Damsel

A Bee in the Air

Ella Bee

This was so not good.

It sounded like something her sister Anna would say, but at that instant, it summed up about everything Ella felt.

It was one thing to save Leland Hester from the Rocker, it was a completely different thing seeing the effect that tiny sentence had on the mood in the scene. The moment the words left her mouth...

... 'Behind you Leland! The Rocker is behind you!' ...

...everything shifted, including Leland, who suddenly appeared at the other end of the dilapidated building. In the roar of the chaos, the Rocker cast Ella a not so nice look and for the first time in her involvement with the Heroes, Ella was genuinely scared to the bone. So scared, in fact, that she didn't even hear the crowd booing her.

The Nomad screamed something that sounded Spanish; maybe Latin and Ella noticed three more Heroes appear amidst the audience. More witnesses. Thanantos moved meticulously, careful not to touch any innocents, wary he could kill with a common bush of skin, and at his side stood the small framed, Griffin, a notoriously risky boy with a bit of a habit for dramatics. He'd once high jacked an entire cruise ship for a weeklong birthday chase around the Spotted Isle's. Just a few yards behind the hero's, emerging from a mundane ambulance stood Breese, who stretched her wings and cracked her back, looking thrilled to be called into action. Ella squirmed, if the Rocker scared her, Breese terrified her. And they were just the good guys.

Then Ella wondered if what she did qualified her as a bad guy now. The Nomad pointed a finger at her, sharing knowing glances with Griffin, Thanantos and Breese, before saying, "Take her out."

Guess so.

Ella rocked her body, ignoring the flashing sparks that danced across her vision and threatened to drown her consciousness. She had to get to the edge, grab the pillar and pull herself to safety; she had to get to her mother and father, to Anna and Eloise, Rover and Clancy. The tips of her toes grazed the wooden ground, but it merely teetered back and forth before breaking apart from the floor and crashing to the ground, impaled and shattered into a thousand pieces. Below, Griffin chuckled and looked upward, and in his eyes, Ella could almost see the 'finally' in his expression. Slowly untangling his elaborate whips from his back, Griffin stretched his arms and neck, jogging a bit, loosening his muscles before action. Ella tried to forget what those two whips would turn to –how alive they would become when the Griffin spoke to them. The Hero relished her fear, grinning and teasingly tossing the whips from side to side –thrap, thrap, thrap. One arm raised, ready to strike.

"No! No." Ella tensed, causing pain to scattered through the smallest parts of her. In the seconds that followed, Ella parted her eyes enough to see the whip slicing through the air, shifting and wailing as it sung with the prospect of killing. Inching closer and closer, shriek growing, her death nearing –the sweet slice of final relief.

But Ella didn't get to feel what followed life and her nightmare refused to allow escape. Eyes pinched closed, the sudden feeling of falling overwhelmed her, causing Ella to clench her eyes tighter, then as quickly as the feeling had arrived, it was gone. And when Ella finally found the bravery to part her eyelids, she was shocked to find herself face to face with Leland Hester, holding him as closely as the space permitted, arms draped around his chest...and they were standing somewhere foreign -a beach of some kind?

* * * * * *

"What the..." Ella asked, keeling over to empty her stomach of what little substance was within it. "How did I?"

Leland Hester walked the length of the beach, toes occasionally disappearing beneath the gentle tide. He had released Ella almost as quickly as she had pushed him away, and now he was the mask of silent brooding, gazing out at the skyline as if it held endless detail. Leland didn't bother answering her question and Ella thought it was a little obvious what had happened. He had teleported her with him. He saved her life over Sithe's. But why?

"I came here...and I realized I was missing something. I do believe I made you a promise." Leland's voice let on no feeling, it was just a statement.

Ella recalled upon that promise, but kept her thoughts to herself.

"Only I can kill you." His eyebrows rose and fell quickly, enticed with the notion.

She held back another wave of nausea. "So they would have killed me, then?"

Leland corrected her and Ella noticed that he had found time to change his clothes. "Will. They will kill you."

"I don't...but why? They can't just kill people whenever they want!" Ella yelled, eyes wide and incredulous.

"Can't they?" Leland gave Ella a glower, releasing his balled fists and cutting the tension. "Besides, you aren't the real target, poor Ella Bee."

"I know, I know, it's you."

Leland grunted a light chuckle. "No. I'm merely the defender of the target, which I suppose makes me a target as well, yes, but they don't want me."

"...but then...who is the target?"