Chapter 55: A fight in the casino
Andria’s POV
"Ok, it’s time to retire back to our dorms, we have had enough of each other," Arlo announced in a sarcastic tone.
"I don’t want us ever to have to part ways, Aria, please come spend the night with me," Becca made the usual pouty face, which I found hard to resist.
"Ok, I’ll sleep over at yours," I assured her, patting her back. Arlo made a jealous face.
"Well, you guys should enjoy your night without me, as for me, I love to enjoy my bed alone," Arlo winked at us.
We chatted on and on about the day’s event, bursting into laughter at intervals, especially when we recalled the encounter with the Trio, and also having awkward silences at some intervals.
When we had to part, Arlo spoke up somewhat reluctantly, "Ok, this is the part where I say goodnight." I knew that he secretly would love to spend the night with us if he weren’t so self-absorbed.
"You know that you can ask to sleep over if you want to stay with us," I teased him as we did our usual departure hug.
"Not like I want to beg to stay where I’m not invited," Arlo said with a dry chuckle and then turned on his heels and left.
We watched his figure retreat before I turned to Becca. "I have to go to my dormitory also, I have some things to tidy before sleeping over,"
I am to sleep over at Becca’s, but I had to get my nighties and some other personal belongings.
"You know you could do all that tomorrow, besides, I’ve got extra personal belongings never used by anyone that you could make use of," Becca added lightly with a shrug.
"No worries, I’ll be back in a short time. In case you think that I’m not coming back. I prefer to use mine; besides, my apartment is close to yours."
"Ok, if you insist," Becca said, and we both walked to our dorms.
On getting to my room, there was a figure sitting on my bed. "And who are you?" I asked while searching for the switch to see the figure correctly.
When I turned on the light, I couldn’t recognize the face, but he looked young, probably my age, and I had a wild guess that he might be a student in Ashwood.
"So, what are you doing in my room?" I crept, trying to make sure I engage him in a conversation while I look for an object to defend myself, in case he were a threat.
His eyes followed my move like a hawk follows its prey, and as soon as I reached for my metal hairbrush, he stood up and rushed towards me, holding my hands firmly.
"Let go of me," I struggled, but he put his hands over my mouth and leaned into my ears.
"What do you think you are doing, huh?" he whispered into my ears in an Icy tone.
"I think I’m doing this," I immediately jabbed him in his balls with my knee, causing him to stumble backwards.
I reached for the door to run back to Becca’s place, but his words stopped me in my tracks.
"You are moving over to Becca’s right?" he scoffed and let out a thunderous laughter. "And what makes you think that it is safe?" he groaned.
I walked over to his bent posture and held him by the throat, "What do you want from me?"
"Let’s say...you owe our boss," he said, his face twisting into something sinister. "And even if you kill me, your friends will also be killed, because right now, they are on their way to my boss."
"Humph," I tightened my grip on his neck while leaning closer to his ears. "I just hope that she isn’t even the slightest scratched; if not, you will suffer more pain," I gritted my teeth and released my grip.
He let out a very loud cough when I released his neck. "Now tell me where that boss of yours is."
"I can take you there," he whimpered, still clutching his neck in pain.
"You know we never had an introduction. Intruder?" I said as I walked towards the door. " But I guess my beating your ass was enough introduction"
He was silent as he led me to where he claimed his boss was.
We walked through the forest and into the town. The night was so busy, we walked through alleys and into a casino called "the den of coins".
The entrance had an offensive odor of cigarettes and alcohol. And the inside was like a vanity fair.
Nearly naked women loitering the whole place, some rubbing heads of the men gambling while the others carried wine trays.
I observed the place in awe. Soon we were walking down a connecting alley in the casino. It looked more like a place where more dreaded activities were done.
I could smell body heat and dried blood. Athena growled instantly, repulsed by the environment and the possibility that her friend Becca could be in a bad situation.
Athena was threatening to come out, and the vampire senses were also threatening to surface.
I turned to the man, "Where is Becca?"
"Becca is right here," a voice answered from behind me. I turned to stand face to face with a tall, intimidating figure.
I studied him carefully; he didn’t seem like a regular wolf. I looked towards the direction of his hands, and it was a door. In no distant time, I was surrounded by tall men, although not as tall as the first man.
They struck me to the ground, tied my hands and took me to where Becca was. I was enraged with the sight before me.
I was tied to a seat and made to face her. She had been beaten; there were bruises to her left eyes, and she looked unconscious.
"What did she do?, Why am I here?" I panicked but quickly hid my expression, as I locked my eyes on one of the men.
The man who brought me here had disappeared, but I could still remember his face. I will teach him a lesson he will never forget if I fortunately survive this place and we meet again.
"What gave you the right even to ask questions?" the tallest man asked, pulling me by the hair and lowering himself to meet my eyes. "It’s by luck that you haven’t been messed up like your friend, so you better behave."
I boiled over, meeting his gaze, and I spat on his face. "What do you want from young girls like us? You want to turn us into your casino whores?. Perverts."
He wiped off the saliva from his face and then gave me an evil smirk. "Feisty, huh? I love that," he then released my hair and regained his posture. "Although I would love to use beautiful ladies like you, too."
He paused and then suddenly crouched to my position once again like a maniac, " But you have to pay for spitting on my face, little wolf," he said, revealing his set of teeth.
And that was when it occurred to me that I was dealing with Vampires.
And suddenly I felt my reflexes kick in, vampires were more brutal than werewolves, except for the Dravari’s.
Athena surfaced, battling with my vampire essence and soon a fusion was formed. I tore through the ropes, transforming fully to a half-human, werewolf and vampire form.
It was in this moment that I was grateful to whoever conceived me that I was also a vampire.
I took them by surprise, lounging on the tallest man, hitting him in his balls. He grunted and fell to his knees, giving me leverage to hold him as a shield against the others.
"Move an inch closer to me and I’ll slice his neck and serve it up to you all," I threatened them.
And just then one of them moved to Becca’s unconscious form, and held her by the neck, "You forgot we had her too, and we can also have your other friend this night, if you aren’t careful."
Sensing my hesitation, the other men rushed towards me and started to beat me. No matter how I fought, I still got beaten, but I didn’t fail to leave scratches on their bodies.
I slowly slumped to the floor, my vampire form and werewolf form abandoning me. I heard footsteps walking from behind the door. I knew they were close. I silently hoped that they weren’t dragging Arlo into this mess.
And just when I was about to slip into darkness, Zade and the three Alpha successors burst in. How did they find out where I was? I recalled my conversation with Aven, and I suspected that this whole scene might have something to do with what he said earlier.
They took on the men one by one, releasing Becca.
I didn’t like them to see me in this pitiable state. I slowly let myself slip into the darkness.