at the sound of someone's voice.

________________________________

His voice.
" Damn, you look hot when you fight, Caty" He gives me that sensual amused smile. "Poor Hissslee, it thought it could take you out easily."
"Wouldn't look so hot if it were you lying under me dead."
Ugh, that didn't sound good. It could also mean..
"I wouldn't mind lying under you" he smiles again. And there's that damn dimple too.
Exactly what I meant. No! what I didn't mean. Damn, even my thoughts get all confusing and without any sense when I'm with him. Dick.
"What did you call it Hiss something? What does that even mean?"
"Hissslee. It's a dark creature from another world. It's actually one of the weakest ones. You're lucky you found only this one."
Another world? Did he just say another world? And what does he mean by "the weakest"? It took all of my strength to put it down!
"What do you mean by another world?"
"Exactly what you think. I can't tell you anything else until I know who you are. So tell me, who are you? Or more importantly, what are you?"
Well isn't that the million dollar question?
"I.. My name is Hecate Brook.."
He looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue.
"..and I don't know what I am"
He looks confused.
Yeah, I have no fucking idea what I am. You're not the only one confused here, buddy.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Exactly what you think" I answer irritated. Damn, it feels like my life has become a quiz show. Here are some hints, now go find out what Hecate Brook is. The winner gets a wonderful Ferrari car. Yippee!
He's looking at me intensely, that look which reaches your soul. For a second his eyes glow, as if there were a light behind them. Then it goes away. Did I imagine it or was it real?
" I can't read you" He looked nervous.
"Excuse me?"
" Usually, it takes only one glance to know anyone's identity, nature and secrets. It's an ability of mine."
Ah..What? Please tell me I heard wrong..
"Why can't I read you? There have only been a few people I couldn't read and you can't be one of them.." Looks like he's talking to himself. He just keeps staring at me, as if I have the answers he's looking for.
Trust me, I'm the last person with any kind of answers right now
"So..you have these abilities and you can do strange things. What exactly are you?"
I'm not sure I want to know, but hell, this suspence is testing my patience. And of course, my patience level is already zero.
He looks at me intensely, as if deciding if it's worth it telling the truth or not.
"I am not from this world. Something has broken the balance between our worlds. Strange things are going on not only here, but also in my world. I need to find out why and make sure everything turns back to normal."
Okaaaayyy..so there are other worlds. Yeah sure and the pigs are flying in the sky. Bullshit.
"Oh please, stop talking about stupid things. There is nothing like other worlds. This is not a fucking fantasy movie."
Just as I finish speaking, he disappears. Vanishes. Again.
Fucking shit! What the..?
He appears right in front of me, not two inches from my face. I step back, shocked.
"What the hell!?" I shriek.
"So this is not a fantasy movie, huh? " he takes a step forward." Then how did I just do all this? What was that creature you killed? And why didn't you say that you're human with 100% conviction as you had done in the bathroom at school?"
I take another step back. His eyes are glowing, again. My heart is beating so fast, I can't even hear correctly what he's saying.
"I..it's not possible..there must be an explanation.." I whisper. I just can't believe all this. Don't want to. I have all the proofs right in front of my eyes, but I go on denying. Guess I'm not ready to accept the truth. All my life I'd had some convictions, some certainties. Now I see them all falling apart and I'm helpless. I can do nothing but stand and watch.
His eyes turn back to normal.
"Listen, I know maybe it's not easy to accept all this, but there are dangers everywhere right now. You have to know, acknowledge and understand the truth. Do you understand?"
It looks like it's taking a lot effort saying these things to make me feel better. As if he's not used to reassure people. Still, I appreciate the gesture, so I answer honestly.
"All these strange things have been going on since Gaia disappeared. No one knows where she is. It's as if she just vanished into nothing. Everyone is hiding something, there are a lot of secrets I had no idea about till a few hours ago. Everything is such a mess, I just don't understand what's going on. The only thing I know is that I need to find Gaia. I'll do anything to find her."
"Careful, you don't know how dangerous people can be, especially in the other worlds. You better never say that you would do anything for something. They would take advantage of it."
" And you wouldn't?" The words get out of my mouth before I can stop them.
He takes a step closer to me, we're just inches apart now. He whispers in my ear
" If I wanted something, I would just take it. I don't need to take advantage of you. I always get what I want with my own abilities and well usually girls just give me whatever I want without hesitation. I'm very selfish, Caty. Don't think I'm an angel, I'm everyone's darkest fantasy."
Damn, these words did some funny things to my insides. I could feel the heat on my cheeks, travelling lower and lower with his words. Why does he have to have a sexy voice too? Someone's really trying to tempt my self-control
"Caty, do you know one of my abilities is also to feel people's emotions. There's fear, it's terrible like rotted fruit. There's anger, like hot chilly. I could feel them on you before and then we have attraction, my favourite.." He touches my ear with his lips while speaking and whispers " It smells like roses. And guess what?"
Suddenly I get out of my trance and step back.
"You don't sense it on me, buddy."
He starts laughing. I'm sure my cheeks are bright red right now.
"If you say so, Caty"
"Stop calling me that!"
"Not gonna happen" He smirks.
And damn him, he looks hot even with that stupid smirk.
" Come on, I'll give a ride back home."
"A ride?"
"Yes, a ride. On the motorcycle. You know what it is?"
"Ha ha. Funny. Sorry, just thought your way of travelling was to vanish and appear from one place to another."
"That's my favourite way of travelling, but it's also tiring. I prefer using motorbikes when I come in the human world."
Okay, not gonna think about how strange that sounded. Guess, my definition for "normal" has just changed.
"Alright" One encounter with that strange creature is enough for today. Can't take a round 2 right now. Damn, how did I go from "staying on the sofa all day, instead of studying" to "trying not to get killed"? Life really is a bitch.

We get home in 20 minutes. The ride has been one of the most awkward and exciting one of my life. Awkward as I had to hold him tight not to fall from the bike. And well, exciting for the same reason. He went so fast, I felt I was flying. It was the best feeling I had ever had.
"Enjoyed the ride?" He says with a smug smile.
Not gonna give you the satisfaction of knowing it, buddy.
So I just shrug and say "Not bad"
He still has that smug smile on his face, as if he knows exactly how much I liked it.
I turn away and go towards the door.
I ring the doorbell and wait. I feel him come and stand near me.
"What are you doing?"
Because seriously, does he really want to enter? I don't know him so well and I don't know if I really trust him
"I want to meet your parents."
"Excuse me? You what?"
He starts laughing.
"Don't worry, Caty. It's not what you think. I just wanna know who they are to understand what's going on"
"Oh" Stupid! What the hell were you thinking? Stop making a fool out of yourself
We hear footsteps and two seconds later, the door opens. Mom looks at me first, with worried eyes. Then she looks at my left and gets stuck. Her expression changes from confusion, to disbelief to shock.
I hear Daemon suck in a breath and say "Abeona"
"Prince"